#shadow lacey

[mxstball]

@spectacular-solarflare is a superhero?

Lauren's and Lacey's investigations into a few missing persons were making some progress. However, just as they were starting to pinpoint the location of one of the missing persons, they instead encountered Sandy, who claimed to be some type of superhero?

"In this world, there are no heroes." Lacey's aura was in part overwhelming and in part sinister, but her demeanor didn't seem like the case. "Heroes and villains are relegated to fairy tales. Instead, there are just people and Pokémon. My sister and I just happened to be the latter."

Still, there was something about this girl that struck a nerve with Lauren. It was almost like she wasn't from this world at all, let alone the Sinnoh region. "I'm sorry, no, we're not quite... heroes or anything, nor are we with Interpol. I'm a Pokémon Professor and she's my sister. We're just independently investigating the links between these missing persons incidents and a crime syndicate. You said that you're... a superhero? Is that a new term or something?"

[gram-the-phone]

https://www.tumblr.com/gram-the-phone/806941116052209664/i-think-you-should-send-some-advice-laceys-way?source=share

@/boxingglovepips. You'll have to specify you're talking to her, since it's not really her blog.

Oh, I see.

Well. Guess I'm doing this...

[gram-the-phone]

I think you should send some advice Lacey's way. She's going through the same thing you went through with Lulu, with her own girlfriend. She might appreciate the support while she tries to get its memories back.

Advice? Me getting Lulu back was a generational stroke of luck!

But... I guess if she really needs the help.... I've been focused too much on my work anyways.

...er... what blog is she on?

[mxstball]

[TRUE AGENCY] [Agency Intermission]

Garchomp fainted! Shadow Arceus fainted!

Both were sent flying to the wall as the Shadow Lugia and Purified Arceus stood tall with each other. While the Purified Arceus had a little struggle, the Shadow Lugia was almost sad that it was over. She was having a lot more fun.

Shirona recalled both of her Pokémon. "You…. How… how fucking dare yo—ugh"

Before she could speak further, there was a quick pain in her chest. Looking down and then up, someone was right in front of her, and came out of nowhere to punch her. Her vision started to go blurry and her body was growing heavy. It was the last thing that she will remember before passing out.

Shirona blacked out!

There was the sound of a thud as Shirona landed face-first one the floor. Heidi downgraded her ability took a step back. "Sorry I'm late." She then turned back towards the Purified Arceus and Shadow Lugia. "… You two look different."

"…" The purified Arceus walked past Heidi and knelt down at the fainted Shirona. Digging through her pockets, she took out all of the Poké Balls that were in Shirona's possession, including both the Garchomp and the Shadow Arceus. "You were right on time." She got up and walked over to the remains of the side couch before sitting down with the group of balls. "Do what you will about Shirona. I will purify and help these creatures."

Heidi spawned some handcuffs and legcuffs and binded them to Shirona to prevent her from moving should she wake up. "Hey, sis."

"Hm?" The purified Arceus picked up a Poké Ball and started to purify it.

"Does… this mean that you're going to leave again when you're done?"

"No. While the mission is not complete, I… actually need to speak to you about something when we are done here."

Heidi nodded and turned to the Shadow Lugia. "What about you? Are you… okay?"

"…" The Shadow Lugia looked down at her hands. "Yes. I'm fine."

Heidi stood up and summoned Ghost. "Get Scallion."

Ghost nodded and disappeared.

Heidi turned back to the duo. "… So, last I checked, Aegir, you were—"

"One."

"Huh?"

The Shadow Lugia shook her head. "I… wish to go by the name 'One' now."

"Like, XD001?"

"Similar, but just 'One' if that's okay. I just… wish to make the distinction between my fully shadow self and my old self."

"… Hm. So, you're staying a Shadow Pokémon, then? It seems that you're in a lot more control of it than last time. Then, 'One', what happened? I know about Shirona and how she attacked everyone. Melly and Nergal told me. What about you two?"

"… I can answer that question, sister." The Purified Arceus picked up another ball, but looked up at Heidi.

Heidi turned back to the Purified Arceus. "Actually, if that's the case, how about you start from the beginning...? I don't understand what you were doing all of this time."

"... I can, yes."

… When Izanami and I had that talk, something within me started to have a sense of… purpose again. There was something about knowing that the Arceus powers was something of my own and separate from you that stirred something within me. While I didn't want to overtake you, I know that I at least, in part, still wanted to break free on my own. So, whenever you were asleep or whenever I was in control, I worked non-stop to hone in that power… to see if there was some way to transfer my energy and my soul to a new body to at least explore temporarily….

At the same time, I have seen the suffering of our sister, then XD001. I knew that she was in immense pain, and that nothing short of a miracle would be able to bring her back. She had so much Shadow Energy that I would not have been able to dispel it all… and yet, I wanted to do something about it. After all, she was just as much as our sister as you or Melony, so why should I just leave her to suffer the same fate as I?

During my solitary training, I developed a way to purify Shadow Pokémon…. By combining the Arceus abilities that I had with the Shadow Energy that I used, I was able to convert Shadow Energy to Purification Energy, curing the heart of the Pokémon to purify them from the inside out. I wished to be sure, so I enlisted Jolteon for assistance—

"Wait! Hold on. You used JOLTEON for a test?" Heidi snapped a little. "Did you at least fucking ASK first?"

"Yes, I did get his consent." She nodded. "He promised not to tell you as long as I am able to do what I needed to do."

"That's fucking irresponsible of you, sis! What if something happened and you were wrong?"

"Then I would have extracted the Shadow Energy until we could enlist the help of Scallion to purify him."

"…. That's still really reckless of you, sis! Jolteon's still just a baby. You could have really traumatized him…."

"I understand. I… apologize… truly."

Heidi sighed. "It's fine. Just… continue. It worked, so what did you do next?" Heidi grabbed Shirona's fainted body and picked it up to give to Scallion, who had just arrived.

… once I was confident in the results, I… finally wished to purify our Lugia sister. One final thing that I discovered was that I am able to transfer my consciousness to another body. I was able to learn from the time that we transferred Meredith-Okaasama's soul from the Soul Dew into another body. As such, while you were asleep, I ventured into our sister's room and requested for me to try once again. I created a vessel body that would have the capacity to contain my sentience as well as the copious amount of energy within her. Lugia's purification would be different: by purifying the energy that bound her, it would then, in turn, purify her. Thus, I transferred all of her shadow energy into my new body, as well as a part of her soul to contain it… but I had miscalculated. There was still too much energy to contain the soul within the created vessel.

To contain the soul, I purified myself to hold even more of the energy. This meant that my existence that was bound by Shadow Energy would only continue for as long as the Shadow Energy stayed within this body. However, once completed, I could already feel the energy calling out and reaching for our sister once more, as if to compel me to return it once more. To avoid it, I fled from the Hall of Origin as far as I could, eventually settling inside Eterna Forest and inside the Old Chateau. It soon became my base of operations.

At the same time, I was made aware of the existence of Team Rainbow Rocket and their goals to find the one responsible for the death of Giovanni. I knew that they would eventually discover my existence and attempt to subdue me and this world, and, as such I would not let it happen. Thus I went on my own to research them, using Ghost to gather the information that you find along with my own research to make my move—

"… wait, you used Ghost?"

"… well, of course?" She shrugged. "Did you believe that you could have Ghost follow me without me doing the same?"

Heidi groaned and called for Ghost, who collaborated the account. "I can't believe you'd do this to me." Heidi rolled her eyes.

Ghost giggled. She'll get over it, considering who it was over.

—with the knowledge that I obtained, I took Lillie from your care—

"Wait, where is Lillie, anyway? I was going to ask about that."

"She's with Izanami. Hikari will return with her and Dragonite soon." The Arceus crossed her arms. "I turned her into a Shadow Pokémon under my care. I plan to release her now that she has endured enough pain."

"Mmm. I'll ask her about possibly joining us afterwards. Continue."

—then, I pinpointed the location of their hideout; however, when attempting to infiltrate it, they had since left to another location. It was there when I started to discover the flaw in my body's design: that it was not capable of truly containing the raw power of the Shadow Energy from Lugia, even as I was slowly purifying it. I collapsed, spewing copious amount of Shadow Energy within the cavern; however, luckily, the energy stayed contained and I was able to retrieve it before any Pokémon could be infected. It was then when I realized that I needed help.

I requested for our Big Sister to assist me. Because she was purified, she would be immune to any Shadow Energy that would come her way. I requested Chrona's permission and then went to her to make my request. She knew that I needed her, and suspected that someone needed to watch over me. As such, she joined me, agreeing to my condition to not inform you since I wished for you not to know.

We traveled to Unova and hunted down Hilda. During our time there, I honed my skills once again and learned how to make multiple copies of myself. Then, during our time to quell some Shadow Pokémon, I found a hidden grotto that was able to purify other Pokémon. One of my copies stayed behind and fallen asleep while I continued with the partial soul. At first, I thought that the copy would cease to be — that I could cover my tracks before you would arrive; however, when the copy came to… it became the form that you see before you.

"A purified Arceus…."

"Yes. I… do not know if I can still constitute myself as a Latias anymore in this form, as I found that I am closer aligned with the Arceus that we have encountered rather than you or Big Sister."

"So, does that make you an Arceus, then?"

"…" The Purified Arceus paused and considered Heidi's question. She could sense the undertones of the question. While it was a simple question, she could tell that Heidi meant more than just in terms of biology…. She was asking if she was Arceus in soul and duty… that she was now distinctly different from her. When looking deep down, the answer was…

"… Yes. I… am an Arceus now, just as you are a Latias."

Heidi smiled. "Do you… want to be an Arceus?"

"I… I do."

Heidi turned to One. "And you... still want to be a Shadow Lugia?"

One nodded. "I do.... It is who I am, and I wish to contain and master it for Melony's sake. Otherwise, when she offered me back the remains of my Shadow Energy, I wouldn't have taken it back."

Heidi's smile grew wider before turning to the Purified Arceus and shaking her head. "Then I don't care about the rest of the story. You're no longer a Shadow Pokémon. You're purified. You… gave whatever was left back to One… and you're free…. Free from the trauma of my bound soul. Free from the chains that bound you. Free to do whatever and live however you'd like… and that's… that genuinely makes me happy, sister."

"Heidi…."

Heidi shook her head. "It's fine, Lacey—"

"… Layla."

"Huh?"

The purified Arceus shook her head in return. "I… wish to be called 'Layla' from now on. You… are still Lacey. I… simply adopted it to find myself."

"… and now that you have, you want to be called 'Layla'."

"Yes, if that's okay."

"That's okay. I'm just happy to have known you all of this time… Layla."

[mxstball]

[TRUE AGENCY] [Agency Intermission]

… Eternamagical Eternatus blocked the attack!

Garchomp's Crunch not only didn't make its mark, but he was now being pushed back by a new player in the space. Upon gaining his foothold, he was ready to attack again.

Meanwhile, Tor was just starting to process that the attack hadn't landed. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw Nergal standing tall in front of her, but in her Eternamagical state. "N—Nergal."

"… Get up and get out of here." Nergal took some steps forward. "I'm not losing you, too."

"Huh?" Tor blinked. What… did Nergal mean by that?

"I said GET UP!"

Tor jumped and stood up.

Melony turned to Nergal. "I presume that I will just get in your way, yes?"

"That you will. Send Tor out of here, and be back before Heidi shows up. She's going to need you for the clean up."

Melony nodded. She turned to Tor and started running to her.

"Oh, no you don't!"

Nergal quickly glanced at the Shadow Arceus about to do its thing. A ray gun spawned in one hand.

Eternatus used Proto-Blaster Imprison! Shadow Arceus cannot use Judgment due to Imprison!

Shirona flinched. "Huh!? You're not an Arceus! You can't do that!"

Nergal opened her other hand, and a ray gun spawned in her hand. "Not by myself, I can't." She pulled the trigger.

Eternatus used X-Blaster Judgment!

The attack struck both Shadow Garchomp and Shadow Arceus, but didn't cripple either. However, the attack caused Melony to turn around just as she grabbed Tor.

"Wait. Those are My Lady's Move Gu—"

Nergal snapped again. "I SAID GET OUT OF HERE!"

Melony quickly turned back around and vanished instantly with Tor.

Shirona laughed. "Alright. Cheap tricks. It's a shame that you seemed to have forgotten that your Shadow Pokémon is under our mercy."

Nergal looked down at Shadow Arceus's feet. "… what Shadow Pokémon?"

"Huh?" Shirona turned to Shadow Arceus….

Lacey was nowhere to be found!

"Where…? Where did that brat go!? Arceus! You were supposed to hold her!"

Nergal laughed again. "Sounds like the two girls were able to outplay you, after all. Now, if you're looking for a Shadow Pokémon to oppose… I think I may have one for you…"

Nergal stepped aside and, right as she did so, a gust of shadow passed by her, striking Garchomp directly.

Shadow Lugia used Shadow Blast! It's super effective! Arceus used Meteor Beam on Shadow Arceus! Critical Hit!

Two emerged from the other room:

...a Shadow Lugia...

...and a purified Arceus.

Nergal took a few steps back for them to be in front of her. "Aegir. Lacey."

Both of them looked at each other, looked at Nergal, and shook their head. They can address that later.

"We'll take it from here, Nergal." The Shadow Lugia nodded.

"Mmm." Nergal reverted to her standard form and disappeared. They don't need her right now, so she can go back to talking with Yggdrasil until Heidi gets home.

"Heidi will be coming soon. Ghost has been informed. So, we only have a limited time." The Purified Arceus pointed at the Shadow Arceus to clarify. "Take down Arceus, and leave the rest to me."

The Shadow Lugia nodded. "Affirmative."

Shirona shook her head. "As if you're just going to ignore Garchomp!"

The Purified Arceus turned to the Shadow Garchomp. "Do not worry." She held a hand out to the Garchomp. "Garchomp will not be ignored."

…

???

As if almost compelled to, Shadow Garchomp rose and slowly started walking towards the Purified Arceus. However, he didn't seem to be aggressive, when doing so.

"Come, Garchomp. Let me end your suffering." The Purified Arceus continued to hold out her hand.

Shirona glared. "Garchomp! If you're going to approach her, kill her already! Go after her!"

Shadow Garchomp wasn't listening. It was almost as if he was in a trance.

"Garchomp!" Shirona cried out again.

There was no response.

The Purified Arceus shook her head. "Please, ignore her, little one. You have suffered long enough under her care. You must be free."

Shirona turned to Shadow Arceus. "Arceus! Do something!"

Arceus turned towards Garchomp, but before it could do anything…

Shadow Lugia used Shadow Storm!

The viscous tornado struck Arceus before slaming it back down on the ground.

"You didn't forget about me, did you? Come here."

Shadow Lugia used Shadow Blast!

Shirona took a step back. She was being outmaneuvered by two creatures that seemed to be nothing but goners just a little while ago. What did they do to be such a pain?

Shadow Garchomp stopped right in front of the Purified Arceus, allowing her to approach it for the final stretch. That's when she slowly embraced him, allowing him to embrace her in return. As they touched, a faint light started to emerge from Shadow Garchomp's body, increasing as time was going on.

"Wh—what are you doing to him? Garchomp, return!" Shiona took out a Poké Ball and attempted to return Garchomp… but, for some reason, it didn't connect. "What is happening!?" Shirona started to turn towards Arceus…

… but she had to duck out of the way as Arceus was sent flying across the room by the Shadow Lugia. Looks like that option isn't happening.

The Purified Arceus eventually let go of the Garchomp, allowing him to let go in turn. Just then, Garchomp quickly looked around, completely confused as to his surroundings. What was this place, and how did he get here?

Now frustrated, Shirona attempted to recall Garchomp again, and this time she was successful.

The Purified Arceus sighed. "It's over. You relied too much on Garchomp, and now he is no longer an option for you. You've lost."

"That's… that's not true. Once Garchomp absorbs the Shadow energy that comes from this Poké Ball, then he will come back even stronger!"

"Oh? Really?" The purified Arceus looked and pointed at the Poké Ball. "Because what I see in your hand is a purified Poké Ball."

"Huh?" Shirona looked down at the Poké Ball. The light from earlier was sparkling from the Poké Ball as well! "Huh!? What did you…?" She sent Garchomp out. "No matter! We'll still beat you."

Garchomp blinked and looked around. He was still purified, with not a single sign of corruption yet. However, Garchomp was still ready to fight.

The purified Arceus prepared herself. "From my calculations, you have already lost."

This was going to be a much easier fight than before.

[mxstball]

[TRUE AGENCY] [Agency Intermission] Trouble

Hall of Origin, Sinnoh

Tor's teleport into the Hall of Origin landed her on her bed in her room. It's exactly how she left it, but for some reason, she couldn't look at it the same way. Despite being gone for such a short amount of time, the room felt… alien to her… as if she doesn't belong here anymore….

But now's not the time for that.

Tor got out of her bed and quickly walked out of the room. If there was any danger, it would be at least heard from the living room. Tor made her way towards the living room when she started hearing something different: the faint coughing and spitting of someone alongside some talks of encouragement. Tor went invisible and slowly made her way downstairs.

Melony and Aegir were in the living room. Aegir found herself kneeling in front of a bucket with Melony in her Completed Form patting her and trying to check something on a Rotom Phone. The entire room smelled like vomit and bodily fluids.

"Allow for me take you to the restroom while we I contact the Pokémon Center. Coyote can wait for a nurse so she can help you."

"I—urk…. I'm not sure if a nurse can help me, Melly."

"Of course one can. Something must be afflicting yo—" Melony paused to look up.

"…" Tor was standing on the railing, visible. "… What happened to Aegir, Melly?"

"!!! Tor!" Melony stood up, disappeared instantly, and reappeared hugging her sister. "You have come at the perfect moment. Aegir has been getting mysteriously sicker these past few days. She has been throwing up for hours now. Please, we need your help."

Tor and Melony ran downstairs and joined Aegir. Tor started using her psychic abilities to soothe Aegir's suffering a little, even through the next round of vomit that quickly came the bucket's way.

"Ugh…. This… sucks but that… that helps."

Melony rose to her feet. "Sister, please, stay there for Lulu. I shalt go request a nurse from a nearby town."

"Wait—" Tor looked up at Meony. "Lauren told me to come here. She said that a great danger is coming here, and we need to be ready for it. There has to be something else that's going on."

Melony raised an eyebrow. "Lauren said that? I am not aware of any danger. Perhaps she was thinking about Lulu?"

Aegir shook her head. "No… urk." She gagged a little. "I don't think Tor would be sent... Ugh… here just for me."

"If not you, then what could it b—huh?"

Melony was interrupted by the opening of the patio. Who could have opened the sacred elevator to do that?

Aegir's hands started to shake. She can feel it — the Shadow Energy that she had lost beckoned to her once again. If that's the case…. "L—Lacey?"

Tor looked down at Aegir and then back up at the patio. "Lacey? Why would Lacey need to come up her—OH FUCK THAT'S NOT GOOD!"

Tor was correct in her statement. It wasn't just Lacey that came up, but Shirona, Shadow Garchomp, and Shadow Arceus as well. Lacey was simply pinned down from the Arceus. Tor and Melony prepared their Poké Balls while Aegir took her bucket and moved to the next room. Something was telling her that this was going to be messy.

"Oh? It looks like today's my lucky day…." Shirona approached and stopped at the entrance of the living room. "I hadn't expected to be greeted by someone already… and a Giratina no less."

Garchomp couldn't keep his eyes off of Tor… with blood and ooze still freshly dripping from his jaws and claws. He could tell this was another Latias. Another meal delivered straight to him. All Shirona needed to do was say the word.

Melony gritted her teeth. "…. Volo."

Tor turned to Melony, confused. "Volo? What are you talking about? That's clearly a variant of Cynthia there."

Shirona laughed. "It seems that every Giratina I tend to meet are ready to call me by my old, discarded name, but I assure you, I go by Shirona now."

Melony raised a brow. "… Are you not the individual that is responsible for casting the Hisui Region of your world into darkness?"

"… and almost succeeded, too, if it weren't for Teru. Yes, I am."

"Then how are you anything like Cynthia?" Melony snarled. "Every Cynthia that I know would NEVER desecrate these sacred lands!" Just the sight of Shirona wanted to make Melony tear her to pieces.

"…" Shirona smirked. "If you must know, Giratina, I eventually became the same. Over the two hundred years of my self-imposed exile, I eventually gave up my obsession with Arceus… eventually resigned to the fact that I would never become chosen to see Arceus for myself… that it would never grace me with its presence. I got therapy… discovered a few things about myself… even helped save the region that I once tried to take over by helping take down Team Galactic after they tried to take Palkia for themselves…." She shook her head. "… but then, it was Blue that gave me hope again. She helped me force my way into the Hall of Origin and take Arceus for myself. Even with that pesky Hikari in my way, Arceus is finally mine…. I used its power to reduce my world to nothingness and to pledge myself to this group so we may take over more realms."

"… and so you're here to do the same here." Tor shook her head. "Yeah, we've heard this song and dance before. We've beaten two Arceus trying to take our world down already. Not gonna happen."

"Oh, really? And who do you think is going to stop me? The two of you?" Shirona turned to Melony. "I have taken down multiple of your kind already." She then turned to Tor. "… and Garchomp here just made a meal of one of yours. Perhaps she would like to go for seconds."

"!!!" Tor just processed everything. "Wait, right! Big Sis! What did you do to her?"

"Oh, was that Latias aligned with this Shadow Pokémon here your sister? She's nothing but the rotting remains of what Garchomp didn't wish to eat anymore. Perhaps you'd like to have some of that experience for yourself."

Melony scoffed. "You killed her? Oh, Shirona, you are best to hope that we finish you before My Lady gets here, lest you are going to be lucky to be a stain on this very floor."

"Oh, really?" Shirona took out two Poké Balls. "Save your energy, Garchomp. I don't want for you to get too famished too quickly, now."

Shadow Garchomp took a step back, but didn't keep his eyes off of Tor. He wants to make sure he's ready at a moment's notice.

"Then, perhaps we can start with a little battle, hm? I'm sure you'd be excited to see a few of my new friends~"

Shirona sent out Shadow Alakazam! Shirona sent out Shadow Mismagius!

"!!!" Tor took a step back. "That's Big Sister's Alakazam! Oh, I'm going to make you regret what you did to our friends!"

Tor sent out Mawile! Melony sent out Mismagius!

Melony glared. "You. Will. Lose."

You have been challenged by Rainbow Rocket Shirona!

Lacey looked up past everyone to the next room. Aegir looked up from her bucket to look past everyone to the front of the living room to see Lacey. They were… resonating with each other through the same energy, although no one knew what that meant just yet….

[mxstball]

[TRUE AGENCY] Shirona

Spear Pillar, Sinnoh

The chilling wind had harshly blown over the once sacred domain. There, a Shadow Garchomp was kneeling on the ground, tearing the remains of a Latias, ensuring to consume all of the juicy, meaty bits of the carcass. He's been waiting for a piece of delectable meat for so long that he almost forgot what one tasted like. It was almost like raw Blaziken, but far more tender and juicy. As the Garchomp tore away and tasted more of the creature, he grew more aggressive and desperate, even chomping through feather and bone for more. He needed to consume more—

"Garchomp!"

Garchomp quickly stopped and looked up. There, Shirona was glaring at him. She was also holding a severely weakened Lacey up by the neck.

"You're making a mess of yourself. Either behave while you're eating or toss it off the mountain. Do I make myself clear?"

Garchomp nodded before turning to the carcass. He went back to eating but calmly this time.

Shirona turned back to her own prey. "… As I was saying. You have quite the nerve to lead yourselves right in my palms, considering that it was you whom murdered Giovanni."

"!!!" Lacey wanted desperately to break from Shirona's grasp, but she was far too weakened to even move.

"Oh, what? You didn't think we'd find out when your deeds were plastered all over the news at the time? All it took was a little research into this world's news archive to put things together." Shrona tightened her grip a little, causing Lacey to wince. "Look at you…. You thought that you were oh, so powerful with your attacks and tricks… with all of the things that you practiced with that Latias. Yet here you are, at the mercy of my palm. Pathetic. I should kill you right where you stand."

Shirona threw Lacey to the ground, causing blood to spit from her mouth and a gash to form on her head. Then, the Shadow Arceus accompanying Shirona placed its hoof on Lacey. With a word, it was ready to end her life.

"You had the nerve to send all of those copies of yourself after us during this fight, you know? You don’t hesitate to pre-plan your attacks and play dirty. That's something that I'll have to give you. It's a shame that you choose this world over your own life. We could use someone as cunning and ruthless as you." Shirona knelt down to get close to Lacey's level. "For this transgression, I'll give you a little more time to consider it. I heard that there are others that are living in the Hall of Origin. Let's go up there to greet them together. Then, as I consider killing each and every one of them, I'll give you the chance to consider joining us in favor for their lives. Accept, and they'll be spared, we'll stop this little mess, and you'll be a shining member of Team Rainbow Rocket. Refuse, and I'll kill them. Once we get through everyone, we'll finally meet the Acting-Arceus together, and I'll make sure to force her to beg for me to spare your life. Then, I'll kill you both… together, as things should be."

Lacey grunted as Shadow Arceus maintained its hold on her. "Your Arceus… isn't strong enough… to stand a chance against Nergal… let alone Heidi.... Lauren… will be back… in a week…. Hikari… has escaped safely to… ugh... warn Akari and Barry…. Zygarde and Rayquaza… have been warned… and I… was hoping for death, anyway. You've… l—lost."

Shirona glared. She stood up and looked at Shadow Arceus, who nodded back. "We'll see about that. Garchomp! It's time for a new meal…."

Shadow Garchomp looked up before running and joining the group.

Shadow Arceus channeled its energy, revealing an elevator beneath their feet. It then started to go up. Next stop: The Hall of Origin.

[mxstball]

Don't mind the gummy worm Zygarde Core currently standing on its 'tail' in order to get a better look at its surroundings--never mind that it's only an inch tall and the only 'good view' it might be getting is the view of someone's ankle...

A copy paused from her attempts to replicate the soul piece and perform purification when she noticed the Zygarde Core basically nipping at her ankle. She knelt down to gently pick it up and examine it.

"And who might you be?" She used some of her purification power to soothe it as she turned it around. This definitely wasn't related to Aphrodite or Leifi, but something else entirely. She started to wonder if it was reacting to the power in some way. "Hm... unless Izanami has a terrible sense of humor, then it is likely that you are not from here. I wonder how you found your way here."

She sat down with the core, keeping it gently within her hands, but gentle enough to allow the core to jump away or wiggle out if it wanted. "You are free to join me if you wish. I am simply... practicing this new power. If you want to leave or have me take you somewhere, then feel free to jump on my head."

If only she could quickly make 9 other cells.