Chapter Thirty-One: I Don't Want To Lose You

Wind swept the woman's brunette locks about in a playful manner, the gentle smile that would have adorned her face melting into a rarer, more serious expression—one that might have had been more common when she was younger, but ever since the worries of Groudon and Kyogre had come to pass, she'd relaxed into someone much more relaxed.

Now, however, it seemed that there was yet another imminent disaster that threatened Hoenn's peace—at least she assumed that was the case. After all, there was no other reason why she'd received that so-called urgent message from Officer Jenny, right?

"Mosdeep's Police Station," the email had read, and she'd mounted her Tropius at once and left her little recluse in the woods. After all, she'd been promised relative peace for the remainder of her life, but receiving a message—at twelve in the morning, no less—meant that something was wrong.

Of course, she could always be overthinking things, but it wasn't as if thinking about so many matters at once would hurt her. If there was one thing she'd learnt about her adventures as a teenager, it was that being prepared for any situation was never a bad thing.

"It's been a long time since I've flown on you," she mused, stroking the avian-like Pokemon's neck in an act of affection—she knew that the large creature enjoyed it. "Those were fun times, weren't they?"

A deep, gentle rumble of agreement replied her, and the gentle giant beneath her reared her head, turning to her trainer with a look of lazy contentment in her eyes.

"It brings back memories," Sapphire continued, gazing off into the far distance and watching the azure sky drift by, recurring patterns of milky clouds coming and going as her mind started to switch off. "I guess this won't be another fun time, though...it looks like something's wrong."

The veteran's eyes glanced down at the PokeNav on her wrist—as the red dot representing her current location blinked closer to Mosdeep with every passing minute, the sinking feeling in her stomach grew—she would reach in an hour.

Her Pokemon didn't reply after that, and the both of them remained silent for the remainder of the journey.

• • •

She rapped on the door's cement frame, flinching at how different the resultant sound was from the warm hollowness of the wood that she'd been used to for months—it had been far too long since she'd stepped into proper civilisation.

She was glad she had still retained some of her old, fiery personality, however—her flippant side had chosen to remain as well, it seemed; she had ended up wearing a set of clothes far too casual and crinkled for the occasion.

Ruby would freak out if he saw me now, she thought with a private giggle, halting her near-laughter as the door made a low creak, sliding open a fraction and spilling open the view of the contents lying in wait.

She didn't know if the tiny shriek in her ears was imagined or not—all she knew is that she recognised that very voice as her own, and she prayed, in fear of utter humiliation, that she'd just made that scream in her head.

There wasn't anything out of place—it was just a simple office, one expected of Hoenn's police force, but what was out of the ordinary was the raven-haired boy seated in one of the chairs, posture erect and gloved hands tapping at the table's wooden surface in a mindless manner.

Sapphire halted in her tracks, startled by the male's prescence, but even more alarmed as she realised that she recognised the boy. She recognised that stupid white hat of his that always looked like a wig, but she knew who he was.

Pacing across the room, she gulped in a huge lungful of air, trying her utmost best to stay composed as she approached the man. A familiar smirk painted itself across her face as she noted that he hadn't noticed her just yet, and in as stealthy of a manner as she could, she crept to his back and landed a hard thump on his back.

"What the—" As soon as the words left his mouth, Ruby spun around from his position in the armchair, crimson eyes widening behind black glasses as he took in the brunette standing in front of him "Sapphire? That's you?"

"No," she deadpanned, "this is Sapphire's twin sister. But yes, because there's going to be a meeting here in a few minutes, I'm Sapphire—how many years has it been since we last saw each other?"

Deciding to mimic her serious tone, he stuck his tongue out—the action wasn't exaggerated enough to rival that of a child's immaturity, but it still succeeded in his job in irking her. "Three years, Sapphire," he shot back, but the hint of a sincere solemn peeked through his sarcasm-thick voice. "It was just a natural human instinct to be shocked."

At the last sentence, she flinched, as if the words were knives coated in a fine layer o fpoison—but she soon regained her composure, dragging out a chair with little effort and seating herself with almost too much vigour—all within the span of a few seconds.

The veteran parted her lips, wanting to speak once again, but she was interrupted by a loud, unceremonious noise as a teal-haired woman entered, high heels making crisp clicks against the polished floor as she regarded the both of them with a tired smile.

"Good afternoon," she greeted in a breathless tone, makeup unable to hide away the traces of dark eye-bags evident of a bad night's sleep. "Thank you both so much for coming on such short notice. Let's start the meeting, shall we?"

• • •

"Kyogre, Groudon and Rayquaza, right?" Ruby folded his arms behind his head, casting his glance upwards towards the dew-covered walls of earth that moulded the Cave of Origin into its current state. "All that just to take down Giratina? I don't know, but Officer Jenny sounded a little paranoid."

Rolling her eyes, Sapphire lengthened her stride to catch up with the coordinator, giving him a hard smack. "I thought you would have been the one listening," she grumbled. "This is the Distortion World we're talking about. Giratina's the lord there—all other Pokemon there are mere creatures against his will."

Shrugging, he accepted the explanation—however short it might have been—and walked on.

Reaching the chamber where both Groudon and Kyogre stayed in were easy—and it took them a shorter time than expected to arrive at the large cavern. The musky smell seemed to dissipate into nothing, swallowed by the air who seemed to ripple from the heat.

The only thing not affected by the Continent Pokemon's aura of blazing calefaction was the body of water surrounding the room like a moat of sorts, standing strong in the face of the beast's heat—and, submerged in the liquid, Kyogre stared up at them with dull golden eyes.

"Kyogre," Ruby started, nodding at the Legendary and keeping his voice to a tone of quiet respect. "And Groudon. I don't know if you know about the situation at hand—nor if we could even ask for your help—but we require assistance from the both of you—even your master if necessary."

A rumble from the leftmost Pokemon shook the earth, and the bipedal monster swivelled around to look at them, taking a few steps towards them and causing even the rock-solid ground to crack and splinter under his weight.

Groudon's mouth curled into an unreadable expression—neither of them knew if he was smiling or frowning—and decided to break the momentary silence that had built up between all four of them.

"To answer your questions, all Legendaries have already been notified of this situation," the Legendary replied. "It has been deemed a grave matter—word has spread that even Arceus himself will be visiting the scene to help out."

Kyogre let out what seemed like a sniff. "He has a history with Giratina—one that even we do not know much about. It is fair to assume that he would want to get involved in such a situation. But as for your second question...both of you are the saviours of Hoenn. Besides owing you, we are naturally supposed to work with you."

His counterpart continued off. "Rayquaza has already been called," Groudon affirmed. "He will be arriving in a few minutes. In fact, I can sense something—" he stopped as the entire structure seemed to give a violent shudder. "Ah. He's arrived."

Not caring about the state of the sacred cave, the serpent-like Legendary dove in the join the other two members of his trio, the rock formation crumbling at his touch in an instant and forming a near-seamless circle that let him in.

The emerald dragon let out a mighty roar—a burst of sound powerful enough to make Groudon and Kyogre stand back—before taking his place, razor-sharp teeth displayed as he stretched his mouth into a fearsome position.

"I apologise for the entrance," the dragon rumbled. "I just wanted to cut down on the time taken to reach here. This is an emergency, after all."

"Are you sure?" Kyogre's voice was teasing as he swam further up to the water's edge, sharing a chuckle with his counterpart as water splashed onto their master's green scales. "You have always been one for dramatics, Rayquaza. Were you not trying to make a grand entrance?"

Groudon shushed them both, annoyed at the two's antics—and before they could even bicker further, he swung his large tail, the appendage sending up a spray of rocks akin to the frothy water that a wave produced.

"Now is not the time for pointless small talk," he grouched, irritated by the childishness his partners showed at such times. "Anyway, we will go with you—and we will help to the fullest of our abilities. It is, after all, our duty."

With that, he—the calmest and the unofficial leader of the trio—stepped towards them once more, ushering the saviours out of the chamber and towards their destination.

• • •

If Earth was light, then Giratina's Distortion World would be the realm that was drenched in darkness.

The dimension was certainly unlike any, and it more than lived up to the differing descriptions that the duo had heard about it. It defied every law of physics that they had ever learnt about; defied every strain of gravity that attempted to tame it—it was, in a single word, insane.

Sapphire grimaced as yet another of the beast's minions tried to launch a surprise attack—however, it seemed that the shadowy puppets lacked in intelligence, and she used that to her advantage. Kyogre was more than happy to wreck havoc upon her silent command, a cannon of water launching at their opponents and obliterating everything in its path.

Beside her, Groudon prepared a blast of molten lava in his mouth, the deadly flames burning a large circle into the ground as he swivelled his head from side to side. The illusions of Pokemon—they were just clumps of shadow that Giratina had breathed life into—dissipated as soon as the fire scorched their make-believe skin.

Ruby's face was serious for once, and his glasses were on—a sign that this was, to him, an important battle. He was putting aside his vanity to salvage this situation. "There's far too many of them," he muttered, halting to give the Continent Pokemon yet another command to keep the shadows at bay. "I was thinking—"

She nodded in reply. "Right," she answered. "You want to end things with one single attack, right? That way, they won't have time to regenerate or anything."

Her partner just shrugged in response, trying his best to force a joke in the most inappropriate time. "You know me to well," he replied through a fit of untruthful laughter, the smile not quite reaching his eyes. "Is this a sign that we've been working together for too long?"

"Shut up," she shot back, rolling her eyes in emphasis. "At this point, I might even dislike you more than these damned minions. But, for now...all of this is getting annoying. If we don't make it in time—"

"You're worrying yourself." The raven-haired boy spoke in a quiet tone, and he brushed his fingers against the back of her wrist, as if trying to calm her down. Then, his speech reverted to his lighthearted words—one that the trainer had always seen truth in. "The more you speak, the more you waste time. And the more you waste time, the more you won't make it in time."

Sapphire fell silent for a moment, replying his rushed spiel with a hushed nod and lifting her gaze to meet the other's. Then, she focused on the battle once again, alarmed at how much the army of illusions had grown during the mere minute that they had been conversing.

"Primal Reversion," both of them muttered, the respective orbs firm in their grasp and shining with a radiance that seemed to illuminate the darkness around them.

Above them, Rayquaza flew about, the signature light of Mega Evolution lighting up his lean body as he prepared to dive downwards and perform the much-feared Dragon Ascent.

As Kyogre's skin darkened, the ribbonlike sections of his tail lengthening, a pale gold filled in ethereal lines and stripes on the Legendary's body—the veteran called a command. "Origin Pulse."

She was pretty sure Ruby had done the same with Groudon—and her prediction was confirmed as she heard him call an order of Precipice Blades into the shadow, the Groudon's skin glowing with the brightness of golden flames that flowed through exposed cracks in his crimson armour.

Countless cyan spheres floated into the sky, holding such power that caused even the air around them to tremble in silent respect—and beams of light shot from the compact globes, creating a haphazard network of varying blasts that formed an intricate pattern in the pitch darkness.

Breaking that timeless beauty was the stunning brute force that Kyogre's counterpart displayed—the land rippled and shifted as if it was nothing more than putty, jutting out in fearsome, incandescent blades that, when touched by their opponents, caused a series of explosions that momentarily reduced the darkness to zero.

Rayquaza finished what was remaining of the minions, appearing out of nowhere and appearing to be suspended in free-fall—before an emerald wreath of frames surrounded the creature, and he crashed into the ground with all the force and glory of a meteor.

"And we're done," Ruby muttered. "Shall we get going?"

• • •

"We're almost there," Sapphire noted. "The heart of the Distortion World, wasn't it? It's the place where Giratina's supposed to be residing in."

Above her, Rayquaza let out a quiet growl. "You must be careful," he warned, looking around the realm and steadying her as she, with her near-zero visibility, wandered a dangerous distance from the edge. "This is not a normal world. We can only help so much; we were just able to previous display our full power because it was the world's entrance. Now, our power is worth little more than that of regular Pokemon."

"Hey." She felt a hand grab hers, and looked up to see Ruby glancing at her with a cautious expression. "Rayquaza is right. I...I don't want to lose you."

The trainer stilled, her heart warmed by the statement, and she then replied with a one-shouldered shrug. "Me neither.

The silence was broken as they heard the sound of shuffling—and then, a singular footstep startled them. The darkness had receded a little, as if tapering away to the final boss of a video game—and a pair of dull amethyst eyes greeted them.

The duo walked forward a few more steps, the owner of those startling optics coming into view.

"Celeana? What are you doing here?"

• • •

...what did I just write? Eh, wElp. I just had some brain meltdown thing like I always did lmaooo

Today, I learnt that I cannot write shippings for my life :^))

Besides that, thank you SO MUCH for 7.9K reads and 966 votes! That's about a 500+ increase in reads :o My next goal is 981! :) (Holy crap that's so close to 1K votes :00 //dies)

Critiques are most certainly welcome, and don't forget to read, vote and give your thoughts in the comments! Please be 100% honest!

~ nyxia ☆