Notes: An actual crossover of sorts. Some notes but feel free to just skip to the story if you prefer.

Pokemon notes: I have references to the Japanese version since Maria is Japanese. Pokeballs are called "monster balls". "Getto da ze!" is basically the Japanese version of "Gotta catch 'em all!" but has a different meaning, various meanings which vary with context. Can refer to catching pokemon or the intent to. Hall of Origin descriptions based on the original DPP. Yes, from an event you have to hack to get to, I know...

...And there's a reference to a Frederica Bernakstel poem from Higurashi.

Enjoy!

Path of Origins

The sea of nothingness often seemed an oppressive, limiting force to some. From the point of view of the Witch of Origins, that thought was only held by people who were themselves limited. Such people often surrounded themselves with all kinds of clutter they called the entirety of the world, wanting nothing beyond their view, their existing limits. A view of an expanse of possibilities beyond their scope could be daunting, maybe even come across as monstrous to those sorts.

But that wasn't the case for someone who had reached Maria's level. Of course, she had the title of Witch of Origins, but that was only bestowed because of her already existing, hard developed capabilities. Even when feeling lonely or down, Maria had always had the capacity to see the many possibilities of existence. Such endless possibilities could be found not just in the broken shards of the sea of fragments, which dealt with already existing limits, but into the lesser-defined sea of nothingness, even more limitless than the former. Anything, even anyone that one might want to find could be found. What was there to fear?

Her previous playful fragment disrupted by a misbehaving, demanding witch, Maria now visited the sea of nothingness with a new goal in mind. The favor of creation that had been asked was just so simple that Maria wondered why the requester hadn't attempted it herself. Of course, the view that others should be able to easily harness the most of their potential may be a limit of Maria herself. Besides, the request hadn't been for the one that asked, but for a third party, one that Maria didn't know too well beyond stories. From what she did know about this person and their circumstances, Maria decided that she truly wanted to help. Smiling to herself while recalling the limits of the witch who had made their request of her, Maria decided following through with this request would allow her to explore a variety of fun possibilities.

In order to do that, a brand new world would need to be created. But for this specific type of world, maybe Maria herself didn't have to create it alone. She could have a partner, a specific type of partner that was typical to the world that Maria was aiming to create this time.

Just from wanting to, Maria soon saw it there, existing and yet not existing in the void, maybe even having no form at all. Even so, it was right there, ready for her to catch. From other fragments, Maria knew exactly what this creature was supposed to look like. It was a monster, and a somewhat imposing one at that. By focusing, the Witch of Origins saw the equine creature with white fur and gold accents clearly. She stared at it dead on, meeting its strange, green eyes without flinching.

Though a normal encounter with this kind of monster in various worlds might cause it to either run away or attack, this one seemed to consider Maria just as carefully, perhaps noting a kindred soul. Maria wanted to think the same. Their partnership was preordained, so there was no need to hesitate with the next step. Maria raised her arm, pulling a round object from the oppressive inky void of the sea nothingness with ease. It was purple, covered in glitter, and adorned with the letter 'M'. "It's not a regular monster ball," Maria said, grinning to herself. "It's a Maria ball! Go!"

Maria tossed the capsule-like ball forward in a showy fashion. Being the specially designed monster ball of the Witch of Origins herself, it was followed by a tail of rainbow and glitter as it flew forward. Hitting its target, the Maria ball opened, light encapsulating the monster in front of it. The large creature was drawn in. The ball fell on a ground, perhaps one that had just been manifested, shaking only once before it stilled, a ding of confirmation indicating this incredibly powerful creature was now caught in the confines of an object that resembled those designed to contain cheap capsule toys. Maria shouted in glee, running forward and grabbing it. Holding it up in the air, she shouted, "Arceus, getto da ze!"

Posing with the now occupied monster ball was a satisfying gesture in itself, but just standing there afterward was awkward. Maria didn't wait long before releasing the creature inside. Maria smiled at it as it appeared. "Uu! Hello, Arceus! You're no longer a monster, you know! You're a pocket monster - shortened to pokemon!" Maria laughed. Arceus didn't appear surprised by that information. Of course, even if this was something Maria had sought out, this creature was hardly something new, but a creator of sorts itself, and likely knew these kinds of things to some extent. Rather than explaining further, Maria gave a slight bow. "The Witch of Origins is pleased to meet the pokemon of origins! I'll be so happy to team up with you!"

Arceus stared at her. Its nonresponse didn't seem intimidating, but instead comforting. This monster - or rather, pokemon, had already sent a clear message to the witch that resembled a little girl. It had neither run away nor attacked upon their encounter. Instead, it had allowed itself to be caught in Maria's showy monster ball. Arceus fully accepted the Witch of Origins as its partner, or perhaps trainer of sorts.

Without words, that fact alone filled Maria with warmth. "Arceus... You're really gonna team up with me, aren't you?"

Arceus started to glow. Around them was a white-tiled area, various columns towering above them in the distance. Had Maria or Arceus summoned this area? The fact didn't seem too important as Arceus actually spoke, its voice echoing through the now present Hall of Origin. "Is this a goal you're dedicated to?"

Maria blinked in surprise, tilting her head and touching her chin as she considered the gentle question. Eventually, she nodded. "Yes! I'm completely dedicated. I think it's worth doing, even if it's just for a single person!"

"Be careful with setting objectives outside yourself. Others have so many limits. Even if they set their intentions otherwise, which they aren't guaranteed to do, they'll often let you down. Who you seek to help is one like yourself, so you ought to know well how that may turn out."

Maria felt a pain upon hearing Arceus's words. They were blunt, even critical of Maria herself. But even hearing Arceus's booming voice with reminders of such harsh realities, Maria knew the intent was to comfort rather than rebuke. She moved forward, hugging Arceus as she thought of past failures, the limits of those she'd loved before, maybe still loved, and even the great Witch of Origins's own glaring limitations. A tear might have fallen down in her upset. Maria still remained comforted, with the feeling of Arceus's warm fur which soon absorbed the evidence of how emotional Maria was when she considered it all.

She soon broke away, standing tall next to her pokemon as a trainer ought to, even, no, especially since they were both powerful creators. She nodded at Arceus, expressing the understanding it already knew she had. As a fellow creator, Arceus understood without words how Maria felt, and Maria understood just the same that Arceus was only commiserating with the pain that it also understood so well. As fellow creators, they both shared that pain.

Even so, they would both continue to create. That was the intention, despite any words they exchanged. Standing there in that impressive Hall of Origin, clearly that was the intention, for both Maria and the pokemon that had allowed itself to be caught. The process had already begun, actually.

"We're gonna make the most perfect of all pokemon worlds!" Maria said, giggling. She hopped up in her excitement about everything that would be included. "It'll be so great... So fun... And everything will be just right for the one I'm gonna help. No suffering this time. He'll be able to breeze right to his long desired happiness without any hurdles!"

Arceus glowed bright as more of the world starting to appear around them, including the bright green grass and partly cloudy sky. "Be it turbulent or pleasant, why is it so difficult to walk the path to happiness?"

Maria again found this pokemon giving her reason to think. But of course, this was already something she'd thought about many times before, when seeing others failing to walk that path. Maybe Maria had also been stubborn herself. "Right. I guess sometimes people want their path to be exactly the way they pictured it, but it's not, and they get tripped up. Humans can think about things too much, you know? Or maybe they wanted to walk that other path they saw before. People get so difficult!" Maria didn't mention that she was one of those people, perhaps, despite trying not to be. She may never really have let the past pitfalls of happiness go.

Arceus was silent a moment, appearing to give some thought to its new trainer's words itself. Was even Arceus itself subject to this limitation? Instead of expressing so, or not, it just nodded. "It's as you say. So what will you do if this path we clear isn't appreciated?"

"Um..." Maria paused before she continued with a grin. "Well, we're the creators of this world, aren't we? We can bring him down it ourselves."

Having previously been staring across the Hall of Origin to their developing world, no, universe extending out into the distance and even up in space, Arceus turned its head sharply to again meet Maria's eyes. "Maria. You sought me out to create a world for completed beings, not husks."

Maria said nothing, momentarily ashamed, even knowing the intention wasn't for her to feel that way. Though their time together seemed like nothing at all, she and Arceus already had a bond of trainer and pokemon where they understood each other so fully. Arceus spoke in a way that seemed harsh, but it was only uncovering the thought that Maria had almost carelessly buried. "Right." Maria nodded. "But even so, we'll have powers beyond humans or even witches. We'll be like gods, won't we? We can help him in ways others can't!"

Arceus turned back to its developing world. The cheerful sun rose above them. Seeing such a peaceful sight, it sighed, then spoke. "Gods and dice are best when silent."

The words weren't Arceus's originally. Despite that, they were a good reminder that despite Maria's incredible power and good intentions, there were still limits when influencing others. They also reminded Maria of that witch she'd interacted with, and how the request alone may have built in pitfalls. She'd known that, but still decided to go forward with it, despite anything else that might occur. That Maria's altruistic intentions may be thrown back in her face was yet another possible bump.

"Yeah. Even we can't help what he decides," Maria said, pacing around and she started to sense more and more of the developing world around them that she and Arceus were creating. Maybe Arceus did most of the work with its invisible thousand arms, but Maria still supported with her magic. "Yeah... We're gonna support him with this specially created world, and hope for the best, but it's still up to him. That's something a witch like me can fully understand! I hope for success, but if he fails at something so simple, maybe I can just have fun laughing at him. I am a witch after all. Kihihi."

Hearing the laughter, the pokemon of origins gave a brief vocalization of amusement itself. "That's right. That sort of entertainment can also be had, hm?"

"Yes!" Maria said loudly to affirm the idea. She giggled again at how this god-like pokemon didn't rebuke her tasteless idea at all. But of course... "We're not here to be cruel, but if he fails, we can laugh that he was dumb enough not to run right through the cheat mode path we created for him! That'll be fun too... Besides..."

Maria paused before completing the thought. She used her magic to quickly move from the Hall of Origin through the developing world, seeing the various creatures that would soon be referred to as pokemon already relaxing and having fun. Simple ones like kabuto and omanyte could be seen, but also more massive ones serving as forces of creation. Maria couldn't help but laugh at Kyogre and Groudon's fight before she hopped back in the Hall of Origin.

"This isn't limited to one person!" Maria said, looking up at her hardworking pokemon. "We're making something so expansive! I'm gonna have fun with it all too. Pokemon, getto da ze! I'll catch so many cute ones... Powerful ones... Funny ones... And then play and have fun battles all I want in this beautiful world! If we meet him, we'll tell him we made this place for him, but it'll never be just for him. After all, it's a whole world of its own! We'll find our own happiness without relying on any one to appreciate us!"

Exchanging glances with Arceus, Maria could tell this alpha pokemon was positively affected by her own enthusiasm. Arceus and Maria both felt all the better about their creation. Maria's magic wasn't reliant on others if she didn't lean on them, and Maria now wouldn't let others destroy her excitement and drive to create. Together with the perfect match of a pokemon, the Witch of Origins was going to not just seek to help someone else, but perhaps find her own path to happiness in this brand new world. Nothing was going to knock down this most powerful of trainer and pokemon combinations.