Chapter 321: The Distortion World
After catching the Spiky-Eared Pichu, Fantina challenged Ryan to a quick sparring match of her own, sending out her Rotom-Mow. It lost to Manaphy after a few exchanges — but the way it fought genuinely surprised both Ryan and Lillie.
Fantina patted Rotom-Mow affectionately and looked at Ryan with a proud smile. "Well? This one is something, non? Rotom has been pushing itself very hard, just for the chance to face you. Even in defeat, you are surprised, oui?"
Ryan recalled Manaphy and nodded slowly. "More than a little. Though I suppose it makes sense — when Lillie and I first encountered it, it was powerful enough to take control of an entire abandoned mansion on its own. Growth like this is the natural result of that kind of foundation."
"I'll work even harder," Rotom announced cheerfully from its lawnmower body, the speaker Fantina had installed crackling slightly with the effort.
Ryan smiled at that. Rotom's ability to speak through whatever appliance it inhabited was one of the more genuinely remarkable things he'd encountered — and Fantina had thought ahead, modifying the mower specifically so Rotom could communicate freely. It was a thoughtful thing to do.
After Fantina wrapped up her business with them, Ryan and Lillie said their goodbyes. Ryan called out Lugia, and the two of them climbed onto its back. With powerful wingbeats, Lugia carried them up and away from Hearthome City, banking steadily toward the distant peaks of Mt. Coronet.
Deep inside the Distortion World, Giratina opened its eyes.
It had sensed the approaching presence — a specific quality of aura, moving upward through the mountain. It let out a long, resonant cry, and the portal between worlds split open in response. It had been some time since the other Giratina had visited and told it about this human chosen by Arceus. For a Legendary Pokémon with a lifespan measured in geological ages, that interval was nothing. But the curiosity had been building all the same. It wanted to see for itself what made this particular human worth the attention.
Lugia brought them down onto the summit of Mt. Coronet as the last of the afternoon light faded across the peaks. The moment its feet touched the stone, a dark spatial rift tore open in the air before them — a ragged seam in reality from which a slow, strange current of energy drifted outward, unlike anything with a clean description.
Ryan recalled Lugia and looked at the rift with an expression of mild amusement. "Giratina rolling out the welcome mat."
Lillie studied it with considerably less amusement, her brow furrowed. "We know what the other Giratina told us — that this one just wants to meet us. But that doesn't mean we actually know what it's planning." She bit her lip. "The Distortion World isn't exactly a friendly environment."
"Whatever it has planned, we'll manage." Ryan turned and released Xerneas. "Thank you for this."
Xerneas appeared in a sweep of warm light — and the moment it did, its antlers blazed with Life Energy, and the creeping drain emanating from the rift simply stopped. Xerneas swept its gaze toward the portal and communicated quietly: "Is this the Distortion World? It reminds me of our broken world. The underlying structure still exists, but all life within it has been extinguished. It is a world of death."
Ryan lifted Lillie onto Xerneas's back and swung up behind her, then leaned forward and rested a hand on Xerneas's neck. "We still have to go in. The Dragon Plate and Fairy Plate are somewhere inside, and we need them both. Restoring Arceus to full power before what's coming isn't optional." He paused. "Even if Giratina is setting something up, we have Solgaleo. Getting back out isn't the concern. Let's go."
Xerneas dipped its head once, gathered itself, and leaped through the rift.
The portal closed behind them the instant they passed through.
Lillie looked back. Where the entrance had been, there was nothing — just void, and floating in that void, fractured islands of terrain hanging in impossible configurations. Mountains jutted downward from nothing. Rivers ran along the undersides of rock formations with nowhere to drain. The light had no clear source and cast no clear shadows.
"This place is something else," Lillie said quietly.
It really was. Without Xerneas actively holding a domain of life energy around them, the ambient energy of the Distortion World would have begun seeping in gradually — the same process that had affected Gladion and Lusamine during their time here, slow and cumulative and not immediately obvious until it wasn't reversible.
The thought of Gladion made Ryan quietly wonder what his face would look like if he found out Ryan and Lillie had slipped into the Distortion World without telling him. Gladion had never stopped wanting to come back. He kept that want carefully managed and professionally suppressed, but it was there. Finding out they'd just walked in casually would probably produce a reaction worth seeing.
At Aether Foundation headquarters in Alola, Gladion sneezed four times in rapid succession, scattering the documents he'd been organizing across his desk.
Lusamine's assistant — standing nearby with a tablet — looked over with concern. "Are you catching something?"
Gladion gathered the papers back into order with methodical calm. "Ryan is talking about me somewhere. And whatever he's saying, it isn't flattering."
He straightened the stack, set it aside, and pulled the next file toward him. Since Lillie would eventually marry Ryan — this was not in question in Gladion's mind, merely a matter of scheduling — and their mother was gradually stepping back from day-to-day operations, the weight of the Aether Foundation was going to fall on him. He had started the process of taking it on properly. There was a great deal of it.
Lusamine's assistant watched him work his way into another hour of paperwork and shook her head quietly. It was going to be a long day.
Back in the Distortion World, Xerneas carried Ryan and Lillie through the floating terrain at a measured pace, navigating between landmasses that had no business staying where they were by any physical law Ryan understood.
Xerneas observed as they moved: "The origin of this place is strange. There is a structural similarity to the natural world — as though this was once connected to it, or derived from it in some fundamental way."
"What do you mean exactly?" Ryan asked.
"Allow me to answer that."
The voice came from a distance — deep, with an edge to it that wasn't quite aggression but wasn't far from it either. And then, emerging slowly from the fractured dark, an enormous shape came into view. Blood-red eyes. Six legs. A serpentine body ringed with golden bands. Wings like torn shadow.
Giratina moved with the unhurried confidence of something that had owned this space for longer than most civilizations had existed. It came to a stop in front of Xerneas and regarded it — then shifted its gaze to Ryan and Lillie.
"You are the ones the other Giratina told me about. Ryan, and his companion." It wasn't quite a question. "If you want to understand this world, I will explain it. Follow me."
It turned, and began moving deeper into the Distortion World without waiting for a response.
Xerneas glanced back at Ryan. Ryan shrugged and nodded forward.
They followed.
(End of Chapter)
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