DISTORTION WORLD [ there's a darkness within you ]

1,042 WORDS - WRITTEN SEPTEMBER 15, 2021 - RATING: T (minor violence, near death experiences)

A young, mindless boy like you knows nothing. It’s something you know everyone is thinking.

One of those things an adult will know and think about, but never tell a child. Experience is about the last thing a kid is full of, and it’d been through some sheerly dumb luck that you managed to get to this point in your journey.

You’re such a coordinated battler, but you lack the kind of personality to match as such; nervous and scatterbrained.

Spear Pillar is a place rife with dread. It leaves a heavy, yet hollow feeling in your stomach.

This is a sacred place. Team Galactic — Lucas, Dawn, you. You are standing where the gods have stood. Abnormal, one would say, for children to play among something of a holy throne. Yet this is no game, is it ? Or at the very least, you are not the one playing here.

...Or, are you? It begs debating, doesn’t it?

You thought it had been a violet storm brewing over Mt. Coronet, but this was the dark work of Cyrus; the man, drunk on the spirit of his “ new world ”, opened up a portal to the Distortion World by mistake.

"I’m going in," You tell your friends, who’ve sided with you to fight Team Galactic. "Ss—... someone has to stop him."

Lucas looks at you as if you’ve suddenly grown an extra head.

Dawn is taken aback for a few short seconds, but regains composure, telling you the simple "Don’t stay in for too long."

Your heart’s pounding against your chest, and it feels as if someone’s dumped a bucket of water on you with how much you’re sweating.

You feel like someone else should be here to stop him. Not you, Barry.

Someone else.

Tepid and trembling, you step to the platform in front of the dark entrance; your fists clenched and clammy.

In spite of all your hunches of who the real hero of this journey should be, you disappear into the portal after Cyrus.

Because, well, someone has to.

Though the positions of the deep red islands around you would suggest gravity isn’t welcomed here, you fall hard onto hard dirt, and you’re positive you’ve sprained something if the pain you’re feeling is of any indication. With a struggle, you get up and you look around you.

Your throat is dry with the remembrance, and sudden realization: This is literally hell.

A hell of a different name, but nonetheless, hell.

Something far too much for someone like you to experience, and yet...

...Cynthia rests a hand on your shoulder. Her steel gaze tells you so much, yet the loudest words are accompanied by a nod towards the rest of this dimension. 'Follow me,' it tells you, and an incompetent one as yourself would be so foolish to turn down an offer like that.

The world is a puzzle. Some of her loud, clear directions fall on your deaf ears, and you leave yourself stumbling, hurting yourself as you try to trek through these mazes that do nothing but pain your mind to witness. And when she yells at you to get up, when she asks if you’re alright, the tears are harder to hold back.

Though you're beaten, finally, the maze’s end leads you to the man at the core of all this mess.

Cyrus, the boss of Team Galactic.

His long words bore you half to death, and when he readies his Pokéballs, so do you ready yours. And it’s a long battle that leaves your team weaker than they’ve ever been prior in your journey.

He laments over his fruitless endeavors; "Was this all a dream to be swept away by your reality?"

Positively so.

In the minutes, the shadows of a long forgotten threat loom over you, and Giratina’s deep, bloody gaze is something to behold; something you feel even on your back.

The Renegade Pokémon cries out; something in both rage and despair, and you turn to face it.

"G... Giratina..."

. . . Quiet. You feel even more sweat forming on your brow.

"H-hey... you’re pretty scared aren’t you?" You ask the Pokémon. "Scared of him...? I mean... he wants to mess with your world and all."

You feel Cyrus’ cold glare from behind and find yourself giving a forced laugh. "Ahahaha... I — I’m scared, too. But... we can be scared together, I think. Do you want that? A— a friend you can be scared with? I’m not going to hurt you, like he wanted to..."

As you address the Renegade Pokémon, you zip open your pocket to retrieve the Master Ball you’d been given earlier. The Pokémon's attention immediately darts to it.

"...We can be friends, Giri. I-I’ll... I’ll take good care of you. Just know that... I don’t want to fight, ok? I want to be friends."

. . .

The Pokémon disappears into a black pool.

Huh... gone already? But, it was just —

— Your vision goes near completely black with the sudden strike; the Pokémon, radiating with dark energy, impaling you.

You lose the ability to speak, but if you were able, you’d ask “ Why ? “

With a strained breath, you throw the Master Ball at the Pokémon as it backs away and you fall to the ground.

Your vision falls black, and somewhere along the lines, the details of the SAVE corrupted a bit. The part of your story where everything went completely awry.

There was something in between the events of Giratina’s attack and your awakening at Snowpoint Hospital.

When Cynthia, steeling herself, uttered the words “ You caught Giratina, “ they didn’t sound real. But Cynthia was an honest woman. She’d have no reason to lie to you, especially when giving how obviously distressed she was at this situation. The kid she’d been trying to help in the Distortion World nearly lost his life.

You can hear your father nearby, cursing over how “ that monster “ nearly took his child from him.

You look to the Master Ball on your bedside table, and think.

'Giratina’s not a monster, they won’t be like that ever again,' are your thoughts. 'They’re just scared, and I can help them. All they need is a good friend. I’m their friend now, and I know how they feel.'

. . .

'And I’m still scared, but I forgive them.'