Side Story 02/05 - Another task...

I was walking through the field of flowers to take in the sights, get a little fresh air before I tried out heading to the arena to try out the matches it had to offer. But all of that was put on hold because of the appearance of one Pokemon I hadn't expected to see that day; Arceus.

I expected a simple 'hi' and 'how are things?' a little bit of talk and I would be on my way to the arena. I had never been there before, I had heard great things about that place, win nice prizes if you won, find a challenging opponent to face, get a real workout. But no… Arceus had to come up to me and ask me something.

"A task?" I said, looking up at Arceus as we walked.

"That is correct, I ask of you to do so a small task for me today." Arceus said walking with me, never turning its head. "I am overloaded with work today, and I am in need of assistance. So who better to ask for help other than the one I chose for the task to watch over Infinite?"

"What kind of task? Not another otherworldly being to watch over for another hundred years again."

Arceus chuckled and shook its head. "Not this time. I have something that won't take much of your time. It should not last more than an hour to accomplish. That is if you are willing to assist me."

"I was about to head over to the arena today. Not to be rude but isn't there someone else you can ask?"

"No one comes to mind. Well, I'll explain it if you accept the task I have."

I sighed and though about it for a moment. Arceus did say this task wouldn't take too long. Less than an hour and no more. The arena was open pretty much all day; I would have plenty of time to check it out. I may even get a chance to try out in some of the matches today.

"Okay, I'll help out with this task of yours."

"Perfect." Arceus nodded, summoning a bag half my size out of nowhere in front of me. "Inside this bag are presents I want handed out to various legendaries within the realm. They are my closest friends, and so every year I give them a present." Arceus then summoned a list in front of me. On the list were the names of many legendaries, but most names had already been crossed out, and only four legendaries remained.

"Okay, where can I find them?"

Arceus looked at the list for a little while before summoning up another piece of paper with the locations of each Pokemon. Some locations where closer to each other, while the last two were kind of further away. I assumed this wouldn't take too long or be much of a problem, I would simply travel to each location and give the four Pokemon their presents from Arceus and I would go to the arena. And besides, doing this first before heading to the arena would give me a chance to think about what match I would try out first.

"The closest Pokemon from here is Palkia. You can gain access to Palkia's dimension within the great hall. Just let the guards in charge over there know that I have allowed you access so you can give Palkia the present. Once you have done with that you can ask the guards for directions for the nearest legendary."

Palkia's Dimension

So delivering presents to four legendary Pokemon within this realm sounded like a quick and a simple task that could be all finished up within an hour. I knew the locations of all five legendaries within the realm, but I wasn't expecting what kind of Pokemon I would be delivering the presents to.

I arrived at the great hall and after explaining to the guards that Arceus allowed me to see Palkia they let me in without trouble. Palkia's dimension was… unusual when I saw the place for the first time. Platforms floated in midair, spiral staircases which lead to nowhere or to somewhere else within this dimension. There seemed to be no gravity within this dimension and had to jump to and from the floating platforms to get around. It was disorienting moving through this dimension. It was easy and quick to find the portal to Palkia's dimension, but finding Palkia proved to be difficult and took a lot of time.

After a while on searching through this dimension I eventually saw Palkia at the corner of my eye flying past some in between floating platforms. I had to call out to Palkia as loud as I could while chasing after it not wanting Palkia to leave through a portal to another dimension, a little warning I was told about Palkia and how it liked to travel through different dimensions from time to time.

Palkia stopped and turned around and saw me calling out for it to stop. "And who are you?" It asked, "What possible reason does a Dewott such as you have for being in my dimension?" Palkia moved closer towards me as I set down on one of the floating platforms.

"My name is Zack, Arceus asked me to give these presents to some of its friends." I said while opening the bag and showing Palkia its present from Arceus. Palkia reached down and grabbed it with its claw and inspected it for a while before smiling.

"Ah, after all this time, Arceus still gives presents out to all of its friends." It chuckled. "Now let's see what Arceus has given me this time…" After unwrapping the present and opening the small box, Palkia pulled out a large shiny pearl from the box and held it close to its face, examining it closely before smiling. "Ah, now this is quite the present. A truly wonderful present. I thank you, Zack."

"No problem. Now I have to get back to the task and deliver the last three presents to the legendary Pokemon." And with that, Palkia wished me well and entered through another portal it created and entered through it, leaving me alone in this dimension.

My one regret about not saying anything to Palkia was that it took almost twice as long to navigate through the dimension in search of a way out, twenty minutes almost. I'm pretty sure if I did ask Palkia would help me get out of this dimension… so instead I had to search for a way out myself.

Distortion World

This place wasn't marked on the map and when asked where I could find this place I would be met with confused looks, so I had to find Arceus again so I could find out how to get there into the Distortion World, the home of Giratina.

This world was odd; I had to deal with floating platforms again, walking on each one until I found something to stand one warping me to the next platform to get around.

"Oh, what's this; an intruder in my home? I will show you what happens to intruders in my home, Dewott!" Giratina roared and attacked me with Dragon Breath hitting me in front of my body. The move stung badly, and it took me a moment to shake off the stinging feeling before I could get back up and try to explain to the legendary why I was here. "Intruders must be defeated! I shall send you back to where you have come from so you can warn others of my power!"

I dodged Giratina's attacks, tried to block them with my moves but Giratina was too fast and strong for me to handle. Getting knocked out here and I would be sent back home, taking an hour or two to recover, I couldn't waste time; I wanted to check out the arena today. If I missed it I would have to wait until next week to try out.

So I tried again and again to explain to it why I was there in its home, that I had sent me here to give Giratina a present from Arceus, but no matter what I said it didn't listen and proceeded to beat me down till my health was really low.

When Giratina had used a Dragon Claw, the bag of presents spilled out on the floating platform, and that is when Giratina stopped attacking to glance down at the presents. It picked up a present with its name on it.

"W-what is this?" it asked. I barely stood up and explained to it for the hundredth time that I was sent here by Arceus to give it a present. That was when Giratina suddenly gasped and give me a potion or something to heal me up. "Oh my, my goodness. Please forgive me for my brutal act; I thought you were sent here by a rival of mine to take over my home… again, I am sorry for this misunderstanding. Had I have known you were sent here by Arceus, well I would've treated you better than try to send you back home weak and defeated."

Feeling refreshed and energized I accepted the apology and watched Giratina open its present before asking if it could help me out of this Distortion World so I could deliver the final two presents. Giratina levitated the present in front of it somehow and pulled out a block of platinum. Giratina said this was a beautiful present before placing it down on the ground. Giratina thanked me for delivering the present and helped me back outside. Despite the Giratina healing me up after that battle we had, or beating I received I had to sit down and rest up for a moment before moving on, sighing at how tiresome this task had been so far. But I stayed positive thinking of what match in the arena I could try out.

I saw Cresselia lying on the ground beside the flowers and approached with the present in my paw. She turned her head and stared at me. "Hi, my name is Zack. Arceus wanted someone to help it give out these presents to its friends." I handed her the present and she stared at the small box for a while.

"Hmm… now what did you bring me?" She asked as she opened up the gift, gasping at what she saw inside the box. It was a necklace with a silver crescent moon attached to the silver chain. "Oh my, it's so beautiful." She smiled, putting it around her neck and examining the crescent moon.

I sighed with relief, this one had gone well. So with a smile I said to her, "Well, I gotta go. Arceus needs me to give these presents to the rest of its friends-"

"Oh, I am dreadfully sorry mister Dewott sir, but I already have a mate. My heart belongs to him and him only. A beautiful gift like this I shall accept, but our love can never be." She said, holding up her paw up to her head as she sighed with a saddened look. She shook her head and turned away from me.

"Uh… n-no, this is from Arceus, not me. Arceus told me to pass these gifts to other legendaries." I tried to explain to her, but she wouldn't listen, shaking her head.

"I am sorry, but I cannot betray my mate. You see me as a beautiful Pokemon and wish you and I to become one. But alas, our love can never be."

"Listen to me, Arceus told me to give these gifts to its friends-" Then Cresselia again shook its head.

"Lalalalala, I'm not listening, our love can never be, lalalala-" Creselia shut her eyes and covered her ears with her paws, refusing to listen to another word. And with that I decided to walk away to the next Pokemon on the list, listening to Creselia's constant 'lalala' getting quieter and quieter as I walked away.

And the last Pokemon was an Articuno residing on top of a snowy mountain somewhat north of this realm. The mountain Articuno was on was easy to find, but the walk up was harsh and cold that I had to stop and rest multiple times at rest stops set up on the mountain.

"A task that will take me an hour… yeah right, I have been at this for almost two hours now!" I thought to myself as I slowly walked up the snowy mountain, annoyed that this task was taking a lot of time. But I continued to stay positive that I would finish this very soon and get to the arena and get at least two or three matches in one day. And that was when a storm arrived over the mountain, thick snow fell from the sky very slowly at first before it had become too much for me to continue on up the mountain.

I tried to turn back to stop and rest in the rest stop further down the mountain, but the snow had gotten worse for me to see much, and I was left standing there looking for anything that could help me back down.

"Hello, over here!" I heard a voice call out to me somewhere within the storm. I looked around to see who it was, only to find light coming from inside a small cave I hadn't noticed before. So with what little strength I had left in me I walked as fast as I could to the light and entered the cave greeted not only by the warmth of the fire lit further back inside the cave, but one of the legendary Pokemon I was searching for; Articuno.

Inside the cave Articuno helped me down beside the fire warming me up fast, it had taken me a while to realize that I had been looking for this Pokemon and needed to give Articuno the present from Arceus. I told Articuno that Arceus had asked me to give it and other legendaries a present, handing the small present over to Articuno, watching as it opened the box with its beak.

"Oh! Now that is a very nice present." Articuno said with delight as it picked up a necklace with a metallic blue icicle hanging from the silver chain. "I have always wanted a present like this, and now I do. Thank you for delivering me this beautiful present. Tell Arceus I shall cherish this for eternity."

"Sure." I turned my head at the cave entrance at the sound of the storm raging outside.

"I suggest you stay here until the storm passes. The cold up here won't kill you again, but this realm will punish you by sending you back home with a shivering cold that'll last days, weeks if you are unlucky." I didn't want to waste anymore time, let alone spend many days and nights back home unable to leave because of a cold. Although we can't die again in this realm, having an illness like a cold would slow us down, not something I wanted before joining in on the arena. So I waited inside the cave that was surprisingly warm inside and kept out most of the cold. I had to stay inside for two hours, sitting beside the fire to stay warm in silence, waiting for Articuno to give me the all clear that the storm had settled down and I would be on my way back.

The storm ended, and Articuno helped me back down the mountain saving me quite a lot of time for me. I thanked Articuno and left the mountain and back into the town in search or Arceus and let it know that the task had been finished.

With Palkia, Giratina, Cresselia and Articuno all given their presents I searched the town for Arceus, it wasn't a long search, finding Arceus at the field of flowers welcoming those who have entered this realm.

"Congratulations, Zack Raines. You have successfully delivered all of the presents to each of the four Pokemon I have asked you to deliver to." Arceus smiled and summoned up another small present out in front of it, slowly lowering it down in front of me. "I spoke with them before, and they have all given positive statements about your delivery."

"What's this?" I asked, holding the present in my paw as it had lowered in front of me to reach.

"A present for you, for all of your hard work today. I couldn't have asked for anyone better to accomplish the task I had given to you. Now, Zack Raines, I must leave now for I have something to attend to at the moment. Again, thank you for today." And with that, Arceus vanished leaving me in the field of flowers as the new residents of the realm entered, walking past me.

I opened the present to find a necklace inside with metallic peach shell attached to the silver chain, and a note underneath. I read the note:

Dear Zack Raines

Thank you again for accomplishing the task to deliver the presents to my friends. I would have personally liked to deliver the presents to them myself but I had to stop another argument breaking out between Mewtwo and Celebi.

If you want, you can come see me again tomorrow. I may have another task for you. But if you don't want to, that is fine. I'll just have to do this difficult task all by myself, I'll be alone, tired… and sad.

Thank you.

I reread the note again and sighed as I rolled my eyes. Arceus wanted me to do another task tomorrow, but I had other plans. The arena was closed by the time the task had finished with Arceus and would open again the next day. Walking back home, I thought about the note. "Maybe I will help Arceus again, if the arena isn't for me." Well, the arena was fun, sometimes the arena had matches that I liked, and some I didn't. But when I had free time, I did help out with Arceus with finishing up some of its tasks it had for me to do.

The end of Side Story 02/05

Trivia:

This side story was originally part of chapter 40 towards the end before being cut.