Pokémon Mars

Chapter 72: The Split Hero's Duty

The light began to fade. Giratina's wings were the first things that could be discerned. Then the cannon, reduced to shimmering dust. Someone laid motionless, their helmet smashed and ripped from their suit, on top of it. The sky was no longer distorted. It was a serene blanket of stars against the dusty arc of the galaxy. There was no need to seek Palkia's help. The rift was closed.

Nyx's gut reaction was that Arceus recognised Volo's sacrifice and intervened. Then, as her thoughts raced, it occurred to her that she was yet to forget who Volo was. Her heart sank regardless. She only just recognised him in the blinding glare of the remaining light, but it was Volo on the floor with the smashed helmet.

She saw greenish-yellow hair. Hera froze as she scrambled up to the summit to see Volo's sacrifice. Her helmet was blown off, yet she was right there, breathing and gawking at that remaining light that never faded. It emanated eternally from the dazzlingly imposing presence that stood over Volo. Starlight gleamed on gold and green. Even Giratina cowered before it. The lake guardians disappeared as if their job was done. Before Nyx was stunned by the intervention of their god itself, she saw Volo's arm moving.

So it was true. He was the Split Hero. By sacrificing himself when both his dreams of godlike power and reuniting with his family were right before his eyes, he chose good over evil in the eyes the deity that chose him to represent humanity. He completed his duty and for that, Arceus spared him.

He wearily turned and looked up at the deity he spent most of his life chasing. He once imagined that if he ever stood before Arceus, he would cackle maniacally about how he won after all. It was interesting, but he was 87. He thought he was about to die and, worse yet, be erased from the memories of the people and Pokémon he loved. Yet he wasn't dead. His great-granddaughter looked at him as if he was far more inspiring than Arceus. He smiled only when he looked at her.

Nyx rushed over. She almost expected Arceus to blast her away if she tried to help Volo to his feet. It didn't. It only surveyed them all in stifling silence that was more ominous than comforting.

Wish had no words for the destruction of his dreams by the very Pokémon he hoped to conquer. He had no desire to conquer it then. He knew, inexplicably, that attempting to do so was futile. He was a hair's length from destroying the entire universe, becoming a deity in doing so, but Arceus let him get that far only to end his plan by simply appearing as soon as its Split Hero proved himself.

No-one wanted to speak, as if it would trigger something terrible, but they all had the same disconcerting feeling that the chaos was far from over. The terror came regardless of their silence. A ball of crackling orange, like a second sun, rose over Arceus. Nyx rolled from the path of thunderous lasers moments before they blasted a crater in the ground. Arceus reared up. Its red eyes glowed with fiery rage. The ground glowed as red as its eyes around Wish. Praise hauled him out of the way moments before the ground became a circle of hellish fire.

Wish wasn't Arceus' only target. The lasers fired at Kazuki. Mercury was almost zapped to death when he snapped a photo. Volo might have impressed Arceus by choosing good over evil on behalf of humanity, but Team Genesis were also representatives of humanity when they attacked the laws of the universe.

Nyx hesitated. She threw Zoroark's Poké Ball. She read the Holy Book over and over when she wanted to know if Volo really was the Split Hero. She knew that even St. Yudai, the ancestor of the Celestica people, battled Arceus to prove the worthiness of mortal beings to exist in its universe. Kazuki wasn't remotely religious, but he apparently had a similar thought. He sent out Groudon. Arceus was a deity, but it was also a Pokémon. There was a difference between a Pokémon battle and violence. Arceus could be bonded with just as Kazuki bonded with Groudon through battle.