Each Past 「Pokemon Watty Awards 2016」

Chapter 21 ♦ Days

❝ I don't want a future

don't want to live out my days

without you. ❞

Darkrai

To the Distortion world with this—I thought to myself—I didn't know when it had happened, but my sister had managed to drag me down in her moment of victory—what in Arceus is happening...?

One moment, I'd been fighting against Meloetta—that sly creature who wanted nothing more than for us to stop and think just what we wanted to do—and the next moment, I'd felt myself fall backwards into an abyss of darkness that I wasn't familiar with—and that in itself was surprising because I had thought myself as someone accustomed to the shadows.

I could hear Arceus calling my name, a near-silent curse muttered under his breath and slipping through a crack of his impartial facade—but that sound soon faded as I lost my grip on all reality, leaving me to wonder if my ally had stopped talking or I had simply lost all consciousness.

The next moment had me plummeting down a dark abyss that had no beginning nor end—no, it was as if I was just falling without any control whatsoever—and I hated it; because for once, I did not enjoy this creeping feeling—I was scared of it.

A voice jolted me out of my frantic thoughts, and upon realising that I didn't recognise it, I panicked further—only for the unseen figure to halt me.

"Please do not panic," it said, and I didn't know why but I felt my tense body start to loosen, and my palpitating heart had started to still to a grudging halt. "You are not going to be hurt. You are simply getting ready for the process of Death—"

I opened my mouth to protest—I wanted to say that Legendaries couldn't die, that I hadn't even given consent to my supposed death, but my mind was dry and I couldn't bring myself to converse with the figure before me.

"You are confused." The voice was kind, and I hated that—it had no right to sound like that, not when the context was brought to light. "I understand. But this is based on your sister's wish, and I have determined that it is the best course of action if both of you are to lead a regular life in the future."

Scoffing, I turned my head to the side. "I did not give permission for this," I countered. "Furthermore, I do not know who you are."

"...I apologise for not introducing myself," the voice muttered. "I do not take a side, really. I exist only in the purgatory between life and death...a medium that Xerneas and Yveltal created out of their subconscious. I have no name, nor form—and I exist to help certain individuals ease from life to death."

I stared into the darkness, my mouth forming a thin line that almost resembled a scowl. "What if I don't want to die?" I challenged, although I knew that I would at least find some form of solace in it; I had never lived a good life, after all, and my partnership with Arceus had been the closest that I had come to living.

Forming that alliance had been interesting, to say the least. I had come to despise the Creator a little less than I had before—perhaps calling him a friend would be a bit of a stretch, but he had been one of the few Pokemon I had agreed to be close to.