From Death to Damnation

Chapter 5: Begin the Rescue


"Now, we need to be careful." Dialga told her companions Lugia and Giratina as they walked through the Hall of Origin. The trio was in a wide hallway looking for the library, and they were on the side of it to avoid standing out.

"Why? I thought she was only pissed off at Palkia." Lugia said. "Isn't he the only one she wanted to kill? …Unless, of course you…"

Dialga chuckled nervously. "In hindsight, getting Mom angry at us was probably not a good idea. But, I mean," she stuttered a bit. "It was either that or she would have… killed me. My own mother… was going to send me to the same place she sent Palkia… wherever that is."

"So, you think that Arceus is somewhere in here… h-hunting for us?" Giratina muttered, frightened with his voice shaky. Giratina wasn't scared of much, as he was the Pokémon embodiment of Death. He knows that death for all beings is inevitable… even Legendary Pokémon. But, being the embodiment of Death gave you a unique perspective on life. You realize how much it is truly worth. If Arceus found them, in her current state, she could terminate that life immediately.

And that's why Giratina is truly scared.

"…The library is over to the west." Dialga said. "We'll turn left at that 4-way split up ahead."

As they approached the turn, Dialga told the rest, "The Library of Origin does have a lot of information. We may find something. But I can't help but worry that-"

Suddenly, Dialga felt herself getting yanked back by Lugia. She fell onto the floor a distance behind her, away from the 4-way.

"What was that-?" she started to yell.

"Quiet!" Lugia whispered harshly as he covered Dialga's mouth with his wing-hands. "Just peek your head out a little bit, and you'll see why I did that."

Grumbling to herself, Dialga did as Lugia asked and poked her head out slightly. Looking at the direction of the library, she discovered that the library was being guarded by one of the most menacing Legendary Pokémon… Landorus.

"Oh great, just great!" Dialga grumbled as she pulled her head back. "Landorus is guarding the way into the library! Mom must have gotten him on her side. You all know how merciless he's known to be. If he sees us, we're dead! Literally!"

"Any ideas?" Giratina posed to the group.

"Well, if Landorus is on Mom's side, then he'll know to exterminate me and Giratina…" Dialga informed. "…But she didn't know about Lugia joining our side, so Landorus won't either!"

"Great! How does this help us?" Lugia said.

"I know that Landorus is supposed to be quite the womanizer, so we could charm him over… of course, he'll know to kill Dialga on Arceus's orders the moment he sees her, so that's out." Giratina sighed.

"What we need is to get another girl to do it." Lugia declared.

The minute he said that, Dialga's and Giratina's faces lit up as they looked at him.

"Uh guys, why are you looking at me like that? That look in your eyes is creeping me out. …Oh. Oh no. No, no, no. Come on, guys! Anyone but me!" he shouted. He tried to run away, getting as far as the garden, but his clumsy large body got in the way and he tripped. Dialga and Giratina continued to approach him with a blonde wig, lipstick, impossible 6 inch high heels and a showgirl's outfit.

"I'll hold him down while you put on the stuff!" Giratina told Dialga.

"Done and done!" she said, starting to grab the items.

"Please!" he begged. "No! NOOOOOO!"


Half an hour later…

"I hate you guys. I really hate you."

Lugia found himself in a position he never wanted to in again as long as he lived. Dressed in drag, he sighed as he looked at his wing-hands, which now had nail polish. They were back at the 4-way, waiting to execute their plan.

"You're lucky I care so much." Lugia told the Time Master and embodiment of Death.

"Stop complaining!" Dialga told him. "You look great! Sure to charm Landorus over!"

"Heck, I'D do you!" Giratina said. This earned him awkward looks from both Dialga and dressed up in drag Lugia.

"What?" he muttered.

"Never mind." Dialga groaned. She turned Lugia's head to face her. "Anyway, Lugia?"

Lugia sighed. "Yes?"

"I know you don't want to do this. I know it's embarrassing."

"You certainly have THAT right."

"But, Lugia? This really is important. Palkia's life counts on this. You have to do this so me and Giratina can sneak into the library and find information on how to bring Palkia back. Our best bet is that we could find one of the Sinnoh region's old spellbooks to bring him back, or find more information about this realm Arceus sent him to. Preferably both. Please, Lugia? We're really counting on you to pull us through."

Lugia smiled softly. "We need him back. He has a will and dedication that we need to solve this mystery. And, besides that… Palkia has been one of my best friends since forever. I'll do whatever it takes to bring him back… even if I must humiliate myself."

"Good." Dialga grinned. "Now get out there and show Landorus what a woman's made out of!"

Lugia gulped nervously. Gathering his confidence, he walked out of the 4-way and into Landorus's view.

Landorus looked at the (what he thought was a) female. Curious, he observed her actions as she walked towards him. Still standing in front of the door, Landorus decided to turn the charm on.

"What's cooking, good-looking?" he said, leaning his arm against the door. "I don't have a library card, but you mind if I check you out?"

Lugia giggled. "Oh, stop it. You flatterer."

Dialga, still behind the 4-way, gagged. "That was the worst pick-up line I've ever heard."

"Oh, it gets worse." Giratina told the Time Commander.

Lugia giggled. "Such a charmer. I like you. How about you, me and the Olivine Café in Johto? Say, right now?"

Landorus sweated. "Well, I would love to, except…"

"Except what?" Lugia asked innocently. "Oh, that silly little library? Don't worry about that; no one will sneak in or anything while you're gone. And let me tell you something."

Lugia grabbed Landorus's chest and pulled him closer.

"I'm listening, baby." Landorus said.

"Everyone knows that they can't go into the library. Such a big, strong handsome 'Mon must have made sure that they know who they try to defy. There's no need to worry."

Landorus grinned. "Yeah, you're right."

Lugia was able to lure Landorus away from the door and the opposite way from which Dialga and Giratina came. Before he reached out of earshot, Dialga and Giratina heard one last line from him.

"You know, you remind me a lot of my grandmother." Landorus confessed honestly.

"Really?"

"Yeah, except I haven't slept with you yet."

Dialga was ready to completely toss her cookies right then and there. She probably would have if Giratina hadn't stopped her.

"You can do that on your own time, Dialga. Right now, we have to get to that library!"

"…Right. Of course."

The duo ran towards the unguarded library door and burst in. Giratina quickly shut the door behind him. The library was enormous, housing many books of every subject and the library itself took up a fourth of the entire Hall of Origin.

"All right, we're in." affirmed Dialga. "Giratina, you start by looking at the spellbook section. I'll check that old book about possible afterlives in the religious documents section."

Giratina ran over to the spellbook section, hoping to potentially find one of the old resurrection spells to bring Palkia back to life as Dialga dashed towards the religious documents.

"Let's see here…" Dialga muttered as she scanned over the books, starting with the A's. "The Study of Achilles' heel, Adam and Eve, Af-" she stopped.

"What is Afros for Dummies doing in the religious documents section?" she questioned. "…Never mind, I'll put that in the American 1960s section later. Afterlife, afterlife, after… uh-oh. Big uh-oh."

"What is it, Dialga?" asked Giratina, hunting for a spellbook.

"The Afterlife book is gone. You know the one that posed various hypothetical situations about the afterlife? It's gone."

Giratina's eyes widened. "What? Let me take a look!" he said, rushing over to Dialga. "Achilles' hell, Adam and Eve… what is Afros…?"

"Don't ask. My point is that the book is gone!"

"All right." groaned Giratina. "What could have happened to it?"

"…Someone took it. That's what happened. Someone knows that somebody would try to find out more about this dimension that Mom sent Palkia to. Either Arceus got rid of it herself, or... the 'Mon that's controlling her did. Did you have any luck with a spellbook?"

"…Sort of."

"What do you mean by 'sort of', Giratina?"

"I found an old Sinnoh spellbook buried within all of the others." Giratina said. "It's the only one I could find listed with a resurrection spell, but…"

"But what?"

"…Half of the spell is ripped out of the page. Without the other half, we can't do it. It has to be more sabotage. Someone clearly doesn't want us to free Arceus from their control."

"…Well, then. What do we do?" Dialga questioned.

"…If we can't bring Palkia back with a spell, then we have to bring back the only Pokémon strong enough to do so… Arceus. But the problem is that I don't know where to start."

"…Time travel." Dialga realized. "How could I be so stupid?"

"What?"

"My time travel powers don't allow me to mess with what happened in the past. So, we can't save Palkia."

"So then, what's the…"

"Let me finish. We may not be able to change the past, but if we travel back far enough to just a few minutes before Palkia was murdered, right before his life was taken, and freeze time right there… we might be able to find out who planted those seeds of corruption into Arceus and who's controlling her now."

"…Do you really think this will work?" Giratina asked her, unsure.

"…We have only our lives to lose, but everything to gain. Lugia can keep Landorus busy long enough so that he won't know we were in here. Come on, Giratina. I want my mother back. I want the mother back who would always comfort me whenever you, I and Palkia got into a fight. I want the mother back who used to watch out for humans. Part of me can't help but wonder if this is truly her, or someone else. Whether they do it for malice or just fear, please Giratina… help me. For your best friend… and for my brother."

"OK. Let's go."

Dialga closed her eyes, preparing to transport the two of us to the past. Visualizing the Hall of Origin of just a few hours ago, with Palkia, Dialga, and Giratina all with Arceus, she was ready. She felt herself and Giratina fade away from the present time to just a few moments before Palkia's cruel, bloody demise.


Pokémon © Nintendo / Game Freak

Sorry for taking so long for an update! I was a bit stuck on this story to be honest, but I found a direction to pursuit. This story is among my lesser-focused, but it will be finished! Just might take a while...

A/N: Why the random humor introduction? I find that one of my best writing styles is drama with sparsely sprinkled humor. I can never make a super dramatic story without throwing in a little bit of humor.

A/N 2: This is somewhat unprofessional, but for those of you who haven't re-read the first chapter, there is a critical retcon I had to make. The story now takes place in the present day, with Arceus (supposedly) starting her plan when Pokéballs were first created. I thought I should say it for those who don't know.

A/N 3: This might disappoint some of the readers (don't worry, no cancellation), but this story is planned to be pretty short. As in, don't expect the length of Breaking the Chains, Slaves and Soldiers, or Pokémon World Tour. There probably won't be more than… 10 chapters, I'd say. It's not set in stone, but it's pretty likely. As I mentioned in the first chapter, this is sort of experimental, and it won't be very long. But for what it's worth, I hope you guys will enjoy the rest of this story!