AN: Mores stuffs. Been up for ten hours and no reviews. *shrugs* Ah well. I never realized how many Pokemon fanfics were out there! Around 90,500! Like, WOW. So this'll probably get buried pretty quick, then. XP Well, thanks for clicking on it, anyways! I hope you enjoy. ^^
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or PMD: EoS.
Temporal Tower, present day
"What if we storm The Abyss?" Magmortar asked.
Alakazam shook his head. "No. The main battle will be staged in the alternate dimension. There will be nothing inside The Abyss to attack. Storming The Abyss will do nothing."
"Alakazam's right," Gallade chimed in. "We need to focus the attack in a place that will cripple Giratina's forces."
"Then what do you think we should do?" Magmortar asked huffily. "It's not like we can actually get in the alternate dimension!"
The eight Pokemon gathered at Temporal Tower glanced at each other from across the table, shrugging. These Pokemon - Gallade, Alakazam, Magmortar, Chansey, Ninetales, Mismagius, Lapras, and Dialga - were the members of Dialga's official were gathered to discuss the plans for war, but so far the efforts were futile.
Watching them argue, Dialga sighed. He knew that if Palkia had chosen to help he could have used his powers of space to get an entire army into the alternate dimension. Dialga glanced at Lapras and saw her look at the ceiling and click her tongue. She's angry, Dialga realized. She knows that we're nothing without Palkia.
"There's nothing in The Abyss to storm, Magmortar," Lapras said, just managing to keep the snap out of her tone.
"We have to do something!" Magmortar shouted, frustrated. He was a Pokemon of action, and just sitting and talking about the problem wasn't the way he did things. He wished for a more straightforward solution, like go clobber the bad guy.
"If we're going to pull this off, we need to find a way into the alternate dimension. Dialga, you've dealt with this before. How does it work?" Gallade asked. He was the battle strategist of the council.
"Well, Giratina didn't tell me, of course," Dialga said. Heads nodded all around the table in agreement. Nobody in their right mind would give away the secret to their ultimate weapon, and while Giratina might not be
completely sane he still knew better.
"But from what I could gather," Dialga continued, "the alternate dimension is created in a gap where time and space overlap. It runs on the opposing energies of time and space and, of course, Giratina himself."
"If we killed Giratina, would his world collapse?" Lapras asked. Gallade had been thinking the same thing, but Dialga was shaking his head.
"No. Most of the energy runs on time and space, and while killing Giratina would cause disruption in the alternate dimension, it wouldn't destroy it. Besides, killing Giratina is too risky."
"Why?" This question came from Ninetales, the lady of the group who was one of Dialga's best advisers.
"Giratina is connected to our world through his," Dialga explained. "If we disturb his world we have no idea what it would do to ours. Killing him might cause minor damage to his world but it could be critical for us."
Alakazam, the thinker of the group, nodded thoughtfully. "Which brings us back to our main problem: how do we stop Giratina without destroying our world at the same time?"
"How do we even get to Giratina?" Gallade cut in. "We have no way of getting into the alternate dimension."
"Wait."
Everyone turned to Mismagius. Mismagius was the mathematical genius and she always had a plan.
"You said the dimension runs mostly on time and space?" she asked.
Dialga nodded. "That's right," he said. He thought he knew where she was going with this. Mismagius's next question confirmed his suspicions.
"Couldn't we use your powers and Palkia's powers to manipulate the energy field and create a gap in the dimension?"
Dialga shuffled uneasily. "We could," he said, then hesitated. He didn't want everyone to think poorly of his brother, but there was nothing he could do, so he sighed and said, "But Palkia is refusing to help."
There was a bit of an uproar. Lapras started clicking again and Magmortar let loose a flamethrower, which scorched the new ceiling.
"He refuses to help?" Magmortar yelled, then caught Dialga glaring at him and took his volume down a few notches. "How dare he refuse
you?" he said, referring to Dialga.
"Well, his is my brother, and my older brother at that," Dialga said stiffly. "It's not like I can just command him to obey me."
"Palkia's your brother?" Magmortar gasped. Everyone except for Lapras and Ninetales had the same reaction, Lapras because she already knew and Ninetales because she was an expert at keeping her reactions impassive.
Dialga banged on the table for silence. "Yes, Palkia is my brother," he said once everyone had quieted. "But that doesn't change our immediate problem. So please, let's try to focus on a way to get into the alternate dimension."
The Pokemon continued to talk in whispers but they ultimately went back to the problem. Dialga sighed and looked to Lapras, who caught his eye and frowned. We're getting nowhere, she mouthed.
Dialga nodded. We need Palkia, he said silently, and Lapras nodded gravely.
Dialga cleared his throat loudly and the room quieted. "Let's move on to war provisions. We can go back to this later. Maybe all we need is some space."
The Pokemon nodded, relieved. The meeting was a mess and everyone was all too happy to move on to another subject.
Dialga nodded, sensing their relief. "Okay, then. Chansey, what do we have?"
Chansey, the Pokemon in charge of looking after the item stock in times like these, bobbed her head cheerfully. "Oh, we have plenty of food," she said, her voice strained for a cheerful tone.
"Can we hold out in a war?" Dialga asked.
Chansey hesitated. "Well . . . I suppose maybe if they don't try to wait us out . . . Well, what I mean is that . . . I . . . Oh, we just weren't prepared for a war! It was so peaceful!" Chansey blurted.
Startled by the sudden outburst, Dialga sputtered, "It's okay, really! We'll find more food." Lapras smiled for a moment, Dialga's surprise bringing out the child she once knew. Dialga recovered and said, "Ninetales, I trust you to take care of that and find more provisions."
"Yes, my lord," Ninetales said with an elegant nod. Dialga smiled. He had no doubt that she would do it immediately after the meeting. Then he sobered and went back to the problem at hand.
"With that settled we can go back to the main problem."
There were a few inward groans but nobody dared to give them a voice.
Dialga knew how they felt: that the case was hopeless. But he also knew that if they did't keep trying, they would lose their chance to win this war.
"Hey, chalk up your troubles to Dialga's twin brother here," Magmortar grumbled.
Dialga looked at him. "If Palkia would help, he would be able to get into the dimension, it's true. But he's not going to, so-"
"Who said I'm not going to help?"
Except for Ninetales and Alakazam, all the Pokemon around the table jumped. First surprise, then recognition, then finally happiness played across their faces.
The first to recover was Lapras. Recognizing the voice, she turned around, unintentionally rising into the air a few inches. "Palkia! I'm so glad you're here!"
Dialga turned around to look at his brother. "Why are you here?" Dialga asked him, still startled and slightly confused.
"Why do you think? To help," Palkia said, and the way he said the last two words made it clear that he though Dialga would have never figured it out unless he said it.
Dialga flailed for words. Lapras smiled, knowing that Dialga wasn't speechless nearly often enough. The smile soon faded, but she didn't frown.
"Last time you were here, you said you wouldn't lead your Pokemon to their doom," Lapras said, talking to Palkia. "What changed?"
"I'm still not going to lead them to their doom," Palkia said, grinning. "But I'll lead them to their victory."
"Oh, Palkia! Do you mean you'll fight with us?" Lapras asked, eyes shining.
"Does the phrase 'I'll lead them to their victory' have another meaning?" Palkia's voice was think with his usual sarcasm, but the twinkle in his eyes showed that he was only playing. "Now I hear that you need some help getting into the alternate dimension. And, even though my brother so obviously has no faith in me, I believe I can help you do just that."
"You did try to kill me," Dialga mumbled. Ninetales heard him and gave Dialga a curious look, wondering just how much she didn't know about him.
Palkia ignored Dialga and moved on. "So, what's the plan here?"
Dialga spoke up, talking to everyone now. "Well, I suppose that now that our main problem is solved all we need now is to come up with a plan for battle."
Gallade got a dangerous glint in his eyes. "I can do that."
Dialga nodded. "When you have come up with an idea, tell Lapras or me and I'll gather everyone so that we can discuss it thoroughly."
"Then we can launch an attack?" Magmortar asked hopefully.
Dialga almost smiled. "Then we can launch an attack."
"All right! Let's kick butt!" Magmortar said it with such enthusiasm that Lapras had to laugh.
"What's so funny?" Palkia asked her.
"He sounds just like you two when you were little!" Lapras laughed, and Dialga had to smile. She was right; he and Palkia had sounded like that. Dialga turned his head and caught Palkia's eye.
Palkia was smiling, too.
Dialga's grin faded as he felt a shudder through time. He grunted as he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He saw Palkia's grimace and knew that he had felt it, too.
Lapras noticed the twins' slight waver. "What? What is it?" Lapras asked, her voice full of concern.
Dialga and Palkia looked at each other gravely. "Giratina's getting stronger," they chorused.
Lapras went white.
A few minutes before the shudder, in The Abyss
"I couldn't have designed this better myself," Darkrai said.
Giratina, Darkrai and Dusknoir were gathered in the very pit of The Abyss, where Darkrai had insisted the magic would be the strongest. They were trying to remove the ancient chains that were bound around Giratina's legs so that Giratina could move freely in his alternate dimension. As Giratina had already guessed, they would need a lot of strong magic for this to work.
The pit was in the very middle of The Abyss's dark heart. All the power, magic and evil spirits that drifted into The Abyss pooled in it's center to regain their strength and power. It was the place where the evil was the strongest and shadows ruled.
Everyone stopped. Dusknoir's skin was crawling as he stepped up behind his master. His eyes darted back and forth nervously. The darkness around him was so heavy with shadows and evil spirits that he felt like his soul was being crushed underneath the weight. He half expected the darkness around him to become a solid creature, grow fangs and claws, and devour him for lunch.
Darkrai, however, took a deep, contented breath filled with the smells of death and fear. "Ah, how lovely," he commented. He felt Dusknoir stiffen next to him, but Darkrai ignored his henchman's nervous air. Darkrai truly enjoyed the shivers crawling up and down his back. It gave him a special thrill that made his pulse race and his blood roar.
Giratina agreed with Darkrai's feelings, but something inside of him always fluttered whenever he was here. It was faint, so Giratina always dismissed it. But now it was back, stronger than before. Giratina swallowed and distracted himself by saying, "So how do I get these chains off?"
"Well," Darkrai said slowly, "the mental chains work mentally."
Giratina snorted. "Any other blindingly obvious facts you'd like to mention?"
Darkrai glared at him. "As I was saying," he said, the venom in his voice clear. "Mental things include your imagination. All you need to do is tap into your imagination and distract yourself from the chain's mental focus."
Giratina blinked. "That's it?"
"Did you expect something impossibly hard?" Darkrai said, one eyebrow raised.
"Yes," Giratina answered immediately. "After all these years of trying and failing to remove these chains, I expected something impossibly hard."
"Well, it's not."
There was a bit of silence. Darkrai couldn't see Giratina's face, but he knew that Giratina was weighing his words carefully. He waited patiently for Giratina's decision, even though he knew what he was going to do in the end.
"Are you sure this will work?" Giratina asked suspiciously.
"I just said it would. Twice." Darkrai had more than a hint of exasperation in his voice.
"Okay . . . here goes, then." Giratina closed his eyes for a moment and imagined himself. He was in chains in his imagination, of course,
but that would change soon. Giratina chose something to think about, anything . . . and his thoughts wandered to Lopunny, his old love.
Lopunny had been everything he wasn't. Fun, flirty, caring . . . and with a charming smile and silky brown and cream fur to boot. Back then, Giratina had been grumpy, lonely and downright nasty. Lopunny had seen past his horrible appearance and grumpy attitude and recognized his loneliness. She'd sprinkled a little love around and turned his world for the better.
But Giratina was destined to live forever while Lopunny only had one life. Realizing that Lopunny deserved to live her life with someone she loved, someone she could grow old with and be buried next to, Giratina let her go. He was broken-hearted. He never loved again, knowing that because of his eternal life, it wouldn't be fair to both him and his lover.
The image that had come to his head was of Lopunny, smiling, sitting daintily in the sunlight with her paws crossed neatly over her lap. "You need to learn how to have some fun," she was saying. "Come with me! I can teach you how to dance."
"I can't dance," Giratina remembered saying gruffly.
"Why not? You certainly have enough legs for it," Lopunny had said, laughing.
"They're all left legs."
Lopunny's joyful, bell-like laughter had tinkled quietly at that. Then she had stood up and pulled him forward, insisting that he'd at least try.
After a while of stumbling and twisting, Lopunny wrinkled her nose. "You really do have all left feet," she said. "It's a good thing that you don't have a completely left heart. It'd be kind of hard to love that way, because then your heart couldn't dance."
Giratina almost smiled.
The chains clattered to the ground. The sound brought Giratina out of his thoughts. Darkrai grinned in the dark while Giratina just stared at the chains silently.
"Oh, I guess it works after all," Darkrai said with mock surprise.
"I guess it does," Giratina said absentmindedly.
Wow, I was so young when I wrote this XD That line about not having an entire left heart? Seriously? I sucked at writing romantic scenes XP Please review anyways and tell me what you thought about my 4-year-old writing!