Hello again everyone! Sorry there was such a break in between chapters, but my internet went down unexpectadly the day I was going to update. So, now that it's back up, I'll be uploading two chapters as a "sorry for the wait" gift. Enjoy!
Chapter 38: The Guardians
"So, this is the part where you valiantly stop my plan in the nick of time?" Cyrus asked blandly, not even bothering to turn around, or even reach for a pokeball.
I decided to humor him. "Uh, yeah, that's kinda how this stuff goes." I said. "Besides, wasn't it you who said that I was a champion? That we were destined to battle?"
Cyrus snickered. "You didn't pay attention to the old woman when she taught you the legend, did you? Allow me to remind you of one important part. If the wrong champion fights, the world is lost." He finally turned around, still gripping the red chain in his hand. "Are you sure you're the right champion? Or should we wait for the other?"
"No need!" a voice cried out. Cyrus and I both looked up as a large white bird soared down from the heavens. It landed nearby, revealing itself to be a Togekiss. Sliding off of it, Cynthia stepped forward. "I'm right here Cyrus. And I'm going to be the one to stop you, as I should have done long ago."
Cyrus laughed. Actually laughed, out loud, at being challenged by the champion of Sinnoh. Something about that put me on edge. This guy's crazy! I thought. "And now the pieces are all in place!" Cyrus crowed. "Let the end of this world begin!"
He raised the red chain high above his head. Clouds gathered above the mountain, and wind shrieked through the ruins, causing both Cynthia and I to shield ourselves from the gale. Red sparks started to fly off of the chain, which soon grew into full on bolts of electricity, lashing out and tracing along the pillars spread out along the ground. Even over the noise, I could still hear Cyrus laughing, maniacally as his plan came to fruition.
"No!" Cynthia cried, pointing forward. Togekiss flew into the air, battling the harsh winds to get to the mad leader of Team Galactic. Just as I thought that it would succeed, a red bolt lashed out, striking the feathery pokemon down. Cynthia cried out, running to tend to her injured friend.
"My turn." I growled, releasing Kamina. "Take him down!" I shouted. Kamina nodded, charging up an Aura Sphere. He shot the blue ball of energy, and it homed in on its target. Another bolt struck, depleting the attack completely. "Dammit, we can't get to him!" I roared in frustration.
"Look now! Look as I break the cages of the Guardians of Time and Space!" Cyrus cried. He released the chain, and it rose into the air, more and more bolts flying off of it. Two particularly intense bolts struck the center of two designs carved into the floor. From the area that was struck, two large holes appeared, slowly spreading out and out, until they reached the edge of the carving, about ten feet in diameter. The holes didn't look exactly like holes, but that's the best way I can describe them. Looking into them I didn't see rock or earth, but stars, whole galaxies across inky black of space. I saw it happening before me and I couldn't believe it.
"Dialga! Palkia! Rise from your prisons and tear this wicked world asunder!" Cyrus commanded. Two loud cries echoed across the ruins. Each was so completely strange and alien that I barely recognized them as the cries of pokemon.
Palkia came through first, his large white head snaking out of the portal. He grasped the edge with two wide claws, pulling the rest of him out and onto the mountaintop. He stood as tall as a house, and looked similar to a tyrannosaurs with a long, worm-like head. Round pauldrons stood on his shoulders, decorated with pearls the size of my head. His tail lashed about, knocking over one of the pillars and sending a dust cloud wafting across the area.
Dialga took a little longer to emerge, due to his quadrupedal body. If Palkia looked like a dinosaur, than the master of time actually was one. He was even bigger than his fellow Guardian, head held high as he bellowed into the sky. White armor adorned his body, including two large horns that flowed back over his extended skull. His skin was a deep blue, with lighter veins cutting little designs. On his chest plate was a large diamond, the clearest I've ever seen.
"Yes! YES!" Cyrus cried, grabbing the red chain as it fell. "Now! I command you! Fight! Battle as you did long ago, and remake this world!"
"NO!" Cynthia screamed, but the two giants ignored her plea. They turned to each other, as if noticing the others presence for the first time. Both cried out immediately, a different cry than before. This one had a strange affect on the landscape. I saw waves emanating from the two pokemon, and through the waves, I saw things that couldn't be. I saw the past, both recent, like the battle between Barry and I and the Galactic commanders, to far distant times when men worshiped the two pokemon on this mountain. Other waves showed me things across the world. I saw the people gathered in Hearthome, the boy Lucas I had met straining to see what was going on atop Mt. Coronet. I saw another land, a boy with white hair traveling in the back of a van, never knowing that the world was currently unraveling. When two waves collided, I saw something incredible. Not the past, but the future, in a faraway place. I saw myself, somewhat older with torn clothes, as I confronted another man with a red hat on another mountain.
"STOP!" I heard the voice both with my ears and my mind. I recognized it instantly, having only really talked telepathically with a few pokemon. "Mesprit!" I called as the lake trio descended on the scene.
"This human may have taken our power from us but it is still our power." Uxie said.
"We will not allow the Guardians to destroy this world!" Azelf added.
"Come, sisters! Together, we can stop this destruction!" Mesprit encouraged.
The three surrounded Cyrus and his red chain. Their eyes glowed white, energy pouring off of them. The chain glowed as well, and lifted out of the mans grasp. He reached for it, desperation in his eyes as it vanished, disappearing in a cloud of dust. Instantly the waves of time and space stopped. The portals closed, but Dialga and Palkia remained. At least they've stopped fighting I thought.
"Only for a short time." Mesprit said, floating by my side. "We freed them from the humans control, but that was all we could do with our strength."
"Don't worry." I said. "Cynthia and I can handle it from here." The woman nodded and we stepped towards the two legends.
"Do you think you have won?" Cyrus asked hoarsely. "This is far from over! I may have lost the chain, but I don't need it! The Guardians only need to start fighting again, and this world can be remade!" He charged past us, moving towards the giant pokemon.
"Cyrus, wait!" Cynthia cried. Her words fell on deaf ears. It seemed, however, that it didn't matter.
A shadow stretched out before Cyrus. It spread, lifting itself up off the ground to envelope Dialga and Palkia. The two pokemon screeched, trying to fend off the tendrils of darkness that grasped them, but in the end it was pointless. They were dragged down into the ground, never to be seen again. The shadow, however, did not disappear. It rose, towering out of the ground in front of Cyrus. I watched, speechless as two wings spread out, and two red eyes glared down at the man before it.
"What is this?" Cyrus hissed. "Another obstacle to overcome? Another who wishes to see me fail!? It will not stand! I am Cyrus! The master of my own destiny! And I will not be denied what is MINE!" He was shouting now as the shadow moved forward, completely covering him. At the last moment, I saw Uxie fly in under the wings of the creature. The shadow hung for a moment, a ball of darkness before it shrunk into itself, leaving behind a small, glowing opening.
There was a long pause, where nobody really said anything. "Is...is he dead?" I asked.
"No. He is in the Distortion World." Mesprit replied, floating forward. I watched as she approached the opening, and my eyes widened as it opened, revealing itself to be another portal. Unlike the last one, this one definitely lead to another world. There were floating islands of red rock, purple water that flowed completely against gravity, and a sky that was a dark, metallic blue. "The threat is not over." Mesprit added.
"She's right." Cynthia said, walking over to the portal as well. I noticed Azelf was flying near her as I approached. "This portal is growing larger. Sooner or later, it's going to engulf the entire world."
"So, what, can't we just seal it up? Put a big cork in it or something, get some duck tape?" I asked, knowing it was pointless.
Cynthia shook her head anyway. "No, there's no way to revert this. Giratina was the one who made it, and Giratina is the only one who can close it."
"Giratina? You mean that shadow thing was a pokemon!?" I sputtered. "Fuck that! I'm not messing with something that can swallow up someone from the shadows, and drag them into another dimension. That's it, I'm done, I'm officially out!" I shook my head and waved my arms to further prove my point.
"You must go." Mesprit said, floating over to me. "Giratina is angry at the human for freeing the Guardians. He forgets himself, and does not care that the human world is in peril. He only wishes to punish the one responsible. You must speak to Giratina, wake him from his rage."
"What, you mean battle him? Smack him out of it, so he'll put everything back together again?" I spat. "It can't be done! I was worrying that I'd have to fight Dialga or Palkia, not the guy in charge of keeping them in line!" I started to notice a slight headache, like a tugging at the back of my brain.
"We still have to go." Cynthia said. "It's our responsibilities as champions."
"Champions, champions, you sound just like Cyrus!" I said, the headache getting mildly irritating. "I'm not a champion! I can't be! It's simply not possible!"
"Why not?" Cynthia countered. "Mesprit seems pretty convinced you're the one."
I glared at the little pink and white pokemon, who smiled at me. "I...I can't tell you why." I relented. "If I did, you'd say I was even crazier that Cyrus. But fine. If you think I have to go, then I will. Just don't expect me to thank you if someone dies along the way." My headache was pretty bad now, but I pushed through it, watching Cynthia and the two lake guardians go through the portal before stepping through.
I noticed the change immediately. My headache that was so intense back in the real world -and isn't that an interesting concept- was now completely gone. Awesome, the only thing good to come out of this. I thought grimly. The world we found ourselves in was pretty crazy. What I thought had been a sky was actually...well, I guess you can still call it the sky, but it was also an infinite void below us. Only the red rocks served as any kind of landmass. I jogged forward a bit to catch up to Cynthia, who stood at the edge of the rock we were on, looking out at the islands. "What now?" I asked.
In response, Azelf and Mesprit flew away, circling around one of the rocks before looking back. "I think they want us to jump to that one." Cynthia said.
"Hold on a moment!" I protested as the tall woman stepped back, getting a running start. "It's crazy enough that we came to this place, now you want to jump over the blue sky of nothingness?"
Cynthia smiled cockily. "What, think you can't make it? Allow me to show you how it's done then." she said. She charged and before I could stop her, leaped off the edge of the platform. She sailed through the air, golden hair cascading behind her. She stayed up way to long, but judging from the rivers that flowed up, gravity no longer applied like I was used to. She landed easily on the rock the guardians had chosen, and all three looked back expectantly.
"This is a really stupid fucking idea." I muttered, backing up for a running start like Cynthia had. I took a moment, gathering my courage before closing my eyes and running forward, screaming like a ninny the whole way. As I felt my foot land on the end of the rock, I pushed off as hard as I could. Opening my eyes, I saw that I was flying, coasting easily through the air. "Huh, this is actually pretty cool!" I said before landing next to the champion.
"See, it wasn't so bad!" Cynthia cheered, like she did this every day. "Still, we're not going to find Cyrus or Giratina like this. I suggest we split up."
I nodded before turning to Mesprit. "Can you talk with Azelf and Uxie telepathically?" I asked.
The pokemon nodded. "Alrighty then, let's split up. Call when you've found one of them." We parted ways, each leaping in a different direction. For all it's creepiness, the Distortion World actually wasn't that bad. The landscape was kinda dull, but the acrobatics more than made up for it. I eventually got into the swing of things and it was a piece of cake. Even when what little gravity there was suddenly shifted and I was walking on what had been a wall moments before. Even when I was surfing across the surface of those upward rivers I had seen. Mesprit helped guide me, keeping me informed on how Azelf and Cynthia were doing. It wasn't long before I heard a familiar voice call down from above me.
"So you followed me even here?" Cyrus asked. I glared up at him, a look that switched to shock when I saw Uxie casually floating around the blue-haired man.
"What have you done to Uxie?" I demanded.
Cyrus scoffed. "I did nothing to her. She followed me on her own will. Apparently, I am her champion, as I thought. It seems I was right about you as well." he said, eying Mesprit. He glanced around the area. "Giratina is searching for me. He is not pleased that I escaped using Uxie. He will try to find me."
"Great, 'cause I need to have a few words with him." I said.
That caught Cyrus' attention. "You want to battle Giratina? Why? To protect me, your enemy?"
"I don't give two shits about you Cyrus." I said truthfully. "The rest of the world, yeah, I'll protect them."
Cyrus' eyes narrowed and he muttered to himself, to softly for me to hear. Finally, he looked back up. "It seems we are in a race. I wish to defeat Giratina as well, if only to stop his meddling. Will you beat me to him? Let us see." He stalked off, once again leaving me alone with Mesprit.
"What the hell's that guy's problem?" I asked the air before heading off in search of Giratina. It wasn't long before I spotted him. No longer a shadow, Giratina flew through the air, like a large gray slug. Black and red stripes lined his belly, and red eyes shone behind a gold mask. Three golden ribs stuck out around his back, and gold tipped spikes jutted out down his serpentine body. Three black wings, tipped with red spikes rose from his back, but didn't seem to be what held him in the air. He flew around, constantly searching the surrounding rocks. "Come on Mesprit, we've got to get to him!" I called, picking up the pace.
Mesprit informed me that Cynthia had also spotted Giratina, but so had Cyrus. I moved even faster, praying either Cynthia or I got to the vengeful pokemon first. Finally, I arrived at an outcropping, Giratina dead ahead. He was moving towards me, apparently having spotted the weird little human in his domain. I stepped forward, ready to confront him, when a gruff voice called out behind me.
"Not again! I will not have you foil my plans again!" Cyrus demanded before releasing his Weavile.