"You won this round today." Saturn's voice carried from the edge of the rift. "Two god-level Pokémon, Yveltal and Giratina, both defeated by your hand. Since I joined Team Galactic, I have never suffered a loss this severe."
He paused. "But don't celebrate too early. Team Galactic is in the shadows while you are in the light. You won't be this lucky every time."
His voice dropped to something frigid. "I will remember you, Ash. Next time we meet, I will make you pay for everything you did today."
Then he turned and stepped into the rift, Charon following close behind. The eerie purple light contracted, and the spatial rift burst into a silent ripple before dispersing completely. Not a trace remained.
The Distortion Space that Giratina had laid across the battlefield also vanished with Saturn's departure.
Giratina lay in the crater. Its breathing was weak but steady. Rayquaza's strike had heavily injured it, but also successfully freed it from the Griseous Orb's control. If the Orb and Cyrus had been present, it might not have been able to break free even in this state.
But the Griseous Orb was far away in Sinnoh, and Cyrus wasn't here. After Rayquaza shattered the suppression, Giratina had finally escaped.
Ash pushed himself up from the ground, movements slow. His Aura was almost completely depleted, but he'd recovered enough for simple movement. He set down Molly, whom he'd been holding in his arms. With no enemies left, she was safe. Once he finished here, he'd take her back to Pallet Town.
Pikachu looked up at Ash, worry still visible in his eyes.
Ash waved his hand to show he was fine, then walked toward the crater Giratina had made.
The bottom was deep. Giratina lay among the rubble, purplish-black energy still seeping from the wound on its abdomen. But its eyes were clear. Unlike the crimson, rage-filled gaze Ash had seen in the Crystal Tower, these eyes, though tired, carried a relief that had been suppressed for too long.
Ash squatted at the edge of the crater, then turned his head. "Mewtwo, give me a hand. I haven't recovered enough to climb down."
A hint of helplessness flashed through Mewtwo's eyes. "If you haven't recovered, stop moving around so much."
Even so, it used Psychic to support him and lower him steadily to the bottom.
Ash walked up to Giratina. The massive dragon head was right in front of him, each breath carrying a chilly aura that blew his bangs backward. He raised his hand, and an emerald-green light lit up in his palm. Viridian Power.
After the successive battles, his Viridian Power was mostly depleted. The light was much weaker than before, but it still carried a vibrant aura of life. He pressed his palm against the edge of the wound on Giratina's abdomen and began channeling the power in bit by bit.
The emerald-green light seeped into the wound like spring rain soaking into cracked soil. Giratina's body trembled slightly, then slowly relaxed.
This human was healing it. Even though they had been enemies moments ago.
"It's alright, Giratina. I'll patch you up. The wound looks bad, but Rayquaza held back. She only dispersed the power controlling you. She didn't damage your origin."
Ash locked eyes with Giratina as he spoke, trying to put it at ease. He thought Giratina was worried he might try to harm it further.
After a moment, a deep, raspy voice echoed in Ash's mind. Tired, but not lacking in majesty.
"Your name is Ash."
Ash blinked, then realized this was Giratina's telepathy. He nodded. "Yeah. I'm from Pallet Town. You probably don't know where that is, but it's not far from here. I'm going to be a Pokémon Master in the future, so you might want to remember the name."
Giratina paused before replying. "I will remember that."
Mewtwo nearly stumbled.
'It just escaped human control and was already chatting with a different human like old friends?'
Then again, Ash's words did carry an indescribable ease about them. And Giratina regaining its freedom had everything to do with Ash. Add in the fact that Ash was currently healing it, and letting its guard down wasn't unreasonable.
Ash grinned, still channeling Viridian Power as he asked, "How are you feeling now?"
"Not bad. This power of yours is useful. The vitality contained within it can heal even an existence of my level. I will be able to move shortly."
Although Ash's Viridian Power hadn't reached its highest level, in terms of quality, it was already comparable to Xerneas's power of life. That was enough to mend even a god-level Peak entity.
After all, Giratina's origin wasn't damaged. The wound looked terrible, but it had only rendered it temporarily immobile. The immense vitality of a Legendary Pokémon was no joke. As long as the origin remained intact, life would not end.
"Good." Ash's expression shifted. "Can I ask you something?"
"What?"
"How did Team Galactic control you?"
Ash had been astonished ever since he first saw Giratina inside the Crystal Tower. Not long ago, Team Galactic could only briefly use Yveltal's power to possess Lugia. Now they were outright controlling a god-level Peak Legendary. That was a massive leap.
The Power of Death he'd seen them collect earlier was likely the last of Yveltal's origin power in Team Galactic's hands. But Giratina wasn't controlled by that. Ash hadn't sensed any death energy on Giratina at all.
And the situation was fundamentally different from Lugia's case. Yveltal's power had worked on Lugia partly because they shared a Flying-type origin, and partly because Dark-type energy heavily countered Lugia's Psychic typing.
Giratina had neither vulnerability. Even if Yveltal itself came in person, controlling Giratina through death energy alone would be impossible.
So what had Team Galactic actually done?
Giratina was silent for a moment, its crimson dragon eyes churning with complex emotions. Ash didn't rush it, continuing to channel Viridian Power into the wound. The emerald-green light flickered at the bottom of the deep crater like fireflies in the dark.
"The Griseous Orb."
Giratina finally spoke.
"One of the powers Arceus bestowed upon me when I was sent to the Distortion World. It allows me to control the Distortion World, change my form, and makes my strength far greater than that of an ordinary god-level being. Since the day I was given the duty of guarding the Distortion World, it has always been part of me, connecting with the origin power in my body. Completely fused into my physical form."
Ash raised his head. "It fell into Team Galactic's hands?"
"How did they get it? If it was fused inside your body, how did it end up in their hands?"
"I do not know." Giratina's voice carried heavy helplessness. "The Distortion World has no sun, moon, or seasons. I have guarded that place for too long. So long that I can no longer remember when I last left."
"One day, the Griseous Orb simply vanished from my body. It was not taken. It was not stolen. It disappeared into thin air."
"I searched every floating island and every corner of the void. I searched for a very long time. I found nothing."
"I wanted to go out and look, but I cannot leave the Distortion World. That is my duty. Unless absolutely necessary, I must guard it to maintain the balance between both worlds."
Giratina continued, a trace of confusion and anger entering its voice.
"One day, something that should not have been there appeared in the Distortion World. A trace of spatial distortion. Very faint. But the entire Distortion World is under my control. Even without the Griseous Orb, I am still the master of that space. I sensed it immediately."
"I traveled along that trace and arrived at the anomaly. A man was standing outside a portal. He wore silver-gray clothes and held a small device in his hand. On that device, I felt the power of the Griseous Orb."
Ash's eyes narrowed. A god-level Peak entity, one that arguably surpassed ordinary god-level Peak, had its origin item vanish without explanation. Then a human arrived in the world it controlled, carrying that very item.
The man's capabilities were terrifying. And to enter the Distortion World alone, he was clearly prepared for everything.
There was only one person in Team Galactic who would have that kind of audacity.
"I asked him how he obtained the Griseous Orb and who he was." Giratina's voice was flat. "His answer was Cyrus. The leader of Team Galactic."
Cyrus. So that was Team Galactic's leader's name. There might be more than one Cyrus in the world, but having a name was a start.
"He said the Griseous Orb was in his hands, and that he needed its power and mine to create a brand new world without conflict."
A hint of sarcasm entered Giratina's voice.
"I thought he was insane. A human, holding a power he had no right to possess, standing at the entrance of the Distortion World, talking to me about creating a new world."
"I decided to capture him first, take back the Griseous Orb, and then get to the bottom of things."
The sarcasm vanished. What replaced it was an anger that even Ash could read plainly on the dragon's face.
"As I charged at him, Cyrus sighed. He seemed disappointed by my lack of cooperation. Then he activated the device in his hand. The power of the Griseous Orb surged out. It had been warped by some technology I could not comprehend, and it bored into my body like countless nails, each one pinning down my consciousness."
"From that day on, I became that man's puppet."
That was the full story. How to put it... it was actually rather straightforward. Apart from not knowing how the Griseous Orb vanished from Giratina's body in the first place, the rest was less cunning than it was brazen.
Humans excelled in intellect rather than raw strength. Although they lacked the power of Pokémon, through research, they had created Poké Balls and designed technologies that could control Pokémon using Pokémon-derived power.
Lugia had fallen victim to exactly this kind of approach. But Lugia had just emerged from the ocean floor with no idea what was happening. Giratina's situation was different. Someone had appeared before it with its own missing origin item and boldly declared he would use that power to create a new world.
Generally, someone who made claims like that was either a fool or genuinely dangerous. Since Cyrus had managed to reach the Distortion World alone, he was clearly not the former.
If Giratina had simply left at that moment, it might have escaped. Instead, it had charged directly at the trap. But Giratina couldn't be blamed. Compared to humans, the power of Legendary Pokémon was colossal.
Crushing a human should have been easier than stepping on an ant. Under those circumstances, vigilance against a lone human standing in your own domain would feel absurd.
"Cyrus." Ash slowly withdrew his Viridian Power. "I'll ask Cynthia and the others to look into this person. Leave the rest to me."
The wounds on Giratina's body had healed significantly. Not fully recovered, but it could move again. The issue of Cyrus would have to be a long-term project. The immediate question was simpler.
"Giratina, what do you plan to do next?"