A/N: Alright all, so this chapter got done. It also kinda got away from me a bit - didn't intend for the last 'segment' to be as long as it was. Still, I'm actually happy with this chapter, so that's a good thing - but the question is... are you happy with it? Because that's what matters. Also, still taking ideas for the new hybrid, as I haven't decided on its details yet. But I'm sure all of you want to know what's going down now, so without further ado... let us begin.

'This is irritating.' I thought angrily, feeling the pinpricks of that damned Scyther's attacks. As much as I wanted to simply blow them all away - it would be easy! - I could not. That... human had the power I was looking for, not that I could tell; he had done nothing but taunt me with that metal stick since I arrived. But there... was admittedly something about him - he nearly emanated determination, and it inspired the Pokémon to fight even me - ME, Giratina!

"About time you got here, Aurora!" The human's shout made me glare down at him - only to see the Lucario from our last encounter wielding a glowing aura... sword? Whatever it was, she was standing beside him like a guardian, mirroring his stance with the blade pointed at me. But the human wasn't done talking. "You've gone and pissed off the wrong human, Giratina! Killing my family, and Arceus knows who else... you're gonna pay!"

Who did this human think he was to threaten me? Never mind restricting myself - he needed to be taught a lesson! With that thought I started to charge electric power in my 'claws'. "You are wrong - you will pay for your insolence!" I roared, both verbally and telepathically, before releasing the energy into a single bolt of lightning aimed directly at the human. As soon as the bolt was formed, time seemed to slow - the Lucario moved into the attack's path, and I saw the beginnings of a green shield grow around them as the bolt hit.

The resulting explosion covered them from view, and even the Scyther's irritating attacks ceased - I will admit that even I was curious if they had survived. When the smoke cleared, I let out a slight gasp, along with the others in the chamber - it wasn't the Lucario in front, but the human, sword held to block an attack. Even as I stared at the blade in confusion, the faint blue glow faded from it. Then everything fell into place: the strange tablet I had retrieved before... its energy must have bled into that weapon! 'Unown... always causing trouble!'

The human, however, got over his own confusion quickly. "What're we standing around for? Let's bring this thing down - send it back to the Distortion World where it belongs!" That infuriated me - send me back? SEND ME BACK!? That was the final straw; this human was going to die!

I surged towards him in the blink of an eye, snatching him up with the 'fangs' of my mask. The subsequent attacks from the Lucario and Scyther... I felt them, but they mattered not; I would deal with them later. Held tightly between the sharpened tips of my mask, I could hear him gasping as they dug into his sides. "You think to fight me...banish me like 'Lord Arceus' before you!" I snarled, the verbal growl making the 'fangs' dig in deeper. "No... you will be killed, here and now. And your pitiful 'friends' will soon fol-"

"Shut up..." The calm interruption shocked me - insolent, pathetic and useless... and still defiant? Even with his blood starting to leak down his sides, he fell into a cold... nothing, no expression or tone save for a hint of sarcasm. "Just stop... the monologue already." Slowly he brought his left arm - the one holding nothing at all - up to rest on the 'fang' to his side. His other arm still hung limp, though the blade was still held in its grasp. How was he not screaming in pain - he was only human!

"You know... it's funny." he continued, beginning to twitch his right arm into motion. "My dad... died in front of me, thanks to you." The arm came up, the held sword clanging against my mask. "And of course... I hate you for it. But..." His face shifted to an expression of... triumph? "If you hadn't... I'd never be able... to do this." The blade flashed blue for just a second, and before I knew it I had dropped him - a searing gash had been cut between my eyes! 'Wait... that hurt! That shouldn't have harmed me - what have those damned Unown given him?'

His Lucario - with how she had moved to defend him, he must have been her trainer - rushed forward to stop him from hitting the ground, simultaneously sending her aura blade spinning into my chest. I felt another wound open in my hide, and I began to worry. 'How are they doing this? This is... no. I will... have to rethink this.'

As I let myself begin to move 'beside' the dimension - which is the only way I could describe my... unique travel - I heard the human shout one last thing. "Darkrai... now!"

"Turning on us was a grave misjudgment... Giratina." That was when I discovered a single flaw in my retreat - I couldn't defend myself. The pulse of dark energy that crashed into me came out of nowhere, disrupting my focus... and making me suddenly exhausted. 'That... clever phantom...' I managed to think before I vanished entirely - where I would wake up, only Arceus knew.

Dave managed a weak chuckle and said "H-heh... that shocked 'em, eh Aurora?"

I immediately shook my head, noticing the blood pooling on the ground. "No, do not speak. You are hurt more than you think." Turning to look back at David, I added "Do you have anything that can heal other humans? I have only ever seen you use those 'potions' on us." After a moment of searching through the various pockets of his backpack, he looked back to me and silently shook his head.

"Cool it... 'tis but a flesh wound." Dave muttered before chuckling again. "Ah... can't believe I said that... agh, that hurt." He used his free arm to cover his right side - the blood was at this point soaking into my fur, but I didn't care.

"Well I'd imagine it hurt - you lost a lot, there!" Mew said almost callously, teleporting in front of us in a flash. "Blocking that attack - that's a dangerous game, silly!" She floated down next to him and tilted her head, looking at his torn blood-stained shirt. "Nope, nope - can't do anything with that in the way!" Without any warning, she gave a flick of her long tail and the shirt was gone - and I saw that he had taken far more than 'just a flesh wound'.

It looked like a Beedrill had driven its stingers halfway into each side, then roughly tore them loose - how he wasn't fainted from blood loss, or worse, I didn't know. He shifted slightly, gasping as the rest of the pain finally caught up to him. "The hell... did you do to my shirt?" I could... I could not believe this. 'He is worried about his clothing after all this?!'

Mew waved one paw in front of her in a 'no, no' motion."Ah, ah, ah! No moving, now! Just hold still, aaand maybe I can get this right..." She placed her paw on his chest and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, a red glow surrounded both of them - it was darker around Dave, and barely noticeable around Mew. Then the glow seemed to stream from the human into her, and his wounds started to heal and fade.

In turn, Mew started to look... well, I could only say decayed, though it wasn't so horrid as it might sound. Her fur paled slightly, and she seemed flat out weary. The whole event took perhaps a minute, and it ended with Dave sitting up. "Lemme guess - Pain Split, right? Or d'you even know what the moves are called?" he asked, stretching his arms. "Whatever it was, thanks - you would not believe how much that hurt."

I nodded in agreement. "Yes, thank you La-er, I mean... Mew."

She replied with a giggle, though I could hear her weariness in it. "No problem! I can't let you die, after all - where would we be then?"

"Yes, it is excellent that you survived." Darkrai interrupted, drifting over to us. "My apologies for not assisting earlier, but I needed to be sure of something - and you, Dave, proved me correct." I might have been wrong, but he seemed to be smiling - there was a glint in the Legend's eye that gave it away. "You may have to thank the Unown, considering the... potent gift they've given you."

Dave just gave the phantom a blank look before responding. "… well, that'd explain why I - apparently - blocked a lightning bolt, but what did they give me?"

"Well, duh - they gave you Aura, Davey!" Mew replied quickly, currently floating upside-down. "… alright, maybe just a sort of magic wand - but it's really the same thing!" Both Dave and myself simply stared at her in confusion before Darkrai sighed.

"What Lady Mew means... is that the Unown have turned that blade of yours into a focus for your natural Aura. Every human - no, living being has it, but not all can effectively make use of it. Therefore, with training - or, as evidenced, in specific circumstances - it should allow you to channel your Aura in different ways."

Dave turned his blank stare back to Darkrai before asking "Did she just call me Davey?" Then the explanation seemed to dawn on him. "Wait, hold on - you mean the Master Sword... actually has power now?" When the Legend gave him a hesitant nod, a wide smile split his face. He slowly stood up, and brought the sword up to point skyward before humming a strange, short tune and saying "Alright! I got the Blade of Evil's Bane!"

I can safely say that I was not the only one giving him a confused look - I doubted it was even a 'human thing', as David seemed just as dumbfounded as the rest of us. I think I even heard Ghost ask if Dave 'had lost 'is damn mind.' Finally he let the sword fall back to the ground dejectedly. "Yeah, that was pretty lame, wasn't it?"

"Could you take this seriously?!" Darkrai 'shouted', glaring at him. "How can you be so horrifically nonchalant about all of this?"

"Why panic? Why get all pissed off, huh?" Dave asked after a few moments, unfazed by the Legend's outburst. "I'm not dead, we managed to sting Giratina - twice, thanks to Aurora - and I've got a magic sword. Explain the need to not joke around, if you would."

Darkrai simply gave him an unreadable look before sighing. "Perhaps you have a point. However this does place you in considerably more danger - I have never known Giratina to be anything but vengeful." He glanced at me for just a second, and a cold chill went down my spine. "… she will likely return to get you back for, in her mind, humiliating her."

"What are we to do, then?" I asked when it seemed he was done. "With something like that looming over our heads, surely there's something we can do about it?"

"Indeed there is. You are the one best suited to Aura-focused training, being what you are; you will teach him how best to utilize his Aura - assuming it is not reliant on circumstance." Darkrai explained, then he seemed to stare at something far away. "… Mew, I would suggest 'convincing' the Unown to move us faster. I fear we may be running out of time."

I stepped toward him slowly and asked "Running out of time... until what?"

The Legend looked down at me, and I saw Dave glancing at both of us - he wanted to know as much as I did. "… you might call it the end of the world. You would not know it from within the Tree of Beginning... but the world outside is no longer the same. In fact... well, you are going to be gone for quite a while."

Dave stepped forward, asking "Wait, hold on - 'gone' where? The end of the world, I knew that was coming already - but where have we been going this entire-"

"We're heeere!" Mew nearly sang, interrupting him. At the same time, I felt... something - a tingle, run through the air. "Hope they're not mad at us for breaking in..."

"Here? Who's 'they'? Someone answer my damn questions!" Dave snapped, finally running out of patience. Darkrai whirled around to glare at him, and I was suddenly standing next to the human - I hadn't even realized I'd moved.

Darkrai seemed surprised, then his expression settled into... amusement? "We have come to the only... 'safe' location remaining in your world. Lady Mew, a window if you would?" In response, Mew did a quick flip and a pink bubble appeared between Darkrai and Dave. It showed the inside of a massive room, made of an almost insubstantial-looking blue material. And inside the room were Pokémon - from gigantic sizes to smaller than myself, but I could recognize every single one.

As soon as I realized who they were, I gasped. "Oh...Arceus... is that...?"

Darkrai seemed to smile again as he said "The Hall of Origin, yes."

I saw Dave lean in to look closer at the 'bubble', then turn to look back at Mew. "… can I have my shirt back?"

Real World: ?

'Where... are we?' I thought sluggishly, opening my eyes. What I saw was... blue. Water - water, and sand. A beach - where was there a beach in Sinnoh? I looked down at myself and let out a sigh of relief - the child was still in my arms, asleep from the feel of his mind and his breathing. 'So, we survived... for now. Wait - where's...' "Verden?" I called, already searching for any other presences nearby.

"This isn't the time for a vacation, Kairi." Of course he would be right behind me. I slowly sat up, careful not to wake... Joey, that was his name. Turning my head, I saw the chuckling Venusaur standing half in the water and half on the sandy ground. "Good to see you made it." he said, the plant on his back rustling.

"I'm glad we're alive too." I replied with a faint smile. I looked around, actually conscious now, and I was just confused - David had taken us all over Sinnoh, and I'd never seen a place like this. "… where are we?" I asked finally; after all, I hadn't been with our Trainer since the beginning, like he had.

"Some human city, I think." he replied, nodding his head farther up the beach. When I looked, I could see what looked like those buildings they always made. "But... well, by Giratina, what happened back there?"

I looked down at Joey, somehow still asleep despite all that had just happened. "I... don't know." I replied, thinking back to what led us to... wherever we were.

Flashback: Pokémon World

It had been perhaps a week since Jagged fought the legendary Regirock, letting us escape safely. In that time, we'd been forced to nearly become wild again - or, for the first time in Verden's case. It made keeping Joey alive difficult, but he seemed to know when things were serious, if nothing else. The days had become much the same; travel as much as we could towards the region's border, gather food for ourselves and the human, and avoid the chaos that seemed to have taken over the entire region.

But yesterday, that routine changed - the 'voids' that had littered the land sprang to life, expanding so rapidly that, from what we gathered, entire forests were devoured before anybody knew what was happening. Since then, we'd been running nonstop; Joey rode on Verden's back, as did I when I finally needed some rest.

"Hurry up, it's getting closer!" Verden shouted, lumbering ahead faster than one would expect. I looked behind us against my better judgment, and quickly began 'blinking' - a sort of rapid teleporting technique - to move faster; the void was catching up to us! I managed to catch up to Verden again, and jumped onto his back.

"Let me help..." I said, grabbing Joey's arm with one hand and laying the other on the Venusaur's plant. It was more difficult, but I managed to speed us up by blinking ahead. For a time, we began to outrun the void; I relaxed for a moment, if only to refocus my powers. Then I saw the telltale purple glow again... ahead of us. The cave in front of us, where we'd been hoping we would find a way to the next region, started to break down into small bits of purple light; behind us, the ground was doing the same.

"W-what's going on? I'm scared..." When I heard Joey sniffling, I pulled him into a hug - half to comfort him, but maybe just as much to simply hold on to something. Much like what I believed his mother would do, were she here, I started gently stroking his head.

"Shush, now - you're with us, you'll be safe..." I said quietly, trying to block out his fear at the same time. Of course, I was lying - none of us were safe, not now. As the ground around us shrunk to a circle barely large enough for Verden to stand on, I started to shudder - this was it. "Hush little child, it's all just a dream..."

-End Flashback-

I came back to the present gladly, shaking my head to clear it. "What matters is... we survived, somehow." I said sincerely, looking back to Verden. "But we need to keep moving; what if that... destruction spreads to here, as well?"

The Venusaur nodded wisely, looking over at the buildings. "Maybe the humans there know about it. We might get some help." he said, using his vines to pick me up before I could say anything. "You get what rest you can. I know you're tired after all that." he added quickly, setting me and Joey down on his back before lumbering up the beach.

As I took the chance to actually look at the area, I saw surprisingly few other Pokémon - a confused Krabby here, an oblivious Zigzagoon rolling in the sand, but not nearly as many as there should have been. On top of that, the air felt wrong - it wasn't any different, but I'd certainly never been here before. 'What kind of place is this?'

It was not long before I sensed two unmistakably human minds - they always had a distinct, contradicting feel to them. But they were feeling hostile; anxious, angry and scared. Seconds later, the fear I sensed spiked, and a nearly deafening crack sounded through the air. When I looked around for the source of it, I gasped - the Zigzagoon I'd seen was lying still on the ground, blood trickling out of a small hole in its head.

Instinctively I threw up a psychic barrier around us, and just in time - another crack sounded, and something slammed into the barrier just in front of Verden's face; a small lump of metal fell to the sand, warped from impact. Immediately I 'heard' one of the humans thinking. 'Shit, it knows we're here!'

'The... humans did that?' I'd never heard of a human being able to do... that to any Pokémon. Occasionally one would abuse their Pokémon, but that was always dealt with; and there was never death involved.

"Thanks for the shield, Kairi." Verden said calmly, never halting his progress. "What was that, though?"

"A weapon, I think.And it's dangerous..." I replied shakily - whatever kind of weapon it was, it drained more from the barrier than I'd expected. Even as I thought that, another crack sounded, another strike against the barrier.

I felt Joey shift in my arms, slowly opening his eyes. "Wh-what's going on?" he asked, still not fully awake. It took all I could to keep the shield up, to keep focused - I'd just been reminded that it wasn't just Verden and myself I was protecting.

"Nothing, child... go back to sleep." I said quietly, just as a third attack was deflected. Immediately following it was another thought from the humans, so loud it seemed like a verbal shout. 'They've got a kid!' Good - they noticed Joey! Surely they would see we were caring for him; they wouldn't risk hurting one of their own, would they?

Crack.The next several seconds flew by in slow motion - this time I saw the projectile flying through the air, directly toward me. I saw it hit the barrier, weakened by my break in focus. And I saw it slip through, pushed off course by the shield... into the left side of Joey's chest. A ragged hole the size of my hand was torn into it, and blood instantly began welling up to spill out of the wound.

As I rushed to psychically block out his pain as best I could and stop the bleeding, I heard "G-Gardevoir... it hurts..." Everyone seemed to stop - Verden, myself... I even felt the humans' shock, followed by something between regret and anger. The barrier fell as I put my hands over his chest, trying in vain to stop the blood streaming down his shirt.

"It's...Kairi,chil- Joey... and I know it h-hurts. Let me..." I trailed off - I knew enough about humans to know that something this bad, this young... I couldn't help him. I did use my telekinesis to pull the projectile out, as gently as possible. After that I grabbed the sleeves of his shirt and tore them off, giving the child a quick "I need this, I'm sorry." before using the cloth to bind the wound as best I could - it wasn't perfect, but it stemmed the blood flow for the moment.

With Joey hopefully not actively dying, I turned my focus back to the two humans. Paying attention now, I 'heard' through each what they were saying.

"We... we shot the kid. A kid, Gary! No, not we...you shot a kid!" It wouldn't have taken a Psychic to detect the remorse in this one. But the other, 'Gary', was only angry. "No, that...thing redirected the shot. Do anything to defend themselves, these things... using kids as shields. Disgusting." They thought... that I did...

"You're... wrong."Before I knew what I was doing, I'd traced the humans and teleported right behind them. They'd been watching and attacking from inside a ruined building, and were incredibly surprised when I appeared - even more so when I spoke to them. "I... was defending him."

The two humans reacted very differently to me; the unnamed one threw something aside - a strange, long tube-like object - and backed away. "G-Gary, that thing's in our heads..." he said shakily, entirely ignoring what I said. However, from a brief glimpse into his mind I could tell he was not in his position entirely by choice.

'Gary', however, brought another of those tubes up to point at my head - were those the weapons they'd been using? "Don't matter, Tom. Won't be a problem with a bullet in its head..." Hearing that I narrowed my eyes, and yanked the weapon out of his hands. Predictably, he staggered back in shock. "The hell!? Some kinda magic, or something?" This one's mind was... filthy, or perhaps sick is how you could describe it. The psychic mark of a vile individual, without exception.

With a slight strain on my power, I snapped the tube-like weapon in half and discarded the pieces. "You... harmed the child." I said with barely contained fury - as it was, the air was distorted slightly around me. "Why did you attack us?"

Gary took a step forward defiantly, something metal glinting in his hand. "Why d'you care, freak? You were just going to kill him yourself anyway!" He lunged forward, swiping at me with what I quickly realized was a knife. It struck against my chest, which I barely felt, then clipped the red 'horn' protruding out from it, which hurt severely.

I staggered back with a wordless cry - that was, from how I'd once explained it to David, like directly striking a collection of nerves. Now, I was a very calm Pokémon - I always made it a point to win a battle by inflicting as little physical damage as possible, and kept whatever I was feeling separate from the fight. As soon as I'd recovered, however, I decided I was done being kind to them. "You... have made a horrible mistake."

Never have I killed another, Pokémon or human - but that day, I did. Emotion influences psychic abilities, much more so for my kind - and I was angry when I tore into their minds. I stopped them from even thinking of moving, and had only the intent of 'breaking' their memories; they would have forgotten the past several days and slept, nothing more.

But when I left them, teleported back to a worried Verden and barely-breathing Joey, I left behind two empty shells. "Kairi... what happened?" the Venusaur asked, watching me climb onto his back. I gave him no response beyond a quiet "Let's go." What I'd done was tiring, not to mention... horrifying. That didn't stop me from devoting what I had left to form a thin barrier over Joey's chest - until we could do something else, it would have to do.