This is the second of two chapters today.
Noctowl flew through the air outside Michina Temple on silent wings.
His whole body was wrapped in an illusion, one which portrayed the decidedly non-simple image of general invisibility. It was more than a little tricky to manage, but he could do it – especially with the sky overhead largely composed of banks of light grey cloud which all looked much the same from one part of the sky to another.
The wind striking the mountain gave him an updraught to use if he needed it, and Noctowl alternately slid away from it and came in close enough to ascend again.
"It would help if I had more than the first bally clue what the bounder looks like," he muttered, then frowned. "I say..."
Tilting his wings with a whisper of wind across his feathers, Noctowl banked a lot closer to the mountainside. Flaring to shed most of his velocity, he slipped through a window with his wings pointing straight up and down before half-rolling to go back upright.
Now barely moving, Noctowl drifted around ahead of the person he'd spotted.
A tall man, mostly bald, with an ornate ray-of-stars crown and armoured Pokémon following him – a Bronzong, a Luxray, and an Exploud.
It certainly looked like the chap he was after.
Noctowl's wings beat once, slowly, just enough to keep him moving, and he made ready to turn back out the window… then he noticed the Exploud looking around, turning towards one of the corridors leading deeper into the mountain.
"What is it?" the man asked.
"I hear something," the Exploud stated, not that the man would understand.
Noctowl blinked, and landed on the windowsill to see what was going on.
"Is there someone there?" the man demanded, then frowned. "Exploud, is something there?"
Exploud nodded.
"Drive them off," the man said. "This is too important for the future of Michina for anything to be left to chance."
Exploud shouted down the corridor, a blast of pressure which made Noctowl wince, and when it faded he saw the Luxray sniffing at the air.
Then it pounced at him.
Noctowl took off with a flap of wings, and Luxray landed on the windowsill just where Noctowl had been a moment before. The Electric-type threw up a Shock Wave, covering the window, and turned to blaze a second Electric attack up at where Noctowl was flapping to gain height.
"That's just not bloody cricket!" Noctowl yelped, dropping his illusion and striking back with an Extrasensory – then nearly getting blasted into the wall by an Echoed Voice from Exploud.
Crobat came storming past him, firing a blast of concentrated sound at Luxray to Confuse the Electric-type, then did a four-wing wingover and took up a position next to Noctowl.
"Illusion us and follow me!" he instructed, his voice sounding oddly crackly. "I'm sonar-cloaking us, but I can't do anything about visible."
The two Flying-types banked hard-left, getting into a corridor just ahead of another blast of sound from Exploud.
"Pii-chu," a female Pichu sighed.
"Don't worry," Damos told her. "I am sure things will work out in the end."
The Pichu looked up at her friend, brightening slightly. "Pichuuu?"
Damos nodded, lightly touching her spiked ear, and the Pichu giggled before freezing suddenly. Then she hurried over to the shadowed side of the cell, out of sight.
Damos sighed, and stood.
"What is it this time?" he asked. "Did Helena tell you what I said? It's nothing more than the truth."
"We're not with Marcus," an unfamiliar voice replied.
Damos blinked, then stepped back a pace as a group of outlandish newcomers came up the stairs.
Four humans wearing all kinds of peculiar clothes, and at least a dozen Maiju – some of which Damos didn't recognize at all. Then there was a blue flash, and another one appeared overhead – a Latias, cancelling her cloak of invisibility.
"We're here to help you," the first one said.
"I'm flattered," Damos replied, blinking. "And very surprised. Where might you be from – the south?"
"Pretty much, yeah," the youth replied. "Except for Sheena, she's from right here in Michina."
Damos examined the indicated woman.
"I've never met her before," he admitted. "My apologies."
"You wouldn't have done," the younger girl said. "We're… I can say it, right? We're from the future."
Damos frowned, thinking.
"Then you have been sent by Dialga," he realized. "To ensure that Arceus gets back the Jewel of Life."
"That's right," said the final human. "It's a bit more complicated than that, but we do need to stop Marcus. His plan's crazy."
"I am in no position to disagree," Damos admitted. "But Marcus has an army – he designed the armour that many of the Maiju of Michina wear, and it seems he can use it to control them. Your own friendly Maiju are strong indeed, but..."
He waved his hand.
The odd purple Maiju waved his hand as well, and the bars of the cell neatly folded up into a small cage and dropped to the ground.
I am strong as well, the Maiju declared. And I am not alone.
"None of us are alone," added the Lucario. "We will stop Marcus for you."
"I think we're dropping too much on him at once," Sheena decided. "We should go back and explain a bit."
Damos focused for a moment, reaching out with his soul, and felt their intent.
Not peaceful, but… that lack of peace was not aimed towards him, but towards Marcus. A view he could thoroughly agree with.
"I would be grateful," Damos said. "My thanks."
"This isn't the first time we've been here," Ash said. "But it probably feels like the first to you, uh… okay, Dexter?"
Dexter's projector lit up, and he showed a diagram of the timelines.
"The first time, Marcus had his Bronzong control you with Hypnosis," Ash explained. "He made you give Arceus a fake jewel, and Arceus smashed it – then he made you attack Arceus, and Arceus decided that meant humans were treacherous. Once he was healed, in our time, he tried to destroy Michina – maybe the world?"
Ash frowned. "It's kind of not clear… but the real Jewel of Life is indestructible, so maybe Arceus was trying to just destroy the area and pick up the Jewel of Life from the ruins."
"That sounds possible," Damos allowed. "If the Jewel is truly as impossible to destroy as you say."
"Yeah, and Dialga sent us back in time, which is what happened next," Ash continued. "It was kind of complicated, but we freed Marcus' Pokémon from their armour and got the Jewel of Life back to Arceus."
"Then things got… really complicated," Dawn took up the thread. "So we need to do it again."
Damos was silent for a long moment.
"Then there is no reason not to agree with you," he decided. "I already believe Marcus must be stopped, and your clothes and speech alone mark you out as being from a far away land or time; with so many Maiju vouching their approval of you, then it must be a time."
He paused. "I assume that what I call Maiju are what you would know as Pokémon?"
"That's right," Brock agreed. "Do you know where the Jewel of Life is, and where Marcus is?"
"Marcus could be anywhere in the temple complex," Damos replied, frowning. "And the Jewel of Life will likely be with him, unless he has hidden it somewhere."
"Then I guess we'll need to look for him," Ash said. "We sent a couple of Pokémon out to look, but it'll probably work better if we all go."
"We also now have someone with us who knows how the temple is laid out," Suicune said. "That's an important advantage."
"Right!" Ash agreed. "Let's get going, then!"
"Where the deuce are they?" Noctowl demanded. "I specifically remember that they said there'd be someone here!"
"I know," Crobat agreed. "I'm disappointed too… let's see if this works."
He landed, spreading his wings.
"You'd think they'd at least leave us some kind of-"
"Ssh," Crobat requested. "Listening."
He focused, filtering out the sounds of their arrival. Of Noctowl's hooting complaints, now ceased but still bouncing around the stone walls of the room they were in. The sound of the wind…
...and, faintly, he heard the echoes of a conversation. And footsteps.
"This way," he instructed. "And quiet."
Noctowl muttered something bally, then shut up and followed Crobat on silent wings.
"What are those spheres you carry on your waist, next to that Honedge?" Damos asked, as they hurried down the corridors of Michina Temple.
"Those are Pokéballs," Ash explained. "Well, the red and white ones are Pokéballs, the others have different names. They let us carry our companion Pokémon with us without having them out all the time, so I let them out when they ask and otherwise I do the walking."
"It's kind of a trade off," Lucario told him. "I'm impressed you recognized Kari, though."
"If you mean the Honedge, then I am afraid I have been in battle in the past," Damos replied. "Those who bear Honedge are rare, but not unknown."
"At last!"
Everyone skidded to a halt, barely avoiding ending up in a heap, as Noctowl and Crobat came flying into contact with the rest of the group.
"We found Marcus," Crobat reported. "A while ago, though."
"The bounder found us, too!" Noctowl added. "Luxray are dashed annoying, I tell you that!"
"Er..." Dawn's Luxio began.
"Future company excepted, of course," Noctowl amended.
"Where was he?" Brock asked.
"Down about… halfway down the cliff side," Crobat estimated.
Ash translated, and Damos frowned.
"That's… hm. I have not seen the Time-Space Axis recently, but I would assume that means Arceus is not just about to arrive. If he was, then Marcus would be coming up here to hypnotize me."
"Then maybe we can stop him and get the Jewel back before Arceus even arrives," Ash decided. "Everyone ready?"
"Lord Marcus, I have given Damos his food," Helena reported.
"Thank you, Helena," Marcus replied. "How is he?"
"Still the same," Helena told him, grimacing. "He refuses to listen."
"As expected," Marcus said, his words sombre. "But his understanding is not necessary for his cooperation. Make sure everything else is ready."
"Yes, Lord Marcus," Helena said, nodding.
As she left, Marcus looked up at the towering cliff of Michina Temple.
All his, now. And it would be into the future… so long as his plan worked. So long as Arceus was gone, and Michina was still blessed by the Jewel of Life.
He frowned for a moment, thinking over the plan – how he had established it, put everything into motion, and then been forced to rethink when the Space-Time Axis had shown a second ripple.
Helena came running back. "Lord Marcus – Damos has escaped, and there are strange Maiju here!"
"To arms," Marcus instructed. "Bronzong – get the Maiju ready."
Bronzong's arms raised, and the Psychic-type tolled a note that echoed throughout the grounds and the temple.
Everywhere within earshot, armoured Maiju raised their heads – then came running.
"If you see Damos, stop him," Marcus added. "We need him alive and unhurt. The others…"
He paused, then shook his head. "Alive, if you can. I want to know why they are here."
In the guardhouse, Michina's head guard passed out weapons – shields and spears, a few swords, and bows for anyone who wanted them.
"Hurry!" he called. "Lord Marcus is under attack!"
You know, this is all something of a misunderstanding, a soundless voice declared.
The guard captain took up his shield and spear and ran out the door, joining his men in a loose formation facing…
Something.
A Maiju he'd never even heard of before, standing in thin air as if on solid ground, and with hands raised and tail flicking slightly.
"Misunderstanding?" the captain asked, levelling his spear. "You're attacking Michina!"
The Maiju sighed, and waved a hand. There was a sudden wrenching tug on the swords, bows and spears, and all the weapons went flying into the air to hover in a neatly-arranged bundle.
We're not actually here to attack, the Maiju said, opening a hole in the ground with a flick of his wrist and burying the bundle in it. We're here to make sure that Marcus doesn't prevent Arceus from getting the Jewel of Life back.
"The Jewel of Life is how Michina lives," the guard captain said, then noticed some of the other guards looking askance.
It looks like your men and women might disagree with you a bit there…
The Maiju landed gently. Well, it's no matter to me. Just don't get in any fistfights, or I'll be forced to separate you.
Infernape dropped down the Michina cliff face, his flames burning up around his wrists. As he got close to ground level, he thrust both arms down and launched out jets of fire – the sudden blast of flame and force acting like retro-rockets, slowing his descent and letting him land with a roll before coming back to his full height.
"Show-off," Charizard grumbled, flying down to hover next to him. "So, ever fought a Heatran before?"
"No, actually," Infernape replied. "What are they like?"
Charizard shrugged a bit. "Not bad if you're heatproof."
The Heatran in question growled, then launched a blast of flame towards them both.
Infernape dodged to the side, avoiding the high-powered Flamethrower not because it would do damage – though the fire was very hot – but because it would knock him backwards into the cliff face.
Breaking into a sprint, he kicked hard at Heatran – twice – and sent the dual-typed Fire/Steel Pokémon sliding backwards a little.
Heatran launched a second jet of flame, and Infernape dodged again so he could continue his assault – then noticed that there was another Pokémon in the way of the attack, Dawn's Mamoswine which was involved in a shoving match with a Nidoqueen.
Before the Fire Blast reached Mamoswine, a high-pressure jet of water came rushing down from overhead and drenched the fire attack so thoroughly that there was just a muffled bang of steam.
A Sacred Sword flicked down from overhead, knocking Heatran's head down so he couldn't do the same thing twice, and Keldeo landed with a clatter of hooves.
"Plan?" he asked brightly.
"Get this guy away from the others!" Infernape replied, darting in for a Mach Punch to keep Heatran stunned for a moment longer.
"Incoming!" Charizard bellowed, and Infernape jumped clear just as his teammate arrived.
Somewhere, Charizard had gotten hold of a massive boulder. He pulled up out of his crash-dive with a shout, wings glittering momentarily with Steel Wing for structural reinforcement, and sent the twelve-ton boulder crashing into Heatran with a sound like a bowling strike on a grand scale.
Legendary or not, Heatran wasn't heavy enough to take that without moving. The impact knocked him bodily backwards, sliding off the edge of a scree slope, and the three Pokémon followed at a run – Keldeo and Infernape tobogganing down the slope, with Charizard taking a moment to control his trajectory before diving down after them.
Halfway down the slope, Heatran used Magma Storm.
The enormous blast of flame went into the slope and blew it up, sending a bubble of molten rock rising towards Keldeo, Infernape and Charizard, and all three Pokémon reacted quickly.
Keldeo was first, raising one hoof and using Hydro Pump to spray the oncoming bubble of lava. It cooled with an explosive series of hisses and cracks, coming apart into rocky flakes, and Keldeo slashed the ones coming close to him apart with his Secret Sword attack.
Charizard climbed, using the massive wash of heat as an instant thermal, and got out of the way of the attack that way – letting the vast majority of the lava go underneath him, and shielding himself from the rest by letting it spatter on his wings before shaking it off.
Infernape fought fire with fire, slamming both fists together to produce an explosion of his own and physically blasting the Magma Storm away from him. The force of Infernape's quickly-realized attack sent a spray of fine droplets everywhere, and a haze of molten rock fogged the air for a moment – condensing into sand where it impinged on Keldeo's water.
Then they were all through, attacking Heatran as they reached close range, and more of the slope slid away as Charizard opened proceedings with Draco Meteor.
Absol jumped from outcrop to windowledge to outcrop, descending fast, most of her attention on her razor-sharp disaster sense. She went as far as she could on each jump without hurting something, carefully evading possible dangers like a slippery outcrop or just landing slightly wrong.
Reaching ground level, she darted towards the right flank as other Pokémon came down all around her – some of them being dropped off by flying Pokémon, others being sent out when their trainer reached the ground.
The Dark-type took five long loping leaps, then skidded to slow her movement as she reached the Pokémon she'd been aiming to attack – more Absol, wearing the same armour as the other Pokémon of Michina and moving to stop her.
The first one made to pounce, then aborted his attack as Ash's Absol shifted her attention to him and threatened him with a flick of her horn. As she did, a second darted in to catch her from behind, and Absol swung her tail to block his horn without looking.
"Ow!" yelped the third Absol in the group, raising a paw to her head. "What's going on?"
"That would be my trainer," Ash's Absol replied, riding her disaster-sense to the limit. She feinted, dodged and then fired an X-Scissor at her first opponent, before turning and using a Flamethrower attack to temporarily obscure herself from the second armoured Absol menacing her from the side.
Blinded or not, neither male Absol was someone she could actually take by surprise – just like her, they could feel dangerous situations coming and react to them before they actually happened. But Ash's Absol was the only chance-dancer on the field, and the only one used to dealing with Ash's own confusing effect on what constituted 'danger of disaster' – and she used that advantage with panache, ignoring the easy victories or the quick solutions that her opponents would be able to react to and going instead for options much further down the chain of possibilities.
Sharp horns and tails flashed, glowing occasionally with an elemental attack. Paws lashed out, claws flicked. At one point by mutual agreement all four Absol got clear as the side-wash from a Hurricane attack by Pidgeot stormed across the battlefield.
Then Ash's Absol raised both her horn and her tail at once – and brought them down.
Six beams of energy slashed out at once, three from each blade, and all three of her opponents took glancing hits with Ice Blade.
That was enough to stun them, and Absol had them at bladepoint by the time they recovered.
"This is the part where you give up," she informed them.
"How can you think in this?" the first male demanded. "It's giving me a headache..."
"Practice," Ash's Dark-type explained simply.
The other male twitched for a moment, thinking through the consequences of continuing to fight, then slumped.
"All right," he agreed.
"There!" Latias called, pointing. "That's the Bronzong!"
She tightened her shields along with her brother, both Psychic-type Legendaries ready to help one another resist any mental attacks by the dangerous Bronzong. It wasn't really clear just how good at Hypnosis it was, but neither of them wanted to take any chances.
Both stealthed, the two Eon Pokémon used Psywave in synchronization – sending a double-hammer of psychic energy to hit Bronzong by surprise, knocking it back far enough to separate it from the startled Marcus.
Dropping their stealth with a flamboyant flash of blue, Latias and Latios curved around in a sweeping pass which drew attention to them.
"Stop them!" Marcus shouted. "Manectric, blast them!"
An armoured Manectric shot a blast of lightning skywards, then yelped in surprise as it was picked up and thrown into the distance.
Moving fast, Lucario shoulder-charged the Bronzong – hitting it hard enough to make it toll, sounding a clear note out over the battlefield. The Psychic-type spun rapidly, however, both big metal arms knocking Lucario away, then focused a psionic assault on him.
Marcus backed away, getting clear of the fighting, and Lucario's paws fizzed with the purple-black of a Dark Pulse which he used to disrupt the psychic assault. Then Latias came skimming back, firing a Shadow Ball on her way past, and Lucario took the opportunity to close in and hammer home a Force Palm attack.
Bronzong used Gyro Ball to fend Lucario off, but before it could do something else to get the Fighting-type away from it it was Latios' turn to come past with a Shadow Ball.
With neither Latias nor Latios sticking around for long enough to effectively target, the only Pokémon Bronzong could concentrate its attention on was Lucario – but whenever it tried to focus on Lucario for more than a few seconds at a time, one of the Eon Pokémon would come past at speed and throw in a Shadow Ball which hit hard enough to disrupt whatever Bronzong was doing.
Lucario ducked, struck and backflipped away from a counterattack, then winced – along with both Eon Pokémon and half-a-dozen others around the area – as Bronzong used Synchronoise, the pulse of part-sound part-psychic-energy resonating with every other Psychic-type or Steel-type around.
Lucario landed hard, a bit woozy from the sonic blow, then clapped his paws together and used Aura Sphere. Not bothering to split it into seeker spheres, the single attack hit like a hammer and knocked the Bronzong wobbling backwards.
Brock's Flygon used Rock Tomb, using as his choice of rock his teammate Steelix.
Bronzong was slammed into the soil hard enough to bury it up to its apex, and Lucario relaxed with a huff of relief.
He could see Ambipom clashing back and forth with a Probopass, using Iron Tail to return the noses it was hurling at her, and a little way further along the battlefield Gliscor was launching blasts of sand down at the Luxray trying to catch Noctowl. Then Raikou sped through the melee, chuckling to himself before pouncing on a Nidoking and knocking him to the ground, and Pidgeot's wings hammered as she drove a Claydol close enough to the ground for a Linoone to turn out to actually be Zorua.
Then the fighting was over, seemingly all at once, apart from the distant thunder of the Heatran battle going on some way away.
Marcus looked back and forth, his staff half-raised. "...what happened?"
His gaze fell on Damos, and his expression hardened. "Damos! You… where did they all come from? None of these Maiju are from Michina! And those humans – where are they from?"
"A long way away," Damos replied. "They came to help, Marcus, because of your dangerous and treacherous plan."
"A long-" Marcus began, frowning. "The distortion, on the Space-Time Axis. That must have been their arrival… did you beg Palkia for some more of Arceus' servants to save you?"
"I did not have to beg," Damos stated. "They came themselves, to help stop you."
"I was doing what was – I am doing what is best for Michina!" Marcus replied harshly. "You want to give up our livelihood to Arceus… after only a few years? What is a decade to Arceus?"
"Hey, calm down a bit," one of the outlandish newcomers suggested, this one a young girl.
"Calm down?" Marcus asked, incredulous, then clenched his fist.
He took a deep breath, focusing on regaining control – his rage still burning, but colder. "Damos, this is nonsense. Do you think Arceus will be grateful that you return his Jewel on time?"
The priest waved his hand, taking in the whole of Michina. "This is his gratitude! As far as Arceus is concerned, you already have your reward, and now you have to give it back!"
"Michina's prosperity is a gift from Arceus," Damos said. "But the Jewel is not a gift from Arceus – the Jewel is a part of Arceus, and he needs it back."
"It's probably a good idea to let us take the Jewel of Life," Lucario added. "You won't get hurt that way."
Marcus grimaced, then threw the staff to the floor with a clatter.
"I assume it's the prison for me?" he asked. "Or the high jump?"
"What?" Damos asked, shocked. "No! Did you think… no, Marcus."
He shook his head. "You were a friend, once. In memory of that… go free. But your Maiju will remain here unless they choose to follow you."
Marcus snorted, then turned to the path that led down to the valley.
He knew this could only end badly… and wanted to be as far from Michina as possible when it did.
Ash picked up the staff, feeling it for a moment, then tuned to Damos. "Uh… should we make sure this is the real Jewel of Life? It's supposed to be indestructible."
"The staff is the official staff of office of the High Priest," Damos replied, then frowned. "But you are correct, it is possible that Marcus replaced it with a fake."
Ash thought for a moment, and nodded to Absol. "Can you see if this is the real thing?"
"Yes," Absol replied. "Just a moment."
She focused herself, her danger-sense zooming in on the intricacies of the next few seconds – whether her actions would increase or reduce the risks around what happened.
Then she swung her horn, firing a Sacred Sword attack right at the jewel.
The attack hit with a whunnng, and did absolutely nothing.
"I guess that means it's real," Brock decided.
"Pretty much," Absol confirmed. "If it's not, it's an extremely well-made fake."
"We should try and find the fake, to be sure," Dawn suggested. "If that one can be damaged, we'd know for sure… how long do we have?"
Damos looked up towards the sky, shading his eyes. "Arceus is to arrive when the eclipse is at its height. The sun is no more than a little obscured, so we have an hour at least."
Ash followed his gaze, squinting. "Yeah, I can see-"
Stop looking directly at the sun! Dexter insisted. Human eyes are easily damaged. Hold on… there.
His projector lit up, showing an image of the sun with a bite out of it next to a reshaped Porygon wearing a mortar board and holding a pointing rod. The reason that the sun is able to cause damage to the eye is because of the extreme temperature of the sun. Any optical apparatus is intended to create a situation where the focal point is surrounded by the 'image' of the object, though this is rarely achieved in practice; this means that the temperature of the focus can approach the temperature of the object. Since the sun is several thousand degrees, looking directly into the sun means causing extreme heating of the inner eye and can cause serious damage.
"...what?" Ash asked, blinking. "Sorry, I think I got blinded with science."
That's better than getting blinded by looking into the sun, Dexter replied. If you're just checking the angle of the sun you should not have too many problems, but use a mirror to reflect the image somewhere else if you want to see what the sun looks like. That or use a pinhole camera, since we don't have any polarizing lenses.
"Are Squirtle's glasses polarizing?" Pikachu asked.
"Yes, people have a lot of different opinions about them," Ivysaur answered.
"No, I – ha ha," Pikachu deadpanned. "I meant whether we could ask him to duplicate the lenses like he does with that attack of his, and then look through them?"
"This is a lot less awesome than I was led to believe," Squirtle muttered, as Damos looked though the right-angled pairs of glasses.
"If there is a copy of the Jewel of Life, where would it be..." Sheena said to herself, looking up at the towering sides of Michina Temple.
She turned her attention to Damos. "Excuse me? I wanted to ask – is there anywhere Marcus had as his workshop?"
"Hmm," Damos frowned, lowering the lenses. "His quarters are – or, were – largely two levels below the main bowl."
"Oh, I think I know where you mean," Sheena realized. "They're the ones which have the sunburst symbol over the door, and the secret chamber in the main room?"
"...forgive me, but it is still a surprise when you say something like that," Damos said. "It is hard for me to remember that you have lived in my home, thousands of years after I will be gone, and that for you even the secrets I do not know are old. I knew nothing of this secret chamber."
"That sounds like a good place to look," Suicune said. "Good insight. Do you want a lift?"
"A lift – oh, you mean to the top of the temple," Sheena realized quickly. "Well, I wouldn't say no, it is kind of a long way and we don't have all day."
"Then climb on," Suicune invited.
Once Sheena was seated on her back, Suicune paced away from the cliff a little – right to the edge of the level area the battles had taken place on.
"I think this is the first time I'll have shown off this trick," she noted. "Hold on tight."
Sheena barely had time to comply – wrapping her arms into Suicune's flowing mane – before the Water-type broke into a sprint, running straight for the cliffside.
Twenty feet before hitting it, she crouched and sprang upwards – a mighty leap which took her at least thirty feet into the air – and hit the cliffside with all four paws at once. They flashed blue and stuck, and Suicune began cantering up the cliffside in defiance of the normal arrangement of gravity.
"It's a bit slower because I can't take bounding leaps, or I'd push myself too far away from the wall," Suicune explained. "But it's a nice trick."
"Yes, nice," Sheena said, trying not to look backwards. "That's not the word I'd use..."
"So, this is the fake," Damos said to himself, examining it.
There was a small but noticeable scrape along one side, where the Honedge Kari had inscribed a mark on it to demonstrate that it was not invulnerable; aside from that, the fake was remarkably similar to the genuine article.
"I suppose Marcus planned this a long time ago," he said, shaking his head. "It's hard to believe, even now… but I must."
With that, Damos put the fake Jewel of Life aside, making sure the real one was in his grip, then looked closely at the Space-Time Axis.
"Hmm..." he said, tilting his head a little. "I would say we have the time right; Lord Arceus will appear at the time the sun is hidden."
"You can tell that?" Ash asked.
"It takes a lot of experience," Damos replied. "Marcus could read it, though not as well, and there are some others as well."
"It was always easy for me," Sheena told them. "Maybe that's because of our shared gift?"
"Perhaps," Damos allowed.
"I'd think it's quite possible," Giratina said, and Dexter began providing translation. "You are connected to Arceus, and through him to us; the Axis is connected to all of us as well, so you would feel a certain kinship."
"That's an odd thought," Sheena admitted. "But if it makes sense, I guess it's the best we can do..."
Ten minutes to totality, Dexter informed them.
"We'd better get up there," Dawn said. "So… you just need to give the Jewel of Life back?"
"That is certainly what I plan to do," Damos replied.
He picked up the fake Jewel of Life, checked again that it had the scratch mark, then gave it to Sheena.
"I think you should have this," he said. "Something to remember my Michina by, when you return to your own."
"Oh – thank you!" Sheena replied, taking the replica with surprise.
She checked it was the fake, the same way Damos had, then put it in her pocket. Damos kept the real one in one hand, and led the way to the roof.
By the time they got up to the bowl, the sky was very dark. Overhead only a thin crescent was left of the sun, as if the moon a day past new had taken on a blinding brilliance, but the air was more like it was a late evening just as the stars were about to come out – touched with an odd silvery light like nothing else in any normal day.
"This is kind of dramatic," Goodra said, looking around. "There's no clouds, either."
"Maybe with the eclipse Arceus doesn't need clouds," Totodile suggested. "You know, because it's already dark so he doesn't need to make it darker for him to be impressive?"
"Sounds plausible," Goodra replied, thinking about it.
Off in the distance they could see it was a little lighter, away from the path of totality or where the shadow hadn't yet reached, except for one direction – the incoming total shadow, approaching from the west as an area of greater darkness on the horizon.
Examining… Dexter announced. Based on the movements of the sun and moon relative to the earth, we appear to be exactly at the point of greatest duration of the entire eclipse.
"That's either very well aimed or just showing off," Dawn said. "...does that count as being rude or something?"
"I don't think so," Brock replied.
Overhead, the sky finally went dark – a momentary flicker of bright 'beads' shining on the edge of the moon, before even they vanished and the eclipse began. The temperature dropped quite suddenly, becoming noticeably cooler, and a cool wind sprang up.
The corona came into view, forming a ring around the darkness of the moon itself, and some of the stars came out as well. Then the corona was mirrored by a vertical ring of coloured light, like a miniature ring of aurora which spun and brightened.
With a great golden flash, Arceus emerged into the world.
"Lord Arceus!" Damos called.
The Original One lowered His head to view Damos, then trotted down through the sky towards him. Each step He took sparked a little flash of golden light, leaving behind the outline of an ethereal step which faded a moment later.
Trotting back and forth so He would not have to descend straight down, He reached the level of the bowl and stopped – standing there on what had been thin air before, but which showed the golden outline of a platform while He was there.
"I have your Jewel of Life," Damos went on, holding it out. "On behalf of all of Michina, you have my humble thanks for your gift of prosperity."
Arceus regarded it, then turned His gaze to Ash.
"Interesting," He declared, apropos of nothing, then returned His attention to the Jewel of Life.
He reached out a hoof, and Damos extended his hand with the fist-sized Jewel until they touched.
On the moment of contact the green Jewel fell apart, dissolving into light which seethed for a moment before resolving into six distinct points of light – one green, one blue, one yellow, one brown, one russet, and one pink.
Between one moment and the next, the interrupted wheel of Arceus' Plates formed around Him. They spun once, then halted, and the six sparks of light took up places in the wheel before flashing into the form of Plates – completing the wheel.
"I am entire," Arceus declared, His voice brassy. "Done and done, my faithful servant."
Damos bowed, then lifted his head.
"I must ask, Lord," he said. "Some of those in Michina feared that the land would return to waste without the Jewel's presence."
"The effects of the Jewel of Life are permanent," Arceus replied. "Michina will remain fertile… what you do with it is your concern, your stewardship and boon."
Damos nodded again, which turned into another bow.
Arceus lifted His head slightly, enough to look at the sky, then returned His gaze to Damos.
"My time here is done," He declared. "I will send Dialga to ensure that your allies return to their true time."
With that, He rose into the air again – walking up the same unreal staircase He had descended – and the aurora-ring returned. It spun faster and faster, and Arceus vanished between one step and the next.
"My deepest thanks for all your help," Damos said, shaking the hands of each of the humans in turn before offering the same to Lucario. "I do not want to contemplate what would have happened if Lord Arceus had felt that I had betrayed him, thanks to Marcus' treachery."
He looked out over Michina. "I know that Marcus was not the only one who thought that way… but it is my hope that the continued prosperity of the land will convince most of the doubters."
"I hope so too," Sheena said. "And… this has been an amazing experience. I never thought I'd get to see Michina as it was during its heyday, and… well, I have, and it was wonderful."
"So long as we are remembered, then Michina lives," Damos chuckled.
He turned to the side, and spread his hand. "Transcend..."
"...the boundaries of Time and Space," Sheena completed with him, and Dialga appeared beside them.
"I assume you are ready to return to when you came from," Dialga said.
Sheena nodded.
Dialga frowned slightly, noticing a little yellow figure hiding behind Damos' leg, then snorted.
"Don't worry, Pichu," he said. "If you're happy here, I am not going to force you back to your own time."
"Oh, um… thanks," the spiky-eared Pichu replied. "Yeah, thanks! I guess I shouldn't have gotten too close to you in the first place..."
"Let us just call it a learning experience," Dialga decided.
His fins spread, his diamond glowed, and torn and twisted time began to gather in his mouth.
Then he let it dissipate into the air.
While everyone was still blinking in surprise, he reached out a foot and scratched gently at the ground – and all the time travellers vanished at once.
The return trip was a whirl of colour and light, with the same heavy air around them as before but with the bubble's skein seeming thicker and bluer.
"That was different," Brock noticed. "Why did Dialga just scrape the ground a little?"
"Maybe it's much easier to send us back to where we belong?" Dawn suggested. "Arceus sent us back the first time, I think…"
"I think this might be one of those headache topics," Lucario said. "Or we could just ask Dialga when we get back to the present."
"Is it technically going back to the future, or back to the present?" Pikachu asked. "I mean, it's the future from where we are now."
"The problem here is that we need about the square of the number of tenses we have now," Staraptor said. "I've got a few suggestions – what about the past transitive pluperfect?"
"...okay, I'm intrigued enough to ask," Dawn decided. "What would that be like?"
"You'd say something was aintnevergonna happen," Staraptor answered her.
"Shouldn't have bothered," Dawn said to herself.
Then the bubble popped, depositing them on the pinnacle of Michina.
As soon as it did, the friends started coughing as something in the air stung their lungs and eyes.
"What the-" Ash began, as Meganium and the other Grass-types began clearing the air. "What's..."
His voice trailed off as he took in the landscape.
The Michina ruins stood alone, with the other high mountains to the north of them shattered and everything covered by a thick blanket of whitish rock. The air was slightly smoky and had a sulphurous tang, with the sky obscured by cloud, and everything was rock and ash – with no plants visible, and with an odd melted look to the newly covered terrain.
To the south it was worse. Looking that way revealed that they were on the crest of an enormous mountain range, torn by the signs of gigantic landslides and lashed by past storms that gullied the slope. The slope continued downwards for what looked like at least two miles, then terminated in a flat plain of cracked black rock which stretched to the horizon – smoking and fuming all over it.
"Where did…" Sheena began, then stopped. "What happened?"
"That's..." Brock coughed, then started again. "Look to the east and west. The ridge is curving south in both directions… is that what I think it is?"
Correct, Dexter said. Based on the curve of the walls… the crater is at least a hundred miles across.
"Hello EVA ops, this is Gary Oak," Gary said. "Requesting clearance for lunar surface EVA. Over."
"Gary Oak, this is EVA Ops," the radio replied. "Who's your EVA partner? Over."
"EVA Ops, I'm going with Alakazam," Gary answered. "It's not a long trip, I just… want to look."
After a moment, he finished. "Over."
"Understood, Gary Oak," EVA Ops said. "Go ahead. Out."
Gary switched his radio to standby, and opened the outer door of the dome airlock.
A year or so after the frantic evacuation, and after months of hard work, it was something he was experienced in. They finally had enough spacesuits, and enough spare capacity, to spare some time for things like this.
So Gary walked out onto the surface of the moon, accompanied by his faithful Alakazam in a bubble of psionically contained air, and climbed a small hill to where he could see the earth.
It didn't look any better than it had the last time. A kind of sickly haze covered the whole planet, legacy of the ravaged atmosphere, and he could just about see a storm on the side which was in daylight at the moment.
He wasn't sure why he'd suddenly had an urge to go and look – kind of an odd feeling, nothing more – but now he was here, Gary just sighed.
At a hand signal, Alakazam extended the air bubble to cover them both.
"Thanks," Gary said. "And… yeah."
He shook his head. "It just feels like… something went so wrong, somewhere."
AN:
This is, as they say, a problem.
As discussed in the previous authors' note, I'm dealing with a shoulder injury which has impacted the writing speed; this isn't the only reason there's so little, but it's definitely a factor. I am getting physiotherapy, so there's that.
As for the components of the Jewel, I added Fairy as it seemed to fit.
