As a legendary Pokémon who'd lived for who-knew-how-long, Giratina had long grown sick of the hellscape that was the Distortion World.
The place was lifeless, stitched together from crumbling floating islands and warped fragments of reality.
In some areas, gravity didn't even function properly. With a body as massive as its own, Giratina often found itself literally top-heavy—off-balance in every physical sense.
Every part of this realm screamed: This is not a place for living things.
By comparison, Dialga and Palkia had it far better, tucked away in the dimensional seams of time and space.
And all of this misery… was thanks to that damn alpaca—Arceus, the one who banished it here long ago.
The moment Giratina thought about that smug four-legged god, its temper flared all over again.
Unfortunately, Arceus had vanished without a trace centuries ago.
Neither Giratina, nor the time-space duo, had been able to locate even a hint of its presence.
Which meant… Giratina's long-standing plan to challenge Arceus had been indefinitely delayed.
Yes, it was planning to fight Arceus.
After millennia of honing its strength, Giratina felt confident that even if it still couldn't win, at the very least—it wouldn't end up beaten and fleeing like a mangled Weedle again.
It was sure of its own power now.
All it needed was a path back to the main world.
That opportunity had come in the form of a human named Volo.
Volo's ancestors had once been saved by Arceus—and they passed down the legends.
His goals, strangely enough, overlapped with Giratina's: to find Arceus... and defeat it.
Giratina couldn't say it liked the human. After all, Volo's bloodline hailed from those annoying Sinnoh people who worshipped the alpaca.
But in all these thousands of years, Volo was the only one who had approached it with the same goal.
So Giratina had been willing to support him, even gifting him its own [Spooky Plate].
And to be fair, Volo had shown some results.
Disrupting the time-space dragons, opening rifts across dimensions, collecting the Plates tied to Arceus—his plan to ascend to the heavens had been well thought out.
Giratina saw real potential in it—as long as nothing went wrong.
And then... it got word that Volo had been captured.
Apparently taken down by a mere human, and now his life was at their mercy.
When Giratina first heard this, it had been furious.
The human it had chosen—its agent—brought down by some backwater native of Hisui? That was a humiliation.
But then, when it went to investigate—still seething—it found itself hesitating.
[Psychic]. [Aura]. And, most importantly, the [Power of Viridian].
Three rare abilities, all concentrated in one person. Even Giratina, with all its experience, had never seen anything like it.
Especially the [Power of Viridian]—Tokiwa no Chikara—a trait tied specifically to Kanto's Viridian Forest.
Why would anyone in Hisui possess that? There wasn't even a "Viridian" to speak of on this continent.
And that wasn't the end of it.
From the Zoroark that followed the human, it could smell traces of Regigigas.
From the golden-haired girl nearby, it sensed strange ripples in time and space.
In that moment, Giratina's mind went blank.
What the hell had happened while it was holed up with Volo?
Whoever this Elias was... he had the powers and companions of every major legendary in Hisui.
[Power of Viridian]—clearly Arceus's handiwork. Temporal and spatial fluctuations—probably Dialga and Palkia's influence.
Even Regigigas—that ancient slow-starting grandpa Arceus once smacked into dormancy—had apparently taken his side.
And what did Giratina get out of this?
Nothing. Not even a slice of the pie.
Realizing this, Giratina felt a creeping suspicion.
Had Arceus already noticed what I was up to...?
No matter what it said aloud, deep down, it had to admit—going up against Arceus still made it nervous.
And now that Volo, its chosen pawn, had been decisively defeated...
It was time to scrap the plan and start over.
Arceus hadn't shown up directly yet, so Giratina figured it still had a shot.
If it restructured now, there might still be a chance to win.
With that in mind, it wasted no time in cutting Volo loose. Dead weight only invited divine attention.
What it needed now... was to target the one chosen by Arceus.
That human. Elias.
Or, more specifically... that little fox beside him.
From what it had observed, the Zoroark didn't seem to like other humans.
As a fellow Ghost-type, Giratina could sense it clearly—her loyalty was solely to the human blessed by Arceus.
Everyone else? Barely tolerated. At best.
To Giratina, that wasn't a flaw—it was an advantage.
The perfect opening for a plan that would drive that smug alpaca god up the wall.
As for the Regigigas in her scent?
Just an old man. I can take him.
With the strategy set, Giratina chose its moment to make contact.
"Who's there?"
Zoroark's voice was cold as ice as she stared down the shadow rippling across the tabletop.
A faint wave of malevolence swirled around her as she tensed.
Giratina was quite pleased.
As a Ghost-type itself, it could tell—this fox had real potential.
"No need to be alarmed."
Its voice echoed softly in her ear.
Zoroark narrowed her eyes.
That voice—it sounded exactly like the one she'd heard in the night.
So... that hadn't been a dream.
Something had been lurking nearby.
Realizing this, Zoroark began gathering energy to strike.
A Pokémon like this hanging around Elias? No way she could ignore it.
Sensing her aggression, Giratina quickly spoke again:
"I mean you no harm."
"You can feel that, can't you?"
As it spoke, Giratina released a small portion of its legendary presence.
Zoroark froze.
Not because she believed it—but because the pressure rolling off its body was overwhelming.
This wasn't like Tornadus or Enamorus.
No—this was more like that giant she'd met in the cave before.
Maybe even stronger.
Attacking recklessly would be suicide—and it would drag Elias into danger as well.
"What do you want?" she asked coolly, forcing herself to stay composed.
Giratina relaxed, relieved that she wasn't lashing out.
It had no intention of fighting here.
After all, Arceus's chosen one was inside the house. Starting a battle now would be like begging to be smitten by [Judgment].
All its plans would go up in smoke.
"You dislike the humans of Hisui, don't you?"
"I want to make a deal with you."
Giratina said it sincerely.
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T/N: doprmammu i came to bargain