Fall From Grace
Death
The tentacle plunged into my torso with excruciating pain. What had I done to earn this end? To think that after all these battles, after all this fighting--I was easily undone by a single blow?
But of course. The tentacleripped a hole into my chest, forcing my ribcage open. My jacket was hot and sticky. Such a savage, mangling blow could only be fatal. I couldn't even feel the pain. I stared into the ancient dragon's eyes. Nowhere to run. No strength left to fight.
The horrified cries of my Pokemon filled my ears. My Leafeon's scream, my Raichu's shriek. My Skarmory and my Umbreon, breaking their silence with dreadful wails. And a wounded howl from Rush, my Swampert, my dearest friend.
"Murderer," I spat at the great dragon. This was the one that the wild Pokemon hailed as their crusador, their savior, the master of their revolution? No. These was a monster whose eyes that had wrought the world's death. The legends of ancient Sinnoh were were right to call him savage.
I grabbed the tentacle, struggling in vain to pull it out. "Allow me," hissed Giratina, his eyes gleaming. He wrenched his tentacle free, and I fell to the ground, impact splaying my body. Blood splashed out from my chest faster, dribbling down onto the grass. "Why?" I gasped to the god of darkness, blood heaving from my chest. "Why... why do you hate us so?"
His features dulled ever so slightly, the eyes turning away. "What can I do but destroy my tormentors?" answered the Exile bitterly. "How can I stay the claws of bloodshed, when they have been dry for so long?"
My vision swam, and the dragon's gray scales blurred. Was I not an Elite of Hoenn? Had Mew not reassured me that I could trust the world. No, I couldn't die yet. There was still so much to do. Who would protect my Pokemon, if I was gone? Who would look out for my brother, if not for me?
"Remember this day in the afterlife, Aurton Slick Silversky," declared Giratina, his eyes flashing as he rose into the sky. "Remember that you can protect nothing in this world! That for all your efforts, for all your hopes, for all your myths, you and Hoenn were ground to dust!"
In the distance, black smoke rose from the crater of Sootopolis. My beloved Hoenn lay in ruins, a crude hull of its former paradise. As the world's enemy departed, I reached a desperate hand to the sky. Giratina had to be stopped--yet I could not stop him.
Desperate hands clasped mine, and a voice cried my name. "Rush," I whispered. The Swampert pawed at me desperately, helplessly. More distraught sobs filled the air. Sparktail, Thalia, Insyte, Ferricia. My Pokemon, my precious friends.
But already, my senses were fading, my sight dimming to black. "No... no," I stammered as my Pokemon clung to me, though I could only barely feel their touch, couldn't even hear myself. "You've got to run... run and survive..."
The remaning fragments of the world disintegrated. Thusly did Aurton Slick Silversky, third of the Hoenn Elite Four, meet his end.
--------
The gates of the abyss had been sealed for two thousand millenia. I was trapped in utter darkness: no earth, no sun, no moon, no stars. It was a fleeting eternity, a black heaven, a frozen hell. Above the abyss watched the Adversary who had torn the world apart.
"Mankind is but a plague, a curse upon this earth," cried Giratina to his army, his voice cruel and proud. "Selfish beings who bring death to all! We must take our rightful place as the rulers of our world. Stand with me, for I was cast through time, and cast out from time. I am the Exile."
Lost in this void, in the Passage of the Dead, the memories bled from me. A Pikachu climbing a lonely hill, staring into the distance. A Leafeon emerging from the undergrowth, her eyes widening. A helpless, shivering Eevee at the base of a stone fountain, his tiny cries unnoticed in the crowd. A Mudkip in my hands, staring up at me with apprehension.
Such was the war machine that the Exile had created, a chasm that stripped the dead of the memories of life. No more terror, for there was nothing left to fear; no more agony, for there was nothing left to be hurt; no more confusion, for there was nothing left to know; no more despair, for there was no further to fall. It the bottom of the world's abyss, only the devil waited for me.
--------
I saw a knight wearing blue mail with silver plating, a five-bladed sword with a jeweled hilt. His eyes were content and free, for he had all the time in the world. His helmet was like a building's skeletal frame; yet it looked to be the most durable piece.
Now another knight joined his side. This one wore white plating that concealed the purple chain-links beneath, and his large shoulder pads were a lustrous pink. Surely, his massive boots could cover the breadth of the earth.
Noticing the second knight, the first turned to face him. Overhead, storm-heads were approaching, casting a shadow on the earth. Though I could not discernn their words, their voices were heavy and and fearful...
--------
I saw three children standing in a field--a large boy in blue and orange, another boy wearing a black jacket with yellow trim, and a girl in tan with a green ribbon. Nervously, the three spoke to each other, glancing around worriedly.
"Keep him happy and satisfied," said one.
"He's causing grief, but I can't bring myself to tell him," said another.
"I couldn't care less what happens to him," said a third.
On the edge of the field, I saw a fourth child, a boy in a dark gold shirt and brown shorts, eavesdropping on the others. In his eyes, I saw doubt and confusion, fear and regret. Surely, they were talking about him.
But then the girl looked up and saw the boy in dark gold. "You agree, right?" she called to him. "He's caused you trouble too, hasn't he?"
I stared at the children for a long time. Surely, I knew them, for their names were on the tip of my tongue--and yet, I could not seem to name them.
--------
The knight in blue lay in a rotting garden, its fences collapsed, its stone edging cracked. His body was covered in wounds, his blood soaking into the flowerbed and staining his armor. There was a gaping hole in the middle of his chest-plate.
A talll sorcerer in black approached, holding the knight in white by the throat. White plating had been pried free, exposing violet chainmail. With his free hand, he ripped open the knight's chest and ribcage, crushing his heart. "Woe to my ancient brothers, who watched this world and allowed it to die," spat the sorcerer, flinging down the second knight's body.
Stepping into the garden, the sorcerer knelt by the knight in blue. "Soon, you shall demolish the honor you once upheld." A golden hand reached into the chest-plate cavity, nails digging into the knight's belly.
The knight writhed and screamed as the sorcerer's energy flowed into his body, his veins turning gold and black. His body convulsced as the sorcerer's power filled him; but he could not escape, for the armor that once protected him now trapped him in the garden.
And soon, I could no longer feel sympathy for the warrior.
--------
"Stop acting like such an idiot," yelled the Mudkip.
"Why didn't you care about me?" cried the Umbreon.
"Stupid kid!" yelled Mark. "You're a such an idiot."
"Look, I'm sorry," sighed Chris. "There's always next year, all right?"
"You fool," accused Steven Stone. "You have destroyed this land for the sake of a fairy tale."
"Remember this always, Aurton Silversky," shouted Giratina. "Remember that you can protect nothing in this world!"
I tried to escape, tried to flee. But I had no legs with which to run, no mouth with which to scream, no hands with which to crawl, no lungs left to fill with breath, no heart left to beat. And at last, I understood.
Light was but a shallow, fleeting force that flickered into existence, briefly feigning its superiority before fading into dust. In the end, only darkness remains. Darkness was not an evil, arcane intrusion, but a natural product, etched into the world's very nature. Surely, even this final chain that refused to vanish was not light, but darkness...?
But of course. The tentacleripped a hole into my chest, forcing my ribcage open. My jacket was hot and sticky. Such a savage, mangling blow could only be fatal. I couldn't even feel the pain. I stared into the ancient dragon's eyes. Nowhere to run. No strength left to fight.
The horrified cries of my Pokemon filled my ears. My Leafeon's scream, my Raichu's shriek. My Skarmory and my Umbreon, breaking their silence with dreadful wails. And a wounded howl from Rush, my Swampert, my dearest friend.
"Murderer," I spat at the great dragon. This was the one that the wild Pokemon hailed as their crusador, their savior, the master of their revolution? No. These was a monster whose eyes that had wrought the world's death. The legends of ancient Sinnoh were were right to call him savage.
I grabbed the tentacle, struggling in vain to pull it out. "Allow me," hissed Giratina, his eyes gleaming. He wrenched his tentacle free, and I fell to the ground, impact splaying my body. Blood splashed out from my chest faster, dribbling down onto the grass. "Why?" I gasped to the god of darkness, blood heaving from my chest. "Why... why do you hate us so?"
His features dulled ever so slightly, the eyes turning away. "What can I do but destroy my tormentors?" answered the Exile bitterly. "How can I stay the claws of bloodshed, when they have been dry for so long?"
My vision swam, and the dragon's gray scales blurred. Was I not an Elite of Hoenn? Had Mew not reassured me that I could trust the world. No, I couldn't die yet. There was still so much to do. Who would protect my Pokemon, if I was gone? Who would look out for my brother, if not for me?
"Remember this day in the afterlife, Aurton Slick Silversky," declared Giratina, his eyes flashing as he rose into the sky. "Remember that you can protect nothing in this world! That for all your efforts, for all your hopes, for all your myths, you and Hoenn were ground to dust!"
In the distance, black smoke rose from the crater of Sootopolis. My beloved Hoenn lay in ruins, a crude hull of its former paradise. As the world's enemy departed, I reached a desperate hand to the sky. Giratina had to be stopped--yet I could not stop him.
Desperate hands clasped mine, and a voice cried my name. "Rush," I whispered. The Swampert pawed at me desperately, helplessly. More distraught sobs filled the air. Sparktail, Thalia, Insyte, Ferricia. My Pokemon, my precious friends.
But already, my senses were fading, my sight dimming to black. "No... no," I stammered as my Pokemon clung to me, though I could only barely feel their touch, couldn't even hear myself. "You've got to run... run and survive..."
The remaning fragments of the world disintegrated. Thusly did Aurton Slick Silversky, third of the Hoenn Elite Four, meet his end.
--------
The gates of the abyss had been sealed for two thousand millenia. I was trapped in utter darkness: no earth, no sun, no moon, no stars. It was a fleeting eternity, a black heaven, a frozen hell. Above the abyss watched the Adversary who had torn the world apart.
"Mankind is but a plague, a curse upon this earth," cried Giratina to his army, his voice cruel and proud. "Selfish beings who bring death to all! We must take our rightful place as the rulers of our world. Stand with me, for I was cast through time, and cast out from time. I am the Exile."
Lost in this void, in the Passage of the Dead, the memories bled from me. A Pikachu climbing a lonely hill, staring into the distance. A Leafeon emerging from the undergrowth, her eyes widening. A helpless, shivering Eevee at the base of a stone fountain, his tiny cries unnoticed in the crowd. A Mudkip in my hands, staring up at me with apprehension.
Such was the war machine that the Exile had created, a chasm that stripped the dead of the memories of life. No more terror, for there was nothing left to fear; no more agony, for there was nothing left to be hurt; no more confusion, for there was nothing left to know; no more despair, for there was no further to fall. It the bottom of the world's abyss, only the devil waited for me.
--------
I saw a knight wearing blue mail with silver plating, a five-bladed sword with a jeweled hilt. His eyes were content and free, for he had all the time in the world. His helmet was like a building's skeletal frame; yet it looked to be the most durable piece.
Now another knight joined his side. This one wore white plating that concealed the purple chain-links beneath, and his large shoulder pads were a lustrous pink. Surely, his massive boots could cover the breadth of the earth.
Noticing the second knight, the first turned to face him. Overhead, storm-heads were approaching, casting a shadow on the earth. Though I could not discernn their words, their voices were heavy and and fearful...
--------
I saw three children standing in a field--a large boy in blue and orange, another boy wearing a black jacket with yellow trim, and a girl in tan with a green ribbon. Nervously, the three spoke to each other, glancing around worriedly.
"Keep him happy and satisfied," said one.
"He's causing grief, but I can't bring myself to tell him," said another.
"I couldn't care less what happens to him," said a third.
On the edge of the field, I saw a fourth child, a boy in a dark gold shirt and brown shorts, eavesdropping on the others. In his eyes, I saw doubt and confusion, fear and regret. Surely, they were talking about him.
But then the girl looked up and saw the boy in dark gold. "You agree, right?" she called to him. "He's caused you trouble too, hasn't he?"
I stared at the children for a long time. Surely, I knew them, for their names were on the tip of my tongue--and yet, I could not seem to name them.
--------
The knight in blue lay in a rotting garden, its fences collapsed, its stone edging cracked. His body was covered in wounds, his blood soaking into the flowerbed and staining his armor. There was a gaping hole in the middle of his chest-plate.
A talll sorcerer in black approached, holding the knight in white by the throat. White plating had been pried free, exposing violet chainmail. With his free hand, he ripped open the knight's chest and ribcage, crushing his heart. "Woe to my ancient brothers, who watched this world and allowed it to die," spat the sorcerer, flinging down the second knight's body.
Stepping into the garden, the sorcerer knelt by the knight in blue. "Soon, you shall demolish the honor you once upheld." A golden hand reached into the chest-plate cavity, nails digging into the knight's belly.
The knight writhed and screamed as the sorcerer's energy flowed into his body, his veins turning gold and black. His body convulsced as the sorcerer's power filled him; but he could not escape, for the armor that once protected him now trapped him in the garden.
And soon, I could no longer feel sympathy for the warrior.
--------
"Stop acting like such an idiot," yelled the Mudkip.
"Why didn't you care about me?" cried the Umbreon.
"Stupid kid!" yelled Mark. "You're a such an idiot."
"Look, I'm sorry," sighed Chris. "There's always next year, all right?"
"You fool," accused Steven Stone. "You have destroyed this land for the sake of a fairy tale."
"Remember this always, Aurton Silversky," shouted Giratina. "Remember that you can protect nothing in this world!"
I tried to escape, tried to flee. But I had no legs with which to run, no mouth with which to scream, no hands with which to crawl, no lungs left to fill with breath, no heart left to beat. And at last, I understood.
Light was but a shallow, fleeting force that flickered into existence, briefly feigning its superiority before fading into dust. In the end, only darkness remains. Darkness was not an evil, arcane intrusion, but a natural product, etched into the world's very nature. Surely, even this final chain that refused to vanish was not light, but darkness...?
Awakening
I saw an approaching figure, growing larger and clearer with every step. And then, when he was almost upon me, I recognized the knight in blue, his armor stained with thin, gold streaks.
"This is the one blessed by Mew," said the gaunt knight, pointing at me. His posture had become erratic, his eyes twitching, as far from his chivalrous self as possible. "Woe to him who is chosen by the Mystic of Hope as the pillar of the world." And kneeling, he reached for me with a bloodstained gauntlet--
I was clinging to the edge of a great pit, a great vortex of shadows beneath me. I stared down at my translucent, glowing body in disbelief. Struggling against the tug of the abyss, I climbed out from the pit and sprawled on the ground, staring at the broken world around me.
Heaven and earth had melted into each other, the world flickering red and blue. I saw landmasses and bodies of water floating in mdair in every direction, scattered throughout the infinite darkness, detatched from the ground.
I saw the rubble of fallen cities, mass graves spilling open with thousands of corpses, rising and falling. Castles, villages, towers, mansions, ships and planes; I saw the echoes of entire civilizations, crushed into dust.
I shivered. I could feel the wind upon my skin, and it was cold. Cold? When did I have this body, these blackened limbs? When was I able to feel again, to touch again? But it didn't matter. I had a self, a form that I could call my own. Rain-drenched asphalt and burning sulfur wafted from the great abyss, and my nostrils burned.
The dragon loomed above me like a dancing flame, golden armor over a cobalt-blue body. A glowing red crystal was set in his chestplate, his claws yellow as sulfur. I felt a sudden rush of fear and excitement. "What is this?" I asked the dragon.
"Place... of... death," hissed Primal Dialga, small bits of foaming saliva forming on the corner of his mouth. "Before... death... all... see."
Death? Surely, I was not dead. For I was newly born. "If this is the world of death, then why am I here?"
His eyes narrowed. "You, you are different," spat the dragon, the slab shaking with his every step. "Cursed by the Mystic, cursed by your fellow man. Cursed by your friends and foes alike! CURSED! CURSED! CURSED!"
And he, too, cursed me.
--------
Down the lonely tunnel, back into the infinite daylight. Blood filled my arteries and veins, and I ran with pure delight. I followed the celestial path which wound between civilization and wilderness, between bloody war and tranquil peace. There were others on that path, but their bodies were weak, incomparable to mine--I, who blazed with sheer life.
There was a king with a golden crown and a magnificently billowing crimson cape lined with white fur, his eyes sharp with regal condescending arrogance. There was a female wolf with rippling muscles and vivid golden eyes, her fur sleek and silky as her soft-pink tongue ran seductively over her fangs with drool, her body emanating an overwhelming scent of roses.
There was a great grizzly bear with a bulging belly that was swollen with girth and immense poundage, gnawing on a slab of raw meat even as it ran. There was a giant rat, its paws nimble and fast even with the massive sack on its back which brimmed with thousands of jewels and gold coins.
There was a tiger whose eyes seared blood-red with flaming passion, the stripes of his fur like a raging fire as it bared its teeth with fury. There was a creature with thick shaggy black fur and sunken bulging yellow eyes, its chin thick with streams of drool, its six-inch-long fingers clawing longingly at the air with every step it took. Then there was a great lethargic serpent whose fangs were like wicked daggers on the rare occasion that it should open its mouth the barest crack, crawling as sluggishly as if its body was as heavy as solid lead; and it gave up the journey far more quickly than the others.
Every last one of their accursed hides were buried within the purest hell. Yet I was greater than all of them, for I ran onwards when they fell back. It was I alone who rushed into the darkness, seizing it and claiming it. And it was I, carrying that last chain, who would claim the original chaos that had predated the world...
--------
In the beginning, the darkness stood before the eternal judge of all things, the one who bore his holy wheel and saw all things. The darkness saw the Original One who gave light to an empty husk of a world and filled it with vibrancy. He gazed into the darkness, and laid it bare for all to see.
The lord of silver watched the world from afar, and the lord of gold ruled with fiery glory. The leviathan of the sea held the origin, and the behemoth of the land held the demise. Overflowing with the power of the Aether, the essences of nature gave birth to the dragon of the divine wind. Under their watch, the Tanuki had prospered, spreading to every land.
But the sky would soon be stained with blood. Soon, meteors from beyond the stars would arrive, carrying the army of the Invaders. And thus, the final three columns of the world were created at the hands of the Original One. From the Tanuki's rich history, three souls were summoned into newly constructed bodies. Dialga, keeper of time's river. Palkia, keeper of space's fabric. And the third...
I was a soul of nature; I was the embodiment of misfortune. Ruin and Calamity, Despair and Decay. Darkness flowed unto me, and I flowed into him. "I am he who binds the dark gates," I said as I ascended into life. "I am the keeper of the eternal void, the Passage of the Dead." Satisfied, the One raised his head to the sky with a mighty roar.
Ashen gray scales covered my black and red skin like a robe. Three golden braces were placed upon me, binding me to my body. With each brace on my upper body, a pair of gold spikes emerged from either side of of my lower body.
Then, the One placed a horned helmet upon my head, closing the gaping cavity that was my mouth. I screamed as six black tentacles burst out from my spine, each tipped with one of the six crimson keys of the eternal void. My sight was stained a bloody red, outlining every scratch and every imperfection on the world.
But when the pain finally died away, I gazed up at the Original One, and I felt the tide of darkness forming upon me, enshrouding my body in a wave of death-shadows that could blot out the sun. Bneath the woven darkness, my flesh was imbued with life by the power over death, and I no longer felt raw and helpless. I raised my maw to the churning green skies, and cried out my new name: "GI-RA-TI-NA!"
I stared at my body, sewn from the paltry fabric of death. I feared to move, lest my body collapse into dust. But slowly, the veil between me and the world lifted. The golden spikes on my lower body swelled into legs, my six tentacles melting into a pair wings. The crescent helmet split open, shifting back and up into a crown.
Then, my fingers found a scar on my upper body, the place that would have been my chest. The point of my death--and the place of the final chain that bound me. "Some things cannot be taken away," hissed a voice from the Passage of the Dead. "Some wounds are too terrible to erase forever."
But I smiled, for the remnant of the wound would remind me forever that I was alone to face my foes when I died, that my tormentors could never be forgiven. My past was dead and gone, the pitiful weakling of my old life nothing but a myth now. I would unite the world of the wilderness and the world of civilization, and forever would the creatures of the earth know my name!
For I was power itself, the embodiment of all that was and ever would be, the eternal shadow and the infinite night. I was the beast who had been cast into the eternal abyss, but clawed my way back up into the realm of the living. I was the dragon who guarded life and death, who saw serenity in the most turbulent chaos and love in the most violent war.
Six wings and six crimson spikes screamed of our sheer power. We stood before the gates of the Void, and he dwelled in the very core of the earth. We were the shadows once forgotten long ago and now again, one and the same forever.
And so, I stood beside my seven brethren, my friend and family, my eyes glinting with crimson light. Ho-oh of the rising sun. Lugia of the dreaming moon. Kyogre of the raging storm. Groudon of the molten crater. Rayquaza of the divine wind. Dialga of crystalline time. Palkia of woven space. And I, Giratina of the eternal void. Together, we watched the falling meteors.
"Fire and earth and sea and sky; Time and space and darkness nigh," chanted Rayquaza, the eldest of the eight. "The ancient hero gives his mythic call; by life and light, the shadows fall." As the coming of the Invader drew near, we glanced to each other, and then sprang up into the air to meet the Invaders with outstretched claws and fangs...
Yes. That ancient battle against the Invaders was glorious. I shall never forget how my claws and teeth shredded apart the Deoxys, a savage blade that cut through the army of the Invaders. It was thanks to us that the world had a chance to exist. It was thanks to us that the creatures called Pokemon were able to come into existence.
But an eternity passed, and the eight drifted apart. No longer were we inseparable alllies, but distant foes. Why had things decayed so much? Why? Why should fellow Columns of the world be unable to see eye-to-eye? Why had we become so separated, so unwilling to communicate, and why had we built up such barriers between each other?
That distance should have never formed. If only we had remained in touch, remembered how close we had once been, we would never have lost our connections. I was alone to face the eternal grief, alone upon my lonely pedastal of power. Why did they forget me? Why did they leave me to empty desires and hollow dreams?
But my attention was soon diverted. A new power, the human race was rising in prominence. A new invasion threatened to grasp hold of this world and claim it as its own, and I would rise with all my strength to defend it. Perhaps, in the face of this new peril, my siblings would soften their rivaling hearts. I called out to them from the depths of the great chasm that was my home.
I shrieked their names in the ancient tongues of spirit and flame, of time and space, of land and sea and sky. I waited for their arrival, waited for them to come to our aid, so that we might stand together against a rising evil once more. I waited and waited and waited and waited, crying out to them more desperately as the humans grew in strength and power with every year. And then, when nearly a century had passed, and not one of them had arisen against mankind, I gave up.
If they want to abandon us, I thought bitterly, then I shall let them. I hated them all for how they recoiled from me, despised them for who they were. They were bodies of light, no less alien to this world than the Invader. But I was the darkness! I was the eternal shadows that all things were born with! I was Giratina!
They would all pay. Every last one of them would die, and the last thing they would see before death would be my vengeance. But before I struck at my brethren, I would raise my own forces against humanity. I would rally the living and the dead to my side and obliterate mankind in a tide of shadow.
I drew forth the fiber of pure shadows from darkest hell and wove them into fine cloaks befitting grim reapers. And when my labor was complete, I dove into the depths of Distortion, and locked the gates I had been created to defend. No longer would this eternal void be the Passage of the Dead, but the Forge of Malice. Even if it meant shredding open the boundary of the world, I would protect the natural shadow from humanity's scourge!
--------
When my forces first stepped out into the open, Dialga and Palkia and their knights rose up to meet them in battle. For ten years we clashed viciously, dragon against dragon, brother against brother, warriors against warriors, destroyers against destroyers, and in all that time neither they nor I had gained an advantage.
We were locked into a bitter struggle that would never cease, our legendary cries rallying forth fresh waves of soldiers to our sides. Foolish beasts! Did they not understand what I intended to protect the world from? Did they not see the impending doom that would soon arrive on the shores of this continent? I would destroy the ones who would change us, crush every last one of the human race.
Locked into a ten-year stalemate, unable to advance and unable to retreat, we called upon the grim reaper, the collector of souls, the one who delivered the spirits to the realm we guarded. In a moment of desperation, we sent the Nachtfurien to sabotage Temporal Tower, Dialga's home and the lone pillar that held the flow of time in balance.
I never expected him to succeed, yet I was stunned at how close he came to ripping that pillar of time to bits... and at how narrowly Dialga snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. I sent forth my servant to take his revenge on the mudkip and the vulpix whom Dialga had called out to.
But I retreated into the Chasm and declared a truce with Dialga and Palkia, for I realized there would be no purpose to fight them any longer. I watched as Kyogre created the Beast of the Sea and Groudon created Krakatoa, and I believed they would not weaken themselves with shallow promises of light.
And then came the day that humanity arrived on the shores of Kanto, and my blood began to boil with fury as I hurled myself into the forge of war with a bloodlusting fervor. Mankind would not destroy me; they would not corrupt the world with their folly! I would crush them all and scatter their ashes across the world, destroy them before they tore me down from my place!
Ghosts of fallen souls flickered into existence before my eyes, their corpses rising from the dust to heed my cry. I extended my wings of blackest night that could sweep aside the scattered dust of stars and blot out the evening sky, and I channeled forth my infinite energy into the crimson glowing spikes on my wings. I smashed gravestones and crypts and fashioned thousands of cursed keystones from the rubble.
From a shard of chaos, I forged a weapon of darkness--a Griseous Orb that would embody my soul. By this blade, I swore, I would destroy my tormentors forever. As I summoned my legions of shadows to my aid, I swept upon the humans like a raging maelstrom...
But then Rayquaza awoke to their cries, swooping down from his divine perch to heed the frantic summons of man. It was Rayquaza, the Divine Wind, who raised his forces to clash with mine. It was through him that the Red and Blue Orbs were forged. He bound the souls of Groudon and Kyogre togther to bring an end to their conflict, and together the three titans of Hoenn united their great armies against me to save the pitiful tide of mankind.
They were soon joined by Dialga and Palkia, who still bore anger against me from our first war; and not too long after, the humans cried out for the aid of Lugia and Ho-oh as well. I sent my soldiers against them again and again, bitterly forcing them to drive viciously through our foes to destroy mankind. Yet even with my centuries of preparation, our battles were bloody and futile...
And then, four centuries of stalemate was broken by the human hero Aluxiver. Abruptly, the world turned upon me, betraying me before the eyes of all. Awed by that accursed youth, my armies began to desert me, rallying behind Mew the Virtuous. With the aid of Ho-Oh and Lugia, Aluxiver struck me down in my own fortress.
I was cast down from my pedastal, torn down from my shrine of power by my own peers. For my desperate crusade, I was branded a violent miscreant, and banished into this broken world. Yet, even from the chaos, I saw the blight unfold. I watched as Mew and Aluxiver forged their pact--as if such a thing could satisfy the needs of Pokemon!
I saw how Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza retreated into slumber, allowing humans to run rampant. I saw how Lugia hid himself far from human eyes, retreating deep within his shimmering sanctuary. I saw how Palkia and Ho-oh swore covenants with mankind, promising to protect them so long as humanity showered them with gifts of pearls and gold and honored them forever.
I watched bitterly as Dialga gave humans the Hidden Land, buring Temporal Tower deep underground until only the uppermost spire was visible. How could they tolerate the human race, and allow them to permeate every corner of the world with their corruption? How could they betray me so easily- I, who had only longed to stand beside them in battle?!
Adrift in the chaos, I felt for the old scar upon my chest. Betrayal and abandonment. The eternal tragedy of Giratina would forever repeat itself, cursed to suffer at the hands of the world. Gazing deep into the swirling void at the heart of the chaos, I narrowed my eyes to crimson slits, thrashing my tentacle-wings against the endless sea of debris, consumed in a surge of fury.
From the cycle of fates, a single mind rose from the ashes, hideous and raw- yet fierce and destructive. For now I saw as darkness saw, heard as darkness heard, sensed as darkness sensed. I saw now that everything was corrupt in the world of order, and everything was meaningless in the world of chaos.
But this vengeance shall not end. Chaos is eternal. Chaos does not die. I would see humanity purged from the planet--and I would desecrate the bloodline of Mew with it. Ours is the world of Pokemon. We shall bring it back under the rule of Pokemon. When the time comes, I shall set things right in a wave of death and destruction. For I was the Exile, and all the world would feel my wrath!
"This is the one blessed by Mew," said the gaunt knight, pointing at me. His posture had become erratic, his eyes twitching, as far from his chivalrous self as possible. "Woe to him who is chosen by the Mystic of Hope as the pillar of the world." And kneeling, he reached for me with a bloodstained gauntlet--
I was clinging to the edge of a great pit, a great vortex of shadows beneath me. I stared down at my translucent, glowing body in disbelief. Struggling against the tug of the abyss, I climbed out from the pit and sprawled on the ground, staring at the broken world around me.
Heaven and earth had melted into each other, the world flickering red and blue. I saw landmasses and bodies of water floating in mdair in every direction, scattered throughout the infinite darkness, detatched from the ground.
I saw the rubble of fallen cities, mass graves spilling open with thousands of corpses, rising and falling. Castles, villages, towers, mansions, ships and planes; I saw the echoes of entire civilizations, crushed into dust.
I shivered. I could feel the wind upon my skin, and it was cold. Cold? When did I have this body, these blackened limbs? When was I able to feel again, to touch again? But it didn't matter. I had a self, a form that I could call my own. Rain-drenched asphalt and burning sulfur wafted from the great abyss, and my nostrils burned.
The dragon loomed above me like a dancing flame, golden armor over a cobalt-blue body. A glowing red crystal was set in his chestplate, his claws yellow as sulfur. I felt a sudden rush of fear and excitement. "What is this?" I asked the dragon.
"Place... of... death," hissed Primal Dialga, small bits of foaming saliva forming on the corner of his mouth. "Before... death... all... see."
Death? Surely, I was not dead. For I was newly born. "If this is the world of death, then why am I here?"
His eyes narrowed. "You, you are different," spat the dragon, the slab shaking with his every step. "Cursed by the Mystic, cursed by your fellow man. Cursed by your friends and foes alike! CURSED! CURSED! CURSED!"
And he, too, cursed me.
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Down the lonely tunnel, back into the infinite daylight. Blood filled my arteries and veins, and I ran with pure delight. I followed the celestial path which wound between civilization and wilderness, between bloody war and tranquil peace. There were others on that path, but their bodies were weak, incomparable to mine--I, who blazed with sheer life.
There was a king with a golden crown and a magnificently billowing crimson cape lined with white fur, his eyes sharp with regal condescending arrogance. There was a female wolf with rippling muscles and vivid golden eyes, her fur sleek and silky as her soft-pink tongue ran seductively over her fangs with drool, her body emanating an overwhelming scent of roses.
There was a great grizzly bear with a bulging belly that was swollen with girth and immense poundage, gnawing on a slab of raw meat even as it ran. There was a giant rat, its paws nimble and fast even with the massive sack on its back which brimmed with thousands of jewels and gold coins.
There was a tiger whose eyes seared blood-red with flaming passion, the stripes of his fur like a raging fire as it bared its teeth with fury. There was a creature with thick shaggy black fur and sunken bulging yellow eyes, its chin thick with streams of drool, its six-inch-long fingers clawing longingly at the air with every step it took. Then there was a great lethargic serpent whose fangs were like wicked daggers on the rare occasion that it should open its mouth the barest crack, crawling as sluggishly as if its body was as heavy as solid lead; and it gave up the journey far more quickly than the others.
Every last one of their accursed hides were buried within the purest hell. Yet I was greater than all of them, for I ran onwards when they fell back. It was I alone who rushed into the darkness, seizing it and claiming it. And it was I, carrying that last chain, who would claim the original chaos that had predated the world...
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In the beginning, the darkness stood before the eternal judge of all things, the one who bore his holy wheel and saw all things. The darkness saw the Original One who gave light to an empty husk of a world and filled it with vibrancy. He gazed into the darkness, and laid it bare for all to see.
The lord of silver watched the world from afar, and the lord of gold ruled with fiery glory. The leviathan of the sea held the origin, and the behemoth of the land held the demise. Overflowing with the power of the Aether, the essences of nature gave birth to the dragon of the divine wind. Under their watch, the Tanuki had prospered, spreading to every land.
But the sky would soon be stained with blood. Soon, meteors from beyond the stars would arrive, carrying the army of the Invaders. And thus, the final three columns of the world were created at the hands of the Original One. From the Tanuki's rich history, three souls were summoned into newly constructed bodies. Dialga, keeper of time's river. Palkia, keeper of space's fabric. And the third...
I was a soul of nature; I was the embodiment of misfortune. Ruin and Calamity, Despair and Decay. Darkness flowed unto me, and I flowed into him. "I am he who binds the dark gates," I said as I ascended into life. "I am the keeper of the eternal void, the Passage of the Dead." Satisfied, the One raised his head to the sky with a mighty roar.
Ashen gray scales covered my black and red skin like a robe. Three golden braces were placed upon me, binding me to my body. With each brace on my upper body, a pair of gold spikes emerged from either side of of my lower body.
Then, the One placed a horned helmet upon my head, closing the gaping cavity that was my mouth. I screamed as six black tentacles burst out from my spine, each tipped with one of the six crimson keys of the eternal void. My sight was stained a bloody red, outlining every scratch and every imperfection on the world.
But when the pain finally died away, I gazed up at the Original One, and I felt the tide of darkness forming upon me, enshrouding my body in a wave of death-shadows that could blot out the sun. Bneath the woven darkness, my flesh was imbued with life by the power over death, and I no longer felt raw and helpless. I raised my maw to the churning green skies, and cried out my new name: "GI-RA-TI-NA!"
I stared at my body, sewn from the paltry fabric of death. I feared to move, lest my body collapse into dust. But slowly, the veil between me and the world lifted. The golden spikes on my lower body swelled into legs, my six tentacles melting into a pair wings. The crescent helmet split open, shifting back and up into a crown.
Then, my fingers found a scar on my upper body, the place that would have been my chest. The point of my death--and the place of the final chain that bound me. "Some things cannot be taken away," hissed a voice from the Passage of the Dead. "Some wounds are too terrible to erase forever."
But I smiled, for the remnant of the wound would remind me forever that I was alone to face my foes when I died, that my tormentors could never be forgiven. My past was dead and gone, the pitiful weakling of my old life nothing but a myth now. I would unite the world of the wilderness and the world of civilization, and forever would the creatures of the earth know my name!
For I was power itself, the embodiment of all that was and ever would be, the eternal shadow and the infinite night. I was the beast who had been cast into the eternal abyss, but clawed my way back up into the realm of the living. I was the dragon who guarded life and death, who saw serenity in the most turbulent chaos and love in the most violent war.
Six wings and six crimson spikes screamed of our sheer power. We stood before the gates of the Void, and he dwelled in the very core of the earth. We were the shadows once forgotten long ago and now again, one and the same forever.
And so, I stood beside my seven brethren, my friend and family, my eyes glinting with crimson light. Ho-oh of the rising sun. Lugia of the dreaming moon. Kyogre of the raging storm. Groudon of the molten crater. Rayquaza of the divine wind. Dialga of crystalline time. Palkia of woven space. And I, Giratina of the eternal void. Together, we watched the falling meteors.
"Fire and earth and sea and sky; Time and space and darkness nigh," chanted Rayquaza, the eldest of the eight. "The ancient hero gives his mythic call; by life and light, the shadows fall." As the coming of the Invader drew near, we glanced to each other, and then sprang up into the air to meet the Invaders with outstretched claws and fangs...
Yes. That ancient battle against the Invaders was glorious. I shall never forget how my claws and teeth shredded apart the Deoxys, a savage blade that cut through the army of the Invaders. It was thanks to us that the world had a chance to exist. It was thanks to us that the creatures called Pokemon were able to come into existence.
But an eternity passed, and the eight drifted apart. No longer were we inseparable alllies, but distant foes. Why had things decayed so much? Why? Why should fellow Columns of the world be unable to see eye-to-eye? Why had we become so separated, so unwilling to communicate, and why had we built up such barriers between each other?
That distance should have never formed. If only we had remained in touch, remembered how close we had once been, we would never have lost our connections. I was alone to face the eternal grief, alone upon my lonely pedastal of power. Why did they forget me? Why did they leave me to empty desires and hollow dreams?
But my attention was soon diverted. A new power, the human race was rising in prominence. A new invasion threatened to grasp hold of this world and claim it as its own, and I would rise with all my strength to defend it. Perhaps, in the face of this new peril, my siblings would soften their rivaling hearts. I called out to them from the depths of the great chasm that was my home.
I shrieked their names in the ancient tongues of spirit and flame, of time and space, of land and sea and sky. I waited for their arrival, waited for them to come to our aid, so that we might stand together against a rising evil once more. I waited and waited and waited and waited, crying out to them more desperately as the humans grew in strength and power with every year. And then, when nearly a century had passed, and not one of them had arisen against mankind, I gave up.
If they want to abandon us, I thought bitterly, then I shall let them. I hated them all for how they recoiled from me, despised them for who they were. They were bodies of light, no less alien to this world than the Invader. But I was the darkness! I was the eternal shadows that all things were born with! I was Giratina!
They would all pay. Every last one of them would die, and the last thing they would see before death would be my vengeance. But before I struck at my brethren, I would raise my own forces against humanity. I would rally the living and the dead to my side and obliterate mankind in a tide of shadow.
I drew forth the fiber of pure shadows from darkest hell and wove them into fine cloaks befitting grim reapers. And when my labor was complete, I dove into the depths of Distortion, and locked the gates I had been created to defend. No longer would this eternal void be the Passage of the Dead, but the Forge of Malice. Even if it meant shredding open the boundary of the world, I would protect the natural shadow from humanity's scourge!
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When my forces first stepped out into the open, Dialga and Palkia and their knights rose up to meet them in battle. For ten years we clashed viciously, dragon against dragon, brother against brother, warriors against warriors, destroyers against destroyers, and in all that time neither they nor I had gained an advantage.
We were locked into a bitter struggle that would never cease, our legendary cries rallying forth fresh waves of soldiers to our sides. Foolish beasts! Did they not understand what I intended to protect the world from? Did they not see the impending doom that would soon arrive on the shores of this continent? I would destroy the ones who would change us, crush every last one of the human race.
Locked into a ten-year stalemate, unable to advance and unable to retreat, we called upon the grim reaper, the collector of souls, the one who delivered the spirits to the realm we guarded. In a moment of desperation, we sent the Nachtfurien to sabotage Temporal Tower, Dialga's home and the lone pillar that held the flow of time in balance.
I never expected him to succeed, yet I was stunned at how close he came to ripping that pillar of time to bits... and at how narrowly Dialga snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. I sent forth my servant to take his revenge on the mudkip and the vulpix whom Dialga had called out to.
But I retreated into the Chasm and declared a truce with Dialga and Palkia, for I realized there would be no purpose to fight them any longer. I watched as Kyogre created the Beast of the Sea and Groudon created Krakatoa, and I believed they would not weaken themselves with shallow promises of light.
And then came the day that humanity arrived on the shores of Kanto, and my blood began to boil with fury as I hurled myself into the forge of war with a bloodlusting fervor. Mankind would not destroy me; they would not corrupt the world with their folly! I would crush them all and scatter their ashes across the world, destroy them before they tore me down from my place!
Ghosts of fallen souls flickered into existence before my eyes, their corpses rising from the dust to heed my cry. I extended my wings of blackest night that could sweep aside the scattered dust of stars and blot out the evening sky, and I channeled forth my infinite energy into the crimson glowing spikes on my wings. I smashed gravestones and crypts and fashioned thousands of cursed keystones from the rubble.
From a shard of chaos, I forged a weapon of darkness--a Griseous Orb that would embody my soul. By this blade, I swore, I would destroy my tormentors forever. As I summoned my legions of shadows to my aid, I swept upon the humans like a raging maelstrom...
But then Rayquaza awoke to their cries, swooping down from his divine perch to heed the frantic summons of man. It was Rayquaza, the Divine Wind, who raised his forces to clash with mine. It was through him that the Red and Blue Orbs were forged. He bound the souls of Groudon and Kyogre togther to bring an end to their conflict, and together the three titans of Hoenn united their great armies against me to save the pitiful tide of mankind.
They were soon joined by Dialga and Palkia, who still bore anger against me from our first war; and not too long after, the humans cried out for the aid of Lugia and Ho-oh as well. I sent my soldiers against them again and again, bitterly forcing them to drive viciously through our foes to destroy mankind. Yet even with my centuries of preparation, our battles were bloody and futile...
And then, four centuries of stalemate was broken by the human hero Aluxiver. Abruptly, the world turned upon me, betraying me before the eyes of all. Awed by that accursed youth, my armies began to desert me, rallying behind Mew the Virtuous. With the aid of Ho-Oh and Lugia, Aluxiver struck me down in my own fortress.
I was cast down from my pedastal, torn down from my shrine of power by my own peers. For my desperate crusade, I was branded a violent miscreant, and banished into this broken world. Yet, even from the chaos, I saw the blight unfold. I watched as Mew and Aluxiver forged their pact--as if such a thing could satisfy the needs of Pokemon!
I saw how Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza retreated into slumber, allowing humans to run rampant. I saw how Lugia hid himself far from human eyes, retreating deep within his shimmering sanctuary. I saw how Palkia and Ho-oh swore covenants with mankind, promising to protect them so long as humanity showered them with gifts of pearls and gold and honored them forever.
I watched bitterly as Dialga gave humans the Hidden Land, buring Temporal Tower deep underground until only the uppermost spire was visible. How could they tolerate the human race, and allow them to permeate every corner of the world with their corruption? How could they betray me so easily- I, who had only longed to stand beside them in battle?!
Adrift in the chaos, I felt for the old scar upon my chest. Betrayal and abandonment. The eternal tragedy of Giratina would forever repeat itself, cursed to suffer at the hands of the world. Gazing deep into the swirling void at the heart of the chaos, I narrowed my eyes to crimson slits, thrashing my tentacle-wings against the endless sea of debris, consumed in a surge of fury.
From the cycle of fates, a single mind rose from the ashes, hideous and raw- yet fierce and destructive. For now I saw as darkness saw, heard as darkness heard, sensed as darkness sensed. I saw now that everything was corrupt in the world of order, and everything was meaningless in the world of chaos.
But this vengeance shall not end. Chaos is eternal. Chaos does not die. I would see humanity purged from the planet--and I would desecrate the bloodline of Mew with it. Ours is the world of Pokemon. We shall bring it back under the rule of Pokemon. When the time comes, I shall set things right in a wave of death and destruction. For I was the Exile, and all the world would feel my wrath!