Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Seekers of Soul
[Chapter 49]
<< First | < Previous | Next >
AO3 Link
-
Nia speaks with Giratina.
-
Nia stares up at Giratina, her breath trapped in her lungs and her heart beating hard inside her chest. Giratina moves forward, bending closer, looming over her like an eclipse. Close enough for her to realize the extent of the danger she's in if she was wrong, if he really does want her dead—
Nia stumbles back, flinging a messy burst of aura from her hand. It sails at Giratina and—with a flicker of transparency—straight through him. If Nia didn’t know better, she would almost say he looks annoyed.
Right. Ghost type. Normal type energy won’t do a thing.
She’s doomed.
Nia turns and sprints for cover, only to nearly run right off the floating chunk of land she’s on. She barely scrambles back in time, sending rock crumbling down into space. Although there is another platform just a ways away. Could she jump?
“Would you be still?” A deep voice rumbles, rolling like thunder through Nia’s body.
Nia glances over her shoulder, only to see Giratina’s creepy tendril things move to grab her. Decision made, she takes a few short steps and leaps off the platform, arms wheeling. She stumbles on the landing but keeps moving.
She hears the faint sound of movement behind her, and then she’s being scooped up by cold, powerful tendrils. They wrap around her and pin her arms at her sides no matter how she struggles, turning her to look directly into Giratina’s angry expression.
“Cease this foolish chase!” He growls. “You summoned me!”
For a moment, Nia is strangely thrown off by Giratina deciding to...talk to her. Instead of just killing her on the spot. But she did come here to learn more about him, and she didn’t think he was totally evil after saving them in the tunnels, so—
So maybe she needs to try to calm down.
Nia swallows, heart still pounding. “E-Edme forced me to.”
Giratina’s blood-red eyes narrow.
“I-I mean, we wanted answers, and I agreed to try talking to you but she didn’t say I’d have to go into the distortion world and she used psychic or something to make me a-and…” Nia trails off.
Giratina continues to stare at her. She has no idea what he’s thinking, until he rumbles, “Edme?”
Nia blinks. “…The Guardian?”
Giratina hisses a distasteful sound, pulling back. “I should have known she was behind this. Bothersome insect.”
Nia stares, bewildered. “I-Is she not, like…your servant or something?”
“Self-appointed. I should have ceased communication with her years ago.”
“Oh.”
There’s an awkward beat of silence. Giratina seems to be stewing in his dislike. Nia, meanwhile, is starting to feel the chill of the cold appendages cocooning her. Like dense mist.
“U-Um. Could you put me down? Please.”
Giratina gives her an exasperated look, long tail flicking. “Are you going to run again?”
“…Are you going to hurt me?”
Giratina scoffs, lowering Nia closer to the ground before releasing her. She still lands on her butt a little roughly, and winces as she stands.
“So the shell tricked you into coming here,” Giratina says, lowering himself just enough so that Nia can see his face when she cranes her head way back. Sharp golden mandibles and all. “But you were willing to talk, before. I assume you are still willing?”
Nia glances around at the distortion world. In every direction, she sees nothing but the same dark blue-black space, with chunks of land floating through it like a great stew. Here and there amidst the darkness, tiny pieces of colorful light hang like stars, but she isn’t sure what those are yet. Regardless, it doesn’t look like she has a way out even if she tried to escape. So…
“W-Well…” Nia rubs her arm, surprised by just how awkward this encounter feels, after the initial terror. “I did have some questions?”
Giratina rumbles, and Nia has to assume it’s a sound of agreement even as the fur on her neck stands on end.
“J-Just…first, was Edme telling the truth?”
“Regarding my banishment?”
Nia nods.
Giratina’s wings tuck closer to himself, long body coiling around in a loose loop. Like he’s settling in. “Yes. Her ilk are bothersome, but I suppose I should be grateful to them for attempting to preserve the truth. Cresselia was infuriating on the best of days, but I meant her no harm.”
Nia probably shouldn’t believe him just like that, but…well. He sounds honest. And something about his cold, steely gaze feels factual, rather than emotional. Like he isn’t trying to appeal to her and butter her up.
“S-So…” Nia scuffs at the rock beneath her, trying to think of how to phrase this. She’s trying to keep Tobias’ caution in the back of her mind; she has to get some answers first before assuming Giratina has honest intentions. She looks up, up, up to meet Giratina’s eyes. “Why have you been following me?”
Giratina looks down at her with something like annoyance. “To attempt contact.”
Nia squints. “By…trying to drag me through reflections against my will?”
Nia almost thinks—too late—that she should probably be a bit more respectful to the giant who could crush her with a flick of his tail. She’s surprised to see Giratina look away, mandibles clicking irritably.
“I…have already been advised that that may have not been the best course of action.”
Was that a poor excuse for an apology, or just an excuse? Is he…embarrassed? Wait—
“Advised?” Nia echoes. “By..?”
“I have not been working entirely alone.”
“Oh. Do you mean Edme?”
Giratina falls silent, and for a moment Nia thinks he isn’t going to answer her. Then, he sighs. “No. Mew. The Mother.”
Nia tilts her head. Mew is a protector of all Pokemon, right? Most Pokemon seem to think really highly of her. If Giratina’s telling the truth, and the two are working together in some way, that alone would make Giratina much more trustworthy.
“Okay, so…assuming you’re telling the truth—"
Giratina glares at her, and she flinches back, hands raised as if she can actually do anything to fight him if he decides to attack.
When he does nothing, she warily continues. “I-If you’re telling the truth, then you just wanted to…talk to me. Right? Why?”
Giratina’s glare dies off, fading to something more…tired. It’s in the way his whole body seems to sink, wings falling lower.
“You will hear me out without fleeing?”
After a beat of hesitation, Nia nods.
Giratina glances off into the distance, though Nia can’t see anything when she follows his gaze. Just more blue-black swirling void.
“I have been attempting to make contact with you humans,” Giratina starts, “Because Mew believed you could be of assistance.”
“Assistance?” Nia asks, frowning. “Assistance with what?”
Right on cue, a rumble sounds off in the distance, and Nia feels the ground beneath her shake. Giratina looks in the direction of the sound with sharp eyes. Once the rumbling fades, he relaxes.
“Assistance with that.”
“What was that?” Nia asks. Surely floating chunks of earth in an abyss can’t have earthquakes?
“That is a symptom of the greater problem.” Giratina says. He rises higher again, moving to slowly circle the chunk of land she’s standing on. As if pacing. “The dimensional border between worlds is weakening.”
Well that certainly doesn’t sound good.
“What…exactly does that mean?” Nia asks.
Giratina grumbles something under his breath, as if put upon to explain such a basic concept. Nia bites back the insane urge to stick her tongue out at him. Instead, she cautiously pads closer to the edge of the rock to follow Giratina’s movements.
“The world you were just in is the Pokemon world. Its entire dimension is…encased, in a way, by this realm. The distortion world. Think of it as…the hard shell surrounding the soft innards of a fruit.”
“Okay…” Nia says, mostly following. “So if this place is the shell and the Pokemon world is the fruit, then…the purpose of the dimensional rift is to protect the Pokemon world?”
“Correct.” Giratina gestures vaguely with a toss of his head. “The distortion world, my domain, acts as a protective barrier around the Pokemon world. It contains it. Keeps other dimensions and worlds safely separate.”
“Other worlds?” Nia asks, eyes wide. “Like…the human world?”
Giratina slows to a stop to look at Nia, expression unreadable. Then, he rumbles, “Yes. Another fruit along the vine, hanging close to our own.”
For a moment, Nia is excited by that news. The human world being so close to this one is fantastic! And if the border is weakening in some way, wouldn’t that just make it easier for her to get through it and go back? But—
“W-Wait. You said that the dimensional border is weakening. So in the fruit metaphor, the shell is…thinning?”
“More accurately, it is beginning to preemptively crack,” Giratina says.
Nia bites her lip, not entirely sure what that means, but knowing it can’t be good. “Okay, so the dimensional border is getting messed up…but what does that mean for us? For the Pokemon world? I’m guessing it’s…bad?”
Giratina laughs, sudden and deep like a crack of thunder. Nia startles, then wilts. She doesn’t know if a laugh has ever made her feel quite so small before.
“So it’s…really bad,” Nia guesses.
Giratina twists away from his circling path, up above the rock. He looks out again at the distortion realm. “Consider it the worst possible event that could happen.”
Nia feels her ears pin flat. “Really?”
Giratina hums. “Tell me, Riolu. You’ve heard of the dormancy of the gods, correct? How they’ve all mysteriously fallen to sleep, abandoning the Pokemon who need them?”
“Y-Yes?”
“What of evolution breaking down? Making it impossible for Pokemon to grow strong and reach their full potential? Stunting their growth?”
Nia…doesn’t like where this is going.
“Or perhaps the mystery dungeons appearing out of nowhere, wreaking havoc and reverting Pokemon into mindless, aggressive beasts? Causing death and loss?”
Nia stares up at him, heart sinking.
“The weather phenomena. The natural disasters. Due in part to the absence of the legends, but exacerbated by the border’s weakness. Slowly destroying the planet and those who inhabit it.”
Nia doesn’t know what to say, horror falling slowly over her like a suffocating weight.
“All of that,” Giratina says, anger spilling into his words. “Is due to the dimensional border weakening. The shell of this world is going to split, and the fruit inside has already begun to rot.”
Nia steps back, only to trip and fall on her tail. The silence trapping them is heavy. She stares at Giratina, scrambling to think. She knew, distantly, that things weren’t normal in the Pokemon world. Everyone said as much. But she had no idea that it was as dire as this is starting to sound.
She isn’t sure the Pokemon world is aware of how serious it is, either.
“B-But…” She stammers. “It can’t be that bad. The Pokemon are still doing all right despite all of that! They’re surviving just fine! There are Seekers to help, a-and—“
Giratina laughs, though this one is bitter. He lowers his head until he is nearly eye-to-eye with Nia, the sharp angles of his head taking up the entirety of her vision. “The greatest Seekers in the world will not be able to help this dimension once the split actually occurs. What you have faced so far is but a fraction of what is to come.”
Nia feels her throat tighten as an unfamiliar feeling of despair washes over her. Tears spring to her eyes. She desperately scrubs them away. “N-No, that can’t…”
“It is.”
Nia falls silent, fighting against the feelings threatening to overtake her. She blinks hard, mind scrambling. She takes a deep, shaky breath, trying to stay logical.
“O-Okay. Okay. So what can we do to fix it?”
Giratina stares at her, and Nia can’t decipher the look on his face.
“This is your domain, right?” She presses. “So surely we can do something to fix it, right?”
Giratina rises again, once more looming over her. “You think I have not tried? You fail to understand that this has never happened. Not since the dawn of this world.”
“Then…how do you know for sure that the border thinning or cracking o-or whatever is what’s actually happening?”
“Because,” Giratina says, wings flaring as if to gesture to the entirety of their environment. “I am one with this dimension. It has been my prison for a hundred years and a refuge for a thousand more. I know it as well as my own blood. I can sense the border weakening, disrupting the balance of everything within like the pressure of a growing tumor. While the fatal moment has yet to come, I can sense its approach.”
“Yet to come..?”
“My domain is that of antimatter. The distortion world. The space that balances out all that is. I am the counterpart to my siblings, Dialga and Palkia.”
“Gods of…time and space,” Nia murmurs.
“Correct. As such, my realm is not bound to the same flow of time and space as the Pokemon world is. While I can sense the damage caused to the rift, it has not yet occurred. Instead, we are merely feeling the ripples of its influence through time and space. As we approach the epicenter of this damaging impact, its effects on the Pokemon world will only worsen.”
Nia’s breath catches, for two separate reasons. Hope and fear war in her chest. “S-So all of the things going wrong in the Pokemon world right now…will only escalate and get worse the closer we get to the point in time when this damage will actually be done.”
“Yes.”
As terrifying as that is, Nia can’t help latching onto the other portion of Giratina’s words. “But…that means this damage hasn’t technically happened yet, right? S-So we just need to stop whatever causes this before it happens. Problem solved!”
Giratina shakes his head. “In theory, yes. But considering we are feeling the effects of the break even now, that suggests its path is final. Your optimism is ill-placed.”
Nia’s barely hanging onto her composure right now as is. Her hands are shaking, so she balls them into fists and takes a note from Tobias.
She growls up at Giratina, “Y-You’re the one who asked for help, right? You can’t be feeling completely hopeless if you’re still trying to fix this!”
“What else is there to do?” Giratina rumbles. “I am not the type to roll over and die.”
“Good. Because neither am I.”
Nia would love to feel some solidarity with Giratina right now, if only to help her feel less terrified, but Giratina looks unimpressed at her assertion.
“I see why Mew insisted on bringing you humans over,” he says quietly. “Foolish creatures, just like her.”
Nia opens her mouth to respond, but her determined facade drops as Giratina’s words register. “Wait—what—what do you mean Mew brought the humans here? You brought us to the Pokemon world?”
“It was not my decision, I assure you. Once the first of you lot wandered in, Mew had the brilliant idea to transform any lost soul she could get her paws on.”
Nia doesn’t think Giratina understands the gravity of what he’s saying. Nia has been trying to figure out why and how she was brought to the Pokemon world since the moment she woke up here, months ago. And now Giratina is casually saying that he and Mew apparently just grabbed any human soul that ‘wandered in?’
“What—wandered in? How does a soul just…wander?! What do you mean?”
Giratina looks at her for a long moment, cold red eyes lidded and almost bored. “The preemptive damage to the rift has weakened the border. Opened it to realms outside of our own. Thus, human souls have begun to slip from the human world into ours.”
“You mean Mew just—yanked us into the Pokemon world and changed our bodies without even thinking to ask us if that’s what we wanted?”
“What was your proposed alternative?” Giratina asks, tone dry.
Okay, that makes Nia mad. Just the…lackadaisical way he’s talking about their situation!
Angry tears fill her eyes, and she hates the way her voice shakes when she yells, “We have families, you know! Lives we need to get back to!” A new thought occurs to Nia, and an unfamiliar outrage pours into her veins like magma. She points up at Giratina accusingly. “Are you the reason we lost our memories?!”
Giratina has the audacity to sneer at her outburst. “Contain yourself. We didn’t take you from your world. You would have turned into a yamask in the Pokemon world without Mew’s intervention. All she did was take advantage of the situation to give you a form better suited to your soul. Your memories were temporarily sealed away to help you acclimate properly to your new body.”
“If you’re telling the truth,” Nia points out.
Giratina’s gaze hardens. “Be grateful that I am telling you this at all, small one. We did nothing to bring you here—only changed your form to improve both your situation and our own.”
Nia grits her teeth. The anger in her body simmers lower. Not gone, but quickly petering out. “That still doesn’t answer why. Why do that at all? It sure doesn’t seem like you care about us humans enough to do it for our benefit.”
Giratina huffs. “I do not. Mew, however, is an annoyingly compassionate creature. Though she was weakening, she insisted on using her own power to transform any lost souls she could find. I tried to dissuade her.”
“Why would it be so bad for us to turn into yamask anyways?” Nia asks. Will is a yamask, and he seems perfectly fine. He’s even leading the Humans Movement to find a way home!
Giratina looks away. “The yamask are not a natural fit for their bodies. They struggle to find a place in the Pokemon world. Mew is doing you a service in giving you an inconspicuous form and a better chance to make connections.”
“It would’ve been nice to have a choice in the matter,” Nia growls, even as her fury dies down against her will. She’s never been able to hold onto her anger for long.
“You were not conscious enough to make a choice."
“Fine,” Nia says, crossing her arms. “Either way, we’re here now. Does that mean you can help us humans get back?”
“Attempting anything of the sort when the border is so unstable would be suicide. The lost souls float in of their own accord so we can neither stop them nor send them back.”
Nia's heart sinks.
“B-But what if…what if we save the rift? The Pokemon world? Surely then we can find a way back, right?”
“I am here to stop Pokemon from attempting such idiotic ideas as dimension hopping, Riolu.”
“Well I’m not a Pokemon, Giratina!” Nia bites back. “I’m a human. I don’t belong here.”
“You may not have a choice in the matter."
For some reason, that simple sentence strikes Nia hard, knocking the breath from her lungs. Tears flood her eyes. Giratina doesn’t even have the decency to look sympathetic.
Getting back to the human world and her old life has been Nia’s main goal since waking up in the Pokemon world. The thought that even if the Pokemon world is saved, she won’t be able to go back? Would never see Mom and Toni and Clay again? That she wouldn’t get to go to school and have a family?
It’s unthinkable.
Fine. Fine, then. Giratina doesn’t want to help? It doesn’t matter. Will is finding them a way home. Giratina may be right about the damage to the rift, but that doesn’t mean he’s right about this. It’s not like he cares enough about humans to have attempted it before anyways.
No matter what, it sounds like they need to fix the rift before anything else. Otherwise, the Pokemon world will be destroyed, and Nia couldn’t live with that. Not after meeting all the wonderful people who call it home.
“Either way, we still need to save the distortion world, right?” Nia sniffs, wiping her eyes free of tears. “And you’re going to humans for help. So what’s so special about us humans that makes you think we can do something that Pokemon can’t? In case you didn’t notice while you were stalking me, I can’t even use moves properly.”
Giratina rumbles a displeased sound. “I am well aware. Rest assured it isn’t your battle prowess we were looking for.”
“So?”
“We were hoping to recruit humans for two reasons. One being that since you have no predisposition to distrusting me—“
Nia raises a brow.
“—that you would hopefully be more open to communication.”
Nia almost laughs, almost snaps that Will warned the entirety of the human crowd in Ghatha not to trust Giratina or talk to him, but bites her tongue in time. She doesn’t want to put a target on her friend’s back, even if she’s kind of vindictively glad that Will disrupted Giratina’s plans and made his life a bit more difficult.
“So you couldn’t have, I dunno, tried to get my attention sooner? Sent Mew to talk to me?”
Giratina glares down at her. “You were picked up almost immediately by the charmander and meganium. I waited and scouted to see if you would even be someone worth pursuing, but by time we decided you were, Mew had already—“
Giratina cuts himself off, and Nia almost thinks she sees an emotion aside from anger cross his face.
“Mew…had already grown weak,” Giratina finishes. “She has not fallen to sleep yet, but she is starting to show signs. I try to make her rest when possible.”
Is that…actual concern for another living being he’s showing? Nia wasn’t sure he had it in him.
Nia sighs, feeling most of the residual anger leave her body. “But is that really the only reason you started seeking out humans? Just so we might be more willing to talk to you?”
Giratina sounds no happier about the situation than she is. “We don’t know what will cause the damage to the distortion world, so we don’t know how to stop it. Mew thought that a human perspective could discover an answer we may have missed.”
“So you’re desperate,” Nia summarizes.
Giratina growls, and Nia feels the sound in her bones. For once, she’s still too angry to feel all that afraid.
“Am I the only one you’ve managed to talk to?” Nia asks.
“After observation, we have not deemed many of your kind worth contacting. You are one of the few, and the only one inquisitive enough to actually reach me.”
“So that’s a yes.”
Giratina makes an unhappy sound, but doesn’t refute her assumption.
Silence descends over the rift. Nia takes breaths through her nose to calm down. Even if she’s still upset, she needs to have a civil conversation with Giratina. The fate of the Pokemon world depends on it.
“What can even rip through a ‘dimensional border?’” Nia asks, finger quotes and all. “It sounds very…metaphysical.”
“It is not something a normal Pokemon should be able to accomplish,” Giratina admits. “Most beings cannot even touch it. The dimensional border is, in its own way, a living thing. It is a tapestry of life energy from Arceus, as well as something greater. The only element able to protect and contain entire dimensions.”
“Life energy,” Nia murmurs, frowning. “Like…aura?”
Giratina hums a thoughtful sound. “More or less, yes.”
Nia looks out again at the void. “If it’s aura, couldn’t you just get some lucario and riolu to like…patch it up or something where it’s weaker? Reinforce it?”
“There is no physical landmark where the border is weaker,” Giratina says. “While I can sense its eventual destruction, I do not know the damage’s origin point. The border is not so…logical as that.”
“Great,” Nia mutters.
“And even if it were, I have severe doubts we could convince the lucario tribes to assist with such a thing. They are…not particularly open to outsiders. Additionally, even if they were to offer their help, they alone would not have enough aura to mend a tear this immense.”
“Okay. Great,” Nia sighs. “So you don’t even have an idea of what could cause that much damage?”
Giratina looks away. Nia is grateful he has such an obvious tell. A century of solitude must’ve made him more of an open book, less used to hiding his emotions.
“What?”
“The damage would almost certainly have to be the doing of a legendary, but that would be impossible considering most are dormant.”
Nia groans. “So you’re telling me I’m supposed to find a way to fix a god-sized problem!? That sounds like something a god needs to fix! Not—“ Nia gestures vaguely at herself. “Not me!”
“I agree,” Giratina snaps, turning on Nia and looming over her large as a building. “But considering that there are very few gods still awake to even be aware of the issue, our options are limited.”
Nia quiets. “…How many of them are dormant?”
“Nearly all, at this point,” Giratina growls, circling the stone platform restlessly. “Which means we are likely nearing the tipping point. A year, at most.”
Nia’s mouth drops open. A year?! They have to figure out how to stop this within a year?
Giratina must see the disbelief on her face, the despair creeping over her skin, because he turns his focus back onto her. “Do you know why Arceus’ children are falling asleep as the border weakens?”
Nia weakly shakes her head.
“They are being forced to conserve energy. Saving their power for when it will be needed to birth a new world.”
“A new world?” Nia echoes. “After…”
“After this one is destroyed,” Giratina confirms. “Arceus is so deeply tied to this universe that the weakening of the border harmed them, forcing them into sleep. One by one, their children have followed.”
Nia stares at him. “Then…why haven’t you?”
“Because I am the opposite of life energy, of the positive essence of the world. I am antimatter. I am least affected by its destruction, so I shall be the last to fall. And until that moment, I will do my duty and try to save this dying world. I am only asking that you do the same. For your own sake, if nothing else.”
Giratina says all of this not bravely or compassionately, but with a tired, steady loyalty. And just like that, Nia understands why he was chosen for such an important role, chosen as the guardian of the dimensional border. As insufferable as he is.
“Okay,” Nia mumbles, rubbing at her face and trying to keep her cool. At least for now. “Okay. So we just…need to save the world before it breaks. You said most of the legendaries were already asleep—which ones aren’t? Could we ask them for help?”
“Very few have escaped the slumber. However, Xerneas and Yveltal may be of use to us. They are technically asleep, but the two of them naturally rest in cycles. They lapsed into their usual 1,000-year stasis before Arceus fell dormant, so it is possible they would be able to wake prematurely.”
“Xerneas and Yveltal. Yveltal is the god of…war, right?”
“Destruction,” Giratina corrects. “Death. Xerneas is the god of new life. Creation. In theory, Xerneas may be able to help reinforce the life energy of the border if we can wake her early, but she is asleep in the physical world where I cannot reach her.”
“Wait—the physical world? Like the regular Pokemon world?”
Giratina gives her a rude look that suggests she is, in fact, quite stupid. “Yes. Unfortunately, I do not know her actual location. Wherever it is, it is hidden from my reflections.”
“Helpful,” Nia mumbles, apparently picking up Tobias’ snark since he isn’t here to snap at Giratina himself.
Oh man, Tobias is surely flipping his lid back at Edme’s. She has to get back soon and let him know she’s all right. And also prevent him from murdering the bug. Nia is like 90% sure Edme won’t harm Tobias while she’s gone since she achieved her goal, but she can’t say the same for her partner if he gets free.
“Okay,” Nia says. “So what’s our plan right now? Try to find Xerneas and wake her up to help us?”
“Considering it is currently our only semblance of a plan, I suppose so.”
“Or,” Nia adds. “We could try to find the source of the damage to the border and stop it before it occurs. Right?”
“A fool’s errand,” Giratina dismisses. “I told you the damaging event is likely already set in stone." Something in Nia's expression must speak to how little faith she puts in that certainty, because he sighs and continues, "But I cannot stop you from pursuing such a path. Just do not let it distract you from seeking out Xerneas.”
Jeez, thanks for the permission, Nia thinks drily.
She takes a deep breath, shaking out her arms. “All right. No big. That gives us two avenues to explore. Don’t suppose you have any more leads than you’ve given me so far?”
Giratina scoffs. “I would have already explored them myself if I had. No. That is what I need you for. Investigate the physical world to find Xerneas’ resting place.”
“And keep an eye out for anyone who might have plans to harm the distortion world’s borders.”
Giratina nods.
Nia nods back, nervous but determined. “And will you be hanging around in reflections still, or..?”
“I shall keep close by to assist when possible, and inform you of any leads I find. I will be listening to different entry points to the world and trying to find information myself.” Here he gestures to one of the pools of light a bit a ways away. If Nia squints, she thinks she can see out of it, like a window. Oh. It must be the other side of a reflection.
That’s…helpful. If incredibly creepy.
“Got it. I’ll keep an eye out for you and clue Tobias in, too. I…actually might have an idea of who to ask for help in finding Xerneas.”
Giratina gives her a doubtful look, but doesn’t press. Instead, he circles down to wrap around the stone platform she’s on. Nia gives him a questioning look.
“You want to return to your partner before he murders the bug, yes? I’ve given you all the info I have.”
“Oh! Y-Yes. Should I just..?”
Nia tentatively climbs atop Giratina’s back, relieved to find his body solid enough to stand on. Can he make himself incorporeal at will? Can all ghost types? Nia pads carefully up Giratina’s neck, tentatively holding onto the golden bands wrapping around his frame. They feel cool and solid, almost like metal.
Without a word, Giratina slips into motion, serpentine body slithering through the air and curling up in spirals. Nia takes a moment to look around the environment again now that she's not running for her life. It’s just the same dark nothingness, no matter where she looks. Even the air feels too still as they cut through it.
As they approach a small, circular viewpoint—which Nia realizes after a moment must be the view of Edme’s roof from the basin on the floor—she thinks idly that she might go crazy if she were trapped here like Giratina. With only the smallest, taunting snatches of the outside world to view as a spectator.
As they near the portal, Nia can distantly hear the muffled yelling of Tobias. She bites her lip, wanting to get back as soon as possible to calm him down, but hesitates atop Giratina’s back once the titan stops at the gate.
“Giratina?”
“What?”
“Just…one more question.”
“Make it quick, before your foolish partner kills my foolish liaison.”
Nia grips hard at the golden structures set into Giratina’s back, watching her hands—her paws, really—flex with the motion.
“If…If we find a way to fix this and save this dimension, would you at least try to return me to the human world? Return all the humans? O-Or maybe even create a bridge or something between the two worlds, so we don’t have to leave the Pokemon world behind?”
Nia is expecting Giratina to laugh or snarl or at least outright reject the bridge idea. Instead, he is silent. Nia can’t even hear him breathe.
Then, he says, “Worry first about the current issue. If we don’t fix this, there will be neither a Pokemon world nor a human world to return to.”
Nia jolts, a fresh wave of alarm coursing through her. It’s one thing for the Pokemon world to be destroyed, which is terrible enough, but the human world, too?
Giratina answers her unspoken question. “The human world is too close in proximity to our own. If this dimension becomes unstable, it will rip itself apart, and the human world will likely be dragged into the implosion as well.”
Nia feels faint. For a minute, she has to press her forehead to Giratina’s cool, misty back. Horror churns her stomach.
If…If they don’t find a way to fix this, so many people will die. Pokemon and human alike. They will all die, with only the gods left to rebuild a new universe. The gravity of the situation is starting to really sink in.
She isn’t a hero. How is she supposed to fix all of this?
Nia takes a few deep, shaking breaths. Tries to use the same techniques Will taught her in Ghatha when Tobias was having a panic attack. What can she see through her tears? What can she hear through her pounding pulse? What can she feel through numb fingertips?
It takes longer than Nia expects for her to calm down. Longer than she expects Giratina to wait. Eventually, though, she slows her spiral to a crawl. She can break down entirely later, when she’s with Tobias.
“O-Okay. I’m ready now. Thank you for…for waiting.”
Giratina doesn’t answer. He simply lifts himself higher, until Nia can start to hear Tobias’ yelling more clearly and can touch the image of Edme’s dimly lit wooden ceiling.
Nia hesitates one more time. She still doesn’t know if she trusts Giratina entirely, but she can’t ignore all that she heard here. And she can’t not help, just in case he’s right.
“We’ll save them, somehow,” Nia says, voice shaky. She doesn’t know if she’s trying to convince Giratina or herself. “Everyone. Everything. Both worlds.”
And then she lifts her hand and touches the portal, feeling it suck her into its gravity.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nia is sent up through the portal, landing on her feet in the shallow basin with a quiet splash.
Tobias, mouth stretched into a snarl, snaps his head from Edme to Nia, eyes wide and surprised. Edme doesn’t even look like she was paying the fuming charmander any mind, turned entirely towards the pool.
When Nia reappears, the bug Pokemon lifts, voice excited. “Riolu! You’ve returned. How was Giratina? Did you speak with him?”
Nia frowns at her, glancing at Tobias. “Put him down.”
“Of course.”
Edme’s purple energy vanishes, and Tobias falls clumsily to the ground. Immediately, he runs to Nia.
“Nia!” He puts his hands on her arms and looks her up and down, as if to make sure she’s really back in one piece. “Are you all right?”
Nia smiles weakly at him, endeared despite the heavy weight on her heart. “I’m fine. A little shaken up. But not hurt.”
Tobias relaxes, head drooping to lightly touch her shoulder. Then he looks up with a furrowed brow, worried blue eyes meeting her own. “What happened?”
“Oh, please do share!” Edme pipes up, nearly shaking with excitement. She floats closer, a pen and notebook levitating in front of her.
Tobias snaps his teeth at the bug Pokemon, embers escaping his mouth, and Nia is thrown for a moment by how…animalistic the gesture is. He must really be angry. His tail is lashing, flame burning bright. It’s only when he flexes his claws that Giratina’s words come back to Nia.
Okay, yeah, he might actually hurt her.
“Tobias!” She quickly steps in front of him, warding him back with open palms. “W-Wait. You can’t just attack her—“
“Who says I can’t?!”
“U-Um. The whole town, mostly. But please, don’t. I…I need to talk to you about what Giratina said anyways. Please.”
Tobias settles, just slightly, though he doesn’t look happy about it.
“You must share here, Riolu!” Edme cuts in, apparently lacking a survival instinct. “I need to transcribe Giratina’s words for the records.”
“Then ask him yourself!” Nia says sharply, keeping Tobias behind her. She grabs his wrist and tugs him towards the door, praying Edme won’t grab them again. “Ever think desperately forcing people into things might be why he isn’t talking to you anymore?”
Nia doesn’t know if that’s true. If anything, Giratina just seemed annoyed by the bug. Still, Edme jerks back, as if struck.
Nia will feel bad about her harsh words later, but right now she’s upset. She hurriedly pulls Tobias out of the house behind her. The darkness outside is a welcome reprieve, like hiding under a blanket from all the scary things on Nia’s mind. Still, her heart races, like she’s being hunted. She keeps moving with hurried steps, power-walking across the nearest bridge and ignoring the dangerous way it sways.
Tobias staggers behind her. “Wait—Nia, hold up!”
She doesn’t, because if she has to stop moving she’ll have to think about the crushing weight of the mission Giratina just dropped onto her shoulders and she isn’t entirely sure she can handle it right now.
“Nia!” Tobias rounds in front of her on the next island, hands out. “Stop. Are…Are you sure you’re all right?”
Oh no. He looks so concerned. When did he get so open with his care? She can’t pinpoint an exact moment. Right now, though, with her on the edge of an emotional breakdown, the quiet words feel like the final stone knocked loose from an overflowing dam.
Nia's lip wobbles as tears gather in her eyes.
Tobias' face darkens. “What happened? What did he do?”
Nia sobs. She wipes at her eyes, only for more tears to follow. “H-He didn’t hurt me. Really. He’s kind of a jerk? But I-I’m just upset about what he told me.”
“What did he tell you?”
Nia sniffs. “He had a lot of answers. About…everything. Why the legendaries have gone dormant. Why the natural disasters and mystery dungeons are increasing. Why evolution stopped. Why the humans are even here.”
Tobias’ breath catches. “…I’m guessing it’s not good news?”
Nia shakes her head, more tears falling. She crosses her arms and hunches her head, trying to hold herself together. Not quite leaning on Tobias, but close. After a moment, Tobias hesitantly shuffles forward the final inch to wrap a warm arm around her back, pulling her into an awkward hug. That gets her. She buries her face in his scarf and cries.
She just…needs a moment. To pull herself together.
Should she even tell Tobias everything she learned? She doesn’t want to upset him or drag him into this mess. What if he doesn’t believe her? But she can’t do this alone. And she has a feeling he wouldn’t let her, anyways.
After a few minutes, Nia picks up her head, wiping at her eyes. Tobias is watching her, waiting for her to make the next move.
“Let’s find somewhere to talk,” she whispers, looking around. Luckily, none of the Shivergleam residents wanted to get anywhere near her little crying fit, so they’re more or less alone.
Tobias glances over his shoulder. “The inn?”
Nia nods. They’ll need somewhere to stay for the night and catch up on sleep afterwards. It’s late. “And then tomorrow I think…I think we need to head north. Back home.”
Home. That shouldn’t be what the Lexym Guild is to her.
Tobias doesn’t question her. He nods and takes her hand, tugging her towards the nearest bridge. Nia follows without complaint, allowing him to lead them through the village from island to island, ignoring the wary looks from citizens.
Eventually he slows to a stop, and Nia looks up. The building in front of her is larger than the others, taking up one of the platforms all on its own, with warmly lit windows and a large sign designating it as the Hollowberry Inn.
Tobias leads them inside. The bottom floor is a cozy lobby, with a small cafe-like area off to the side. To Nia’s surprise, Beck is at one of the tables, laughing with what must be the employee from the front desk: a tall tree-like creature, with sinister, sharp branches and a single red eye.
When the floatzel catches their eye, he grins and waves, only for the gesture to fade as he takes in their expressions. He quietly excuses himself from his companion and walks over to them.
“Hey. You two all right?”
Tobias glances at Nia. “Not…exactly. Change of plans. We need to head back north, towards the Lexym Guild. Any idea when you’ll be heading that way?”
“Normally we’d travel south first, but we’re actually going north for a passenger we picked up earlier tonight,” Beck says. Nia can feel his eyes on her, the quiet worry in his voice. “You two are more than welcome to join us again. I’ll even give you the family discount.”
Tobias rasps a quiet thanks in Nia’s stead.
“Do you two need a room to stay in?” Beck asks.
“We can pay for one.”
“S’ppose you probably don’t want to bunk with the whole crew anyways,” Beck says. “Nori sleeptalks.”
Nia blinks. “Really?”
“There she is!” Beck says, smiling as she finally checks into the conversation. “Yup. I always say it’s because she’s so quiet during the day. All those words gotta go somewhere.”
Nia smiles back, even if it feels shaky.
“Oy, Gladys,” Beck says, looking over his shoulder. “Got a couple of customers here for you.”
The tree Pokemon looks up from her drink and a…crossword? Do Pokemon have crossword puzzles that she was unaware of?
“Come on over to the front desk, sprouts,” The Pokemon says, getting up with a creak that seems to come more from her than the chair. She moves slowly across the room on a circle of roots.
Gladys quickly checks them into a small room, handing them a little metal key and directing them to go upstairs and to the right. Beck tells them to come get him if they need anything tonight. Otherwise, they’re to meet up with the boat at dawn to get a ride back north.
Nia feels herself calming down throughout the conversation, and waves thankfully to Beck when they head upstairs. Tobias finds their room right down the hall where Gladys said it would be, and opens it up to reveal a small, cozy room.
It’s fairly basic, but it has two small moss beds for them and a chest for their belongings. A ghostly purple flame—a will-o-wisp—sits on the window ledge, burning out of nothing.
Tobias slings their bag down by the chest, then flops into the nearest nest. He doesn’t even make a sarcastic comment, apparently too exhausted to snark. It is late. The moon is starting to sink down towards the horizon, meaning it’s past midnight.
Nia shamelessly nudges her own nest flush against Tobias’ before sitting down. Tobias turns his head to peer up at her, expectant.
“I can tell you everything tomorrow if you want to sleep..?”
Tobias sits back up. “Nope. No way I’m sleeping until you give me the full story.”
Nia thinks that he might not be able to sleep after the full story. The only reason she thinks she’ll be able to is because she’s so drained. Still, she knows how stubborn her partner can be. So she rubs at her face and nods.
And she talks.
Tobias, to his credit, clearly tries not to interrupt. He looks at her seriously as she recounts everything Giratina told her in his realm. His face dips into skepticism as she repeats Giratina’s claim that Edme’s story is the truth, but he also snorts when she says that Giratina doesn’t seem to like the bug all that much.
Tobias looks suspicious when she mentions Giratina working with Mew, especially after she mentions not actually seeing the little pink Pokemon, but when she says Mew is apparently the one responsible for turning the humans into Pokemon, his eyes narrow thoughtfully.
“That…would make more sense than Giratina being able to do it,” Tobias admits. “She’s the Mother of All Pokemon. All species came from her. If anyone would be able to use her power to give someone a new form, it would be Mew. But I still don’t trust that they’re actually on the same side.”
From there, Nia braces herself to tell Tobias about the biggest bombshell of the conversation: the weakening dimensional border. How it’s the cause of the slowly increasing natural disasters and mystery dungeons. The reason for the gods going dormant, and evolution stopping. How if the future damage sending ripples back through time isn’t prevented or fixed, both the Pokemon world and the human world are doomed.
Her voice becomes softer and softer as she speaks, fearful and trembling. Tobias’ expression grows more and more anxious, until he looks genuinely afraid. He tries to hide it, but Nia can see it in his pale face and tense body. In his wide eyes and flickering tail flame.
“And Giratina wants…you to fix this?” Tobias rasps.
Nia shrugs, listless. “Not really. He’s just desperate and hoping a human doing the investigating might help somehow.”
There’s nothing special about her. That’s never really upset her until now, when she wished she was anything but the weak, helpless girl she is. How is she supposed to do anything?
“All right,” Tobias says. He takes an audible breath. “So what do we do next?”
Nia blinks at him. “…What?”
“You said we’re supposed to be looking for Xerneas or what might cause this damage, right? Any idea of where to start?”
Nia stares. She doesn’t know why she expected Tobias to wallow with her, or not believe her, or…
“W-Well…I did have one idea. But you aren’t going to like it.”
Tobias gestures for her to go ahead.
“I think we should talk to Will.”
Sure enough, Tobias scoffs. “Why? Last time we saw him he had no answers.”
“But he was looking,” Nia stresses. “And he already has a community of Pokemon with him. Researchers. If we can get him on board with helping us, we’ll have twenty times as many eyes and ears on the lookout for helpful info.”
Tobias still doesn’t look convinced. Nia doesn’t know why he dislikes the yamask so much, but there are more important things at stake here.
“This isn’t the time for petty grudges, Tobias.”
Tobias rolls his eyes. “It’s not a ‘petty grudge.’ I just don’t like the guy. He feels…fake. But you’re right that he has connections with a lot of Pokemon.”
Nia nods. “And if we head back to the guild, surely the letter he sent out after Ghatha has made it there by now. We can find out where he’s staying and go talk to him.”
Tobias looks mildly appeased at the thought of returning to the guild first. “I guess.”
“Do you think we should tell anyone else there?” Nia asks. “Like Maggie or August? Or Val? Avery and Alistair might know something about Xerneas.”
Tobias’ mouth flattens as he leans back against the wooden root wall. “Maggie would believe us, but I don’t know what telling her would accomplish other than making her worry.”
“We could still ask her about Xerneas?”
Tobias nods.
“I think Val and August would believe us, for what it’s worth,” Nia adds. “And Avery and Alistair definitely would. Would there be any harm in telling them and asking for help?”
“Not that I can think of.“
“Okay.” Nia takes a breath, consciously trying to relax her shoulders. “Okay. At least we have a plan.”
“Sometimes that’s the best you can hope for."
After that, they both fall quiet, lost in thought. Nia alternates between staring at the ghostly little flame on the windowsill and Tobias’ familiar tail flame, letting her tired mind go blank as much as she can.
Eventually, Tobias yawns. “You gonna be all right if I go to sleep? I don’t wanna miss the boat in the morning.”
Nia quirks a small smile. “Excited to get back on the water?”
Tobias flops down with a groan, pulling a chunk of moss from his bedding and tossing it at her face. "Shut up."
She laughs. “I’ll be all right. I’m tired too.”
Tobias grunts, clearly halfway to sleep already. It’s impressive. Nia curls up beside him, shimmying close enough to feel the usual warmth pouring off his skin. Even if she can't fall asleep for a while yet, she feels better knowing she at least has her partner at her back.
As she tries to rest, terrible scenarios run circles in her mind. She imagines them failing. Imagines the Pokemon world being destroyed, and the human world following. Only one determined thought grants her hope rather than fear:
They're going to save the world. They have to.
245 notes
·
View notes