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Chapter Text

Out came Volo’s last Pokémon, Togekiss, as Akari sent out one of her last two Pokémon. The battle has been hard so far, but it was so close for it to be over.

Admittedly, when she first arrived in Hisui after falling from the sky, Volo reminded her of someone she knew. A person who was elegant and smart, but strong with a passion for history. She could picture the person in mind, however the name escaped her for a while.

The name of this mystery person came to her one day after an expedition, Cynthia, but now…there was less of a resemblance.

She admits, during her exile from Jubilife village he had been acting…off. He was the one who was the most excited to see the lake guardians, but refused to enter the caves to see them, opting to keep guard instead. There was a point where he referred to the Ginkgo Guild like an outsider before hastily correcting himself when asked about it, and he was the one who got too excited seeing as Cogita had one of the plates they were looking for.

The man she met throughout her various expeditions was too far gone, he wanted to meet god before using it to create a new world, one where everyone she’s met here in Hisui, does not exist anymore.

The resemblance of Cynthia was gone, while they still looked the same, they were two different people. He reminded her of Cyrus, the person Cyllene momentarily reminded her of upon meeting each other for the first time, but a more unhinged version of him.

Finally, the Togekiss fell to the ground with a cry as his final Pokémon was gone, making Volo go silent as he recalled the creature to it’s ball.

The mania in his visible eye flared as he looked at the sky with a venomous look.

“Why?! How?!” He screamed before looking down and pacing around. “I've devoted myself to Arceus beyond any other! I worshiped it as the creator of our entire world! I bent all of my passion and interest to its study! All the time I've spent pouring over the legends... Everything that I've done!"

He ground his teeth as he looked at Akari with an angry look. “You outsider! It’s almost as if you were spat out of the space-time rift just to get in my way!”

Akari looked at him with a pitiful expression as she recalled her Pokémon now that the battle was over.

“Come on Volo, it’s over now…” She said in a steady voice.

He stepped back, almost looking insulted at what she said. “No…no, this isn’t finished yet!”

“Yes it is.” Akari replied firmly.

He slumped, looking as if he was at a loss, before grinning as he looked back up to the girl.

Something wasn’t right.

“Can’t you feel it?” He asked in a surprisingly low and steady voice while his grin stretched. “The chill creeping through your veins, the eldritch presence icing your heart?”

Akari froze, feeling a presence nearby, flicking her eyes around as a spine-chilling cry echoed around the area.

The ground started to shake as a rift appeared behind Volo, slowly growing bigger before a wing of sorts ripped out of it, tearing the rift to be even larger as the next wing tore through.
Next, the giant head of Giratina pulled through before the rest of it followed, standing behind the maniac of a man with a roar.

Blood pounded in her ears as she stared up at Satan itself, feeling herself being transported back 5 years ago. She wanted to scream, to warn Cyrus of what was creeping up behind him as a cloudy tendril crept through the rift towards the man as he rambled on. The tendril seized him and yanked the man through the rift, cutting off his screams upon being pulled into the distortion world.

She found herself having fallen to her knees, cheeks wet with tears as she tried to will her hands to stop shaking as she went to grab one of her two last usable Pokémon.
This has happened before, she has faced this creature before…she was only ten when she was the one tasked with saving the world from someone with intentions similar to the man standing before her.

Now it was happening all over again.

The ball slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground, rolling out of her reach as she tried to breath in, finding it hard to do so.
Why can’t it be over already? How much does she have to suffer just to be able to get the slim chance of going home?

The man who now looked like a blurred blob was talking again, but she couldn’t hear a word as she choked out a sob. Had she ever recovered from fighting Giratina when she was ten? No one talked about it with her after…no one knew, everyone just moved on quickly – wanting to forget what happened.

Even Cynthia moved on, one of the only people who could understand…but she never brought it up.
Maybe Cyrus could have understood…but he refused to go back with them once the creature was gone, disappearing into the distortion world to never be seen again.

She wiped her cheeks and eyes, now finally having grabbed the ball that rolled away, hands still shaking but stood up, seeing Volo staring at her with a confused look.

She readied the ball in her hand, taking in a breath and threw the ball.

Chapter Text

Volo sent out his Togekiss, the last Pokémon on his team, the moment his Garchomp fell to the ground. His anger was growing.

How dare this child stand in his way! Stand between him and the one chance of meeting The Creator, it was infuriating.

He had to defeat her in battle, he had to! He just needed those plates and then The Creator was within his reach. If he lost now, then everything he’s done would be for naught.

Akari was an unusual case, having fallen from the sky with barely any memories from before she ended up here. However she showed a natural talent for battling and easily picked up on catching Pokémon.

He got to know more about her from when they interacted, most of the time was when he was selling in Jubilife, but there had been the odd moments of running into each other while Akari was on a survey trip. He would usually accompany her for a bit, trying to chat but mainly trying to learn more about Akari.

After helping her out when she was exiled from the village there had been times during their interactions where he had noticed her staring at him, usually looking at him with a mixture of familiarity and thought. He never asked and she never said anything.

He knew she knew more than she let on, the moment Cogita mentioned the red chain she looked alarmed and when he mentioned Giratina earlier, a flash of fear crossed her face. Though he doubted he would ever get to know what she does.

A cry brought him out of his thoughts as he watched his Togekiss fall to the ground as it was defeated, bringing the battle to a close in a way that Volo didn’t like.

He scowled and looked up to the heavens where The Creator resided. “Why?! How?!” He screamed.

He paced around, half talking to himself, “I've devoted myself to Arceus beyond any other! I worshiped it as the creator of our entire world! I bent all of my passion and interest to its study! All the time I've spent pouring over the legends... Everything that I've done!"

He ground his teeth as he looked at Akari with an angry look, his expression darkening as he saw her looking at him in pity. “You outsider! It’s almost as if you were spat out of the space-time rift just to get in my way!”

“Come on Volo, it’s over now…” Akari said in a steady voice.

He stepped back with a glare. “No…no, this isn’t finished yet!”

“Yes it is.” Akari replied firmly, watching him with a careful eye.

He slumped down, looking at the ground, how dare this…this child tell him what to do!

Sticking his hand into his pocket, his fingers brushed over something he briefly forgot about, feeling the energy thrum. It wasn’t over yet!

Volo grinned as his hand clasped the spooky plate while looking back at Akari, feeling the presence of Giratina coming to his aid.

“Can’t you feel it?” He asked in a low voice while his grin stretched. “The chill creeping through your veins, the eldritch presence icing your heart?”

He continued grinning as Akari froze, her too feeling Giratina’s presence as it roared to signal it’s arrival.

He could hear the ripping of reality behind him as Giratina joined their world, seeing the wings extend in front of him before moving as the entire creature emerged from the rift.

He didn’t bother turning around or flinch as it roared, knowing it would help him turn this battle around.

He looked over to where Akari stood with a self-accomplished grin but let if fall slightly as he saw the girl.

He expected she would be staring at him in horror of what he had just summoned behind him or ready to fight.

But no, she was just standing there, staring up at Giratina with glazed eyes.

She started to shake as tears started to fall from her eyes, her breathing starting to grow erratic as she still stared at the creature.

He rolled his eyes, looking up to where the sun was in the sky as he tapped his foot impatiently, this was pretty underwhelming.

He looked back at her, seeing she had now fallen down to her knees, trying to grab one of the last 2 Pokéballs from her belt, only for it to fall out of her shaky grip.

He watched as she pathetically tried to grab the ball that had rolled away, choking out a sob.

“Wow, if I knew that Giratina would make you do this, I should’ve just summoned it first.” He quipped but was partially curious as to what happened with her and the Pokémon before all of this.

She didn’t reply, finally grabbing the Pokéball and wiping the tears away, standing back up on shaky legs.

“Done crying about it?” He asked as she readied the Pokéball in her hand and threw it. “STRIKE HER DOWN GIRATINA!”