“I’ve been expecting you,” Giratina growled.

“I… You were… Huh?” I voiced out, completely blind-sided by what it said. Cyrus’ eyes widened in shock, staring at me like he just busted the best- actually, let me NOT think about that.

“I have been expecting you,” the Anti-Matter Pokémon repeated. “Arceus told me to expect you, but I was expecting to wait longer. I guess I have Celebi to thank for that.”

‘What the fuck,’ I thought to myself. Celebi was the reason I lived, as Agustine had said, but that wouldn’t make sense.

“Was I supposed to die?” I blurted out.

Yes,” Giratina said, its voice gaining a… complicated tone. “You were supposed to die and your spirit should have gone to Arceus. From there, your spirit and body, since it is not originally of this world, would have been molded as a vessel for a warrior to fight off our world’s Doom.

“I do not know where they come from, but these invaders are not from our own universe. This dimension, the main world, Arceus’ domain, we are all in one collective universe. These demons come from another universe and threaten to destroy us all. You would have been Our Hero, the slayer of these demons. However, it would have taken too long and the world’s civilizations long-since destroyed.”

‘Huh, ain’t that some shit.’

“So, I was supposed to die and be reborn as the harbinger of the end of the invaders?” I asked, still confused about this shounen mess I found myself in.

“Yes.”

“What now?”

“Now, you must become the one to end the upcoming disaster and avoid the destruction of everything you’ve come to know of this world.”

That’s fucked. I’m fucked. How am I supposed to do that? The team is getting stronger quickly, but we were on the defensive the entire time with the fleshy cyborg. How am I supposed to be the slayer of-.

Oh, fuck me. Demonic entities, invading forces, fighting off doom. I was supposed to turn into the Doom Slayer. How did I not realize what those demons were earlier?

“If you could spare me, Great One, but what is Arceus’ plan now?” Cyrus asked.

“I do not know,” Giratina answered in a scathing tone. “Arceus does not allow us to act on our own accord, and we must follow her decree unless we want a revolution. In fact, Celebi has been punished for acting out. However, I am also aware that Arceus does not follow her own plans very strictly. That is why Tapu Lele was allowed to bring you to me.”

“Why has Arceus forbidden you from acting on your own accord? If my death is supposed to result in the creation of a hero, does it matter if you kill me now?” I asked in confusion. The fact that I was doubting why it hadn’t killed me made me feel like I was going crazy. “Actually, don’t answer that.”

“You were brought from another world in order to die at the hands of those demons. That is the connection needed for your transformation. From there, Xerneas and Yveltal could resurrect you while I ensured you had the proper abilities. However, if I were to kill you myself, there would be no such connection. And so, now, you must grow stronger.”

“And why would Arceus allow that?” I asked heatedly. “If she could use me to create a vessel with the power to take on the invaders, why can’t she give me, or anyone, that same power? One that would only be allowed to exist while the demons still threatened the world?”

“Because Arceus is an arrogant fool! She would rather create a new world than allow one of us to get away with defying her. Why would she waste her time and power giving to something that could save this world when she could force the rest of us to act and make sacrifices in her stead?”

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Giratina’s power emanated a chilling aura that took any sense of hope I had in leaving. However, it only lasted for a few seconds before abruptly going away.

“It seems I am still furious with Arceus. In the end, we must all abide by her laws and whims lest we be destroyed and forgotten, or recreated with no memory of our previous grievances,” Giratina lamented.

“If I am supposed to be reincarnated as the ‘bringer of destruction,’ why can’t you use my body… God, that sounds weird… Why can’t you do some godly deus ex machina bullshit and grant me some ability to help?” I asked, a plan formulating in my head.

“Did you not just hear what I said, human?” Giratina growled in annoyance. Before it, he, they?

“Are you a boy, or are you a girl?” I asked. Cyrus’ face grew horrified.

“I will not play these games with you, human. I am GIRATINA!” Giratina exclaimed before exuding such oppressive pressure Cyrus was pressed flat into the ground and sunk.

I guess Giratina it is, so I told Giratina my plan.

“Arceus has a problem with you doing something all willy-nilly that actively goes against her will. But now all of that is out the window thanks to Celebi,” I said, gaining Giratina’s focus. “I was supposed to die, but Arceus so far has done nothing about it. So, I can only assume Arceus has no problem with me continuing to live.

“I can also assume that Arceus wouldn’t have a problem with you using your own power to give me some sort of boost. I also don’t think she cares all that much about any of the legendary Pokémon traveling to the main world, except for you. Wait, you are a Pokémon, right?” I paused as Giratina contemplated the question, slowly nodding their head after a minute.

“Alright. So I have two possible plans. One, since Arceus has no problems with me being alive or any of you using your own powers to make me the Doom Slayer, why don’t you give me some sort of power boost. The other plan would be mostly you. If you can turn yourself into an orb like, oh, I don’t know, a Griseous Orb, then you wouldn’t be traveling around as a Pokémon. I could carry that orb around until the demons attack in full force. Once they do, I throw the orb in and you go on and destroy them all.”

I finished with a smile, hoping it was enough to convince them to go with one of the plans. There were a lot of flaws, namely Arceus. At any point, Arceus could come down and wipe us both out of existence. We didn’t even need to go through with the plan for Arceus to decide to do that, but yeah. Go big or die in an alternate dimension, or whatever Sun Tzu said.

“Hmm, while Arceus would definitely be able to tell that something is wrong, I could cover it up by giving you a blessing,” Giratina mumbled.

“A blessing, or a curse?” I asked, not wanting to leave and find something wrong with myself or my team.

“As if anything I bestow upon you would be anything less than miraculous. I might be the Renegade Pokémon, but I am still a creature beyond the puny, pathetic Pokémon you so-called Trainers collect for protection,” Giratina growled with clear annoyance. “Yes, I can form an orb that would by-pass Arceus’ condition. I can also give you a blessing, this boost you mentioned.

“I would have temporarily removed your strength limit that Arceus has placed on your species, but it seems as if it has already been done in preparation of your transformation. My blessing will give you an edge for the future. It will boost your training efforts while preparing, ensuring you and your Pokémon are strong enough. You, in particular, shall receive the ability to become ethereal like a Ghost. Hopefully you will be able to make good use of it.”

‘I… That’s way better than what I thought I was going to get. It’s almost like I’ll have my own system.’ I thought to myself.

“I’ll take it! Now, how do we do this?” I asked a bit greedily, grateful for the fact that Giratina was way more chill than I was expecting. There was no way in hell I was passing this up, especially since I didn’t have my own system to make sure I was getting ridiculously strong.

“I cannot become an orb and deal with these monstrosities myself since Arceus will surely intervene. However, I just need to give you my blessing with my own power. I need time to transform the energy so that it won’t kill you. After that, I will open a portal and you can go through. In the meantime, you can do as you wish,” Giratina answered before slithering away.

I stood there, silently processing everything that happened. I mean, Giratina, a fucking Legendary Pokémon, was going to be my Super Empowering entity. And Cyrus here was groveling at my feet like the crowd in Monty Python’s Life of Brian.

After what felt like a few minutes, I sat down. I couldn’t accurately tell how much time had passed because of the weird environment and physics, but the fact that my stomach was growling let me know there was definitely some accelerated time bullshit going on.

After another meal, one that Cyrus slowly ate and savored, we began talking about what to do. Giratina’s answer hinted that we would be here for a long while, so I decided to take this time to seriously train with Cyrus. Knowing how much Cyrus revered Giratina, it was safe to assume that he would do his utmost best to work with me.

I left Tetsu, Kippie, and Doublade in his care since they would do much better working with his Pokémon. I’m sure there was a lot of information he had that wasn’t easy to access, given how strong his Pokémon were. Now that they are eating real food, I haven’t been able to win a battle.

I, on the other hand, would mold Larvesta into a true deity of fire. While Nautilus and Tetsu had done a damn fine job of training his energy control and move mastery, they had badly neglected one aspect: his physical stats. So far, they hadn’t actually had him hit and take hits. I’m sure Nautilus had no problem with it, but Tetsu was definitely softer on Larvesta. That was gonna change now.

“Alright buddy,” I called out to Larvesta, who crawled up onto my shoulder. “We’re gonna start training. From what the worm devil told us, we’ll be fighting a lot of demons like the one from before. That means that you and I need to be ready to do our part.”

“La, La, Lar!” he squeaked out.

“Exactly, we don’t want to rely on Tetsu and the rest,” I told him. “You and I are gonna be toughening up together. That means that we’re not going to hold back against each other.”

Larvesta nodded his head vigorously in agreement, but then suddenly froze.

“Lar? Ve Vesta. Larvesta!” he cried out, pointing out that I could already spar with Nautilus.

“Yes, but he normally doesn’t go all out against me. You wouldn’t stand a chance against him, so I’m gonna do my best to bring you to at least my level,” I said. “I won’t be holding back, buddy. Remember, diamonds are made under pressure.”

“Larvesta, Lar?”

“Nope, no can do. When I said I am not holding back, I mean I am not holding back my punches, so you had better come at me with everything you got!”

Larvesta shrunk a little at my words, not expecting me to say I was gonna start beating his ass. It was like I told him, we are too far behind to really help.

“Wait, don’t run away you coward! Come back and fight me!”