Chapter Text
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Laventon asked. It was only fitting that Akari's journey ended with him and Rei. After all, they were the ones who supported her the most throughout her journey. There they stood at the foot of the Temple of Sinnoh. When Akari finished filling out her pokedex, she received a summons from her Arc Phone. “We don’t know what the Almighty Sinnoh wants. You may never be able to come back.”
“I know,” Akari nodded to the tall man. “I can’t ignore the Almighty Sinnoh even if I wanted to. There’s no telling what they would do.”
“I guess you’re right,” Laventon shook his head. “Just be careful, okay?”
“Sure, pops,” Akari hugged the professor, who started to tear up.
“You… you called me pops,” Laventon’s voice was barely above a whisper. When Akari pulled away, she turned to Rei and held her hand out.
“I guess you earned it,” Rei rolled his eyes and handed Akari a small stack of bills.
“Thank you,” Akari pulled Rei into a hug. “I’ll see you in a bit, okay?”
“Yeah. See you in a bit,” Rei pulled away and smiled at Akari. As Akari turned to enter the temple, Laventon turned to Rei.
“What was the money for?” Laventon asked.
“I thought Akari was too chicken to call you pops,” Rei snickered.
“Oh, you little shit!” Laventon shouted. Akari couldn’t help but laugh as she made her way into the temple.
Standing before her was a completely alien figure. A white and gold being with four long legs and a ring around its torso. Akari had never seen this creature before, yet… yet it felt familiar.
“Akari,” A voice ran throughout the corners of Akari’s mind. That voice… she recognized that voice. It was the voice that had spoken to her before she awoke on the beach that fateful day.
“Almighty Sinnoh,” Akari dropped to one knee and dipped her head towards the figure.
“Rise, young one,” The Almighty Sinnoh spoke once more. “I am known as Arceus. I am the one who brought you here. You have done well, Champion.”
“Thank you, Lord Arceus,” Akari rose to look the god in the eye. Even if she was respectful, she wasn’t intimidated. She has faced gods down before. Her nerves had been steeled by the many dangers she had faced.
“You have completed my request with efficiency and zeal. I wish to reward you,” Arceus raised its head ever so slightly. “I wish to give you a better life. You have earned it.”
“A better life?” Akari echoed. “What do you mean, Lord Arceus?”
“A world where your life is no longer in danger,” Arceus replied, its tone unchanging. “A world where people and Pokemon prosper together. A world where you can thrive.”
“I thank you, Lord Arceus,” Akari bowed. Thoughts swirled through her head. What was it going to do? Was it going to do something to Hisui? Or was it going to do something to Akari? She was nervous, but she knew she could do nothing to stop it. This god… it was much more dangerous than the likes of Dialga or even Giratina. She could feel it simply from the presence that Arceus was exuding.
“I shall bid you farewell, Akari,” Arceus started to glow. The light grew brighter and brighter until Akari had to shield her eyes. “We shall meet again.”
Akari’s world went white.
Being a Pokemon Champion wasn’t as glamorous as one might think. Although Cynthia was feared and respected for her talents in battling, she didn’t spend most of her time on the field. She preferred staying in her office doing what she loved, researching history. Cynthia loved to battle, but whenever she got a challenger, it didn’t feel genuine to her. She felt like she was just doing a job. The battles she had with the Elite Four and Gym Leaders were much more pleasant than a vast majority of her challengers.
“Cynthia,” The young woman looked up to see her Lucario, Ryder, walked through the door and took a spot beside her.
“Ryder, I’m a little busy right now,” Cynthia mumbled, burying her face back into the Husui textbook she was looking at. Ever since finding some old Hisuian artifacts during her last trip to Mt. Cornet, she had found herself obsessing over the time period… again.
“There’s an unconscious girl laying by the waterfall,” Ryder’s statement hit Cynthia like a ton of bricks. If someone had made it past Victory Road, she would have known. They needed time to prepare the Elite Four challenge, after all.
“You really need to stop doing that,” Cynthia said as she threw her jacket over her shoulders.
“Doing what?”
“Being blunt like that!” Cynthia threw her hands up as she made her way out of the office. “You’re going to give me a heart attack one day.”
“I do not see how my words will cause your heart to stop,” Ryder replied stoically.
“This Lucario is going to be the death of me,” Cynthia muttered under her breath as she started to make her way out of the Pokemon League building.
The first thing Akari heard when she woke up was the soothing sound of a waterfall. The young girl opened her eyes and sat up. The sound of the waterfall would have been very relaxing if Akari knew where she was. The second Akari realized the issue, she jumped up and started to check her person. SIx pokeballs were latched onto her belt and her bag was tucked safely at her side.
She then turned around to scan her surroundings. Her jaw dropped when she saw the gigantic castle before her. She had never seen architecture like this in her life. It was made with stone and red bricks and had several spires piercing the sky. An ornate glass window shaped like a pokeball stood several meters above Akari. Words could not begin to describe how majestic it was.
As Akari looked down to gaze upon the gigantic entryway, she saw a person running towards her. As she got closer, Akari saw…
“ You, ” Akari’s voice started to shake. Was Volo the cause of this? Did they take her away? She clenched her fists as the person approached.
“Excuse me, but do you—” The woman was cut off when Akari’s fist collided with the person’s face. The person in question stumbled backwards.
“Get away from me!” Akari shouted as she grabbed a pokeball from her belt. Her adrenaline shot up. Volo had vanished after losing to Akari, only showing up once to talk to Laventon. Laventon said that Volo had changed their ways, but Akari never believed him. They stabbed her in the back. She would never forgive them. “Empoleon!”
Akari’s trusted Pokemon appeared before her, letting out a powerful battle cry. Empoleon turned to look at his trainer. He obviously saw Akari’s distress because his gaze hardened.
“Oh, you want to play it that way, huh?” The person grabbed an odd pokeball from her belt. Akari noted that they didn’t sound like Volo. They sounded like a woman. “Belladonna!”
The person (woman?) threw the pokeball and a Roserade came out of the ball. Akari tightened her grip on Empoleon’s pokeball. That Roserade… it looked just like Volo’s… and it felt just as dangerous.
“Empoleon! Agile Drill Peck!” Akari shouted. She felt her voice crack, but she was too afraid to be embarrassed. Blue power swirled around Empoleon as he started to spin. He then dashed towards the Roserade. He looked like a spiraling meteor as he collided with his opponent, sending it flying.
“Belladonna!” The person shouted as the Pokemon flew several meters backwards.
“Follow it up with Aerial Ace!” Akari commanded. The Empoleon nodded before dashing at the Roserade, who was struggling to get up.
“Energy Ball!” The person called out in kind. The Roserade started to charge an attack as Empoleon approached at rapid speeds. When Empoleon was barely a meter away from his enemy, the Roserade launched the attack, causing an explosion.
“Empoleon!” Akari felt tears well up in her eyes. Her whole body was shaking. She looked at Empoleon’s pokeball. She didn’t know how ruthless Volo was. Would they continue to attack him? She looked up to see Empoleon getting to his feet, scratches all over his body.
I can’t make him go on… Akari held out her pokeball and returned the bird Pokemon. She squeezed her eyes shut and muttered an apology as she touched the pokeball with her forehead.
“Hey, are you alright?” The young woman’s eyes flew open as she heard the person speak. “We can stop if you want.”
“What do you care?!” Hearing that only made Akari angrier. Volo didn’t care for her. They were supposed to be her friend. She grabbed another pokeball. Time to end this. “Typhlosion!”
When Typhlosion appeared before Akari, her expression was one of pure rage. The Typhlosion had felt Akari’s emotions throughout the battle and responded in kind. Purple flames blazed from Typhlosion’s neck as she stood in front of her trainer protectively.
“Is that…” The person’s eyes seemed to widen with shock. “Is that a Husuian variant?!”
Akari could only stare in anxiety-fueled confusion as stars appeared in the person’s eyes. They ran up to the Typhlosion, who was too shocked to attack. The person started to look at every nook and cranny of the Typhlosion while shouting out in excitement.
“I thought these guys went extinct three hundred years ago!” They exclaimed. Akari’s ears perked at that.
Three hundred years… It didn’t take her long to piece everything together. Arceus had sent her at least three hundred years in the future. But what about Rei…? Irida…? Adaman…? Pops…?
The implications hit her quickly. Her shaking knees gave out as she started to cry.
The sound of crying snapped Cynthia from her stupor. There were more important things she needed to take care of before nerding out. As she took a step towards the crying girl, the Typhlosion whirled around, fire spewing from its neck.
“I’m not going to hurt her,” Cynthia’s voice was barely above a whisper as she addressed the Typhlosion. “She’s distressed and she needs help.”
The Typhlosion glared for a couple more seconds before nodding. As Cynthia approached the young girl, she heard the footsteps of the Typhlosion approach from behind her. At least the girl’s Pokemon cared for her.
“Hey, are you alright?” Cynthia said as gently as she could. She remembered soothing her younger sister when they were younger. “Is it okay if I touch you?”
The crying girl shook her head vigorously and wailed. She could see the fear in her eyes.
“Alright, I’ll stay here,” Cynthia took a step back before sitting down. She needed to handle this with care. “My name is Cynthia.”
The young girl sniffed and looked at Cynthia. She was still shaking and tears poured down her face, but the young champion could tell she was trying to hold back sobs.
“Y-you’re not Volo…?” The child coughed before sniffling again. Cynthia shook her head. “Oh thank Arceus…”
Cynthia paused for a second. Who was this Volo person? What did he do to make this young girl react like this? She was fifteen at the absolute oldest. Cynthia felt her heart breaking over and over as she thought about what could have happened to the child.
“How about we go inside? It’s cold out here,” Cynthia suggested with an even tone. At this point it was hard for her to do that. She didn’t know whether she was angry at this Volo person or sad for this young child.
“P-please,” The girl choked back another sob.
“Alright, we can go inside. Your Typhlosion is right here,” Cynthia gestured to the Pokemon, who walked over and laid at the girl’s side. The girl put an arm around the Pokemon and let it help her up. “Follow me.”
As Cynthia slowly walked to the League building, periodically turning so she could make sure the child was alright, she decided to ask one more question. “What’s your name?”
The girl’s mouth slammed shut. She waited for a few moments before speaking again.
“Akari…” She looked up at Cynthia with big, round eyes. “My name is Akari.”