//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Absolution 2 // by ed2481 //------------------------------// Giratina hovered over a familiar island containing a single pool of water and a scant number of trees surrounding it. Peering down into it, he watched the forest to the other world. “Well... let’s get this over with... I hope I don’t develop any cramps,” he muttered to himself as he lowered one of his tip wings down to touch the water. It simmered and began to glow, as it transferred up the wing and to his whole body. His body then condensed and flexed as it slowly shifted into the water and transferred into the forest on the other side. What few animals and birds that were around the pond, immediately fled, as the swirl of light coiled up and around on the ground, forming one sphere. The sphere spun around for a moment longer before it’s light began to gradually dim and, eventually, the sphere itself faded away. Standing in it’s place was a tall changeling, his chitin a deep grey in color, like the scales that once covered his form. A set of insectoid wings reared up from his back and a tail of slightly darker grey “fur” wrapped around his rear end. His mane was disheveled and a bit spiky, a horn pierced the center of it causing it to part to either side, away from his red eyes. A trio of golden rings circled his neck and his hooves were topped by matching golden hooves shoes. Giratina looked at his reflection for a moment, frowning slightly at his new, yet familiar appearance. “Heh, hasn’t changed a bit... although it does feel a bit… smaller in size than normal,” he commented as he lifted his head, stretching it from side to side while shaking his legs around to get the feel for them again. “Though it could be just my imagination.” After finishing some final stretching, his wings opened and buzzed slightly in the air. “Alright, now to find where this ‘Applejack’ lived,” he said as he bended his legs down slightly before jumping into the air, his wings buzzed to life as he flew in and out of the tree line. He hoovered and glanced around a bit before spotting a town and began heading for it. As he did, he dipped slightly in the air before steadying himself out, a sour frown forming on his face. Getting rusty in flying in this body… I’m flying way slower than I should, he commented to himself, already missing his original form, and the freedom of flying in the Distortion World. This better not take too long... I can’t waste too much time here with the time difference and all, and I doubt Cres will be able to tolerate a whole month of the pony being near him. As he flew another thought crossed through his mind. Maybe I should visit her... it’s been a while... or at least check to see if she’s finally free or not... I lost track how many years have passed here... he pondered this thought a bit, as he saw a small town appear on the horizon. He neared the town from over head and angle himself down, landing in the middle of a what some would consider a small intersection filled with at least dozen of ponies. But the moment Giratina touched down, every single eye in area locked on him. Giratina arched an eyebrow up as he glanced around at the ponies. “What?” he asked out loud. “CHANGELING!” three mares screamed in unity, before they ran away screaming, followed quickly by every other pony in the square, all of whom fled screaming into the mid afternoon sun. Giratina winced slightly at the volume of yelling they were all able to produce and he frowned in annoyance. “Well... so much for the friendly ponies I remember...” he muttered flatly with a scoff as sets of memories of humans and pokemon doing the same thing long ago appeared in his mind. He frowned and shook his head clear. “Whatever... changes happened, I just need to find one pony talk to.” He perked his head up and glanced around before heading towards to what seem to be the center of the town. As he did so, he heard other ponies frantically getting out of his way, doors shutting, window shutters slamming shut and the dead of silence falling upon the land. “A bit over-reactive aren’t you...” Giratina said out loud a bit dryly. “Well... it’s not every day we get a changeling in Ponyville,” a calm female’s voice said from behind him, though Giratina could easily pick up an underlying tone of nervousness in her voice. The Legendary turned to see a purple alicorn standing there, her horn glowing faintly with restrained magic. Giratina arched his eyebrow at the alicorn. “Well, it’s not like I had a choice on how I appeared,” he said as he with a shrug. He then waved a hoof towards her. “And you can lower that horn of yours, I’m not here to harm you if that’s what you’re thinking. And even I was, I wouldn’t exactly just reveal myself.” “You’d be surprised how many would,” the alicorn replied as she looked over him, horn still glowing slightly. “Who are you and what do you want in my town? The last time anyone here saw a changeling they’d kidnapped three fillies.” “My name is of little importance for now, and I’m here about a missing pony you probably noticed has gone missing. A mare name Applejack,” Giratina replied tilted his head to the side. “Does the name sound familiar?” The alicorn blinked twice. “Applejack’s not missing, I saw her last night,” she said before frowning. “Wait, how would you know that my friend has gone missing before me?” “Let’s just say I had the pleasure of meeting her,” the Legendary replied. “So you kidnaped her and here confessing it to me?” the alicorn asked, her horn’s glow intensifying. “Where. Is. She.” Giratina rolled his eyes. “Please, if I kidnaped her, would I dare confess out in the open like this?” he asked flatly. “As to where she is, she’s ended up in the Pokemon World.” The mare’s eyes widened. “She’s in Cres’s world?” she asked, clearly caught off guard. “Ah, so you know of the young Absol, good, but yes, she’s in his world,” Giratina answered with a short nod of his head. “She just happened to... wake up there, and let’s just say things aren’t going that... smoothly for her. We tried to bring her back but, unfortunately, something is preventing us from doing so, I’m here to find out what that something is. So if you do know of her, it would be very important of you to bring me to her homestead.” The mare stared at him for a long moment before frowning to herself. “No changeling could possibly know about Cres, and they especially wouldn’t know anything about the Pokemon World, so that means you have to be telling the truth,” she muttered quickly to herself before her eyes locked on Giratina's. “Is Applejack safe?” “For now... she’s being taken care by a respectful person, so I doubt any major harm will come to her,” he replied. “Right...” the mare trailed off for a moment and Giratina suddenly realized why her voice sounded familiar to him. It sounded like an unaccented version of Roxanne’s speech. “So, you need to get to Sweet Apple Acres?” “If that’s where Applejack lives, then yes,” the changeling replied with a short nod of his head. “Okay... right,” the alicorn said as she spread the noticeable wings on her back. “My name is Twilight Sparkle by the way, resident Princess of Ponyville.” “Noted,” Giratina replied with a slightly arched eyebrow. There’s three of them now... huh. “Anyways, if you would be so kind to guide me to this “Sweet Apple Acres” as fast as possible. I am a bit under a time crunch.” “Of course, especially if Applejack is in the Pokemon World, where time moves faster if I’m remembering correctly,” Twilight agreed with a swift nod of her head. Then her wings launched her skywards with a surprising amount of grace and Giratina followed with the same speed, though less graceful movement as the mare. Twilight lead him through the air for five or so minutes, her occasionally glancing back at him, a growing frown on her face. “You’re not used to flying are you?” she asked. “Oh I am, it’s just been a while since I last flew with wings,” he replied. The mare gave him peculiar look, which he caught and shook his head. “Forget it, it would take too long to explain.” “Okay...” Twilight said slowly as she lead him down towards the ground, though Giratina could easily see the gears twirling within her head. He just has to make sure not to add any more force to those gears. One Professor was enough, two was just overkill. The changeling glanced at the house and barn Twilight led him to, his eyes gazed slowly, and carefully at them in an examining expression, though he wasn’t judging the decor and paint of the buildings. He was slowly scanning the ripples of space, more importantly, if any of them had traces of the Distortion World. Twilight walked up to him, a frown on her face. “What are you doing?” she asked him carefully. “Looking to see if anything is out of place,” he replied, his eyes moving away from the barn, deeming it clean, and onto the house. “And you can tell that from looking at it from the outside?” she questioned with a deepening frown. “After lots of practice,” he said, his eyes focusing on upper right of the house. “Does Applejack live on the second floor of this house?” “Technically she lives on every floor of the house,” Twilight replied. “It’s her house.” “Hmm... then I guess I’ll start on the second floor first.” Giratina picked up his hooves and headed for the front door. To his surprise, he was stopped in place by a gentle telekinetic force and Twilight walked past him, her horn glowing faintly. Then she reached out and knocked on the door. “I was going to do that,” he informed her as the telekinetic force faded away and he walked beside her. “Yes, well, they’re less likely to hit me with a frying pan, then they are you,” the mare replied. “Eh, I’ve gotten hit by worse,” the challenging said with a shrug of his shoulders. The door swung open to reveal a small filly. She smiled at Twilight but when her eyes glanced to the right, her body froze upon seeing the changeling forme Giratina. “Hello Apple Bloom, do you mind if my friend and I look around the house?” Twilight asked politely. “It’s about Applejack’s disappearance.” The filly frowned. “Disappearance? I thought she was with you for something?” she asked. “According to him, he’s in Cres’s world,” Twilight answered with a worried frown. “We’re doing our best to investigate what happened to her, but we need to look around.” Apple Bloom’s face dropped worried, before she rapidly nodded her head and fully opened the door. “Sure, come on in,” she said. “Thank you Apple Bloom, are Granny Smith and Big Macintosh still out of town visiting relatives?” Twilight inquired, as she and Giratina walked into the building, the changeling making little time to head for the stairs. “Yeah, they just sent us a letter...” she replied as trailed her eyes on the changeling. Without a second thought she rushed up to him. “Is my sister okay? She and Cres didn’t leave on good terms... and-” “She’s doing well enough, alive and still breathing,” he replied, cutting the filly off before she could list dozens of more worried questions. He reached the second floor, his eyes shifting as they searched for the point of origin of the energy readings. “As for she and Cres... well, he’s holding himself back quite well enough, though she’s still bitter to him.” The filly’s ears droop in disapointed. “I hope she doesn’t hurt Cres... and I hope she doesn’t get hurt too.” “The first one is unlikely the second... well... hopefully unlikely,” Giratina said as his eyes locked onto one door, which he walked to and opened. It led to small bathroom and the strangely flexing energies of Distortion World were flooding out of the mirror hanging on the side of the wall. He walked in front of the mirror and examined it for a long moment. His eyes widened slightly. If he was reading the energy signature right the one who did this was... him. The way the energy bended, the way it was tied together at a signal focal point, and even the wavelength... they were all the same of how he used reflective material to open a portal. This... can’t be right... he thought to himself. There’s no way some other Pokemon can duplicate my powers exactly. That’s completely absur- He stopped when he noticed something else was off. His reflection... it was a changeling too but it’s mane was white, it’s eyes were teal, and instead of golden neck rings, was a red crest. The changeling in the reflection smiled and Griatina’s eyes narrowed. Without losing a second, he dash out to the door, grabbing the filly who was still standing next to him, and not a second later the mirror shatter as a black ball of energy crashed through. In the background he heard Twilight scream, though whether it was in surprise or horror he didn’t know as he slide and put the filly down. “Get out of here, now!” he order the two as he took a battle stance and looked at the bathroom door with smoke steaming out. He heard the frantic battering of hooves along with a faint ’buzz-zap’, though not taking his eyes off as another figure walk out of the smoke, a low chuckling rolling through the air. “Oh, oh, oh, well done,” the voice, not quite unlike his own if raised an octave, said with a dark chuckle. “You seem to have perfected the art of dodging, impressive, that’s a tricky one.” Giratina narrowed his eyes, at the smiling changeling, trying to figure out who or what he was. “And you seem to perfected a skill which only I have... who are you,” he demanded in an authoritative tone. “Why would I tell you and give up the game?” the changeling asked, still smiling. “That would be terribly rude of me.” Then before Giratina could react another ball of darkness formed in the changeling’s horn and it was launched at his face. Giratina’s horn flash once and he disappeared in a swirl of shadows, the ball hitting the wall behind him, shattering it completely. Giratina reappeared right behind the changeling, not even a second later, his right hoof glowing a bright blue as he swung it down at his back. However the changeling vanished into shadows and before Giratina could blink he was forced upwards by a powerful strike to the gut, one that sent him crashing through the roof. Before Giratina could recover, a similar blow slammed into his back and he crashed through the roof again, this time going down through a different hole and bashing through the second floor and into the foundation of the house. Giratina groaned as he pulled himself up and gritted his teeth. He knows my moves! How is that even possible? He didn’t have long to puzzle it out however because a pulse of darkness washed over his form, crushing him against the hard stone. Giratina tried to pulled himself up once more, but a hoof pressing hard against the back of his neck, preventing him from doing so. “Oh no, no, no,” the changeling coed down to him agonizingly, mouth an inch from Giratina's ear. “You’re not ruining my fun so soon, hehe.” Giratina was about to respond when the hoof left his neck, however before the Legendary could reply or react a massive force slammed into him, and crushed him five inches into the stone of the foundation, causing the rest of the house to begin caving in on the Legendary. “Have fun down there Giri, my job’s done here,” the other changeling taunted him, its voice somehow sounding in Giratina's voice as for the first time in millennia, the Legendary faded into unconsciousness.