The mystery of the crown of Arceus
Chapter 9- among the false
-they look good… they almost look real, right? - Roserade said very proud pointing at the piled crowns
-What's this? - Cresselia asked, her head looking around
-What do you mean with "almost real"? - Darkrai asked at the same time
-then, Roserade took one of the crowns from one of the piles and started:
-well, in fact they're imitations, of course. We made it for the party of the Day of the Creation and wanted them to be identical to Arceus' crown. The idea was to place, yesterday in the evening, one in each chair, so that each of the Pokémon could wear its crown during the celebration and then take it home as a souvenir. –Roserade said smiling, at the time she placed one of the crowns of imitation in the head and added- great idea, right?-
Darkrai and Cresselia were silent. They remained mute looking with their eyes wide open the lots of false crowns. Then Roserade continued:
-but when Arceus announced that the real crown, the Pokémon crown, had lost- at this point he gave Darkrai a quick glance before continuing- and the party was cancelled because of that, we decided t leave them here-
Roserade took off the crown from her head and placed in its correspondent pile:
-And now, we don't know what to do with them-
Darkrai let out a sigh and said
-Well, now I'll tell you what's the first thing we will do with them-
What? - Roserade replied, looking at Darkrai
-we will have to examine one by one all the crowns until we find the real one- Darkrai sad
Now Roserade was the one looking confused. Cresselia proceeded to tell her everything, since the moment in which Ariados took the bent crown to Aiggron's workshop until when Swampert had forgotten it inside the black velvet bag in her cart- Roserade's eyes started to open wide more and more for the impression.
-but that would mean,,, .she began to say, but stopped while she tied well her ends –that means, the crown in the velvet bag… the one we threw in here…-
Darkrai and Cresselia nodded at the time. Yes. In effect, the very same crown of Arceus, that irreplaceable piece of art that came from the very moment of the origins of the Pokémon world… was there. Somewhere inside that dark and dusty storage.
How in the world would they find it in the middle of hundreds of imitation crowns that were exactly equal?
-Roserade- Cresselia finally said – who made all of this imitation crowns? Who found the way to copy the original so well?-
-Smeargle- Roserade answered- you know the artist Pokémon. It took him a lot of time to make it in the way so it would be perfect-
---a while later---
There was a very surprised Smeargle, standing in the storage, in the middle of lots and lots of crowns. Cresselia, Darkrai and Roserade just told him everything.
-Anyway, I worked a lot so that the imitation crowns so that they would be identical to Arceus'- Smeargle told the Pokémon with sadness- and then I'm told that it would have been better if I haven't done a so perfect job-
Poor Smeargle! He had really worked very hard in the elaboration of the surprises for the party and not only the party had been cancelled, but everything seemed to indicate that the crowns would never be worn by anyone
But Darkrai was not in the mood to show comprehension, in fact, he was of a very bad mood. The task that he had in front wasn't something he wanted to do. Examine, one by one, that amount of crowns to find the real one was like searching a needle in a haystack.
-Then- He told Smeargle impatiently- isn't there a way to distinguish the real crown from the others?-
-yes there is, but is not looking at them how we could distinguish it. –He said, taking a crown- do you see all of this filigree metal? These rows of minerals? The fire opal in the center? Well, when I made the imitation crowns I used tin waste and false jewels to make the things I just showed you. However, with a few tricks and star powders, I managed to hide all imperfections, so it's impossible to know or determine if they're false-
The Pokémon observed carefully the crown which Smeargle had in his hands. And it was true. None of them knew would have been able to suspect if that crown wasn't the real one.
Then, when Smeargle said the word "imperfections", Cresselia go an idea
-wait a minute"- she exclaimed – remember the bent? The real crown had a bent and it was precisely because of that that Ariados wanted to fix it. Couldn't we simply look for the only crown with a bent? That would be the real one, wouldn't it, Smeargle?-
But Smeargle shook his head
-I' m afraid not. I copied the real crown exactly… bent and all- Smeargle said as he pointed a bent in the imitation crown he had. – Now well, as it's barely obvious, the magic end up running out. So, with the pass of time, the imitation crowns will look like what they are: metal scraps with pieces of quartz and incrusted color stones-
However, that would only be time later, and they needed to find the crown now.
-there's something about the crown that, however, I could not copy- Smeargle added
The faces of the present Pokémon lit at the time Smeargle continued:
-When the real crown is placed on a head, this one, the crown, immediate and magically adjusts perfectly to the size of the Pokémon that wears it –he explained – my power wasn't powerful enough. All my imitation crowns are size 5.
But as things turned out, none of them was size 5. Cresselia and Roserade were both size 4, Smeargle 6 and Darkrai 3 ½
Darkrai gave a scornful laugh and said:
-let's see things in clear… what you just said is that we have to prove each one of these crowns? Until we magically find one that adjusts to our heads.
Smeargle nodded
-Exactly- he said – oh, one more thing. You have to say some words when you're about to use the crown. These are the words that activate the true magic of the real crown.
Darkrai threw Smeargle a suspicious look
-What kind of words? - Darkrai finally said, but sounded as if he feared to know the answer.
Smeargle cleared his voice
-you have to say these verses:
Pokémon world
The nucleus
The universe we long for
Only object of our love
Darkrai almost frowns disgusted
-Puaj!- he exclaimed –I don't think I have ever heard anything more sentimental and sweet!-
But nevertheless, Cresselia gave Darkrai some friendly pats in his back.
-well, Darkrai, maybe in this moment you won't like t say those verses… but with security they will flow without trouble in a few hours… after you had pronounced them lots of times!-