Plates—rule‑bound divine relics formed from the shards of the cosmos at its birth.
There are eighteen Plates corresponding to the eighteen types, but above those eighteen there's actually a nineteenth Plate.
It contains the power of all things; as long as you use this Plate, you can wield every type's power.
It's called the Mythical Plate.
A single Plate that truly stands above all eighteen.
As everyone knows, each Plate has its own corresponding glyph, and the Mythical Plate's glyph is this line:
"In all the cosmos, it watches over Pokémon and people."
And that line is describing Arceus's true form.
Without question, Arceus's true body holds all the Plates, including the Mythical Plate.
But as the "creation Pokémon," it can create anything it wants—including its own avatars, and Plates as well.
So an Arceus avatar having the Mythical Plate isn't impossible.
That would also explain why this world's Arceus doesn't care about the Jewel of Life Plates.
Of course, it may also be that for this world's Arceus, Plates are just Plates, not its "source of life."
So it doesn't particularly care about them—maybe it believes in fate.
Or maybe this world's Arceus just straight‑up overslept; for Arceus, sleeping a few thousand years at a time is normal.
Who knows?
"Arceus~"
After listening to the legendary history Sheena just recounted, Cynthia is genuinely moved.
"I've never even heard stories with the name Arceus in them before."
Caitlin taps her refined chin lightly.
"Mm~ that's because the stories about Arceus are really ancient now. But you might have heard its other title."
Sheena explains with a smile.
"In the Hisui era, Arceus was revered as 'the almighty Sinnoh'!"
You can hear it in Sheena's voice—she really does respect and worship Arceus.
"So 'almighty Sinnoh' is Arceus?"
Caitlin looks surprised at that.
"Yes. So Arceus has actually been protecting us all along."
Sheena sighs.
"It shone as the light above, illuminating the Hisui land from the heavens, and with that light guided and protected Pokémon."
Damian props his chin in his hand and recites the line.
"Huh? You've heard it too, sir? That's the honorific they used for the almighty Sinnoh back in the Hisui era."
Sheena looks at Damian in surprise.
"I know a little."
Damian smiles and nods.
What he just quoted is exactly how the Hisui Pokédex describes Arceus.
"Miss Sheena, you seem to know quite a bit about the Hisui era?"
Cynthia speaks up.
"Ah~ not that much. But my ancestors left some ancient texts and rubbed copies of old poems. Are you interested?"
Sheena offers openly.
Michina's ruins aren't huge—just the remains of an old temple.
But since their line has never broken, the guardians really have accumulated a lot of ancient pieces over generations.
"Could we have a look?"
Cynthia perks up instantly.
"If it were anyone else, I'd have to think it over. But for you, Champion Cynthia, that's fine."
Sheena trusts Cynthia a great deal.
As Sinnoh's Champion, Cynthia protects the entire Sinnoh region.
"Thank you very much."
Cynthia gives a very polite salute.
"Please wait here a bit. I'll go dig them out."
Sheena heads deeper into the ruins.
"Tsk~ Cynthia, your reputation in Sinnoh really is absurdly good."
Damian can't help throwing in a tease.
Or maybe not just Cynthia—back on Mt. Pyre he'd used Wallace's name to pry those two Orbs from the elderly couple's hands too.
"That's everyone's trust in me. I absolutely won't betray it."
Cynthia shakes her head.
Damian lifts a brow.
Yeah, the civilians of Sinnoh do trust Champion Cynthia implicitly, and Cynthia really does protect them for that reason.
For Damian, though, that's not exactly good news.
He wants to "corrupt" Cynthia, but that project is… difficult.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. It's a bit of a mess—I haven't organized it well."
Before long, Sheena comes back carrying a small cardboard box.
Damian steps up to take it and sets it on a stone table.
"These are… the ancient poems?"
Cynthia's eyes narrow slightly as she looks at the old sheets in her hands.
The Ancient Verses—twenty poems excavated from the Hisui era that record a ton of history and myth.
The modern Canalave Library's "Sinnoh Myths" probably draws some of its content from these Ancient Verses.
The verses themselves are supposedly penned by a woman named Cogita.
"They're not the original Ancient Verses, just copies my ancestors got from elsewhere."
"That's already incredible! This is my first time seeing Ancient Verses preserved this well. Sheena, this whole box of Ancient Verses is pure treasure."
Cynthia's tone almost never gets this excited.
For someone who loves digging into history and myth, these verses are insanely valuable.
"You're welcome to read them, just please be careful. They've been passed down from ancient times; they're in good shape, but still easy to damage."
"Don't worry."
Damian slips on gloves and lifts one of the Ancient Verses.
"In olden days, two great beings shared the same world. One watched the flow of time; the other watched the vastness of space."
"In search of a future beyond the future, they sought to reach the bounds of the world itself."
"The two walked their separate paths, yet remained ever in the almighty Sinnoh's presence."
Damian quietly reads this verse aloud.
"The 'two great beings' mean Palkia and Dialga, right?"
Caitlin has also picked up a sheet.
The one Damian just read is easy enough: it's describing the creation trio, Dialga, Palkia, and Arceus.
"Yeah. Palkia and Dialga were both created by Arceus. They rule over this world's time and space. They're incredibly powerful Pokémon."
Sheena beams.
Unlike most people, Sheena actually understands Palkia and Dialga.
Because she was born with the power of Overcoming—"chouku," meaning to transcend and overcome, to break limits.
So she can even reach Palkia and Dialga across different times and spaces.
Unfortunately, even when she's asked Palkia and Dialga, they don't know what's going on with Arceus.
After all, Arceus exists in the "beginning between"—a realm that belongs only to Arceus.
Caitlin looks down at the verse in her own hands.
"Once, there was a hero. That hero led ten Pokémon and issued a challenge to the Sinnoh region."
"In that great battle, humans proved their own tenacity."
"The Sinnoh region acknowledged humanity's strength and returned to a world not meant for mortals."
When Caitlin finishes the verse, she's a little stunned.
"Humans… challenged a god?"
"Yes. And that's exactly what let Arceus see their will. A truly great hero."
Sheena sighs.
In fact, Ancient Verses 2 and 3 describe how fragile humans were back then.
Then lightning struck ten Pokémon; those ten Pokémon became humanity's strongest allies afterward.
Who knows if that was the gods taking pity on humans?
"Courage really is priceless. So who were those ten Pokémon?"
Cynthia pulls herself back from the poems' world, curiosity piqued.
"Emmm… I only know that five of them were 'kings,' but as for exactly which ten Pokémon…"
Sheena hesitates; she doesn't have the full list.
"Any Legendary Pokémon among them?"
Caitlin's equally curious.
There's no way that hero marched on Arceus with ten totally ordinary Pokémon, right?
That would be suicidally brave.
"No Legends."
Damian shakes his head.
"The forest king Kleavor, the mountain queen Lilligant, the island king Arcanine, the cave king Electrode, the icefield king Avalugg, plus Wyrdeer, Ursaluna, Basculegion, Sneasler, and Braviary."
One by one, Damian names the ten Pokémon.
He still remembers them from playing Pokémon Legends.
Hearing Damian rattle off the ten Hisui Pokémon that had such huge historical significance, Sheena's eyes go wide.
What the hell?
Even she can't recite all ten completely, and this man knows them that well?
"Kleavor, Wyrdeer, Ursaluna… I've never even heard of these Pokémon."
Cynthia is thoughtful.
"That's the impact of regional environments. You know this—different environments lead to different growth paths for Pokémon."
"Sinnoh is the same land as ancient Hisui, but the environment was very different back then. So some Pokémon manifested different forms and even different evolutions."
Damian shrugs.
The prime example is Ursaluna.
Ursaluna is an evolution of Ursaring—but to evolve Ursaring into Ursaluna, it has to be on Hisui's soil.
There's another fun detail: during the Hisui era, one Ursaluna crossed the sea to Kitakami.
Under Kitakami's unique conditions, it changed into its Bloodmoon form.
To this day, that Bloodmoon Ursaluna still dwells in Kitakami.
Yeah, he should swing by and catch it sometime.
"What a pity."
Cynthia sounds regretful.
She regrets not having the chance to see those special Hisui‑form Pokémon.
"Yeah."
Damian nods.
It really is a pity.
But not completely hopeless.
If Dialga's willing to help in the future, they could go back to the Hisui era and catch those special Pokémon there.
While they're at it…
He could check if Legends' protagonist Akari exists too.
Every main character in the Pokémon series could be called a heaven‑favored child; they're all freakishly talented.
If you had to name one strongest protagonist, though, it would, without question, be Akari.
Selene has the craziest win record—she actually beat down Necrozma, three times in a row, including Ultra form, and only then caught it.
Later, when the strongest evil organization from across parallel worlds—Team Rainbow Rocket—showed up, Selene soloed the entire team too.
Her résumé is terrifying.
But even then, Selene still can't compare to Akari.
Akari literally starts the game chosen by Arceus and sent back to Hisui.
In the end, Arceus's true body personally gifts her an Arceus avatar and the Mythical Plate.
That's basically Arceus's own daughter treatment.
How do you compete with that?
"Come to think of it, Akari was sent from the present to the past by Arceus. If someone like Akari really exists, why haven't we heard of her? Or is Akari from the next generation?"
The thought hits Damian all of a sudden.
And Akari looks exactly like Dawn.
But he's never heard of Dawn having an older or younger sister.
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