Chapter Thirty-Eight: Heart Realise

She woke in an unfamiliar cave, pale grey walls of stone surrounding her—at least, that was what she had gathered from the data in her mind.

It wasn't as if she was confused or unknowing about anything. No, she would be ashamed of herself if her memory had failed her—instead, her mind was crystal clear. There was no cliched of memories rushing back to the surface—that couldn't happen if they were already in place, after all. She could recall every single event that she'd been through for the past ten years.

Perhaps knowing that she had been aware of what she was doing made her an even bigger evil. It was as if a glass wall had separated her from her senses; her muscles, bones and ligaments—and she couldn't control what she was doing. She could watch herself.

Did that made her any more deserving of forgiveness—of a second chance? Probably not. She should have tried to fight back earlier—tried to resist before Giratina crept into her mind.

Instead, she'd been too afraid—she didn't want to incur his wrath for some abstract reason. Was it because she was a selfish creature in the end? Because deep down, she did want her sight back—just how far was she willing to go to obtain it?

No, she reassured herself. Even I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't hurt so many innocent people just for the sake of one Pokemon's wish. Mother has told me that I was always the inferior one. It's not worth it to make a wish at the cost of others.

Sitting up, she spent a few moments to just think—and part of her let out a bitter laugh about how her thought process mirrored that of the white-haired teenager whom she had just been watching. Then again, both their thoughts were true—if bringing back something precious to them meant that many others suffered, then it was better to simply live without that something.

I don't need my eyes to see it. The words in her mind were stilled and quiet. I don't need my eyes to survive, but I know that this world deserves to live—I want its beauty to be seen by many others.

Maybe this was how she could repent. If she told herself that she couldn't have done anything—and if she went to join the battle right now; this time on the other side, she could at least make up for some of her mistakes. Not all—that would take more than a lifetime—but some of them.

It wasn't as if she despised her former master. She had been the one to stay by his side, after all—she'd stayed that way for years, and her mind had picked up every trace and quirk that Giratina possessed.

He really wasn't a bad Pokemon. He was kind, and he was acting this way for what he believed to be the eventual good of humanity. He wanted to do good—but his ideals were too twisted;  too deeply rooted in his shadows of the past.

Giratina did try to raise me in what he believed was the correct way. A small smile spread across her face. And I guess he liked having me by his side. He had been lonely for so long—and I'm grateful to him. He really tried to be the parent I never had,

She wouldn't dream of hurting him—not when he had given her so much. Yet, she hated to think of the number of people that would lose themselves when he won—it seemed that there was no choice but to fight him.

Why am I even thinking like this...? A snow-coloured paw wrestled its way to her head, and she gripped it, trying to get rid of the headache she'd brought on herself. Why do I feel so vulnerable? I want the control I lost. I want to stop being a child...

I just want to grow up.

And she wouldn't get to mature if she went with Giratina. She would think she had—but she would just remain a child forever. The illusion of being "grown up" wasn't enough for her—she did not want to spent the rest of her life as a lie.

I hope Master realises that too, she mused, climbing up from where she was seated—it was time for her to join the final battle. The smell of blood was nearby, a signal that she may have been too late—the scent of death clogged up her nose. I hope he realises that he can still change and do good—in the right way this time.

• • •

"What are you doing here?" His voice was suspicious—rightfully so—and his amethyst irises glared at the feline's amber ones. "Weren't you on his side?"

He had felt nauseous from the moment the Meowstic made her appearances—and he refrained from slapping a hand over his mouth to contain the rising bile in his stomach. She was nothing more than his enemy now. She'd worked for the very force that had killed his friends.

"I am not aiming to hurt you any further." The Pokemon's voice was soft, and she looked at him with a hard stare. "I want to help you. I truly apologise for all that we have done, and I assure you that I will offer you nothing but my fullest assistance from this point onwards."

She was answered with only silence—Ryou was sceptical—not only that, he had been overwhelmed by the flow of events that had just taken place. For once, the boy had lost control of the feelings of despair and loss—feelings that he had prided himself on burying.

"I cannot see." The sentence was straightforward, and it was then he noticed the milky irises of her sharp eyes—the sightless stare she was giving him. "But you can. You are a liar, Ryou Imizu—surely you of all can distinguish when someone is telling the truth."

And it was true. The sincerity in her golden eyes couldn't be faked no matter what—and there was no better judge of that than a pierrot like himself. He had grown up learning to see through the numerous masks that adults put up around him, but this time, there were no facades to see through.

"Fine," he conceded, though retaining his snappy tone—he couldn't focus his mind with the corpses littered around him. "I trust you for now. So...what do you want to do?"

The Pokemon ignored him for a few moments, instead choosing to focus her attention on Celeana's replica—rather, Giratina—who had chosen to stand back and gaze at his former subordinate with a gentle, curious look on his face.

She dipped in her head in respect. "I do apologise for turning my back on you, Master." A smile bloomed across the feline's face, but that brief moment of bittersweet elation faded almost right after—instead, a determined scowl had replaced it. "But I cannot serve you this time. I wish I could talk you out of this, but after seeing this with my own eyes, the only way I can defeat you is by force."

"I expected your response," the Legendary replied. He looked disappointed—yet, his crimson eyes were understanding. "That is fine, Meowstic. I await you. Still, I would like you to answer one question...was I able to play the part of a good father?"

A laugh sounded, and the creature's lips curled. "No," she muttered back. "No, you weren't. But I still accepted you as one anyway."

• • •

"So you've been demoted to a mere Pokemon now." Meowstic's voice wasn't condescending as she turned to look at Arceus—instead, her tone was that of mere observation. "Both of you won't be able to defeat M—I mean, Giratina—if you battle him like this. I, however, have found a different way."

She glanced at both of them—Arceus in particular—and tilted her head to the side. "Instead of defeating Giratina, try to get Celeana back first. I may be talking about the impossible, but if you can get into her mind and bring her will to fight back, then her emotions just might be able to overpower Giratina."

Before she could ask if the Legendary opposite could even achieve such a feat, Arceus nodded in agreement. "I had thought of that earlier," he admitted. "But it might be extremely risky—I had feared that the amount of despair in her mind would tear us apart."

"That is true as well," the feline conceded. "It is dangerous, but it is the only way. Ryou is the only one who has a chance of speaking to Celeana, however—and Giratina's soul will be sure to intercept us. We must be extremely careful going about this."

"Have you forgotten that I'm here?" Ryou glared down at the ground, scuffing at the obsidian pavement with a worn sneaker. "I don't care what happens now. All I want is for this to be over."

"I have told you about that last resort as well," Arceus muttered, "and you have agreed to it. If everything goes smoothly, we will be able to get out of this world without suffering any more losses—let us hope that it is this way."

With that, the Legendary closed his eyes, the golden ridges on his back glowing and forcing open a portal that stood before them. Then, he beckoned to the both of them, leading the way into the unknown world—and, as they followed into the dimension, the rip in space ceased, and they were gone.

• • •

From the moment he stepped in, he was nearly overwhelmed by the darkness.

Shadows lurked in every corner of the girl's mind, turning the air into a stifling, toxic haze that burned at his lungs and forming wispy limbs that churned from their place in the ground, threatening to wrap their way around one of their limbs to drag them down.

Trembling—he found it difficult to even breath—the teenager adjusted the collar of his jacket so that his nose and mouth was pressed into the thick fabric. Next to him, Meowstic and Arceus had flinched at the scent, but seemed otherwise unaffected.

"Are you feeling alright?" The feline's eyes flickered over to him, as if having sensed his discomfort. "You're not just feeling this nauseous because you're human—it's because you're tied to her despair. She has bad memories associated with you."

She then fell silent, but it was clear that the Pokemon knew much more than what she was letting on—but it appeared as if she wasn't going to tell him any more. Arceus spoke instead, his deep voice firm as he swatted away a shadowy hand.

"One more thing. These shadows you see here are part of the Distortion World—but by Giratina's influence, they have somehow crept their way into her mind. You may know some of them as the same children you were with for a few years in Meowstic's cave—but they have lost their minds. It is impossible to recover them back—I am telling you this because you would have known if they grabbed you anyway."

Ryou nodded at Arceus' statement. "Thank you for informing me," he muttered. "Still...how are we going to get through? I mean—look. Our opponent's already there."

The two Pokemon looked up, spotting Giratina—in his original form this time, thankfully; the trainer didn't know if he could stand looking at the imposter Celeana any longer—awaiting them, darkness buzzing around his six ghostly streamers.

"You were lucky to have made it this far." The Legendary's voice, now free from the sweeter timbre of his host's tone, rumbled around the dim space. "You took a risk, and I suppose you succeeded. I am weaker here—I am still a god, however. We are, at most, even."

As he finished speaking, several circles of bright white formed above him—before exploding down into countless pillars that struck at their opponent with no intention of holding back. The teenager recognised it as a Judgement attack—one that had been frighteningly accurate.

Laughing, the Pokemon expelled away his counterpart's assault with a pulse of darkness equal to the creator's strength—though significantly more tired than he would be in the Distortion World, he was still standing confidently.

"It was a good attempt," Giratina comforted. "However, Arceus, I have no wish of fighting you right now. I have every faith that I can beat you, but that will come later. I will take care of the boy first."

Just as a bolt of shadow was flung the boy's way—at such an alarmingly high speed too—a faint aura of gold shimmered around Ryou, not helping him counter or evade the attack in any way—but it did help him to at least survive.

It didn't stop the pain, however—white-hot agony lanced through his entire side, throwing the trainer to the floor and causing him to curl up to try and make the suffering stop. The wound tracing through his stomach started to close up, and he threw a glare towards Arceus. "Why—why didn't you use this on them? Quinn, Ruby and Sapphire...?"

"If I could, I would have." Arceus' voice was even, and he walked forward to lift the boy to his feet. "However, my blessing—a sacred cloak of protection to ward off evil—can only be used on one person. I had already chosen to use it on you."

Across them, the Legendary shook his head. "So he is going to be tough to defeat." A bout of sorrow accompanied his tone. "No matter. Your blessing may grant resistance against my attacks, but it will not grant definite immortality."

He chose his next attack with caution—and a storm of black-tipped arrows rained down on the defenceless boy, not even giving him a chance to release a Pokemon. A cage sprouted where Arceus was—of course, the Legendary would be able to break it down, but by the time he did, it would be too late to help.

"Are you done?" The creature glanced at the teenager—he did look quite vulnerable, collapsed on the floor with crimson tainting his black jacket. "One more attack and you'll die. Do you give up?"

The boy tried to raise his head to answer—and was even halfway successful in doing it—but someone else beat him to it. A wave of psychic energy slammed into Giratina, creating a temporary distraction—and the Meowstic glanced at her two partners with panic in her pale irises.

"If you want to die, don't do it now," she snapped. " You have three minutes. I may have worked for him once, but I know that he will kill me if he has to. Use your last resort—it's the only way you'll get far enough into her mind. I'll fight him—just go already!"

Ryou wanted to protest—he may have hated the feline, but that plan was downright reckless—but Arceus didn't allow him to do that. The creator gave her a curt nod, breaking free of his prison and rushing over to where the fallen boy was.

"I am asking you one final time, Ryou." He had never heard Arceus speak in such a serious tone before. "Are you sure you want to do this? Fusing with a Pokemon—much less a Legendary like me—takes an extreme toll on the human body. Your mental fortitude is barely enough to handle my power—and if you're unlucky, you could die."

"H...how many times have I told you this?" the boy choked. "I don't really care about that, Arceus. I'm willing to do it."

"If you say so." His voice was still concerned. "Ryou Imizu. Our hearts and souls will now become one."

• • •

Ahaha I managed to write 2500 words in one go I think I just dug my own grave. Aaaanyway I'm on a writing spree xD but!! 3 more chapters until this is over~ I have to say chapter 40 is my favourite chapter. I think. I still like that Ryou arc in chapter 20-ish.

?? I don't really have much to say about this chapter. At least I'm laying off death? You should be grateful AND MAYBE I WON'T GET ANOTHER 100 COMMENTS ON THIS CHAPTER THANK YOU VERY MUCH

Besides that, thank you SO MUCH for 10.2K reads and 1229 votes! That's about a 300+ increase in reads :o My next goal is 1244! (i love you gUYS WE REACHED 10K AHHHHHH THANK)

Critiques are most certainly welcome, and don't forget to read, vote and give your thoughts in the comments! Please be 100% honest!

~ nyxia ☆