DISCLAIMER: As awesome as it sounds, I don't own Pokemon or am affiliated with Game Freak or Nintendo in any way.

Well, even I can't believe I managed to force myself to grind this out, if only to give myself something to do. What I didn't tell you in the summary was that this is actually based off an in-game event. Not the most original fic ever to grace the site, but heck, the thing just fascinated me. So, I wrote this!

In any case, as a lot of people on this site like, it'd be awesome if you, the reader, could notify me of any mistakes you find here, be they spelling, grammar, or just something that doesn't make much sense or is not clear. I read through this myself a couple of times well before I posted it, but I can always miss something.

Enough of my rambling. Enjoy the story!

The Forge of the Gods

Jimmy wrapped his coat tighter around himself as he reached out a hand to open the Poke Centre's door. Arceus, it was cold this year! Though it probably wasn't a good idea to say that particular word any more...

The Nurse Joy at the desk smiled warmly at him as he entered. "Hello there, young man."

He gave a wonky smile in return. "Evening to you too. Bloody freezing out there."

"Of course." She nodded understandingly. "Now, may I help you?"

He pulled six Pokeballs from his belt. "Yeah, I just needed you to heal these guys..."

He waited briefly as she healed them and gave his thanks after she had finished. Then he left again, the light blizzard outside nipping at any exposed skin. Grumbling with annoyance, he quickened his pace, heading for the lonely ridge overlooking Blackthorn City.

----

After reaching the cliffside and sitting down on a snow-covered bench (and sweeping as much of the snow off of it as he could), Jimmy sat down, trying to huddle down and conserve as much heat as he could while he waited. Reluctantly pulling his arm out of his other sleeve and ignoring how his hand practically iced over in the wind, he checked the time on his Poketch. The time was… 14:58… now 14:59. Fifty-nine... fifty-eight...

Cursing himself for actually arriving early in that kind of weather, Jimmy stuffed his hands back into his sleeves and closed his eyes, trying and failing to forget the chilly air around him.

Fifty seconds.

Jimmy had come to the most north-east part of Johto to meet up with a friend. He'd personally agreed to show the newcomer around himself, as inexperienced as he was with the region.

Forty seconds.

Specifically, Jimmy had in mind to show him the more ancient parts of the country first. It might jog his memory somehow.

Thirty seconds.

Yes, the friend was indeed very old, and had laughed when Jimmy had brought up the courage to shyly point that out to him when the duo had first met above Spear Pillar. He'd told him, "That's an understatement, my friend." Then he'd proceeded to expertly strike up a chat.

Twenty seconds.

The rest of the conversation had mainly been about telling the person all about the new regions he'd missed while he'd been slumbering. After bringing up the subject of an area known as the Ruins of Alph, however, and their translation in the more ancient dialect of the Unown (which Jimmy was quite proud to know a little of), the being had looked startled at the name, and then mentioned that he had heard of the name before, but could not place a picture on it, and shortly after requested to be shown it in person. So thus began Jimmy's arduous journey back to his home country.

Ten seconds. Far above and off the ridge, a small section of sky swirled and brightened as divine energies warped the surroundings into a suitable medium for matter to travel through. Jimmy glanced boredly up at it at first, and then stood straight up as he saw what it was.

Who was this being?

The light split down the middle as a brilliantly illuminated Pokemon materialised from the portal. It flew in a curved arc at first, but then quickly accelerated feet-first at the snowy ground in front of Jimmy. It smashed into the ground on all fours, sending another freezing blizzard at the boy, who gave a quick, "Woah!" before rolling clumsily behind the bench he'd just been on.

As the snow cleared, more details could be seen. The creature stood at a commanding three metres tall. Its down was a bright white colour, with a grey, vertically-striated underside. Four long legs ended in four pointed golden hooves. At the front of its body, a long neck extended straight up, supporting the head of the Pokemon. A long mane flowed out from the its back, its underside decorated again with the striped pattern similar to its belly. The face had no mouth, nose or any other extremities bar the eyes, two semi-circular orbs jutting out from the under the top of the mask, smoothly shifting from side to side as they observed the environment around its host. Then they locked onto the recovered Jimmy, carefully peeking out from over the bench. His face somehow managed to achieve the feat of looking both awed and unimpressed at the same time.

Who was this being?

"

Oh, hello, Jimmy," Arceus greeted.

----

"Did you really have to do that fl-flashy stuff when you g-got h-here?"

"Well, if you're a god, you may as well come in style, no?"

"Show off. And y-you could have just teleported there anyway! No fuss, no chance of being s-seen. W-why do you insist on w-w-wasting my time like I-I'm just some kind of dust on your feet- er, hooves, or... or something..."

After patiently listening on the ridge to the annoyed Jimmy rant on about the potential consequences of getting caught by some conveniently placed gang member (slim as they were) increasing exponentially after using ridiculously over-the-top entrance sequences like the one Arceus had just used, the god had mockingly blinked, cocked his head and queried as to what the Abyss he'd been talking about. Jimmy looked as if he was about to rip his hair out in frustration at his friend's winding up, so the god had chuckled and teleported the two to the nearby location of Mt. Silver. It wasn't much warmer, if Jimmy's relentless chattering was any indication, but at least it wasn't snowing inside.

"... and I r-r-rant on about all that stuff-ff-ff, about what a stupid idea all that showboating was, and you ignore it, stupid as you are... ugh... cramp..." The boy sat down on the bare rock, wrapping his body around himself in an attempt to keep warm.

Arceus walked up behind Jimmy and knelt down, sharing his body warmth with the boy. "I admit, it was immature of me. I'll try not to worry you again like that."

"Key word there being try..." Jimmy fidgeted and embedded himself a little further into Arceus' fur, relishing the warmth he provided. "Alright... so, like, how should I do this little guided tour of yours, then?"

The god turned his head away to look at an interesting stalactite formation twenty metres to their left. "... do you have a map of some sort, young one? We should start with what this place looks like so I can recall it easier."

"Eh, gimme' a sec'. It's on here somewhere..." Jimmy stabbed a few buttons on his Poketch, brusquely flipping through the channels. He stopped and loaded a photo of a point on the map when it had appeared, and held it up for the Pokémon to look at. It wasn't a particularly big display, so the boy had to hold it up quite far to give Arceus the best look. The Pokémon's eyes squinted at it curiously.

"I still cannot fathom how much technology has evolved since before my sleep..." he murmured. "But yes, I see that now. The Ruins of Alph, you say? I knew that temple when it was still under construction several thousand years ago..."

Jimmy sighed in relief and leaned back. "Well, that was easier than I thought it'd be. Er, finding out where you need to go, that is."

"And now you just need to escort me there!" Arceus finished cheerily.

The boy spluttered and choked. "W-wait, you mean I have to take you there too?!"

"What, you think I can go to a place that might have immensely changed in appearance over the past millennia?" Arceus tone had darkened considerably. "I could end up teleporting us thirty feet underground, and then we would both be history. Humans can be so dim sometimes. Come on, get up, you've a long trek ahead of you."

Jimmy gawked at the impossible revelation. "B-but, I just– we– I…"

Arceus suddenly burst into hysterical laughter, much to his bewilderment. "Oh, I was joking, young one… you should have seen your expression…"

Jimmy stared at the bizarre excuse for a being of Creation for several seconds, then groaned loudly and elbowed the Pokémon hard in the side. Arceus didn't even stop laughing before he teleported the duo away, out of the cavern.

----

As soon as the two exited the space-time tunnel, Jimmy winced and was forced to squint at the intense light bearing down on him for above. Waiting for his eyes to adjust to the glare, he opened them a fraction, and was not entirely surprised to see that the dark confines of the cave had gone, to be replaced with the cracked and mossy façade of the Ruins of Alph. Opening his eyes fully, Jimmy blinked round at the tall stone buildings surrounding them before shrugging and turning to Arceus.

Arceus had stood up on all fours again and was glancing around at each building in turn, muttering words and phrases in the Unown language as he did so. Jimmy was able to vaguely understand some of the words but all the rest was said much too fast for him to catch. Finally the god seemed to come to a conclusion and looked back at Jimmy.

"Oh, hello," he greeted again. "I recognise these buildings, Jimmy. I've definitely been here before."

Inside, Jimmy's sarcastic little voice gave a small 'Woo-bloody-hoo', but he wisely decided to keep it to himself. "Okay. Which means my tour's already over then?"

"Technically yes," he confirmed lightly. "I could probably recall most of the continent from here. Though… " He cocked his head and stared at Jimmy intently. "… you might want to stay anyway…"

"Why's that?"

Arceus stared at him a moment longer, then shook his head. "On second thoughts, dismiss that thought. You might not take it too well."

Jimmy shrugged. "Alright then. Well, if you don't mind, I'll just be going now…"

"Is that Arceus?"

"Eh?" Jimmy spun round on his heel to see a man dressed in well-worn explorer kit staring open-mouthed at Arceus, utterly in awe. In his left hand he was holding a toothbrush, for reasons Jimmy didn't know.

"Oh, hello," Arceus greeted. "Yes, my name is Arceus. Is there a complaint you'd like to file about it?"

"It talks?"

"It's actually telepathy. As you can see, I don't really have a mouth to actually talk with-"

"HEY!" Jimmy yelled, annoyed at being left out. "Who are you?"

The man seemed to try and compose himself. "Very sorry about that outburst. I'm… a scientist working here in the Ruins. I was on my way back for lunch when I found you two. We generally just study the cartography of the place, try and find out its secrets and such…"

"Hopefully without wrecking it, I suppose?" Arceus spoke up. It was difficult to tell whether he was being sarcastic or not.

The scientist held up his hands. "Oh, Arceus n- er, no, we don't. We'd never do that. It goes against our entire convention."

Jimmy glanced between the two, then slowly began backing away. "Well, you two can… keep chatting, then. I don't want to spoil your fun or anything…"

"Wait a minute, Jimmy." Arceus tone had been somewhat different this time. It was spoken almost like a command. Leaning in to the scientist slightly, he said, "Have you deciphered the glyphs in the western-most crypt yet?"

The man looked offended. "Well, of course we have! It's the biggest building in the ruins, you'd think we'd suspect there was something important about it."

"Can you take us there?"

"Yeah, sure. I haven't locked the building up yet, so I could spare a minute."

"A minute is all I'll need. Thank you."

As the man turned around and hurriedly jogged to a particularly large ruin nearby, Arceus glanced at Jimmy. "Come, young one. You might want to see this."

----

The foreboding statues on one side of the dark hall didn't reassure Jimmy that he wanted to see it at all, but Arceus didn't appear to notice his discomfort, instead floating ahead in front them, eyes scanning the hieroglyph-coated walls as if searching for something. The god had been generous enough to use Flash briefly, casting odd shadows on the worn stone.

The two humans and ethereal being quietly slithered through the narrow halls for a few minutes, before Arceus then perked up and beckoned to the two.

"There," he squeaked excitedly, landing and trotting over to a particular section of the wall, eyes flitting up and down the symbols. "Here is what I was talking about."

The wall looked considerably more elegant than the rest of the sections (though that still wasn't saying much), but Jimmy couldn't really decipher the words engraved on them. There seemed to be much fewer than usual. The scientist, though, seemed to know what they said, evidenced when he leaned in and started reciting them.

"Here lies the gateway to the beginning of time, space, and balance," he muttered. "The gods await on the something stage… and that's the end of the text. We still haven't figured out that missing word, though." He gave an apologetic shrug.

Jimmy frowned. "But isn't that the symbol for three? And then there's another symbol after it."

"I thought the same thing at first," he said sheepishly, "but stage isn't in plural, so it can't be a number."

"But it is. Well, nearly." Arceus glanced down at the scientist. "It is the Mystri Stage."

He blinked. "Mystri? Well, that explains a lot… but why the association with three?"

"Why else?" Arceus shrugged as best he could with his forelegs. "It is associated with the dragon trio."

He gawked openly. "You mean Palkia, Dialga and Giratina are waiting there-?"

"Oh no!" The god chuckled. "Only one of them, and only when I'm there."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that that is the place where I create one of that trio."

Both men stared at the Pokémon. "You… create them?" Jimmy managed to get out.

"Yes." He gave the illusion of a raised eyebrow by narrowing one eye. "There will always be situations where two of the kind meet, and the end is always a bloodthirsty deathmatch. It's in their nature to battle, I suppose. This is where I form them again should their bodies be destroyed, since their spirit never dies."

"Wow…" The man seemed dreamy. "Imagine the other stuff we could learn from you…"

"You probably will never get the chance," he said sagely. "If I may, I would like to ask you to leave now, sir. You've been a great help, but everyone needs their lunch eventually."

"I am kinda' hungry…" He glanced at the god suspiciously. "Are you going to be doing something in here while I'm gone?"

"We won't be in here much longer, I assure you," Arceus suddenly laughed as if at a joke. "Oh, I'm so good at those…"

"So good at what?" he asked cluelessly.

"You get used to it," Jimmy said deleteriously. "He's like a ten-sided dice. Just about how many different moods he's got. And he changes between them faster than Deoxys Speed Forme…"

The scientist blinked at the strange description, but then rolled his eyes, smiled and raced back the way they had come. Probably to just go blab the word that Arceus is here to all the world, he thought cynically.

Arceus recovered from his laughing fit. "Jokes aside, Jimmy. I've got a preposition for you. How would you like to be in possession of a legendary?"

Jimmy wasn't fooled. "Oh, stop pulling my leg already. You humour's bad enough as it is."

The equine being just stared back. "I'm not joking."

Jimmy's frown faded. "You're joking."

"No, I'm not."

"But surely you must be."

"Again, no, I'm not. And don't call me Shirley."

His mouth fell open for the third time in an hour. "Me? Having a legend? You serious?"

"Yes."

"Dude…" Jimmy was speechless. "But… which one are you offering?"

"One of the trio. Whichever you want. Wait," he added, seeing Jimmy about to protest. "There will be no danger posed to you by your choice. Captured Pokémon are always more docile and friendly than wild ones. They will not turn their reality bending powers on you. You have my word."

"Uhh…" Jimmy was still skeptical. "Can you prove this? I mean, this is serious business…"

"If you're still doubtful, then hang on. I'm going to teleport us again. From what it sounds like, the Mystri Stage has already been discovered and is still being researched by humans. They can confirm it for me. Ready?"

"Okaaaay…" He didn't get to say anything else before Arceus again spirited away the duo far up north of Johto.

----

"Holy-!" Jimmy had barely materialised back into him usual form before he was wracked with a huge blast of cold air, colder even than the weather at Blackthorn. He mentally reminded himself to never go on wild up-north trips during the winter season, but the thought was quickly overrun by the need for warmth.

The two had appeared in again, a cavern, but instead of vast impressive stalagmites and curvy rock walls marking the more natural side of excavations, the room he was in was clearly made of well-cut brick, with the occasional column still standing to hold the roof up. Two terraces took up the ground space. Jimmy was in the lower terrace, but could only see a vague design etched into the upper one, and a flight of short steps to get to it.

Arceus was glancing around the room warily, recognition dawning in his eyes. "Ah, this brings memories back. That floor over there-" He gestured with a hoof towards the raised tier. "-was where I stood during the creation process. Very emblematic, don't you think?"

"I can't even see the top of it very well."

"If you agree to this," he replied, "then you will. Well, you'd probably get to see it even if you didn't anyway. No sense wasting your visit here, eh?"

"Okay..." Jimmy glanced around. "No humans, though."

"There's one about to come in through the door behind you, actually."

The boy didn't bother to comment. Looking around behind him, he noticed a dark granite gate framed with snow set into the wall. Right on cue, the stone door groaned on disintegrated hinges as somebody dressed in thick winter uniform pushed it aside to enter. Jimmy had a feeling that he was going to be much like the scientist at the Ruins of Alph, as a researcher. Unlike the scientist, however, the man was carrying a hefty rucksack on his back that bulged with all sorts of measuring devices, like tape measures and surveying tripods. Much like the scientist, though, after carefully shutting the door behind him and turning around, he proceeded to stare open-mouthed at Arceus.

The god chuckled lightly. "Oh, hello. Before you ask, yes, I am Arceus. Goodness, it's almost like people don't expect to see me everyday..."

Jimmy waved dryly. "And yeah, he's always this stupid, too. We'll just let you get over your silent streak and leave and let you believe it was all a dream now..."

"I like to think it as eccentric, actually." Arceus commented thoughtfully, though he remained silent after that.

Coughing to regain as much of his sanity as possible, the hiker spoke up. "Well, this is... a honour to meet yis', uh, Mister... Arceus."

"It's no problem, good sir," he said cheerfully, as oblivious as ever to the havoc he was causing in the poor man's mind.

"Jus' call me Derrick," he said, apparently trying to at least cut the stammering from his voice.

"Pleased to meet you, Derrick!" Arceus dropped his voice to a more serious tone. "Now, I have a question. Are you the lead researcher here, in these ruins?"

"Naw, that'd be left to Miss Shirona," he told them. Then he blinked. "Er, I forgot to ask... why are you here?"

"All in good time." Arceus' hooved clacked against the floor at he walked over to the doorway. "Not to sound officious, but I'm afraid your research will have to wait for a while. You'll have to return to your headquarters. Where is Miss Shirona located right now?"

Derrick grunted a little at having his experiments postponed, but said, "In the cabin, just down the path right outside. You can't miss it. How long are you going to take with... whatever you plan to do?"

"It could take a few minutes or an hour. Difficult to tell, really." Arceus beckoned to Jimmy, who had long ago reconciled himself with the fact that he was invisible. "Jimmy! Stop staring into space and come!"

The overburdened teen groaned as loudly as possible and facepalmed. This just gets better and better...

----

On second thoughts, maybe this really is getting better...

Derrick had pounded his way through the massive snowdrift that had piled up outside the Mystri cavern (to Jimmy's implacable horror) and guided the two to a humble little log cabin built in a natural alcove of the cliff. Arceus had been content to sit outside for the time being, as he was much too tall to fit through the doorway, so the other two entered alone. The gentle, soothing warmth that tingled over Jimmy as he entered was enough to entice a sigh of relief from him and slump down into the nearest chair to the fire that was burning in the mantle. He was so enraptured with the heat of the place that he failed to notice the room's other two occupants.

"I see you found a straggler, Derrick. Where'd you get him?"

Summoning the energy from deep within himself to glance up and behind him, Jimmy was more than surprised to see none other than the Sinnoh champion Cynthia sitting in another chair at the table, smiling warmly. A book was sitting on her lap, evidently still being read, and a mug of steaming hot chocolate was resting on the tabletop, which was almost enough to get Jimmy salivating at its scent. Forcing himself reluctantly to look away, he then noticed Cynthia's Garchomp curled up on the floor next to the fire, dozing peacefully.

Derrick grinned. "In the cave. But I tell ya', he ain't nothing compared to this other person I found..."

"Tell me later." Cynthia put her book back down on the desk and turned in her seat to face the newcomer as Derrick walked into a back room and left the two alone. "Well, if it isn't Jimmy! I thought I'd left you behind in Sinnoh. Who did you upset to get sent back home so soon?"

He raised a finger wearily. "One mean, nasty, son-of-a-"

"There are kids reading this, you know," Cynthia suddenly scolded, eyes disapproving. "Cut out the language."

Jimmy didn't get what she meant at all, but chose not to question it and continued, "So, I annoyed this guy, right, and he persuades me to come back all over here, right, first to the middle of a stupid snowstorm and then a cave that isn't much better, right. And then we go to those ruins of Alpha or something, and then he sends us here, right. In a nutshell, I'm sure you know."

Cynthia chuckled at his ill temper. "Well, somebody sure set the Hoothoot to go off at the wrong time."

"Whatever." Jimmy went back to warming his hands on the fire, though he kept his head inclined towards her. "Okay, I'm done. What are you doing here?"

She spread her hands affectionately. "What can I say? You know me a little, Jimmy. I love ancient history. It tells us so much about who we are, how we came to be and why. I'm fascinated with myths. It's only natural that I came here eventually." She nodded at him once. "In fact, you were part of the reason that I decided to come here and help in the research effort. It reminded me of better times, when it was just me and history. I'd spent too long in Sinnoh. Being a champion is fun at first, if you don't mind the constant fanboys all clamouring for an autograph, but..." She shrugged. "Well, you never have much time to really go out of your way and do something you like."

"Ravishing," Jimmy muttered. It was rude, he knew, but he wanted to get back to warming by the fire. As much as possible until Arceus decided to step in, of course...

"Oh, hello."

"Aw, crud..."

The first one was said by - speak of the devil - Arceus, who had suspiciously chosen that exact moment to step in. Or rather, poke his head partially through the doorway. The second was obviously said by Jimmy, who had lost all faith in lady luck as we know it and had buried his head in his hands.

Cynthia almost stared open-mouthed at Arceus, but seemed to catch herself after considering how overused it was, and smiled politely instead. "Greetings to you too, Arceus. I wasn't expecting you, of all Pokemon."

"I was expecting you to gawk at me, to be honest," he admitted. "How did you know how many times people have done that?"

Cynthia clicked her tongue and pointed at a suspiciously empty patch of air that totally isn't where a sheet of glass or see-through plastic should be. "Screen-peeking."

"... uh, I beg your pardon?" For once, Arceus seemed totally floored.

"Nothing!" She laughed and indicated Jimmy. "Well, I think that the reason you brought yourselves here had better be good to justify his suffering."

"Jimmy was suffering? I had no idea," he said innocently. "Though I would like to think that this reason of mine is more than worth it. For Jimmy, at least."

"Fair enough. What is the reason, then?"

"You call me the being of creation, yes?" At Cynthia's nod, and skilfully passing over a sarcastic remark from Jimmy, he continued. "Then you have heard of me periodically initiating the process of creating a new god of the basic building blocks of the Universe?"

"I've heard plenty of it..." Her eyes widened. "But surely you aren't going to create one for Jimmy...?"

He nodded. "I am. And stop calling me Shirley."

"You think he can handle it?"

"Miss Shirona, you are talking to what is quintessentially the beginning of existence and you're handling it pretty well. And he's the only one who didn't even consider staring open-mouthed, for that matter. I think he is."

"You do have a point..." she mused. "When are you going to do it?"

"Right now. I don't want to take too much time out of his journey." Arceus tilted his head slightly towards the back room door. "And I'm not as selfish as he thinks, either. Have you got any warm clothing he could wear so he doesn't have to constantly chatter his teeth like a woodpecker?"

"I'm still sitting right here, you know," Jimmy reminded them, though gratitude was present in his voice at Arceus's request.

Cynthia smiled kindly. "Poor sod. I'll be back in a second." She dashed through the doorway, long gold hair flying out behind her. While she was gone, the teenager turned to grin wearily at the god. "Hey."

The equine regarded him solemnly. "Yes?"

"You really know how to piss somebody off sometimes... but you ain't that bad. You actually ain't that bad."

If Arceus had a face worthy of expression, he would have been beaming right then and there. "Why, thank you, little Jimmy."

---

Seven minutes and twenty-four seconds afterwards, and in much more suitable clothing in the human's case, the trio of Champion, god and Pokémon trainer were standing again in the room of the Mystri stage. Now that he had some time to properly look at it, Jimmy now noticed a brilliant and intricate pattern on the triangularly shaped platform – a dark grey circle was overlaid by three bluer circles. All three of these had a single point on the edge, and all were pointing in the exact same direction, which was roughly north-east. All three each had a unique design also – the north one had another triangle inside, which itself was split into three more triangles, creating a 3D illusion. The south-east one had a central circle surrounded by a blank band, which was separated into six sections by thick lines. The final south-west one had six regular trapeziums arranged around a central hexagon. All of the lines on the runes were glowing with a faint, but unmissable yellow glow.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Arceus said proudly. "I designed it myself."

"It is indeed," Cynthia agreed, "but it's not just decorative. Jimmy, do you know what these blue circles here are for?"

Jimmy frowned in thought. It was to do with the dragon trio, wasn't it? That was what Arceus had said it was. But which was which...

Recalling two life-size statues in Eterna city when he had been in Sinnoh, he then remembered seeing the south-eastern circle's design somewhere before. Concentrating, he then realised that it was the pattern of Palkia's shoulder-mounted pearls. Looking at the south-western one, he then realised that that was the shape of Dialga's embedded diamond. He didn't know what the north one was from...

... or did he? Giratina was the last member of the trio. But he could never remember seeing anything resembling a triangle on it when he'd looked at modern reconstructions or the fragmented pieces of paper of the god of the afterlife on it.

"I'll bet you he's thinking about how the triangle fits in Giratina's visage, I just know it," Arceus joked.

Jimmy snorted. "Yeah, I hate you too. I know two of them – Dialga's and Palkia's, so the third has to be Giratina's, right?"

"Yes," Cynthia confirmed. "The triangle's is generally considered to be from his Origin Forme's body, not his Altered one."

"Oh. Right." Jimmy then grimaced. "So... now I have to pick one, considering that I'm going to be going through with this, huh?"

Arceus did not say anything at first, but examined Jimmy thoughtfully. Finally he said, "Choose wisely," and fell silent again.

Easier said than done... "What should I use to decide which one to pick?"

Cynthia pursed her lips. "I was thinking the same thing. I say the one that will benefit you the most in the long run. It is, after all, your decision."

He frowned. "Would balance be a benefit?"

"Yes." She grinned. "What can I say? You get battle knowledge and advice to score that blue-haired girl I see you a lot with."

Jimmy rolled his eyes rather than scowling. "You could use them too, from the looks of it."

"He's not in denial..." Arceus said, in a comical sing-song voice. "Ahem. Back on track. Is Giratina your choice, then?"

"... yes." As he said the final authorising word, he felt a pang of nervousness.

He nodded. "Very well, then. Stand in front of Giratina's circle."

Jimmy complied, still feeling uneasy at the coming event.

Cynthia hurriedly scooted over to the top of the stairs to watch the event while Arceus stood right in the middle of the triangle. Without waiting for confirmation of her safety, he glared up at the ceiling in a triumphant pose, and the entire cavern darkened considerably.

Then, Arceus roared, a feature which Jimmy had previously thought to be impossible, and the entire world blurred and was blasted away.

Before the boy's brain had sufficient time to try and make sense of the kaleidoscope of colour in front of him, it gathered itself into a recognisable form and a beautiful picture of a sun flared into existence, taking up his entire field of view, nearly blinding him. He stared at it in awe for a moment, but then the picture faded, the colours shifting to replace it with another picture, this of a grand solar eclipse, noticeably ringed by a brilliant corona. His brow furrowed at what the images could have meant, but yet that faded too, the picture of the sun returning, though with much more colour from the spectrum.

The image flashed this time and vanished, this time remaining in darkness but for a single floating crescent shaped eye, slowly travelling the extent of Jimmy's vision, and then jolting and focusing right on him. Jimmy was tempted to shiver, and glanced down at himself, only to find that he could not see his body. He could still feel the sensations they felt, but he couldn't see them...

The eye narrowed coldly, but then blinked into a more satisfied kind of expression and faded as well. Another image materialised, but it was an impossibly vast image of the cosmos now. A nebula of new young stars towered in the distance, eons away, their glow casting a blue light on the scene. Looking around he could see a near infinite map of similar nebulas around him. The next image to succeed it was a massive star-strewn sky, a red cloud of galactic material visible in the centre. As he watched, the image animated, and brilliant flare of light emanating from one tiny spot inside. Recalling what he'd learnt from the occasional observatory he'd visited, Jimmy realised that he was witnessing the birth of a new star, as gas was crushed together and began to fuse and release light.

Another light appeared, far brighter than the one before, and the image was gone after it faded. In its place was a blue egg-shaped stellar object. The light of several fully formed stars was easily visible within. Even before this one had a chance to move, the image shifted to the final nebula, which was a great disc of dust and matter with one colossal, impossibly luminous object in the centre, holding it all in orbit. A second star was just visible at its side, orbiting in a simple circle around its parent. Planets were discernible amongst the great tangle of material, their new surfaces hot and far from hospitable for life.

This image lasted over a full minute, enrapturing the boy in its majesty. Then, completely at random, the image vanished. What replaced it was no image of space, but a simple circle.

Then began a series of additions to this circle, almost too fast for Jimmy to follow. Three smaller circles. A circle ringing these four, with three more circles on its circumference. A triangle overlaying that, with a circle at each point. A much larger circle, fitting perfectly onto the triangle, with six tiny circles just inside its boundary. A plain triangle overlaying this. A massive circle also fitting perfectly onto that. The circles at the point of the largest triangle. And before the image could get so complex it would blow his brains out. It flashed and vanished and stopped.

... only to come back again. But there was something different this time. Standing at the centre of the pattern was none other than Arceus, who seemed to be glaring intently... straight up at Jimmy. He shivered, and the equine responded by giving him a sympathetic look for a second. But he just as quickly stopped and resumed glaring at a different portion of the nonexistent ceiling.

A pretty and serene image of a forest came into the background underneath the pattern and Pokemon. Faster than a Ninjask, it faded into another picture of a sunset-laid beach. The sea seemed frozen in time. And so began another parade of images that seemed closer to home than before. A rainbow cresting a hill covered in fields of produce. A sea-blue sky checked with fluffy white clouds slowly making their way across the day. A city of towering skyscrapers stretching towards the horizon. A network of busy interwoven motorways. The gearbox of a car engine. A pair of imposing electricity pylons. Parallel lines of railways. A satellite dish. An image that Jimmy couldn't quite make out – books? A circuit board. A dawn lit image of a forest. A city skyline. A time lapse image of the constellations.

The images' theme changed to that of the forces of nature. A mighty erupting volcano. Lightning fantastically silhouetting a mountain range. A sea of turbulent clouds. Thick, solidifying magma. A magnificent fountain of lava. A great column of ash and dust from a fire. A hurricane sweeping over the island of Hoenn.

The images began flashing more vividly, faster than before. An assortment of blue stars. A microscopic image of human blood. The Sun. Red blood cells quietly mingling amongst themselves.

The fading and changing ceased. It was pitch-black for an unknown length of time... Jimmy couldn't tell how much. But after that time, a close-up image of Arceus was shown, the god still staring upwards. Then his body faded... but his eye remained, exposing it as the same eye that had appeared at the beginning of the dance.

The eye, returned as it was, then slowly lowered to watch Jimmy again. As if its owner's head had nodded, it bobbed once, then winked out of existence.

The scene switched to that of a galaxy. Now it was the eclipse again. No, now it was the Earth. The pattern of the Mystri stage then materialised, fitting the spherical shape of the planet perfectly. Then the Earth very slowly faded from view, as if being dragged into the background. There was silence.

Then a small white egg appeared, right over the Mystri pattern. The design too then faded, following the Earth in its retreat.

The silence resumed for a few more seconds. The egg remained completely still.

And then, that egg cracked, once.

----

Then, the blinding lights stopped.

Jimmy jolted as if stung as his feet suddenly returned to solid ground. The impossibly intricate slideshow ended, and he was back in the Mystri Stage. He stumbled and swayed on his feet and his eyes blinked constantly to accommodate the sudden drop in brightness.

Arceus was still standing motionlessly in the centre of the triangle, gazing upwards, giving no indication that he had moved whatsoever. Cynthia, he noticed, had also remained at the stairs leading up to the stage, her brows raised as she gave alternating glances at the two. Jimmy briefly wondered what exactly had happened, but suddenly, the being of creation gave a loud, painful wretch, and crashed to his knees, panting painfully.

He gasped and rushed forward. "Arceus! Arceus! What happened?!"

The god shook his head, indicating him to stop. "Wait."

There was silence for a few moments, then the light around the Pokémon warped, split into small spheres, and seemed to sink into Arceus' body. Then, the light faded, and Arceus blinked once or twice, radiated amusement, and stood up fully.

Jimmy let out an explosive breath he had unconsciously been holding. "Oh… Recover. Don't do that again, please, you moron…"

"Shh." The god gently nuzzled his head comfortingly against his cranium. "Rest assured that I will warn you when- if I will ever have to perform that task again. I have no wish to put you in danger."

Jimmy considered his words for a second, and then grinned. "Well, it wasn't too bad…" His grin faded. "But… seriously, what happened?"

"See for yourself, Jimmy," he replied, and gestured with a hoof to the back of the cave. He did as he was bade.

The boy gasped.

Lying flat on its stomach, on the top point of the triangle, was what would best be described as a giant serpentine... thing. It head seemed to have no mouth, and instead what appeared to be dark gold armour framed its head, tapering to a sharp point at its front, while closed eyes rolled under a small golden faceplate. It body was long and sinuous, striped with luminous red streaks, golden spikes protruding from the sides. On the back of the beast were six gold protrusions, and from those extended long, black tentacle-like wings, ending in red spikes. The wings appeared to pulse and shift and glitter occasionally, as if made of some form of viscous liquid.

"Arise, Giratina," Arceus commanded.

The eyelids flew open, and the creature – Giratina – snapped its head up, the armour at its front splitting to reveal a concealed mouth, and roared a cry of overwhelming volume. It sounded like the ringing screeches of thousands of Zubat and Golbat, yet much louder and far more intimidating.

Jimmy bit his lip and glanced at Arceus for help. The god was regarding the dragon sadly.

"He's only a newborn," he said quietly. "As there was no soul to occupy his body, I had to create a new one. He's… unfamiliar with the outside world."

Jimmy glanced back at Giratina. The newly created ruler of the Torn World had stopped whimpering, but its eyes continued to roam about the room, desperately trying to absorb as much of its surroundings as possible. The wings at its side were slowly rising up off the floor, and beginning to explore the area around their host, adding to the experience.

He gulped. "W-what do you want me to… do with it?" he asked shakily.

"What you intended to do before Arceus created him," Cynthia put in, striding forward confidently to the duo. She stopped and stared at Jimmy straight in the eye. "Capture him, raise him, battle with him, take care of him…"

"Yes," Arceus said. "You agreed to raise him as I did, Jimmy. You would not go back on your word now, would you?"

He took a deep breath, held it, and exhaled. "No. I won't. I'm not going to go back."

"Then take your Pokeball, and capture him." Arceus' ever-inscrutable expression melded into a rare sympathetic look. Cynthia crossed her arms.

Jimmy nodded, and pulled out a single red-and-white Pokeball. Pulling his arm back, he saw that Giratina had noticed him. It was regarding him with careful eyes, watching him closely. He tossed the ball.

The sphere hit Giratina's middle faceplate with a near-inaudible 'clack', and fell onto the floor. The dragon's eyes widened, blinked, and one thin appendage slowly extended out to touch the ball, curiosity getting the better of it. As soon as it did, its body exploded into red light, condensed, and fell into the open capsule, which clapped shut a moment later. It twitched once, twice, three times, and then a single fading note chimed, signalling Giratina's capture.

Jimmy casually walked forward, aware of Arceus and Cynthia's eyes on his back, and picked up the ball. He stared at it, thinking of the power contained inside.

"Congratulations, Jimmy." There was pride in Arceus' voice. "You have now captured the legendary Giratina."

And that, mes amis, is the end (gratuitious French ftw).

Luckily for me, this is another oneshot, meaning I don't have to update it! Ho ho! Ahem, ignoring my gloating, I'd like to hear your thoughts on how well I recreated the scene. Obviously I edited it a bit in places (Arceus walks into a tiny log cabin in the games. But he's three metres tall!), but suspension of disbelief aside, everything else should be roughly faithful to the game. But everybody makes mistakes.

And I think that's all for now. Hope you enjoyed the read.

Signing off,
grammaguy