Destiny Tower

[Negrek]

"Bye, Arceus! We'll come see you after the fight, okay? We can celebrate! Good luck. We'll all be rooting for you!"

"Okay, okay," Nate said, waving the notebook for Rocky to take back. "The guy's got important shit to do. Let him go."

Rocky didn't protest while Nate led him out of the tower, but as they were making their way down the hill, he said, "So you're going to come up with some way to help him, right?"

Nate sighed. "I dunno. The guy's not exactly giving us a lot to work with, here. There ain't much we can do without his help."

"You can't give up!" Rocky said fiercely. "You have to think of something!"

"Look, the best I got right now is, 'Everybody in town makes a substitute, that creepy mimikyu sews them all together, Arceus takes the mega substitute with him to block the attack,' get me? Head. Fucking. Empty."

Rocky was thoughtful. "Well, Leg does like to sew things. Maybe it could work." But that only shut him up for a few seconds. "You have to keep trying. You have to."

Nate scowled and sped up a little so at least the infernape wasn't hovering right next to him. "Let's just go get this fucking stupid ribbon, okay?"

<><><>​

 

[Dragonfree]

By the time Dave woke up, Shadow was gone, at least for now. Mia was gone too, which wasn't great for his heart, but at least she'd only wandered as far as the guild library.

He hadn't spent a lot of time thinking about Arceus since they'd finally confirmed the guy even existed. His texting'd been insufferable enough, and really not giving the supposed god of the universe any time out of his day gave Dave plenty of satisfaction. But now, finally, Arceus was supposedly going to make himself useful for once. To absorb the attack somehow. And that...

Letting a major part of the plan hinge on Arceus being a noble benevolent self-sacrificial ruler might have been something the others were willing to just accept, but he was a lot less so. Especially after listening to Soda explain how his world's Arceus had made a malicious deal with him after his power'd been threatened, and made his partner try to murder him, and exiled him from the universe. What, other Arceus could be dicks but their Arceus just so happened to be pure and perfect? Yeah, right.

It wasn't like they were likely to be able to do much about it if fucking God wasn't on the level with them. But Dave was not going out there taking it on faith. He was going to get a read on him, and press for some answers, and try to go into this fight with some idea who this god even was, and if Arceus didn't like to be questioned, well, let him fucking smite him.

He approached Destiny Tower alongside Mia, who seemed to care a lot less about this than he did but accompanied him anyway. He looked around critically as they entered the tower, the ostentatious room somehow exactly what a god would do. A golden light shone onto a platform in the middle of the room, something teleporter-like.

He squinted at the light. "Is this it, or do we have to take the stairs?"

 

[Namohysip]

There was not a reply this time, perhaps because Arceus had not heard him, or because Dave had not specifically called for him. The light, however, remained, and based on how others had come and gone in the past, perhaps Dave would have to go through as well, or call out to him.

 

[Dragonfree]

"Hello? Anybody there?" he called, stepping closer to it. "Arceus?"

 

[Namohysip]

And to that, the light flickered, brightened, and then manifested the deity that Dave had called for. Pop emerged and looked down, having to lean forward a little to get to a proper speaking height... though he seemed to be making an effort to not look intimidating. "Yes, my child? To what do I owe my graceful presence?" His eyes glinted, then darkened. "...I'm... still working on ironic humor."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave jumped and took a step back as the Arceus materialized out of the light. Dave was truly tiny next to him, and the Poochyena brain infuriatingly recommended running before he beat that part of his brain into submission.

But of course the supposed deity then opened with some sort of an attempt at a joke. Dave rolled his eyes briefly. "Hilarious," he said, deadpan. "I don't know, I figured it'd be cool to know a bit more about our good lord and saviour before you go absorb that attack in the sky for our sins. Like, did you create Cibus, or did they just elect you as their supreme overlord because they liked you?"

 

[Namohysip]

"I created Cibus," Arceus replied with a nod. "Though, I like to think they regard me kindly because they like me."

Simple and to the point. Perhaps Pop knew Dave wasn't one who was looking to dillydally.

"Though... I do not know what you mean by absorbing all our sins. That reminds me of something Pine once told me... I still don't quite understand it."

 

[Dragonfree]

"Figure of speech," Dave said dismissively, and was about to drop that off-hand quip. But no, Pine? This was interesting, actually. "Big feature of the biggest religion in my world is the deity taking mortal form just so he can get himself lengthily tortured and killed, and this somehow enables him to forgive humanity's sins. Pine's got the same thing?"

"Maybe he's from our world," Mia said. "Or a different but similar one."

Dave paused. He was looking at the creator of this universe, supposedly, if he could be believed. Which he probably shouldn't, but no part of being here had ever obeyed reasonable laws of physics or probability, so why the fuck not. "How's that work? Was there another universe you existed in, and then one day you just went hey, let's make one of my own?"

 

[Namohysip]

"My kind are often born of others of my kind, like any other species," Arceus said. "...I do not know my own Creator, if I had one. As far as I can tell, sometimes we are... born from chaos, into nothing, and our power is the ability to Create within Nothing. That is all I am, really. My power is only as strong as the reality I created it in, and by those who perpetuate it." He looked up. "Pine... is from a world of only humans. I do not think he is from a world like yours."

 

[Dragonfree]

"Huh." A world that was like theirs but didn't have Pokémon? How did that work? Surely if there were no Pokémon the point of divergence would be far too early to... what the hell. Was this just the world's weirdest coincidence? Judging by Mia's frown, she was thinking about the same thing. Maybe they should talk to Pine sometime.

A species of gods, springing forth from nothing to create universes. If that was just what the species of Arceus did, that made some kind of warped sense, he supposed.

"So all you do is just set the world in motion? Do you, what, intelligently design it, steer it where you want, or just let physics and evolution run its course?"

 

[Namohysip]

Arceus looked outside. "...At first, I did not know what I was doing," he said. "I ran on... instinct. I created. Energy, great amounts of energy, and I watched what happened as it all started to coalesce into something... else. I do not know if I 'felt' anything back then... That was a long, long time ago. My memory of that time is... hazy. Just as one's infancy is lost as you grow older. But then, out of that chaos, much like myself... came life. Simple life, but eventually I found... intelligent life. I had a sense for where they were. They taught me what I know now." He chuckled a little at that. "As I learned more about my own powers, I began to add to the world I had created. I created a world where I could inhabit with friends. One thing led to another... and here we are now."

He glanced at Dave. "I suppose that is not the story you were expecting."

 

[Dragonfree]

A baby god, acting on instinct. Wow, that was not terribly reassuring. As a former father of a toddler Dave would not trust a toddler to wield any degree of power not filtered through whatever the parents were willing to do to shut them up.

"Hold on, you found intelligent life, and they taught you? Who?"

 

[Namohysip]

Pop hummed, looking up. "I don't remember," he admitted. "Far too long ago. Humans... perhaps?" He tilted his head left, then right, then shook his head. "...Even my memories are not perfect. So many ages and ages and ages ago, I'm afraid the details are gone. Civilizations that rose and fell and rose again. I'd run into countless walks of life during my young travels. Things like humans, things like Pokemon... They were all so strange, so interesting, so... alive and dynamic. I remember being so curious about them.

"And eventually I found an empty, lifeless planet and decided to try Creation one more time." He smiled a little. "I don't think my handiwork has been too bad. But unlike all those worlds I had visited, I do feel... responsible for this one. That perhaps I had entered a new stage of my life cycle, if... I have one. I don't really know if I do. I have no real reference point. I am... myself, with no other in this reality. And other realities simply work differently."

 

[Dragonfree]

Huh. This was all pretty trippy. God as weird too-powerful child having to learn to be civilized from mortals was at least original. Imagine an actual god being raised by some fucking lunatics.

"Right. So there were planets before that just developed on their own, or that you created by instinct, or whatever. But this one is one you consciously guided? And that's why you're supreme overlord of Cibus?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Supreme overlord..." Arceus laughed. "I don't know if I like that title!" But he laughed a little more, then settled into a sigh. "...Yes, I suppose that is why I have a direct and constant presence here. Unlike all other worlds, I created this one directly, and I'm keen on looking into how it grows with the presence of Pokemon and Legends side by side. And it is also why, should something happen to me... I want to make sure that it will be able to continue without my power."

 

[Dragonfree]

"Well, whether you like the title or not." Dave clenched his jaw, narrowing his eyes at Arceus. "Look, we're all very grateful you told Maple not to murder us and all, but the fact you apparently get to just decide who lives or dies on Cibus is pretty fucked, by my standards. It's cool you created it, thrilled you're buds with everyone important, but less thrilled that apparently whether people get killed on arrival is up to your personal whims."

Mia was squinting at Arceus. "...You think you're going to die."

...Yeah. Yeah, that sure was what he sounded like. Dave kept his gaze on the legendary. Fuck. Were they going to watch the dude get obliterated?

 

[Namohysip]

A strange silence fell over them, then. There was a more serious gaze in his eyes, the way Dave confronted him about that. And then, with a nod, he said, "Perhaps there was a misunderstanding." He drifted a little lower until his hooves properly touched the ground. they made a soft, ethereal tap, almost like a triangle's ring. "I do not decide who lives and dies as an ultimate authority across the world. I do not declare if someone is to be put to death." Arceus looked down at Dave. "I overrode a decision to vanquish your team upon arrival. As far as my special authority is concerned, I only declare someone to live. You have to understand that your circumstances aren't exactly... normal. We rarely get outside visitors... let alone outsiders covered with Dark Matter's corruption."

 

[Dragonfree]

The silence was deafening. Dave's heart hammered as Arceus's expression changed and he descended fully to the ground, staring down at him with that creepy mouthless face.

"Well, I don't think there's all that much of a practical difference between you personally deciding to kill someone, or a squad of enforcers who answer only to you personally. Did you know Maple once told me, even after you'd told her to let us live, that if she ever saw any sign that we weren't on their side, she was going to kill us all? Because that was real reassuring." Mia looked up, cocking her head. "Look, okay, Dark Matter, fair enough to be concerned. But it's kind of a leap from there to fucking cold-blooded murder. And, what, if you went insane one day, Maple'd just get to run around doing whatever the fuck she likes because you're not there to veto it?"

"What will happen if you die?" Mia asked.

 

[Namohysip]

Arceus tilted his head. "Maple is not under my authority," he said. "She is a guest of this world. I do not have enforcers. Maple, for a time, behaved independently of my whims, as you call them. But if I die... the world will go on, of course." Arceus looked ahead. "They will have to make do without me. But it is no as if the world will fall apart with my absence. I designed it in such a way that I am not needed."

He leaned forward a little more, out of some kind of curiosity. "With all due respect, Dave... it feels as though you are merely looking for a reason to dislike me."

 

[Dragonfree]

"Oh, even better, you've got guests running around the world deciding to murder people, only not doing it because you tell them not to, and now you're preparing some kind of grand heroic sacrifice that'll leave fuck-all to stop them, I guess. I feel much better, thanks."

Dave took a deep, frustrated breath.

"I'm not looking for a reason to dislike you, Jesus. Not everything's about you. I'm not a fan of gods being a thing. Of some people being able to just fucking obliterate half the world if they please." He gestured in the direction of the nearest window, at where Joule's attack hung in the air, frozen. "Maybe you're the world's most well-meaning goody-two-shoes but if there are no checks and balances on what you can do with your power, that's still fucked. And then you've got fucking Maple."