Gateway to Ruin

Naito was standing as he saw the attacks, fell back at the next Ominous Wind, but stood again as Cyrus was on the ground. He decided to speak to Giratina. He needed this "god" of sorts to help them, not harm them. "Listen to us!"

That same screech sounded again, as the Renegade Pokémon turned his way. It was not amused.

Okay, going for broke. "We don't want to hurt you! I swear! We just want to stop him, to stop what he's doing! Listen to us! We need to stop Galactic before they destroy the other world!"

Silence.

"Please! We don't want to fight you!"

Finally, the Pokémon disappeared, fading from sight. They...had won?

[i]Bang![/i] Another bullet took Naito in the chest, forcing him to his knees in pain, blood falling from his new wound.

"That shadowy Pokémon..." Cyrus was on his knees again, the tonfa with his remaining bullets aimed at Naito, then Jasmine. He was still enraged, but focused now, though weak, blood on his lip. "You quelled its rage by refusing to battle it?!"

"Because... we aren't like you... we know that the worlds deserve better... than destruction..." Naito muttered, losing consciousness slowly, but held up by force of will.

The boss of a crumbling organization was having none of it. "Silence! Enough of your blathering!" He stood weakly, aiming at both of them with the tonfa in both hands. "That's how you justify spirit as something worthwhile?! That is merely humans hoping, deluding themselves that they are happy and safe!"

"Because they are...without you..."

"The emotions roiling inside me... Rage, hatred, frustration... These ugly emotions arise because of my own incomplete spirit!" Finally he had had enough. The final bullet slammed into the latch on that cage device, opened it, the metal claw rocketing out, aiming for Jasmine, trying to grasp at her!

"Jasmine!" Naito gasped, unable to protect himself, but flying on his silver wings between them...

[i]Boom![/i] The device exploded in a blast of white light, the pieces flying in all directions. With a screech, Giratina was again nowhere to be found. The last part of Cyrus' plan had fallen to pieces, Giratina saving the Interferences for its own mysterious purposes, or perhaps just to protect its own realm. Maybe it had listened to Naito?

Cyrus' plans were gone. His organization? Probably dismantled or at least repurposed by his second in command and Team Plasma. He had every right to his anger now, especially how it was brought about by people so close to his own age, not older, and clearly not wiser, just as long as he was. However, this did not occur at all. Instead, all rage, all emotion, completely disappeared from his face. He dropped the weapons, crossing his arms over the wound Jasmine had last inflicted. "...Enough. We will never see eye to eye. This, I promise you. I will break the secrets of the world. With that knowledge, I will create my own complete and perfect world. One day, you will awaken to a world of my creation. A world without spirit."

Naito frowned, though he was lying on the ground now, too weak to stand up any longer. He only barely noticed as a powerful blast of energy took the platform beside them, blowing it up and sending himself and Jasmine flying, probably knocking both unconscious.

And they were falling, sideways, through the darkness. Giratina would have its peace and time to deal, personally, with Cyrus how it saw fit.

=====

[i]Pokémon Center, Eterna City, Sinnoh
Eighteen hours later[/i]

Naito awoke with a groan. Everything felt like pain. He was shirtless, in a hospital bed somewhere. A hospital? Odd. His eyes straining, he looked at the bandages around him. Everything seemed to be covered by white cloth, all of his wounds anyway, and he seems to at least have himself covered.

"Hey." The angel almost jumped (if he could), turned, and saw a familiar face, a demon. Isaac Zivaku was sitting in a plastic, folding chair, hands clasped with his elbows on his thighs. His clothes were somewhat wet, but mostly dried. Had he gone to those mountains?

"I...saac?" He was surprised and relieved to see a familiar face, if self-admitted untrustworthy one. He was family, after all, and in a roundabout way he did sort of try to help. He just had to hope that the demon would not lie here. "Don't lie to me here, Isaac..." And he let himself relax on the bed for the time being, needing his strength. "...where are we? What happened?"

"You've been out for the better part of a day," the demon said softly, just in case of ear damage, but loud enough to be heard. "I saw you two at that top of that snowy mountain, the only reason you didn't bleed out, and carried you to Eterna City's Pokémon Center on the west side of the Mount Coronet range. Veilstone is on the east side." As a pause, he decided to explain. "Yeah, yeah, I skimmed your hearts for all information on what happened here so I could get a good idea. Pokémon Centers are medical facilities for trainers' Pokémon, but they managed to use what they had for humans and humanoids when I told them the seriousness of the situation."

A pause again. "While they told me to head out while they fixed you two up, I went over the mountain again to be sure of what happened there. The smoke's still rising in Veilstone City, but it seems like the only casualties are the relatively nameless goons. Saturn, the guy you two fought? He's gone, but I seriously doubt he'll ever try anything of this caliber again. We can safely assume at least the Pokémorph project is history. Maybe the commanders will opt to actually come clean, but it's doubtful, though possible. I think at least Saturn is halfway sensible and realizes the insanity of his former boss's scheme, which was solely for Cyrus himself. Getting shot by your boss sort of has an impact."

Again a pause, but mostly for Naito to let it sink in, then he spoke once more. "When I talked with the nurses around here, I got the impression, with liberal use of my ability, that they don't really care about what Jazz looks like. Hell, most of the people I passed, though surprised, didn't think it was bad. They even liked what she looked like. There were a few people, even in this Center, who thought the worst, but they're easily quieted after a talk with some of the other nurses. So I think any concerns about acceptance and need to fit in don't really see a lot of issues."

Naito finally spoke, or tried to. "Tha--" He coughed, unable to speak much more, trying to talk louded than he could currently handle.

A nurse with short blue hair and a purple apron on came over with a glass of water. "Welcome to the Pokémon Center," she told him. "Are you okay?"

He took it, sipping as quickly as he dared until he could speak. "Yes, thank you, ma'am..." She left at that, and he looked over, opening his mouth again to speak, but was cut off

Isaac shook his head. "You're family. What else would I do? Speaking of," he nodded toward the bed beside Naito's. "might want to make sure Jazz over there is okay."

The time traveler looked to Jasmine, in her own bed, her less substantial wounds bandaged as well, but it looked like she would be okay. Their clothing was on a chair near them, cleaned and stitched up, but it seemed that her bandages were arranged to include sarashi. He quickly looked away, embarrassed.

But at least they had won.