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Chapter Text

By the time Dawn and Barry reached the summit, it was already too late.

The storm clouds brewed over Mt. Coronet for the entirety of their ascent, an ominous, foreboding herald of what they would find there. Team Galactic’s plan - the plan of their grand leader, Cyrus, specifically - had succeeded. Hope, it seemed, was lost. But Dawn wasn’t about to give up.

The first obstacle at the summit was the tandem of Mars and Jupiter, of whom Dawn and Barry made quick work, wiping out their teams with curious ease. Barry hung back to keep them at bay after the battle, while Dawn turned her attention to the long staircase in front of her, at the summit of which was Cyrus, the man who wanted to tear the world asunder.

“I got these two, Dawn!” he shouted, using his Infernape and Heracross to hold them up. Dawn, however, couldn’t help but notice that neither Galactic Admin was putting up all that much of a protest, instead merely watching with matching smirks as she ran up to Spear Pillar. Upon setting foot on the Pillar, Dawn could immediately see why.

Dialga and Palkia had been summoned, and defeated, bound by the long Red Chain twisted around each of their necks. The Lake Trio, Sinnoh’s fiercest guardians, were strewn about, completely incapacitated, either by Cyrus or by the combined might of the space-time dragons they were tasked with keeping at bay. Dawn recalled, vaguely, Cynthia’s words - the Lake Trio could subdue one of them individually, but not both. Cyrus, studied as he was, surely knew this as well, and knew how to manipulate the dragons to overwhelm the trio.

He’d played his hand perfectly, it seemed. No weak points, no ways to counter. 

He’d won.

“Cyrus!” Dawn shouted, Poké Ball in hand. Not that Torterra would do all that much good here, against a man wielding the embodiments of time and space, but she didn’t have any other options.

Cyrus, for his part, ignored her. She could only see a bit of his face at this angle, but he seemed utterly focused, the rest of the world falling away from his view. His eyes were fixated on Dialga and Palkia, powerless before him, submitted fully to his will. Dawn knew little of the man himself, but she got the feeling of a man whose ambitions were mere moments from being fulfilled, and it terrified her.

“Everything is ready,” he drawled, his voice flat even on the precipice of triumph. “Everything is ready…for the creation of a new world.”

He stepped forward, crouching down to pick up the end of the Red Chain that bound Dialga and Palkia. The chain sent its energy firing through him the moment he touched it, enveloping him in a red aura. He let out a low growl at the sensation, but stood his ground, gripping the Chain tightly.

“Now…all will end.”

He raised his fist.

“And everything will begin.”

The red aura stretched through the Chain to envelop Dialga and Palkia as well, and the twin dragons screamed out in protest. Dawn covered her ears, wincing.

Cyrus began to hover, the power of the Chain lifting him into the air. He twitched and winced, but kept a white-knuckle grip on it, pulling on the Chain and tying it around his waist. 

“Dialga, Palkia!” he roared, over the din that their screams were creating. “Shaping this world is a double spiral of time and space. Yes, the very things that you have the ability to control!”

He whipped the Chain again. “You will do my BIDDING! I will have you abilities as MINE!”

Someone put a hand on Dawn’s shoulder, and she glanced over to see Barry, who’d raced up to watch the spectacle with her. Behind him, Mars and Jupiter had followed, but dropped to their knees upon seeing Cyrus, transfixed by his power.

“Barry, what the hell?” Dawn snapped. “Why did you bring them here?”

“The man’s floating in the air and doing his villain monologue, Dawn!” Barry fired back. “I wasn’t going to just watch that fifty feet down from the summit! You know me! I need a front row seat!”

The storm clouds overhead, dark grey and roiling, had blotted out the sun entirely, and Spear Pillar was awash in the glow of the Red Chain and its three bound occupants. The dragons were fighting as hard as they could - Dialga was speeding up and slowing down at a manic pace, and Palkia was distorting, attempting to open up portals all around it. But the Chain held up, restricting their primal power to their immediate area. All the while, Cyrus watched, shouting out his manifesto.

“With the power I wield, I will create an entirely new world!” he declared. “The incomplete, ugly world we live in will be no more. Nothing can remain. It’s all going! Right down to zero! I will create the ultimate world, a world of complete perfection! Nothing so vague and incomplete as spirit can remain. In just a moment…we will be free of the cruelty of feeling. Free of emotion! PERFECT, at long last!”

Dawn had heard enough. She was sick of it - sick of Cyrus’s insane rhetoric, sick of Team Galactic, sick of being unable to stop what had been in motion for so long. She had to do something, even if it ended up being in vain. 

Mesprit was to her left, sprawled out on the ground. Uxie was behind Dialga and Palkia, and Azelf to their right, near Uxie. She couldn’t reach all of them herself, but Mesprit could maybe be enough for now. Digging into her bag, she found her last Max Revive, clutched it tightly in her palm, and raced over to the fallen Lake Guardian.

Cyrus took no notice of her. Barry whipped around to hold the two Admins back, but neither of them paid Dawn any mind, still captivated by their leader overhead. The lack of resistance was unsettling, but Dawn pushed it out of her mind as she pulled open Mesprit’s mouth and fed it the Max Revive, clamping its jaw to break the medicine and activate it. 

Mesprit’s eyes shot open. It looked from side to side, trying to regain its bearings, gaze settling on Dawn after a moment.

“Help me, Mesprit,” she implored to the guardian. “Please. I don’t…I don’t know what to do.”

Mesprit stared into Dawn’s eyes, its expression blank. Then, it hovered up out of Dawn’s grasp…and teleported away.

“Wh - what?”

Dawn stared at the space where Mesprit had been just moments before, dumbfounded. Where had it gone?

“Did Mesprit just dip??” Barry shouted, clutching his head with his hands. Dawn could only shake her head, completely lost.

Overhead, the aura around Cyrus had grown even brighter. His eyes were glowing, wind was picking up all around him. It almost seemed as though he was losing control.

“IT IS TIME!” he bellowed. “MY DREAM WILL BE REALITY!”

Dawn braced herself, waiting for the end. Whatever Cyrus had planned, however, never came. Instead, Dawn felt as though all the air had been sucked out of the area. The roaring, the dragons’ screams…it all faded away, as if someone had hit the mute button. The Red Chain faded, reverting back to a dull scarlet, and Cyrus dropped to the ground.

“What?” he shouted, whipping his head around, trying to make sense of what was happening. “What the hell is this?”

In front of him, a black portal began to grow from the ground. Its maw opened wide, tearing the Red Chain to shreds and ripping its remains off of Dialga, Palkia, and Cyrus. The summit’s titular pillars themselves seemed to bend inwards towards the portal, as if gravity had been re-centered. At its center, two glowing red orbs appeared, growing larger every second.

“What…” Cyrus gasped, staring at the portal, eyes wide. For the first time, he seemed…unsettled. Scared, almost, if Dawn didn’t know better. 

The portal began to bulge outward, stretching up out of the ground. The red orbs led the way, and Dawn realized, with horror, that they weren’t simply orbs.

They were eyes.

“What is that?” Barry shouted behind her. Dawn had no answers for him. All she could do was watch, and tremble.

The black shadow in the portal grew and grew, its top taking the shape of a crown. Giant wings sprouted from either side, lined with red fang-like daggers. It towered above them, significantly larger than Dialga or Palkia, neither of whom had recovered yet from the bondage of the Red Chain. The portal’s gravity sucked in Uxie and Azelf, their motionless bodies tumbling towards it and disappearing.

The creature, whatever it was, pulsated with dark energy, its surface rippling in a way that Dawn had never seen before. It was almost as if the creature…wasn’t of this world.

Cyrus pushed himself back to his feet, staring down the intruder. He wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth, face settling back into that familiar mask.

“You, draped in shadow…” he said, brushing off some debris from his jacket. “You think you can interfere? What gives you the right? What dominion do you think you have here?”

The creature’s answer came swiftly. Its wings contorted into arms, the ends turning to claws, and with impossible speed, the arms lashed out at Dialga and Palkia. Its claws dug into the gods of time and space, dragging them towards its essence. They lashed out, protested, tried their hardest to fight back, but in the end, it mattered not. Within seconds of contact, the shadow consumed them both, leaving nothing behind.

Cyrus dropped to his knees, aghast. All of his work - years of preparation for this moment - gone, in an instant. Never mind the wider implications on the very fabric of time and space, now that their guardians had been destroyed. At the moment, it felt as though none of that mattered, in the wake of this primal force in front of them, one that had been able to consume two Legendary Pokémon like it was nothing.

“No…” he gasped. “This…this cannot be. What of my new world? My new galaxy?”

He smashed his fist into the ground, enraged.

“WHAT ARE YOU?” Cyrus roared. “SHOW YOURSELF TO ME!”

The creature gave no answers. Instead, as if in response, another tendril of shadow shot out of it, piercing straight through Cyrus’s chest. His eyes widened, mouth open in a wordless gasp, hands dropping to his sides. The tendril lifted his limp body up, pulling him back to the portal, and, all of a sudden, disappeared, retreating down into the portal, back to the hell it had emerged from.

Chapter Text

Dawn could do little but stare at the empty space where the portal had been. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t think. What she had just witnessed…it was simply inconceivable. She hadn’t signed up for this, this…horror. Dialga and Palkia, consumed by an eldritch abomination from another dimension. Cyrus, consumed by hubris, taken by the shadows. The Lake Guardians, gone. It was all too much for her to bear.

All she’d ever wanted was to be a Pokémon Master, and she’d never felt as far away from that goal as she did right now.

“Dawn! DAWN!”

The familiar voice snapped her out of her malaise, and she glanced behind her to see Cynthia racing up the steps, a thick tome tucked under her arm. In her haste, she tripped on a loose rock and nearly face-planted, stumbling into Barry, who was just barely able to keep her upright.

“I - I’m sorry…” she gasped out, clutching her chest. “I’m too late, aren’t I? I - I took too long to figure it out.”

“Figure what out?” Barry prodded. “What the hell’s going on here? What was that shadow thing?”

“That shadow…” Cynthia shook her head. “That shadow…is the end of this world, Barry. That shadow was Giratina.”

Dawn furrowed her brow, confused. She’d never heard of Giratina before.

“The myths focus on Dialga and Palkia, the keepers of time and space in our world,” Cynthia continued. “They are Arceus’s original children. But, when it created this world, it needed a mirror, a counterweight. A balance. And that mirror needed a keeper. That keeper is Giratina.”

“Well, why’d it show up here, all of a sudden?” Barry asked. “I don’t get it.”

Cynthia held up the book she’d brought with her. It looked positively ancient, the spine cracked, the leather dull and dusty. Emblazoned across its front was a sigil - a triangle, each of its three points marked with a colored sphere, blue, pink, blood red.

“The legends say that Giratina grew bitter that Arceus had locked it away, condemned it to rule over a world whose existence was solely one of utility,” she said. “The mirror world - the Distortion World, as the texts call it - was a harsh, unfriendly place, and no living creatures wanted to reside there. It used to be freely accessible, in ancient times. But then, Giratina lashed out. It attempted to take over our world, exert its influence, get its revenge on Dialga and Palkia for being Arceus’s preferred children. But the Original One descended, smiting its unruly son, sending it back into the Distortion World permanently, and sealing it off. Supposedly, it has been there ever since, ruminating. Plotting.”

She looked down at the remnants of the Red Chain scattered all across Spear Pillar, her gaze hardening.

“Cyrus didn’t believe in the myths,” she spat. “He believed in the power of Dialga and Palkia, and nothing else. His meddling, with the Red Chain, with the Lake Guardians, with Dialga and Palkia…I think it created an opening. A lifeline to the Distortion World. Spear Pillar is where the boundary between our world and the Distortion World is at its weakest, and Cyrus began punching hole after hole in that barrier, all for his own selfish gains. Now, Giratina is ready to take its revenge.”

Dawn kept her eyes on the spot at Spear Pillar where the portal had been, superimposing the image of Giratina rising up in her mind’s eye over the scene. In the brief moments the beat was present in this world, Dawn swore that she felt…something coming from it. Powerful waves of emotion - rage, despair. Fear.

“If it wants to take its revenge…” Dawn mused, “why did it go back? Why not absorb Dialga and Palkia, and then finish the job?”

Cynthia’s eyes widened. 

“It did what?”

“It absorbed both of them!” Barry shouted, waving his arms to emphasize the point. “Sucked them right up into its weird shadow body! Uxie and Azelf got sucked into the portal, too!”

Cynthia shook her head, stunned.

“Then…then it’s too late,” she lamented. “It - it must have retreated into the Distortion World to acclimate to its new power. But once it recovers from that, you can be sure that it will return. And once it does…the only thing powerful enough to stop it would be the Original One.”

Barry threw his hands up. “We’re doomed, then! No one’s even seen Arceus in real life! Are you kidding me??”

As Cynthia and Barry went back and forth in their despair cycle, Dawn walked back to the spot where Mesprit had disappeared. She knelt down, brushing her fingers in the dirt where the Lake Guardian had been flung back, where she’d revived it. Where it had abandoned her. Or so she thought.

Overhead, she heard a twinkling sound. She stared up into the sky, where the storm clouds had parted, the sun’s rays breaking through the malaise. There, she was greeted by a welcome sight.

Mesprit, dropping down out of the clouds, something clutched in its paws. It hovered down to Dawn, descending in a wide circle around her, until it settled right at eye level. 

“Where’ve you been?” Dawn inquired, frowning. Mesprit’s only response was to offer what it held in its grasp - a flute, pale blue, with a blood-red extension at the top that appeared to be some kind of mouthpiece. Dawn took it in her hands, examining the item from all sides. There was a strange quality to it - despite appearing to be carved from stone, it felt impossibly light, almost as if she were holding nothing at all. On top of that, it seemed to vibrate in her hands, sending a tingling sensation throughout her entire body. 

Mesprit pointed at the red mouthpiece, watching Dawn with its wide yellow eyes. She looked from the flute to Mesprit, furrowing her brow as she tried to discern the message the Lake Guardian had for her.

“You…want me to play this?” Dawn asked. Mesprit nodded.

“But I don’t know how.”

Mesprit shook its head, pointing at the mouthpiece again. It seemed to be imploring her to just try, even though she had no idea what this was, or the purpose it served. But she trusted Mesprit, the Lake Guardian that had guided her throughout Sinnoh, that had yet to lead her astray, even in the darkest of times. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something about it all just felt right. 

She took a deep breath, brought the flute to her mouth, and blew.

The tone was clear as a bell, and all-encompassing. Barry and Cynthia immediately took notice, watching Dawn in a mixture of puzzlement and awe as she played via sheer instinct. The rhythm was complex and involved, a smooth mix of arpeggios, elaborate runs, and all kinds of off-beat melodies that weaved together like a quilt. The song she played lasted nearly a minute, and Dawn descended into a trance-like state as she engaged with the flute, losing herself to the music. She didn’t open her eyes again until the end, as if waking from a dream. 

“Dawn!” Cynthia shouted. “Where did you get that!? What did you do!?”

Dawn didn’t get the chance to respond, as Spear Pillar began to shake and rumble, nearly knocking her over. Overhead, a bright light washed out the afternoon sky, and from its center, grand staircase began to materialize out of thin air, crystalline and iridescent. It folded down step by step until touching down at Spear Pillar’s exact center, connecting Sinnoh to the heavens above. Dawn had never seen anything so beautiful. 

The clouds parted, and a being began to descend the steps, ringed by the light of the gods.

Four legs. Snow white. A golden ring around its torso. Piercing red eyes.

The Original One.

Arceus.

“Holy shit,” Barry blurted out. Cynthia dropped to her knees, speechless. Dawn kept a tight grasp on the flute, watching in utter disbelief as the god of all Pokémon touched down on Sinnoh for the first time in recorded history.

The staircase vanished at the end of Arceus’s descent, its job complete. The Original One cast its sweeping gaze across the three of them, settling on Dawn and Mesprit. Its head tilted slightly downward, it seemed to take notice of the flute in Dawn’s hands, and with slow, deliberate steps, made its way to her. 

Mesprit floated in front of her, bowing its head at its creator. Arceus acknowledged the gesture with a slight nod, before gesturing for Mesprit to step aside, stopping in front of Dawn and gazing down at her.

Dawn met the Pokémon’s gaze as best she could. Her knees felt weak - she trembled in her boots, unable to grasp what was happening. Arceus looked infinitely more majestic, unfathomably more intimidating, than she ever could have imagined. Its coat seemed to reflect colors Dawn had never seen before. Its stance was utterly regal, projecting a supreme aura. 

The God of All Pokémon, indeed.

“Dawn,” Cynthia shouted again, beginning to regain her bearings. “How - what did you do? Where did you get the Azure Flute? How did this happen?”

“I - I…” Dawn stuttered, shaking her head. “M - Mesprit gave it to me. Told me to just…play.”

“WHAT?” Cynthia exclaimed. “I - I don’t understand. The Azure Flute…they say that only those who are pure of heart and intention can even touch it, and those who play it can…can summon Arceus. And you…”

She shook her head, eyes still wide with shock. “You did it. We’re saved.”

Throughout this exchange, Arceus simply continued to observe Dawn. Following Cynthia’s declaration, however, it turned its attention to the center of Spear Pillar, where Giratina’s portal from the Distortion World had previously appeared. It took several deliberate steps in that direction, bowing down its head to examine the spot closely. Mesprit hovered behind it, flitting back and forth, restless.

Cynthia and Barry joined Dawn, Cynthia leaning in to examine the Azure Flute, while Barry watched Arceus work with his hands on his hips.

“What’s - what’s it doing?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. Cynthia shook her head, seemingly lost for words. Dawn, however, had a suspicion.

“I think…” she started. “I think it’s figuring out the right spot to break into the Distortion World.”

Almost as if on cue, Arceus raised one of its hooves and stomped downward, creating a large, ephemeral fissure in Spear Pillar at the point of contact. Dark, chaotic matter poured out of the wound, lapping at Arceus’s legs. The Original One did not react, standing its ground and observing the portal it made for a moment, before turning its gaze back to Dawn. They locked eyes, and though it didn’t say a word, Dawn felt as though she knew precisely what had to happen next.

“I have to go.”

She stepped forward, towards Arceus, towards the portal to the Distortion World. 

“Dawn, wait -” Barry said, reaching out to grab her arm, but she brushed him off.

“It’ll be alright, Barry,” she said. “Arceus…I can feel it. Calling to me. I don’t - I don’t really know why, but it’s just…a feeling. It needs me.”

Barry made to protest again, but he was stopped by Cynthia, who held out an arm to block him.

“The Distortion World is chaos manifested,” she said, her face solemn. “The legends say that, after Giratina was locked away, it began to twist the realm to its liking. Perhaps…perhaps Arceus needs an anchor, in this world and the Distortion World. But, Dawn, that doesn’t - that doesn’t have to be you. You don’t have to do this.”

Dawn had nothing to say to that. Words didn’t matter now. Instead, she continued to walk towards Arceus, a march that felt impossibly far, despite only being a few yards away. Arceus turned to face her, its calm gaze piercing through her, beckoning her to it. 

She didn’t understand any of it, really. She was operating on instinct - a primal feeling, one that she’d never felt before, but trusted implicitly. She hadn’t wanted any of this to happen, no, but now that it was, it was beginning to feel like fate. 

“Dawn!”

She stood on the precipice of the portal now. Arceus used its hoof to expand its border, stretching the portal so that both it and Dawn could fit through with ease. She looked back to Barry, who had called out to her, ready to tell him off, expecting him to try and talk her out of it. Instead, however, when she looked to him, he seemed resigned to what was happening, and he only had one thing to say.

“Just…come back in one piece, Dawn. Please.”

Dawn gave him a smile a thumbs-up in return, adjusting her hat. 

“See you soon.”

She placed a hand on the ring around Arceus’s torso, gripping it tightly. A wave of calm washed over her.

They stepped forward together, and Dawn and Arceus descended into hell.

Chapter Text

She was falling.

How far - she couldn’t tell. How long - that was out of her reach, too.

Dawn lost all sense of self the moment she stepped into the Distortion World - fell in, more like. She’d stepped through the portal and immediately toppled forward into a cacophony of sound and color. None of it made any sense - she had no idea which way was up, down, left, right. She wasn’t even sure if she was alive or dead. The portal could have killed her the moment she stepped through, and Dawn wasn’t sure she’d ever really know. 

Ahead of her, a pinprick of light broke through the whirlwind of shadow, and she fixated on it, her salvation, her ticket out of whatever hell she’d been thrust into. The light grew, morphing outwards, until it took on a silhouette that brought Dawn great relief - Arceus, floating towards her in the abyss.

Reach out, Dawn.

The voice reverberated in her head, sourceless. It wasn’t one she recognized, anything she’d heard before, but she heeded its direction, and stuck out her hand towards Arceus. They grew closer and closer, Dawn reaching out with all her might, until her fingertips brushed against its golden ring. The contact sent a jolt of energy through her, whiting out her vision.

The next thing Dawn knew, her feet were firmly planted on the ground. The world was no longer spinning. She was alive, apparently, though she didn’t have the first idea how she’d survived. By the grace of Arceus, she supposed. She dropped to her knees and vomited.

Her savior, meanwhile, stood nearby, solemnly gazing ahead. Dawn wound herself up to complain over the lack of advance notice that the portal would disorient her so much, but the thought was lost when she took in her new surroundings.

Time and space were broken. Slabs of land floated aimlessly in the void around them, with no sense of up or down. Waterfalls flowed backwards into nothing. Strange, alien plants twisted and turned, rapidly cycling between their sapling forms and disintegrating into dust. There wasn’t a single living creature in sight. 

The Distortion World was chaos distilled. The rules of the Pokémon world mattered not, here. This was Giratina’s domain, plain and simple, and she had to play by its rules - if there were any.

“What the hell…” she breathed, shaking her head. “What - what is all this?”

She looked to Arceus again for guidance. The Original One, to Dawn’s concern, seemed less confident now than it had when it beckoned her to join it in its journey to the Distortion World. It pawed at the ground below, observing as the dirt turned to coal, then turned its head upwards. Dawn could feel her stomach drop. If the god of all Pokémon, the supposed originator of this realm, seemed lost, what hope did they have to find Giratina and put a stop to its madness?

“Piih!”

The cry came from below - or, at least, Dawn suspected it had, but couldn’t be sure, given the havoc the Distortion World wreaked on her senses. Nonetheless, it was a familiar sound, one she was certain she’d heard before. 

Is it…?

The answer came quickly - Mesprit, floating up from below the shaky platform Dawn and Arceus resided on. It looked haggard, seemingly having dove into Arceus’s portal after them, without forethought or preparation. Dawn could sympathize with the Lake Guardian’s plight - she was already feeling nauseous again, despite emptying her stomach just moments earlier. But Mesprit, upon reaching them, showed an unexpected amount of resolve and determination, frantically floating around Arceus, pointing and jabbering on to the Original One. Dawn couldn’t make heads or tails of whatever it was saying, but Arceus appeared to be listening intently. 

“Mesprit, what’s going on?” she asked. “Do you - do you know how to navigate this place?”

Its siblings are here.

That voice again, echoing in her skull, rattling her brain. She wasn’t sure before, but she was certain now - Arceus was reaching out to her. It had done so earlier, when she was lost in the chaos of the portal, too, grounding her, giving her an anchor to hold onto here, the same way she apparently served as Arceus’s anchor in their world.

Uxie and Azelf had been taken by Giratina when it first arrived, before it absorbed Dialga and Palkia. At the time, Dawn had feared the worst for them - but now, it seemed that those two, at least, had simply been brought to the Distortion World, and their energy would allow Mesprit to guide her and Arceus, presumably, to where Giratina laid in wait.

Mesprit, having conveyed its message, turned and soared off into the distance, imploring for Arceus and Dawn to follow. Between them, however, was little in the way of a path - nothing but a bunch of free-floating rock formations, several of them appearing to be spinning, preventing Dawn from even thinking of attempting to leap to them. 

Arceus stared out at Mesprit, then down at the void beneath them, just off the edge of the platform on which they stood. Like before, it seemed…hesitant. Unsure. Given that Arceus had not touched down upon the world it created at any point in recorded history, Dawn suspected that it must have lost the touch it once had for the realms it built. Perhaps all it needed was a bit of a push, a reminder of who it was.

“Hey…” she said, glancing up at Arceus. “You…you created this world, didn’t you? That means you have the power to shape it. You need to exert that control, or else we’ll never be able to make it to Giratina.”

Arceus gazed down at Dawn for a moment, its piercing red eyes feeling as though they were burning a hole in her chest. Part of her was screaming in her head for speaking so aggressively with the Original One, but her raw fear and desire to get out of this place as fast as she could manage was overpowering her reverence for Arceus.

“You can do this,” she implored. “You’re the god of our world, and this one, too. Giratina…it’s just one of your children, right? It can’t stand up to you, and even if this world was granted to it, it’s ultimately not the master of this domain. You are.”

Arceus let out a low growl, but something in Dawn’s words seemed to resonate with it. It walked slowly, deliberately, to the edge of the platform they were situated on, casting its glare down into the abyss below, the swirling mass of chaos converging on them from all sides. Its eyes closed, and it seemed to take a breath, gathering itself, before reaching out with one hoof and stepping off the platform.

Dawn, despite herself, braced for a fall. But Arceus stayed stable, and when she looked down, she realized why - a new platform had grown out of thin air underneath Arceus’s hoof, supporting the Original One. When it took another, more confident step forward, more dirt coalesced to support it, until Arceus had walked entirely off the platform, generating its own base out of the primal energy of the Distortion World. 

“Whoa…” Dawn breathed, watching with awe as Arceus bent the Distortion World to its will. When it was certain of its stability, the Original One turned its head to look back at Dawn, passing on a simple message.

Follow me.

Dawn struggled to hide her apprehension, but obliged, taking a nervous, uncertain step onto the improvised path Arceus had created. She held her breath the whole way, still half expecting to plummet downwards into the abyss. To her relief, however, it held, and upon seeing that she was stable, Arceus forged the path forward, striding with confidence towards Mesprit, who began to lead the pair deeper into the Distortion World. 

Chaos continued to dominate the environment as Arceus and Dawn followed Mesprit’s lead, navigating around the world’s myriad obstacles - the chunks of land, the waterfalls, the swirling dark matter all around them. Arceus had put up a shield, extending it just far out enough to cover Dawn if she stuck right behind it. The prospect of hovering so close to the Original One intimidated her, but she was far more nervous about the prospect of being lost to the void. 

Ahead of them, Mesprit pressed forward with unusual determination. Dawn had become used to the Lake Guardian’s flighty nature, typically erratic and excitable to a fault. Here, however, Mesprit seemed utterly single-minded, trudging forward through the Distortion World without even looking back to either Dawn or Arceus. She couldn’t imagine what it was feeling, not knowing whether or not it could save its brethren. She had to further spare herself the worries of what it would mean for Sinnoh if the Lake Guardians couldn’t be recovered.

The more they traversed, however, the more Dawn began to feel that the Distortion World, for all its lack of order, did have some semblance of rules. Each parcel of land, for instance, appeared to have its own center of gravity - whenever they reached one of them, she and Arceus had to re-orient themselves to ensure they were on the correct plane of gravity before proceeding with one of Arceus’s land bridges. The constant change in direction and orientation dizzied her, but Dawn pushed herself to stay focused, keeping close to Arceus. 

More immediately concerning was the feeling that the Distortion World was constricting on them the further they traversed into it. She was beginning to hear faint howls from the depths, growing in frequency and volume the deeper they went. Mesprit and Arceus both seemed unfazed by the noise, which Dawn supposed was to be expected - they were searching for Giratina, after all. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that they were walking into a trap, or, at least, were setting themselves up to be at a substantial disadvantage going in. This, after all, was Giratina’s home turf.

Up ahead, the floating land thinned out, leaving nothing but the void. Dawn could feel beads of nervous sweat rolling down her forehead, and she clenched her jaw, reaching out to grasp the ring circling Arceus’s torso for support.

“Hey, is this - is this the right way?” Dawn called out to Mesprit, her hands shaking. “There’s - there’s nothing here.”

As if in response to Dawn’s inquiry, Mesprit came to a halt, holding out an arm to stop Arceus as well. Whatever it saw, the Original One also seemed to take notice, lowering its head a little and dropping into a more aggressive stance. Dawn, for her part, could see nothing but blackness at first. Out of the darkness, however, a shape began to take form, one that rocked her to her core.

It was Cyrus - or, at least, Cyrus’s body. His eyes were jet black, as if his eye sockets were empty.  His head hung limp, tilted unnaturally to the side, arms dangling lifelessly. A steady stream of dark matter emanated from the hole in his chest that Giratina had made when it abducted him. The sight was horrific, even considering that Cyrus had been Sinnoh’s public enemy number one. No one was deserving of a fate like this.

“So you’ve come to rebuke me.”

Dawn’s eyes widened. The voice - it sounded like him, and seemed to emanate from Cyrus’s slack jaw, but the way it rumbled around them, the sinister, matter-of-fact way it addressed them…Dawn couldn’t help but feel that this was not Cyrus speaking to them.

“Don’t you have anything to say, O Creator?”

Giratina. Using Cyrus like a puppet to address its father. The sight was simply ghastly.

Arceus, for its part, merely glared ahead at the man that hovered in front of them, offering no response, barely even an acknowledgment of Giratina’s declaration. 

“Hmph.” Cyrus’s head lolled to the other side. “Of course you don’t. You put me here, told me to rule over a world full of nothing. A world that doesn’t make sense. And then, when I dared to aspire to something more, you pushed me further into the cellar and slammed the door shut. And here I was, biding my time, when all of a sudden, I feel the door start to crack open. This one…this little human seemed to think he could rise above his station, did he not? Tried to grasp time and space in his fists, bend them to his will. But he didn’t know what lurked on the other side, did he? Looks like he found out, doesn’t it?”

Dawn could feel herself quaking, but stood her ground. She shifted around to Arceus’s side, keeping a tight grip on its ring, standing on the very edge of the platform it had generated for them. 

“Where are you, then?” she said, staring down the repurposed corpse of Cyrus. “Why are you hiding from us? Don’t you have the power of Dialga and Palkia now? How about you come out and face us?”

She forced a smirk, even as the fear threatened to make her vomit again.

“Scared of daddy?”

Cyrus’s eyebrow twitched.

“You’d best know your place, human. You’re standing among gods. Why are you even here, anyway? Is it, perhaps…”

The corner of Cyrus’s mouth curved ever so slightly upward. “Perhaps you need this one, hm, O Creator? Pathetic. You’ve been gone from these two worlds for so long that you don’t even know how to exist here. And you really think you can put me in my place?”

Cyrus’s head fell backwards. Mouth agape, dark matter began to pour from his eyes and mouth, coalescing above his head into a black cloud, swirling and pulsating, until it coalesced into a form Dawn thought she would only ever see in nightmares.

Gigantic, black spiked wings. A grey, serpentine body, with spiked protrusions all along the sides. A golden crown-like headpiece. Piercing, glowing red eyes.

The Fallen One, Giratina, fully formed.

Below it, Cyrus began to descend back into the void. Before he disappeared, however, Giratina had one more message to convey through him.

“This is the end.”

Chapter Text

Watching Giratina and Arceus clash was like watching heaven and earth collide. 

Dawn was thrown backwards, into Mesprit’s protection, the moment Giratina made its proclamation. Sequestered onto her own platform, with Mesprit hovering in front of her, all she could do was watch as the Original One took on the combined might of its three children, under the domain of its most unruly spawn.

Each attack resulted in a kaleidoscope of sound and color. Arceus fired off bursts of every element, seemingly tied to a series of Plates that Arceus had manifested, seventeen in all - one for each type, from what she could tell, excluding the Normal type. The Plates, furthermore, seemed to have a physical effect on Arceus - every time its attacks shifted to a different element, the color of its body changed to match, cycling between them at a rapid pace.

The nature of the attacks left Dawn completely baffled. Even Legendary Pokémon used moves that were identifiable to seasoned Trainers - the god above all, however, did no such thing. Instead, it simply wielded raw energy, and mounted an oppressive offense with it. 

Giratina, for its part, stood remarkably firm in the face of the pressure the Original One forced on it. The Distortion World, it seemed, had truly become its home, and it had molded itself to the realm as much as it had molded the realm in its own image. Giratina frequently vanished into thin air, appearing behind Arceus and lashing out with a vicious Dragonbreath, or an Aura Sphere, or a mysterious attack that, early on, never seemed to miss. For all Arceus’s power, the playing field was leveled by Giratina’s mastery of the Distortion World, and the fight was far closer than Dawn imagined it should have been.

Arceus managed to land several key blows as the clash wore on, particularly with Dark-type torrents of energy. Dawn knew nothing about Giratina - its move set, its types, whether it even had types, or if it had become closer to Arceus, a Pokémon that had cast off the bonds of humanity’s understanding of Pokémon biology. The more she watched, the more she began to understand about the mysterious third dragon of Sinnoh lore - most importantly, that it was at least partially Ghost-type.

Arceus had taken several severe hits early in the fight, but the balance began to shift in its favor. It continued its aggressive usage of the Plates when on offense, but as it began to time up Giratina’s counterattacks more and more, it would occasionally completely disperse the Plates and return to its natural typing, negating the Ghost-type moves that Giratina had begun relying on more and more. The Original One, it seemed, had identified patterns in its child’s attacks, and was now countering it comprehensively, taking control of the battle.

The longer the battle waged on, the more effective Arceus’s strategy became, as Giratina was beginning to slow down, taking hit after hit from the Original One’s relentless onslaught. Dawn watched with apprehension as Arceus advanced upon its child, a wave of Dark energy radiating from it, washing over Giratina and causing it to cry out in agony.

You have attempted to defy my will for every second of your existence.

Arceus’s booming voice felt like a siren going off in Dawn’s head. Based on Giratina’s reaction, it seemed that the Original One was projecting itself throughout the entire Distortion World, to ensure that its message was heard loud and clear. Cynthia and Barry could probably hear it on Mt. Coronet, it was so all-encompassing. 

You encroach upon a world in which you are no longer welcome, you take your brethren for yourself, you turn your gifts upon the god that bestowed them upon you.

They were just feet from each other now. Arceus had created a giant platform for it to manuever on, and with each step, its hooves cracked and gouged at the ground it stood on. Giratina was pinned down in front of it, completely overwhelmed by Arceus’s power. It was barely even able to lift its head to meet Arceus’s gaze, but when it did, it had a defiant look in its eyes, one that caused Arceus’s gaze to sharpen.

I see you have no desire to repent. Very well, then. It is time for you to face Judgment.

Arceus reared back on its hind legs, letting out a primal, ethereal roar that rattled the entire Distortion World. The horn on the back of its head began to glow, casting a bright white light all across the realm. Dawn shielded her eyes, but she found herself unable to turn away from the spectacle, watching as Arceus began to descend…

“There will be no judgement from you today.”

The waves of Dark energy dissipated. Giratina slithered backward, freed from Arceus’s grasp, rising up to its full height. Arceus’s movements had slowed considerably, and the Judgment it had been preparing vanished as well. 

“What…?” Dawn gasped. She’d heard Cyrus’s voice ringing out again, but he was nowhere to be seen. What caught her eye further, however, was Arceus, encased in a faint blue glow. A familiar shade…

“You took too long, O Creator,” Cyrus’s voice announced. “It was a struggle, assimilating my brethren. Your precious favored children. But, in the end, I managed to survive your attempts to punish me, and now, I have command over time and sapce. Nothing can stop me.”

Arceus glared at Giratina, but it was still trapped in the time vortex that Giratina had cast around it, substantially slowing its movements and reaction time. Giratina further demonstrated its new abilities by opening a pink-tinged portal in front of it, the portal’s counterpart appearing over Arceus’s back. It fired a Dragonbreath through the portal, scorching Arceus with the flames, completely defenseless in the face of the attack. The time vortex wore off, and Arceus collapsed to its knees, bowing its head, worn down by the sudden reversal of fortunes between them.

“Here, Creator, perhaps this will soften the blow. You may have your other children back. I have no use for them now.”

Two shadowy portals appeared on either side of Giratina, and out of them tumbled Uxie and Azelf, still unconscious. Mesprit, having hung back with Dawn for the duration of the fight, immediately raced forward to rescue them, but instead ran roughly into one of Giratina’s outstretched wings, batted away like a fly that had snuck into the dragon’s home, landing roughly in front of Dawn with a pained squeak.

Giratina floated upwards, leering down at the Original One, its entire body crackling with the combined power of time, space, and antimatter. Arceus met its gaze defiantly as it pushed itself up to a shaky standing position, elemental energy swirling in front of it. 

“How noble,” Giratina sneered. “A fighter to the end. I hope that comes as comfort to you.”

Arceus responded with a blast of Ice, which Giratina dodged by speeding itself up, zipping from side to side as it closed in on its creator. Rather than launch a formal attack, however, this time it was content to simply slam itself into Arceus’s side, knocking the Original One over and nearly sending it tumbling into the abyss below them. Giratina opened a portal to return to its previous distance, floating high above them as it readied an Aura Sphere.

“Disappear.”

With a wave of its wings, Giratina launched the Aura Sphere, headed squarely for Arceus’s head. The Original One was just barely able to release a counterattack, a ragged Ghost-type beam that collided with the Sphere and held it at bay, though only barely. Arceus had to keep the beam up constantly to counter the Sphere’s inertia, and Giratina retaliated by firing a second one, severely cutting into Arceus’s resistance - with every passing second, the combined Spheres cut through more and more of its defense.

Dawn.

Having been captivated by the display in front of her, Dawn was taken aback by Arceus’s sudden address of her. It still appeared fully focused on the battle at hand, and yet, for a moment, it felt as though she and Arceus were the only ones in the area.

Revive the Guardians. 

In tandem with this command, Arceus reached out with Psychic energy to the two fallen Lake Guardians, pulling Uxie and Azelf away from Giratina and over to Dawn. The act of retrieving them, however, split Arceus’s energy, and caused its defense against the Aura Sphere assault to falter. Its beam dissipated, and the Spheres made contact, throwing Arceus backwards, skidding across the platform, throwing dirt and blood into the air. 

Dawn forced herself to look away from Arceus, now nearly unable to even stand. Part of its ring had broken, and one of its horns had been slashed down to nearly nothing. She instead looked down to the three Lake Guardians in front of her. Mesprit seemed conscious, but groaned with pain every few seconds, while Uxie and Azelf remained completely out of it.

She rummaged through her bag, desperately looking for any items she could use to heal them. Her Revives were all gone, and it seemed that she had no Berries or Potions on hand, either. How had she come so unprepared? There had to be some other way…

Looking over the Poké Balls she had with her, containing the team that had carried her through Sinnoh, her eyes landed on one in particular - a Heal Ball, containing Blissey. Dawn furrowed her brow. Perhaps…was it possible? She didn’t know, but she had to try. The fate of Sinnoh - of the Pokémon world - rested on her shoulders, and she couldn’t collapse under the weight.

On the battlefield, Giratina had descended down to approach Arceus once more, black tendrils of antimatter emanating from it, intending to finish off the Original One. As it floated forward, however, it stopped, letting out a groan. Encased in a blue aura, Giratina began to spasm, its movements rapidly fluctuating between speeding up and slowing down. Despite absorbing its brethren, it seemed that Giratina had yet to gain full control over its new abilities, and it struggled to fight through the sudden loss of control, dropping roughly to the ground with a boom.

Dawn released Blissey, who appeared out of her Ball in a beam of light, glancing around cluelessly when she came out, seemingly trying to get a handle on the situation she had just been called into. 

“Hey, hey, Bliss, listen to me,” Dawn said, placing a hand on Blissey’s head. “This is going to be really hard, but - but I need you to do something for me, okay?”

Still oblivious, Blissey nodded. Dawn pointed to Uxie and Azelf.

“I need you to use Soft-Boiled to wake these two up, okay?” she instructed. “I know - I know that’s not normally something you can do, and it might take everything you have, but we really, really need them to wake up. Can you do that for me, Bliss?”

Blissey looked from Dawn to her two charges, her simple smile fading. Waddling over to Uxie, she pressed her hands to its head and chest, as if assessing its condition. She then reached down and grasped the egg in her pouch, closing her eyes. The egg began to glow, and Blissey began to sweat as she poured more energy into the egg, letting out a sigh when she was done. She then lifted the egg out of her pouch, opened Uxie’s mouth, and, to Dawn’s chagrin, roughly shoved the egg in.

“Bliss…” Dawn groaned, but Blissey moved on to Azelf, repeating the process, though with significantly greater effort this time. As she created a new egg, Dawn watched as Uxie, remarkably, began to stir, trying not to think about the mechanics of Blissey’s super-charged Soft-Boiled. 

Once she’d fed Azelf, Blissey fell backwards onto her rear, exhausted. Dawn scooted over to Blissey and stroked the top of her head, watching as Azelf’s eyes opened.

“You did great, girl,” she affirmed, recalling Blissey. “Get some rest.”

Revived, the Lake Guardians gathered together, as Mesprit appeared to convey to the other two what had happened while they were out. It pointed to Arceus, catching the Original One’s eye. However, they also drew the attention of Giratina, who had recovered from its momentary spasm, glaring at the trio and Dawn.

“So you three are back in action,” it growled. “Let’s change that.”

No.

Having reared up to fire a Shadow Ball at the trio, Giratina instead turned back to Arceus, who had returned to its feet.

Do not turn your back on me, child. I am not finished with your discipline.

Giratina let out a terrible sound, one that filled Dawn with dread. It took several moments for her to realize that it was, in fact, a laugh. A cackle. 

“Discipline, is it, O Creator?” the dragon called out. “Who is disciplining whom here? You stand in front of me, weak at the knees, battered and bruised. Meanwhile, I command space, time, and antimatter. We are in my realm, and this is my discipline, O Creator. Just you wait and see.”

Arceus did not respond. Instead, it glanced over to Mesprit, as if conveying a message. Mesprit’s eyes widened, but it nodded, and it directed Uxie and Azelf accordingly. The trio flew upwards, away from Dawn, high above Giratina and Arceus, almost out of sight. In response, Giratina let out another terrible bark of laughter. 

“I see the Guardians have had enough,” it taunted. “Who can blame them, watching their beloved master fall in battle like this? No matter. They would not want to see this, anyway.”

Giratina reared back, but before it could attack, Arceus responded with a burst of raw energy, seemingly haphazard, arcing towards Giratina. The dragon dodged it with little effort, dipping into a pink portal and emerging from one to its right, shaking its head. “Pathetic.”

Dawn, however, watched as the energy Arceus unleashed arced upwards into the abyss, connecting directly to Mesprit, who had maneuvered itself into position to take the hit. It glowed and pulsated with white light, sticking out its paws. Energy seeped out of it to connect to Uxie and Azelf, forming a triangle in the sky. On each of the Lake Guardians’ chests, the glimmering red jewel emitted a red light, taking over the triangle of energy and solidifying it into a deep red Chain.

Giratina took no notice of the developments overhead. It had grown a pink horn of energy, stalking towards Arceus and preparing to deal the final blow using Spacial Rend. Arceus kept its focus on Giratina, dropping down to its knees once more, panting.

“This is the end, O Creator,” Giratina declared. “You have held me down, oppressed me, imprisoned me, for too long. No more. You do not control me. You do not own me. And you will not lock me away in this realm for a second longer. The world is mine to conquer, and there is nothing you can do to stop it.”

Spreading its wings, Giratina rose to its full height, as the horn on its head glowed.

“Take solace in not having to witness it.”

Giratina reared its head back. As it began its swing, however, the Lake Guardians descended, spinning around Giratina, the Red Chain between them buckling inwards to capture the dragon. The Chain glowed and hissed as it made contact, searing Giratina, sending arcs of antimatter outwards as the dragon struggled against its sudden bonds.

“NO!” it roared, as Spacial Rend dissipated, bound as Giratina was by the Red Chain. The Lake Guardians dragged it to the ground, pinning it down with the Chains, wrapping up its wings against its body, holding firm against Giratina’s resistance.

Arceus stepped forward, head bowed, regarding its creation with the same disdain Giratina had directed at it prior. 

“How?” Giratina growled. “How can these rats subdue me? They could not even handle Dialga and Palkia together! How can they handle ME?”

It is not only their power.

Arceus craned its neck down to Giratina’s level, ensuring that the dragon looked it in in the eyes.

This is MY power.

Dawn’s eyes widened. Arceus’s last attack hadn’t been an attack at all - it had been a boost to the Lake Guardians, to ensure that they could subdue Giratina. Everything had been part of the Original One’s plan, and Giratina had played right into its hands.

“You will never get me to bow to you, O Creator,” Giratina spat. “Never. You can lock me up here for eternity, and I will never give in. I will find a way out of here. I will master Dialga and Palkia’s power, I will use my own power, I will give everything I have to destroy you. I will never stop. NEVER.”

Arceus closed its eyes, shaking its head slightly.

I am aware.

It stepped back, creating some distance between it and Giratina. The Lake Guardians pulled back as well, tightening the Red Chain around Giratina as they did so. 

That is why I must render my Judgment. 

Giratina stared up at its creator, a curious look crossing its face, something akin to…fear.

Goodbye, child.

Arceus reared up on its hind legs. Its horn glowed bright white, extending far into the air, taking on the shape of a blade. The Original One let out a world-rending screech, closed its eyes, and brought Judgment down upon its last remaining child.

A blinding flash of light washed out the entire Distortion World, and Dawn was knocked backwards, her senses completely blown out by the sensation. When the light faded, and Dawn’s sight returned, she saw Arceus standing unsteadily in front of where Giratina had previously been. The Red Chain had shattered once more, and all that remained of the antimatter dragon was a gash in the ground.

Arceus’s gaze was unfocused, wobbling from side to side. With one hoof, the Original One tore open a portal out of the Distortion World, and promptly fainted, toppling over onto its side.

Uxie and Azelf gathered the Original One, while Mesprit floated over to Dawn, lifting her with Psychic energy and carrying her over to where the other Lake Guardians and Arceus gathered. She had no words, no energy, nothing. All she could do was follow the Lake Guardians through the portal, and return home, leaving hell behind for good.

+++

Dawn awoke in her room to a quiet, frantic knocking on her door.

It had been three weeks since the Spear Pillar Incident, as Cynthia insisted on referring to it. Upon emerging from the portal, Barry and Cynthia - alongside several other high-ranking Sinnoh trainers who had gathered at the summit of Mt. Coronet - immediately accosted her, raining questions down on her about what had happened in the Distortion World. Arceus, meanwhile, had immediately been carried off by the Lake Guardians, and no one had seen any of them since.

She’d endured the debriefing - and several others, at the Pokémon Center, at the Pokémon League headquarters, at her own home - without much fuss or pushback, primarily because she couldn’t muster up the energy to protest. She’d barely been able to muster up the energy for anything in the wake of the ordeal. Resuming her Pokémon League challenge mostly out of obligation, Dawn had sleepwalked through the Elite Four challenge the previous day, conquered Cynthia without much trouble, and promptly set her Champion trophy on a shelf at home, retreating to the comforting confines of her bed. Nothing felt like it mattered all that much.

Cyrus never returned from the Distortion World. Dawn suspected that he had been lost the moment Giratina dragged him in. Team Galactic reportedly fell into Saturn’s hands, but for all intents and purposes had disbanded. One of the other Admins, Charon, attempted to blackmail Sinnoh residents under the guise of forcing Stark Mountain to erupt. His plot, however, had been foiled by Barry and a strange detective he’d befriended, as documented in dozens of text messages and photos he’d sent to Dawn, to which she could not muster a response.

Profesor Rowan had mused to her about the impact of losing Dialga and Palkia, the fabled Protectors of Sinnoh since time immemorial. Despite her horror in the moment, however, she found herself paying little mind to the thought, even as reports began to surface that the region’s lesser Legendary Pokémon were becoming more aggressive, more restless. She simply no longer had it in her to care.

And so fate found Dawn once more, tucked into her bed, within her fortress of solitude, desperate to put the trauma of the Spear Pillar Incident behind her. 

“Dawn, honey? Are you awake?”

She responded with a groan as her mother opened the door and stepped inside. Cracking one eye open and peeking at the intruder, she immediately felt wide awake as she saw the look of unease on her mother’s face.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

Her mother gulped.

“You have, uh, a visitor. Please hurry.”

Alarmed by the vague declaration, Dawn hopped out of bed, wrapping herself in her winter jacket to cover up a little as she followed her mother downstairs. She could here a commotion outside, and it made her worry. If this was some idiot trying to get her to talk about Spear Pillar again…

All of her annoyance, however, fell away the moment her mother opened the front door to reveal her visitor.

White and gold. Ten feet tall. Piercing red eyes. An angelic glow all around it.

Dawn.

Arceus.