Back in Pewter City, in the Pokémon Center, Sweetie Belle told everything to her friends, including Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy who had joined them in worry after they learned of what happened. Brock, as well as a few other trainers, were also present to hear what was learned in this discussion in the Indigo Plateau.
To say the least, by the time she finished recounting, the mood wasn't all there, but many were determined to help one way or another to stop Team Rocket. Through phone calls and others, the news then quickly spread all over Kanto and other regions. By the time night fell, the whole world knew about Team Rocket, and the League already confirmed that measures will be taken to fight them. Of course, any trainers with a minimum of experience, preferably already possessing at least two badges, were welcomed to help. As strong as the Gym Leaders, Elite 4 members, and Champions were, they were just a few compared to Team Rocket who were certainly hundreds, if not thousands, without counting the legendaries that they may have in their possession and the potential Shadow Pokémon.
News about Team Rocket were also spreading from other regions. A group of Team Rocket grunts led by none other than Ghetsis, ancient leader of Team Plasma from Unova, had been present in the Frost Cavern of Kalos. Like in Mt. Moon, they suddenly appeared, captured the trainers present, used Psychic Pokémon to hypnotise them, captured the local wild Pokémon, and searched the caverns for whatever. However, contrary to Mt. Moon, nobody had been able to escape this time to warn someone of their presence, and so, they were able to do their stuff without being bothered. When they were done, they teleported away leaving behind the hypnotised trainers who had all their Pokémon stolen. And there was no way to know if they found... something, and they didn't know if Ghetsis had Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem, or two, or even the three at once.
Finally, groups of Team Rockets were spotted, and fought, in the Wild Area of Galar, near Pokémon Dens where Dynamaxed wild Pokémon were found. It looked like Team Rocket had an interest in the Dynamax phenomenon, which was another bad news. Although some wondered how this could be useful to them since Dynamax was limited to some spots in Galar.
Unless they managed to find a way to reproduce the Dynamax phenomenon without having to be in a Power Spot... After all, Galar Particles were still largely unknown beside the whole Dynamax stuff and the fact that they came from Eternatus, so who knew what they would be able to do after doing some researches on them. At least, it seemed to mean that they hadn't an Eternatus in their ranks, or else, they could simply use it to do their researches and to Dynamax their Pokémon anywhere.
Team Rocket really was becoming active all over the world, but now, none could be found anywhere. And so, all the trainers, including the ponies, could do was to wait for the Rockets to reappear somewhere.
And nobody knew when this would happen. After all these assaults, Team Rocket could decide to wait several days, or even weeks, to lower the guard of the League. Or they could hit during the night, or the next day.
Because of this, the ponies weren't sure of what to do, so they decided to wait the next day to discuss of how they will proceed. Meanwhile, they would spend the night in the Pokémon Center that provided free sleeping spaces for the trainers and their friends. Twilight even took the occasion to study the medical technology of the center before going to sleep.
But for Sweetie Belle, the night will be restless.
Once everybody was asleep, Sweetie Belle left the Pokémon Center.
"So... From the map..." She turned to face a direction. "It's closer in this direction."
Then, she took off, and in just a few seconds, she was just a point in the sky.
Before long, she reached her destination: Galar.
Since the region was so far from Kanto, it was still day here.
Then, she went to the Wild Area and approached a random Pokémon Den, one of the few from which a column of red light was coming, which indicated the presence of the Dynamaxed Pokémon. She landed beside the circle of stones that was the entrance to the den, approached, and jumped into the light, and the hole.
Somehow, the energy slowly made her float down into the giant cavern of the den. It was as if she was entering a different world. The Dynamax Energy filling the cavern made it look like there was a black void for a sky, and she couldn't even see anything that would indicate there was a ceiling. Deep fog and intense purple lights also stopped her from seeing the walls. She could see however stalagmites and other rock formations making it look like she was in the middle of a wasteland.
Sweetie's attention didn't remain long on the environment as she walked forward after landing. The presence of a giant creature that was a cross between a ladybug and a flying saucer-like UFO made sure of that. It was probably as huge as a Hydra! And just below a vortex of purple clouds!
An Orbeetle.
Actually, the flying saucer was just its head. Comparatively, its body, visible at the front, was very small (but still big since it was a Dynamax, or more exactly, a Gigantamax).
The Pokémon roared at her, expelling a lot of Dynamax Energy, to the point that she was not only feeling it, but bathing in it.
It was easily one of the most powerful energies she encountered until now.
Taking in this energy, she studied it and began to work on reproducing it with the Void Energy.
While she did this, the Orbeetle attacked. Giant butterflies of light materialized around it, and they all rapidly flew toward Sweetie Belle. The filly waited the last second before rapidly flying upward, and the most of the butterflies crashed into her previous location, causing a devastating explosion that proved to Sweetie Belle the power of the Dynamax. Some of the butterflies managed to avoid crashing and followed the alicorn who destroyed all of them at once with a rain of beams, littering the cavern with explosions.
Immediately, she passed to the offensive and began to charge energy in her horn. As a test, she put in Dynamax Energy, making it glow purple. After just a second of charge, she unleashed the beam that hit the Orbeetle. Just as it hit, there was a brief, blinding purple glow followed by an explosion just as powerful as the one caused by the butterflies, maybe even more!
Sweetie Belle was amazed. She had barely put anything in that beam! And it was as powerful as her Ultimate Doom Laser pre-ascension!
Dynamax was scary!
Her expression turned into a big smile that would make Marx proud as she stared at the very weakened, barely conscious Orbeetle.
"Team Rocket, I will have a nice surprise for you next time we meet. So, how do they do this..."
She materialized an Ultra Ball and put Dynamax Energy in it. The ball then grew into the size of a beach ball, glowing purple, and she threw it at the Orbeetle. The Orbeetle disappeared in it, and the ball landed heavily on the ground, shaking as the Pokémon tried to escape. After three shakes, the Ultra Ball glowed, indicating that the Orbeetle was caught, and the ball returned to normal.
Then, as she grabbed the ball, the Dynamax Energy in the cavern began to leave, pushing her and forcing her out. Being done here, she let the energy do it.
Once she was back outside, in the Wild Area, she saw that the red column of light of the den had disappeared.
Smiling, she looked at the Ultra Ball containing the Orbeetle, tossed it in the air before catching it, and said, "Nice! I may come back here from time to time."
She was back in the Pokémon Center of Pewter City as quickly as she left it, and it was still late at night. So she decided to get some shuteye after the excitement from earlier.
Only for her to open her eyes... on a bench.
The bench floating in the void quickly made her understand that she was probably dreaming, but what kind of dream was that? Luna wasn't here, so it couldn't be her wanting to tell her something through dreams. And a bench in the void wasn't her style at all. She was more picnic-under-a-tree-on-a-hill-in-the-middle-of-a-field-of-flowers kind.
Then, she felt a presence just at her left on the bench, and she turned her head to look at who it was.
Only to see that it was Rarity gently smiling down at her.
...
"You aren't Rarity," she stated.
"No, I'm not," the unknown entity agreed. "I just thought that taking a friendly appearance would put you more at ease."
"No need. You can take your original appearance. Even if you look like a demon or an abomination, as long as you're friendly, I won't attack you."
"That's kind of you, but the thing is that I don't have an appearance properly speaking. I'm... beyond physical matter. What you see of me is just an avatar to talk to you. Yes, I'm a God. And yes, I can see what you're about to say. Okay, I will stop."
The entity gave a hearty laugh at this last part.
Sweetie Belle couldn't stop a smile from showing as she faked annoyance. "Anyway, what is your name? I'm-"
"Sweetie Belle, I know," the entity interrupted. "I know everything about you. As for my name... I don't have one either. Or, it's better to say that I was given many names through my very long existence, but I never settled for one. Buuut... I suppose that you could call me... DD."
"DD?" Sweetie Belle asked with a deadpan look. "Seriously?"
"Yes, DD. Or DeDe. Or DeeDee. Or DiDi. As you want. Unless it's too close to your friends' name, Dedede?"
Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. "Nah, it's alright. Let's go with DD. So, why are you here?"
"Why! But to finally present myself to you! Also to warn you of something. A grave danger awaits you!" DD said as a cloak appeared on... its? Her? Their? "Settle for 'her' for now." Her body which aged to make herself look like a crazy old fortune teller. She even made a crystal ball appear on her right hoof. "And I'm not talking about Team Rainbow Rocket. Yes, that's their full name. Yes, it's lame." Her appearance then returned to normal.
"What is it?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Well, before I tell you more, let's start at the beginning with a mind blowing news: I'm the one at the origin of you ending up in Dream Land."
"What?"
"Yeah, that discussion you had with Discord about a superior entity other than the Writer being responsible of everything? That was spot on. No need to thank me."
"Uuuh... Why did you that? Was it just to...?"
"To have fun? To have a good show? Well, yes and no. It was actually in the hope of making you ascend into godhood. I knew there was the potential by sending you there. And at least, even if you had failed to ascend, I would have gotten to witness some pretty epic fights."
"And why did you want me to ascend into godhood? To help you fight an Omniversal threat with a bunch of other Gods?"
"Oh. No. Not at all. There is an Omniversal threat which is the one I came to warn you about, but it's not THAT dangerous. You should be able to take care of it with proper preparation. The reason why I wanted you to ascend into godhood is... to devour you."
DD said that so casually that Sweetie Belle wondered for a moment if she heard it right. She replayed the discussion in her mind a couple of times before she decided to ask," Can you repeat that?"
Instead, DD gave a knowing smile. "In the Omniverse, one of the most known facts is that there are three categories of Gods. The first category encompasses all the Gods that are representations of forces of nature or ancestral principles. Fire, Water, Creation, Destruction, Day, Night, Chaos, Marriage, Nature, and so on. In a way, the alicorns and Discord are such Gods, but in a more minor league. Most legendaries from the Pokémon universe can be put in this category too. Some are totally immortal, others just ageless. And they don't all have the same level of power. Trust me, Discord, for all his Chaos, wouldn't stand a chance against the Gods of Chaos from the Warhammer 40k universe. And I hope for you and for your friends that you will never find this universe. Or at least not before you're ready. It's really bad."
"Thanks for the warning."
"First category Gods are absolutely everywhere, so prepare to encounter a lot of them through your adventures. Also, many of them have egos that would put Rainbow Dash's to shame, so you will certainly end up fighting a lot of them. You already started with Groudon."
"Alright."
"Second category are the Gods powerful enough to create AND destroy universes at a whim. There too, their level of power can differ from one God to another, and some can be killed while others can't, but the common point is that they all can both create and destroy, contrary to Gods of Creation who can just create and Gods of Destruction who can just destroy. You already encountered two of them: Void and Arceus. Kirby is well on his way to become one. Same for you once you mature a little. By the way, can you hurry and sail that ship?"
"Not you too!"
DD sighed. "You are impossible. Anyway, then comes the third category. The Gods that are, to put it simply, truly omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. In some terms, TRUE Gods. Like what you're supposed to become once you fully ascend. Remember your Soul form? Well, third category Gods are just the level above. You were missing the omnipresent part. What you became when you absorbed the SOULs in the Undertale universe was also pretty close."
"And you are one of these Gods?"
"I was, once. But then, I became something else. Like I said, it's common knowledge among the Omniverse that there are three categories of Gods. But what is less known is that there's actually a fourth category, which I'm in. We are given a really nice, self-explanatory name: the Devourers."
Sweetie Belle gulped. Hearing this name sent chills all over her body.
"To become a Devourer, a third category God must absorb another third category God. Needless to say, the resulting being is powerful beyond imagination. Devourers are feared all over the Omniverse even among third category Gods. Some roam it devouring everything on their way, others prefer to just devour their favorite dish: third category Gods. As you may have guessed, I'm the second type. So you have nothing to fear from me, for now. But you understand now why I acted so you would ascend into a third category God."
Sweetie Belle, by now, was shaking in fear as she understood that this entity wasn't kidding. In the future, that thing will come to end her existence, no matter what. And she won't have the power to stop her. What really scared her was that she could feel nothing from her. Not an ounce of power. DD was telling her that she was powerful beyond everything she could think of, and yet, it was as if she was sitting beside a newborn foal. Some beings were able to hide their power, but they still let out something. But not DD. Beside her presence, there was nothing. And Sweetie Belle was certain that DD could hide her presence too if she wanted.
"No, I don't understand. Why did you... do this to me when you could have gone to target an actual God?"
"That's my little thing. You see, rather than attacking Gods directly, I find it more enjoyable to help mortals ascend into godhood, living through all kinds of entertaining adventures, before I come and do my stuff. Also, I like to give them a fighting chance. Like what I'm doing right now. Now that you know about me, you will try to find a way to stop me. Your chances of succeeding are low, very low, but at least, now, you have some chances. It's less boring that way. And I'm not a total jerk either. Just another warning. The more they devour Gods, the more powerful a Devourer becomes. I devoured six Gods so far. Oh, by the way, they say hello."
"They're still here?!"
"Yeah. The devoured Gods become minor, background voices in the mind of the Devourer. It's also the case for any other beings devoured, but third category Gods are easier to hear and acknowledge. However, beside communication between each others and me, they can't do anything else. Buuuut at least they have each others, and me. We're like a family! And I can't wait to have you join us! Unless you manage to have us join you." DD wrapped Sweetie Belle with her right foreleg to squeeze her at her side and gave her a noogy. "One way or another, we will become inseparable! Besties forevereverever!" She then released the filly. "But that's still not before a long time. And you still have that threat to face before. I don't want you to get killed now that you have gone so far and you have grown on me, so I will help you. But not too much or it would be boring."
Sweetie Belle didn't say anything as DD marked a small moment of silence. She simply waited for her to continue while trying to control her panic. She didn't want to devour OR be devoured!
"While I had expected you to ascend when I sent you to Dream Land, I didn't expect the events that I set in motion by doing this. During your fight against Kirby, when you were in your Soul form, you remember when you punched Void into another dimension?"
"Yeah, I remember..."
"Weeeell... That dimension of darkness was a prison to a powerful evil entity of light. It had been trapped here by a powerful ancient civilisation billions of years ago. When you punched Void into that dimension, you disrupted it enough to start the process for the entity to slowly free itself. This entity is just a first category God, a God of Light, but it is a very dangerous one that will threaten countless universes. And the worst part is that it's not alone. That entity has a counterpart of Darkness that had been trapped in a dimension of light. You see, the dimension of darkness was using the entity of Darkness as a power source to sustain itself and keep the entity of Light trapped, and the dimension of light was doing the same with the entity of Light as the power source. But now that the entity of Light has started to free itself, the dimension of darkness has started to weaken, giving power for the entity of Darkness to start to free itself too. Eventually, the two will be free to plunge universes into light or darkness."
"Isn't there a way to stop them from freeing themselves?"
"There is. I could simply go and repair their dimension prisons. But I won't. Let's not abuse the deus ex machina too much. And I did say that I want some good show, and you fighting these entities promises to be good. But before that, there is yet another threat for you to face."
"Another one?!"
"Yeah, I know, it starts to be a lot, but that's life for you. Somewhere out there, because of the imminent threat of these two entities, a powerful army is preparing to face them. But their method of preparation will be very bad for the health of countless beings across universes. You will have to start to gather strong allies to hope to face it and save everything you hold dear. The only problem is that you have nothing to pinpoint where you will need to go to face this army and stop it from swallowing worlds. This is where my help will come. I will guide you so you will always be where you're needed. Maybe, one day, you will find a way to follow this army through the Omniverse, but until then, you can count on me. However, don't count on me to directly lead you to their HQ. You wouldn't be ready anyway."
"Uugh..."
"Don't worry. I'm sure that you can do it. You just have to repeat what you did to fight Void, on a larger scale. And you should start right now. Don't worry about Team Rainbow Rocket. The League can take care of them for now, and your presence will change nothing. You still have some time before the army starts to take action, but the more allies you will find, the better it will be. First, you should go warn Discord about all this. With his powers, I'm sure that he will be of great help."
"If you say so..." Sweetie Belle said with a resigned sigh. Then, with a determined expression, she stared back at DD. "I will defeat Team Rainbow Rocket, this army, these two entities, and even you. But, uh, if I defeat you, could I avoid the whole devouring part? You know, like, letting you go?"
"Not unless you want to see me come back for a second round. Once you are a Goddess, I won't stop attacking you until one of us devours the other," DD answered before she licked her lips. "Why deprive myself of a good, well deserved meal because of a minor setback like a defeat? I will only stop if I have no other choice."
"But I don't want to become a Devourer!"
"Aww. It's not so bad to be a Devourer. If you desire, you can perfectly be a Devourer but not devour anything. You will have that hunger for more Gods constantly gnawing at you like you constantly crave for sweets, but I'm sure that this won't be a problem. Now, I think it's time for me to leave you. I gave you a lot to think about, and you need to process all this before you wake up. I'm rooting for you kiddo. Until next time."
Then... she was gone. Just gone.
And Sweetie Belle brusquely woke up.