The forest near Littleroot was as peaceful as always, ideal for the starting trainer. Steven rode along as watchful Zigzagoon and Seedot hid in the trees and bushes, observing the approaching human. Poochyena scurried about, chasing their brothers through the thick foliage, stopping dead in their tracks as they noticed an enormous blue pokemon floating towards them, carrying a human on its head. They lowered their ears and slowly backed away. It was to be expected, since Steven's Metagross was a very powerful pokemon, and a champion level one at that. Naturally, his presence was intimidating, instilling fear into lesser pokemon. Not to mention that his appearance and sheer size alone was enough to deter even the strongest wild pokemon. It worked to Steven's benefit since it was better that they leave him alone for now. He didn't want to deal with them and waste daylight.
Reaching his destination, a relatively small cave, near the edge of the forest, Steven dismounted and set his backpack down. This was the only cave in the area, which meant this one was probably the one that Riven had mentioned, it certainly fit the description. Steven concluded that the situation would go down one of two ways; one, he'd find something extraordinary, or two, everything would be a grand waste of time and he'd have to chew out the teenager again. Naturally, being more on the scientific side, Steven was skeptical of finding anything remotely abnormal. But at the same time, his curiosity is what compelled him to come here in the first place.
Returning the large blue psychic back into its pokeball, Steven stepped foot within the cave. He flipped his flashlight on and swept the beam across the room. It seemed that the cave wasn't very deep at all, it was more like a den fit for a medium sized pokemon. There was an ankle high pool of water though, which confirmed that at least he'd found the right one.
Steven dug through his backpack and took out several instruments, one of which was a specialized Devon Scope, specially made to see in different spectrums of light. He configured the settings before placing the contraption on his head and looked up. Nothing was apparent in the visible spectrum,maybe he'd have more luck trying infrared. As the lens switched, Steven didn't see much out of the ordinary. It was when he switched to the gamma and x-ray lenses that his jaw dropped.
A small vortex of radiation could be seen spiraling out of a central hole directly in the center of the cave. Though the amounts were low, it was still very, very out of place. Steven fused the three lenses and got a clear picture of the entire interior. The whole cave was buried in radiation from that single point. It was about the size of a dime, but the sheer amount of radiation suggested that the hole was once far larger, no way could this puny little hole emit so much. Steven's mouth hung agape, astounded and completely stupefied. Taking out an EMF meter, the device's green LED lights instantly lit up, detecting electromagnetic pulses everywhere. Deciding to test for errors, Steven went outside for a brief moment. The EMF meter went silent, then instantly started acting up as he entered the cave again.
"What the hell…" Riven was telling the truth? No, he needed more proof before supporting claims of that nature. He wasn't an expert on physics, nor radiation. He needed a professional. Calling up a colleague, Dr. Lorence, an astrophysicist, Steven informed him of the situation. Naturally the scientist got more and more excited after hearing such an incredible discovery.
"Fantastic! I have to see this!" The physicist exclaimed. Steven Stone wasn't a liar after all, he wouldn't intentionally mislead him.
"Where are you now?" Steven asked. Last he heard of Lorence, he was in Sinnoh studying some strange phenomena of sorts. It was entirely possible he could have moved. The man was never in one spot too long, if anything, Lorence was more nomad than scientist. Every single time he contacted Lorence, he was somewhere else, never in the same place twice.
"Ah, I'm actually in my lab in Goldenrod. Can you teleport to me with your Metagross? Assuming he is with you, of course." A champion grade psychic would have no problem hopping regions. At least once or twice, more than that could strain the pokemon's brain severely. That would be bad.
"I can do that. Sit tight and gather some of your best equipment. We're going to be here a while." Steven summoned his Metagross and teleported away. He arrived with Lorence shortly after, returning Meta so he could recover his energy. The scientist set down several pieces of equipment and commenced taking his own readings. Steven leaned idly on the rock wall to the left, waiting intently for realization to kick Lorence in the face, just like it had to him. On cue, Lorence sputtered.
"T-t-this!"
"Yeah?"
"It-it's!"
"Go on."
"N-not possible!" The scientist began to babble like an incoherent child that just discovered an eternal source of chocolate and didn't know what to do with himself. It made Steven snort.
"That's why I called you here. I have no clue why this is here or why. It shouldn't be here, I know that for sure, and not only that, but it coincides with another matter I'm worried about. The two are connected too perfectly, it's not mere coincidence," Steven explained.
"What kind of coincidence?"
Steven ignored the question and crossed his arms. "Lorence, tell me. Based on this, could you tell me if time travel is possible?" The vortex looked like some kind of hole. To where? He had no idea. Another universe? Possibly.
Lorence examined the hole under different spectrums, taking readings and such. "This is simply outstanding… Steven, you might have stumbled across a wormhole! A very small, but surefire example of one!" The shape was undeniable, almost like a fish eye lens.
"A what now?"
"A tunnel in spacetime that could theoretically be traversed for intergalactic travel, superluminal travel, and yes, most definitely even time travel itself. We've never been able to create one but we have drawn simulations." Steven was a bit lost, he was more of a rock collector, not a physicist, his face said it all. Lorence quickly searched for a relevant analogy to help the rock collector out. "Erm, picture every sci-fi show you've ever watched that involves wormholes and time travel, this is pretty much that."
"So what you're saying is, this can be a portal to another point in time? Like a door?" The ex-champion couldn't help but think of all the sci-fi shows he'd ever watched as kid or as a teenager. It made his brain hurt and stopped before he remembered enough mind screws capable of decaying his mind.
"Or another dimension, or possibly another side of the universe. Anything goes really, it's very unpredictable." Ending up in space on the other side of the galaxy would be a tad problematic, space wasn't very kind to the human body. Another dimension wasn't too favorable either.
"But how is this possible? Aren't they like black holes? Won't they collapse?"
"Normally, yes. But this is a traversable one. Essentially, collapse can be prevented through the use of exotic matter, be it dark matter or something else with negative mass that would stabilize the wormhole, kind of like the skeleton of the portal, if you will." The exotic matter served as the frame, the rest was the actual rift, very similar to a door.
Dark matter… huh. "Don't pokeballs use a form of that?"
"Well, yes...kind of. Except that's only one use of it, there are still tons more we don't know about it. Pokeballs were very accidental as well." The man stabbed the air with his index finger , in the direction of the time-rip. "Stabilizing wormholes is something we have been fantasizing about for years! But there is one thing peculiar about this."
"And what's that?"
"The hole is very small, as if it shrank since it first opened," the scientist noted. "It might disappear fully soon."
Steven nodded. "I noticed that too. What would you say was the approximate size of the original?"
"Maybe several feet long and a couple feet wide." This was all based on the radiation given off. It was an inaccurate assessment but it would do for now.
"Big enough for a person to fit? Like say, a six foot tall man?"
"I presume so."
That was all he needed to know. Steven glanced at the vortex, narrowing his eyes grimly. Time travel…but caused by who? Could Riven really be a time traveler? "Lorence, what could do this?" A large machine? Or an immensely powerful being…
"Some suggest that these wormholes pop up sporadically, but it's never been proven since we've never really found one."
"You really believe that in this case?"
"No."
"I thought so. Which again, raises the question, what could have the power to do this?" Steven had a feeling it wasn't spontaneous either. It wouldn't be possible for people in the past to be advanced enough to do it either. Riven confirmed it. But then again, he was only a teenager, he couldn't possibly know everything.
"I may have an explanation, however outlandish it may sound," Lorence mentioned, looking very unsure of himself. He sat down on a chair, in front of the pool of water. "It's essentially a piecing together of things I learned on my last trip to the Sinnoh region."
"Enlighten me," Steven said.
"When I was there, I read and studied tales and sightings about the legendaries there. Are you aware of the creation trio? They are very well entrenched in Sinnohan mythology." Steven shook his head, this was the first time he had heard of them. The name seemed to signify great power though.
"Well, there are three legendary pokemon. There is the ruler of space, Palkia. And the ruler of time, Dialga. According to native Sinnohans."
Dialga…the ruler of time, Steven thought. Could he be responsible?
"Then there is the third, the fallen one whom Arceus cast out, in legend. Giratina, ruler of the Distortion World." The reason for which he was cast out is unknown, even in the Sinnohan legends, Lorence recalled in his mind. "You may know him as the 'devil', here in Hoenn."
Steven raised a skeptical eyebrow."The devil. Really?" There were myths upon myths about the dreaded "devil", a monster that took the shape of a giant centipede and had evil red eyes. It had appeared in children's storybooks and folk tales to scare them to sleep.
Lorence chuckled, oh the irony of a scientific man referencing folk tales."Heh, yes. It isn't anymore a devil than you or I, most likely. You know how those tales exaggerate."
"Well, I suppose. I can understand time and space, but the 'devil'? Unrelated, don't you think?" It seemed as if Dialga and Palkia were the only relevant ones in this situation. They very well could have caused such a rift in spacetime, but all the way in Hoenn? Did they really possess such power? He thought Groudon and Kyogre had stupendous power, but nowhere near this much.
"Steven, when I was at Mt. Coronet, I studied the disturbances near the summit, at Spear Pillar. There is believed to be a portal to the Distortion world. In fact, judging by the radiation signatures, both of these are very similar." Eerily similar. Almost too good to be true.
"Both could be identical in origin?"
"Yes."
"But how?"
"Collaboration."
"Collaboration?"
"Yes, legendaries and their supposed 'powers', considered, Dialga and Palkia could have bent time and space to create the tunnel, but Giratina stabilized the rift somehow." Time, space, and matter from a world where nothing makes any sense, all likely components in the creation of such a wormhole. It was very possible, however unlikely it sounded.
"Hmmmmm, you'd need substantial evidence to even attempt to justify that. Legendaries don't just agree with each other. You saw what happened here a few years ago."
The Magma and Aqua crisis. Yes, those were grim times for Hoenn. Lorence remembered watching the chaos unfold a few years ago. Few regions managed to experience the full unhindered brunt of a legendary's power. Hoenn had experienced the awesome power of three, at the same time."...That's true, you would know that better than anyone. But it's the only other explanation I have. I'm sorry I don't have a more concise answer, Steven."
Steven waved a hand in thanks. "It's fine. Actually, I'd say that's probably the best answer. Legendaries work in ways we hardly understand, I've witnessed it myself." Lorence paled in his seat, suddenly looking very ill. "What's with that look?"
If Groudon and Kyogre had wreaked such havoc, what would the direct creations of Arceus himself be capable of, should they combine their powers? As he thought, Lorence grew horrified. He clamped a hand over his mouth. "From Sinnoh to Hoenn…no, the whole world... Three direct creations of the creator…"
"Continue," Steven urged, this sounded important.
"The results would be… absolutely cataclysmic," Lorence darkly stated. "This hole here is tangible if- no definitive proof that such a thing occurred. But how long ago did this happen? And why don't we know anything about it? I highly doubt three legendaries came together from entirely different planes of existence to create a small little hole in time and space. No, I suspect this is just a side effect. Something much bigger and much more destructive occurred when those three met. Yet there are no traces of any of this happening. Why?"
The two men stared at each other before turning back to the vortex, watching as traces of radiation spiraled outward continuously.
Riven wasted no time and jumped on Emile's back, his flight anxiety immediately going out the window and into orbit. "FLY! GO, GO!" Gripping onto his feathers with a vice-grip, he commanded the bird to get airborne as fast as possible.
"I'm trying!" Emile's wings flapped and he took off the ground. The dragon ahead was rapidly advancing, eyes set to destroy and rend. The Pidgeot just managed to avoid a torrent of dragonbreath as it charred the ground where both human and pokemon had been standing. The Salamence did a turn in midair and flew directly back towards them, ready for another shot.
Riven looked back, seeing blue flames dance across the ground. "Why the hell is it coming after us?!" It was either his fault, or fate decided to be an asshole again. Most likely the second. Riven ducked as a stream of flames sailed over his head, singing a few stray hairs. Had Emile not dived, both of them would be on fire right now, suffering from third degree burns and unbearable pain.
Emile desperately twisted and turned, evading blasts of super-heated flame as they shot towards him, narrowly missing his wings by a few centimeters. "Maybe because when you decided to shout in the air like a genius, you accidentally challenged its authority? Dragons don't like that, they're prideful pricks." Riven froze. His triumph shout. Oh shit. It was his fault then. Riven quickly made a mental note to himself.
Next time, whenever in the wild, kindly keep mouth shut in case large territorial dragons are lurking. Might save on trips to the hospital and/or afterlife. "I messed up," Riven said, getting queasy as Emile continued his evasive maneuvers.
"Oh no, I think you did just fine. Why don't you try punching it out with your fists next time? That'll make things infinitely better," Emile sneered sardonically. Riven couldn't blame him though, his blunder had put Emile into danger too. If he were Emile, that certainly would ruffle his feathers also. "Don't you have a plan?"
Riven blinked. "Plan?"
"We're dead," Emile said hopelessly.
"What do you want me to do?"
"I don't know? You're a trainer right? Strategize! That's what trainers supposedly do," the Pidgeot said with increasing hostility. "You lot have the audacity to tell us how to fight, might as well do something useful for a change and think a way out of this."
Another blast of flame narrowly missed Riven's face, its intense heat making him sweat. "One, I don't know any of your moves and I can't take my pokedex out while holding onto you! Two, I can't think straight when you're making me nauseous! AND three, that is a fucking dragon! We can't possibly beat it with flying attacks if we tried!"
"You have a point there. Well then, master trainer, what do you suppose we –argh!- do?" Emile dived and twirled, evading flames. There was no way he could outspeed the Salamence. Eventually, it would catch up to them, his talons would be no match for a dragon's claws or its hide.
"Uh, fly?" What splendid, sage-like advice, truly. Riven felt like Charles right now.
"Fly? SOME TRAINER YOU ARE!" Emile screeched, flying behind a spire just in time for it to block a flamethrower. "AND HOW DO YOU SUPPOSE WE FLY?"
"I'm not an experienced flyer like Gale, how am I supposed to know that? Just do whatever you can to make sure he doesn't roast us!" Riven was more concerned with surviving than a little crazy flying at the moment. He'd go puke his guts out later, when a wild Salamence wasn't trying to destroy him for mistakenly challenging its authority.
The dragon roared behind them, sending chills down Riven's spine. Its mouth glowed a bright blue as it readied another dragonbreath. Riven prepared for the worst when Emile shouted, "Hang on! This is going to get a little hectic!"
Already more than- Riven's thoughts were silenced as Emile dove, twirled, twisted, and spun in the air, weaving past spires, leading the Salamence on a chase among nature's sky scrapers. Riven's stomach churned, and shoved his face into Emile's feathers, fighting back the urge to fling the contents of his stomach from his mouth as projectile vomit. The effort was for nothing though, as the maneuvers weren't enough to compensate for the speed advantage the Salamence had over the Pidgeot.
"It's not working!" Riven reminded, seeing red wings soar through the air above them. Another blast of blue flames missed them, but not before it singed part of Riven's backpack.
"I know!" Emile responded. "Time to change things up, I'm going to fly in low!"
Riven held onto his headset with one hand, making sure the rushing wind didn't knock it off his ears and send it tumbling to the ground below. "What are you doing? That dragon is going to burn the forest down!" They didn't want to burn the entire forest down, that would destroy plenty of usable food sources and potentially kill a lot of pokemon. Which again, meant less food for him.
Did the human really care about a forest, now of all times? "Do you want to die?"
"No."
"Then shut up."
The trainer bit the inside of his cheek and did as he was told, tightening his hold on the avian's soft feathers.
Emile descended into the forest, weaving through the trees with impeccable precision, wearing the most focused gaze Riven ever saw. What he didn't know was that Emile was under impossible amounts of stress right now, one false move and they were either going to crash or end up incinerated, possibly both if worse came to worse. With the Salamence's flames exploding trees into nothing but wooden shrapnel and splinters behind him, the Pidgeot worked even harder to keep himself under control. Even under such conditions however, Emile felt something he had never felt before. He felt alive. In a way that regular flying didn't make him feel. The aspect of danger made flight feel even better. The feeling to laugh his head off almost overcame him.
He caught a glimpse of Riven, a ghost of a smile on his face, eyes full of the same excited glee. The human loved the danger, no- reveled in it, like the crazy bastard he was. Turning his attention back to what lay ahead of him, he zig-zagged through the forest, as fire erupted behind him. The Salamence's speed worked to his detriment here, where trees tightly clumped together acted as speed traps; the dragon remained above the cover of trees, raining blue fire down in an attempt to kill his challengers.
"Emile, land. Now."
"Are you insane?" Actually, he didn't have to ask. He knew Riven was insane.
"Just do it." Riven had an idea, and Emile was going to absolutely hate it.
Emile touched down under the cover of a few trees, watching the skies as a blue and red blur sped above them, angrily roaring, daring its challengers to face it. "So what's this plan? Ice beam to the death? And do it quick, it won't take long to spot us."
The human appeared to be very hesitant. "Not with your size and color standing out like that." The bird froze. He wasn't implying that, was he?
"Please don't tell me you're going to-"
"I'm smaller, I can hide a lot better than you. If I don't have to worry about your size, that Salamence won't spot me... us," Riven explained, taking out a pokeball. "After the dragon goes away, I'll release you and smash the pokeball, that way you won't be bound to me. Don't struggle, the pokeball might break and the light can catch the Salamence's attention." He knew he would technically be catching Emile but he also didn't want to steal Gale's pokemon. Plus, he had no interest in a flying type who had zero confidence in him and was also a bit of a dick. At least White Queen trusted him… somewhat. Maybe. He didn't really know.
Emile eyed the red and white ball with complete disdain. "Fine, but you better smash that pokeball afterwards or I'll gut you myself," Emile warned. He flexed his talons to show Riven he wasn't shooting the bull.
"Got it." The pokeball sucked the Pidgeot in and wiggled three times before coming to a stop. Riven picked up the pokeball and hid among the bushes. He squinted and saw the familiar red and blue blur before he heard its trademark roar. As he focused his eyesight further, the trainer's eyes widened and he dashed away as fast as possible. The Salamence's mouth held a bright yellow ball of energy, releasing it seconds after Riven began running.
The beam crashed down into the ground, kicking up a giant cloud of dirt and dust, whilst leveling a section of the forest and the trees surrounding the impact crater. Riven's ears rang and was launched into the air by the immense force of the explosion, shards of bark cutting into his skin as he violently crashed into a tree trunk and was knocked unconscious. Watching the destruction from above, the Salamence roared in triumph and flew away, sufficiently convinced that the ones that challenged its authority were eliminated.
Riven stirred three hours later, among the remains of the trees that had been blown clear by the attack. His head and body felt like shit as he picked himself up. The blast had completely destroyed the area he and Emile were standing in, reducing it to nothing but a ruined mess of what it once was. The air was thick with smoke from the Salamence's fires, putrid fumes rising high into the sky. Riven walked over to the nearest bush and retched.
Emile's pokeball was on the ground several feet away from him, untouched by all the damage. The black haired trainer limped over and released him with a haphazard throw, akin to that of a small girl. He couldn't help it though, his arm felt flabbier than a Gulpin at the moment.
The flying type materialized in the middle of the damage and rotated his body, eyes widening at the extent of damage to the surrounding forest. "What in the- what happened here?" He asked. One moment the forest was fine, and the next it was in ruins!
Riven coughed up dust. "Salamence. Hyper Beam. Boom," he replied, coughing up more dust.
"One hyper beam did this?" Emile couldn't believe it, once healthy trees were nothing but splinters and ash littering the ground, the soil a pure charcoal black.
Riven's mouth fell into a thin line as he observed the damage around him and Emile. "It's called hyper beam for a reason. I saw one destroy entire houses before, I shouldn't be surprised that one by a dragon could cause this much destruction," Riven said, kicking a twig away with his foot.
Emile took a moment to look at the human after the blast. He was slumped over and covered in dust, with several cuts along his arms from stray shrapnel. His breathing even sounded strained and a little pained. "What about you? You look like something thrashed you around rather viciously."
"The explosion knocked me off my feet and sent me into a damn tree. My left ear is still ringing." Riven held his head with both hands, swaying a moment to stop the massive migraine he was currently having. "Oh, right." He trudged up to the pokeball and smashed it with a stomp. "There you go. Free."
"Thanks. You sure you don't need any help?" Emile asked. The human was clearly worse for wear, he did just get launched into a tree. Nobody could be "just fine" after that.
"I'll be fine. I've taken worse hits than this really. You need to return to Gale before that thing comes back again." He held up a finger while hanging his head down, releasing a small groan. "Also, don't tell her about this. Got it? Me and you only." He groaned in pain louder this time.
Emile raised his head in a cocky manner. "Oh no, I am so telling her about this. About how I saved your miserable human ass from death with my superior flight skills." The escape had clearly gone to his head, anymore ego stroking and the avian's head would explode, figuratively. The thought of the Pidgeot bursting made Riven snort, but he figured it was just the after effects of getting his bell rung. Macabre thoughts weren't common, nor welcome.
"Then I can tell her about how I saved yours by capturing you?" Riven remarked in an annoyed tone. Two can play at that game, you damn bird.
"I saved you twice. Remember the caves?" Emile smugly countered.
"Hmph. Fine. Just get the hell out of here already. If you don't return, Gale's going to rip my head off. Watch out for the resident dragon too." Riven made a shooing motion with his hands. "Go on, get out of here. Come back in five months."
Emile nodded and extended his wings, generating small gusts with each flap, pushing Riven back from the force of the wind. "If you say so… just don't piss off that Salamence. Or any other dragon in the area, even if they are much more friendly. Angry Altaria are forces to be reckoned with." This human was more than capable of doing very stupid things, it was surprising he wasn't dead yet. No sane creature swung across a chasm from a measly rope and expected to come out alive unless he was Zubat-shit crazy.
Riven covered his face with a hand to block some of the wind, "I learned my lesson the first time. Now go!" The bird turned around and flew up and out of sight. The exhausted trainer sighed and shuffled his way over to a fallen tree, leaned on the trunk and looked up at the sky with lidded eyes. The day had been interesting. Hopefully after some well earned sleep(with no nightmares), he'd bring out his pokemon the next day to witness his Kirlia's evolution into a Gallade. He just hoped it was worth nearly dying three times, a Gallade better be all it was cranked up to be or something cute and cuddly was getting sliced open. Riven massaged his temples and drifted to sleep quickly afterwards.
He awoke in the morning to a mild headache, sore arm, and a few Shroomish curiously inspecting him. "Shroom? Shroooom." He stared at them with a dazed expression before his mind registered- WILD POKEMON, ALERT. Realizing this, he jumped to his feet and stood on the log, rubbing sleep out of his eyes and drawing his knife with the other hand. He growled and bared his teeth at them in an attempt to drive them away.
The grass pokemon backed away hastily, the most nervous of them releasing small amounts of stun spore. "Shroom! Shroomish! Shrooo!" They stepped back further,as the strange human took out a pokeball. They heard about the prison devices that the humans used to capture pokemon and torture them. They saw it enlarge and a look of terror came over them as they fled, their stubby little legs taking them deeper into the forest.
Riven exhaled in relief and stepped down, sheathing the knife; he had only resorted to using the pokeball to scare them away, which worked rather splendidly, by the way. He had run out of money for some half decent repels, reminding him that he needed to stay vigilant and take note of where he went to sleep at night, especially with the amount of dangerous pokemon around. He stretched, instinctively keeping a close eye on the sky and surrounding forest for any hint of the red and blue menace. Seeing no territorial dragons or potential threats, the trainer decided to find shelter before evolving Baron, preferably a place hidden from view and near a water source where he could wash his wounds to prevent infection.
Several hours later, Riven had managed to find himself a little grotto that was of sufficient size to be called a cavern, but not deep enough to be a massive cave system. Water trickled in from the top of it, forming a clean little stream of drinkable water in the center. That would certainly be of great use to him and his pokemon if they wanted a drink. But there was also a magnificent waterfall a few miles away that he had spotted earlier, perfect for refilling his containers and also for bathing. If he focused his hearing, he could still hear the roaring of cascading water.
The days spent searching for the dawn caves on Emile's back had given the trainer a good overview of the surrounding landscape. One of the most important lessons that had been drilled into his brain when he was a scout was to know the surrounding area. Climb to a vantage point and do some recon, then figure out the best point of entry or passage. Content with his position, he set his supplies down. He'd need something to eat soon.
The sun had already gone down but earlier in the day Riven had managed to sneak up on a Seviper, and caught a few Zigzagoon as well. Riven also spotted a tasty looking Swellow but had to let it go as he realized he would be unable to reach it. The bird would make a good meal but he didn't have any ranged weapons to actually disable it with. He could have used White Queen but her fur was far too noticeable, Swellow had keen eyes and didn't miss much. Absol were predators here from what Charles gave him, which meant these pokemon recognized the dangers that Absols presented. Baron wasn't much better, being mostly white in color. Aine would most likely burn the bird to a crisp, which would be a terrible waste of meat.
He had to fashion himself a bow and a set of arrows soon. Zangoose claws and bones would make excellent arrow points and there were plenty of trees from which to make the shafts from. He'd start tomorrow. Today, he had to celebrate. Setting up a fire, he skewered the Seviper and Zigzagoon meat, pitting them over the fire to cook. He brought out his pokemon from their pokeballs, who hadn't seen the outside for more than a week, due to extensive flying. Riven quickly put on his headset.
Baron, Aine, and Haona looked around, seeing that they were no longer in the plains but in a forested area, with enormous rocky spires towering over them. They had no idea where they were.
"Where are we?" Aine asked.
Riven smiled. "Guess."
Haona caught on instantly and was the first to tackle him. She licked him in the face, red eyes glittering with happiness. She dug her paws into the soil and sniffed the air. This was her parents' birthplace, their home. Well, for awhile at least. Then they moved further south for some inexplicable reason. Haona stopped licking her trainer and turned, taking in as much of the scenery as her eyes allowed her. "So, this is Forina?" She wanted to see it in the daylight, all of it.
"That's right," Riven replied, checking the meat to see if it was ready. "It's a pretty big place, we're around the southwestern side right now. The cave behind us is going to be our base of operations for some time. Don't get too carried away tomorrow with exploring, all right White Queen?"
Aine gaped in awe at the large spire some fifty feet away. "They're so tall! Are they everywhere?"
"For the most part. I stopped counting from how many there are. Honestly, it's more impressive seeing them all from the air."
"Wow." The orange chicken plopped down next to Riven, puffing an ember at the meat. Riven gave her a disapproving look, he didn't like his food over-done, and was fairly sure everyone other than the energetic Combusken agreed as well. "You're going to climb one of those?" She asked, pointing to the pillar with her claws.
"I was. But now I don't have to." Baron, who had been rather quiet, looked up as the statement piqued his interest. Riven gave him a knowing look, then broke out into a sly grin and beckoned the Kirlia over. "You might want to see this, Mischief," Riven said, intentionally using his Kirlia's old trainer nickname.
Aine and Haona watched as Baron stopped in front of them, standing in front of his trainer. He looked nervous and ecstatic at the same time, his tiny white fists shaking in expectance. "D-do you have it?" Baron questioned, voice shaky. He had dreamed of this moment for a long time, never had he thought it'd come true.
Riven located the small green stone in his trainer bag, enclosing his hand over it, smothering its green glow. "Looking for this?" He opened his palm, revealing a circular green gem in the center, sparkling radiantly. Baron looked mesmerized and stared dumbfounded at Riven, almost as if the gem was surreal and just a figment of his imagination. He slapped himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming either. "What're you looking at? It's real. I nearly died getting this. Thrice."
Aine snickered. "How did that happen?"
"Aron and Lairon have nasty metal claws. And they go after anyone that wakes them up...violently so."
"I could of taken 'em," Aine boasted, thrusting her claws out. She was a fighting type, she could beat Arons into the ground all frickin' day.
"Not fifty of them at the same time."
Aine raised a claw then promptly set it down. Couldn't argue with that, unfortunately. Haona spoke up this time, "And what about the other two times?"
"The rope I used to get into the caves snapped and Gale's Pidgeot had to save me. Then I kind of challenged a wild… Salamence… for dominance. That didn't go too well." Riven let out weak chuckle. Haona was about to scold him when he clarified himself, "Not intentionally!"
The Absol frowned, she would of enjoyed chewing him out. "I was about to criticize your critical failure to think straight. What kind of idiot intentionally challenges a Salamence?" A very dead idiot, that's what. Messing with dragons was essentially suicide, so what if trainers had ice types? It doesn't mean a damn thing if they can't hit anything.
"I'm not that stupid," Riven assured, drawing a breath of relief from the Absol. "Hey, Baron. When are you going to stop shaking and just grab the damn thing? I need to make sure the meat gets cooked right. Also, the dramatic effect tends to wear off when you stall too long, kindly hurry it up please."
"Oh, right." The psychic snapped out of his trance, swallowed tensely, and took the gem into his hands. As he held the stone to his chest, his body was enveloped in a brilliant white glow. The light outshined the light of the fire, briefly blinding the others. Baron's body began to shift and change, growing taller and fuller. The shifting ceased and settled into a definitive shape. As the light cleared, the two pokemon and their trainer analyzed Baron's new appearance.
His "hair" had become a fringe with a large teal head crest, which resembled a helmet of sorts. Baron's arms had changed from thin white arms to stronger and thicker green arms. His legs had also bulked up, no longer the skinny white toothpicks they were before. The psychic looked like a true warrior. He looked down at himself, grinning like an idiot.
"You got taller." Riven didn't despair though, considering that he still had the height advantage by around six inches or so. If any of his pokemon grew taller than him, he'd have to wrestle an Ursaring just to feel manly again.
"Seems so," the Gallade replied with a much deeper voice than he had previously. It sounded more grown, like a young adult.
"So, how do you feel, Bib?" Both Aine and Haona asked same exact time.
Baron stared at his hands and flexed his feet, feeling the newly formed muscles in his legs and arms. A fighter's muscles, not those of a fragile little psychic anymore. The thicker muscles and bones meant for close quarters combat with punches and kicks infused with psychic energy for massive power. "Stronger, that's for sure. My psychic abilities definitely improved. I just feel so much more powerful. Like I could punch through solid rock." Oh yeah, trainers had to watch out now.
Aine rejoiced. "Yay! You're a fighter now! You can spar me and I don't have to worry about pulverizing your ribs!" She exclaimed. She always wanted a sparring partner, Riven never had any time, always being more concerned with trainer stuff. Apparently it was very serious business.
Baron turned to face her, about to accept when he flexed his arm and the blade on his right arm extended, slicing off a couple of locks of Riven's hair near his right cheek. Riven moved his eyes to the green blade currently inches away from slicing his neck and creating a bloody mess. He gently pushed it away with a finger. The Gallade retracted it quickly after that. "Uh, I didn't know how I did that."
Riven stared at the severed hair on the floor. "I almost just died. Again. That raises the near death experience counter in Forina to four. Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets. Who will kill Riven first? Currently, Baron is winning," he deadpanned.
The Gallade apologized extensively and accidentally flicked his other blade out. Haona was prepared and had moved out of his killzone already, so the blade struck nothing but empty air. This is going to take some time getting used to, the fully evolved psychic mused. He sat down to Riven's right, sufficiently far enough away to make sure that none of his friends were in blade range.
"Baron trying to sever my jugular aside, who's ready to eat?" All three pokemon perked their heads up. "The Seviper is tasteless but it'll fill you up. I gathered some berries to give it more flavor though." Riven took the skewers out of the fire and handed them out to his pokemon with a handful of berries.
While eating, Baron addressed his trainer, "Riven."
"Whu? I'm eading," he said with a mouthful of Seviper. "I'm eating."
"I just wanted to say thank you."
"For what?" He took another bite.
"Going through all this trouble for me." He had crossed the region just to do this for him. There was a strange feeling within him that compelled the Gallade to express his gratitude. Was it that honor thing Gallades were obsessed with? Honestly, being too much of an honor bound psychic scared him more than it should, his trainer being who he was. Riven had gone on tangents about how knights in shining armor were stupid, multiple times at length too.
Riven chewed his mouthful quickly and swallowed. "Hmmm, needs more berry juice…" He crushed another berry over the skewer. "Baron, listen. You're my pokemon. It's my duty to make sure you evolve. A commander wants the best for his men, which I guess trainers are to some degree, making this no different. But… this isn't a one sided thing either. I evolved you so you could get stronger and win us some more battles. Hopefully Aine evolves soon too, that way she'll be more than a match for you in sparring matches. But, considering you can read her mind, it wouldn't be a fair fight anyway, would it?"
"Heh, I guess not." Baron bit into his food, savoring the berry juice slathered on top, giving the tasteless meat some form of flavor. "But nonetheless, thank you for everything."
"I told you, I don't need any thanks. It's my responsibility, I don't expect any praise. Just doing what I have to."
Baron smirked mischievously, still retaining that playfulness he had as a Ralts. "Can I hug you right now, oh-so-beautiful trainer? You know, all strong and stuff." He held his green hands out, stupid smirk still plastered on his face.
Riven shot a death glare at him and Baron swore that the fire in front of them flared slightly. "Don't make me regret evolving you. I got a knife you know, I can relieve you of your life force," Riven warned calmly, waving the sharp metal weapon around in the air, then set it down as he broke out into a light chuckle. It quickly became a wholehearted laugh, with Baron joining in as they took another bite out of their Seviper. They sat in relative silence after their laughing fit died down, simply enjoying their meal.
Clouds were beginning to gather in the star-streaked sky, blocking out the stars and foretelling the falling of rain or snow. Possibly lightning, depending how bad the storm got. Anyway, it mattered little. The cold was not going to deter Riven or his team, neither was a little rain or thunder. He snapped his fingers to get the attention of his pokemon. "Listen. You better rest up, all of you. Because for the next five months, we're going to train like hell to tackle Norman, and I hear he is one tough bastard. We're also to be on the lookout for a fourth team member, there are plenty of great candidates here. Everyone got that?"
"Yes," Haona said without thinking, focusing her thoughts mainly on the other Absols. She would have plenty of time to look for them in the upcoming months. Meeting her own kind seemed more interesting than whatever her trainer had in mind anyway.
"Yup!" Aine cheered, happy to have two sparring partners now that Riven didn't have much trainer business to worry about anymore.
"Sure," Baron smiled. He wanted to control his new found strength and hone new techniques while improving old ones, and maybe control his body better. Having blades on his arms was a little different from what he was used to. The bright side was that he didn't look like a girl, it got really annoying when every single girl(or female trainer) mentioned he looked like a little doll. At least Riven's presence scared them off, which wasn't good for his trainer but he didn't care, it wasn't his problem Riven looked scary.
A curt nod came from their trainer. "Just felt like warning you."
Aine, Baron, and Haona joked and teased around the fire, laughing and smiling. Riven only held a faint smile, quickly disappearing as he stared into the flames.
Happiness, what a terrifying feeling...how long do you plan to stay this time?
"Director, we have news that the mercenaries failed."
"I already know that."
"Ah, I'm sorry. Do you wish to send more after the two boys, in case they know anything? I'd be more than honored to carry out the task myself."
"No. That won't be necessary. The older one has already ruined two of our approaches and set us back considerably, and with the information our informants gathered, he seems to be very…unscrupulous in his methods. We know that all it takes is one spirited young trainer with loyal pokemon to destroy everything we have planned, the Aquas and Magmas learned that the hard way. We don't need a spirited trainer coming after us. If we don't bother him, he won't bother us. Besides, we already found the ruins that the lights originated from, we have no need of those two, let them continue with their ignorant lives."
"I see. What was found there?"
"Only Claydols, carvings, and a strange machine. It was beyond repair but its seemingly alien construction suggests ancient technology. Our scientists are analyzing it as we speak. It can yield something of merit. The Claydols refused to tell us anything about it so the Crawdaunts took care of them."
"What's our next plan then?"
"It would be best to lay low for some time, official presence has increased in the cities lately. This could hinder us or give them a trail for them to trace. For now we are to continue gathering information concerning items of interest, but our primary objective is to locate 'Haemon'."
"Yes, sir. But… I have one request."
"What is it?"
"That I get the first shot when the dust settles. It'll help our cause, promise."
"You've had an acceptable mission completion record so far."
"Heh, that's all I needed to hear. Tesla out."
These A/Ns might get annoying and I promise there won't be too many more. Skip it if you don't want to read it, it's decently sized. TL:DR is fine.
This is almost entirely guessing at this point and partly my own musings. IT ISN'T SPECIFICALLY TRUE, BUT MY OWN SPECULATIONS.
Anyway...we have three legendaries created from Arceus, that represent time, space, and arguably antimatter(I don't get this part, if he crossed over into the actual world, he'd explode). And control it too.
Dialga and Palkia are pretty straightforward. Roar of Time can be used to accelerate or decelerate time and Spacial Rend can be used to warp space. I know that Ash and friends have time traveled before, but I'm trying to explain this realistically so bear with me here. Celebi and Dialga shenanigans need to go away.
Now let's get to the interesting part, shall we?
Giratina is the ruler of the Distortion/Reverse world, a world said to be parallel but not quite in contact with the material world.
Also, his primary move is Shadow Force.
Now let me give you a bit of physics and stuff. Traversable wormholes, specifically Morris-Thorne wormholes are basically gates in space time where time on the other end has been accelerated or decelerated and space itself has been warped in between. Note this requires some type of exotic matter, as you've probably read early on in the chapter at this point to even keep it stable.
Dark matter can fill that role. It has been considered not reactant to light, so scientists have called it "shadow matter" There are theories that a parallel universe and galaxy composed entirely of dark matter exists, right alongside ours and we have no idea that it's there. They call it a shadow universe.
This coincides with the pokemon universe's version. No one knows(or knew at least) that the Distortion World exists, yet it is parallel to the Pokemon world and contains some strange things that defy reason.
Shadow matter is also invisible to the naked eye and virtually all forms of detection. Sound familiar? Shadow force causes Giratina to completely turn invisible, suggesting that it isn't the embodiment of Antimatter, but dark matter. Just as dark matter universes are supposed to be reflections of our universe, the Distortion World is very much the same, which is explicitly stated in the movie and in Bulbapedia. Hence, the reflection motif that is apparent with Giratina.
When Giratina is using Shadow Force, he's controlling dark matter. The fact he resides in the Distortion world only makes sense.
It's also proposed that when two dark matter particles collide, they produce radiation(mostly gamma), which can explain the portal's radiation signatures, if any of you were wondering about that.
Picture combining Roar of Time, Spacial Rend, and Shadow Force. Perfect formula for wormholes and time travel. And with this, I believe that time travel is perfectly reasonable in the Pokemon world. (again, excluding the M4 and M12 stuff. That's just no.)
Check the wormhole articles on Wikipedia out, interesting stuff.