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alloftimeandspacetosee · 10 months

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I Have the Power of God and Anime on My Side

so this spins off the roleplay in a way I would have loved to go but sadly that was Not the Plan.

Rather than resetting the whole world and making the apocalypse not happen by way of time travel Stuff, the twins did This instead

(and ok, I did it for the title alone but also it was just Fun. There's more of these coming (once I finish writing them))

Aurora stands where she’s always stood; between her people and the danger. Between the world and its destruction. Beside her sister. She’s powerless, half blind, tired. Her leg aches where it’s cupped by the prosthetic, the long walk and fight wearing on it.

Pink’s gone, running after Pim into the cave. Zlata and Ryun are standing before Nyx, who’s sitting up, staring at Zlata.

“How,” Giratina growls, rearing back. There’s a hint of panic in his voice, but he masters it. “It doesn’t matter, I have the power of time and space now… you cannot match me.”

Nyx’s attention snaps to Ryun. “You – it can’t be left to grow–”

“Enough!” Giratina roars. “I have waited long enough for this day, and you will not stop this.” He rears, wings spreading like the night against the white bleakness behind him.

Nyx springs forward, between the twins. The two remaining hounds join her, yapping in concert.

A wall of distortion rises, to stop Giratina. It’s elegant and gleaming with black crystals, but barely holds before it starts to crack under the pressure he exerts.

Her legs buckle. Nyx reaches a hand towards her hounds and the distortion rises from them like ash to strengthen her barrier.

Ryun gasps as the distortion fades from him, the scales peeling clear of his skin.

“You’re healed?” Zlata exclaims.

“I suppose so,” Ryun says, faint, as if he can’t quite believe it.

“What now?” Zlata asks the twins.

Aurora looks down at the sickles in her hands; they’re worn and old and blunt, the blades chipped. There’s blood running down her arm from the torn sleeve, where one of Nyx’s hounds bit her.

The crystal shatters, and everyone is thrown backwards from the blast.

Giratina recovers first, a harsh red glow beginning to emanate from his chest. “You cannot win this,” he hisses.

Nyx looks to her mightyena. “Go, now! It’s safer there!” She points them towards the shattered doorway that Pim and Pink had disappeared through.

They leave, running into the darkness.

Nyx creates another wall of crystal and turns to the group. “In there,” she says, her voice soft and trembling. “She’s in there… maybe she can help. I can seal the door once we’re all inside.”

Arlette struggles back to her feet, her arms useless hunks of metal. She shakes her head, narrowing her eyes at Aurora, tipping her head towards Giratina.

“No – you go,” Aurora says, turning on her heel. There’s something still there, a faint thread where there had been a flood of power.

“What can you do?” Zlata asks. “If there’s someone down there–”

“Zlata,” Aurora cuts her off, “Trust us. Follow Nyx down there.” She meets her sister’s eyes and nods. “This is what we trained for, right?”

Nyx trembles as her wall of crystal shakes under Giratina’s attack. “I can’t hold him forever!”

“Then go,” Aurora says, and holds up her hand. “We’ve got this.”

Arlette nods when Zlata and Ryun look to her.

Hohenheim herds them into the cave, coating himself in flames.

“Now, where were we?” Aurora turns back to the cracking barrier. “The power of time and space on your side?” She lets out a harsh bark of laughter and then can’t stop.

There’s the thinnest of wires, barely a thread, that connects her to something. Not her sister; that connection is as steady as it had been before all of this, worry and trust and the flicker of confidence burning through it.

Giratina roars and the crystal breaks around them.

Aurora throws up her hands to shield her face, letting her sickles clash in front of her. "The power of - ok, ok." Her hands are trembling, though she tries to hide it, and the sickle is just a worn and stained sickle in her grasp, the edge of it dulled. "Time and Space? Buddy, we're still standing right here." And she yanks back on the thread that still connected her to Palkia's gem where it’s been consumed by Giratina.

Silvery-pink light suffuses her as she is lifted off her feet. A pink gem erupts from the suit across her chest, and her armour spreads from it, plating back in across her arms and down to her fingers, setting gems in the backs of her hands and turning her sickles back into hoops.

She lets go of them and they fly in arcs around her as Aurora tilts her head back, closing her eyes.

The boot is next, with a heel and a thick cuff that gathers in the loose leg of her trousers, and then the pink-washed skirt flares out from her waist. Her prosthetic shifts as well, becoming the same silvery-pink, though the pink doesn't stay static, continuing to wash through it in waves.

Wings erupt from her back, all stained glass and bigger than they'd ever been before; they're shaped like moth wings now, but twice as colourful. Every pane shows a different place where a portal had been.

Aurora brings her gloved hands up to her face as the metal plating on her head shifts to pattern like scales across both her cheekbones, underlining her eyes. A small screen appears in front of her blue eye, seemingly unattached to anything.

Silver and pink thread through the many strands of her elaborate plait, curling up into pearls every time they cross over each other.

For a final touch, a scarf unfurls about her neck and tumbles down her back between her wings, attaching to a hood that covers her hair and rests on the crown of her head, dipping to a slight point between her eyes.

The light of it fades as Aurora still hangs there. Her hoops anchor at her hips.

She winks at Giratina, still posed with her hands before her face. "And I have the power of god and anime on my side."

Before he can react, she punches him.

Giratina stumbles back from her, recovering as he stares at her with something like shock. The red chain that had connected him to Palkia is fading, pulsing weakly in the bright and empty nothingness.

"Step up, Time," Aurora calls, landing lightly on the ground again. Her wings loosen and fold about her as a cloak, the world still shifting through it.

Arlette's transformation is quicker and less flashy. Silver and blue flood her, plating armour in its wake. Her arms fill out until they aren't just metal bones but full gauntlets, and she flexes her fingers when she regains control.

The gem forms on her back and then becomes her shield. The chain in her hand finishes creating the blade at the end of it, long and wickedly sharp.

Her facemask disappears, revealing the metal lines that have threaded through her cheeks and jaw, matching the hard blue of her eyes. Half a helmet encases her head, fitting itself to the high collar of her armour, overshadowing her eyes with a dipped brim but leaving off covering her face.

Arlette steps into place beside Aurora and starts to spin the chain into faster circles until it’s a screaming blur in the air beside her.

"You were saying?" Aurora asks.

The fight is brutal but fast. Giratina has been thrown off by the surge and disappearance of his sibling’s powers, and the twins are faster than ever.

Arlette wields her chain like a whip, like a fishing line, catching through his wings and about his horns, dragging him out of the air when he tries to take off.

Aurora bounces through mini portals, just out of reach of his lunges, shredding through his grave-shroud wings. She’s content to play with him, tire him out, wear him down to nothing.

It’s Arlette, eventually, who traps Giratina on the ground. Her chain is wrapped about him, pinning his wings in place, and the blade is pointed at his throat. She stands on his chest, leaning down.

“It was always going to end this way,” she says, her voice echoing into the emptiness at the end of the world.

“Kill me, then,” Giratina hisses, his voice broken and sibilant and curling around them. “Make her like you. She will rise again and the world will fall.”

“No,” cries a quiet voice from behind them.

Aurora looks around to see Nyx in the entrance to the cave, arms wrapped around her chest.

“If - if you – I don’t want that,” Nyx says, staring at the tableau. “I never wanted... this.”

“Time,” Aurora says.

Arlette nods. She steps back from Giratina’s chest and flicks her chain up. He’s released like a spun top, and before he can right himself, Aurora kicks him backwards into the portal he’d opened to arrive here.

“We’ll come and visit,” she says, and stitches it shut.

Aurora lands next to Arlette with a thud. They stand on the plateau at the end of the world and reach out to each other.

Nyx watches – Zlata and Hohenheim too, Ryun just over her shoulder – as Aurora’s wings spread wide, her scarf flipping out and waving in a breeze that they create. They're both vibrating, glowing like suns.

The sheer white blankness about them tears to pieces as they both glow, vibrating so fast they almost disappear. Aurora’s wings are spread, the regions playing through them.

Hohenheim cries out, rushing to the edge of the platform.

Sinnoh unfurls before him, stretching far below the clouds to the horizon.

“You’ve… everything is back? You’ve fixed it?” Zlata asks.

“We couldn’t roll back the clock,” Arlette says. “We’ve just recreated what we knew. But now everything can heal.”

“Which begs the question,” Aurora says, a portal pulsing between her pink-tipped fingers. "Where would you like to go?"

“Before that, there’s - I’m sorry, she’s still trapped,” Nyx says. “I brought her here and kept her, but she sealed herself in and I could never – he could never break through.”

The twins share a glance.

“Show us,” Arlette says.

Aurora folds her hands over the nascent portal between her fingers.

Nyx leads them down into the caves. There’s a thick carpet of clear dust that leads them through the tunnel, tamped down by footprints.

It opens into a cavern with an enormous crystal in the centre of it.

Pink is already there, crouched by Pim’s broken body at the edge of the cavern.

“Fuck, Pim!” Aurora strides the length of the room and drops down beside him, reaching a hand gingerly to his head. “Will you be able to do anything for him, if we get out of this?”

“Maybe if we got him back to Alola.”

“Well, we can do that,” Aurora says. “Easy. Just – give us a minute, alright?” She gets back to her feet.

Nyx sinks to the ground in front of the crystal. She lifts a hand to place against its surface and her eyes gleam red.

The crystal is marred with scratches that rake across almost every inch of it, but they don't make it hard to see into the depths.

There’s a figure trapped inside, like a bug in amber. It is mostly sprawled back, propped up on one elbow, and legs splayed as if they were trying to get back on their feet. Their head is tilted up and they seemed to be smirking, their eyes open.

“This is your prisoner?” Zlata asks, her voice cold. “Who are they?”

“Arceus’s Chosen,” Nyx replies, her voice soft. “Jay. My godmother. Their mother.” She dips her head to Arlette and Aurora. “He wanted to kill her so bad, but he couldn’t, so I hid her down here.”

“Well,” Arlette says, following Nyx to the crystal.

“Soise and Brith did believe she was still around somewhere,” Aurora joins them.

Arlette presses her hand against the crystal, and the metal of her hand spreads out into the cracks, trying to break a chunk of it off.

Aurora taps her fingers against it.

There’s a series of bell-like chimes that emanate from the crystal, and it shatters with a blast of golden light.

Hohenheim squeaks, covering himself and Zlata with his wings. Zlata reaches for Ryun’s hand, tugging him back in beside her.

Nyx gasps and falls to her knees as the body hits the ground in a rain of crystal shards. “Jay?”

The person hits the ground in a pile of crystal shards. She doesn't look like much. She's probably taller than the twins standing, and wirier, muscles shifting under the thin white lines of tattoos that waver down her arms and darken through a smoky grey to black before disappearing under a ragged pair of fingerless gloves. The lines become blue feathers over her shoulders, like pauldrons stitched into her skin. The crescent scar on her face is faded out with age, barely noticeable. Her hair is a deep, shifting blue, tied back in a messy ponytail. Her eyes are - strange. They're mostly brown, but cracks of emerald green spread from the pupils across the irises in jagged splinters.

“Nyx,” they say, their voice rough as they twist onto their front and look up to see her. “Skies, Nyx, I’m so sorry.”

“You’re sorry… this is all my fault,” Nyx chokes out, beginning to cry. “I just wanted her back.” She hugs herself, curling smaller.

“I know.” Jay reaches out to touch Nyx’s shoulder. “I know.”

The twins watch, holding their armour up still, their faces in shadow.

Jay looks up, noticing them anyway.

“Hey.” Aurora waves. “I’m–”

“Aurora,” Jay says, getting to her feet. She pulls Nyx up with her. “You – you pulled it off.”

“More or less.” Arlette shrugs. She searches through the bag at her side and throws Jay a bundle of fabric. “This is yours.”

Jay shakes it out to reveal a dark blue trench coat, the sleeves an almost imperceptible shade darker, devoid of the embroidered lines that pattern the rest of the coat. “Why… do you have this?”

“You left it behind,” Arlette says.

Jay glances between them. “I left a lot behind.”

“Yeah.” Aurora shifts on her feet.

“Thanks.” Jay pulls on the coat, the movement awkward as she seems unwilling to let go of Nyx.

“There’s no one else trapped down here?” Aurora asks Nyx.

She shakes her head.

“Alright.” Aurora turns to Pink. “You can save Pim if we get you to Alola?”

She nods, returning Pim to his pokéball. “Yeah.

“Galar might have the tech for it as well, they weren’t hit so badly. I know some people who would be delighted to help.” Aurora grins under her hood.

Pink smiles and shakes her head. "Alola, please, boss."

“Alright.” Aurora twists her hand over and a portal appears.

She draws it bigger to reveal clinical white walls and bright lights.

“Just call, if you want either of us,” Arlette says. “Anywhere, anytime.”

“Thanks.” Pink takes a breath and hesitates, looking around at the group. “I… yeah. We should meet up again sometime.”

Zlata shakes her head. “I look forward to welcoming you back to Ecruteak. May it be on better terms.”

Pink tilts her head, amused. “Sure,” she says. “Could be good.” She nods to Nyx and Arlette in farewell and walks through the portal.

Aurora closes her hand and the portal swirls to black in her wake. “Zlata? Where do you want to go?”

"I have to go to Kalos," Zlata says. "I made a deal."

"Let us parley with that one," Arlette replies. "Where do you want to go?"

“He won’t be satisfied with you, he’ll come after us.”

“As he would have if you’d stayed dead,” Arlette says gently. “Trust us; we will satisfy him.”

“Like I said to Ryun,” Aurora says, “There is always another way. Now. Where do you want to go?”

Zlata hesitates and looks to Hohenheim, then Ryun. “Can you promise that he won’t hurt Johto?”

“I can,” Arlette says. Her eyes gleam silver as she speaks. “You and yours will be safe from him.”

Hohenheim nudges at Zlata’s side and chirps. They exchange some kind of conversation.

Ryun nods when Zlata looks at him. “Let them do this for you.”

“You’ve already died for us, Zlata. That’s a pretty big favour to repay.” Aurora smiles carelessly. “Now. Where do you want to go?”

"Johto," Zlata says, without hesitation, finally. "Ecruteak."

Aurora flicks the portal out from between her hands and it expands before her until it’s tall and wide enough for the three of them to walk through. Ecruteak’s red leaves blow through on a distant wind, flurrying about Zlata’s feet.

Zlata still hesitates. “What about after?”

“After?”

“When you’ve - where will you go?”

Aurora grins. “We’ll see you all around, don’t worry.”

With Hohenheim and Ryun at her sides, she walks through.

The portal swirls to black in their wake.

Aurora picks it up as it shrinks, bouncing it lightly in her hand. "I'm sending you to Lavaridge," she says to Nyx. "Alex is there."

"Alex..." Jay murmurs.

"My dad?" Nyx asks.

"He's not quite as you remember," Aurora says. "But I think you can help."

Nyx nods.

"If you want to go anywhere after that, just call. I'll hear."

Jay smiles.

Aurora lets the portal expand again, and this time ash speckles the ground on top of the crystal shards and red leaves.

“Thank you,” Nyx says to both of them. “I know – that can’t have been easy.”

“It’s what we were meant to do.” Aurora shrugs.

“I don't believe in fate,” Jay says. “But I’m sorry I couldn’t save you from it.”

“The past cannot be changed,” Arlette replies, before Aurora can. “You must look to the future now.”

Nyx takes a deep breath and nods, and lets go of Jay’s hand. “Thank you,” she says again.

Jay looks down at her empty hand. “Do you want to do this alone?”

“I–” Nyx looks up to meet her eyes. “I’ve already taken you from your own family for so long, I can’t…”

Jay reaches out a hand to sweep Nyx’s hair back from her face, rubbing her thumb over Nyx’s forehead.

“You’re her family too,” Arlette says. “And we…”

“You need her more,” Aurora says. “I mean, obviously it’s your choice, but–”

Jay laughs. “Nyx. Would you like me to come with you?” She doesn’t take her hand from Nyx’s face.

Nyx reaches up to take Jay’s hand. “Please,” she whispers.

“Alright.” Jay nods. She studies the twins. “Will you come to Lavaridge, when you’re done in Kalos?”

Aurora hesitates and exchanges a glance with Arlette. “Sure,” she says. “We’ll come.”

“Good,” Jay says, and offers them a soft smile. “We should… talk.”

Aurora gestures them to the portal.

“Alright,” Jay says. “Ready?” She wipes a tear from Nyx’s face and squeezes her hand.

Nyx takes a deep breath and nods. “Thank you,” she says to the twins. “For saving me, for…” she glances over them both, still standing there in their armour.

She lets the rest of her sentence fade into the cavern around them.

“You deserved to be free,” Arlette says. “Now go home.”

Nyx and Jay walk through the portal together, and it fades in their wake.

The twins exchange a glance.

"So," Arlette says.

"So," Aurora agrees, as she squashes the portal between her hands.

Together, they walk out of the cavern and back onto the plateau. It’s recovered from their fight. The pillars of the old temple stand again, weather beaten and time ravaged.

Aurora pushes down her hood and shakes her plait free of her scarf, letting it hang down her back, to one side of her wings.

“Kalos.”

Aurora holds out a hand. “Let’s see what we can do.”

#pokemon #writing #oc #2nd gen #apocalypse au #aurora nightgale #arlette nightgale #legendaries #legend blessed #Sinnoh #mt. Coronet

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