Draco: Now for the painful one.

Pokémon and protagonist © Nintendo. Character designs © Koei. Ransei © somewhere in the middle.

Sendoff Spring: Through the Afterworld

"Yeah! Eat it!"

Mitsuki's triumphant cheer echoed down Route 214 as Shelgon gave a cheerful cry from atop the unconscious Girafarig. "Alright, enough," Nō scolded. "You needn't be so boastful over the wild Pokémon.

An awkward gigle emerged from Mitsuki as she rubbed the back of her head. ""Sorry, Lady Kichō."

Evia turned to Dawn. "You sure you don't mind that they-"

"Not at all," Dawn assured her. "Shelgon's one of those Pokémon that'll benefit from every little battle he can get in. The stronger you guys are when you return to Ransei, the better." She resumed leading them down the Route. "Honestly, I'd like to set off your two before you go..."

She glanced back at the Eevee following behind, but Evia only shook her head. "I told you, I've got the means back in Ransei. Save your stones for your own Pokémon."

"Alright." Then; "Ah, here. This is our turn."

There was a very narrow pathway between two rows of trees; Evia reckoned it would be unnoticeable to anyone who didn't already know it was there. As they started down the path, it became apparent that the foliage did much to prevent sound from travelling very far, and Kaguya took the opportunity to speak up. "So, um, Miss Dawn... How do you know this is gonna get us back to Ransei?"

"I've seen the same effect applied before," Dawn explained. "A journey that should have merely put me on Mt. Coronet's slopes brought me all the way down here."

"A journey... through Distortion." Evia shook her head. "What exactly did you go through?"

Dawn sighed. "When I started my journey as a Pokémon Trainer," she insisted, "I crossed paths with an organization called Team Galactic. At first, it seemed like they were just using their strength for Pokémon theft and ransom... but then they abducted the legendary Pokémon of Sinnoh's three lakes. The Spirits of Knowledge, Emotion, and Willpower - captured by their forces and taken to their headquarters in Veilstone. And when I went to help them... I found out what they were really after."

Kaguya and Mitsuki traded concerned looks. "What were they really after?"

"They wanted to reshape the world using Pokémon of myth." Dawn's gaze fell. "The grunts thought it was for the benefit of them all, to make Team Galactic the ultimate authority in all things... but the truth of the matter is that their boss, Cyrus, wanted to create a world without spirit."

Nō started. "Without... spirit?"

Dawn nodded. "No will, no feelings, nothing that makes a person or Pokémon unique - just mindless existence. No better than death. And for that goal, he harvested crystals from the bodies of the three lake Pokémon, and forged a Red Chain with which to bind the dragons of Time and Space to his will. I chased him to Spear Pillar atop Mt. Coronet just in time to see him drag them both into our world."

The path broadened into a small clearing - before a sharp stone slope.

"Antimatter had other ideas. It emerged upon Spear Pillar, shattering the Red Chain and dragging Cyrus into a dark rift. Cynthia and I followed him in, for fear that what lay on the other side might fall prey to his machinations... but our worries were unfounded."

Dawn turned to the Warriors. "Do you want to climb, or should we take turns with the local Bibarel?"

Evia, Nō, Kaguya, and Mitsuki did decide to climb, as did their Pokémon; Dawn's Pokétch called a Bibarel out of the trees for her to ride up the slope, letting her join the Warriors at the top. The ridge looked like a crater of some sort, with a small walkway built to extend forward from where they stood; below was a body of water, deep enough to dive into, but much shallower than could properly be called a lake.

"The world on the other side of the rift defied any expectations. Time doesn't flow there, and space isn't stable. There was no life save for Giratina, and those who had newly arrived... and at some point, I questioned whether I was truly alive in there. A world that defied every rule of existence, equal and opposite to our own. The Distortion World." Dawn's gaze fell to the waters below. "If our world had been reshaped as Cyrus wished, the Distortion World would have been broken down as well. So Giratina refused to let it happen. It dragged Cyrus in to prove the futility of his ways... and he snapped, marching off into the emptiness rather than return to face justice in this world."

Something stirred in the water; the gathered Warriors reacted, everyone moving back before something burst out of the spring. A Gyarados descended on the walkway, roaring at those gathered there, and Dawn noticed its gaze focus on her.

It didn't have time to act; a Shadow Ball from Mismagius slammed into it from one side, followed swiftly by twin Quick Attacks from the two Eevee. As they leapt back to Evia's side, Gardevoir loosed a pulse of Psychic to keep it off-guard, and then Shelgon whirled forward, swathed in dragon mist as he slammed into the Atrocious Pokémon and sent it flying off of the walkway.

It hit the water, sunk... and didn't rise again.

Nō glanced at Dawn. "It knew you."

"It did," Dawn mused. "That must have been one of Cyrus' Pokémon."

Evia turned to her. "Didn't you say... he chose to stay in Distortion?"

Dawn stepped forward onto the walkway. "Welcome to Sendoff Spring. Look there - that is Turnback Cave. The gateway to Distortion. After dealing with Cyrus, I faced Giratina. I refused to show it hostility, and another rift appeared. When Cynthia and I stepped through it, we found ourselves on that shore."

Kaguya looked away from the water; the way Mt. Coronet divided Sinnoh in two meant they could see its silhouette even despite the surrounding trees. "From all the way up there?"

"Based on the distance we travelled in Distortion," Dawn observed, "we should have emerged on the slopes of Mt. Coronet. More likely inside the mountain's caves. And that's to say nothing of the orientation of the rift that opened on Spear Pillar, relative to the one we arrived through." She shook her head. "If a few minutes' exploration in Distortion covered a distance that would take several hours in Sinnoh..."

Nō narrowed her gaze. "...then a few hours' march in Distortion may deliver us all the way home to Ransei. If Antimatter is willing."

Dawn turned to the Spectran. "You said you had a Link with Giratina. It should be willing to cooperate."

"Even so," Nō admitted, "legendary Pokémon are fickle, and unlike to honour their Links for long."

"It doesn't have to be for long," Evia insisted. "It just has to be for the journey."

They started to make their way around... and the Dragon-type's cry drew the group's attention. "Huh?" Mitsuki stepped forward. "What's up, Shelgon?"

Kaguya and Evia traded glances, and a small smile played on each of their faces.

+x+x+x+

Once the evolution had run its course, Dawn led Evia, the Eevee, Kaguya, Gardevoir, Nō, Mismagius, Mitsuki, and Salamence into Turnback Cave.

Any doubts that the Warriors might have had that this cave was the gateway to Distortion vanished in short order. The fog that flooded Turnback Cave obscured stonework that was in positively pristine condition; there were more marks from the wild Pokémon than there were signs of erosion. Old, crumbling stones were lying through various rooms - not scattered in the manner of rocks fallen from a natural disruption, but laid out as though to obstruct one path from another - and despite the strength of both their Pokémon and her own, Dawn insisted on leaving the stones be as she guided them through.

At one point, Dawn led the Warriors on four consecutive right turns; this, to everyone's bafflement, did not deliver them to the same chamber as they had been in four turns ago. Every so often, a room would host nothing but a towering pillar upon a foundation carved with lettering; it was in these chambers that Dawn seemed without a guide, for she would tap at her Pokétch for a moment before leading the Warriors into another room completely at random.

Immediately after the third such pillar, they found themselves in a chamber that seemed set into the earth; a great stone wall carved with lettering lay in the center, with a large, level surface standing before it.

Mitsuki glanced around. "Th-This is..."

"That where life sparkles. That where life has faded. A place where two worlds overlap." Dawn took a deep breath. "This is the threshold."

"I can feel it." Nō stepped forward. "This sensation... I felt this same way at the rift in Spectra." She closed her eyes. "Someone of great power... lying in wait for me."

The fog seemed to darken, catching everyone off-guard; Nō leaned her head back, swinging her arms out at her sides.

"Come forth! Giratina, from beyond the veil!"

A golden shape manifested in the darkness, seeming to be a helm around a visage of ebony and blood. Dawn's breath caught in her throat, and Kaguya and Gardevoir hid behind Evia's back as Mitsuki shrunk next to Salemence. More golden spikes emerged from the darkness, and the rest of its body seemed to form around them - pale silver, with stripes of black and crimson. Six legs with golden claws connected with the floor of the chamber, and a pair of insubstantial, tattered black wings flowed out from its back, with crimson claws that seemed mounted on the breadth, rather than being connected to the tips.

With a shaky sigh, Nō raised a hand towards Antimatter, and the light of a Link appeared between them. "Then it is true," she mused. "I'd always thought Nobunaga to forge the Link anew whenever the Black Yang or the Sky Demon returned to him... but no." A smile rose on her face. "It is never broken."

"Giratina." The dragon turned to face Dawn as she stepped forward, her form trembling. "I trust you know why we are here. Will you help them? Will you see these Warriors back to Ransei?"

Silence... and then Antimatter nodded in assent.

Kaguya peeked out warily. "I-It'll help us?"

"Thank you," Nō praised. "And forgive me for ever thinking ill of you, for departing so quickly."

With a cry that shook the chamber, Giratina's form silhouetted; its body seemed to be sinking into the ground before it scattered in the same dark fog as it had arrived in... and then the fog that filled Turnback Cave receded, and something had opened on the flat surface where it had been standing.

Dawn stepped back. "There it is," she mused. "Your road home. Through Distortion."

Evia turned to her. "I can't thank you enough for this."

"I just wish I could do more," Dawn confessed. "I wish I had the strength to come with you, to help you with whatever's going on, but..." She closed her eyes, and tears started to stream down her face. "I can't go in there again. Not after last time."

"You don't need to apologize for that," Evia insisted. "I know full well what a dreadful encounter with a legendary Pokémon can do to you. No one is expecting you to try and fight your way through that."

"...That doesn't make it any less painful," Dawn protested. "Having to watch you go."

Evia took a deep breath. "Dawn, listen to me. One day, I'm going to come back."

"Huh?"

"Back here, to Sinnoh," Evia proclaimed. "Me, and Kaguya, and Oichi. You haven't met her, yet - she's the one who really brought Manaphy back. I still need to introduce you. I'll bring her here. We can see more Contest Shows. You can show me what sort of things Trainers get up to for recreation. And then... I'm gonna bring you to Ransei. You and Lucas. I want you to see my home, too. Not just Aurora, either - every kingdom from Fontaine to Yaksha to Nixtorm."

She took Dawn's hand. "But I want you to see it in peacetime. In all its glory, with the leisure to take in the sights. Okay?"

With a tearful smile, Dawn set her other hand over Evia's. "Okay."

"Don't worry," Evia insisted, stepping back. "Ransei's got plenty of Warriors to defend it already." She turned to her daughter. "You ready for this, Kaguya?"

Kaguya set her face and nodded. "Yeah!"

Gardevoir nodded as well.

Salamence gave an approving cry.

"That's right!" Mitsuki agreed.

Mismagius nodded.

The two Eevee both leapt in agreement.

Nō turned to the rift. "Then... in we go."

+x+x+x+

There was no description that would have prepared them for the world on the other side of the rift.

Evia had her hand closed tightly on Kaguya's as they emerged. A dark emptiness seemed to extend in all directions, with clouds scattered throughout it... but the clouds seemed to extend on different planes at random, each appearing to move in a different direction. They had 'fallen' into the rift, horizontal upon the floor of the chamber in Turnback Cave, yet now they emerged from a vertical rift upon what seemed to be a massive dead tree, rising out of a lifeless stone surface upon which they now stood. The stone extended forward, seeming to widen and narrow at random, and scattered around the emptiness were more stones at different angles... with similar trees extending out from them as though they were level ground.

"So... this is Distortion."

Nō stepped out with her hands outstretched. "This is it," she confirmed. "This emptiness, the way the ground feels under my feet... The air feels almost oppressive. And my body feels light... and yet heavy, at the same time. This is the same environ where I met Giratina the first time. A floating rock adrift in this same expanse. A battlefield... in the Distortion World."

A presence to one side drew Evia's attention; Giratina was floating there. Its form had changed, its body becoming serpentine, showing a flexibility it hadn't had in Turnback Cave. Its legs were gone, replaced with gold-tipped spikes, and the gold around its head now seemed more a mask than a helm. Its wings were gone, and those crimson claws now formed the points of six black tendrils that extended from its back. For a moment it beheld the Warriors; then, with a single cry, it turned and began to soar away, down the road that lay before them.

Evia took a deep breath. "Seems we've got quite the march ahead of us."

"Indeed we do," Nō confirmed.

"Um..." Mitsuki's voice was shaky as she turned to Evia. "So... how many of the stories are true?"

"Stories?"

"You gotta know the legends, Lady Evia," Mitsuki insisted. "The ones that say Distortion is where the dead go. That Antimatter brings them here so they can go on to the afterlife." She brought her hands together. "If we take a wrong turn... are we gonna-?"

"No way!" Kaguya protested. "Antimatter said it was gonna help us! It's not gonna let us take a wrong turn! As long as we're nice to Giratina, it'll make sure we don't go anywhere but back home!"

"Indeed," Nō asserted. "So let us play nice, and make our way home."

And pray we don't see any familiar faces along the road.

The words hung unspoken in the air as Nō turned to lead the march.

Draco: Okay, yeah, that hurt.

Since my frustrations during the writing of Ancient Ruination, I have not only assigned a plausible legendary Pokémon for every ruling Warlord in a Gen V Ransei (with alternate options for "adding to the canon lineup" and "Tadakatsu has no excuse, so redistribute with the Valorans"), I've also come up with acquisition events for each. In Nō's case, encountering Giratina would be based on a Warrior-stat-boosting crystal similar to i.e. Nobunaga's encounter with Zekrom. That crystal would be, if not the Griseous Orb itself, at least an obvious reference to the Griseous Orb.

...But I'm not a hundred percent sure equipping it to Nō would dictate Giratina's Forme. Multi-form Pokémon aren't a thing in Ransei, Arceus' type-changing was brushed over by its Omnipotence ability, and Origin Forme Giratina doesn't really happen under strict terms in spin-offs like it does in the core series. So I'm semi-comfortable saying that a Giratina serving as Nōhime's Link partner would be in permanent Origin Forme.

With that in mind, here are the gameplay details for Antimatter.

Giratina
-Range: 3
-Move: Shadow Force
-Ability: Levitate

Shadow Force (Ghost)
-Attack area: single tile one square away (i.e. Shadow Ball)
-Effect: user vanishes instantly and becomes invulnerable for one turn; targeted Pokémon will receive damage at the start of the user's next turn, regardless of movement