Some Deity You Are!

As it scaled the last few steps of the now destroyed temple, Akira felt the unfamiliar sensation of its heartrate speeding up, seemingly beating out of its chest. It wasn’t a fan of the feeling.

The culmination of its work was about to arrive. The months spent in this hellish environment should have passed in the blink of an eye, but it seemed to have dragged on longer than some of the millennia it had experienced.

Further up the temple, a familiar voice was speaking to himself. “The temple lies in ruins now… Columns cracked and broken… Like pillars now turned into spears, stabbing into the heavens…”

Akira took a step forward.

Volo turned around to face it. “Well, I detect a distinct lack of Giratina.”

“Hm… I do as well.”

Volo seemed surprised at the lack of a reaction, standing awkwardly for a few moments before plastering his smile back on. “Ah! I do beg your problem. I must seem to be behaving strangely. I daresay you deserve to know what I’m really after by now.”

Akira smiled back. “Oh, I already know.”

Volo chuckled awkwardly for a second. “…What?”

“You didn’t do a very good job of covering your intent, my friend.” Akira walked closer to Volo, looking down at him. Volo was not used to looking up at anyone. “You wish to meet Arceus, correct?”

Taking a few steps back, Volo laughed. “How did you know?”

“It was a little bit obvious. You aren’t a very good actor,” Akira plainly stated, looking around and getting a better view of the temple as it spoke.

“… So, you knew this entire time?”

“I had a hunch.”

“And you went along with it… why?”

“I was curious.”

“You- you… You played me!” Volo hissed, his friendly facade falling to his pure confusion and anger.

“What? Is it only acceptable when you do it?” Akira grinned.

Volo clenched his fists. As he reached for his Pokeball, he felt a familiar ominous feeling. Which, paradoxically, was exactly what he wanted to feel at this moment. It meant his ally was on its way.

“Well, Akira,” he started, hand still hovering over the Pokeball at his side. “Do you feel that? The chill creeping through your veins? The eldritch presence icing your heart?”

Indeed, it could. And, once again, it wasn’t a fan of the feeling.

A shadow appeared on the ground behind Volo, and Akira instantly knew what it was facing. As the shadow raised from the floor and gained form, it stared up at it with a blank smile.

Giratina.

Something Akira hadn’t seen in quite some time, come to think of it.

As Giratina loomed over Volo, eyeing Akira, Akira simply smiled.

Realization flashed in Giratina’s eyes. It took a step back, obviously confusing Volo. “What? Are you seriously intimidated by this puny human?” Though, as Volo looked back at Akira’s smile, he understood the fear.

Akira spoke. “Both of us know how this will end.”

Giratina let out a hiss, but quickly shrunk back into the shadows, leaving Volo utterly baffled.

“You- turning tail and running? From this!?” He swerved to face Akira. “How did you- Giratina! Come back here! Strike him down!”

Silence. Only the howling of the wind on the mountaintop, empty aside from the two of them.

Volo processed what had happened for a bit before beginning to laugh. “You really have a way with Pokemon, don’t you? No wonder you were able to calm Palkia.” He clenched his fists again, his fingernails digging into his palms so far he nearly drew blood. “Who are you?”

Akira shrugged. “I wish I knew.”

Volo, against all reason and his better judgement, abruptly charged at Akira, knocking it to the ground. Before he could so much as scream at it, however, he felt an intense pain in his stomach. As he looked down, he realized that Akira was not as defenseless as it had seemed. Which is to say, he had a knife in his gut.

Akira kicked Volo off, pushing him to the floor, trying to wipe the blood of its own clothes. “It’s ironic you’ve done all this to get the attention of your God,” it stated calmly. Too calmly for someone who just narrowly escaped death.

Volo tried to speak, but all that came out was blood.

Akira looked down at him. Judging him. “Because? Well, truth be told, I’ve had my eyes on you for quite some time.”

Suddenly, it all made sense.

How Akira was spat out through the space time rift just in time to stop the Nobles. To stop Volo. How it had no lasting injuries despite falling out of the sky, how despite how many times it was mauled by the wild Pokemon, it would simply get back up.

Volo somehow mustered the energy through the pain to smile. “You-” He coughed up more blood as he tried to speak, forcing out the words through the red and agony. “You! Some deity you are! Leaving your children to rot!”

Akira. No, Arceus, simply turned around and began to walk down the stairs of the temple.

“I was right! I was right… This whole time!” Volo forced himself up, trying to crawl towards it, but all that did was speed up the inevitable.

He laughed one final time as his vision tunneled and faded to black.