I LIIIIIIIIIIVE

But hey, folks, it's been a while. Bad stuff happened a while back that killed my motivation to do any writing at all, but I crawled out of it via a combination of Worldbuilding June and RPing. Nevertheless, I'm sorry for the wait.

So let's get on with it already:

Chapter 6: Error

Virion ran down the dim corridors of the barracks. He looked left, he looked right, he looked at his shoulders to make sure Kellam wasn't sitting there again, and he crept toward Howard's room. Surely he'd find something.

He peeked in and immediately regretted it.

Garish gold, gray and red patterns had been scrawled all over the room. The entire room had various clothes and bits of armor strewn all over, as well as other accessories. Virion wondered how he'd ever find anything in this mess.

He shrugged and figured he may as well try.

He started digging, rummaging, hoping to find anything that'd give the Cincinnatians away, when he heard a voice from above.

"Dude. What are you doing?"

Virion looked up to find Giratina standing on the ceiling, looking down at him with a sneer. He gulped and stood up straight, twiddling his fingers nervously. "Well, you see, I was looking for my bow and-"

He blinked. "How did you get up there anyway?"

Giratina scoffed. "Dark knight privileges. Now get out of my room."

Virion let out an audible "meep" sound before sprinting off, heading all the way back to Libra's room, where he found Libra himself pacing back and forth.

"Er, hey, any luck with Bartimaeus?"

"No. When I entered there was nothing there."

Virion sighed. "Great, ether they're on to the fact we're on to them or Panne was off her rock-"

He paused. "Hang on, where is Panne?"

Libra blinked. "I think she was checking into Valentia..."

"...Something could be up," said Virion. "We should check on her."

And the two headed off.

Once again by the waterfalls, Dialga and Naga were swapping stories of each other's worlds.

"And the humans can actually have some pretty good TV shows. Like Sailor Lunatone."

He stiffened, looked around, and waved one of his forelimbs. "Don't tell Palkia I said that."

Naga giggled. "I won't."

Dialga thought for a bit to change the subject before something came to mind. "More serious question?"

"Yes?" said Naga.

"Panne from the Shepherds said her people, the Taguel, were slaughtered by humans. Do you remember that?"

Naga grew somber. "Yes. It was brutal, merciless. I could only observe, but... It is hard to stay cold, to stay pragmatic in times like those."

Dialga hung his head. "I know what you mean. To me extinction by natural causes is only normal, but when a species turns upon another out of pure hate it is not. I remember when the Sceptile of my world turned upon their predecessors..."

Naga shook her head. "It's bad enough protecting the world from threats like Loptyr... And Duma... and Medeus... and Grima..."

Dialga raised an eyebrow. "You've told me about all the others, but not the last one."

Naga blinked. "I haven't? Grima is a foul creature, one born of a dragon corpse infused with the power of the divine by a madman. He lays waste to all and has the power to end the world if he wants to. But he must work through a vessel, and was last sealed away a thousand years ago."

Dialga paused, then looked at Naga worriedly. "Does he have any chance of coming back?"

Naga nodded. "Yes. Almost guaranteed."

"Then I will help stop him. And help bring the Taguel back too if I can."

Panne listened to it all. She choked up, she froze.

Then she ran yet again.

Palika was sitting in the Yilissitol castle courtyard with Robin, both of them enjoying popsicles.

"These frozen treats you made are great, Valentina!" said Robin.

He furrowed his brow. "Didn't recognise the magic you used to make them though."

Palkia winced. "Er, Cincinnati specialty."

Robin chuckled. "What is it like for you back home, anyway?"

"Oh, uh. Lots of responsibilities to make up for the cool stuff, certainly."

She tried to think of anything to change the subject. Only one thing came to mind.

"So, you hear those rumors about that weird girl posing as Hero King Marth?"

Robin blinked. "I've never heard of such rumors."

"Oh, huh," said Palkia, taking a bite of her popsicle. "Well-"

She then realized exactly what Robin just said and spat out her chunk of frozen dessert. "Wait, what do you mean, you've never heard of her?!"

"Why's that so startling? None of us have heard of such a thing."

Palkia paused, racked her brain for a response to the scenario, then gulped.

"Robin?"

"Yes Valentina?"

"I'm going to ask you some very strange questions, and I need you to answer as honestly as possible, OK?"

Robin blinked. "O... kay?"

Palkia gulped again. "First, they told me your exalt got killed... Emmeryn, was it? How did she die?"

Robin grew somber. "An assassin from Gangrel murdered her in her castle one night... Gaius was lucky to not be framed for the deed..."

Palkia grew slightly pale. "G-Great... What happened to Gangrel, by the way?"

Robin scowled. "I chopped the bastard's head off personally."

Palkia grew more pale. "Yipe... Where'd you learn to do something like that? What even was your life before the Shepherds anyway?"

Robin paused, looking shocked, before hastily turning his head and shaking it side to side. "I... It wasn't pleasant... I don't want to talk about it..."

Palkia grew about as white as Robin's hair.

"Oh... Oh geez, that's rough buddy... Listen, I'll leave you alone to get through that while I get more popsicles, see you!"

Robin started. "Valentina, wait, I-"

But she was already gone. Robin blinked.

"What just got into her...?"

Palkia ran.

Panicked thoughts flooded through her mind. She had to find Dialga Giratina, Hoopa. There had been a grave mistake.

And now this world's end was nigh.

The four Legendary Pokemon in their true forms were gathered together, in a forest clearing, alone, with a barrier keeping out the eyes and ears of others. Dialga stamped one of his front feet angrily on the ground.

"What do you mean you and Giratina found the wrong timeline?! I thought you said this place matched your little video game perfectly aside from the lack of Pokemon!"

Giratina shifted awkwardly. "Well, um, bro, me and sis failed to account for-" he sighed. "Sis, you probably can explain better than I can."

"Okay," said Palkia, "so I prepared a little demonstration."

She wheeled in a whiteboard with crude illustrations and started pointing to each of them with her claws, beginning with a doodle of a forked line.

"OK, so the problem is that the game has two timelines, one where the heroes win and one where everyone dies horribly."

She points to some scrawled people of various shapes and sizes hopping from one timeline to another. "The only reason the timeline where the heroes win exists is because their kids, particularly Chrom's kid Lucina, went back in time to try to fix things. From what I've heard from Robin that has not happened, like, at all. Which is an issue because..."

She points to a doodle of Robin smiling with sparkles above his head. "Robin happens to be the key to the apocalypse."

"Wait, that kid? How?" said Hoopa.

"Well..." said Palkia.

She pointed to a second doodle of Robin surrounded by flames, grinning evilly with three pairs of red eyes having sprouted on his face, and with the head and neck of a demonic dragon with three identical pairs of eyes looming above him.

"Robin happens to be queued up to be the next vessel of a really nasty undead dragon demigod named Grima. Who is really big and evil and powerful and can also cause zombie apocalypses."

Dialga's eyes widened. "Grima?! That was one of Naga's nemeses she told me about! She said his return was imminent!"

"Wait, Naga said Grima was coming back like, soon?" said Giratina. "We're definitely in trouble."

Hoopa gulped, then shook his head and shrugged. "Welp, so much for that vacation, guess we should take the next plane or train or cosmic portal ho-"

"No we're not," said Palkia.

"Then what are we doing?" said Giratina.

"If Lucina and the kids aren't around to fix the incoming mess, who else will do it but us?" said Palkia. "I mean, we care about these people, especially after staying with them. We ought to help, right?"

"I most certainly agree," said Dialga.

"I'm up for it," said Giratina.

"Well when you phrase it that way sure why not?" said Hoopa.

Palkia smiled. "All right then..."

"Let's save this world."

Let's just say I was looking forward to this bit. As I mentioned before, this is where the plot starts thickening!