Chapter 318: The Creator's Raging Splinter, Giratina — Come Forth!
"Kyogre, Hydro Pump!"
Mammon gave the command without hesitation.
Kyogre threw its jaws wide open without a moment's pause, blue water-light condensing in its mouth, and a massive Hydro Pump blasted directly into the waterfall.
BOOM!
A thunderous crash rang out as violent spray erupted in every direction.
"Screeeee—!"
Another piercing shriek rang out, and the entire waterfall began shaking violently as the massive black shadow drew closer.
The thick black mist churned faster and faster.
Those blood-red eyes suddenly flared wide, like a pair of enormous lanterns.
Black wind pressure kept spreading outward — and in the next instant, the entire waterfall was blown apart as a savage black storm came sweeping through.
A Dark Storm!
"Back off."
Mammon gave the order immediately.
Kyogre reacted instantly, carrying Mammon in a swift retreat.
The dark storm surged forward, its powerful pressure making even Mammon squint slightly. He'd never seen this move before — some kind of Shadow Lugia signature attack?
"Screeeee—!"
The piercing shriek sounded again, and from beneath the now-collapsed waterfall, a massive black Pokémon slowly rose into view, its blood-red eyes, demonic and menacing, brimming with malice and violence.
Shadow Lugia!
Its shape was nearly identical to an ordinary Lugia — except its entire body was a deep purplish-black, and combined with those blood-red eyes, it radiated an almost overwhelming sense of pure evil.
A complete inversion of the impression an ordinary Lugia gave off.
"So it really is some kind of mutated Lugia?!"
Kyogre stared at the oppressive, dread-inducing Shadow Lugia with a mix of shock and uncertainty. It had heard Mama Lugia mention this before, but seeing it in the flesh was still genuinely startling.
Honestly, Kyogre wasn't exactly unfamiliar with the Lugia species — Lugia did live in the deep ocean, after all, even if actual encounters were rare. But looking at the Shadow Lugia before it now, Kyogre found itself truly shaken.
"Screeeee—!"
Blood-red light flared violently in Shadow Lugia's eyes as it threw its head back and shrieked again, the writhing black mist — moving as if alive — pouring steadily into its body.
Dark, wave-like energy condensed in Shadow Lugia's mouth, and with a violent whip of its head, it fired the attack straight at Kyogre.
Dark Pulse!
Kyogre's whole body flashed with gold-and-blue light, and in the blink of an eye it shifted into its Primal form.
A massive Hydro Pump blasted out to meet the incoming Dark Pulse.
KRAKOOM!
The Hydro Pump and the Dark Pulse collided midair, the two forces slamming violently against each other before finally detonating in a massive burst.
A powerful shockwave rippled outward.
Impressive, as expected!
At that, the corners of Mammon's mouth curled sharply upward. Strong — good, that's exactly what he wanted!
"This Dark Pulse — looks like it's got a Dark typing on it. Psychic/Dark? Or Dark/Flying?"
Mammon mused over Shadow Lugia's typing. Malice this intense practically guaranteed a Dark typing somewhere in the mix.
Regardless, fighting here wasn't practical. This was deep underground, inside the island itself — there wasn't room to really cut loose without risking the whole island collapsing.
"Let's go — draw it out."
Mammon patted Primal Kyogre.
Primal Kyogre understood exactly what he meant and immediately turned, accelerating out of the underground chamber.
Naturally, Shadow Lugia had no intention of letting this go — its mind had already been almost entirely corroded by malice to begin with. Kyogre's Hydro Pump moments ago had stripped away whatever rational thought remained; now there was nothing left in its head but raw violence.
Seeing Primal Kyogre flee, Shadow Lugia beat its wings once and gave immediate chase, firing off wave after wave of Dark Pulse with reckless abandon.
But despite its massive size, Primal Kyogre remained remarkably agile, and not a single Dark Pulse managed to land.
—
On the surface.
Caitlin and Platinum were resting, with Snowy happily soaking in the seawater.
Then Snowy seemed to sense something, abruptly turning its head to stare off into the distance, its expression strange.
"Kuu!"
"What's wrong, Snowy?" Caitlin asked, puzzled, walking over at the sound of Snowy's cry.
"Miss Caitlin, look over there!" Platinum said quickly, pointing toward the distance.
Far off on the ocean's surface, a massive wave rose up as an enormous gold-and-blue Pokémon burst from the water, hovering in the sky.
That was Mammon's Primal Kyogre!
Caitlin recognized it instantly — but close behind it, a black Lugia also burst up from beneath the waves, shrieking furiously at Primal Kyogre.
That piercing cry was almost physically painful to hear.
Black energy kept leaking out of it, spreading rapidly across the sky like some kind of source of pure darkness.
The whole sky darkened, oppressive and sinister.
"What kind of Pokémon is that? A Shiny Lugia?"
Platinum stared at the distant Shadow Lugia in shock. A Shiny Lugia? That didn't seem right.
Shiny Pokémon were just a color variant, after all — but this Lugia was clearly wrong in a way that had nothing to do with color.
That deep, terrifying malice, and those demonic blood-red eyes, were genuinely frightening.
"No, it's not a Shiny." Caitlin shook her head. "Though I don't know the exact reason behind it myself."
Snowy stared at Shadow Lugia, its eyes full of confusion and worry. It felt something deeply conflicting about Shadow Lugia — like it might be its father, and yet also somehow not.
—
Back with Mammon.
Primal Kyogre glanced up at the roiling "black clouds" overhead and couldn't help but smirk. Trying to fight me over the weather?
Primal Kyogre would freely admit this "mutated" Shadow Lugia was extraordinarily powerful — but weather manipulation was its specialty!
Let me show you what Primordial Sea really means!
Primal Kyogre was already gearing up to summon a downpour with Primordial Sea, but Mammon called it off.
"No need to change the weather. Not necessary here."
Mammon told it — he wasn't planning to use Kyogre for this fight, so there was no need to activate Primordial Sea. Rain would just be an unnecessary hassle besides.
"I actually brought along a nice opponent, just for you."
Mammon looked over at Shadow Lugia, already growing restless across the way, a wild grin spreading across his face.
"Giratina. Come on out."
Perfect timing — he hadn't actually gotten to battle with Giratina yet since acquiring it.
A deep, mercury-like black vortex formed in front of Primal Kyogre, and the Lord of the Distortion World, its body glowing with a faint eerie light, slowly emerged from within — its dragon eyes deceptively calm yet brimming with violence, fixed steadily on Shadow Lugia.
Its massive, centipede-like, fearsome dragon body slithered fully into view as the black vortex faded away.
Origin Forme Giratina!
"What Pokémon is that?"
Seeing the new Pokémon that had appeared beside Mammon, Platinum stared in shock — she didn't recognize this one at all.
But that didn't stop her from immediately sensing just how incredibly powerful it looked.
"That's Giratina — the creation myth's raging splinter of the Creator itself. Extraordinarily strong."
Caitlin's beautiful eyes gleamed with an unusual light as she watched the young man standing atop Primal Kyogre's back, a proud smile spreading unconsciously across her face.
See? Even the creation myth's own raging splinter of the Creator fights for Mammon now!
"Mr. Mammon really is amazing~" Platinum said, genuinely awed. He really was incredibly powerful.
"Rotom, make sure you get good footage of this."
"Leave it to me, Roto~"
The floating Rotom camera chimed in response.
Yeah — this was something Caitlin had specifically arranged. She'd noticed Mammon had far too many "highlight moments" going undocumented, which struck her as a genuine waste.
So she'd specifically acquired a Rotom and had it possess a camera, "transforming" it into a Rotom Camera.
The principle worked more or less the same as a Rotom Pokédex or Rotom Phone.
Except a Rotom Camera could film and record on its own, without needing Caitlin to operate it directly — much more convenient. Mostly because Caitlin herself wasn't especially good with a camera, and phone footage never came close to matching a proper camera's quality anyway.
In the sky, Shadow Lugia let out a violent shriek at Origin Forme Giratina — but even with its mind eroded by malice, instinct still registered the intense threat Giratina posed, and it held back from acting rashly.
Still, hearing Shadow Lugia's "provocative" shriek directed at it, Origin Forme Giratina — already naturally hot-tempered — flashed a dangerous glint in its dragon eyes.
Especially since it could sense a scent on Shadow Lugia that it didn't like one bit.
Its massive, centipede-like body slowly coiled, ready to strike at any moment.
"Giratina, can you tell why this Lugia ended up like this?" Mammon asked, curious.
It was just a passing thought, really — Giratina had been alive since the dawn of creation itself, essentially watching this world unfold the whole way through. Sure, it had spent all that time confined to the Distortion World, but it had still been watching.
"Because of His power."
Giratina answered in its low, hoarse telepathic voice.
"?"
"A Plate," Giratina added, still terse as ever.
"You mean the Dread Plate?"
Mammon caught on immediately.
Giratina didn't elaborate further — it had sensed the distinct aura of a Plate's power on Shadow Lugia the moment it arrived.
"So it really is a Plate, huh."
Mammon wasn't surprised at all now. No wonder Lugia had turned into Shadow Lugia, and no wonder its strength had grown so absurdly powerful.
Arceus's Dark-type Dread Plate.
For any Pokémon, the Creation Plates — the very wellspring of typed power in the Pokémon world — were, of course, treasures beyond compare.
But actually obtaining one of the Plates, even if the Alpaca itself didn't come looking for it, wasn't necessarily a good thing. Once a Pokémon absorbed more of that power than it could handle, the excess would inevitably start warping the Pokémon itself.
Take the anime, for instance — Sceptile, corrupted by the Fire-type Blaze/Fire Plate, transformed into a berserk flame monster.
Sceptile was a Legendary-adjacent Pokémon in its own right, and even it had been that severely affected by the Fire Plate's power. Which just went to show how terrifying the Plates' power really was.
"But where would it have even gotten a Dread Plate? Did the Alpaca lose one somewhere?"
Mammon looked at Shadow Lugia, puzzled. If the Dread Plate's influence really was what had twisted it into this state, then the real question became: where had this Lugia gotten a Dread Plate from in the first place?
Surely Arceus hadn't just... misplaced one somewhere?
(End of chapter).
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