Prologue: The legends told of my one thousand arms, that I had created the universe and the worlds inside, all in a moment of a moment. First, there was chaos. Then everything began to spin and spin. There was sea foam and white mountains, shuddering volcanoes and quiet forests. I gave this place time and space, and something else forgotten. Someone remembers, but not me. Then I left the beautiful place called Earth alone, yielding to sleep. Then, curious enough, the humans came. It took a few hundred years for one of my eyes to open. Another hundred passed before I knew what I was seeing. They were loud and unforgiving and so intelligent. One day, I had leaned over the precipice of my all-seeing prison, melting into the space verging between the physical and the imaginary. Why were these silly creations fighting amongst each other? Could they not see that I had provided them enough space for everyone, a desert for some and plains for others? All they needed to thrive was the ground and the water. And so they continued. Pokémon were born from eggs, like I had been during a tumultuous rage. They were simple animals, entirely innocent, thankfully, because they were also powerful. I loved the Pokémon with all my infinite heart. I wished upon them prosperity and a good relationship with the human beings. And so they continued. But something different happened one day. I would never forget this: A human being, small and spindly, had found its way into my reality and told me the opposite of Truth. "You're a Pokémon," he said. "I knew it, I knew I'd find you!" "I am no Pokémon, no more than I am human," I rumbled. "I am the Original One." The human smiled. "I definitely see a Pokémon." My physical form churned and morphed, and I stood before him. "I am no Pokémon," I restated. I had been too busy contemplating how I would remove him from my dimension. His smile faded. "Now I see a person." "I am no mere person!" I said, thoroughly chapped. "I am the Original One!" He gently touched a circular device around his waist. The humans had created those, the Pokéballs, and used them to capture my Pokémon. Why would my two creations never stand on the grounds of equality? "Well," he said, "I guess we'll have to see." Then he threw the device at me. For a moment, I was as helpless as an infant, tumbling around in a chaos that was, for the first time, bigger than me. It was as if I had been subjected to my own universe, except I was not in control, and I had no vision of the beginning or the end. Then, with a resounding noise, I escaped from the device, and stumbled out of it, sputtering and insulted. "How dare you?" I demanded the human being. But he gave no answer. He fled and went back to his world. Then he told the legends that he had nearly caught me with a Pokéball and that I must be a Pokémon; from that day on they referred to me and thought of me as such, and they deemed me Arceus. Chapter One: The legendary Pokémon are like my children. When I found out how they were capable, I granted them special abilities. Revered as gods and goddesses, they wield immense power and strength. They also bicker more than the humans do, which can be frustrating, certainly moreso when they gather and conduct their "special meetings." I don't know what these meetings accomplish. I haven't even endorsed them. "It would be simpler to maintain a healthy forest if Entei would keep his grimy paws away from the borders," Suicune was explaining. It regarded the other legendary dog with suspicious eyes. "I can hardly go about my business when my trees are set upon by fire." "We are free to roam as we please," said Entei, seeming smug. The legendaries had thrown a uproar when I had refused to show up to the meetings in a physical form, let alone attend them at all. They had also thrown an uproar when I failed to give my executive opinion on matters. Another uproar occurred when I suggested that the earthly governing be left to them, and that I should return to the "unyielding sleep" that the legends spoke of. Legends and all. "What are your thoughts on the matter, Arceus?" asked the dogs simultaneously. "Do as you please," I said. That was all I ever needed to say to quiet things down. Truthfully, the legendaries had most of their internal issues figured out already, but for some reason they needed my approval before doing anything themselves. "And what concerning Jirachi?" piped up another voice. Jirachi had been asleep for a good nine hundred and ninety-nine years, and everyone was having a fit trying to figure out how they would introduce it to the world after being asleep for a millenia. The legendaries always threw a makeshift welcome party that they had had one thousand years to plan yet somehow always waited until the last minute to organize. I said, "Banners-" "Yes, banners!" "Banners on the walls, then!" "Quite clever, Arceus!" "Why did we not think of that last century?" I wilted in my seat. "I would like to file a formal complaint against my brother," said Palkia. I looked over and noticed Dialga had the most satisfied and shit-eating expression I had ever seen. "I maintain the fabric of space in our universe. I take my duties seriously. However, it is growing more and more difficult with each passing day, as my brother finds it amusing to enter my domain and rewind or fast forward a few hundred years!" "Do you even know which era it is?" called a legendary from the crowd. "I've seemed to have lost track," grunted Palkia. "Dialga," I said, squinting. The entire room exploded into noise. Some legendaries were calling Palkia out for its incapability to handle jokes. A few others were laughing so hard that they had to leave the throne room. At one point, Palkia and Dialga had erupted into a full-out body slamming war, with the more aggressive legendaries on each side chanting their names and stomping on the ground. Amongst the loudness, I felt Celebi quietly approach. It hovered behind me, avoiding attention. "What about the humans, Arceus?" it asked, like a flutter of wings. "They're chiseling at the tablet-" Great apprehension rose in me. "Another time, Celebi," I said. "But-" "Another. Time." Celebi's face remained behind me, unseen, but I could feel its eyes boring into the back of my head. It sighed and floated away, joining the commotion before me. My heart became rigid with regret, and still I didn't call Celebi back, because perhaps I was frightened and feared to admit it. Frightened because the humans were chiseling away at the ruins I had left behind on earth five hundred years ago, and afraid to admit so because it meant something beyond my control was happening. The ruins could not be broken into. The humans could not find what I had left inside. -------- I sat alone in the throne room, contemplating in the silence. The Alterstone shined my front leg, glimmering as I looked at it from different angles. When I flipped the jewel over in its golden band, I sat as a human on my throne, rubbing the stone's smooth edges with my fingers. I changed back and forth a couple of times, from Pokémon to human, and then back again. I settled on the Alterstone's blue side for humanity, staring at my eyes in its reflection. "I am the Original One," I muttered to myself. Then I looked away from the jewel. I couldn't stand to see it anymore. Humans wore clothes, because they couldn't bear to walk around in their skins. And I did the same, adorning myself with layers upon layers of robes, gleaming fabrics, patterned and textured pieces, sheer scarves like lilac, belts and emeralds, hair pieces that fell into my eyes, rings which glowed silver, bearing heavy gold plates on my shoulders, and yet barefoot still. This is what rulers would wear, no? When I changed shapes, my body never felt lighter, having ridden of the clothes. The weight was in my heart. "Of all your powers," came Celebi's voice from behind me, "I believe this one is the greatest." I turned my head slightly, folding my hands in front of me. I would never get used to the sensation of my fingers interweaving with each other. "It is also the most useless," I said. "It accomplishes nothing." "It makes you...relatable." Celebi floated to my side. I chuckled. Then we fell into a painful silence. 'Another time' had come, only hours later. Celebi was right: I could not avoid the issue any longer. "I hold the most fearsome power in all the universe," I said. Waving my hand, I dragged my finger down like a knife cutting through air. Where my line had traced, there was a sliver of light, opening a portal into a glowing purple galaxy. Celebi tensed, holding its breath. "Someone could use this power to ravage entire continents. If they learned to use it correctly, they could extend beyond the earth and into the cosmos. Inside, there sleep weapons of incredible destruction...and the humans are close to discovering one of them." Celebi also laughed, but it sounded troubled. "It is your own fault for leaving one lying around." "To make it worse," I said miserably, "it is one of the unspoken ones...one that was never mentioned in neither legend nor tale. The Plate of Time." "Next to the other unspoken ones," said Celebi, "the Plate of Space and the Plate of Cosmos...anyone who held them would rival your own power. No...if anything, they would own your power. You draw upon the Plates and they upon you, consistently recycling energy in an infinite circle. To have a Plate removed from that trinity...it would be disastrous. And imagine if someone had all three!" "Which is why I need to retrieve them," I said, pursing my lips. "I have ignored the issue for far too long. I can feel the humans' presence growing closer. They are about to dig into my catacombs and find the first Plate, which I so ignorantly left behind with my mortal presence on the earth. How foolish of me!" Celebi smiled. "Gods are not perfect," it offered. "Or else the humans would not have legends to tell." I clenched my fists. When I glanced down, I saw the side of the Alterstone, luna-blue bright. "I cannot show the humans or Pokémon my true form," I said quietly. I caressed the gold band which clutched my wrist, having thought billions of years ago that I would never have to lower myself to mortal experiences. I had wanted to stay as abstract as possible to my creations. But this was a problem into which I could not send my legendaries. This was something that I would have to correct alone. "So who will you be, Arceus?" Startled from my contemplation, I looked into Celebi's large, curious eyes. "For the time being," I said, holding myself steady, "all things mortal, and no longer the Original One." Chapter Two: I spent another five Earth days wondering how I would make my entrance. Call it procrastination, but I called it careful planning. Only Celebi knew that I would be visiting the mortal realm. This was simply because it was the first legendary that had acknowledged my situation and its potential consequences. At first, I had thought it would be best if all the legendaries knew of the peril we could face, but then it became increasingly evident to me that it would only cause panic and confusion. All of the legendaries knew about the unmentioned Plates. Few knew about their hiding places. Even fewer knew that there was a collection of humans searching the mountains, about to stumble into the catacombs I had buried under rock during the earth's creation. That was where the Plate of Space slept, having been undisturbed for so long. But its energy was pulsing, calling out for me. It felt mortal presences coming closer, and it was alerting me, telling me that foreign hands would soon touch its surface and utilize its powers. The humans coming upon the Plate of Space was an incredible stroke of bad luck. Arguably, it was the most difficult to find. Through manipulation of space, it could be used to instantaneously find the other two. Once the humans, whoever they were, found it, they could decipher the cryptic messages on its gleaming surface and possibly set upon the path to finding the others. So naturally, I hung around my palace for nearly an Earth week and wondered what to do about it. "Telling the other legendaries that disaster is imminent would be...a questionable idea," Celebi had said to me, days ago. Because it was so small, it often floated around the larger groups, soaking in gossip and knowledge. It had always been a wallflower. "They can hardly handle government of their own domains. Imagine if you were to spring on them: My all-powerful Plates are about to be discovered and we could all lose power and become nothing but dust in the wind!" "You mean die," I had replied. "We could all die." I decided that I would not breathe a word to the other legendaries. There were some I could trust to maintain composure. Celebi, definitely. I also had taken a liking to Cresselia's graceful and quiet nature. Shaymin was also attentive and reserved. Jirachi would have been a wonderful confidante, but it was asleep for another year. The rest would be blissfully unaware of my presence on earth, where they had lived their whole lives. They were just too much. So I called the three quietest legendaries to my throne room to discuss matters the evening before I departed. "And we're not supposed to say anything at all?" Cresselia clarified. Her eyes were gleaming under a velvety pink glaze. "Absolutely not," I said. "You three will be the only Pokémon aware of my existence in the mortal realm." Shaymin, even more petite and musically vibrant than Celebi, piped, "But you've never been to the mortal realm before! You know nothing of their customs. How are you going to undergo secrecy? You'll be stumbling around in confusion the entire time!" "I have...observed the mortals before!" I said, insulted. "From your palace in another dimension," deadpanned Celebi. "Which you haven't left since the creation of the universe," Cresselia added. I mumbled obscenities beneath my breath. Perhaps they were right, and I had been neglecting their customs. I had never had any true reason to venture beyond my palace. It was much easier to gaze off into the neverending expanse of space, lost in my thoughts, than to focus on earth and become caught up in their personal affairs. "In which form will you visit them?" the legendaries asked. Staring at the Alterstone, I weighed my options. My preferred Pokémon form was not subtle whatsoever; however, I could take the form of any one that I wanted. That would be useful for travel. On the other hand, being a human had its advantages as well. It would be easier to communicate information. Then I told myself that I was being silly. I didn't have to leave the stone here! "Both," I said, reminding myself that I had to aim for subtlety. Subtlety! If I was going to be switching between the two forms, I would have to avoid wandering eyes at all costs. "Understandable," said Cresselia, "but your human form...it's too much." "You think so?" I looked down at my robes. I thought that the decorations were pretty. Shaymin nodded. "Only kings and queens would wear clothes like this." I meant to protest. I was above all kings and queens. A true God. The Original One. But then I remembered the real objective of this journey: to be in and out of Earth, without leaving any trace other than perhaps whispers of my passage, and to keep the Plates away from all living kind. When had I become so attached to physical things such as clothes and silver pieces? "Right..." I said. I removed all of the unnecessary layers, down to a loose shirt and pants that ended at my knees, both of these garments cloth and gold in pigment. When the clips and glass decorations holding my hair together disappeared too, a long sheet of silver hair fell onto my back and shoulders. The only eye-catching piece on my human body was the Alterstone, still burning blue for humanity. "That's much better," said the legendaries, albeit with an edge of hesitation. "I quite like it," I said. I moved my arms around. "This body is maneuverable." Cresselia tilted its head. "You're still too..." It trailed off. "Nevermind," it added, almost sheepishly. "Suddenly you feel taller, Original One," said Celebi, craning its head back to look at me. "With your excessive attire gone, I can see your body for what it is...how uncanny...I will never grow used to the mysterious powers of the Alterstone." "You mean my powers," I remarked, reaching behind my neck to tie my hair. The strands kept falling into my face and tangling with my eyelashes. "I am the one who created the Alterstone. It is only a tangible reminder for me that I am neither human nor Pokémon. Seeing how easily the stone turns around and changes my form..." I peered down at my arms. Had I truly never looked at my own human arms? Like onyx, they were smooth with a dark and earthy glow; my hair was a stark contrast. Experimentally, I changed my skin into ivory, shuddering off the black tones as if I were shaking off a pelt, and turned my hair into a silk oil spill. The legendaries watched with a mix of horror and fascination. Looking down, I stuck my arms back out. Not quite right, I thought, once again becoming the color of midnight. "This skin suits me best," I declared. In the center of my throne room sat still a pool of a million shades. I made large strides to it and stared into its depths. I may have looked human, but did I know how to behave like one? For a moment, I had felt in total control of my destiny. I could change my appearance anyway I wanted to, because I had the Alterstone with me. Only for a moment. The pit of my stomach turned over. "I have watched them since the beginning," I whispered as the legendaries approached me. I caught myself fidgeting and tried to steady my legs. The pool reflected my face back at me and I could see the storming clouds in my expression. "So tell me why I am so apprehensive?" "If I were you, I would be worried about being loved," said Cresselia. "I'd feel nervous about being seen as wise," said Shaymin. "Or powerful," suggested Celebi. My eyes softened. "I have no concern for any of those," I said. I cupped my hand and swept it through the water. Then I dipped one leg in, and then a second, until I was standing in the pool. My hair, much longer than waist length, floated on the surface, swirling around my legs. For a brief moment, I saw an immense collection of civilizations between the ripples of the water. "Leave me," I told the legendaries, and they scurried out. Taking a deep breath, I plunged myself into the pool, initially keeping my eyes shut. The sensation of wetness faded away. When I inhaled, I breathed in crisp air. When I reopened my eyes, I had a wondrous wakefulness, similar only to the experiences during creation and my time in the water. The entirety of the earth lay before me. The rolling hills sang with music...the ancient, thrumming kind that sounded like beating drums. I saw seas and steel towers. I passed these over, searching for mortality. And then I saw them. The humans and the Pokémon. My beautiful creations. In my vision, I sat down and pulled my legs to my chest. My human skin was prickling with bumps. They were dancing and jumping. Sometimes, they would fight too. But I watched them wondrously, feeling stars between my ears, wishing that I had better understood them from the beginning and that they had heard my name long before I was nothing but hieroglyphics in stone. Chapter Three: "So I heard you, erm, lost something," said Latios to me on the morning of my departure. I stared at him. Hard. "You better not dare to say anything to your sister," I told him. "Oh, I wouldn't," he said. He produced the illusion of humanity, instantaneously morphing into a young man with sweeping blue hair. "Not a word." Latios and his sister, Latias, were one of the few legendaries that I had created to have gender. They could also disguise themselves in human form, although the experience wasn't quite like my Alterstone. The stone changed my physical appearance, and the twins could only produce a temporary guise that protected them from detection. Because of this power, they were incredibly knowledgeable on human interaction, and honestly I was quite miffed at myself from not having included them in my party of know-goers in the first place. But then I remembered exactly why I hadn't. "Well, I wouldn't say anything to my sister," he added, sidling up to me as I made minor alterations to my appearance, "but who knows if my tongue will slip the next time that I see Mewtwo or Deoxys?" "Oh, not those two, I beg you," I groaned. I turned and glared at him. Only a Pokémon as cheeky as Latios would ever say something like that to me. He had been a thorn in my side from the start. "If you tell them of anything they will not only chastise me for a hundred years on my carelessness, but also try to monitor my every move on the earth." Latios grinned. "And so what? They're not your boss. You're their boss." "Thanks for the reminder," I grumbled. He snickered under his breath. "So it is true, then," he said, still smiling. When he leaned into my vision, I had to let my eyes adjust for a moment. He truly was indistinguishable from a human. "You've gone and lost your Plates, and now you have to get them back." "I didn't lose them, Latios. I left them in hiding spots on purpose." "Not very good hiding spots, then," he said. I sighed, already exasperated with the conversation. "They are not all found," I said. "In fact, none of them have been found at all. But there are humans growing close. Millennia ago, they would have not had the technology to dig so deep into my mountain. And yet, the times are changing. They are seeking truth and knowledge about things forgotten long ago. So they will soon stumble upon my secrets. I have to prevent that before it ever happens." "Hmm." Latios leaned against a pillar with his arms crossed. "That could be bad." "It could be bad," I agreed. "So when do you leave?" I inspected myself one last time. I had altered absolutely nothing about my appearance or my attire, and still I had felt the desire to. Latios, next to his sister, remained the most insightful and well-informed on human presentation and culture, but he had not remarked on my choices. That gave me a deep sense of security. "Right now." I stared at him again. "Remember. Not a word." "Please," he said. "Humans never keep secrets." As I made to leave the room, I hesitated with my hand on the wall. The murals painted there were not real, as much as I wanted to convince myself that they were. They never had been. This entire palace had never had any true physical form. The walls with sun-stained paint, the pillars which cracked along the bases, the stone floors, the gardens beyond the halls, and even my throne were visual substitutes for the real objects, nothing but beautiful illusions that I had designed to protect the façade that was my alternate dimension. Gods and those above had no need for physical objects...but I had wanted to play pretend. I stuck my thumb into the paint, chipping off a flake with my nail. It certainly felt real. "I am leaving to visit the land of no deceptions," I said quietly. "Trust me, Original One," said Latios, his eyes shockingly hard, "when I say that humans are also the masters of deception. No matter where you go or to whom you speak, you will be faced by a veil of lies." He smirked, walking out of the room ahead of me. "And trust me when I say that I will be keeping a close eye on you, even when you think you are surrounded by a sea of mortals." --- When I had created the legendaries, I had also made a portal through which they could slip between the two dimensions: my own and everywhere else. Originally, I had chosen to sleep within my own personal space, but then the legendaries grew painfully aware of a higher power and started nagging me. Thinking about it, I should have never installed a front door into my personal living space, but then again I could not have had the foresight it took to understand exactly how deviant and whiny they were. I had never travelled through the portal before, except for those brief moments I would peer out into the mortal realm. Even that was overwhelming, so then I had created the pool in my throne room to experience the mortal realm as realistically as possible without ever needing to leave the palace. The longer I thought about it, the more pathetic the whole situation sounded. The portal was located at the base of my palace, and was no more spectacular than a swirling magenta void. I was hoping to slip out at the moment there were no legendaries sitting around, but I should have also had the foresight to recognize that if there's work to be done, it won't be done. My imaginary kingdom was much more theatrical than the average earth civilization, so naturally the legendaries preferred to conduct their daily living here, like my alter-dimensional space was some kind of "lounge," or whatever the humans called it. "A-Arceus!" exclaimed Entei as I approached. "You...when..." Then it looked befuddled. "I have never seen you leave the palace before." I gazed into the sky. I could see blue galaxies and stars all around, their colors brushing in watercolor patterns with the moons and suns. "Well," I began, "there is always opportunity for change." As a Pokémon, the palace seemed much less intimidating. As a human, the spiraling towers seemed colossal. I had to crane my head all the way back to see the intricate figures carved into the stone above the main gates. Having not seen the outside of the palace for thousands of years, it was a fresh sight; yet, the closer and closer I stepped towards the mortal realm, the more absurd it seemed. If this castle had been constructed over there, there would be obvious signs of decay. But the stones were still unchipped and the flowers in the garden were eternally tame. This left an unsettling feeling in my chest. I observed the castle grounds. There were a few legendaries, including Entei, Raikou, Azelf, and what looked to be the muddled shapes of Articuno and Registeel in the distance. They were all facing my direction, expressions concerned. And of course, Latios spread out on the grass, his arms behind his head, one eye open and fixed on me. He gave me a thumbs-up. I cleared my throat. "I only wanted a stroll," I said hastily. The legendaries in the courtyard went their separate ways, sharing confused glances with each other as they pretended to mind their business. "My thanks," I muttered to nobody. Was it truly a dreadful idea to tell them about the Plates? They would eventually notice my absence anyways, surely after a few hours or a day if I was fortunate. Four of them already knew, and there would certainly be at least one legendary that noticed me slip into the portal unannounced. With my luck, it would be the most loudmouthed of all. But what did it matter? They were going to see. They were going to know. And, after time, they were definitely going to find out. As long as Celebi, Cresselia, Shaymin, and Latios (whoever had told him!) maintained secrecy, surely mass panic would not spread, right? Digging my fingernails into my palm, I walked towards the portal without looking back. The legends told of my one thousand arms, that I had created the universe and the worlds inside, all in a moment of a moment. First, there was chaos. Then everything began to spin and spin. There was sea foam and white mountains, shuddering volcanoes and quiet forests. I gave this place time and space, and something else forgotten. Someone remembers, but not me. Then I left the beautiful place called Earth alone... ...yielding to sleep. Or so the legends had told.
Chapter Four: In the mortal realm, I had figured that I would appear in a hidden place, forgotten from time immemorial. A dark cavern beneath the ocean or from in between two glaciers in the arctic north. My powers at the ready, I was prepared to morph into any Pokémon I needed to be in order to find my way into civilization. Instead, I came out stumbling over my two feet into a moving crowd of people. Stifling a yelp, I fell onto my hands and knees, feeling the coarse bite of stone on my fragile human skin. Immediately, there was faint rush of murmurs all around me. I jerked my head up, staring into the faces of dozens of humans. My neck felt warm. I had only seen them in visions and dreams past, having never smelled them, never heard their whispers so clearly, never felt the sensation of their legs or clothes brushing against me. The air was hot. Stifling hot. "Mama, mama!" shrieked a child, pointing her finger in my direction. "Look at that pretty bracelet!" The Alterstone was glowing brilliantly, casting a dim light on those nearest me. It was then that I noticed that how unkempt and dirty these humans were. They walked with mud-stained feet and had sand-dusted rags hanging from their limbs. They were not looking at me. They were fixed on the Alterstone and its blue luminosity, their tired eyes suddenly alight with interest. I scrambled up, feeling incredibly tall and clumsy amongst them, and covered the Alterstone with my hand. The humans were packed tight and there was nowhere to walk without shoving them aside. I heard cow bells and saw fish hanging from booths. In a further distance, people were yelling and children were crying. Someone grabbed my shoulder. "Hey, where did you get that?" For the first time in my infinite life, I felt everything beneath the surface of my skin leap up into my throat. Forcing calmness, I faced the stranger, in my heart wanting to curse him for grabbing the immortal skin of an entity far above the gods but in my head knowing I needed to adhere to his customs now. This is his world...even though I created it. The man was in between the ages of foolishness and maturity. His hair was a bronze mess that went every direction and his face was also dirty and unshaven. On the sweating bridge of his nose, he wore black-rimmed glasses, behind which blinked huge hazel eyes. And he was not dressed like the others. He belonged in a library or on urban streets, not a dusty bazaar. "That was a pretty stone!" he exclaimed. "Did you buy it at the bazaar?" "It is a..." I trailed off, disconcerted by his friendliness. I remembered Latios' words to me: a veil of lies. "A family heirloom." He glanced at the crowd which had formed around us. "Nothing to see here, folks," he said, his voice a little harder. The crowd reluctantly scattered. Afterwards, their gazes lingered on me. "You appeared literally out of nowhere," he stated. His mouth had formed a stern line, but his eyes were still large and inquisitive. "Who are you?" "A traveller," I said. "No, I'm a traveller." He readjusted the bag on his shoulders. The steel water bottles hanging from his belt clattered against each other. "And you're not from here. I've been to this town a few times. It's really small, so I recognize almost every face. Plus, you don't look like..." I scowled. "Like what?" His eyes hung on my hair. "Nevermind," he said. Following a moment of tentative silence, he added, "So who are you?" "A traveller," I repeated more firmly. "Okay, okay, I get it..." We stood in the chaos of the human bazaar, surrounded by noises clashing in discord with only silence between our spaces. Underneath the suppressing heat, I silently confounded myself for having bothered to create the desert. Then I wondered why the portal had deposited me here of all the places. Had there been some arbitrary mistake? Should I have pictured in my consciousness where I had wanted to go? Perhaps I had been lead here; for what reason, I could not comprehend. "Do you have a name?" the young finally asked. "You ask many questions for a human," I said, furrowing my brows. "For a...a human...yeah, yeah I guess I do," he responded, and I realized the mistake in my vernacular. "I'm Aurelio. I'm from Goldenrod City in Johto. Are you...uh..." My jaw locked. "What?" I started thinking about ways I could disengage from the conversation. How did humans usually do that? There must have been customs that were appropriate for communication. The legendaries usually just yelled at one another until they grew tired of each other's company and stalked off. "Well," the human named Aurelio said, scratching his head sheepishly, "are you...uh...male or female?" "I am the Or – " I halted myself. I had no real names, only titles. "Theo?" "Y– yes. Theo." What a foolish name! "So you're a guy." I bristled. Only Latias and Latios had been assigned genders! "I am no male." "A female, then..." Aurelio's eyes were drained of energy. "I am not a–" "Alright, it doesn't matter either way!" sighed Aurelio, turning his hands up in surrender. He ran his hand through his hair again, avoiding my intense glare. "Sorry, you are just...very androgynous. I didn't want to be rude. But it doesn't matter. Whomever you are, you're Theo." I stared at him even longer. Despite the endless hours I had spent in the pool observing the humans, my mind was nothing but barren space, and I could not recall exactly how the humans terminated their discussions. So I turned on my heel and walked away. "Hey, wait!" Aurelio staggered after me. "Theo!" "I am not Theo," I muttered, weaving in between humans through the bazaar. I kept my hand over the Alterstone, making sure that its unusual brightness was not spotted. I had no idea why it was shining so energetically – it had never shined like this before. I could feel its heat beneath my fingers. When I had finally broken free from the bazaar, stepping out into the unforgiving sunlight, I exited onto a road that overlooked an immense expanse of dunes and rock. With the commotion of civilization behind me, I experienced a thrilling resonance in my soul. In my visions, the sights of the earth had been vast and awe-inspiring. But nothing could compare to the actual sensation of the golden sand beneath my feet or the dry breeze that had been carried from the west. Which city was this? On which continent? I stood there, breathing in what I saw. "Theo!" panted Aurelio from behind me. He staggered to my side, but I paid no attention. "Look, I'm really sorry, I know I can be pushy. I just – that stone. It's reminded me of something I've heard about before." My heart stilled. "It is only a sapphire," I said. "Yeah, I'm sure it is," said Aurelio earnestly, still exhaling hard with his hands on his knees. He swallowed what remained of his exhaustion and straightened. Reaching out, he grabbed my wrist. And for some uncanny reason, I let him. "But the designs on the gold band – do you see them here? Hold on, let me pull out my notebook..." Aurelio dropped his bag to the ground and sifted through it. He turned the pages of a water-stained notebook, not bothering to pick up the loose pages that had fallen out onto the sand, and held it close to his face. "Look at this," he said breathlessly. "The drawings that I've copied here. They look just like the ones on your bracelet. See how the cuff loops around like this, right into this tiny design of...yes, there it is! The design of Dialga, the Temporal Pokémon. There's Palkia! And Giratina, too! The Plates, the original egg, and the swirls of chaos, depicting the creation of the universe – all leading up to..." My pupils had shrunk considerably. My wrist was beginning to tremble. How had I ever considered myself the Original One when I was unable to pull my arm away from a mere human? Perhaps I had been delusional this whole time. My mouth dry, I opened it to speak, "Let go of my–" Aurelio was still mumbling. "...Leading up to this stone." And then he turned the Alterstone over in its cradle.
Chapter Five: "WHAT THE FFFFFF-UCK, THEO?!" In a brief yet blinding explosion of light, my human body had dissipated, melting from my bones as I changed and became something new. I said over and over again in my head, "ODDISH" because that was the least conspicuous Pokémon that came to mind. So thus I arose, a panicked, little Oddish, an unusual spurt of green in the middle of an argent desertland. Aurelio had stumbled backwards onto the ground, his eyes globally large. "What the – WHAT THE –" I immediately flipped the Alterstone again. "Do not panic, human!" I whisper-hissed once I had changed back. "You – AN ODDISH – WHY –" "Aurelio, cease your hysteria!" I ordered although my own voice was shaking. My right arm reached over to my left, the one with the Alterstone, to steady its shudders. Words were coming out, but I could not stop them. "First of all, you pathetic mortal, what were you thinking, touching my bracelet–" "Pathetic mortal?!" Then Aurelio was mad. He stood up with a crazed face, but his voice was feeble, as if he had never yelled in his brief hour of a life before. "I just thought it looked like the one in my book! I didn't think that turning the jewel was going to – I don't know, turn you into a Pokémon!" My neck felt strained. "I am not a Pokémon." These words were spilling. "Or a human." "Well, you must not be 'mortal' either, or whatever you said – " "Aurelio, be quiet!" He was not silenced. "Then tell me what the hell just –" "Aurelio!" I said through my teeth, my eyes sliding past him. "Silence. We need to leave right now." At last, Aurelio pursed his lips and said nothing. He saw where my eyes had gone and slowly turned around. Behind him, the crowd at the edge of the bazaar had slowed to watch us. Whoever had seen was already on the move to alerting those who hadn't. Aurelio and I could only stare back, arms limp at our sides, not entirely sure where to go from there. I had only arrived in the mortal realm less than an Earth hour ago! Aurelio was the first to move. He sprung into action. "Let's go," he said under his breath, grabbing my hand and pulling me the opposite way. My human legs seemed to operate on their own. They moved back and forth, mechanically swinging, until I was running alongside him. "Where are we going?" I asked hoarsely, not sure if I was out of breath or frightened. "Just keep running," he said. He somehow picked up speed, even though the sand engulfed our feet and seemed to inhale our movement with each passing step. "I know where we can go." Hands locked to one another for balance, we raced along the borders of the bazaar and into a crowded town. Humans jumped aside to let us pass, bellowing their powerful, protesting voices into my ears. I thought I felt someone try to snatch the Alterstone away from my wrist at one point, but my entire head felt so flushed that perhaps I had imagined the whole thing. Around corners and over carts we jumped. What was that box that the humans watched – the television? How Aurelio and I sped through the town, it reminded me of a film that I had seen in my visions once. The hero which the story followed performed these same stunts: the leaps, the spins, the whirling into the streets as if Suicune's wind had swept beneath our feet and lifted us up. We at last reached a shack that was less deteriorated than the hundreds around it. Aurelio dragged me to the back and hurried me through a door. When nobody was close, he came into the shack and shut the door, leaving us in musty darkness. A sliver of light coming from a crack in a boarded window shined a small streak of color on Aurelio's face, over his hazel irises like a mask. Particles of dust floated in between us as we planted out feet in the silence, our torsos pulled up and strong, both refusing to be the first to talk. We ended up opening our mouths at the same time. I said, "You have put me into a difficult situation–" "You better explain what just happened right now," he said. We fell into quietness again. "That's the Alterstone," Aurelio said. My stomach tightened, and I knew that he could tell. "I realized that the second we shut the door. That is the damn Alterstone that...it...look, do you realize how long I have studied that thing? Since I was a kid. My father passed me his knowledge, and his father before that did too. Everything I know is a compilation of legends and studies and research that's been literally going on for nine generations." "How do you know the name of my stone?" I whispered, suddenly fearing the human race. Aurelio hadn't heard or he wasn't listening. "How did you get it?" he said. "Everyone knows it's not real. People have searched for it since it was drawn into the sand after the first sighting of Arceus. It can't be an imitation, or the stone wouldn't have worked." His face went pale. I did not respond. "The Alterstone – it worked," he said. He licked his parched lips. "You...you're..." Before I came upon the moment to speak, he steadied himself and said, "You're Arceus. The sire of all creation. The mother of humans and Pokémon. The Original One." The hair on the back of my neck rose. "You know my name too." Aurelio's body was motionless and his eyes were beating like hearts. His skin resembled the pale shell of the moon at dusk. It reminded me how incredibly beautiful the human species could be. "So you are," he said softly. He made to come closer but stopped. Instead, he stared at me for what felt longer than an era. "Why did you come to Earth?" I laughed without humor. "That is your question." "You are the greatest of all legends," explained Aurelio, looking troubled. "Nobody has ever recorded your presence here before. Usually, there are traces of evidence. The legendaries have been spotted throughout the years. But you – nothing of you. You have never been here. I don't believe so, at least. Why now?" I wondered if I could trust him. He had recognized the Alterstone and spoken my name – and he regarded me with fascination, not uneasiness. Perhaps he already knew about the Plates, as well. I contemplated my choices and decided that it wouldn't be harmful to my quest to bring along someone who knew the layout of the earth, the cities and its customs. So I told him. "You seem to know much about me," I said, and he nodded. The atmosphere was charged. "Then you must also know about my sixteen Plates." "Of course." "There are not only sixteen," I said. "There are three more. The Plates of Space, Time, and Cosmos. They were there long before the others and helped me establish order in the universe. If anyone besides me was to use them, it would surely lead to disaster. I have come to the mortal realm to retrieve them. The Plate of Space is calling for me. I can sense that mortals are near." Aurelio swallowed. "My grandfathers never said anything about those." "Come with me," I said. I tried to exercise pleasantness but it sounded more like an order. "I can't do that." My collarbone strained. "I need a human to guide me. I don't understand this world. You saw me in the bazaar." "There's just..." Aurelio sighed, shaking his head and looking past me at nothing in particular. He lapsed into silence as he searched for words. "There's no way that this is real. You – Arceus – you're everything that my family has cared about for nine generations. I grew up on your historical documentations, not your fairytales...and now you're here...and I...I just..." He half-smiled, chuckling to himself. "You're really here," he finally said, eyes shining. "Asking me to help you." "Yes." "To retrieve those Plates. Space. Time. Cosmos." He exhaled with a whistle. I remained motionless. "Yes." "To avoid disaster." "...Yes." Aurelio started walking around the shack with his hands clasped behind his head. He whistled again. "Maybe I'm dreaming," he said. He took out his beaten notebook. "But the Alterstone doesn't lie. It is the most secret yet signature indicator of the presence of Arceus – of you, sorry. My grandfather from eight-hundred years ago saw it himself. He saw you. And he remembered everything. As soon as he came back, he sketched it all and preserved it. All of it." I furrowed my brows. "I don't know this grandfather." "It was eight-hundred years ago," said Aurelio sheepishly. "But he saw you. He tried to catch you in a Pokéball. It almost worked, but you escaped." Turning around, I faced the narrow beam of light coming through the window. Through the space between the boards, I saw the blue skies of the earth, where I saw a formidable adventure ahead of me. The clouds swept through the heavens in the most whimsical fashion, but never once as random as the threads of fate, which cared little about the differences between gods and mortals.
