LOBOTOMY

PREDATE | (verb) | (1) exist or occur at a date earlier than (something); (2) (of an animal) act as a predator of; catch and eat (prey)

Necrozma shone.

Atop the mighty tower she roosted, the city beneath her awash in light. It radiated down, boiling close but pleasantly warm by the time it reached the stone. Children danced in the beams offered from her spread wings. From here, she could see every stretch of the grateful megalopolis. They'd carved their skyscrapers into shapes that pleased her, mimicked her divine form, sent offerings up her spiraling steps.

She'd been here for a very long time, gifting this world her light. It was a gentle place, a prismatic place, and she thought they deserved it.

She didn't notice them at first; she was used to humans ascending to give thanks to her. Only when they attacked did she give them heed. They slashed, they cut, but through sunlight they sliced and through starlight they struck. She swept them back with just a roar, a warning. It wasn't the first time she'd been attacked, and it wouldn't be the last. The city would go unpunished; her pride was too vast to be wounded by betrayal from the few, and their lives didn't deserve to be lost from challenging a deity too powerful to be struck down.

Or so she thought.

They kept coming. Little by little, they seized edges she did not anticipate. Dark fangs, spectral claws, limbs twitchy and seeking and sharp. Brittle against her light but slicing her psyche.

There were so many of them. Her photon wings were sliced to ribbons. For the first time, she felt fear. Panic.

CRACK

An empty jolt.

It

slllippppeedddddd

sssomething fell below

Out of all body. warm gushed from every crack, every ridge. deep inside her, a cold blossomed. it froze and grew within, what happened, what was going on?

down she looked and there lay half of her long, diamond-shaped brain, glittering facets of divine light cracking in two then four then eight then more black than gold it made no sense it made no sense it was there and she was here and how, how

hhh hhh hhh how

then crashing down she came

—

In the beginning, before time, before space, and all that writhed between, Arceus hatched from a solitary egg.

Alone he floated, until he sensed his own purpose. He raised his ivory head in the darkness and foretold creatures like he, with legs and eyes and mouths to burn energy and mate and die. They needed care, which he could provide. But in order for him to begin his work-

Let there be light.

So she became.

His first creation, the first creation of all. She would later consider her design sloppy, and even later, perfect. Reality nearly split before its new illumination, boiling white and nuclear. Leftovers from her birth roiled into stardust, humming heat and fusion, hydrogen spinning into stars. The waves touched every border of the universe. Instantly Necrozma knew what she was, and what she must become. The light that would illuminate all there was, she would provide.

They predated life, predated gender and reproduction. But their companionship would form the scaffolding on which those systems were built, a union between two to make more. They were bride and groom before sex existed, husband and wife before their creations peeped the first word.

Arceus split himself, ensuring his demise should he turn on his own creations, and gifted his abilities to be everywhere and be anywhere to their children. Palkia and Dialga now held his spatial and temporal might. The third would ensure the prior two's balance — until Giratina's violent betrayal shook the heavens, and saw him banished. They knew sorrow, and loss, for the first time.

They propagated the planet, cultivated its atmosphere in nudges. Under their eye, under boiled magma and seawater, sprang the first life. In design, Arceus and Necrozma let nature decide for itself. Deities sprung forth from each divine concept, life and death, yin and yang, fire and lightning and ice. Great and meager, all worshipped the two that came first.

They would always be bride and groom, but came before monogamy. No pride existed to be stung by distance or other mates. They took spouses among their creations where they wished, until the mortals inevitably died.

Everything about them was untouchable: dignity, form, power. They were constants before the concept existed. And they'd created a world self-sufficient enough that it could go on without one of its creators.

—

woke up cold. clogged. sluggish

all burnt to ash around her charred skeletons and black moonstone

lied shattered on the floor, a shell, a husk

out dripped the warm, pooling around and dissipating snatches of sparks she could not grab and contain it was like trying to contain smoke it left in rays in waves in particles gushing through cracks in armor that should never have seen passage

nothing filled the gap nothing but the cold and the dark and it froze her raw

her body had fled her wings gone her limbs vanished nothing left but the barest hints of her ancient ancient ancient form kept perfect for millennia but now

more and more it bled and she could do nothing she couldn't stop it she had never been cold before and now it wouldn't stop the more she bled the more she froze the more she died but she couldn't stop the bleeding

she was divine she was endless how could she be br

oken

help arceus help

he cant see he gave his sight to palkia who who is he who is that who is arceus?

help me. help me help me help me help me I know nothing I want nothing I would give anything to make it stop I can't stop bleeding I'm empty I'm dry I can't stop it's unbearable but it won't stop happening

I don't understand what happened I don't understand anything it won't connect

eon

after eon

this must be

stuck to the floor coalesced crumbled carapace gravity pulling down freezing to the floor

this was the end how could she rise when she was past the point of rising no light left she was stuck here forever bleeding until nothing was left black and blacker still

every second rose pain rose frigid ice and every second was eternity

she wanted to claw

her brain

apart

—

but
...,...,...,...,...,...,...,...,...,...,.she'd eat
above...,...,...,...,...,...,...,..the pain
...,...,...,...,...,...,...,...,...to end
there was...,...,...,...,.her form
.,...,...,...,...,...,...to return
the planet's sun

beaming and beaming down

there heat and light stirring photons almost forgotten

it felt so so impossibly good

she'd get to it
...,...,...,...,...,...,..she
if it killed...,...,...,...had to
...,...,...,...,...,...,...,...reach it
everyone..,...,...,...,...,...no matter
...,...,...,...,...,...,...,...,...,...,...,what
else

—

scraping

obsidian claws chestplate teeth horns

across the stone did her parts slide catching on bone decayed over decades

empty rock smooth and magnetized latched together surrounding her sundered brain formed armor formed form any shape would do just to look alive again

plates rattled she rattled twitched like an insect. reached handslegsfeetfingers to the sky

give it back to me

—-

she drank until, but there was no until. she drank greedily, endlessly, no rest for her throat

so much work to be done, so much space left to fill. but the more she drank, the more it left, sizzling in through her prism and out through the cracks all over her body in wasted wavelengths. nothing remained to fill her empty body, flowing endlessly away; she clawed, she grasped, she screamed, but relentlessly did it slip out, barely obstructed

she supped with no replenishment. once it left her, it did not return to its own source. but with light running through, washing over her brain with heat, she could think. the panicking humans stormed her tower endlessly, screaming apologies and pleas; she swept them off with geysers of blinding photons, let them die in droves

she would have died for them long ago, but those times she could barely remember. could barely remember why they were so important. these microbes stole her light, and would steal it again if given rein

this sun would not last forever. no ray escaped her prism, reflecting every beam directly into her brain. its corona shuddered, lightyears away but sucked dry, mass trickling away bit by bit. when the moon rose instead, she gorged herself on that weaker light too. the sun rose the same each morning, but it was reducing, invisible to mortal eyes, bit by bit

synapses fired with no reception. awareness phased in and out, cycling mindless monotony and horrified clarity in buzzing waves. one moment she drank, gorged herself, only feeling the dull rush of heat and light, and the next with a cloying suction she realized this couldn't be real, she was more, this couldn't have HAPPENED, COULDN'T BE HAPPENING-

only to become dull again. she didn't think of the consequence of her thirst. in many ways, it wasn't possible. all she knew was the hunger, the niggling drive that wouldn't leave her. she wished to survive, no matter the cost. she would win this war of attrition

—-

Only Pokemon ruled the earth. It was made for them.

The discovery of Giratina's devising, deep in the depths of the Distortion World, earned Arceus's ire a second time. Hidden within his twisted realm, he'd set out to prove he could best his parents, crafting typeless and hyperintelligent beings to rival Pokemon in the world adjacent. In the end, he'd done well. And he grew fond.

So did Arceus. When he stole the fledgling human race from their creator, he and his wife hesitated. The humans' brains and curiosity would forever get them into trouble, breeding exploitation and subjugation. Rising to meet it would always be kindness and compassion, and the will to fight for it. Giratina had sought to best his parents, but ended up copying them almost completely. It was a balance that attracted Arceus and Necrozma. They let the humans live, and gave them the chance to evolve their own place alongside Pokemon.

She would later regret it.

—

she woke from slumber prematurely, at the footsteps of more intruders

it was the first time she'd been approached in such a long time. the monsters below knew not to challenge her anymore, when she had no light to be stolen but their own. even now it sat swimming in her chasm, leaking in bright eddies, sizzling from the cracks in her armor. she would sacrifice only a little to destroy those who would rouse her, and cling to the rest until it slowly ran out

the sun had depleted long ago; the sky was a shrouded ceiling. there were brighter suns in brighter worlds, but she dared not expend power to open passage to them. yet. she remembered the cold, frigid death that awaited her if she had nothing left. she had only prolonged her demise, not averted it. soon, she'd eat the next sun. soon

vicious beasts, pointless creatures. she would kill them all if they had light to give

an explosion rocked her still and locked carapace, rattling her armor, and light gushed out in greater rivers

they would know no stopping it seemed. two of them surrounded by pokemon dark ones twitching ones ones that clawed at her fragile bisected brain

again they struck all twelve at once viruses at a cell. she swept them back with a brutal swing of her claw sent them flying back cracking them open. she would kill them all for disturbing her sleep

if the humans died the pokemon would flee but every time she went for them the pokemon dragged her back. cursed loyalty cursed eternal evolved companionship it wasn't supposed to be like this they were never supposed to exist only the ones she'd made with

with

with who?

the pokemon tried to rip her apart. she raised a fist skyward-

a phantom shriek that shook her freezing core rent the air and tore it apart. unappetizing blue light funneled in sucked in air and gravity punctured reality. the shaking humans shouted started to get dragged toward its powerful pull their pokemon after them. she lashed out crushed one to dust beneath her fist. felt it die against her knuckles. made these once-

something

something called her beyond the portal's grasp. something beckoned for her so familiar and comforting. she had not felt such energy in so achingly long

it felt like home. it felt like herself

for just a little light just a little cost, she let the portal engulf her too

—

burst into light

a new world, a new sun. it beamed upon her strong, healthy, robust light feeding her prism anew. this world, she'd harvest centuries of half-life from. and within its hills she sensed an additional glimmer, like pinprick stars in the night sky, beaming shards of- of- of-

brightest of all not from above, but below. forget the humans gaping up at her; before them was a child of the stars, one of many deities formed in the earliest ages of time. from her exuded light, and life beneath the light, brimming with renewal and high octane energy

she had never seen anything so delicious. hearty faithful meal, with that, she just might . . . she inched forward

Stay back, her prey warned. how comically young

they sprang simultaneously, colliding in showers of moonlight and splotches of shadow. the lunala's body hummed with leftover energy from evolution, all the more enticing, more and more meat to the table. they smashed into the rock behind, danced and dove through the night sky

more and more the lunala dodged instead of striking. she was beginning to realize this was a chase, and she the prize, the treat at the end, devoured for good work. she would be put to such good use

for just one turn, she was too slow in evading. she forced the lunala to hit the ground first, borne down by her weight and the press of her sickly black hand. her brain thrummed, thudded like a pressured pulse

Wait! but she ignored it

her brain stabbed into the lunala's head, forced its way in, made itself fit. her carapace locked onto her prone and twitching body, made it captive. dazed, scrambled, the lunala could give no resistance

"Nebby!" she heard screamed, as she rose on new wings. she turned, looking through the lunala's eyes. two girls reached trembling for her, horror writ plain on their faces. no archaic part of her felt a stir. their anguish meant nothing

she felt power building in her throat, and released it in a warped shriek, some halfhearted chimera of her old voice and this new one. the air rent around them, over and over, wormholes churning to random dimensions

she didn't even glance at the humans converging on her as she turned and flew back through the one where she came

—

none dared step into the new blue light that bathed her former favorite world. on strong wings she soared up to her roost, prey in her grasp, paralyzed. her armor had not been buoyed by any light in so long; she barely knew where to start picking this thing apart. she was so full she could burst. if she could find more, subsist on this line-

she slammed her food into the ground, pinned her, mounted her like a decoration. where her armor touched the creature's flesh, cells popped and sizzled, releasing wavy bands of light to be absorbed by her hungry brain. it could not withstand the contrast; light diffused so violently between its healthy source and the black vacuum intruding that it tore the lunala asunder. but unlike suns, unlike moons, this body replenished. she was filling up fast

the lunala bucked, wings seizing, exposed bones skidding against the stone beneath. she shrieked in pain, the photon flesh beneath the armor churned and chewed away. her cry had no effect on her captor. just one life, to bargain for a better one. she could feast on this creature forever

it was so good it was electrifying

so long had she felt deflated that replenishment felt like a drug

Grandmother! the cry came from inside, open muzzle thrumming against her tongue, panicked breath beneath her teeth

Grandmother! came it again, begging with a ragged voice. Stop!

Be still, she commanded her meal, some twisted regality finding her again. she couldn't stop. the light returning was making her so dizzy- just a little more-

NECROZMA

who speaks

NECROZMA, I AM COMING FOR YOU

who

was necrozma

it was a mental projection, booming spectral soundwaves across the land. she listened and heard intent, heard the desire to maim with dark claws, and felt fear for the second time. something had followed her here. something had entered this world with nothing but her life on the mind

she chewed harder

the lunala screamed, paralyzed spine bucking, bones twitching, nerves spasming. body stiff with pain, seized up and twisted. her ghostly skin shredded and dissolved like sugar dropped in water. something approached, many approached, up the spiral steps and closer to the feast

Don't hurt her, her food moaned. Don't you hurt her with me.

she would never share again

with one final wail, the lunala succumbed to her crushing bite. the body beneath gave, crackled without form, coalescing around the suddenly exposed crystal lobe at the center, boiling hot like a newborn star, forming anew, forming from blue to-

and it-

It-

IT-

Bones became wings. Head became heart. Eyes crystalized. Jaws clicked shut, teeth interlocking.

She rose, not air nor magnetism keeping her aloft. She rose from power, from the life thrumming hot and blazing through every primordial vein. Her chest expanded as she breathed — her chest, plated only partly, through a blinding maw that was hers, fueling wings and legs and a tail that were hers. Her true body; she could weep.

She was Necrozma. She had witnessed the universe's birth, aided in it, stirred stars to her whim and molded planets and biomes and genomes with impossible care. She had helped give rise to every reality every living creature knew. And for it, she'd been struck from on high.

Necrozma looked down, brilliant crystalline eyes glittering, golden tail lashing. A human child faced her, six Pokemon spread to her sides. Just a girl. Necrozma met her steady gaze and knew outrage. Humankind should learn to fear its gods.

TRESPASSER

Her bellowed challenge shook the heavens. The human crumpled, hands to her ears.

YOU WILL BURN

Necrozma's maw dropped open, a single bead of light within sucking the energy from the world around it, a dark corona pulsing at its edges where nothing could escape. Yes, she'd missed this power, had almost forgotten what it could be like. She could obliterate this sorry universe. She'd burn this sky.

The Pokemon sprang forward as the light gathering in her jaws billowed so bright it took on a green tinge. Dark, draconic, twitching phantoms. They struck her newly reformed body before she could think to dodge, and the bead steamed between her teeth, interrupted.

Necrozma struck back.

The fight shook the city to its core. She wanted to smash these little creatures to dust, but her newly new body didn't obey every command, and so they slipped between her strikes. They shielded the girl at every turn and circled back to rip pieces off of their god, shredded the divine light baking them raw. She blazed hotter. She would burn them all to nothing.

Something within shifted. Her insides slipped, fell out of place. Horror bloomed at the sensation all too familiar. She had not healed the bleeding, merely overloaded it with too much light to make a difference until over time. She was still broken.

Necrozma whirled, flinging the Pokemon aside. Bleached, burned, they hobbled away. If she killed the human, they would flee too.

The girl stood by the far steps, a red striped beast towering before her. Unflinching, the girl raised her arms; the giant cat mimicked her. Something that could rival Necrozma herself glimmered. Something so familiar.

There, on the girl's crossed wrist. The pinprick star she'd been searching for, that had been calling for her through the portal. A brilliant crystal, perfectly faceted, glimmering every color of the rainbow. Necrozma felt the planet tilt sideways in its course. She was never supposed to gaze upon this macabre sight, but had too many times, replayed in every nightmare, watching her halved brain shatter over and over and over and over and-

The Pokemon's eyes and paws blazed, aglow like it was aflame, in light that should never have belonged to it. Darkness gathered, blackening the stripes of its paws. It surged forward, bounded toward prey, with murder in its eyes, and death on its claws-

She could do nothing as it struck her, and at first she didn't even feel the shockwave of the blow. Then came the dark pulse, the hungry vacuum, eating away at her body, churning great chunks of her away to dissipate into nothing. A blow she could not recover from.

Necrozma's blitzed spine crumpled. She shrieked, wings blown wide to the sky, burning like a dying star. She steamed light like a smothered fire. She felt the cold, the unbearable cold, creeping back into her, watched her armor turn black. It had been so long, not again, not again-

She fell to the ground. Even before she hit it she was clawing forward, feet scrambling, wings and tail lashing, getting every last use out of her decaying body. She lunged for this human girl, this human girl using her own lost body against her, to strike her down yet again, make her cold-

Just a little further. just a little further. just a little further just a little

she collapsed

the light she held felt eager to flee. it flowed out in rivers, ejecting from her like it was dying to be there. by the time she skidded to a stop before the girl, not a photon left within her, she was a black husk again, in pieces

as her parts feebly magnetized again blue light basked over her, cool and reflective. the lunala rose, gasping for breath, great wings flaring. so she hadn't killed the creature. she was too weak to reclaim it, and if it would just leave again-

with the last of her strength, with a steep price of power, she ripped a hole in the sky. a portal to take her anywhere from here

—

the snow beneath was so warm. so frigid was her empty body that even the frost provided comfort where she crumpled, a black hole in the center of the crater she formed from defacing this mountain with impact

over the ridge. came a someone. who looked upon her. in her mourning

how much more would they take from her?

she raised a claw, to shield whatever would come

no impact. just a tap on her carapace. instead of pain, came silence. she knew the inside of man's inventions

—

Churning high above their budding world, they consulted, white and gold overlapping.

Arceus asked if she was satisfied. Not out of self-consciousness, or nervousness that he'd done wrong. He knew he did not perfectly, but as fairly as he could have. He asked because he valued what she thought. Of all entities, she was the oldest.

Necrozma responded that she was. Of all hypotheticals, cyclical balance was most mathematically viable. The systems worked, and would endlessly. They lived. They died. They lived again. And despite their absolute power, no mortal should have to fear the original two. The playing field simply wouldn't be fair.

Arceus, ever careful, lacked so much of his gifted primordial power. But even then he outclassed every other thing combined, including his bride. The universe would collapse on a passing whim of his. But she felt no fear. From him, she knew the moral truth. They should never hurt or exploit a creature baser than they. In order for this grand design to work, that one truth must remain.

He said he would dwell among the earth's inhabitants, see it all from the ground up. He forever sought ways to humble himself. Even if it meant hiding, making himself unreachable.

No gap in time could separate them truly. They were the first, and they would be the last. Arceus hid and slept among the mountains, needing rest. Necrozma traveled through each world, illuminating each new and exciting find. She settled in her favorite. She thought she could burn there forever.

Though he would rest, she gave him her blessing. He always knew where to find her: where the universe shone brightest.

—

she floated in a dream

the ball. pokeball. stasis stemmed the bleeding's flow but didn't replenish it. she could hold onto her thoughts a little clearer here. dignity could rest for now because at least the pain wasn't rising

a new blue thought. young heavily influenced but still divine

Grandmother.

wanted quiet

Grandmother.

I predate you. I am ancient. I'll devour you.

I can help you, Grandmother.

You are no grandchild of mine.

You're in pain.

and there is nothing you can do about it but give me everything

I understand who you are now. You want light? I can give it to you. I am the moon's messenger, going where I please. It's nothing compared to what you used to be. A reflection. But for a time, I can let you borrow it.

I want it. No borrowing.

It would kill me, Grandmother.

Let it.

the mind withdrew

there was only enough room to rest. to rest, and try not to focus on the pain

rest wouldn't come; a new mind emerged. it was impossibly young impossibly naive and low to the dirt. she'd heard it booming across her psyche and feared it. this was the dark presence that had chased her into the megalopolis, had issued a challenge greater than a legendary could?

how was it here, in her own mind? no child of giratina could do this

Necrozma. My name is Moon.

her old brain would have burned the human raw but her current one was as nothing. it was insulting that a mortal could safely encroach into her ancient mind without going mad. what was left swirled with thought

How are you like this, child? You draw close through Pokemon power, yet are human.

A long story that doesn't affect us now. You are Necrozma?

Am. Was. Will be. Still. There is only one of me. Unrecognizable as I am.

I didn't expect you to respond like that, that's all. You're more coherent than I expected.

Costs everything, just to think.

I see the pain you're in, and so does Nebby. We do want to help you. We can ease your pain for a little bit if you let yourself fuse with her, and not eat her.

the novelty outshone the lightlust

I hunger. I cannot stop. I must outpace the bleeding. One Lunala is as nothing. With her . . .

Who are you searching for?

the human sensed what she wanted, somehow. a psychic human. how unprecedented, she wanted to tell . . .

I try to remember, but it slips away. An original. My original. Something.

How are you broken?

the cracks in her shattered lobe, widening, exposing black beneath. the snick of her bisected brain matter

with grim understanding. The prism is your brain, and they sliced it in two. They lobotomized you.

I do not know this word. Perhaps I did, once . . . little stays, more slips away. Can't tell what is left. The more it bleeds, the less remains, the less I become. I want to sleep.

Please think about what I offered. I saw what you remembered, just now. Maybe we can help you.

Found it. Found it already. for she knew exactly what that glittering perfect shard was. she knew the second she saw it. whatever remained of her missing lobe had been smoothed over like a pebble in a stream, repurposed, formed anew. she had longed for it for eternity, but would never have it back. it was too changed. still she begged. Sitting on your wrist. Give it back.

I know . . . we call them Z-Crystals. I promise, I didn't know what they were. Not until now.

Give it back.

I don't know how.

Give me back. Give me back. Put me back. Arceus-

Arceus?

. . . Husband?

silence returned so she tried to sleep. it hurt to remember now, in a warm way instead of cold

You're looking for Arceus. If I bring you to him, can he heal you?

who was he? white and gold, metal and flesh, everything and nothing at once. darkness before her blinding genesis. nebulas swirling around her tail, the first thing she ever saw. so, so long ago it was. she remembers it like a dream

He created all, child.

And he can recreate you?

Yes. with conviction now. Yes.

Then I'll bring you to him.

trespasser you will burn

Why?

You shouldn't be living like this.

Why you? What stake . . . have you in this. I tried to kill you.

a pause. I've learned recently that people do odd things when they're in pain.

people . . . once was, never will be again. may be again. maybe

You'd fix me?

Yes, and for nothing in return. sensed suspicion. You don't have to worry. I'm not trying to get on your good side. I just want to do the right thing. In the meantime, let Nebby and me help you.

no dignity no reason left to fight it. how could it get any worse?

Moon. Do this and- watching the earth turn far below -light shall shine through you always.

the mind was warm as it withdrew

necrozma finally began to fall asleep. she was spent, exhausted, but helpless . . . perhaps not anymore. she dared to think that when she woke she'd have something to look forward to

in the dark it glowed bright

hope

—

This might be the weirdest fic I have ever written, but I wanted to experiment with using format and grammar to tell a story alongside the words. The reason for the ...,... all over that one part is because it's supposed to be Necrozma's head, and FFnet, as much as I love it, refuses to keep that many spaces so that the words can float on their own. So I had to give it some structural support! It looks a little uglier, but you gotta do what you gotta do. End result: head.

Necrozma is my new favorite legendary, hands DOWN. The whole concept of a fallen god is SO cool. I'm really into the idea of Necrozma being this stupidly ancient and stupidly powerful entity, a kind of primordial bride of the original god (Arceus). She's the second-oldest thing in the entire universe. I REALLY want Necrozma to have some kind of happy ending by being restored, so I wrote in that possibility!

More housekeeping: This Moon is Psychic type, despite being human. It's an offscreen detail that could not be fully explored here, but it still affects the story. If you wanna see why or hear more, check out the Innocence series my girlfriend and I share! Our Psychic Moon is bomb, and she will show up in Innocence relatively soon. You can find it on AO3 by Saphruikan and MsRenai21.

If you've made it this far and didn't get turned off by all the fancy junk, let me know what you thought worked, or what didn't work!