From Death to Damnation

Prototype Chapter 8 and Cancellation

A/N: OK… man, I hate doing this. But it hasn't had an update for 6 months, so I think it's time all you readers know what's going on here. This fic has pretty much been… *sighs* abandoned. Don't blame yourselves or think it was from a lack of interest. Truth be told, it's my fault. I've created a narrative that I can't get out of. It's gotten needlessly complex, and contradictory as well. Perhaps the edit I had to make in the first chapter was a sign of it, but if it was, I certainly didn't realize it. I still have interest in this idea, but with the poor way I structured the narrative, my only hope to fix this fic would be to restart the fic. Just look back through the other 7 chapters before this one. It doesn't take a literary expert to see the bind I got myself into. I'm literally at a point with this fic with no hope to undo the massive plot holes and confusion I've made. So… yeah, it's cancelled. This and HM14 started as side projects that would be brief, but anyone who's read HM14 will know how THAT turned out. It's taken me two stories to realize this, but I understand now. I don't have the ability to write a brief 10-chapter kind of fic, because I feel like I'm sacrificing depth. My other major fics (Breaking the Chains, Slaves and Soldiers, Pokémon World Tour) had major pre-planning for them, and at least a general arc planned for them. This fic unfortunately suffered from extremely poor planning and story structure.

However, those who still want a religious-based fic from me shouldn't be too concerned. I plan to write a sequel to Breaking the Chains in the future. And if I can put this story out of the way, I can start pre-planning on BtC's sequel. BtC was a fic I loved doing, so instead of continuing FDtD, my focus will be going to planning BtC's sequel.

But I do feel that I owe you guys some consolation, so here the 'prototype' version of Chapter 8 that I've had in my computer for a while now… and by 'a while', I mean six months.

Palkia stared at the ceiling of the small metal house again. For some reason, it gave him solace amidst all the chaos that happened in Hell. It was really the only thing he could do in Hell anyways. It was the early hours of the morning, or at least that's what it felt like. You had to go with your body clock. There was never a way to truly tell time down here.

"Time…" he said. "Maybe if I had just had some more time back at the Hall, maybe I could've…" he said, stuttering and with his voice starting to rise. Wrath was already starting to influence him, with the day's new beginning.

"This whole mess could've just…!" he continued, his voice building up to as loud as the siren's song itself.

"This is her fault!" he angrily yelled in the back of his head. "All her fault! She's the reason I'm stuck here, fighting to escape fates worse than death! And all I did was try to save all of humanity from a powerful goddess of Pokémon who just turned psycho!"

"I wouldn't be down in this damn place if it weren't for…!" he said, screaming at this point. He also furiously kicked the wall of the small metal house, causing a large dent.

"Screw you, mom!" he screamed, continued his mental war. "She should be down here instead of me! She's the one who should be suffering this torment and this torture! All her fault! All her damn fault! She should just kill herself now so I can have the compensation prize of torturing her myself!"

Armaros woke up abruptly, hearing Palkia unleash a loud string of profanities and vulgarities, with every single one directed at his mother.

"This is only going to get worse. And he's not going to stop." Armaros realized. He didn't want all the commotion Palkia was causing to give Palkia and him away. Reacting quickly, he used the skills he had picked up as an assassin. The strong lizard beast was able to put Palkia in a chokehold, forcing him to stop screaming and start struggling, albeit futilely. Armaros covered his mouth.

"Palkia." he whispered to him as Palkia began to calm. "Day 2 is already getting to you. Look at yourself. Swearing vengeance and vulgarities… you've GOT to get a hold of yourself."

Eventually, Palkia stopped struggling as Armaros released him. Just then, he seemed to recompose himself.

"What… what just happened?" he asked, as if he had just come out of a hypnotic trance. He looked at the large dent in the metal wall. "Did… I do that?"

"Wrath's already starting to try to take you down. This is the day when overflowing thoughts of hatred try to completely consume your mind. And given the fact that you were just swearing vengeance and vulgarities at your mother… you probably have plenty to be mad at."

"I probably do, don't I?" Palkia admitted. "You're the experienced one here. How do YOU keep yourself sane?"

"Well… it helps a lot if you focus on the good times. Thinking happier thoughts can keep you rational in the midst of rage."

"I guess I could try that." Palkia muttered. "But what's the plan for the rest of the day?"

"Me, I'm just going to stay here and meditate." Armaros told him.

"Meditate?"

"Yeah, it's really good for keeping calm, relieving stress, and all of that kind of stuff." he said, straightening his bed and climbing up to sit on it. "Care to join?"

"…No thanks. I'm going to… go for a walk."

Armaros wasn't sure about letting Palkia out by himself in this realm, especially after the violent display he just saw. Still, he reluctantly agreed. "If you say so…" Part of Armaros said to himself that he was going to regret this. He tried to just dismiss the feeling as Palkia departed…

Palkia walked around the local area, the hellish landscapes not making his mood any better.

"I still blame Mom." he thought to himself. "But I can't let wrath get ahold of me again. There must be something I can do."

And so, he started to think, lying against one of the many statues of Lucifer in the main 'plaza'. Thinking turned into pondering. And that pondering turned questioning. Questioning the entire existence of a guy like Lucifer.

"Where did this guy come from? How does this guy even rule this realm? Why does he?"

More questions poured into his head until he asked himself what he considered to be the real question: "…Why should he?" he said, death dripping from his tongue.

Wrath started to regain itself in Palkia's body, veins, and mind. The questioning of Lucifer started to turn into scheming. Scheming against him. His entire being filled up with rage, hatred, and revenge. And if he couldn't have revenge on his mother…

He would take revenge on Satan himself.

Dialga breathed heavily as she recovered from the time warp, which had zapped nearly all of her energy away. Her legs quivered as she tried to stay up. Giratina looked around the area. "What time are we back at?" he asked Dialga.

Dialga didn't respond.

"Dialga?" Giratina asked again.

Suddenly, she collapsed. Being thrashed by the Palkia of the past, combined with a desperation attempt to send them back once more, drained her of nearly all of her energy. She fell onto the floor of the library, unconscious.

"Dialga!" he shouted in worry, seeing her collapse. "Wake up, Dialga! Come on!" he yelled in panic, trying to get her up. He tried to use his own body weight to push Dialga back up, but she simply fell onto the floor again, still unconscious.

"That… that really must have taken a lot of energy out of her." Giratina realized. "I… I guess it's up to me now. But what can I do?"

He started to think, completely isolated in the library. "Just how far back did Dialga warp us? I think she meant to go back only one hour, but after losing control like that… she could've gone back way farther."

Giratina took a glance outside the window.

"It's night." he noticed. Looking around, he saw a computer. He recalled that when everything happened: the murder of Palkia, the scheming, and everything else… spring had just started in March. Snapping the computer out of its' screensaver, the date on the computer read: January 20th, 2012.

"January?!" he yelled, startled by the turn of events. "Dialga didn't send us back an hour; she sent us back TWO MONTHS!"

Giratina groaned, sitting against the wall. "Great. Just great. We haven't made any progress forward. Instead, we've stepped back an entire two months. Just what the hell am I supposed to do now?"

Giratina thought about this for a moment. "I can't use the revival spell. Palkia is alive at this point in time. If I did pretty much anything, I would drastically alter the future with the butterfly effect."

The last words he spoke rang in his ears. "…Drastically alter the future… that's it!"

Dashing out of the library, he ran towards Arceus' throne room, intending to warn her of the future events.

"Arceus! Arceus!" he yelled, dashing into the throne room.

"Glad to see you, Giratina." Arceus said, looking at him with a smile. "What brings you here?"

Giratina stopped to take in this moment. Arceus wasn't angry. Not the slightest bit.

Pokemon (c) Nintendo / Game Freak

Sorry about everything again. I'm not going to say it again down here, but I still do appreciate all of the support from you guys.