Cynthia's coat spun around her like a black whirlwind when she turned to face Cyrus. In one swift, movement, she pulled out a Pokéball and sent out her Lucario. With only the slightest movement of his fingers, Cyrus released his Houndoom.
"I'll take care of him."
"Shouldn't the Champion take care of it?", asked Magnus. He would much rather fight ten Cyruses than the one Giratina waiting for them.
"Trust me", she replied with an assertiveness that meant things were settled. Reluctantly, Magnus turned around. Giratina had become agitated, twisted and twirled its body. Its six shadowy wings almost looked like fingers of a cramped hand, then the shadows melded into one large wing on each side before splitting up again. Magnus almost felt sorry for it, as he slowly walked closer. Then it noticed him. His heart almost stopped when its red eyes met his gaze. That's how prey must feel like. But then, the Pokémon tilted its head, almost as if it was thinking about what it saw. Its mandibles slowly opened and Magnus braced himself for another roar or screech, but it only... exhaled? There was no better word to describe it.
A sudden burst of heat startled them and Giratina cried out in anger. Houndoom's Fire Blast had almost scorched Lucario, but its Close Combat made quick work of it. Without saying a word, Cyrus sent out his Gyarados and the island shivered under the massive Pokémon's weight.
"No, no!", called Magnus, noticing that Giratina started to become agitated again, "look at me!"
He waived his hands around and tried to catch the legendary Pokémon's attention.
"Don't get angry again!", he tried to negotiate with it, "I know you're angry at that man – I am, too! But don't let your anger tear apart Sinnoh! This region – my region has so much more to offer than him!"
He knew it was ridiculous, but something inside Giratina's eyes made him feel as if it understood his pleas. Its long body slithered through the void in front of him and it slowly came closer to him. The six wings grew longer and longer and extended into long arcs that pointed at Magnus. Did it... try to form a cage?
"Crunch."
"Thunder Punch!"
The sea serpents jaws closed on Lucario's left arm, but the right landed a yellow sparkling fist right into its throat. Gyarados immediately opened its jaws and tried to cry out in pain, but its throat would not make a single sound. Then, its massive body collapsed onto the ground.
"Give up!", Cynthia commanded.
"Just as I am about to create my new world?", his monotonous voice answered. Cyrus sent out a Honchkrow and, without turning his head, looked at Magnus in the distance behind Cynthia. For the first time, Cynthia experienced the menacing sight of a grin appearing on his face.
"Dark Pulse, distance."
"Quick, block!"
Honchkrow's attack blasted into the direction of Magnus and Giratina, but Lucario quickly jumped at the incoming attack and blocked it with its injured left arm. Cynthia turned around to check if Magnus had gotten hit by the scattered energy, but froze in place as she saw Giratina's wings slowly descending towards Magnus like a giant, shadowy hand that was about to grab something.
"Heat Wave."
Cyrus used her distraction and his Honchkrow's Heat Wave dealt the final blow to Lucario. Cynthia clenched her teeth as she withdrew her Pokémon.
"We'll put an end to your dirty tactics", she gnarled, "Togekiss, get him!"
Magnus's mind went blank as the red claws on Giratina's wings came closer and closer towards him. The dark fingers of death were reaching out for him and all he could do was shiver? No! He was fed up with this! Instinctively, he jumped backwards and the Pokémon's eyes revealed that it had not expected this reaction.
"I haven't gone through all of this shit to get devoured by you!", he shouted into its face. Surprised by his sudden outburst, Giratina pulled its wings and head backwards.
"If you think I'm easy prey, then eat this!", he yelled and sent out his Sceptile.
"Leech Seed!"
The yellow bulbs on Sceptile's back started to light up and with a swift spin, Sceptile catapulted the Leech Seed onto Giratina. Its left three wings united into one large limb with three claws that started to glow purple and swiftly lunged at Sceptile. The Plant-type jumped away quickly, but one of the three claws suddenly separated from the joint wing and hit Sceptile's back. His Pokémon took the hit like a champ, but Magnus could feel the impact on his Sceptile's scales. That must have hurt. His eyes quickly darted between his Sceptile, ready to jump at the overpowering opponent, and the legendary Pokémon, which wiggled the tips of its wings. Did it enjoy this?
The seeds planted on Giratina's body started to glow and ejected a faintly green stream of energy towards Sceptile. His Pokémon looked almost perfectly refreshed.
"Leech Seed never healed that much damage!", Magnus thought. There was only one explanation for this: That thing must have enormous amounts of HP.
"Leaf Blade!"
Sceptile rushed towards Giratina and the blade on his arm hit it straight in its flank, exactly on the exposed skin between its golden armour. But the legendary Pokémon seemed almost unscathed. Then, it was suddenly gone.
With yet another Body Slam, Togekiss had managed to push Honchkrow onto the ground, where its paralysed opponent was finally knocked out by a series of Air Slashes. Cyrus's Crobat, however, was much faster and the two Pokémon chased each other around the field. Cynthia nervously made sure not to give Cyrus another opening to fire an attack at Magnus, but that made her own fight all the more difficult. Crobat managed to land a Toxic on Togekiss, but that brief moment gave her the chance to fire a Thunder Wave. With its speed crippled by the paralysis, Crobat would not be able to outrun Togekiss's attacks – but the Toxic damage was racking up, too...
A purple portal opened to the left of Sceptile and before it could react, Giratina jumped out of it and crashed head-first into Sceptile. Even Leech Seed could not heal that much damage.
"Iron Tail!"
Sceptiles silver tail smashed into Giratina's head, but its shadowy claws cut into Sceptile's body. There was no point in continuing and Magnus withdrew Sceptile. Giratina's long body coiled up and down like a wave. Was it mocking him?
"Let's hope you can do it", whispered Magnus as he pulled out another Pokéball.
"Go, Garchomp!"
Weavile's Ice Punch made quick work of Togekiss – the Toxic had dealt to much prior damage. She remembered the police intel on his team: Weavile was his strongest Pokémon. Then she should turn this into a real showdown.
"Garchomp, finish him!"
"Bold move!", Cyrus sneered.
"So you do have emotions", Cynthia remarked, "even if it's just arrogance."
"Better than ignorance. I will teach you the type chart. Ice Punch!"
His Garchomp's Dragon Claw hit Giratina right on its soft underbelly and pierced deep into its body. Finally, he landed a good hit! Giratina retreated a few feet backwards, seemingly trying to make sense of this situation.
"Dragon Claw, double!"
Both of Garchomp's claws became surrounded by red energy with blue flashes emanating from it. Giratina's head darted to the left, then to the right, then to the left. Which one was it?
Garchomp jumped forward, his left claw ready to strike, and Giratina pushed its thorny tail right towards him. But before the tail could hit him, Garchomp punched his left claw into the ground and the burst of energy catapulted him forward, his right claw extracted like a lance. The attack hit Giratina's left flank and it almost collapsed, seemingly out of breath. It needed a second to recover, but when it tried to catch some breath, the Leech Seed flared up again, draining more of its health.
"If my Garchomp's hits deal so much damage...", Magnus thought, "then Giratina might be a Dragon-type, too? Which means..."
Giratinas mandibles opened and a ball of blue and red flames formed between them. Magnus knew a Dragon Pulse when he saw one.
"Dodge!"
Giratina's head snapped forwards and ejected the energy sphere, but Garchomp jumped away just in time. Landing on his feet, his legs tensed up again, eagerly preparing for the next jump. Again, Leech Seed drained energy from the legendary Pokémon and Magnus felt that it looked less focused than before. The constant damage had taken its toll.
The Ice Punch hit her Garchomp, but she managed to block most of its impact with her left fin. Weavile was surprised how little damage its move had dealt and failed to notice just how close it was to its opponent, until a Dragon Claw came flying at its face. Even with Weavile's blistering speed, there was no time to escape. The next thing Weavile remembered was hitting the ground, when a female voice shouted "Flamethrower!" and it finally blacked out.
Giratina tried to vanish again, but it wasn't as agile as before. Magnus saw Giratina's tail disappearing first. "Dragon Claw, head!", he shouted and just before its head could dematerialise, his Garchomp quickly struck Giratina right between its eyes. The giant Pokémon collapsed onto the ground and visibly struggled to lift its mighty torso again. Grasping for air, it kept its mandibles open, which uncontrollably clanked metallically with each deep breath. Just when it had almost regained its composure, it flinched as the Leech Seed drained even more energy.
It opened its red eyes and looked at Garchomp. Every muscle in his body was tense and ready to strike. Giratina's head shifted and its eyes met Magnus's. No longer did he feel like facing a predator and it noticed the confidence in his posture. Then, it closed its eyes and bowed. Completely bewildered, Magnus hesitated to do anything. His heart was racing. His strongest Pokémon stood firmly by his side. And the god of this otherworld bowed... to him? He made two, three cautious steps forward and stretched out his hand. He could feel the giant's breath on his skin. Finally, his fingertips touched the Pokémon's mandibles. Coldness jolted through his arm, but he did not retract it. Giratina opened its eyes in anticipation of what was about to happen next. Magnus did not think about any of this actions anymore, he merely acted. He let his backpack slide down his shoulders and with his free hand, he pulled an empty Pokéball out of it. Garchomp watched everything from a respectful distance, but just close enough to quickly intervene if necessary. Slowly, Magnus opened the Pokéball and the giant body was sucked into it.
"Impossible!", exclaimed Cyrus, "You imbecile! Moron, fool!"
"Shut up!", shouted Cynthia and her Garchomp let out a menacing roar.
"You are wasting its power! It's worthless in a Pokéball! You idiot! You–" Cyrus was cut short when Cynthias Garchomp started to charge at him.
"Stop", ordered the Champion and her Pokémon froze in place, just an arm's length away from Cyrus.
Magnus stared at the Pokéball in his hand. What had he done? Was this a wise decision? Or did he just upend the cosmic balance by catching this Pokémon? Before he could think of anything else, he was startled when his Garchomp grabbed him with his powerful claw and pulled him backwards. Just where he had stood, a white light had appeared on the ground. Cynthia quickly came to Magnus while her Garchomp was still staring down Cyrus.
"That looks like a forest", mumbled Magnus absent-mindedly and pointed into the white hole. Cynthia wondered if his mind had gone insane, but when she stared into the white light for more than just a moment, she also managed to see the silhouette of trees.
"I think it's another portal", she concluded, "a portal back to Sinnoh."
She turned around to Cyrus and withdrew her Garchomp.
"Even you do not deserve to stay in a place like this. We'll take you back home."
"Home?", he remarked, "back to this flawed world with its flawed people? I rather prefer to stay here, where no imperfect and incompetent beings will bother me. At least after you leave."
"Arrogant prick!", shouted Magnus who had finally snapped out of his trance and had to be restrained by his Garchomp.
"Let him be", said Cynthia and placed a hand on his shoulder, "at least he won't cause any more suffering if he stays here."
Magnus looked at her and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down before finally nodding.
"Let's go", said Cynthia. She took Magnus by her hand and made the first step into the light.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Author Notes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This chapter concludes the descent into the Distortion World. I tried my best to convey the atmosphere of this strange place and hope you liked the story so far. If you have read the story until this point, feel free to leave a comment as I very much appreciate feedback! Although Giratina has now been caught, the story is far from over - Magnus's struggle has only just begun...