Palkia flew high over the region of Sinnoh, his body quaking with fear at what he had just witnessed. What was that thing that had attacked them? It was unlike any pokémon he had ever seen, and Palkia had been around long enough to see the creation of every pokémon in exsistance. Dear Arceus, what was he going to do to stop that thing?
Then it hit him.
Giratina.
Palkia distinctively heard the beast that had attacked him say that Giratina had helped in capturing Arceus and taking his powers. If Palkia could locate Giratina, he could possibly beat his estranged uncle into submission until he told him exactly what was going on and where Arceus was being kept. Problem was getting to the Distortion World. Only Giratina could conjure up portals to and from the Distortion World. Even with his powers of spatial travel, Palkia could never hope to get to the Distortion World without creating a dimensional rift that would rip apart the universe.
Palkia was so lost. His head was spinning and his stomach was in knots. He didn't even know he could have such feelings! With a feeling of nausea washing over him, Palkia found the nearest shoreline and landed there. The sea always calmed him down, being that his roots came from the sea. In fact, his father created him entirely from the sea, while his brother Dialga was created from the tough minerals in the core of the earth.
Palkia drew in a deep sigh and let his fan-like wings droop. The sun was coming up, and Palkia noticed how the Wingulls weren't giving their early morning cries. Perhaps they were scared to, since most of his family should have alerted all of the other pokémon in the world. As Palkia looked around, he realized he was fighting for a lost cause. His father was gone, his brother was helpless, and his uncle had turned evil once again. With that thing, Discord, or whatever it had called itself still on the loose, Palkia knew it would be a matter of time before he was completely powerless to do anything.
However, a miracle struck. A loud sound came from behind the great spatial pokémon, causing him to turn and look. A golden portal had appeared behind him. Stepping out of it was a familiar, basilisk-like pokémon with a slight smile on his face. Seeing his estranged uncle, Palkia stood hostilely, ready to attack.
The great basilisk turned towards the spatial pokémon, his eyes widening in surprise, "Palkia?"
Palkia replied with a snarl, "Giratina. Or should I say, my father's kidnapper."
Giratina's blood ran cold, "Whatever are you talking about?"
This caused Palkia to roar loudly, "You know exactly what I am talking about, renegade! You sent that strange creature to attack me, my brother, and Suicune! You kidnapped my father!"
Giratina scoffed, "I did no such thing."
The plate on Palkia's arm began to glow a bright pink, "Tell me what's going on, or you'll force me to take drastic measures."
"Careful who you challenge, boy." Giratina warned, spreading his wings to serve as intimidation.
Palkia didn't back down, "Tell me exactly what's going on, and I won't attack. Who is Discord?"
Giratina froze, "D-Discord?"
"Yes," Palkia replied, "He claimed that you had helped him gain power. Thus, why he was easily able to stop me, Dialga, and Suicune."
Giratina searched for a believable alibi, "I'm sorry. I don't know who Discord is. I would never help any creature that was hostile gain power."
"LIAR!" Roared Palkia. The great spatial pokémon fired off a Hydro Pump attack, using the sea behind him to assist him. However, Giratina easily avoided it by disappearing into the shadows of the early morning. He reappeared and attacked Palkia with his signature move: Shadow Force. Palkia was knocked sideways, but he was quickly back on his feet. He attacked with Dragon Pulse, power firing out from his body and through the ground below. This time, Giratina didn't have time to disappear and was hit with the power. He skidded across the sand, using all six legs to balance himself.
"Tell me what's going on!" Palkia demanded.
"You have no right to know my reasonings!" Giratina roared. One of his golden claws started glowing with a dark aura before he charged at Palkia, slashing him multiple times with a Shadow Claw attack. Palkia couldn't regain his footing before Giratina smashed all of his body weight against the spatial pokémon, driving him into the sea. Palkia tumbled backwards, landing on his shoulder on the hard sea bed. He threw water and water pokémon into high into the air upon landing in the surf.
Palkia tried to stand back up, but he had lost his energy. Feeling the pearl encrusted on his shoulder, the smooth surface was cracked, which was probably why he was losing energy. However, he managed to stand once again, though he was too weak to attack the great renegade who stood at the shoreline.
"Let this be a lesson to you," Giratina growled, "Stay out of my business. Next time, I won't be so merciful, nephew."
Palkia's expression fell into one of terror. With all of his remaining strength, he conjured up a portal and leapt through it, disappearing from the beach. Giratina turned, seeing the disturbed sand from his and Palkia's scuffle. Folding in his wings he breathed a sigh of relief.
What has Discord done? He thought, Now Palkia is on to me... He won't stop until he knows exactly what's going on... Why did Discord have to use my name?
Just then, the sound of hooves against sand came from behind the great renegade. He turned, seeing Luna approaching him at a gallop. Shaymin was riding on her back, bouncing up and down with Luna's gallop.
"Giratina!" The alicorn exclaimed, "We heard an explosion, are you okay?"
Giratina nodded, "I am fine. Thank you."
"You don't look so fine..." Shaymin argued, pointing to something on Giratina's right front paw. He looked down, discovering that one of his claws had snapped off and was now bleeding a considerable amount. Perhaps using Shadow Claw on Palkia's thick armor wasn't such a good idea.
"Oh my!" Luna exclaimed, "You're hurt! We need to help you!"
"I'm fine." Giratina insisted, though the sudden ache of losing a claw was now shooting through his leg.
"Stop being such a tough-guy!" Shaymin whined, jumping off of Luna's back and toddling over to Giratina, "Here, I'll help you."
Shaymin approached Giratina's paw, putting her own front paws on his giant one. With a slight whine, Shaymin's body began to glow a bright green. The light spread to Giratina's paw, rebuilding his golden claw and healing the wound. She backed away with a smile on her face, as Giratina lifted his paw to look at the now-healed wound.
"It's called Synthesis," Shaymin said, "Y'know, I'd like a thank you. I am the Gratitude Pokémon, after all."
"Thank you." Giratina said.
"So about that explosion," Luna changed the subject, "What happened?"
"A hostile pokémon attacked me," Giratina lied, "I had to defend myself and throw it into the water. That's what you heard; me throwing the pokémon into the water."
"What in Arceus' name did you throw?" Shaymin asked, "A Wailord?"
Giratina smiled nervously, "Er... Yes."
"Whoa!" Shaymin gasped, "I knew you were strong, Grumpytina, but I didn't know you were that strong!"
Luna scrunched her nose, "Where were you this morning? We woke up and you were gone."
Giratina seemed a bit nervous, "I was trying to find a way to get you back to your home. I apologize, but I still have yet to find something."
Luna looked down, but she perked up almost immediately, "That's quite alright. I mean... I hope that my sister is doing okay... I think she can manage the sun and moon on her own."
Giratina managed a small smile, "Oh... Well... What would you like to do now?"
Luna looked out over the ocean, "You said that there were other regions out there. May I... See them?"
Giratina stared at her for a moment, "You mean, you wish to visit the other regions, such as Kanto, Johto, and Honenn?"
Luna nodded, "I would like that very much."
"Oh! Oh!" Shaymin squealed, "I wanna go too! Oh pretty please please please?"
Giratina rolled his eyes, "I don't have much of a choice, do I?"
Shaymin squealed again and jumped on Giratina's back with Luna quickly following.
"You don't mind carrying us to the other regions, do you?" She asked quickly.
"Not at all," Giratina replied, "It will be a much quicker trip if we take the Distortion World as a shortcut. Space doesn't work the same as in this world."
"Oh. Let us do that!"
Giratina promptly made a portal in the ocean before leaping into it, leaving the Sinnoh region behind.
Arceus' eyes shot open as he stood up suddenly. His surroundings had changed from the darkness of the cave to pure darkness. There was absolutely nothing in this void, not even a bit of light. With his breath quickening, Arceus scanned the void. He then saw a familiar blue creature clad in metallic armor. Despite the darkness, Arceus could see him clearly: his son, and the Lord of Time, Dialga. He was knocked out and lying on his stomach with his head between his giant paws.
A relived sigh escaped Arceus, "Oh, Dialga." He then ran to the temporal pokémon, looking over his body. Dialga seemed fine, for there were no visible wounds on his body. Dialga... Had he suffered the same thing that Arceus had suffered? He hoped that the great pokémon of time would awaken soon and tell Arceus how he had gotten here.
Arceus' prayers were answered, as Dialga's eyes fluttered open, the red irises glowing among a sea of black. Turning his large, metallic-plated head towards the alpha pokémon, those same eyes widen with surprise.
"Father!" Cried Dialga, tackling his father affectionately, startling Arceus greatly. He had forgotten how affectionate Dialga was, despite his steely appearances.
"Oh Dialga," Arceus sighed, now on his back as Dialga stood over him, smiling like the big goof he was, "What has happened?"
Dialga's expression became grim, "Me, my brother, and Suicune were attacked by a strange creature that called himself by the name of... Discord. He took my and Suicune's powers with these strange... Chains."
Arceus' eyes widened in surprise, "Chains? Did they so happen to be golden in color?"
"Yes! How did you know?" Dialga asked.
Arceus looked down, "My son, I was attacked by those same chains. My own brother had sent them, kidnapped me, then sent me to the Distortion World. I do not know where we are now."
"So it's true," Dialga began, "Giratina has betrayed us once again. He has sided with the creature that attacked us."
Arceus seemed curious, "This creature, he called himself Discord? How was he able to defeat you?"
"Yes," Dialga answered, "He said he had stolen your powers and made a gesture to some red chains hanging around his neck. Father, he was unlike anything I have ever seen! He had many different body parts of many different pokémon, as if someone had created a patchworked doll and it came to life!"
Arceus seemed troubled, "Discord... I know who he is. I know him very well."
"You do?" Dialga asked excitedly, "Father, who is he? What... What is he?"
"I have no time to explain." Arceus replied. He looked around the void, "Where is Suicune?"
"I am over here!" A voice called out. Out of the void came the blue beast of the winds, a worried expression on her face, "Lord Arceus, it is good to see you are okay."
"As to you as well," Arceus replied, turning back to Dialga, "What about Palkia?"
"He escaped," Dialga replied, "Barely."
This seemed to please Arceus, "Then there may still be some hope. Maybe I can contact Palkia. I know of someone who can help us."
Both Dialga and Suicune's eyes lit up with excitement.
"Great!" Dialga cheered, "Then we can get out of here faster."
"Are you sure about that?"
Arceus, Dialga, and Suicune tensed, hearing the additional voice within the void. They looked around, trying to pinpoint where the voice was coming from.
"Lord Arceus!" Suicune cried, "It is the beast that attacked us at Spear Pillar!"
"Pfft... You're the one to talk..."
With a flash of light came the patchworked beast that Suicune spoke about. He stood there with a smug smile on his face, three links of red chains now hanging around his neck.
Arceus pawed the ground aggressively, "You."
Discord only chuckled at Arceus' threatening stance, "Me."
"Father..." Dialga began, but Arceus cut him off.
"I don't know what you're doing here in the pokémon world, nor what you are planning, but you best leave before you force me to do something rash."
His opponent only scoffed, "You can't do anything to me, god-llama! I've got your powers, your son's powers, and your granddaughter's powers!"
"How dare you speak about father in that way!" Dialga roared, "No one address him that way!"
"Dialga, no!" Cried Arceus.
Already, Dialga started to charge, nearly two tons of steel hurtling towards Discord, who only continued to smirk. Dialga prepared to collide with his target, only to stop short and slam into something solid. He backed up, discovering a force field between himself and Discord.
"Please," The multi-beast laughed, "Though your attempts are very amusing, I'm afraid I've got other things to do. I only popped in to make sure you were doing alright!"
"Stop this madness at once!" Arceus commanded in a tone that made both Dialga and Suicune flinch.
"Uh-huh..." Discord shot back, "I like madness, and I'd rather not stop it. If you'll please excuse me, I have my new powers to test! Ooooh! Think of the chaos!"
With that, he disappeared, leaving Arceus, Dialga, and Suicune alone in the void.
Dialga was the first to speak, "Father... How do you know him?"
Arceus only shook his head, "I haven't the time to tell you, my son. For now, I must focus on contacting your brother."
