Mindy | Pokémon Fanfiction

Thirteen 「 Your Mind, My Matter 」

Music:「BATTLE: ARCEUS」by Zame

This must be redemption— no, judgment. Mindy thought as she gazed upon the Alpha creature before her. She could hardly bring herself to utter zir name, felt she didn't deserve to sully such grandeur with her tongue.

"I see you summoned Arceus to bless my new world," said Cyrus as he hopped off Giratina and trod up the steps. When he reached Mindy's side, he took her hand despite her resistance and kissed the back of it, his eyes not once leaving majestic Arceus. "You have given me everything I wanted."

Mindy tore her hand away from him and wiped his saliva off by rubbing her hand on his sleeves. "You are not the hero the world wants. Stop deceiving everyone and yourself."

"Deceive?" Cyrus's brows furrowed. He glared at Cynthia and Carolina. "How do you know they are not deceiving you?"

Arceus, as with the Creation and Lake Trios, observed them silently. The rest of Team Galactic slowly got onto the rough terrain of Spear Pillar, awaiting Cyrus's success at the bottom of the steps.

Cyrus proceeded to drive a wedge between Mindy and the grandmother-granddaughter pair. "Mindy, you don't seem to understand our complicated history. It all started in Hisui. Team Galactic was once the Galactic Expedition Team who sought justice and peace, led by an ancestor of mine, Cyllene. And no surprises, the villain was their ancestor, Volo."

Spear Pillar, initially the Temple turned into of Sinnoh, now pillars turned into spears that stabbed into the heavens. Volo, according to Cyrus, contacted Giratina and had it tear open the space-time rift, just so he could draw Arceus out and meet zir. His goal was simple: subjugate Arceus, use zir power to destroy and recreate the world. Of course he lost to a strange fella who fell from the sky one day, concluding that his defeat meant the world didn't need to be remade at all.

"I know where this is going, you beat," growled Carolina. "We may not have a great ancestor, but—"

"But Volo vowed to discover all of Hisui's mythological secrets and conquer Arceus, no matter how many years, decades or centuries it takes him. And now, Hisui is Sinnoh, and Volvo's descendants stand before you, masquerading as descendants of justice and peace, what my ancestor stood for." Cyrus smiled grimly at Mindy. "Do you not understand? They are using you. There's still time to truly redeem yourself, Mindy."

Cynthia hissed and grabbed Mindy's arm, prompting the girl to stare straight into the former champion's face. "Who has more credibility here? You know it."

"Think. If you value your life, think."

Just keep thinking, Mindy. You were made rational and now you are back in reason's threshold. So think. Think harder, think smarter. Mindy wetted her lips as her inner voice droned on and on. She took a cursory glance at the Lake Trio.

They were mouthing to her. She made out words like "know", "feel" and "hold". She thought back to the old man. He mentioned the powers hidden in the lakes: Blizzard in Acuity, Thunder in Valor and Fire Blast in Verity. She's been through a blizzard in the first Trade, met Rotom shortly after her second Trade, bled warmly and had a fever after her final Trade. Was this it? No, there had to be more. The Types of these moves coincided with Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres, in the specific order of their birth, yet Moltres didn't learn Fire Blast naturally. On the other hand, there were Suicune, Raikou and Entei who would fit the bill, if not for Suicune's Water typing. In Hoenn, Castform, the Forecast Pokémon, learnt them all one way or another. In Unova, Kyurem, Zekrom, Reshiram. That was all she could think of, for no such Pokémon struck her when it came to Sinnoh.

Perhaps the perfect fit was the Tao Trio. Reshiram was Truth, which aligned with Verity, and Zekrom was Ideals, which suited Valor for ideals were oft as persevering. Then there was Kyurem, the lack of both Truth and Ideals. And that was Acuity.