very brief chapter, we're leading up to the end of the first 1/3 of the story.

I added in some content to the prologue, if you want to check it out. This was done to give first-time readers a better idea where this story is going. Please head back and glance over the beginning and the end of it!

Arc I, The Plate of Space

Chapter Twenty:

Where Immortals Go Alone

"I hope Grimmwolfe was on that boat," I grumbled, looking over my shoulder at the destruction we had caused.

"I hope Mr. Stone doesn't figure out that it was our fault and then ask us to pay for the damages," said Aurelio worriedly.

We walked along the shore of the island upon the northern coastline, our feet already aching from the sheet of rocks along the white waves. Most of the passengers had used their Pokémon to escape, and the others were just now beginning to float onto the beach. We shoved past a group of people. I was hellbent on getting to my Plate.

"That's the least of our worries," I said in a mumble.

Latios skipped alongside us. "I'm surprised we've gotten this far without being stopped," he said. "Philippa has been in the Antebureau for a long time, so it's natural that they would have sent her, but there are plenty of other trainers too."

"They're not too concerned about us," I said, kicking aside a particularly large stone. My battle with Kyogre hadn't released enough of the bloodlust in me. "Luce wanted me to meet him in the catacombs. So that's exactly what we're gonna do."

"I don't know, boss. Sounds like a textbook trap to me."

"Well, of course it's some stupid trap!" I dug my nails into my palms. "But we're going no matter what. There's no smart way around this."

Aurelio stared off into the midnight horizon. "I hope Josie is okay."

"She'll be fine," I said, harsher than I meant to. I didn't want to talk about Josie, or anything other than my Plate and how we were going to retrieve it. But she deserved better than that. "I'm sorry. But some demonic creature has—"

Latios snorted. "Demonic? That's a bit dramatic."

"No," I said, stopping and facing them. "It's not. You would understand if you had felt the connection between us. Whoever Luce is, whether he's Pokémon or human, he's not mortal. I have never felt such a malevolent presence before. Not in any era, nor in any dimension."

Latios and Aurelio finally seemed to register that my hands were trembling. That I was afraid.

"Arceus, what did he say to you?" Aurelio asked hesitantly.

"I was the most important step to restoring his body," I said, my breaths coming shallower. The conversation had happened less than an hour ago, but I still remembered the words as if they were currently being spoken in my mind. His presence had never truly left me, after all. "And that he had missed me since our creation."

"Our creation?" said Latios. "Nothing was created before you. Nothing was created shortly afterward, either. You are the Original One, and you were by yourself for eons before bringing life to the universe."

Aurelio nodded. "It makes no sense."

I emptily gazed at the rocks. Luce was not bluffing. I could tell by the aged wisdom in his voice that he had experienced almost as much as I had. But his identity remained a troublesome mystery. One that I was tentative to clarify.

"The answers will become clear with time," I muttered, walking away.

Fate had somehow led me down this road. Luce and the Antebureau obviously had access to my Plate from the beginning — they had only been waiting for the perfect time to nab it. If I had not run into Aurelio, perhaps I would have been foolish enough to teleport right into their territory. Without knowing why, I had listened to him, and good thing I did.

The few days and nights I had spent here revealed to me dire information: someone desperately wanted to kill me. And hiding away in the immortal dimension would not slow them down.

I would not die unless the rest of the universe fell with me. That was inevitable. Time would see to that. But the Antebureau was not looking to wait, to sit around and expect something to eventually happen. They were acting with a sense of urgency.

Dread cast a dark shadow over me.

"What will we do, Arceus?" asked Aurelio gently.

The foaming waves reached for my ankles. People shouted in the distance, their voices carrying across the great blue. "I'm going to get my Plate," I said, my resolve strengthening. "Now that I know what I'm up against. No more delays. No more dawdling."

"You're right," he said, clutching his bag. "They had us from the beginning. We can't play incognito any longer."

Latios chuckled. "The boss made sure of that when it turned into Lugia atop the deck."

I scanned the ground, hoping my words would find their way to me again. "You can continue as you are," I said. "This is my problem. I must be the one to settle it. From here on, I will be going alone. I refuse to put either of you at risk until I know who — or what — Luce is."

"Arceus, you can't!" exclaimed Aurelio. He grabbed my shoulder. When he leaned over to communicate to me with his eyes, it was like an immense wave of sunglows and constellations, aching me with their comfort. "I said I would stick with you no matter what. You can't go alone. You'll be hurt."

"I cannot be hurt," I said, my mouth stale, "but you can."

"Please."

I pulled away, although it pained me. "Trust my judgment."

Latios intervened. "Arceus may be right," he said, gently removing Aurelio's hand from me. "It claims that Luce is unlike anything it has ever experienced. He's more dangerous that we're giving him credit for. It's even worse when we don't know what he is or where he comes from. Until Arceus can figure that out, I think we're best out of harm's way, far from the feet of titans."

"I'm not moving," said Aurelio, planting himself where he stood. "Where you go, I go. Move ten yards that way, I'll follow. Swim into the ocean, and I'll follow you there too."

I dug my teeth into the inner corners of my lips. "Latios," I said.

"You're the boss," he said, shrugging.

He wrapped a firm arm around Aurelio's chest, cementing him in place. Aurelio cursed and tried to struggle from his grasp, but the legendary was too strong for him. Humans were universally fragile creatures, after all. His notebook fell to the stones on an open page. The pages fluttered from the coastal wind.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" His voice was snapped like fire, but his eyes sadly beseeched me for mercy.

I soothed him with a chaste kiss upon his cheek. "You've been a devoted companion," I dolefully said. "When I have done what I must do, I will come back for you. Then I will give you all of the time in the universe to finish your notebook. A lifetime for you is but only a breath for me. But this breath of mine — it will be yours to keep."

His face was appleskin red. "I—"

I turned the Alterstone. My physical form crumpled beneath its power, turning me inward like a flowering spiral, and when I blossomed, I became a Xatu with beautiful wings. When I spread them, feathers touching galaxies on both sides, I folded into myself, teleporting to the place where peril sung my name.

End of Chapter Twenty