I could not believe it had come to this… Giratina had always been bitter, but I would never have thought her a monster. Tormenting with the humans from her own realm was one thing – that I could restrict, if not stop entirely. But leaving the Distortion World, leaving our world entirely to wreak havoc on the humans was something I had always thought beyond even her spite.

And now things were getting out of hand. Palkia was doing the best she could, but rifts were still weakening the barriers of our world; Mew, who was in charge of making sure the humans kept a sliver of hope, had retreated into the Tree of Beginning, even her constant cheer broken by all of this. Mewtwo, always considered an outsider among the Legends, had vanished without a trace. And I couldn't keep the time-slowing fluctuation going for much longer… and then everything would catch up to me.

I stopped just outside the massive golden double-doors marking Arceus' area of the Halls. The last time any of us had seen the inside was… possibly thousands of years ago, when we had all been given our roles in the world. And yet here I was, about to – as blunt as could be – barge in uninvited… but there was no other option. I walked up to the doors and pushed against them, half surprised when they offered little resistance and simply swung inward.

When I stepped through the doors, I immediately stopped. The 'room' looked… infected. What should have been gold was shot through with streaks of red; the floor, once a pure white, was covered in veins of sickly black. But worse than the state of the room was its occupant… or lack thereof: Arceus was there, to be sure. His physical body was resting on the raised center platform of the area, looking merely asleep. But that form was sick – his once nearly shimmering white skin was faded to a pale grey, and the golden 'wheel' always with him seemed rusted and cracked.

As… dismal a condition as our Lord was in, I did not need to be a psychic to know that he was not all there, even beyond his appearance. All it took was a look at his eyes, which remained open despite his resting state – they were blank and weary at the same time. 'What has happened to Him…?' I didn't have long to speculate. He seemed to shiver briefly before blinking once, his eyes losing some of their blankness.

Immediately, I bowed my head out of tradition, respect… a combination of those things. "Lord Arceus… I apologize for disturbing you, however…"

"I already know, Dialga." His voice echoed throughout the room, but there was a tinge of weakness and exhaustion to it. "You have all… been performing well. The blame for this failure lies not… with you and the others." Failure? We were not stopping this destruction, but it was not hopeless yet… Almost like he had read my mind - more than likely, he had - he sighed and said "Sadly, that is where… you are wrong."

"…" For once, I wasn't silent out of a front for my team, or because I was shocked. This time… there was nothing to say. Words couldn't describe the chaos the region had devolved into. Jubilife City… I knew it as a thriving place, with everything anybody could need – the Trainer's School, for those new to the life of a Trainer, the Global Network for battles with Trainers somehow across the world, and so much more.

Now it was in ruins. No rifts had struck here, not that it mattered – the citizens had torn it down with their own hands. I didn't need to enter the city to see that; the pillars of smoke, occasional flashes of lightning or fire slashing through the air, the shouting and breaking glass all made it obvious.

"Can we leave, David?" I looked back at Kairi, who had a pained look on her face. "Why are we even here?" I couldn't answer that – I didn't know, myself. Maybe I wanted to see what was happening to my home, the region where I've spent my entire life. If that was it, I had no more reason to be here – it was falling apart, and that was that.

I nodded – there was no point lingering. "Yeah. Sorry, Kairi. And the rest of you…" The others turned to look at me. I had to take a breath before continuing; this was hard. "I want you all to leave." Immediately they raised an uproar: Verden stomped the ground and growled, Jagged did the same, and Kairi let out a gasp and shook her head. But I just raised my hand, and they quieted down. "This region is dying, team. You all can see it."

As much as they wanted to deny it, they couldn't – I could see that. "You've all stuck with me through everything – the rare loss, the tough grind, and the best triumphs. Through it all, you've never doubted me… and I haven't doubted any of you." Kairi knew where I was going with this, I could tell from the tear streaking down her face. And from the looks of Verden and Jagged, they knew it too.

"But… this is something different. We can't just fight it, and we can't run from it. You all have instincts, you can survive on your own if you have to. But if you have to look after me… I'll get you killed, just like Aurora."

"David, we've told you-" I cut her off with a slashing gesture, shaking my head.

"Kairi, I want you to take Joey there…" I pointed at the kid, obliviously chasing a Butterfree around a tree. "… and make sure he stays alright. Promise me." After a moment, she nodded shakily. It was killing me to do this after so long... I looked over and up to my Aggron. "Jagged, you're a tough one - I won't tell you what you should do. But stay alive as best you can, alright? Do that for me." I didn't need telepathy to know what he was saying - 'hell no, I'm not leaving.'

"Damnet, don't make this any harder than it already is!" That got him to stop - and even Joey noticed my outburst. They were all looking at me in surprise; I never shouted. "I don't want you all to go, but I'll be damned if you get killed because of me!" When nobody gave an indication they were still refusing, I turned to Verden. "You've been with me the longest... so I'm going to ask you to leave. I won't order it."

I could see Jagged ready to... express his dismay with what I was doing, but surprisingly Kairi put one hand on his side and shook her head. "I'll let you listen to all of us, David... it's only fair that you do, with what you're asking." With that, a purple glow shrouded her eyes and outlined all of us. Immediately I heard a deep, angry gravelly voice.

"The hell do you think you're DOING, trying to send us off like that!?" That had to be Jagged. "D'you seriously think we're going through with this?" I started to say something, but he cut me off with a glare. "No, David - you listen this time. I dunno about Kairi or Veteran here, but I'm going nowhere. And don't get me started on you giving him a choice, and not us." He crossed his arms and let out a low growl - a habit he'd picked up whenever he was dead set on something. There was no changing his mind.

I had no choice here - whatever my reasons, I couldn't make him leave. Deciding to let it be, I turned to Verden. "And what about you? Are you going to stay, too?" Instead of sounding angry, he let out a rumbling laugh.

"If you think I would leave you in this mess, David, I'd be insulted. Not after all this time." His tone, even though I really only heard it in my head, made me crack a thin smile.

"Heh… well, I can't say I'd have been glad to see you go anyway." I said with a soft chuckle of my own. But then I got serious again, asking in a neutral tone "You're all sure about this, then?" Immediately they all nodded, along with a synchronized 'Yes!'. After a few moments, I sighed. "Alright… on one condition: if it comes down to either you all getting away or trying to save me, I want you to bolt."

Surprisingly, nobody objected. Kairi even nodded, saying "Very well, David. We understand."

"Hey, what're you talking about?" And with one comment from Joey, the serious mood was gone. I looked down to see the kid had somehow made it to my side without me noticing.

With an overly cheerful laugh, I shook my head. "Nothing, kid. Just figuring out where we're going from here." It wasn't a lie, not really. "We'll just be a few more minutes, alright?"

He nodded, content, but then seemed to realize something. "Wait - 'we'? Are you talking to you Pokémon!?" It occurred to me that the kid might not even know about telepathy, or anything 'advanced' like that.

"Kairi can talk with her mind, being a Psychic Pokémon. She lets me understand the others, too." The explanation was simple, but Joey seemed to understand. He gave me a quick 'thanks' for explaining, then went back to... drawing? "Hey... what's that?" I knelt down next to him to get a closer look - it was an odd, spiraling design. Obviously with the flaws a casual sketching would have, but it was recognizable as... maybe stylized fire?

"Just something that popped into my head!" he replied happily, bobbing his head to a silent beat as he drew. Something about that drawing seemed... not familiar, since I know I'd never seen anything quite that shape or design, but familiar was the only way to put it.

Either way, it didn't matter at the moment. "Alright, I've seen enough… Kairi, can you get us out of here? I don't care where we go, just… not here." As soon as I asked, she nodded almost gratefully – understandable, really. She closed her eyes, outlining first herself then all of us in the familiar purple glow… then we were gone. But something was off this time; I swear I heard a crackle of energy just before we vanished…

*************************************Real World*****************************************

After seeing his home and family destroyed, David had turned cold. When he spoke, it had none of the emotion he normally put into everything. He had started driving us like… a warrior leader, or something close to it – efficient, with knowledge that I never knew he had, but also anger. Supplies for survival were gathered: a collapsible cloth shelter, an electric light, some seemingly basic foods, although he wouldn't explain how or where he had gotten them. I had no other way to know, as the Scyther – no Ghost, he had a name now – and I were forced to remain behind when he left the house.

However, when he had returned it became obvious that was either no longer an issue, or an even greater one. It turned out to be the latter, when he explained that a 'military' was on the way, who he described as an army of warriors with powerful weapons. Because of this, we had to get moving – although I personally think it had more to do with him wanting to get away from the reminder of his loss. But whatever the reason, there was one thing to be done before he could leave the town behind, it seemed.

"Nick, pick up the damn phone…" He had been on that telephone of his for several minutes now, and apparently had not managed to reach… whoever 'Nick' was. "I swear, if you don't pick up right now… The hell took so long?!" Until now, it seemed. "Oh… look, sage- listen, damnet! I need ya to come to the edge of town, alright? We're getting the hell out of here."

The conversation was over quickly. I didn't hear the other side, but it seemed that David convinced whoever Nick was to come along. He flipped it closed, and stowed it away in his jacket. Then he looked around at the campsite he had set up – we were just outside the town, in the edge of the forest that seemed to surround it. He let out an exhausted sigh, and sat down on the grass.

There was little to do – David still seemed to be figuring out how to work everything my trainer had once used, and seemed utterly fascinated with the backpack itself, always commenting on how it 'made no sense' with how much it could store… which I admittedly didn't understand myself. But as I could tell he was merely distracting himself so that he didn't have to think, I walked over next to him and sat down as well.

"David. Maybe it's not my place, but are you alright?" He surprised me by laughing, shaking his head. The laugh was bitter and almost mocking, which was… entirely unlike him, from what I had seen.

"Am I alright? Hell of a question, isn't it." He shrugged, a strange… unsettling smirk on his face, like he was out of touch with reality. "I doubt anyone would be 'alright' after putting up with this. Some people probably think they've gone mad." I didn't have to 'look' to notice a… instability in his aura. He was more shaken than he let on – shaken or broken, I wasn't sure.

"…" I didn't know what I could say. This was a strange situation, even putting aside the different world – I was talking to somebody besides my trainer, even trying to… what was the correct word - reassure? It was close enough. So I settled on placing one paw on his arm; it seemed acceptable before. "You have not gone mad, I can assure you of that much." Without entirely thinking, I added "You are very similar to my trainer – you share many of the same qualities, including a surprising ability to make it through unfavorable odds."

He looked sideways at me, setting down the spray bottle he had been fiddling with. When he said nothing, I chose to continue – I had already started, after all. The issue was, I did not know where my train of thought had been going. Perhaps it was fortunate, then, that he started to shake. It took me a moment to realize he was laughing again, this time with less bitterness but just as… empty as before. "Just when I think things can't get any weirder…"

Before I could think of a response, I heard the sound of dry leaves and branches snapping, and immediately jumped to my feet, glaring in the sound's direction – somewhere behind us, further into the forest. David turned as well, placing one hand on his sword. "Too early to be Nick…" he muttered, glaring into the trees. "Whoever you are, I am not in the mood for any trouble. Show yourself."

I was so not in the mood for this. After waiting a few moments with no response, I stalked over to the trees - well, the nearly wall-like mass of leaves and branches they made, anyway - and slashed my sword through a section of it. The branches fell to the ground, and I came face to face with... myself? No, scratch that - it looked like me, if I decided to dress up as a Pokémon Trainer. It took me a moment to react.

"…" I didn't say anything. I just backed up a few steps, shook my head to clear it, and looked again. 'Yeah, he's still there. Definitely still there.' The 'other me' seemed to be going through the same thoughts, if his expression was any judge.

"David!?" I glanced back at Aurora, only to see her looking wide-eyed not at me, but at... well, the other me. Now, I wasn't stupid. Things fell into place pretty quickly - but I knew I was right when I heard my own voice not coming from me.

"… Aurora?"