Chapter 35
The End Part 1
DJ and Katara collapsed in a heap the second they met solid ground, their stomach churning. "A little warning would have been appreciated," DJ groaned.
"As I said, time is of the essence," Mewtwo responded coolly. "Do get up. We must hurry if we are to stop Arceus."
With another set of groans, DJ and Katara shakily made their way to their feet. Allowing a second for their world to stop spinning, the duo opened their eyes and surveyed their surroundings. Twin gasps escaped them as the colossal structure before them.
Mewtwo had apparently teleported them to a pristine path, made of what appeared to be white marble with gold inlays, leading up to a large rounded building. It too was made of a white marble and had a similar shape to the coliseum, but more than twice its size with several pointed pillars around the rim. Said pillars were gold and were pointed towards the other, making them look like a single spire. There appeared to be a single entrance in the form of a large, gilded arch about half the size of the building.
The bright building seemed to glow with its own life, making it stand out even against the night sky. It would have been a beautiful sight had it not been for the large pillar of dark energy shooting out of the structure, forming a swirling dark cloud filled with crackling purple energy above it.
"What is this place?" Katara asked in awe.
"The very top of Mount Marvel, more specifically, the Hall of Origins," Mewtwo answered. "Arceus' domain.
"Incredible," Katara gaped.
"You can admire the structure all you want when all this is said and done," Mewtwo clipped, an annoyed look in his eye.
Katara looked slightly affronted and opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when DJ put a reassuring paw on her arm. "He's right Katara," DJ soothed. "We need to get this done."
Katara glanced at her friend before sighing and nodding her head. "Right," she grumbled begrudgingly.
"Also," Mewtwo added, looking at DJ, "I would recommend staying in your mega evolution state. We'll be going up against the god of our world, we cannot afford to pull any punches."
DJ nodded in assent before his expression became thoughtful. "What about you?"
"Hmm?"
"You're more damaged than us," DJ pointed out. "How are you supposed to achieve mega evolution again in your state?"
Mewtwo just lifted a brow. With a flick of his hand several sitrus berries appeared out of thin air. Still keeping eye contact, the psychic type devoured one of the berries with in two swift and elegant bites. Not a second later, his injuries began to heal at a fast pace.
"Okay, I get it. No need to be smug," DJ huffed, rolling his eyes.
A ghost of a smile flickered across Mewtwo's face before he became serious once more. "Your shining aura. Can you activate it at will?" he asked.
DJ frowned, glancing down at his paws. "Before, I had to be in dire straits for it to activate. But since I fought my darkness..." DJ frowned in concentration. A second later, a familiar burst of shimmering blue aura flickered around his paw before extinguishing, "it feels like I can control it."
"Hmm," Mewtwo hummed. "It might be do to your darkness no longer trying to take over you soul. From what I understand, it was your shining aura that protected you from the darkness' influence."
"I guess that makes sense," DJ muttered.
"Quite. Now if there are no more questions..." Mewtwo trailed off, his eyes becoming unfocused. An Awkward silence ensued, prompting Katara to step up and poke Mewtwo.
"Uh, Mewtwo?"
This seemed to jolt the psychic type back into reality as he snapped his head towards the Greninja. "Hmm?"
"Are you okay?" Katara asked warily.
"...yes. I'm fine," Mewtwo said after a second of silence. "I'm merely...psyching myself up, or whatever the saying is, for this fight."
"Okay, if you're sure," Katara said, still looking unsure. Seemingly shrugging her thoughts aside, she turned towards the structure. "Then let's go."
Mind made up, Katara walked determinedly towards the Hall of Origins. DJ made to follow when a voice rang out in his head. "DJ."
The Lucario jumped in surprise, looking around wildly. "Huh?"
"Don't speak aloud. Simply speak through your thoughts," the voice chided. "It is I, Mewtwo."
"Mewtwo?" DJ mentally asked, looking at the psychic type. "What is it?"
"There is something that I wanted to address to you without your friend knowing," Mewtwo responded. "It's about the solution to stopping the dark wells."
"What about it?" DJ asked curiously. DJ was confused as to why the legendary was bringing this up now after he had clearly expressed the need to make haste.
"As I previously stated, the central dark well that resides within the Hall of Origins is the connecting joint to the rest of the wells. This means that if the central well were to be cut off, it would be like cutting off the water to a hose. The other wells will deactivate," Mewtwo explained.
"Okay, following you so far," DJ responded.
A somber expression crossed the legendary's face. "The only way to stop the dark wells...is to seal them. The same goes for the central well."
"Seal them?" DJ questioned, not understanding what Mewtwo was saying. A sudden image of another former human flashed in DJ's mind and his eyes widened. "You mean...?"
"Yes," Mewtwo answered, even his mental voice sounding grim. "In order to stop the dark wells and stop our world from being consumed by darkness, you must give up your life and seal the dark well."
DJ's eyes widened in horrified realization. Was what Mewtwo was saying true? Was the only way to save the world was to give up his life? All these thoughts stampeded through the former human's mind as he tried to grasp and come to terms with what the legendary had just told him.
Mewtwo regarded the Lucario with an almost pitying look. "I don't tell you this to guilt you into doing this, after all, it is your life at stake, the final decision is yours," he said, turning towards the hall. "I simply thought that you should know the solution to our problem. I also believed that you would prefer for your friend to not know of this. Do with this information what you will."
With his piece said, Mewtwo floated along the path after Katara, leaving DJ to stew in his thoughts.
DJ stood stock still, his gaze still where Mewtwo had been standing. His mind was a mess. He had been in life or death situations before, but he had never been in a situation where his life was guaranteed to be forfeit. Was he ready to put himself in such a situation? Could he really willingly give up his life?
"DJ!" The Lucario's less than happy thoughts were broken by the sound of his friend calling him. He turned and saw Katara standing a few yards away, a reassuring and determined smile gleaming in the night. "Come on. Let's do this. Let's save the world!"
DJ looked at his friend, feeling her determination through their bond. They had been through so much, so many hardships and challenges, and they had always come out on top, but not this time. Regardless of the outcome of the battle, there would be loss, but as DJ looked into Katara's eyes, he felt something lighten in him. If he was to die, then he would want it to be defending something he loved, the people he loved.
With his mind made up and a determined fire burning in his belly, DJ nodded. "Right. Let's do this!"
DJ marched resolutely towards the hall, Katara falling in step beside him. Katara shot him a small reassuring smile which DJ quickly returned. Regardless of what happened, this would be the last adventure DJ would have with his friend.
-Legend-
The moment the trio stepped past the large archway, an almost physical weight pressed down upon them. Danger seemed to waft over them, carried along by the cold wind that blew past them from some unknown force. DJ, being the most sensitive to such things, stumbled slightly, his breathing becoming shallow and harsh. From the corner of his eye, DJ noticed Katara's look of worry and was quick to bury his discomfort and push forward. Mewtwo too noticed DJ's discomfort, but chose not to mention it. He instead gave a short nod to the Lucario and continued down the short, yet incredibly tall, hallway.
At the other end of the hallway, DJ could see the beginning of a large and what appeared to be a spacious room. The walls were white marble with various colored tiles arranged into various images, several of which the two guild members recognized.
"That's Mew!" Katara exclaimed, pointing at a series of pink titles.
"Cobalion, Keldeo, and the others," DJ muttered looking at another section of the wall that depicted all the Swords of Justice. "These are all legendaries."
"Correct," Mewtwo said. "The Hall of Origins, along with being Arceus' domain, is sacred place for all legendaries as it is where we all originated."
"Really?" Katara asked in amazement, her gaze still traveling along the wall. "Hey, who are these two?"
DJ followed his friend's gaze and took note of two images that he could not identify. One appeared to be a white lion plastered against a yellow sun and the other a dark blue bat, similarly stationed against a moon.
Mewtwo glanced at the tile pictures with an unreadable expression before saying. "There are still many secrets in this world that have yet to be discovered. Now hurry up! There is no time to waste!"
With one last look at the strange tiles, DJ and Katara followed Mewtwo into the large room.
Like the rest of the building, the room was made up of white tile. As DJ first guessed, the room was incredibly spacious with more than an acre of free space within. Up and down the rounded walls were large stain glass windows, each depicting the legendaries, or group of legendaries, stationed above or around other Pokémon, seemingly serving as protectors to them. On the floor was a large engraved cross-like wheel, made up of a small circle with four spikes jutting out diagonally from the circle with large half-circles bracketing the center. Each segment where the spikes met the half-circles were large emeralds.
Much like when they saw the structure from the outside, the beautiful sigh was ruined by a single item that was out of place. In the center of the room, situated directly in the smaller circle of the cross wheel, was a dark well, or rather, what looked like a dark well. Unlike the others that the two guild members had encountered, this one was almost double their size. All along the stonework of the massive well were a series of strange symbols that glowed with the same dark purple light as the energy that the well was releasing.
"Is that...?" Katara asked, her voice trailing off.
"Yes," Mewtwo answered. "This is the central well."
"It's huge!" Katara exclaimed, walking towards the well, getting to the outer rim of the cross wheel's inner circle.
Before DJ could call out to his friend, the space in front of her flashed purple. Katara let out a sharp cry of pain as she was forcibly thrown backwards. The water-dark type was flung several feat backwards, landing in a crumpled heap, groaning in pain.
"Katara!" DJ shouted, rushing to her side.
"Ugh. What happened?" Katara groaned, slightly dazed. DJ helped her sit up, giving her full view of the well which now had an opaque purple shield that surrounded the well before disappearing. "What the hell is that."
"Fool," Mewtwo hissed. "All of the dark wells are protected by a field of negative energy that protect the well from harm. When the well is activated, that field becomes a physical shield. Only one that possesses the same or opposite power, like DJ, can even get close!"
"Sorry," Katara apologized bashfully. A look of confusion then crossed her features. "Wait, if only someone consumed by the darkness or someone with shining aura can get near the well, how do you plan to stop the well?" she asked Mewtwo.
Mewtwo was saved from answering when a deep voice rang out. "HE WON'T."
There was a bright flash of light before a large Pokémon appeared in front of the trio. The Pokémon appeared equine and was primarily black with a dark gray, vertically-striated underside. The underside of its relatively short tail, mane-like crest on its head, and his face had the same pattern. It had four-pointed feet that looked to have been dipped in silver, forming hooves. A cross wheel, the same pattern as the one on the floor, except silver in color with rubies in the segments, rested around his abdomen. He had a streak of silver was on its head and his ears pointed upwards. The Pokémon's neck was long with two pairs of extrusions on either side. Its eyes were a bright ruby red with pin point black pupils.
The Pokémon stared down at the trio with a lofty air surrounding him. "NONE SHALL STOP THE WELL'S PROGRESS." The same voice as before rang out once more, this time almost as if directly projected into their minds. Even so, it was clear who was talking.
"Arceus," Mewtwo muttered, glaring up at the large Pokémon, a bead of sweat running down the side of his face.
"This...This is Arceus?" DJ asked, fear creeping into his voice. "The power coming off of him...it's like nothing I've ever felt before! It's suffocating!"
"I guess it comes as no surprise," Katara said, a nervous grin on her face. "He is supposed to be the god of our world."
"YOU KNOW WHO I AM, YET YOU STILL COME IN HOPES TO DEFEAT ME? HOW FOOLISH," Arceus stated coldly. Arceus gaze then turned to his fellow legendary. "I EXPECTED MORE FROM YOU, MEWTWO. DO YOU NOT SEE THAT THIS IS THE ONLY WAY?"
"All I know is that what your doing will cause life as we know it to end!" Mewtwo shouted back, his glare intensifying. "What purpose could you hope to achieve by destroying what you yourself have created?!"
"IT IS BECAUSE I CREATED THIS WORLD THAT I MUST END IT," Arceus said.
"What do you mean by that?" Katara asked, surprised over Arceus' words. The alpha Pokémon turned towards Katara, his gaze reminiscent of how one would look at a speck of dirt.
"FOR CENTURIES, I HAVE WATCHED MY CREATIONS GROW INTO DISGUSTINGLY TWISTED IMITATIONS OF WHAT I HAD FIRST CREATED," Arceus explained as if he did not just insult every Pokémon. "I HATED IT. EVERYTHING THAT I HAD CREATED HAD BECOME EVERYTHING THAT I HATED. I COULD NO LONGER GO ON SEEING THIS WORLD, THIS MONSTROSITY THAT I HAD CREATED. IT WAS ONLY RECENTLY THAT I REALIZED HOW I COULD FIX MY MISTAKE."
"The dark wells," DJ exclaimed in realization.
"EXACTLY." Arceus regarded the Lucario with strange look. "YOU ARE NOT ONE OF MY CREATIONS, BUT YOU STINK OF MY MISTAKES. DO NOT WORRY, SOON YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE WILL BE PURE ONCE MORE."
"Pure?" DJ questioned.
"THE DARK WELLS, WHEN ACTIVATED, WILL RELEASE THE DARKNESS THAT HAS BUILT UP OVER THE YEARS AND COVER THE WORLD, TURNING MAKING EVERY LIVING THING CHANGE LIKE ME," the legendary explained. "ALL WILL ONCE MORE BE LIKE ME IN IMAGE. ALL WILL BE PERFECT."
"That's crazy!" Katara exclaimed. "You want to infect everyone with negative energy! How can that be a good thing?!"
The Pokémon god sneered at the Greninja. "WHO ARE YOU TO QUESTION YOUR GOD?"
Katara instinctively gulped at the cold tone, but refused to back down. "I'm someone who refuses to let their world be swallowed up by darkness!" she shouted, glaring up at the legendary.
Arceus silently gazed at the ninja Pokémon, an unreadable expression on his face. After a couple minutes of tense silence, the alpha Pokémon spoke. "THEN, IF YOU INSIST ON STOPPING ME, YOU SHALL BE DESTROYED."
The trio immediately tensed at those words. The air seemed to become electrified as the power that was emanating from the Arceus suddenly turned deadly.
"He's far more gone than I first anticipated," Mewtwo said as he mega evolved. "The constant exposure to the central well must have twisted his mind."
"What does that mean for us?" Katara asked, forming a night slash blade.
"It means that we'll need to beat him like all the other legendaries," DJ grunted, summoning a bone staff.
"Not as eloquently as I would have said it, but yes, that's the gist of it," Mewtwo said. "Prepare yourselves. This will be the hardest battle you two have ever took part in."
The duo nodded in confirmation and turned back to the legendary, preparing themselves for the battle of their lives. Arceus, seeing the trio's readiness to face him, stomped on the ground and let loose a loud cry that physically shook the room. This served as the unspoken signal as the trio of DJ, Katara, and Mewtwo all leapt at the legendary.
...but it was all for naught.
Mewtwo struck first, flying up right towards Arceus' face. His eyes flashed blue and he sent out a wave of psychic energy at the alpha Pokémon in the form of a powerful psystrike attack. Just as the attack was about to land, Arceus' silver cross wheel shifted to a very dark purple almost black color. Mewtwo's attack then hit but glided harmlessly off of the legendary like water off of oil.
Mewtwo's eyes widened in shock, seeing his attack do nothing against the god Pokémon. Said legendary seemed to smirk at the smaller Pokémon's shocked expression. Before the psychic type could react, a blast of closely condensed dark rings shout out from where Arceus' mouth should have been. Unable to even utter a cry of shock, the dark pulse met its mark and Mewtwo was sent crashing to the ground.
"He's a dark type?!" Katara asked in surprise, seeing Mewtwo's attack do nothing.
"That works out!" DJ shouted, forming an aura sphere and hurling it towards the legendary.
Like with Mewtwo's attack, Arceus' cross wheel changed color, this time becoming a lighter purple with a reddish tint. The aura sphere met its mark and burst upon impact with a small explosion. When the smoke cleared, Arceus was still standing unfazed. DJ's attack had done no damage to the legendary.
"What?!" DJ gawked. "It didn't do anything!"
"But that would make him part ghost type," Katara reasoned.
"YES. IT WOULD," Arceus said, his non-existent grin clear in his voice. Without another word, the legendary swung his head as if he was about to headbutt something. At the same time a violent purple wind kicked up around the legendary and rushed towards the duo.
Unable to react in time, the duo were caught up in the ominous wind attack. They both cried out in pain as they were picked up and flung back like rag dolls in a hurricane. When they were finally thrown out of the range of Arceus' attack, Katara, being the more agile of the two, managed to right herself and land on her feet.
Using her momentum from the fall, Katara launched herself back into the air using bounce. She almost reached the lip of the hall's when she began to fall, aiming both her feet towards the legendary, her decent amplified from the flying type move.
Arceus looked up at Greninja hurtling at him, his expression blank and his demeanor calm. At the last second, his cross wheel flashed once more, this time becoming a dirt brown color. Katara slammed into the legendary's forehead with enough force to cause a visible ripple of air to emanate from the point of impact. Despite the powerful impact, Arceus' head hardly dipped.
Katara's attack seemed to do at least a little bit of damage, but not enough to cause a flinch to cross the god's face. Katara's eyes widened in steadily growing horror as she realized that her attack had done nothing. She tried to kick off the legendary, but Arceus was far faster than she was.
Two glowing rings appeared around Arceus', interlacing with one another. The glow dimmed revealing a series of sharp stones floating around the legendary. Without warning, the stone shot towards the Greninja, smashing into her and exploding into bursts of debris.
Katara screamed in pain as she was helpless to defend against the swarm of stones. When the attack finally let up, she fell towards the ground, her body in too much pain to attempt to land on her feet. Thankfully, however, DJ jumped and caught Katara before she fell. He then quickly jumped back a ways to put some distance between him and the legendary, but Arceus made no move to stop him.
"What the hell is going on?" DJ hissed, stopping next to Mewtwo and setting Katara onto her feet. "He was a dark and ghost type, so why did Katara's attack barely do anything?"
"I don't know," Mewtwo confessed, confusion written all over his face. His eyes narrowed as Arceus' cross wheel returned to its original silver color. Several seconds later, his eyes widened and a gasp tor out of his throat. "He's changing types!"
"HOW ASTUTE OF YOU," Arceus spoke, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I GAVE RISE TO EVERY POKÉMON IN EXISTENCE. I WAS THE ONE THAT GAVE THEM THEIR TYPING. OF COURSE I CAN CHANGE MY OWN TYPING!"
"That means he can change his type to whatever gives him resistance to any attack against him!" Katara exclaimed in horrified realization.
"YOU NOW SEE THE FUTILITY OF YOUR EFFORTS," Arceus stated. "SURRENDER NOW AND I WILL ALLOW YOU TO EXPERIENCE THE UTOPIA OF MY DARKENED WORLD!"
"Not going to happen!" DJ shouted defiantly.
Arceus did not respond at first. He simply regarded the trio with a blank expression. After almost a minute of silence, Arceus seemed to sigh as if he were disappointed by the former human's response. Not a second later, the legendary roared and released a horizontal twister of bluish purple wind at the trio.
Caught off guard by the sudden attack, the trio could not move in time and the attack exploded right in front of them, sending the trio flying. However, they were quick to recover and reengage in their attack on Arceus, but, like before, it was futile.
Every attack that the threw at the legendary was rendered useless as the alpha Pokémon continued to shift his own typing. He would then attack at his own leisure, sometimes not even retaliating after an attack against him. It all served to tell the trio two things; that they were not a threat to him and that he was simply toying with them.
"Grah!" Mewtwo cried out in pain, crashing to the ground in a heap. With a hiss of pain, he got back up and glared at the alpha Pokémon, who had hardly suffered a scratch. "This isn't working! We can't beat him if we can't damage him!"
"Then we'll try something else," DJ said.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Mewtwo growled.
"This." DJ released a primal roar, a familiar glowing aura encompassing his form.
"Shining aura," Katara whispered, hope sparking in her eyes.
"WHAT IS THIS?" Arceus questioned, his eyes regarding the Lucario in a new light. "THIS POWER IS NOT ONE OF MY OWN DESIGN."
"No, it's not," DJ said before jumping at Arceus, his fist coated in white energy.
Arceus scoffed and shifted into a ghost type. "DO YOU NOT LEARN? I CAN SIMPLY SHIFT ME TYPING TO-" Whatever Arceus was going to say was cut off when DJ's attack slammed into the side of his face, snapping his head to the side.
Arceus' eyes widened in shock as pain registered across his cheek. DJ's attack had done damage.
"HOW...?" Arceus muttered.
"My shining aura adds my own aura to my attacks," DJ stated. "Because of that, my attacks have no typing!"
"I was unaware of that fact," Mewtwo muttered with a frown. "Though, now that I think back to our fight, his attacks, regardless of the type, all seemed to do quite a bit of damage."
"I always suspected, but I wasn't sure until now," Katara muttered, thinking back to DJ's other fights when he was using his shining aura.
Arceus' shocked expression soon bled away to a blank mask. "IT MATTERS NOT WHAT THIS POWER IS. YOU SHALL FALL ALL THE SAME." With that, Arceus unleashed a powerful flamethrower at the glowing Lucario.
DJ was quick to dodge the gout of flame and responded with an aura sphere, which was dodged, marking the first movement the legendary had made aside from attacking. The two Pokémon exchanged attacks at a fervent pace, neither one able to land a solid hit. Both Katara and Mewtwo stood to the side, both in awe at the display.
"He's matching Arceus' attacks," Mewtwo said in amazement. "He wasn't half this strong when he fought me!"
"That's just how DJ is," Katara stated, smiling lightly. "After every fight, he's constantly evolving and becoming stronger."
"Even so, to evolve to such a level..." Mewtwo muttered. "It's almost as if he's an entirely different Pokémon..."
Mewtwo's thoughts were stopped when Arceus suddenly roared in anger. "ENOUGH!"
Arceus' eyes flashed bright red as his cross wheel mirrored the same color. With another roar, a large ball of fire formed before him and shot out towards DJ. DJ was about to move out of the way before the ball of flames expanded into a large symbol, widening its area of effect. DJ could only gasp in surprise before the fire blast hit and exploded and fire swept across the floor.
DJ was sent flying out of the flames, his body scorched and his expression twisted in pain, and crashed to the ground, groaning in pain. Arceus stepped out of the flames, their light creating ominous shadows across the legendary's form. His cross wheel a sandy brown.
"THAT POWER OF YOURS MAY MAKE YOUR ATTACKS THEIR OWN TYPE, BUT IT OFFERS NO DEFENSE!" Arceus shouted before slamming his foot into the marble floor. The stone crack violently and a shock wave tore through the ground, sending slabs of marble flying into the air. DJ looked up just as the wave was upon him.
DJ screamed in pain as yet another super effective attack hit him. The former human was one more sent airborne before crashing into the ground. A second later, his glowing aura faded away.
"DJ!" Katara shouted, rushing to her friend's side.
"In just two hits," Mewtwo muttered in shock, awe, and fear. "Even with his shining aura, the power that was able to defeat me..." Mewtwo looked up at Arceus who still stood tall. "We can't win."
"SO YOU FINALLY REALIZE THE TRUTH," Arceus said. "REGARDLESS, IT DOES NOT MATTER. YOU STOOD AGAINST ME AND FOR THAT...YOU WILL ALL FACE JUDGEMENT!"
With his final shout, a golden orb of energy formed in front of his face. The sphere then shot into the air, stopping just at the tip of the spires. The sphere swelled in size before bursting, sending a shower of pink meteors down upon the ground and, more specifically, DJ, Katara, and Mewtwo.
The meteor smashed to the ground, each impact shaking the entire structure. Large chunks of marble and other stone were flung into the air. Dust and smoke filled the entire building, so thick that it even covered the dark energy that was being released from the central well.
Arceus stared at the billowing smoke cloud impassively, waiting for it to clear so that he could survey the damage he had caused. For several minutes Arceus waited until finally the smoke lifted enough for him to see the landscape. Almost all of the white marble was ripped from the ground and scattered into pieces and the cross wheel symbol was destroyed beyond recognition. The only thing that was not damaged was the central well, however, none of this mattered to Arceus.
The alpha Pokémon's eyes narrowed as he looked to where the trio had been before his attack had hit. When the smoke had completely cleared, the legendary was gleeful to see all three of them strewn across the ruined ground, both DJ and Mewtwo having lost their mega forms. Just as the alpha Pokémon stepped forward, all three began to feebly stir.
"STILL ALIVE," Arceus stated, his tone disinterested. "I SHOULD NOT HAVE HELD BACK MY LAST ATTACK."
DJ feebly tried to push himself to his feet, but all he was able to do was lift his head and even then he could barely do that. Mewtwo and Katara were not much better.
"What do we do now?" Katara asked weakly.
"There's nothing we can do," Mewtwo said.
"So you just want to give up?" DJ asked incredulously, wincing slightly.
"We can't win," Mewtwo gritted out. "Our ace in the hole was your shining aura and even that could do little more than scratch him. It's over."
"No, I refuse to accept that!" DJ snapped, managing to lift his torso. He immediately attempted to get up again. "I haven't come this far, fought so many battles, gone through so much pain, just to give up here! I won't give up here!"
"IT MATTERS NOT IF YOU GIVE UP OR NOT," Arceus stated blandly as he began to charge a hyper beam. "YOU ALL WILL DIE REGARDLESS."
"Then I will die on my feet!" DJ shouted, finally standing, albeit shakily. "Even when the odds are against me, I'll never stop fighting!"
Arceus said nothing, simply continuing to stare impassively at the aura Pokémon. Without so much as blinking, Arceus fired his attack.
The purple beam of energy screamed through the air, heading straight for DJ who stared at it defiantly. In the background, DJ could here Katara shouting his name, but it did not matter to DJ. He refused to back down or show fear. He would face the attack head on!"
As the attack grew closer and closer, and DJ closed his eyes in acceptance, a bright green shield erupted in front of him. The attack smashed into the shield, the hyper beam warping around the shield, carving into the ground around the trio.
"WHAT?" Arceus growled, shocked and annoyed that his attack had been blocked.
When he did not feel the attack hit him, DJ's eyes snapped open just in time to see the green shield disappear from in front of him. "What the...?"
"Don't you dare even think about giving up!" a voice shouted, causing the trio to jump and whip around. Standing at the entrance to the center hall stood nine very familiar Pokémon.
"No way," Katara whispered, hardly able to talk through her own shock.
"They're...here?" DJ asked aloud, just as shocked as Katara.
"They came here?" Mewtwo asked.
"WHO ARE YOU?" Arceus demanded, glaring at the new arrivals.
"Team Stardust," Katara muttered.