Possibly chapter 3

Anything in quotes is either someone speaking, quoting something, or reading something.

Anything in like 'this' is something to do with the mind, be it someone's thoughts, telepathy or dreams.

Let us begin!

~~~~~~~X~~~~~~~

I squinted as some of the newborn light found its way into my eyes. It was just after dawn and we were about half way across the Skyarrow bridge, connecting Nacrene to Castelia from across the river. It had been a couple of days since I had met Sapphire and we were currently heading to Castelia city to get my license renewed, so she would be safe in case we ever met someone who would try to capture her.

'Aaron, can you help me up?' The Riolu in question asked as she tried desperately, and failed, to climb up onto the railing. I nodded and helped her up so she was standing on the concrete rail. 'Wow...' She said, her mental voice filled with wonder as she looked out to the water as it reflected thousands of colors from the rising sun.

"Wow indeed..." I confirmed, a similar wonder filling my voice. For some reason it simply didn't matter that I might have seen a sight like this a thousand times, it just didn't seem to get old. Before either of us knew it, five minutes had gone by. And five turned to ten, ten to twenty and so on. Finally, after thirty whole minutes of watching the glittering river, I roused myself back to my senses and we continued on. For the rest of the walk to Castelia's DLA (Department of League Affairs) office, I felt like I had forgotten that there was a cold war between gods raging across the world, yet just out of sight.

It was a good feeling.

~~~~~~X~~~~~~

'Wow! How are they so tall?' Sapphire exclaimed when we stepped off of the Skyarrow bridge and caught sight of just how tall the skyscrapers that Castelia was known for were. I just chuckled at her amazement, gathered her back up onto my shoulder, and walked the remaining distance to the DLA office. Since it was one of the buildings facing the docks, it wasn't that long of a walk.

If I hadn't known any better, I would have thought I was at the wrong place. Next to the towering skyscrapers, the small two story building looked almost painfully out of place. I walked through the automatic glass doors, but almost immediately stopped in my tracks. I felt something that I dreaded, something I had miraculously avoided for ten years.

I felt a disciple of Arceus.

And he was close.

I did a quick sweep of the room and saw that, barring me and the woman manning the desk, there was no one in here. I relaxed approximately three hairs on the back of my neck when I realized that she wasn't the disciple.

'Aaron, is something wrong?' Sapphire asked concernedly, and with a small twinge of fear in her own voice. I shook my head, forced myself to calm down when I realized that it was affecting Sapphire, and walked a bit stiffly to the desk. When she noticed me, her face practically lit up as bright as Castelia itself.

"Good morning and welcome the department of league affairs, how may I help you?" She greeted me in a surprisingly genuine tone that radiated peppiness. I took out my old trainer card and set it down on the desk between us.

"I would like my trainer card renewed Ma'am."

"Certainly, this will take just a few minutes Mr..." She glanced down at my card, then back to me. "Tarkeil. Please take a seat while you wait."

I gave her my thanks, sat down on one of the empty couches against the wall and tried to calm myself. Clearly this was a very slow day for the DLA, if the amount of couches in the lobby was any indication. I finally succeeded in calming myself when I remembered the words of one of my mentors during my training:

"Disciples of Arceus aren't exactly like you or I; they can't sense other disciples immediately, it takes time them a few minutes to get a fix on ya'. But if they do find you, don't underestimate them for a second. Even though they're basically grunts and can't do much on their own, they're arrogant and have no fear of death, a very dangerous combination."

Thankfully, only a few minutes later I was called back up to receive my renewed trainer card. I paid for it, gave the woman my thanks and left for the building with Sapphire still on my shoulder. I could have sworn I felt someone watching me when I left, but I didn't see anyone other than the woman (who had gotten back to her computer) when I looked back though.

Against my better judgement, I shrugged the feeling off and headed out, bound for the Castelia shopping district to resupply.

~~~~~~~~X~~~~~~~~~

About two hours and some drainage of my wallet later, I sat next to Sapphire on one of the sandy benches on route 4, newly purchased poke-ball in hand. It was pretty much identical to a standard poke-ball aesthetically, save for a small loop on the top half with a short length of string through it. Perfect size for a small pendant or necklace.

I looked to my side and saw Sapphire fiddling with her paws nervously, obviously preparing herself for what was about to happen happen.

"Are you ready?" I asked her, trying to make my voice soothing to keep the little Riolu calm.

'Y-yeah, do it.' She said, sounding nervous but eager to get this over with. I nodded and tapped the ball against her shoulder. The device snapped open in my hand and activated with a flash of light just under blinding, sucking Sapphire into it and activating the capture mechanism.

The ball snapped closed and began to shake lightly in my hand.

After the third shake, the ball went still and a victorious sounding ding emanated from the ball. 'Not much of a victory.' I thought as I let Sapphire out of the ball and back onto the bench. 'On second thought, maybe I should have left her in the ball...' I thought as Sapphire began to stumble about on the bench.

"Are you OK?" I asked her, concerned that the ball may have done more to her than I thought.

'Y-yeah, just dizzy. Gimme a minute.' She said as she leaned against the bench's back rest. 'So,' She asked after a few minutes 'When are we heading out?' She asked a bit excitedly.

"Soon, but first, close your eyes." I said, the last words feeling heavy and foreign as they left my mouth. I realized that they were the first real commands I'd given to anyone in ten years. It didn't feel right and left an odd taste in my mouth., so I decided to only give commands sparingly. Sapphire complied and closed her eyes. I took the minimized pokeball and gently draped the string over and around her head. "Okay, you can open your eyes." She opened her eyes and immediately pawed at the ball in an attempt to hold it.

'Shouldn't you hold onto this, Aaron?' She asked with the same innocence and curiosity that had been practically exclusive to her over those first few days.

I shook my head. "No, I want you to hold onto your ball so you know that you can leave whenever you like, if you want to. I will not hold or pull any strings in this relationship of ours, you are free to choose what you want to do. If you want to smash the ball and leave now, you can." I explain in an admittedly stiff tone as I got up and helped Sapphire onto my shoulder, a spot that she had come to like quite a bit.

'My own choice? Hmm... Then I choose to stay with you, Aaron!' Sapphire exclaimed happily as she brought my head into a hug with her little arms. I was so surprised by just how much she had bonded with me over the few days that we had known each other, I very nearly fell over. I recovered and continued walking on into the desert to the north of Castelia.

A good half hour passed before I realized that I since I had completed my "objective" of renewing my trainer card and registering Sapphire as my pokemon, I had already gotten back into my "wandering" way of thinking. A dangerous way of thinking when in a desert. I needed a new destination if I wanted to get out of this desert in any decent amount of time. I decided to ask Sapphire where she wanted to go, and she decided that we head to Nimbasa city and its "wheel of light," as she called the ferris wheel there.

The desert was deceptively long and wide, so we walked (or, more accurately, I walked with Sapphire on my shoulder) seven hours or so of day light that we had left before the night came. We looked around a bit before settling on a spot and making camp in the last rays of the dying sunlight. Half an hour and two cans of soup later, Sapphire and I were gazing up at the stars from inside the sleeping bag. Or, at least I was, due to Sapphire being deeper in the bag and likely already asleep.

I felt my eyes growing heavy, so I submitted myself to sleep's alluring darkness.

~~~~~~X~~~~~~

'Awaken disciple... awaken...'

I grunted as I tried to swat whatever was trying to get me to wake up away, but fate seemed to have other plans as I felt myself wake up, whether I liked it or not. When my eyes had opened properly, I saw that I wasn't in the desert anymore, but rather in a cave with very familiar red rocks. I stood up and looked around, confirming my suspicions.

I was in the distortion world again.

A quick inspection of my surroundings revealed that I was in a closed off cavern, no more than 10 by 10 feet. I wasn't alone in the "cave," I saw a woman standing near the rear wall. If I had to describe her in one word: Plain. She was the kind of woman who would disappear in a crowd in an instant.

'You are awake, disciple. Good,' I heard in my mind. It didn't take much to deduce that this "woman" was who was talking to me and who (more like what) she was. She wasn't an actual woman, she was more of an AI used to keep us disciples in touch with each other and Giratina. She did this by "liking our souls," or so she calls it. This also gives her quite a bit of access to our minds.

'Giratina would have been here, but he was preoccupied with Dialga and Palkia, so I am here to assign you your mission.' My interest piqued when she mentioned a mission. Since us disciples were more or less the foot soldiers of gods, we are assigned missions of varying importance from time to time. When we don't have missions, we are left to our own devices (in my case, wandering) until our next mission. This was all well and good, except for one thing.

This was my first mission.

'Giratina is aware that this is your first mission, disciple. But he has faith in you. Do you choose to accept your mission?' She explained in her monotone voice.

"I don't know... I suppose if Giratina believes in me, I should try. I accept." I accepted a little hesitantly. The woman bowed and continued explaining with her telepathy.

'Good. We have recently learned of some ruins that Giratina and his advisers believe may help us in our campaign against Arceus. Your mission is to go to the Sinnoh town of Snowpoint and investigate these ruins.' I mentally groaned when she mentioned Sinnoh. While not a total theocracy, its government was heavily influenced by the church of Arceus, leading it to be a rather dangerous place for us "heretics."

'Be advised; the distortion world has been rather unstable as of late due to various accounts of Dialga and Palkia interfering, leading some other disciples unable to use it as a gate. It should be stable enough for you to make it to Sinnoh so long as you leave within the next 72 hours. After that, I can guarantee nothing. It is recommended that you bring your companion with you, for-'

Suddenly, the small room was bathed in a red light as an alarm of sorts sounded from who knows where and the AI woman adopted a shocked expression.

'Alert! Hostile disciple detected approaching your body! Allegiance: Arceus. You must awaken immediately and meet the threat or run!' The woman practically yelled into my mind.

Before I could even begin to process what I had just been told, I felt my limbs and eyes begin to grow heavier by the second, soon they felt like lead had replaced my blood. I collapsed, and fell back into darkness.

~~~~~X~~~~~

I groaned about in my sleeping bag for a few minutes before I began to remember what had happened in my dream; my mission and my warning. My eyes snapped open as I scrambled up to try and find my sword, nearly forgetting that I was in a sleeping bag and completely forgetting that someone else was in it as well. I needed to get ready for the disciple of Arceus. I was so scared and, in a very odd way, excited about the fact that I would have to fight for my life in a few short minutes, that I would have forgotten about Sapphire if she hadn't jumped up and slapped me.

'Aaron! Calm down, your aura's all over the place! Now,' She said as she jumped back down to the desert floor. 'What's going on that's got you so riled up?' She asked in an almost maternal tone. I grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her straight in the eye. She needed to be safe.

"Someone's coming and he's more than likely going to try to kill me. Listen Sapphire, you need to run while I deal with him. Go and hide while I distract him." With those few words, I could see tears gathering in the little Riolu's eyes. But she blinked them away and shook her head defiantly.

'No! I won't leave my trainer to die! I can fight!' She said just as defiantly. She seemed dead set on protecting me, even though it meant fighting someone or something that she knew nothing about. Once again, I was at a loss for words due to just how much she had already bonded with me. Before I could say anything else, there was an explosion of sand about 5 meters away from us. I didn't even need to look over to see who it was, I could already feel him.

"Listen Sapphire, you need to leave now while I distract him!" I said, just short of shouting at Sapphire. She was staring right at the cloud of sand and dust, face drawing back into an expression of horror as she was undoubtedly picking up on gods knows what kind of malice in the disciple's aura. All of a sudden, everything went quiet for a second that felt like an eternity. A huge gust of wind blew away the dust and revealed an abomination that not even the most devout follower of Arceus would call "holy."

It was (emphasis on was) a man, but his body was just... wrong. His jaw was slack, his legs had become reverse jointed, and his arms were elongated so much that his hands were at his shins. But what was more attention drawing was what was in his hands; two golden axes were gripped tightly in his long fingers. The abomination looked from me, to Sapphire, then to me again. And I swore, I saw it grin as much as it could with it's slack jaw before it spoke in a horrible voice.

"No, no, no... Don't make her leave on my account, she can join in on our little 'fun'... Heretic." It said, spitting out the last word as if it left a a horrible taste in its mouth.

More than likely, it did.

Before I could react, the abomination screeched some battle cry and dashed straight at Sapphire, who was still staring horrified at the creature. Before I even knew what I was doing, I grabbed my sword and put myself in between it and Sapphire. I quickly formed a blob of antimatter about the size of a baseball in one hand While I gripped my sword in the other. Acting on instinct and adrenaline, I threw the blob of antimatter at the creature harder than I've ever thrown anything in my life.

A piercing screech of pain hit me as the ball hit the abomination square in its eyes, the antimatter starting to eat its way through the skin. For a moment, I began to think that I may have killed it, the thought reassured as the bone-chilling screams of pain lasted several more seconds. But suddenly, a deep, throaty noise came from the abomination as it reached up and grabbed what was left of the blob and threw it down into the cold sand. I realized that the noise was the abomination laughing at me.

"You really thought that would kill me? One of Arceus' chosen disciples and loyal soldiers? Ha! Pray to whatever vile god you have sold your soul to for mercy, for mine has none to spare on heretics like you!" The disciple yelled as he got into a combat stance, lifting his golden axes above his head. I readied my sword in both hands, getting ready to fight this monster head on.

He apparently had other plans.

Before I could blink, the disciple vanished from where he was. I looked around, but didn't see him until it was too late. He reappeared directly in front of me, his slack jawed face staring straight into mine. He grabbed one of my ankles and, with what seemed to be no effort on his part, threw me up into the air. Time seemed to slow down as I felt weightless in the air and saw his stretched face curve into a smile right before he slammed into my side with the flats of his axes, sending me flying across the surface of the sand before crashing into the ground. My mind was reeling in a torrent of pain as I hit the ground, almost unable to register the telepathic shout of 'Aaron!' from Sapphire.

My eyes were so screwed up and blurry from the pain and sand that undoubtedly got into them, I barely saw the towering mass of the disciple as he stood over me. I could feel his booming voice in my bones, but everything he said just turned into mumbles. I couldn't even move, the pain was so intense. I just wanted to lay down and die.

Just before my eyes closed fully, I saw a faint blue blob jump up to about the disciple's shoulder level, An even fainter, white blob accompanying it. Somehow I managed to regain enough of my sight and wits just in time to see Sapphire slam a force palm into the disciple's temple, sending him flying (while nowhere near as far as I was sent) a surprisingly far ways.

'Aaron!' Sapphire exclaimed as she ran down to me and tried to help me up back to my feet. Why didn't she get it? Why didn't she see that she had to leave now if she wanted to live?

"No Sapphire, run while you can. Don't be dragged down just-" I managed to croak out before a small, yet strong, paw slapped me across the face, shutting me up rather effectively.

'No! How many times do I have to say it? I won't leave you to die! Now get up!' Sapphire said, tears and fear staining her face. It hit me right then, that she cared about me so much that she would rather die by my side than leave me and live. Sure, I noticed that she cared for me before, but I didn't think it was like this.

Here I was, nearly dying, and she will still stand by me to the death. That thought, that bond, sparked a fire in me that gave me the energy to get back up and pick up my sword. Sure I may be beaten all to hell, but if Sapphire is willing to stand by my side till the death, then I shall stand by hers!

That Disciple made his last mistake when he decided to try and hurt Sapphire, and I sure as hell am gonna make sure he knows that! I took off like a bullet towards to splayed form of the disciple, sword gripped tight in one hand and antimatter already accumulating in the other with Sapphire close behind.

I could already hear his horrible laugh as I got closer with every step. He began to say something, but no matter how bone chilling, how blood freezing and deformed his body and voice was, I wouldn't listen, I wouldn't stop. He wasn't even paying attention to us, he was just staring at the stars.

I brought my sword down hard on his left arm, eliciting a blood curdling scream of pain as the blade cut through the flesh and bone, severing his arm just above the elbow. I forced a hand full of antimatter into his already scarred eyes, further drawing out the harrowing scream of pain. He kicked around and flailed his one good arm and one stump as he screamed, but I was practically on autopilot at this point, his screams only making me force more antimatter onto his, now exposed, skull.

'Aaron!' I heard from Sapphire, I looked to my right and saw that she was only barely dodging the disciple's blind slashes with his one remaining axe. That broke something in me even further. I didn't care if he was flailing around blindly, if he was in the worst pain imaginable, if he didn't even know what he was doing anymore. He was trying to hurt Sapphire, and I wanted him dead. No, more than dead.

I wanted him fucking erased from reality.

And I was gonna do it.

I brought sword down again, this time severing the disciple's right arm, leaving him with nothing more to flail than two bloody stumps. I began to stab him in the chest repeatedly, everything beyond my arm and his bloody chest seeming to just fade away. I began to scream incoherently as the twitching mass that used to be the disciple grew colder and colder with every passing second. I stopped long after the disciple had grown still and cold.

I got up from the corpse, feeling drained and tired. I took Sapphire's little hand in mine, shuffled my way back to camp, and just fell over, not even bothering to try and land on the sleeping bag. I closed my eyes and was out before I could even breath.

~~~~~~X~~~~~