Chapter 293: Dialga: "Mammon — Save the Orb for Your Future Daughter"
Giratina departed. It found Mammon's reasoning sound — challenging Arceus was no small undertaking, and proper preparation was essential. It had already waited an unimaginably long time; a little longer wouldn't hurt. If this human had genuine confidence, then Giratina was willing to wait a while more. After all... it had time in abundance. It could afford to be patient.
"Hahahaha—!"
Mammon, meanwhile, stared at the Cherish Ball in his hand, laughing with pure, unrestrained delight. Caught! He'd actually caught Giratina! Right — the Ball was Giratina's, though empty for the moment, since it needed to keep watch over the Distortion World and couldn't stay by Mammon's side permanently. Not that it mattered — as long as he had the Griseous Orb, Mammon could summon Giratina to his side whenever he needed it.
"Congratulations, Mammon~"
A soft smile touched Caitlin's elegant features, genuinely delighted for him. Mammon — growing stronger still.
"Congratulations." Cynthia offered her own, though her feelings on the matter were rather more complicated. Mammon, stronger yet again... and this time he's recruited the strongest of the world's original Six Gods. At this point, he's probably... unrivaled across the entire world, isn't he? Cynthia sighed inwardly, unsure whether that was good news or bad.
"Mammon, so impressive~" That was Mesprit, its telepathy brimming with open admiration.
"Even Giratina acknowledges you — Mammon, you're amazing." That was Azelf, thoroughly full of respect.
"Mammon, are you truly planning to challenge Father God alongside him?"
Uxie remained perfectly composed, though something close to astonishment colored its tone. Father God — the honorific by which the Lake Guardians addressed Arceus, a deity they considered, in their hearts, wholly unbeatable. Even Giratina, in their estimation, stood no genuine chance whatsoever.
"Thanks," Mammon said first, to Caitlin and Cynthia both.
"Of course — though that's a matter for later, and it's just a challenge, after all. No real harm in that, right?"
He looked to Uxie.
"Father God is benevolent. So long as you do not offend him, a mere challenge poses no danger." Uxie's cool telepathy carried a faint note of something almost bewildered. How to put it — as the embodiment of "wisdom" Arceus itself had created, Uxie genuinely never expected to live to see the day someone actually worked up the nerve to challenge Arceus for real. Because Mammon and Giratina's spontaneous, mutually-agreed challenge was an entirely different animal from that Hisui-era hero's own challenge, long ago.
"Good to know, then." Mammon shrugged. As long as that Alpaca didn't take it too far, there wasn't much to worry about. It wasn't going to actually kill a challenger, surely?
The rain clouds overhead had already cleared. Kyogre, having reverted from its Primal form, gazed skyward with a distinctly melancholy expression, looking at Mammon like it wanted to say something but kept swallowing it back. Not to be that guy, bro, but — we're really going to go fight Arceus someday?Can I just... hang back like the white dragon and cheer from the sidelines? Maybe use Helping Hand and call it a day? The fat fish gave the matter of its own future battle role some genuinely serious thought.
"Though I wouldn't recommend using today's method to actually reach Father God," Uxie added, after some thought.
"Oh?" Mammon raised an eyebrow.
"His method was only ever a last resort, born of desperation. The space-time rift caused by the two sovereigns' conflict is unstable — there's no guarantee it would even lead to Father God's dimension at all."
"And should the two sovereigns' conflict continue for too long, the consequences could grow severe enough to genuinely provoke Father God's displeasure."
Uxie's telepathy was crystal clear on this point, and Mammon nodded along.
"So, Uxie, do you three have some other method in mind?"
Mammon asked the Lake Guardians. Sure, their combat strength left something to be desired, but you couldn't question their knowledge base — Legendary Pokémon who'd existed since the very dawn of creation. Especially where Arceus itself was concerned, they were nothing short of experts.
"There is. Of course there is." Mesprit's telepathy carried a note of amusement.
"If you can locate the Azure Flute, Mammon, you could open the Hall of Origin's gateway to Father God's dimension directly," Uxie answered.
"The Azure Flute?" Cynthia asked, curious.
"It's a divine object Father God deliberately left behind. With it in hand, you simply need to come to the Sinnoh Temple — oh, that's here, isn't it? Now known as Spear Pillar, right?" Azelf blinked.
Back in the Hisui era, Spear Pillar had still been the Sinnoh Temple, a shrine dedicated to the Sinnoh Deity, Arceus, containing the stone statues of the ten Pokémon who'd once received power from Arceus directly. But... well, the Sinnoh Temple had been destroyed in the collision of Dialga and Palkia's own attacks, and over time became what was now known as Spear Pillar. Guess you could say Dialga and Palkia had been dutiful "sons" in their own way.
"Bring the Azure Flute to Spear Pillar and play its melody, and you'll be able to travel straight to Father God's dwelling, the Hall of Origin," Azelf continued.
"But the Azure Flute has long since been lost — even we don't know where the divine object currently is," Uxie finished. If they'd known its location, they wouldn't have minded telling Mammon at all — their impression of him was genuinely favorable, and letting him take Giratina to finally settle its fixation on challenging Arceus seemed like a good thing on the whole. Otherwise, who knew what trouble Giratina might stir up down the road. But that was the sticking point — the Azure Flute's whereabouts had been unknown for ages. Who could say where it might be now?
"No trouble. I'll send people to search for it. Thank you for the information." Mammon said with a smile.
"I'll have the Sinnoh League help search as well. Uxie, could you three sketch out what the Azure Flute looks like?" Cynthia added — a sensible call. Sinnoh was, after all, the League's own territory; with the League's help, tracking down the flute would be considerably easier.
"Sure thing~" Mesprit answered, characteristically endearing.
Cynthia produced a sketch pad, and with a little psychic assistance, Mesprit drew out the Azure Flute's appearance. Despite the name, the flute's actual design was fairly abstract — its body colored purple, honestly not the most attractive-looking instrument.
Just then, a low draconic growl sounded. The group looked up to find Dialga and Palkia, now fully recovered and lucid, watching them from above.
"Looks like you two have come to your senses."
Mammon greeted the "partners in misery" with a grin. Honestly, what a rough day for those two — accomplishing nothing whatsoever while getting steamrolled twice over. First bound and controlled by Cyrus's red chain, then driven berserk by Giratina's Wrathful Lightning and forced to brawl each other senseless. Now covered in injuries with absolutely nothing to show for it, forced to swallow the humiliation in silence. Palkia especially — her wounds were plainly visible, clearly having come out worse in the exchange with Dialga. Well, no surprise there — going head-to-head, she simply couldn't match Dialga. Rough day, all around.
"My thanks to you today, human."
A low telepathic voice reached Mammon's ears — Dialga's. Given their previous encounter, and... well, Dialga had genuinely glimpsed something through its own rough, imprecise future sight back then. At the time, it had chalked the vision up to some kind of illusion — but after today's events, it seemed, damn it, that vision might actually have been real after all.
"No need to thank me — it was for my own sake too, honestly. If you two had kept tearing each other apart like that, this world's space-time distortion would've gotten ugly," Mammon replied with a smile.
"Want me to patch you two up? You look pretty banged up."
"No need. Rest, once we return, and this much will heal on its own."
Dialga said flatly. Beside it, Palkia shot Dialga a venomous glare — her injuries were considerably worse than his, especially the bite marks clearly visible on the crook of her right arm, courtesy of Dialga's own teeth. Noticing the hostile look, Dialga glared right back. The nerve of this thing, glaring at me? The tension between them flared right back up instantly.
Palkia was thoroughly furious about it, but recovering first took priority — better to swallow her pride and retreat for now. Next time, though, she'd absolutely settle this score. Watching her turn her head away, Dialga let out a cold snort. Sure, he couldn't beat Giratina — but handling one measly space dragon? That, he could manage just fine.
"Human. You've agreed to help Giratina challenge Father God?"
Dialga's term for Arceus differed from the Lake Guardians' — hardly surprising, given both dragons counted as Arceus's own "direct lineage," so to speak.
"That's right."
"Heh heh heh... contact me when the challenge happens. I want to witness it in person."
Dialga let out a low chuckle, then addressed Mammon without hesitation. At the same time, it willed the Adamant Orb to drift down and settle before him.
"This... no problem at all." Mammon accepted the Adamant Orb, more or less certain by now that this steel-blue dragon was absolutely just angling for a front-row seat to watch Giratina get its comeuppance. Getting dragged into a berserk rage against its will today for no reason of its own — there was no way Dialga wasn't harboring some resentment over it. Though actually going after Giratina to settle the score itself? That, apparently, it didn't have the nerve for.
"Until we meet again." A time-vortex opened above Dialga — but just before stepping through, it hesitated, turning its head back toward Mammon.
"Your future daughter is quite adorable. When she is born, give her this Adamant Orb."
Unable to resist the vision from its own future sight surfacing again, Dialga said this to Mammon.
"...Huh?"
Mammon blinked, caught off guard. Caitlin and Cynthia, hearing the exact same thing, both visibly startled. Mammon's future daughter? And what did Dialga even mean by that — leave the Adamant Orb for a daughter Mammon didn't even have yet? Uxie and the others turned equally stunned looks on Dialga. Even Palkia looked thoroughly baffled — leaving the Adamant Orb with Mammon made sense, sure, given how genuinely exceptional he was. But Mammon's daughter? That single line of Dialga's carried an enormous amount of information to unpack.
"Could you tell me who my daughter's mother is?"
Mammon hesitated a moment before asking Dialga, curious. Having a daughter someday didn't especially surprise him — he'd always kept a fairly open mind about the whole matter of children. But right now, none of the women in his life showed any sign of anything of the sort. Not that Mammon found that strange either — pregnancy was always, fundamentally, a matter of luck.
Caitlin's expression flickered with hope, watching Dialga with visible tension. Could it be me?
"I don't know. Farewell." Dialga answered simply, then stepped straight into the time vortex, returning to its own dimension. Never mind that it genuinely didn't know which woman the child's mother would turn out to be — even if it had known, there was no chance it would have said so anyway.
It left behind a thoroughly contemplative trio, and a distinctly short-circuited Palkia and Lake Guardians in its wake.
(End of Chapter)
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