Ay, what do you know? Another month went by.
A few announcements.
1. I have figured out a way to be more productive so chapters should come out sooner. Let's see if I actually follow up on that promise.
2. Don't be afraid to leave a review, again, so long as it's actually valuable and not just a one sentence thing or something mean spirited. Criticism is welcomed, but I ask that it be polite. In my experience, this typically makes it easier for me to respond to issues.
At any rate, enjoy.
Chapter Sixteen: Yveltal, Cunning God of Death.
A tense stare off was currently taking place. The attacker, TDA, the one who wanted to forge a new world, and his draconic friend, Giratina, the one cast aside by Arceus, stared down their foes. Yveltal, God of Death, placed a protective wing in front of his human, Clovis.
"State your business, demon." Yveltal said aggressively to his attackers. This probably wasn't the best idea because they significantly outmatched the Bird God in power at the present time. Giratina let out a frustrated growl at the use of the word demon, but TDA put a hand to him.
"Easy now, Giratina. Their words mean nothing to us. He's clearly trying to spite us like that Lugia human did." He said. TDA turned toward Yveltal. "You know why I'm here, unless you really are that ignorant of your fellow Legendaries fates. Give me the orb, and I will walk away without bothering you further." He added. Yveltal let out a snort.
"And if I don't comply?" He said, laughing. It turns out that it was actually TDA who had the right to laugh in this situation.
"I have no issue killing you right here. I already plan to do it anyway once we take control of this universe. I might as well get it out of the way now if you choose to be uncooperative." TDA said smugly. Yveltal grunted.
"What's the point in cooperating if you're just going to kill me anyway?" Yveltal asked mockingly.
"A few extra weeks or months of life. And I guess I could kill Xerneas for you? I'm pretty sure I read that you two hate each other." TDA said. Yveltal simply shook his head, annoyed.
"Where did you humans get that silly little idea? So often I see your cultures portray Death as standing in opposition to Life, when that is not the true nature of things." Yveltal said.
"Then enlighten me, bird." TDA challenged.
"Life and Death are lovers, more intertwined than any sort of mortal pairing. Life sends Death gifts, and Death keeps them forever. In return, Death gives even more gifts to Life, and the cycle repeats itself." Yveltal said. TDA donned a slight smile.
"A metaphor then? So what you're basically saying is that the death of an organism allows new life to rise, as other organisms feed on the remains. Then, when those organisms die, their bodies are consumed by others, and the cycle continues?" TDA said. Yveltal nodded.
"That's more or less what I am saying." Yveltal said. TDA let out a frustrated grunt and his gaze hardened.
"So then, is that what Arceus thinks? That death is a necessary process? That the death of an innocent being is justified if it sustains others? Bullshit! Is that what he thought when…!" TDA stopped himself, before letting out a frustrated yell. "Arg! It doesn't matter! In our new world, the righteous will get to choose when they want to die. No longer will their lives, their loved ones, everything they care about being taken from them so easily!" You know what? Fuck it. I'm going to kill you right here, right now, as a symbol of the just conquering death." TDA said with conviction. Yveltal adopted a battle stance. He was done with this insolent humans rambling. He would put an end to this no matter what.
"Then so be it! Clovis, come to me!" Yveltal yelled. Clovis nodded and ran to her avian companion. With a few quick movements and a flash of light, the two beings fused together. When the light settled, it seemed that only Clovis stood there. However, brilliant red wings burst from her back, horns sprouted from her head, and her eyes became the deep blue that Yveltal usually sported. TDA recoiled slightly.
"Hm, so you can fuse too…" TDA began to grow nervous. The last time an enemy fused on him it caused him significant problems and a broken leg. Yveltal also had a type advantage on Giratina, which complicated matters. But he couldn't turn back now, and Giratina was still vastly superior to Yveltal. He resolved to attack. "Fine then. We can deal with that." TDA snapped his fingers and Giratina scooped him up and placed him on his back.
The fusion of Yveltal and Clovis took this as a sign to attack, and let out a loud, avian screech. It charged forward, intending to strie Giratina, but the antimatter dragon simply teleported behind the fusion, striking them in the back with a tentacle. The fusion was knocked to the ground but quickly recovered and fired a blast of dark energy at Giratina.
"Shit!" TDA yelled as Giratina quickly flew out of the way.
"Fear not, for I know what I am doing." Giratina said reassuringly to TDA. Giratina began to fly higher into the sky. "Don't you remember? I have that one move no other Pokemon has." Giratina began to cloak himself in a shadowy cloud. "None can escape it, and these individuals are no different." The cloud surrounding them began to become more opaque. "Hold on tight!" Giratina said as the cloud began to overtake the pair.
"Shadow Force!"
Within an instant the duo vanished. The fusion stood there, confused. Had they fled? Had they realized they were no match for such a fusion? Before it could process another thought, Giratina seemed to burst out of the fabric of reality itself, shattering it like class. Within that instant, he struck the fusion with all of his tentacles, sending it flying several meters.
The fusion struggled to get up, but it was far too weak to even stay together. It came apart and the constituent entities were separated. By that time, Giratina and TDA had already caught up to them. Noticing this, Yveltal moved to grab Clovis and fly off, but he was too late.
TDA did a motion with his hands, and Giratina impaled Yveltal with his tentacles. The tentacles pierced through his feather covered skin, and then his soft, fleshy organs. Yveltal let out a bird like screech that pierced the night sky. TDA was almost certain the screech could be heard several kilometers from here. He grinned and laughed to himself as Giratina shoved the tentacles further in, causing Yveltal to emit more screeches of pain. He relished this, as did his companion. He would have to make sure to do this to every Legendary from here on out, make them suffer all the pain they caused him and Giratina. Clovis looked on in horror as her companion was dismembered.
Once Giratina had felt that Yveltal's insides were sufficiently mashed, he removed his tentacles from the bird. Yvetlal promptly collapsed to the floor like a dead weight. Clovis let out a scream of horror.
"Hey, Giratina?" TDA asked his draconic friend.
"Yes?" He replied.
"If I remember correctly from my studies, when Yveltal dies it absorbs the life force of any living entity around it, then sleeps in a cocoon to rejuvenate. Think it'll happen here?" He said. As if on cue, a purple energy started appearing around the Death Bird.
"Yes. Don't worry, I will not allow him to absorb yours. I shall protect you." Giratina said, wrapping his tentacles around TDA and placing him close to his body, then turned away from the bird. "Fear not, for he can not absorb my life force. I am leagues above his power." Giratina added.
The purple energy began to connect with any living thing in the vicinity, save for Giratina and TDA, the latter being protected by the former. One of the beings the energy connected to was Clovis, which caused the girl to panic.
"Yveltal! What are you doing!?" She yelled and frantically stood up.
"I… I can't… control it…" Yveltal said solemnly. Clovis panicked more as she felt the life force starting to leave her.
"Yveltal… Try to fight it…! Don't let me die…!" Clovis said, becoming weaker. Yveltal no longer had the energy to respond. The Bird of Death could only think "I'm sorry…" As he unwillingly absorbed the life of his companion.
Giratina, meanwhile, was deriving immense satisfaction from this sight, and TDA certainly would if he were able to see it. The scene of two servants of Arceus meeting their demise in such a slow fashion filled him with that hollow yet intoxicating feeling of revenge, even if he could not technically see it due to Giratina's body blocking his view. He knew it would only be so much better when he and his companion would do it to Arceus.
Clovis, in a last ditch effort for some sort of salvation, looked to Giratina. "H...Help… me… please…" She begged as the last of her life force was absorbed into Yveltal. Her body collapsed to the ground, her eyes lifeless and her face filled with fear.
As for Yveltal, a hard layer of… something started to form around him, taking the shape of a cocoon. The Death God no longer had the energy to react to anything, and accepted his fate as the cocoon fully encased him, putting him into a deep slumber until his body managed to recover.
With the matter settled, Giratina cast a glance at TDA. "Well, I suppose we'll have to retrieve the orb the old fashioned way." Giratina muttered. His eyes began to glow a bright red. "I will see if I can sense where its located." He added.
TDA did not respond. He looked at the cocoon with disdain, glad that the God of Death would trouble him no further. By the time he regenerated a new body, the universe will have long since been remade. And by then, there will be no more Legendaries to speak of. His eyes shifted over to the dead girl, and his expression softened. That same feeling he felt when he and Giratina killed Damian, a feeling of light regret. He shook his head. He shouldn't be feeling this, they were dirty servants of Arceus after all! But… wasn't it always the Legendaries that chose the humans, not the other way around? What if these people had simply been indoctrinated into Arceus' disgusting design, just as he once was? Did that make it right to kill them, if they can conceivably be converted?
"I sense you are troubled." Giratina said with concern. TDA put an arm to his head.
"I guess I just have second thoughts about killing the humans. I am perfectly fine with killing these gods, but the humans are kind of… indoctrinated. The Legendaries choose them and integrate them into Arceus' plan, and they never really get a say." He lamented. Giratina didn't speak for a moment, seemingly considering this himself.
"I agree that this is a rather troubling thing to consider. But if you were to ask my opinion, I doubt it would be worth it to ponder the consequences of this for too long. Indoctrinated or not, these humans are servants of Arceus. We don't have the time to reason with them and overturn everything they've been told about Arceus and his creation. As bad as it may be, we must kill a few so the many can benefit." Giratina said. TDA nodded.
"Yes, you're right. I don't know what came over me there." He replied. Giratina didn't reply, but instead directed his attention back to locating the orb. A few seconds later, he announced to TDA that he had found it.
"It's inside the cave that Yveltal and the human flew out of. It's fairly deep within the cave, but with the orb's guardians out of the way, we shouldn't have much trouble retrieving it." Giratina said. TDA nodded in approval.
"Good, good. Let's just grab it and go. I don't want to be here any longer than I have to."
…
It was the middle of the night, and most of my group had been asleep for hours. But I couldn't sleep, so I sat outside Xerneas' den, eyeing the stars. It kind of reminded me of that fateful night, where Reshiram had chosen me to be her partner. It felt like such a long time ago, even though it was only a month or so. I couldn't pinpoint why exactly I came out here. Perhaps it was the stress of an imminent attack from TDA, or the fact I was almost frozen by an empowered Weavile, or that I was still unsure how I felt about all of this? It was probably a combination of all three.
Come to think of it, this was one of the only opportunities I'd had to reflect since becoming Reshiram's partner. The second we entered a partnership, I had to choose a starter Pokemon, stop a sex trafficking operation, and fight TDA twice (though I would hardly consider our first encounter a fight due to how quickly we were beaten). Then after that, I rigorously trained my Pokemon with Sarah for around a week, with hardly any breaks. It was only now, in a Legendary forest under a starlit sky, kilometers from civilization, that I had any time to truly think on my situation.
But out of everything I've experienced, one thing stuck out like a sore thumb. What Arceus did to Tranchant, and all the other souls that defied him, was beyond disturbing. No one deserves to suffer for eternity. I couldn't even think of any reason for Tranchant to be lying, and he seemed quite sincere and terrified as he told his story. All my life, I'd been told that Arceus was an all loving being, but this seemed to conflict with that idea. I'd already thought about talking to Reshiram about it but there was no easy way to inject it into a conversation.
As I was mulling over these thoughts, I heard something exiting Xerneas' den. Surprised, I snapped my head to look at the source of the noise, worried it might be Tranchant or some other threat. However, it was only Sarah.
"Yo, what are you doing up so late…?" Sarah said groggily, wiping her eyes. I could only laugh nervously.
"Hehe… Uh, I guess I just needed some time to think." I said. Sarah nodded and looked like she was about to go back to bed, but I couldn't let her leave just yet. I needed someone to air my problems out to.
"Wait!" I yelled. Sarah turned back around.
"What do you want?" She groaned. I paused for a moment. Should I really trouble her with this? No, I had to talk about this with someone, and she'd have to do.
"I… I've just been thinking about some things and I think I need to talk about it with someone. If that's ok with you?" I asked with admittedly a little more confidence than usual. Sarah seemed to think about it for a moment before deciding to sit next to me.
"Fine, whatever. I'll listen to whatever you've got on your mind." Sarah replied. I smiled at this uncharacteristic gesture of kindness from her.
"Ok, so you remember when Tranchant was talking about his experiences in the afterlife? How he was in constant pain because he stood against Arceus?" I asked. Sarah nodded.
"Yeah, that was actually pretty disturbing. Kinda hard to forget that, especially since it happened like earlier today." Sarah replied.
"Well it's been bothering me… Not just because it's disturbing to think about, but also because it has several implications on Arceus' nature. I can't speak for you, but I've always been told that Arceus is an all loving deity. But what kind of all loving deity would condemn anyone, no matter how bad, to eternal suffering?" I asked. Sarah's face changed into a more serious, contemplative expression. A moment passed before she replied.
"I'm going to be honest here. Those two aspects of Arceus are completely irreconcilable. If Tranchant was telling the truth, and it really looked like he was, then Arceus is not the omnibenevolent being everyone passes him off to be." Sarah said bluntly. This was not the response I wanted to hear. I... I thought carefully about what I wanted to say next.
"Then… Might TDA actually have a point, at least somewhat?" Sarah's eyes widened with shock. This was the response I had expected from her.
"Come on, Marcus. You're not going to go that far, are you?" Sarah said. I shrugged in an attempt to seem collected. However, I was freaking out on the inside.
"That's the thing… I don't know. On the one hand, I don't think that his methods are justified, but on the other, maybe his heart is in the right place? Maybe something does need to be changed." I replied. Sarah donned a concerned expression.
"Even if he does have a point, is overthrowing the entire pantheon really the way to do it? From what I saw of him in the Johto battle, he seemed pretty sincere in his ambitions… but he did kill that one guy and tried to kill all of us as well. Even if he has a perfect vision for the world, do we really want someone who's probably at least a little nuts running the show?" Sarah asked. I stopped to consider this for a moment. What she said had a point. But maybe TDA doesn't have to be killed. Maybe we can try to redeem him? I didn't bring this up to Sarah though.
"You have a point… I don't know what came over me. I guess all of this has been getting to my head." I replied. Sarah nodded.
"I may not show it as much as you, but it's stressing me out a little too. I try not to think about it." She said. Neither of us spoke for a few moments. Sarah was the one to reinitiate the conversation. "Hey, if all of this deity stuff is bothering you, why don't you talk to Reshiram about it?" She asked. I scratched the back of my head.
"I guess it would just be weird? I'm supposed to be working with Reshiram to protect Arceus' design, so wouldn't it be rude to question it?" I asked. Sarah chuckled a bit.
"I've questioned Arceus all the time with Zekrom! And he's so grumpy all the time. I'm sure someone as calm as Reshiram could be willing to answer a question about Arceus' creation." Sarah said.
"Yeah… Maybe I should talk to her about it." I replied.
"I also think that's part of our goal as Legendary Humans. I think we're supposed to like learn about all this divine shit right from the sources. After all, we're like the only people that ever get to talk with the Legendaries in person." Sarah said. This made me feel better. I really felt like I should talk about this with Reshiram without fear of repercussion.
"Yeah, I really should just talk to her. Besides Zekrom, she's the only one that actually has seen Arceus. For that matter, you, her, and Zekrom are really the only people I can talk to about this. Our Pokemon aren't necessarily caught up on Legendary matters." I said, chuckling a little at the last line.
Neither of us said anything for a few minutes. Eventually, Sarah stood up and started heading back into the den. "Good talk, Marcus. Glad I could help you with your problem, but I'm so fucking tired. G'night." She said, leaving me outside and with a lot to reflect on.
I knew that I'd have to talk to Reshiram, but I decided I'd do it after we'd wrapped up business with Xerneas. I didn't want to get her involved with this. So I sat outside a little while longer, before retiring to bed. As I walked back into my room, a thought popped into my head.
"I knew she said things would be intense… but I never expected this."
Said everything I wanted to above.
See you next time!