? POV:
"Don't worry young one, you may not be my son by birth, but I love you as any father would. My father left me and I refuse to see another go through the same pain I once did. I know its hard, seeing mother go, just know that I am still here." A creature covered in swirling fog spoke.
Later
"Time passes, young one. I know I told you I would be there forever, but we both have a duty. It's been twenty years since she died, son! It's more than time for you to return!" The fog was beginning, ever so slightly, to lift.
"But I loved her. YOU loved her! How can you forget about her that easily?"
"Forget? You misunderstand. It isn't that I forgot. I mourn her every day. But what option do I have? I've been taking care of the job you were supposed to begin eight years ago!"The creature's yellow helmet was revealed.
"Then just don't! Leave it to the others! You control them all, and you can tell them what to do! Why are you making yourself and me be the ones to do everything, while everyone else is able to just sit around all day and do whatever they want?"
"Dear Arceus, this is what this is all about? How dare you? This entire sector is meant for those who have had a hard life! Our sole job is to protect them and in a facade of mourning your own mother, you put your own work on others? I… I cannot possibly accept someone like you, who uses the death of their own mother to evade their responsibilities. I can't even tell anymore if you truly loved her. I hereby… I can barely even get the words from my mouth. I hereby disown you. You are no son to me. Live on your own from here on. See your blessing instead of whining for what you are missing." The fog releases to reveal a Lopunny, with a golden crown atop her head.
A young Skitty rolls his eyes and traipses away.
Later
The Skitty, all things considered, has done well for himself. Despite being kicked out from his own tribe, he lives well off of Rattata and berries. One day, however, he comes across a rather deep hole. His curiosity gets the better of him, and he leans over to see what's inside. Suddenly, he trips, falling in, and lands on its front left paw, snapping it. He cries at the pain he never felt before, having grown up with a silver spoon, even as blood pools from his leg.
Meanwhile
The Lopunny had just finished a minor skirmish with a group of Lileep that had been plaguing the forest for far too long, when an Ursaring ran up to him, wheezing from the long run.
"Sir, the Skitty you had Joltik watching has gone toward 'That place.' I got here as fast as I could on short notice."
The Lopuny gritted his teeth, and quick attacked his way to the hole. He heard the screams from the bottom and dove in without a second thought.
A powerful moonlight fixed the damage quickly, and soon, both pokemon were looking deeply into each other's eyes. Skitty broke the silence first.
"I don't understand. Why? Why heal me after disowning me, and even going so far as to kick me out of the tribe?" Lopunny was unable to answer, though, as a large orange and brown creature charged forward.
The Rhyperior's horn drill was narrowly dodged by both as Lopunny finally replied. "We'll talk later. It was never meant to be permanent." Lopunny valiantly fought the Rhyperior, using all the fighting and ice type moves he knew, but the enormous thing finally beat her down, winning by using reversal to destroy the large rabbit's spine, sending him flying into a wall. The massive drill pokemon then looked down, grinning at the Skitty, despite its grievous injuries. Skitty turned in fury, as his laziness did not mean he did not love the father he was with a decade. It leapt up, using retaliate, its new move, to crush the creature's skull, and with a sickening crunch, it fell backward.
Skitty ran over to his father in all but blood, but it was no use, as he had already died. He mourned for hours, crying over Lopunny, before his back was impaled by a spinning drill. The RHyperior's eyes were red, and its horn nearly broke the Skitty in half as it feasted on it and its earlier prey.
Meanwhile, a group of Kabutops was butchering the entire tribe of Skitty, Buneary, and Teddiursa, and it was the last thing Skitty saw, as his soul rose into the sky.
He had a brief lapse in memory, before awakening as a Duskull, inside some form of structure, with only one creature even remotely nearby. Duskull had no clue what pokemon it was, but it was certainly none he had even heard of before, standing on two legs with darkish skin and long hair on its scalp. It seemed to be a female and was wearing some sort of white vestments, similar to those of a Gardevoir.
She looked down to see the Duskull, then whistled, as a Spiritomb appeared from seemingly nowhere. She finally spoke. "Spiritomb, take this one. We haven't been able to find any ghosts lately nearby, and we can't leave here, otherwise it could escape.
The purple creature bound to a rock spoke in its gravelly voice. "I shall raise it as my own, and teach it to do its duty, mistress."
Hearing those words, the Duskull froze, not in annoyance at being forced to do something, but the word duty. 'I have a duty. This time, I will not fail it. Years passed by, as Duskull protected what he now knew to be a church, until centuries later, another human, the first he had seen since the nun Lucy died, appeared.
Dusknoir POV end
Dust watched as Dusknoir opened its eyes, then grabbed him effortlessly from the wall, bringing him down. Then, much to Dust's surprise, Dusknoir spoke. "Thank you, master, for giving me a purpose after the events at the church."
Dust slowly nodded. "Umm, yeah, sure. You've been a big help to me too, you know."
Dusknoir nodded, even as he looked down the hallway to where he had once died. 'Master, you don't understand. But I won't worry you with that.' "Master, I sense a powerful ghost energy residing further down the hall from here, through a hidden door on the cave wall."
Dust nodded. "Thanks. Lead us to it."
After around twenty minutes of walking, the cave split in two directions, but Dusknoir pushed on the left wall, which opened up, revealing an odd, swirling, purple portal. Dusknoir, almost subconsciously, reached both hands out to it, and as he touched it, it stopped moving. The portal was sucked into the wall as the corridor opened back up, and Dust returned Kingler as he followed Dusknoir through.
As the two arrived on the other side, a massive room made entirely of jade awaited them. What the two were not expecting to see, however, was a fifteen foot tall shadow dragon in the form of Giratina. It looked impassively at the duo, before speaking, but the two were unable to hear it, as it then turned inside out, its guts spilling onto the ground. From inside its liver, a chibi Giratina walked out, then regrew to its normal size.
"I hate it when that happens. Oh yes, you two. I forgot. Hmm. I haven't seen titans in a long time, let alone two at once. How exactly did you get here?"
Dust just stared up at the fearsome dragon, who facepalmed. "Ah, I forgot, this is probably weird and intimidating for someone from the original plane."
And he was definitely right, as things had already started going wild. In the short span of time Giratina was speaking, the place had already turned 2D, then back to 3D, then upside down, then rightside up. At the moment, the color scheme was quickly flashing between grey and reversed from normal.
And although Dust was indeed intimidating, he was confused about the words Giratina had spoken. 'Two titans? But he shouldn't be able to see inside the pokeballs. Am I… a pokemon?'
Giratina boomed in laughter. "I can see it on your cute little face. You didn't know? There are titan humans too. I saw it all myself. Even stuck in here, I can see the world of humans. Those humans who have inherited the most from the founder are titans. This rule works for both pokemon and humans. There are only two others like you in this age, though. Abraham Lincoln, champion of the Zobaya region, and Ash Ketchum from Kanto. Now, I am no encyclopedia, so I ask you again, how did you arrive here?"
Dusknoir stepped forward. "Milord, I am the one who brought us here. I felt a special connection to this place."
Giratina looked toward the bowing creature it had seen only once before. "A Dusknoir, I believe. The last one I've seen couldn't handle the Distortion Plane and turned to dispersion energy. As for the special connection… I suppose it could be the similarities between this place and the Underworld. After all, you kind has the duty to take deceased pokemon onto either their next life or the Underworld."
'Duty…I must complete my duty, or they will all die again. I refuse to allow it! But, I can't leave Master. He has given me far too much.'
"Giratina," Dust looked up, a playful smirk on his face as he released Eevee. "Are you bored lately? There doesn't seem to be much to do down here other than your human TV-BLURGH-" He barfed out a large slug as the floor suddenly opened a mouth to eat it. "Excuse me. Anyway, you must be bored, so I have a request."
Giratina nodded. "Indeed, I am tired of being here, but Arceus has given me the duty of watching this place. Those things held inside attack daily. You couldn't possibly win a fight against me, though. In fact, that Eevee, well, likely all of your pokemon would be hard pressed to survive."
"Oh, but that isn't what I want. I want you to teach Eevee shadow ball. You see, Dusknoir doesn't have enough of a grasp on the move to teach it to others, but such a great legendary pokemon such as yours-"
"Yes, yes, enough of your heedless praises. I could do such a thing, but what would I get out of it? After all, that isn't something I, such a great legendary pokemon such as myself, should trouble my great self with doing. Now is it?"
A massive shit eating grin found its way on the face of the oddly chill Giratina as he turned Dust's words back on him. Dust grumbled and pouted., before jumping up and pointing dramatically. "I could tell you how to evolve a Dusclops to a Dusknoir! The last one acted as your assistant, right?"
Giratina chuckled a bit, which was, again, a very weird expression for a legendary pokemon. "That could indeed prove useful, but I must ask," A massive pressure descended on Dust as Giratina's voice turned grave. "HOW DO YOU KNOW THE SECRET TO A SUPER EVOLUTION?"
Dust slammed to his knees as Giratina's pressure increased the longer it took Dust to respond. The pressure suddenly reversed onto Giratina, courtesy of the Distortion plane, and Giratina flinched a bit, before the pressure returned with twice the power. Dust slammed face down on the ground at that point, as Giratina walked over to him.
"You leave me no choice. TELEPATHY!"
Giratina meandered back after around five seconds, landing in the corner. "You… you shouldn't be here. You were supposed to land in a plane directly opposite this world, known to you from what I've gleaned from your memories, as the plane of Monster Musume. However, Arcceus himself brought you here for some purpose. However, he acted like he didn't know who you were when you met him. Something is off here. I will teach your Eevee shadow ball as an apology for the attack on our mind, but you should watch out for these Unown creatures. I've never even heard of them before, but I've seen something similar in Johto."
A tremor shook as the wall Dust was facing, having stood back up, opened up, and a group of pokemon came rushing out. There was a Blastoise, Electavire, Walrein, Aggron, Reuniclus, Exploud, Omastar, Froslass, and Aggron. Giratina turned toward them, while looking at Eevee. "This is how a shadow ball should be done."
Blastoise readied a hydro pump. A shell grew in front of Giratina. "First, a shell made of pure energy should be created, then filled to the brim with the shadows around." The other pokemon also readied themselves.
"Next, mix your aura into the shadows. For better effect, use ghost aura." The attacks all fired. "Finish by making one part of the shell weak, so it explodes on impact, and release it. HA!." Giratina let loose the shadow ball.
All ten attacks slammed into each other, and Giratina made eight more, one for each attack, as all of them canceled each other out.
"Now, for a bit of a treat, allow me to demonstrate the power of Reverse Aura." A small red hole appeared, as cracks began spreading to the nine attackers. Ten now, as a...Tynamo? Appeared.
"Super Psychic." All of them were surrounded by the attacks and they were slammed into the wall up, down, left, down, right, and finally up again, as their battered forms landed on the ground. Except the Tynamo, who somehow dodged. "Distort!" All 9 of their shapes started wavering, before collapsing in on themselves, turning into flying faces with wings, who left back out the now closing wall.
"Somehow, they all come back to normal every day. I am not allowed to kill them as they are all founding pokemon. Actually, 40,000 or so are in there, but one of the few laws of this place is that only 10-15 creatures at the highest, changing each day, and one at the lowest, can be in this room at any given time. Even Arceus doesn't know why."
Dust just slowly nodded. "Uhh, cool. Can you finish teaching Eevee shadow ball? I don't thank that's enough to-*BOOM* Maybe I'm wrong."
He turned around, but it wasn't a shadow ball from Eevee. Rather, the jade had begun to affect the outside world. "NO! The two worlds have begun to collide! At this rate, the distortion plane will take your entire world!"
Giratina began to try closing the portal, but the dimension gate was having none of it, as Giratine was sent flying back. Tynamo, who everyone had forgotten about, suddenly flew over to exit, and began hitting itself on the wall as it shrieked, and its physiology began changing, growing more eyes, its type turning to fire, then dark, then back to lightning, before finally exploding in a gory mess.
Giratina stood back up, determined to seal off the two worlds once more. Meanwhile, Dusknoir had been considering the prior words of the renegade pokemon. He felt out for the dimensions, trying to help Giratina, but seemed to be unsuccessful, until he arrived at a void. The voices of hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, cried out for aid, for someone to help, until finally a Semisage made itself visible.
"Can you do it? You are the only one here who isn't dead. Can you open the gates to the underworld. I am one of the oldest, trapped here for 314 years. Please, if you can, let us through!"
But Dusknoir couldn't respond, forced away from that dimension, however, he did find the foothold in the distortion plane, and copied Giratina. "Giratina, I have a request as well. Teach me how to go between the dimensions, so I can fulfil my duty in the underworld?"
Dust jumped up. "What? Dusknoir, what's going on?"
"Sorry, I have something to do that must be fulfilled. I will complete my duty, master. I must!"
Giratina finally succeeded with Dusknoir's aid, however minor, as had Tynamo at putting itself back together, and the former spoke. "It's finally starting to close. I will accept your request."
Giratina, showing its sweating face, turned to Dust and spoke, disallowing him from speaking to Dusknoir..
"'Disturb not the harmony of fire, ice or lightning, lest these titans wreak destruction upon the world in which they clash. Though the water's great guardian shall arise to quell the fighting, alone its song will fail, thus the earth shall turn to Ash.' This is the prophecy that was levied upon the individuals of a certain island by Alpha Latios, millenia ago. But this is not the full prophecy. No, instead, it continues. 'But with two shall its song quell the rage of all the three, and the water's great guardian smite the evil with seven strikes. The second wave shall fall on this world to crush the hope of all, and the great one destroy, thus the earth shall turn to Dust.' None of those to whom I have told this prophecy of Jirachi have been able to comprehend it, except that it has something to do with the three legendary birds. I hope it is helpful to you. Now, this place is soon to close its access to the mortal plane. I will send you to the outskirts of the town on this island, with this youngling Tynamo who arrived here by accident. She shall be your replacement for the one you have lost."
"Replacement? How could anything replace Dusknoir? I care about him too much to just leave him to be some grim reaper for all eternity!"
"Master, this is my own decision. I must fulfill my duty. I will collect all the souls waiting in the veil between life and death, and help them. Should you ever be in need, master, simply call to me with your heart and soul, and the distortion plane and underworld should allow your voice to reach my ears, from my limited understanding. Thank you once more master. Until we meet again."
'So, I suppose I'm getting power scaled, huh? I suppose that's to be expected. He has shit to do, after all, so I guess I have to let him go. I'll call him back for the league, I suppose. Goddammit, now I sound like Beatrice.' "No problem. I'll be calling you in for another favor for this, Giratina! And your training will be hell for the league, Dusknoir. See you around!"
*POOF*