(Author's Note: For those of you who don't know, Michina Town actually doesn't show up on the Sinnoh Map. Stupid, I know, but there wasn't much I could do about it. I decided, therefore, to have Michina located North-West of Veilstone City, on a made up river that starts on the small bay area, again North West of Veilstone City. The river itself starts on the southernmost tip of the bay, goes directly west onto Route 210, before changing direction and heading South East, ending in Lake Valor. Michina Town, therefore, is located near Routes 210 and 215, in between Celestic Town and Veilstone City. If I can, I'll get a picture of the Sinnoh Map on my profile, with the River included. Enjoy!

PS: If I'm wrong, and Michina actually DOES have a location, or at least a general location, LET ME KNOW VIA REVIEW OR PM. Preferably before the end of Nov. 2016. By then, it'll be too late to change it.)

-Three Days Ago-

Charley stretched as he stepped out of the truck, onto the dry road. He took a moment to groan, pushing his palms against his lower back and feeling, not to mention hearing, a satisfying crack.

The driver, a rather grubby looking man in his late forties, chuckled as he hopped out as well. "It takes some getting used to," he says. He walks around the back of the vehicle and pops open the uncovered back door. Inside, laying on a small rag, is Torkoal. The fire type grunts in annoyance as his human Partner lifts him and places him on the ground.

"Sorry, Torkoal," Charley says apologetically. "You couldn't ride in the cab, not with the smoke from your shell. My point exactly," he adds as Torkoal inhales a small whiff of dust from the road, causing him to sneeze and eject a large cloud of black smoke in the Ranger's face. The Ranger descends into a fit of coughing, during which he pulls out his wallet from his pocket.

"Ugh, here," he says, handing the driver several twenties. The driver raises his eyebrows.

"Son, this is nearly twice as much as you owe me. You sure?"

Charley nods. "Consider it thanks for getting me over here double time on such short notice. "I'll see you soon, if I live through today."

"Wait, what?" The man says confusedly, but by then Charley had already run off.

He sighs as the dusty road gives way to concrete, which then gives way to a plaza surrounded by Roman style houses and art. People are all over, mostly families and citizens going about their daily lives. Ducking into an alleyway, Charley takes a moment to pull off his black shorts and hoodie, which reveal his Ranger uniform: Khaki shorts, a light red sweatjacket with white undershirt, and a fedora, which he puts over his head, shielding his eyes from the harsh sun.

Charley slips his styler from the pocket of his uniform and clips it to his wrist. The device senses his pulse and turns on, vibrating slightly. After a moment it goes silent, meaning that either no new news had come through, or, more likely, no one was watching his Styler because everyone was dealing with another crises or two.

Seems like we've a lot of those recently.

"Tor, Torkoal." Charley's Partner pokemon wheezed. The noise snapped the Ranger out of his silent state.

"Right. Let's go," he responds, shaking his head and, having thrown his other clothing into his backpack, Charley walks back out onto the street.

The sight of a Ranger and his Partner pokemon in Michina Town, which rarely had any problems other than everyday crooks, was rare enough. However, it only took a few moments for people to start recognizing Charley's face. Pretty soon the streets were much more crowded, and it took nearly a half hour for Charley to push through them to make it to the Pokemon Center. There, he got himself a bottle of water and a coffee and sat in a corner. The crowd rushed in, asking him questions, to take and sign pictures, and to pet Torkoal. The Coal Pokemon, unlike his Ranger Partner, seemed to enjoy the attention.

Everything went dead silent when an older voice spoke with surprising authority: "What are you doing here?"

Charley turned toward the sound of the voice. The man was bound to a wheelchair, but his suit and withered face held a look of wisdom, kindness, and gentleness. However, he looked neither gentle nor kind at that time. On the contrary, he looked nervous, if not downright fearful. He gazed hard at the Vatonage Ranger, but Charley held it with ease.

"Official business on behalf of the Ranger Union, Mr…?"

"Morgans. Derek Morgans."

Charley nodded, approaching the man and holding out his hand. "Great to meet you, Mr. Morgans. I'm Charley Mason."

The man shook with Charley, though it seemed with reluctance. "What 'business,' if you don't mind me asking?"

"Classified," Charley stated. "Sorry, Sir, but it's between myself and the higher ups in the Ranger depot in Jubilife and over in Almia."

"And us," a new voice said. The visitors spun around to see a man and a woman standing at the back of the crowd. They wore matching outfits of navy blue with white trim. The man had blond hair with yellow eyes, while the girl had dark brown hair and blue eyes. The outfits themselves seemed regal, and the pair held themselves with an air of power and strength.

"Sheena, and Kevin," Charley says, sounding relieved. "I'm glad you were able to find me."

"It wasn't hard," the girl, Sheena, responded. "All we had to do was follow the crowds."

Charley grimaced. "It works, I suppose. "Shall we?"

Kevin nods. "Follow us."

Charley nods, and several of the citizens notice his left hand maintain a white knuckled grip atop his styler.

"Son," Charley stops in the doorway as Mr. Mason calls to him. He turns around. Mr. Mason has a saddened look on his face. "You're going to do what I think you are, aren't you?"

Charley stays silent for a moment, his expression neutral. Finally, he sighs. "Yes," is all he says.

Mr. Mason simply nods. "Good luck to you, then."

Charley just nodded, leaving. Mr. Mason watches him go, ignoring the questions being thrown at him.

O Arceus, forgive us of our sins. Have mercy, he thinks to himself.

A moment later, Charley was sitting in the backseat of a rusty, dark green jeep, Torkoal by his side. The car had no top, instead open to the wind. He held the roll cage out of instinct as Kevin drove up a steep mountain side.

"The ruins themselves are spread out all around the mountain," Sheena, who was riding shotgun, said. She passed a paper map back to Charley, who looked at it with interest. "As you can see, it seems they built the main structure inside this mountain, which has eroded away quite a bit since then. This road wasn't there back then, it was built within the last twenty years."

"Alright," Charley responds. "You two seem to know what you're doing."

Kevin snorts as he parks the car in a small lot at the top of the road. "We try, but if what we found is accurate, I wish we hadn't." He leads the group up a short, albeit winding staircase, which opens up into an ancient courtyard.

Charley whistles, running his hand gently over one of the columns that supports an arch at the top of the staircase. "This has got to be thousands of years old."

"Two thousand, seven hundred and fifty," Sheena says proudly. "We're part of a large group that keeps the place in tact. But we also allow excavation," she adds, her voice dropping. "Which is why we've called you."

Charley nods firmly. "Show me."

Kevin leads them down a staircase, which ends at a door. Made of solid steel and possessing an electronic keypad, Charley had a minor suspicion that it was only recently installed. Kevin keyed in a code and the door opened with a light hiss.

Inside was a small room, lit with worklights. A couple of folding tables sat along one wall, and they, along with the dusty ground, were home to several laptops, stacks of papers, boxes, and generators. Charley gazed at one of the screens and spotted several different translator tools running over what appeared to be the same picture.

"That," Kevin said grimly, "Is what we've called you about."

The Vatonage Ranger stared. "What the hell…?" He muttered.

Several of the work lights lit up the far section of the wall. Upon it, ornate carvings and paintings were depicted. In the middle bottom of the mosaic, Earth, as it was back then, was painted in severely faded colors. A pokemon seemed to be staring over it, bigger than the planet itself. Even through the horribly faded paint, Charley could see a devilish fire in it's eyes. It stared at the world as though it wanted nothing more than to see it burn. Around the Pokemon's head, fires were burning, and various people pokemon could be seen in positions of agony, their screams etched forevermore in the stone.

"Look closer," Sheena advised.

Charley did so, and he realized there were words carved into the ornate surface of the stone, painted over and through to form the scene.

Corripiet totalis tribus terrae

Sed Singula in partu sibi ipsi committitur.

Primum caput est aurum de minori aequalem,

Invenire inveniet secreta subnectam.

Ad loca proxima praeterita

Ubi nulla locum passionis misit.

Novissimi ad minima coronatam

Quo asperior est malum est in ecclesia sanctorum.

Simul pugnare

Sed non sine illis,

Nisi per fidem solutos, et potens poteris.

"Latin," Charley recognized. "I had a life, outside of the Ranger School, you know," he added as Sheena raised a brow in surprise.

"The actual lines are as follows," She said. She held up a slip of paper and read:

"Three in total will decide for the Earth,

Separate yet together they start at the Birth.

The first will head to Gold's lesser equal,

To find the secrets and thus find the sequel.

The next will go to the place of the past,

Where technology replaces emotional cast.

The last will go to the smallest of Crowns,

Where evil lies in the darkest of frowns.

Together they fight

But apart they fail,

And only by unbound trust prevail."

She finished, and a grim silence descended upon the small room. Kevin winced, then pulled out a box from under the table. He pulled the top of the wooden crate open, and a spherical device was revealed. In it, five orbs, made of intertwined pieces of thin, ornate silver, spun and hovered. Two were of identical size, one pink and one blue. Another was much larger, and inside it a sphere painted green and blue spun. The next still was dark purple, and although it was but a piece of metal, it seemed to radiate an odd combination of anger and need towards the largest. The last was a light copper, and it was much, much smaller than the others. Charley raised a brow at it.

"This is a modernized model of an ancient piece of technology," Sheena explained. "The old ones are designed exactly the same way, but they're so old that they fall apart if we so much as touch them. So we made our own."

"And this piece of tech is…?" Charley responds questioningly.

"It's designed to keep in touch with the energy of our dimension," Sheena explains. "See, the biggest dimension, here, with the crude model Earth in it? That's our dimension. Everything we know of exists solely within that sphere. This, this is what we use to keep track of the Creation Pokemon."

"WHAT?!" Charley yells, taking a step back from the machine. He shakes his head and calms down quickly, though. "And you just happen to have this sitting in a dusty room?"

"Behind a high security door, with the equivalent of an army willing to protect it at all costs," Kevin adds. "Honestly, relax."

He walks up and rubs his fingers delicately across the large sphere. "Like Sheena said, this represents our dimension. The small, purple one, that's the Reverse World. I'm sure you know, but Arceus banished Giratina there after his chaotic behavior. The pink and blue ones, on the other hand, represent Palkia's and Dialga's dimensions, respectively. You can see how they're kept strictly apart. That's good. But the problem lies with the last dimension."

As if in response, the copper colored sphere emitted a sudden shriek, warping slightly. It appeared to almost collapse in on itself, and for a second Charley was afraid it would burst. But then it settled back to normal, as if nothing had happened.

"Arceus's," Charley guessed.

"Money," Kevin responded. "Arceus has been asleep for almost three thousand years. And if this machine is correct, he's about to wake."

"My lord…" Charley breathed. "If the legends are true…"

"Arceus will rain fire upon the world," Sheena continued. "In his fury, he'll burn every pokemon and human alike to ashes. And the legends are true."

"Oh man…" Charley leaned against one of the walls, his knees suddenly weak. "The only real way to defeat him lies within the poem, right?"

"Correct. And at this rate… he wakes tomorrow." Sheena trailed off, her voice catching.

"Shit." Charley tapped on his Styler, and the Ranger Union's control center came into view. The operators had a split second view of his panicked face, before he got a hold of himself. He tapped another button on his Styler, and when he spoke, his voice blared not only throughout the Ranger Union, but as loud as possible through the speaker of every Capture Styler currently active on the planet.

"This is Top Vatonage Ranger Charley Mason reporting. Code Red. All Rangers, return to your posts immediately. We've got a world-ending crisis Sinnoh. All Rangers, Operators, stay on high alert. This is not a drill. Professor Hastings, Chairperson Erma, report."

At once, over a thousand different voices, all sounding minorly panicked at the sudden, dire orders, agreed to the Top Ranger's orders. Professor Hastings ran into the control room, followed by Chairperson Erma.

"Report, Charley Mason!" Hastings wheezed.

"Professor, we need an immediate evac of Sinnoh. Everyone," he added at Professor Hastings's dumbfounded stare. "The legend of the Jewel of Life is true, Professor. And the end of the world starts tomorrow, in Michina Town."

The control room, whose staff occupation count had tripled in the few seconds between his alert and Professor Hastings's arrival, went dead silent.

Charley turns his camera to Sheena and Kevin. "Tell them what you told me, starting with the device."

It only took a few minutes, but it felt as though hours had gone by. Professor Hastings sat heavily in a chair when she finished.

"My god…" Hastings muttered. "It makes Operation Brighton look like a cakewalk…"

"I'll be honest, Professor, I would prefer Operation Brighton over this, any day." Charley trailed off, looking minorly depressed. That really hit home with the staff. Charley, who usually seemed so cheerful, stared at a spot outside of their limited vision. The staff knew that, while the Vatonage Ranger joked about it, he had hated Operation Brighton ever since that night. His closest partners, whom he bunked with when staying at Ranger Stations around the world, had heard his nightmare-induced screaming in the middle of the night in the weeks since, and they couldn't blame him.

"And the only way to stop Arceus…?"

"Lies within this poem," Charley confirmed. "The english translation is as follo-"

An Earthshaking explosion rocks the building, throwing the Ranger off his feet. The Union could only watch helplessly as the earthquake shook the building so much, the screen was hardly discernible. "RUN!" Charley screamed.

The Union watched helplessly as Charley grabbed Sheena and half guided, half dragged her back out the door, Kevin on their heels. Every time they stood, the shaking knocked them down again. They crawled up the steps as huge chunks of ancient stone started falling down around them.

"LOOK OUT!" A voice screamed a split second before Charley felt himself shoved roughly aside. The next second, he cried out as Kevin's body was crushed by a giant slab of stone. An agonized yell called him away from his panic, and he rushed around the side of the stone, using it for support. There, he found Sheena, her screaming caused by the stone, which had pinned her leg.

"Sheena!" Charley yelled. He crouched down, putting his chest over her head as more pieces of stone began to crumble around them. He placed his fingers on the stone to either side of her leg and lifted, but in vain. He thought for a moment, bracing himself once again over her, to protect her from the falling debris. He was struck again and again, but after a moment a wheezed cry alerted him to his partner, who had found him once again.

"Torkoal!" Quickly, Charley grabbed his backpack and slid it up against Sheena's leg, to the right side. She gasped in pain, but she couldn't stop him. "Quick, use Overheat on the right side of the stone!"

Torkoal cried out, and a white hot beam of pure, unholy fire raged from his mouth. It cut through the stone like it was made of butter, but since it was aimed downhill, only a few flecks of magma hit the backpack, burning small holes in it before fizzling out. With the stone reduced to less than half it's size, Charley rolled it off her with ease. He winced at her wound; the leg was completely trashed. It would probably need to be amputated. "C'mon!" He grabbed her, and as he did so the shaking seemed to start to taper off. He could keep his balance, at least.

He put Sheena's arm around his and half carried, half dragged her away from the stonework. The coliseum like structure seemed to be coming down. When he got to the lot, he dumped Sheena carefully across the back seat of the Jeep and was about to climb in when she screamed, "NO!"

She was looking past him, and a split second later a giant, towering stone replaced the car. It had completely, utterly flatted the jeep, with her inside. Charley sank to his knees in shock. The camera on his Styler shook horribly, in sync with that of his hands, so that the Union could see nothing but blurs. Many of them were in shock as well, to no surprise.

Charley seemed ready to break down, but a shout erupted above him, dragging everything from his mind.

"THERE WILL BE JUSTICE!"

The voice was filled with pure, utter hatred, and the Vatonage Ranger looked up as the sky itself seemed to be cut in two, stabbed as though a God has taken a giant knife to the blue threads. Fire seemed to erupt from the hole, and with it a pokemon Charley had only heard of in fairy tales and legends exploded outwards, and on Michina Town the fires fell like enormous, flaming teardrops.

"JUSTICE!" Arceus screams again, his glowing red eyes inflamed as he raises his face to the heavens. The rift vanished, but the sky bled red from the fire and smoke. An orb of pure energy formed at his nose, and it launched towards the sky. It reached a peak and exploded like a giant firework. Hundreds of balls of fire rained down from the spot, and each impact was like a Dragonite's Hyper Beam: Explosions rocked the surface once more, throwing Charley off his feet.

He struggled to gain his footing, but when he did, his fear was gone. He stared defiantly at Arceus.

"ARCEUS!" He yelled the name to the heavens, and the beast looked down venomously at the Ranger. The Union members seemed to back up in fear, despite only watching through a screen.

"A puny human dares address me? Foolish choice, young one." A Hyper Beam forms in front of him, and Charley barely dives out of the way as it launches itself towards him. He's blown off his feet, landing in a heap at the edge of the parking lot. Looking over, Charley realizes he's only a few feet away from the cliff, a six hundred foot drop off, ending in a sparkling river below.

"I am not weak," he retorts savagely, standing and moving away from the edge. "I am Vatonage Ranger Charley Mason, defeater of Brighton, Top Ranger, befriender of Darkrai! You will not defeat me! CAPTURE, ON!"

The top explodes out of the Styler with a force only talked about in the retelling of Charley's tale, for never before had it been recorded. It sparked and spun maddeningly fast, wrapping itself around Arceus with a speed no Ranger had thought possible.

Arceus simply flicked his head, and the top careened out of the air as though struck by a plane. It landed in a heap at Charley's feet, and he knew there was no way.

"No…" Charley said, falling to his knees. Torkoal cowered next to him.

"There is no winning, human, though I admire your courage," Arceus said, sounding amused. Perhaps you are just foolish. Thank you for entertaining me, mortal. Now, die."

The next explosion detonated right in front of him, shrapnel piercing his chest as the force of the blast sent the Ranger and Pokemon tumbling mercilessly off the cliff. When Charley impacted the water below, the screen in the Union went black.

The entire room stood there in shocked silence, until one of the Rangers took a hesitant step forward. She put a confused hand towards the screen, then fell to her knees, sobbing.