"I'm sorry—SAY THAT AGAIN!?" Anto screamed at the two while they were still within the chained dimension of Zeed's prison. Everyone he knew, except his own Pokémon, was slowly being affected by something that was turning them into static.
"The world is ending, or more specifically: in order for my body to escape this universe, it has to completely tear open the time space continuum of this world," Zeed explained as the abyss rumbled again. "And by doing that, it'll basically destroy this reality and everyone in it. As you can plainly see."
The young boy looked on with dread as all of his friends were on the ground with their Pokémon, flickering in and out of existence like candles about to be blow out in a cold, windy night. However, he kept looking at his own Pokémon and himself, and noticed something very obvious.
"Why aren't we affected by it?"
"That's because you are a soul from a different reality. You're not tied to this world like everyone else. Therefore, when this place is ripped apart, your soul will leave that body and return from where you came from," Hoopa mused as he looked at Anto's party. "They have immunity due to the fact they've been exposed with you for a long amount of time. The spirits surrounding you must have blessed them with bits of their essence."
Anto's heart sank as he looked on to all his friends. Summer, Wes, and everyone, they were all ceasing to be. It was horrible to see so many people that were strong and intimidating figures reduced to something so… vulnerable.
That only meant one thing.
"Guys, it's up to us to stop the apocalypse!" The fate of the world was up to a mute amnesiac with barely five months worth of memory, a wandering and lost samurai, a not-so-clever fighting type with only one useable arm, a shiny Lilligant with sexist issues, a Pokémon designed to only fight and nothing more, a scientist exiled from her home world, and a wannabe steel and grass type that thinks it's a super hero.
These unlikely misfits had to stop and ancient eldritch god that even a small army of powerful Pokémon and legendaries failed to make a dent on.
Oh.
Oh snap.
"I-I don't feel so good!" Anto heroically stepped aside and threw up at the thought—thank Arceus that everyone else was in too much horrible pain to notice… maybe that wasn't a good thing. There was also the fact that their only hope for salvation was upchucking his contents…
"This is our chance, Danger Damoiseau and allies! To save the world as the heroes we were always destined to be!" Super Nut dramatically declared in the void while everyone was still in pain.
"Whoa! We get to save the world! I bet no one's done that before!" Ohko excitedly looked over to Sentinel who also shared an excited smile.
"Anto, I know things seem—rather they are bleak. However, we are not helping anyone idly standing by." Takezo voiced reasonably.
Calmed by his wiser friend, Anto stood back straight and wiped his mouth.
Then the image of Zeed's monstrous and incomplete body roared as it started shattering the sky in a much scarier and faster pace, causing even the abyss to shake uncontrollably again.
The mute lost all regained color and felt sick enough to barf again.
So he did.
"Ahh, I do enjoy moments like these." Zeed happily watched his Pokémon tried to ease the poor boy again.
"I-I haven't even had breakfast today yet! Grruf! … I-I'm good! I'm good this time!" Anto tried to balance himself as he looked back to Hoopa and Zeed. "We have to stop him from destroying this world!"
"Why should I do that? If he wasn't, I was going to destroy this world in the first place." Hoopa looked at the back of his hand in a disinterested manner as he held it in front of him.
Anto and his Pokémon stared in shock.
"What?"
The little ringed Pokémon gave a serious look to the amnesiac. "Have you even wondered how I came across your dreaming space in the first place? Or why I was there trying to get to the bottom of things?"
Those questions alone made Anto pause. All those times, he never actually asked why Hoopa was so adamant about getting through his weird dreams. In fact, now that he was thinking about it, didn't Hoopa specifically say in a recent dream with Zeed that his world was being destroyed?
"B-But why are you here to destroy this world?!" The young boy looked on with shock and horror.
"Actually, Anthony," Zeed raised his hand nonchalantly as the abyss shook continually. "That was my fault. Do you remember the weapon the angel used that got him into my body?"
Anto and his Pokémon slowly nodded, but they all suddenly had a very bad feeling about this.
"I told you all that I was 'falling' through the cosmos. I specified that for a reason because by all means, I should have kept falling for all eternity," The fake teenager folded his arms slowly. "But I didn't, I landed here. And that should have been impossible."
"W-Why should that have been impossible?"
"I'm starting to see it." Hoopa spoke up and floated near Zeed. "This is all your fault to begin with!"
"In my defense, I didn't mean for this to happen." The purple eyed fake dismissed. "Didn't we already have this conversation?"
"Ahh right."
"Umm hello? Can you actually explain what the heck is going on here?!" Lily yelled out loud.
Zeed rolled his eyes but he focused talking to only Anto. "Don't you recall when I told you I was falling? I was grabbing on to anything I could to stop myself from falling: time, space, darkness, light, anything, and everything I could grab onto."
"He was basically grabbing onto fundamental forces from countless of other worlds while he was falling through the dimensions." The small dimension traveler commented. "He grabbed so many of them that a new, artificial world was created—this one." He pointed down to the place they were in. He wasn't directly referencing the abyss, but the entire world.
The entire world was created on accident?
"And Hoopa told me that there was a problem with that. You see: all those things that I accidentally stole from other worlds to make this one? They are slowly killing all the other worlds that I've damaged in my fall." The fake continued while the small legendary nodded in agreement.
"As long as this world exists, countless other worlds are in danger, mine included." The little legendary huffed. "So it's better if this world dies in the first place since it's not supposed to be here."
Anto stared on horrified. How could he say that this world wasn't supposed to be here?
"We're… hurting a lot of other people?"
The young mute quickly turned around and his eyes widened. His lively and quirky bunch of Pokémon… they looked so horrified, so defeated.
Ohko was the one who spoke out and he never looked so drained before. "I don't wanna hurt those that can't defend themselves."
Kryx seemed to be levitating lower than usual. Her body language showed her to be sagging and her head was tilted down. "I don't like being a burden to others again."
Worst of them all, Super Nut removed his mask. "It's not very heroic letting so many suffer."
"G-Guys, what are you doing?" The young boy couldn't help but feel like he was slowly drowning in water as he saw more and more of his own Pokémon, usually so vibrant and lively, look resigned and depressed. "A-Are you really going to listen to them?"
It looked like they wanted to, some even opened their mouths, but they quickly slacked and dropped whatever they were about to protest.
"Anthony, did you want to know the secret of this world that broke the minds of all of the previous hosts?" The young boy slowly turned to Zeed as he continued. "It was this. The world that they lived in was all an artificial world just waiting to soon be destroyed. It's why they called other being fragments: because none of them were truly real. If they helped me, I offered to take them to a real world where they could live in peace like a real person. That is the truth; none of them were real, and none of them have a future as soon as I leave. Look at your partners; they want to deny it, but why aren't they? It's because deep, deep, deep down to their very cores, they can't refuse something that's true."
The amnesiac looked down into the abyss where he swore it wasn't as vast or endless as he thought it was anymore.
Anto was starting to feel it deep within him that sense of wrongness ever since he first woke up and saw that Pidove. It had been suppressed for so long due to everything, but now it had come back and it was overwhelming him. All logic and reasoning that should by all means try and prove everything Hoopa and Zeed just said as wrong, was not working. Instead, there was this insane feeling of uncomfortable relief that he was feeling after hearing the world around him was so fake.
Was this really it?
After all they went through? After everything they had fought for, struggled for, and trained for… were they all just going to let everyone die like this?
The young boy looked at Super Nut one more time and then…
NEVER FEAR, SUPER NUT IS HERE!
"No." The young mute spoke up, making everyone look at him as he took a step forward towards Hoopa and Zeed. "No! NO! How dare you say that!"
"Wha—"
"No! You shut up and listen!" Anto pointed to the legendary before he pointed towards Super Nut of all people. "Super Nut has always dreamed of being a hero because to him, super heroes were courageous, kind, and amazing—everything he believed that he wasn't when in actuality, he is as every bit of courageous, kind, and amazing as the people he' believes in—if not a hundred times more than them because despite all his posing and monologuing, he actually cares about people! He inspires me to care for even those I've never even met before!"
Hail and well met, Huuu—woman! What is up in da buzyness? Fo Shizzle my nizzle when I be shipping!
The young mute pointed to his psychic type "Kryx, is without a doubt the smartest Pokémon I have ever met! She loves to learn and even though she's been banished, even though she isn't liked, she still tries and does her very best! Kryx inspires me that I should never sate my curiosity to learn more about the world!"
KKKKIIIIILLLLLLLLLL!
"Sentinel has lived his entire life as a weapon! He's lived in suffering and hate, but he is without a doubt the most gentle and caring among everyone else! He had every reason to be hateful, bitter, suspicious, cold, but he choose to give us a chance and be a truly kind person despite his past! How could I not look to someone who defines his life every moment he lives?!"
W-Where is she?! Am I late!? … What the heck happened here!?
"Lily is the most honest Pokémon I know who isn't afraid to call people out! She knows her own mistakes and flaws and embraces them—she really is a brave person even though she herself doesn't believe it to be!"
Ya got a lot of nerve chagrining right for us, I can respect that. But I accept your challenge to fight me, bro!
"Ohko has not once let who he is stop him from what he dreams of becoming! He faces everything head on without doubt and grows stronger each time! How can I give up when I know the odds are far more stacked against him—yet he doesn't stop pushing himself to be the best!?"
I check to see how you are doing, and once more, you find yourself in a dangerous situation!?
"And none of this would have happened if Takezo choose to run away that night I fell from the sky! Even when things happen beyond our understanding, we mustn't let fear and our doubts get the better of us. He thought me how to be kind to others when he extended his to me."
Anto stepped forward to Hoopa with a glare that made the two cosmic beings stand on guard. "I don't care if you are the king of your world. Don't. Insult. My friends!" He pointed to everyone else on the ground. "Don't you dare insult any of them!"
Hoopa only leered back to meet with the boy. However, he had to mentally admit he had never had to stare someone down like an equal before. "And what about the other worlds? As long as this world exists, other worlds will slowly but surely perish."
Anto sweated and gritted his teeth. That pretty little speech didn't change the fact that this world was slowly killing the other worlds.
"There has to be something! Anything! I don't want to… to…" Anto suddenly trailed off as he noticed something eerily off.
Everyone left standing turned to the boy in confusion as he turned towards the image of Zeed's body.
"W-Why isn't Zeed's body punching the sky anymore?"
Anto's Pokémon, Hoopa, and Zeed turned towards the image with great speed and their eyes widened. The giant beast was as still as a statue as it emptily stared in a random direction.
"It's looking elsewhere." The legendary noted as the large creature spread its wings , and made a mighty, singular flap that boosted him into the air and blew away the water and trees far down below. Soon, the angel within the eldritch titan started flying away in a random direction. "Where is it going?"
"I don't understand." Zeed spoke up as he used his projection to step forward. "He should be leaving, there's nothing in this world that should catch his interest now that he's free…"
Zeed slowly stopped talking as everyone left looked at the demon. His eyes paced back and forth as if he was mentally confirming something. However, everyone soon got uneasy as they slowly saw the demon's eyes turn wide with horrible realization.
The fake looked up and said one word that chilled everyone else there to their very core.
"Arceus."
"What!? What is it!?" Hoopa demanded as he floated near the fake teenager.
"No, you don't understand! I literally meant Arceus himself! This world—this universe is fake! And so is the Arceus of this world!" Zeed yelled out in panic.
"W-Wait, even the Arceus here is fake? Then why is that guy heading towards it!?"
"Arceus is only fake in personality! It doesn't have a soul, but its physical body is still real with all of its powers. That's why this world still has all the rules of any regular one such as time and space! It's a puppet just waiting to be used and if he absorbs that—"
"He'll have the power of two gods. And if he is unstable as he acts due to being trapped within the seal for so long, he won't just destroy this world… he'll destroy thousands of worlds…" Hoopa spoke with realization. He gripped his fists with fiery eyes. "Including mine."
Hoopa looked to Anto and scoffed. "Looks like I have a reason to stop him after all."
The mute said nothing. He clenched his fists as he still didn't see anything to save his friends!
"Anto, we must go."
The young boy looked back at Takezo and the others, who seemed to be slowly getting their determination up.
"We might be a lost cause," Lily started.
"But we also realized that you would still live even after this." Sentinel stated.
"And there ain't no way ya'll live if that stupid thing gets a hand on Arceus!" Ohko punched the air.
"Even if we go, we'll go down saving many innocents in the process! How can we pass up that opportunity!?" Super Nut threw his claw out dramatically and quickly put on his mask back.
"This is our choice, but we can't win without you. Please, help us." Kryx kindly asked.
The young boy couldn't say no to his close friends. "I-I don't know how, but I will save you all… somehow." He promised to himself silently as he turned to Hoopa. "Let's stop him."
Hoopa took out one of his rings and quickly threw it to the air. It froze mid-air and expanded to the point where everyone could pass through in it. The ringed legendary pointed over to it as Anto and his Pokémon stepped through the ring.
Amazingly, Hoopa's ring was powerful. From a black, endless abyss, they had come to a bright, white abyss that seemed to go on.
"Yo this place looks the same, but without runes… and the chains… the upside-down pillars… and there's this thing right in front of us."
Everyone looked towards what Ohko was pointing at before their eyes widened in realization.
"I-It's Arceus!" The legendary creator Pokémon—the god of the Pokémon world was right in front of them!
(There was even a comment from Ohko that went along the lines off, "This is Arceus!?" Though in his defense, he had never seen Arceus before.)
"Oh wow… he's… he's not moving." Anto and his Pokémon stepped forward towards the giant floating, white creator. No matter what they did, waving in its face, touching, shoving, or even making funny faces (Dang it, Ohko and Kryx!) the body of Arceus did nothing. It was only then that Anto noticed how… empty the look on this Acreus' face was.
"Tch! It was so easy to get here! If this was a real Arceus, there would be so much more resistance in me even opening a portal to enter here. That other guy was right. This is nothing but an empty vessel with power." Hoopa hissed before he turned away.
As soon as he turned, the white abyss around them gave a very familiar shake.
"What d-do we do?"
"I needed someone to watch the body while I naturally do all the work." Hoopa suddenly threw a ring out where a bottle was thrown and caught by the small legendary. He removed the lid and suddenly, he grew in size beyond ten times his usual size. He gained four extra arms, large hind legs, and he looked far more menacing than usual.
The ground rumbled harder than it did before, and a large crack appeared in the middle of the endless plane. Black fingers crawled out of the crack and slowly forced the sacred and empty plain to be ripped open.
Hoopa, in his new unbounded form rushed with amazing speed and punched the creature as soon as all three of its glowing white eyes were seen. The air around them cracked with the sound of the impact that was strong enough to push the titan away from the rip in time and space and back down where ever it was that Zeed's body was trying to open a rip from.
"I wonder why he can affect the titan, when the other Pokémon couldn't?" Anto asked as they heard sounds of mighty blasts, and unearthly cries coming from outside the rip. He also swore he heard the sound of stone crumbling, and hoped to ar—oh snap—he really hoped they weren't fighting anywhere with people.
Everyone of Anto's Pokémon suddenly tensed as they looked at the crack.
"Anto, something is coming!" Takezo cried out as slowly but surely, seven dark shadows slowly crawled out of the rip and came into the plane. As they slowly made their way towards Arceus, Anto and his Pokémon stepped forward, all preparing to fight whatever came their way. Even Anto was getting the move gauntlet he stole from Dimension Enterprise ready albeit a lot more nervously.
The shadows all started expanding, taking on the shape of different beings: a different colored Mega Gallade with the color red on the places where he should have been green and black where he should have been colored white, a similarly contrasting color scheme on a Mega Lucario who wore a vicious smile, a Mega Mawile that had pink eyes that glowed fiercely like fire and had her back heads screaming in dark laughter, a Mega Swampert that impossibly had fangs as he smiled wider than humanly possible, A white bodied, black horned Mega Houndoom that seemed somewhat scared as it darted its head around in panic, and a Mega Sableye with a huge frown on its face as it carried a large blue gem on its shoulder.
And in the lead, it was none other than Subject One, the very first host.
"Well," Anto and the others winced at the sound of another telepathic voice in their head that didn't belong to the mute teen. "Subject Five, I'm surprised. Why are you standing in our way?"
"W-What happened to you? I—no, we saw you get absorbed with all of your Pokémon!" Anto couldn't help but feel a chill in bones while talking to a man who fought toe to toe with Sied Dimension.
The original host placed his hand out. "You should have joined us! After truly becoming one with the true being, we have finally reach an all new state of existence that we didn't know was possible! And with that fake god's power," He pointed to Arceus' body. "All will understand a great new existence without war, famine, hate, and injustice!"
+Don't listen to him kid, if I know that crazy Angel, he's just going to go on some biased crusade and eliminate every he thinks is unworthy.+
Anto didn't need the demon in his brain to realize that. "There is no way, I'm saying yes as to something as shady as that!"
Subject One gave a response that the young mute wasn't expecting. He was smiling right at him that made his spine shiver. "Oh? I thought for sure you would agree, after all, if the great one is allowed to absorb that empty vessel… this entire world would be spared."
For a moment, everyone froze as they all looked to Anto. The young boy stared on with an unreadable face as he finally asked responded. "What?"
"You wish for everyone to be spared here, don't you? If we take the false god's body with us, we can ensure this world will be spared and it will no longer pose a threat of destroying all the other worlds."
+He has psychic powers, Anthony! He's reading your thoughts! I've fought that Angel dastard and he is not one of the merciful and loving of his kind! I'm shielding him from your mind from now on!+
Maybe his mind was being stopped from being read, but the look on Subject One's eyes already seemed like he had seen more than enough. "I know you want to let us, Anthony. After all, why should it be fair that after all you suffered, you have to say goodbye to your friends? Well here it is, boy! The chance you've been dreaming about! You can now force the universe into your will! No more random events! No more bizarre situations! You and your friends can live in harmony forever!"
+Do not listen to him!+
"T-They can all be saved?" The young teen asked as his Zeed continually tried to convince him out of that, but the boy paid no attention to that voice. In fact, Zeed felt himself surprised as the Spirits all bounded him from trying to get back to Anto. The mute boy looked to his Pokémon who seemed conflicted themselves. If it was remotely true, they would all get to live, but even if it wasn't they would die anyway. It was like there was a chance to get out of this hopeless situation, wouldn't they take it?
Shouldn't they?
After all, look at what happened when they tried to trust Zeed, he betrayed them once and almost got them killed for his own selfish reasons—heck! He was still only doing this to get his body back! What if this Angel guy really was trying to stop Zeed and would let them live? It let Subject One live and talk right in front of him.
He had trusted Zeed and look where that brought them. What if trusting this man was the right choice?
"Yes, they can," Subject One opened a palm out to the teen. "All you have to do is step aside."
… Anto looked at the Arceus body.
And then… he didn't know why, but he felt an urge to touch the creator.
As his hand slowly touched the empty vessel's face, he realized how soft the creature was. It almost seemed sad that it was lifeless despite all the power within it.
As he looked into its empty eyes, a flash of light flew right into the boy's sight.
The young boy shielded his eyes as his Pokémon cried out for him and ran towards him.
Subject One seemed to panic by the indication of how his own eyes were widening. "Tell me your answer, Anthony! Now!"
Slowly… Anto started standing back up, as he let go of his hand from his face, he seemed… spooked, but more confused as if he had seen something.
"I-I saw it. How to save everyone…" Anto looked over to Subject One and his look hardened as he stepped forward. "And I also saw what would happen if I took your deal. Even if you did spare this world, it would be eventually be destroyed due to the unstable compatibility with Zeed's body and that Angel's soul. I may hate Zeed, but it looks like the best situation is giving him back his body."
Subject One practically seethed as soon as he heard this. His clenched his open hand that made a powerful bone crunching sound as it closed and was soon ignited with a dim, red aura. "You will regret that boy."
At this moment, all of Subject One's Pokémon flared with reddish-black Aura that exploded from their bodies. They radiated with power as they all slowly crouched in to fighting stances.
Okay, maybe Anto was in over his head with this oneeeeeEE!?
Suddenly, Subject One physically teleported and blind-sided the young teen with a punch so strong that it sent him flying some distance away.
Anto's Pokémon all tried to fight back, but they were suddenly overwhelmed and divided by Subject One's party.
The young mute felt his own jaw broken into pieces and his entire body was aching. However, soon it started to lessen greatly.
+If you were alive right now, you probably dead soon enough.+
Anto reacted quickly and used a Protect move from his gauntlet to surround himself as Subject One started wailing on the bubble that seemed to do very little to hold up to the onslaught the immortal was dishing out.
+Though, if you were dead again, you'd be back in this situation. Which would mean nothing would change. Huh. I thought I was going somewhere with that…+
"Tell me how to beat this guy dang it!" Anto mentally yelled at Zeed now that he made the spirits let go of the demon in his head.
+Do you have over 10,000 years of mastering the art of Aura and Psychic Abilities while picking up and honing over 300 martial arts skills including some that have long been extinct and forgotten? Or some kind of prophesied power given to you on the day you were born that defined you from everyone else in the world?+
Anto tried his best not to feel intimidated by that. "Uhhh… I can play a harmonica?" He failed miserably.
+I'm sure that you'll defeat Subject One if believe in the heart of the Harmonica hard enough.+
"WELL EXCUSE ME FOR BEING NORMAL!" Anto could feel the demon roll his eyes at him inside his brain and he didn't need powers to know that!
With one large blast, the forcefield got destroyed with one finishing blow, and Subject One loomed over the young teen and picked him up by the neck.
"That was pathetic. You didn't even last ten seconds." Subject One actually smiled as if he was surprised by all of this while the young boy struggled fruitlessly in his grip. "Heck, even your own Pokémon are as pathetic as you."
Anto tried to look towards his Pokémon, but they were having the same luck as him.
Takezo was being outclassed by the Mega Gallade because of his ability to teleport his blades mid-swing and swipe at the smaller Pokémon with incredible precision. Ohko wasn't able to get a hit on the mad Mega Lucario that just kept punching him and avoiding all his counter attacks. Lily's attacks did nothing to Mega Mawile as she plowed through anything coming her way. Sentinel of all people was overpowered by the sheer speed and brute force of the Mega Swampert. Kryx was knocked down from the sky by the crazed looking Mega Houndoom who seemed to know exactly where she was going to teleport to by 'voices' he kept hearing. Lastly, Super Nut was unable to move due to his own Leech Seeds ensnaring around him with Mega Sableye over him.
No matter what they did, Anto's Pokémon were slowly being overpowered, overwhelmed, and out maneuvered.
"You are the best of Unova's Trainers?" Subject One taunted over the teen. "My Pokémon are stronger and faster than your Pokémon will ever be!"
However, Anto did realize he was the Champion of Unova, but he recalled differently. His mind flashed back to his speech with Dimension Enterprise and what made him win.
"You're pathetic! It's honestly laughable at how easy this is! Ahahahaha!"
"Ah…haha… hahahahaha!"
Subject One slowly stopped as he saw Anto laughing as well. The young boy's mental laughter echoed in the Plane of Origin and forced all fighting to stop and look at him.
"Is something funny?" Subject One raised his brow but sent a link to his other Pokémon to keep their eyes on their opponents. The boy was up to something and they'd be sure to crush it.
"I just realized: you are more powerful than me in every single way, in both Pokémon, and physical abilities! I stand no chance against you!" The young boy gave a defiant smirk despite the fact he was nervously twitching under the grip of the giant man.
"Yes… that is what is happening."
Anto smirk grew into a wide smile. "There's something I should tell you about me and my Pokémon: when the odds are stacked against us, it becomes suddenly really hard to actually beat us."
"Oh and why is that?" Subject One looked towards all the boy's other Pokémon. None of them looked even close to helping the boy out. He reclined his fist and set it ablaze with Aura, ready to punch through the teen's skull like tissue. But how—how could the boy still be smiling so confidently?
"How about I just show you?" Suddenly a beeping noise was heard that caught the blond man's attention. He quickly looked down and saw that Anto was secretly priming his Move Guantlet!
Subject One wasted no time and threw his fist at the boy. Whatever move it was it wouldn't stop him from overpowering and out speeding a simple teenage—
"KAK!?" Subject One flinched as the young boy somehow punched him faster and avoided the aura-coated fist!
Anto broke his hand at the unsuspecting Sucker Punch because it felt like he was punching titanium with his bare hands. However, while still clutching his hands, he turned towards his Pokémon, "Now switch partners and go on the attack!"
His Pokémon did as they were told and something strange was happening: his Pokémon could fight back better! They were avoiding their opponents and landing their own hits on their opposing Mega Pokémon.
Subject One recovered from the flinch and saw this happening. He reached over for the teen to grab him again, but suddenly the young boy moves faster than he expected a teenage boy to away from him! The first Host's mind raced, but nothing was making any sense!
"What move did you just use!?" How could it not only be affecting him, but all the Pokémon surrounding them!?
Anto said nothing as he showed the move on the screen of the gauntlet. Even though it was upside-down, the immortal saw what was written there.
Trick Room.
Subject One could only stare in shock. He used the move that gives slower Pokémon more speed than the fastest users in the area.
"You are right. You're Pokémon are stronger than mine." Anto slowly stood back up and shook his hand. "You all just so happen to be faster than any of us, which means all I had to do was activate Trick Room so we'd be the faster ones!"
Thank you, BS Pokémon Moves!
Dang it! How did no one notice the boy pressing his gauntlet—it was because he ordered his Pokémon to make sure the teen's Pokémon were pinned down wasn't it?
The towering, suit-wearing blond burst with far more power that was even visible to the naked eye. "This will not last forever, punk! You can't beat us when this dies down!" Subject One then started shooting fast Aura Spheres at the young teen who ran and ran to avoid getting hit—just like Anto had always been doing since the young amnesiac's journey began.
"Well it's a good thing I plan to beat you before it does!" Anto ran as far away as he could from Subject One as long as he was still in the twisted Dimensions. He linked a plan to his partners as he slid to a stop near the edge of the strange dimension attack.
Subject One roared as he started levitating mid air and flying towards the boy with his fist set ablaze with even more intense, malevolent aura.
Anto dropped into running position… then disappeared.
Subject One stopped as he quickly tried to see where the boy had run off to then he noticed something coming his way—
KRACK!
All the Pokémon halted mid-fight for a second then winced as they looked to see what had happened.
The young boy blinked as he pulled his kick back. "Oh wow, cheap shots do work on you." Anto jumped back after making sure he stepped some safe distance away from the large man that was now crouching on the ground and sucking on his lips as he faced downward on the floor from the impact.
"You… little…" Even his telepathic voice sounded like he was caving in. Though to be fair, having something hit you with the speed and weight of something going over a hundred miles per minute would hurt anyone, especially if they aimed in a not so defended area.
Suddenly more and more of the other Megas were out maneuvered and were piled on top of their trainer by the teamwork and quick movements of Anto's Pokémon who capitalized on their dropped guards. Kryx's eyes started glowing as she, Lily, and Super Nut quickly restrained all seven of their opponents together.
Anto stood over the surprised and still in pain Subject One.
"Don't you know better than to mess with the Champion?" The young boy winked before he pressed his Battle AR to activate his Synergy Burst. "Kryx, kindly show our guests out."
"With great ecstasy!" The little Pokémon was quickly wrapped with rainbow energy and with a burst of psychic power… the extraterrestrial shoved all seven of their opponents out the very crack they came from.
Anto watched as they flew back down into the battle between Hoopa and Zeed's body. A few seconds passed before the boy had just realized… he won.
"I-I can't believe we won that."
+Same.+
"Anto," The young boy looked to a rather disgusted looking Takezo. "Did you have to do… that?"
The young boy felt insulted as he figured out what he was referencing. "Hey that was the only way I could incapacitate him!"
Ohko raised his hand up. "Ya coulda just punched him, boss."
"That wasn't very heroic, Danger Damoiseau…" Super Nut sadly deflated in disappointment.
"Are you all forgetting that I'm just a regular kid and he's like some kind of super human!?" The boy threw his hands towards the portals.
"I thought you kinda can't die." Lily quickly pointed out.
"Dang it guys, throw me a bone here!"
BOOM!
The plane they were on shook as the seven looked back to see something coming their direction—Anto saw his Pokémon move in to yank him out of the way of Hoopa Unbound thrown his direction.
"Wait if he's here, then who's…" Sentinel trailed off as everyone looked back at the crack.
ꙘꙚ ᾨ!
The body of Zeed was slowly trying to open up the tear back into the Plane of Origin.
Anto quickly looked towards the body of Arceus. He started to sweat and he swallowed his spit as if he was trying to think. "Guys, when I touched Arceus' body, I saw a vision of how to save everyone! You all have to stop that thing for as long as you can from getting to the body!"
His Pokémon didn't question him and quickly speed off to do their best to beat back the limbs and the shadows that were slowly coming back in.
The young mute hesitated for a second before sprinting towards the empty vessel of the creator.
+The Arceus Body, it should you a vision of the future, didn't it?+
"Yeah…" The boy said as he stood in front of the towering yet empty Pokémon.
+What did it show you?+
Anto stepped closer to the Arceus Body. "It showed you doing some kind of soul transfer spell between me and this. I sorta pieced it together that you have to put my soul into Arceus."
+Tch! I would put my soul in it I know it doesn't have a passive ability to destroy malevolent souls such as my own. However, a human soul being transferred into there is much worse.+
"How so?"
+It's not some simple possession kid. This may be an empty vessel, but it has the power of a god. If your soul is transferred over to this body, it will be assimilated and turned into a soul that will match the vessel. In other words, it won't even be you anymore and you will never return to your body afterward… you already know all this, don't you?+
Anto sighed deeply. "I saw it in the vision. Me giving up my soul for a new Arceus to be born… the new Arceus of this world will stabilize all imbalances of this world and make it a real, proper world! Everyone will live in this world and all of the other worlds you damaged to create this imperfect one will be fixed because of the new Arceus. And the price of it all? One unassuming, regular teen's soul." He looked up to the body of Arceus. "It's the best deal in the universe." One life for countless others.
+Do your Pokémon know about this?+
"… Start the spell, Zeed. They can't hold off your body forever."
Anto closed his eyes, and then they quickly opened to reveal they had been turned purple.
"Dang kid. You humans make no sense to me, but then again, this option is better than the alternative…" Zeed waved Anto's hand as mystic runes started to appear around the boy and circle around him and Arceus's body; as this happened, seven other small lights, the spirits within Anto, seemingly moved out of the boy's torso and moved into Acreus' vessel. It seemed as if Anto had given instructions for them as well.
Meanwhile, Anto's Pokémon desperately tried to fight back the beast, but their attacks weren't showing any sign of lasting damage on the creature.
"This isn't working! We need a new plan!" Lily cried out as she avoided being slammed by a dark shadow.
"Lily, look out!" Takezo yelled to his fellow grass type, only for the shiny Pokémon to look up and see something quickly blind her and pin her down to the ground.
"Did you really think you would get rid of me, dddaarrrllling~?" Mega Mawile smiled as she pressed her foot down Lily's face.
"Not these punks again!" Ohko cried out before he was punched by Mega Lucario in the jaw.
"I'm not done fighting yet! Gimme a fightfightfightfightfightfightFIGHT!" The deranged mega howled before he ran after the flying Ohko.
Soon, more of the other Megas started to return and force back Anto's Pokémon.
However, Takezo stepped forward. "Do not let them push is back! Whatever Anto is doing, we must let him do it!"
However, despite the normal type's best attempt in inspiring his friends, the titan was able to squeeze a full arm into the plane. As he did, more and more drops started falling in, and they slowly started to form the other Subjects and their powerful Pokémon.
"Are you sure, little blade acolyte?" The Mega Absol from so long ago stepped forward with a dark grin. "You are stepping right into slaughter if you continue to defy all of us."
Takezo was sweating with nervousness, his body felt sore, he could barely feel balance, but none the less he defiantly pointed his blade at them.
"Our friend believes in us. We believe in him!" Takezo, with eyes glowing blue, charged right for the enemies in front of him with his friends close behind him.
They fought bravely… but it was not enough as very quickly they were pinned down and subdued by the sheer numbers of their enemies.
The four human subjects looked over to Arceus where Zeed was very close to what he was trying to do.
"Zeed, hurry!" Anto told the demon.
"I'm hurrying as fast as possible!"
"What are they doing?" Subject three asked.
"I don't know, but I don't like it. Screw it. Everyone fire all their attacks at him. I'm sure the Arceus Vessel could survive anyway." Subject One sorely said.
All of the previous hosts and their Pokémon fired a powerful and combined attack onto the teen. The six Pokémon could only stare in horror as their friend was standing there like a helpless babe in front of a typhoon.
"No! NO!" Sentinel pushed through his captors and used Specter Step to warp right in front of Anto and the attacks.
"Sentinel, what are you—" Anto cried out as he mentally froze when he saw Sentinel spread out his entire body…
And shielded him from the countless, intense blasts.
"Sentinel!"
The Torren Region Pokémon had withstood the first wave of attacks. His bones were cracking, he fell on one of his knees, but he still tried his best to shield his trainer.
"Sentinel, get out of there!" The boy mentally linked to his Pokémon.
"Fire again!" Subject 3 cried out as the army of powerful Pokémon fired again to the boy. Anto's other Pokémon struggled harder to free themselves, but no matter how they tried, they were pinned down and subdued.
The delta Pokémon fired his best attack to try and defend himself, but even that was easily overpowered and he quickly used his body as a shield to absorb the attack.
"Sentinel, get out of the way! Leave! Go! Stop what you're doing! You promised you wouldn't do this again!"
As Zeed hurried with the spell, he noticed how tears were running down his—this body's eyes.
Sentinel fell on both of his knees towards the floor. His fires were slwoy being extinguished and the cracks were now starting to appear on his skull. "You have to… save them… Anti… save… our friends…"
"STOP IT! STOP IT! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"
"Ugh! How could such an ugly little thing not budge from all that attacking?!" Subject Four scoffed. "Hurry up and destroy him! I dislike whatever it is that uncouth idiot is doing!"
Another, much larger blast headed towards them.
No matter how much Anto screamed, Sentinel slowly got up and spread his body to shield Zeed and Anto from the brunt of the assault.
The ghost dragon turned his head back to Anto and gave a genuine but last smile. "We're… too stupid… to know how to abandon others… remember?"
Sentinel was then consumed by the lights and explosions a third time.
Zeed watched as the tears from the body started flowing down relentlessly and soon all feeling in his lower half was starting to fail. "Anthony, stay focused! We're almost there!"
As the dust settled, Sentinel's body was revealed through the smoke…
K-Krack!
One crack—two cracks—twelve cracks… they all appeared across his body before he crumbled like sand and vanished into the endless white.
"S-Se-Sen…" The mute inside the body, his friends that were pinned down… they too started to tear up as they saw their close friend… gone forever.
"Anthony, focus! I'm almost done!" Zeed called out as he continued putting strange symbols around him and Arceus.
"Finally! Blast him to kingdom come!" Subject 3 yelled out and pointed his blade, as all the Pokémon started to gather energy—
"YOU BBBAAAAASSSSSTTTTAAAARRRRDDDDSSS‼‼‼‼‼‼" Ohko yelled like a mad animal with tears in his eyes as he pushed off over several Mega Pokémon that were pinning him down. He punched the closest one to him so hard, it knocked out other Pokémon and helped free his equally pissed off allies.
With adrenaline, pain, and fury blinding the remaining five Pokémon, they ignored every part of their body telling them that they were fatigued and injured and fought with the ferocity that could make even legendaries quiver in fear.
Subject One ignored the berserk Pokémon and pointed over to Anto. "Hurry up! Blast them, now!"
His own Pokémon got out of fighting and fired their powerful moves at the boy.
"Sentinel. Sentinel! SENTINEL! SENTINELSENTINELSENTINEL!"
Anto wailed like a banshee in desperation as he called out the name of his dead friend. Zeed slammed his hands together as the eyes blazed purple despite the uncontrollable tears falling from his face.
"LLEPS EHT HSAELNU I!" Zeed cried out as he slammed his hands together, finally completing the spell.
Acreus eyes glowed brightly—to the point where it blinded everyone in the dimension and swallowed them all whole.
The body of Zeed wailed in pain as the light blinded him as well and repelled him from the tear he created.
As the body fell into the stone ruins of the Spear Pillar, the tear to Arceus' plane was sealed up, leaving the fate of those still inside to the wind.
"Anto? Anto, wake up."
The young teen slowly opened his eyes. He yawned then stretched his arms out. As he looked out the window from the seat he was on, it looked like it was sundown.
"Oh crap, it's that late?" The young teen said as he looked to his side and grabbed his backpack. But he did look to the tall, American-Indian man wearing a janitor's jumpsuit. "Thanks, Mr. RunningWolf."
"There is no need to thank me for helping a friend. Have you been practicing the next play?"
The young teen packed up his Nintendo 3Ds and his text books. "Yeah. I have the villain part, so it's pretty big and there are a lot of lines, but I'm excited for it."
The janitor laughed. "How strange of you to be excited playing the bad guy."
"Oh please, it's the villains that make or break a good story. They're the ones with the awesome resources, the charismatic personalities, and by all means should win if they didn't make so many mistakes."
The older man laughed. "You seem to be a fan of them."
The older teen flushed at how he technically babbled in front of the respectable man. "S-Sorry."
"There is nothing wrong with talking about your passions. By the way, summer is coming up soon, and I won't be there for your birthday." He took out a box and gave it to the boy. "So consider this a very early birthday present."
"R-Really? You didn't have to do that." The young teen looked at the box.
"You didn't need to spend your time making sure to talk to me and treating me like a person, but just like you, I decided to do it." He smiled as he motioned to the boy. "Go on, open it."
The young teen did so, carefully removing the tape as he opened up the present to reveal a small wooden box with a dream catcher etched to the top.
He slowly opened the box and smiled as he saw what was inside. "Wooden animals?" There was a deer, a bear, an owl, a rabbit, an eagle, a swan, and last but in no way least a wooden whale that Anto picked up personally to inspect.
"They are known as Guardian Spirits to my people. Each animal you see represents strong traits that will help guide you in life. Long ago, we believed gifting totem animals to another was a sign they would be protected as their life goes by."
Anto smiled as he put the box away, but kept the whale totem in his pockets. "Thank you, Mr. Running Wolf! I'll see you after summer!" The young boy spoke as he waved goodbye to the man.
"May the Spirits guide you, Anthony Baker, along those who you choose as your friends."
Slowly but surely, the first thing he saw was the clear, vast blue sky that stretched on beyond his sight.
Anto slowly moved his hand over his eyes to block some sunlight before his thoughts started to reorganize himself.
He blinked before recalling everything that just happened and quickly got up—only to see strange things fall from his chest.
The young boy felt his eyes were wet as he moved his hands up to confirm that there were indeed tears coming from his eyes.
SENTINEL!
Anto stood up quickly and looked around. He was no longer in the white abyss but he seemed to have been sleeping on some random tree on top of a hill that looked down on a city.
"Takezo!? … Ohko!? … Lily!? … Sentinel!? … Kryx!? … Super Nut!? … Anyone!?"
However, Anto quickly felt something—or rather, the lack of something. It was like Zeed was gone from his mind, no matter how much he tired; he couldn't feel the presence of the demon, or even the spirits that dwelled within him.
There was also the strange fact that he was still in his—or well a version of his body. … How was he still ali—wait no err animated? How was he animated if Zeed wasn't there?
Also, wasn't he supposed to be gone the moment his soul was transferred to Arceus? How is he still here? What was going on again?
It was then that Anto recalled that there were pieces of something on his chest before he looked around. The young teen quickly looked back and saw what specifically he wiped off his body: they looked like pieces of a big but elaborate egg that was broken.
There was an egg on him? But these pieces looked like they already hatched, so what was in it? He clearly didn't remember ever having an egg in the first place.
"Papa?"
Anto froze as he heard that really young, small, but somehow divine voice come from right behind him.
The young teen looked around and dropped his jaw.
In front of him, floating mid air…
It was a baby Arceus.
The little god no bigger than Poochyena seemed to smile at the teen then quickly flew up to Anto's torso in an attempt to hug him.
"Papa!"
The young teen didn't close his mouth, and if it was possible, his jaw would have fallen into the ground and dug to the opposite side of the planet at what he just realized.
A newborn god… had just called a teenage mute with one of the worst luck in the cosmos with a demon implanted in a body of a dead version of himself from a different world… his dad.
"Universe… any darn time you want to make sense, I'll be waiting. I'll be freaking waiting."
{End Of Unova Saga}
Wow. Finally, after all these years, the first saga is done.
This story will have a strange Arc that I hope that you guys will enjoy before we get into the next real saga.
Also, I have to say this: with the first saga officially over, I'm going to take a small hiatus/break on this story before I continue writing it again. The next chapter might come later than usual.
So ends Anto's rather unorthodox journey all throughout Unova. I can't believe that we're finally here. I could actually end the story here and say it's complete before putting the next part into a new story… maybe I will, maybe I won't.
… Nah.
Well I warned you all this was far from over from being one bizarre misadventure. And I could proudly ask: how many of you actually expected Anto to be the father of a god?
Even I thought I was crazy when this idea first popped into my mind all those years ago. (Yes, this was planned from the very beginning.) But I thought it would be super fun to actually write a god as a potential Pokémon friend of Anto. A lot of people would argue that having a god would be super OP, but that's only in fights.
*Evil Smile* I have a lot of ideas of a little, cute, baby Arceus with… well… some control over his power.
Anto: I'm sorry, did you say 'some control'?
Imagine a hyperactive toddler with the powers of creation at his fingertips. Good luck with that, papa.
Anto: You sunuva—
Don't worry too much. I know what I'm doing with having Arceus being directly in this story, or rather I am very aware of the problems that can come if such a powerful Pokémon is brought into the main plot of this story where it may turn things into a literal Dues Ex Machina or Gary/Mary Stu/Sue. But the more I look at it, the more I can see even crazier and unexpected things to come to Anto and his friends when the cosmos themselves can't handle his bad luck!
Sadly, we had to say goodbye to a long time character: Sentinel, the Delta Charmeleon turned Charizard.
I really loved writing him. I really did, but I resolved myself with letting him go due to reasons of my own understanding.
When I first wrote him to be dying, a piece of me was screaming at me that I was trapping myself in a cliché. If he somehow does live past this terminal event, it would be somewhat predictable and a sign of some rather weak writing. I didn't want to do that, but when it came time to actually kill the guy, I couldn't find myself doing it. So instead, I decided to take inspiration from One Piece.
Spoilers ahead. (I still tried to make it spoiler free as possible.)
The Main Character's brother was captured and about to be killed, however, the main character was able to save his brother up until the very end where he died anyway after how hard he tried.
Spoilers done for now.
That's what I took. I made it look like Sentinel was in the clear, when in reality, he only delayed the inevitable, but this time, he got to go out on his own terms, not death's. And really, what better way to go than protecting a friend you care about?
Some of you may dislike me for it, but I think it makes me a better writer for understanding how to kill long time characters.
Next time, on Bizarre Misadventures, we start the new arc and meet more of this new character.
Thanks for reading.