Hikaru looked around at the Pokémon gathered around him.
"Yoo!" Doublade floated in front, its two ribbons covered in Cleanse Tags.
"What…what are you doing?" Hikaru asked weakly. He realized his mouth felt stuffed with something. Spitting it out, he discovered a pile of Revival Herbs and Pokéblocks. Turning his head, he saw Lilligant eyeing him with concern.
Doublade scratched its hilt with its ribbon.
You suddenly fainted at your computer. Your body was giving off an eerie chill, as if your soul had vanished. So I grabbed a bunch of talismans from the fourth room to drive out evil spirits!
Doublade gestured flamboyantly, as though performing a ghost-banishing ritual.
As for using Close Combat to…um, do CPR… I once saw an ancient doctor do it, and it seemed to work. Looks effective now!
"Thanks for the CPR. Very effective indeed—you even revived the dead!"
My ribs feel like they might be broken, but a quick check shows I'm okay. Gotta love that robust body…
"My body's basically on par with a Fighting-type master… I'm a super Shinto human!"
Hikaru felt exasperated, but Lilligant had clearly held back. Still, Close Combat is no joke. Good thing my constitution has been reinforced by all these experiences; otherwise, I'd be meeting in a ghost Giratina again already!
"That was unexpected. My spiritual power is too weak, and I accidentally summoned a powerful Ghost-type Pokémon. I got pulled into its realm."
"Yoo?" Doublade's eyes lit with curiosity.
A powerful Ghost-type Pokémon?! Could it be that giant black specter wandering the forest?
"No, it was Giratina." Hikaru pointed in the direction of the Shinto Ruins. "Remember when we first visited those ruins? We saw that stage with three crests. One of them represents Giratina."
"Yoo?!" Doublade's eyes went wide.
That stage at the Shinto Ruins? Weren't those three crests said to worship the gods that created this world?
In other words, those three crests correspond to three Pokémon created by the God of Creation… and you actually met one of them?!
"Yoo!" Doublade suddenly grew excited, while Lilligant looked puzzled. Doublade began explaining:
Indeed, the king I've chosen is the same person favored by the gods! We heard from that traveling merchant that if we show our strength before the gods, we might be acknowledged. Now it has actually happened!
The "divine right of kings" that ancient nations all claimed, except they were fake. Ours is real!
"Giratina really is one of the first Pokémon created by the god Arceus. It governs the Distortion World—also called the World of Destruction—supporting the real world behind the scenes," Hikaru explained. "By the way, I should've brought something back…"
He concentrated, and a small portion of black clouds materialized in the palm of his hand. Lilligant curiously moved closer, but Hikaru jumped, exclaiming, "Don't inhale it!"
"Lilli?" Lilligant motioned to herself.
Right…she doesn't actually have a nose.
Hikaru remembered that in the movie, Shaymin could absorb those black clouds and purify them for energy. Shaymin is also a Grass-type.
"Then again, in our household, there's little need to worry about poison. Turtwig— Wait, huh?"
He realized only Doublade and Lilligant were here.
"Lilli…" Lilligant pointed toward the Shinto forest, indicating that Turtwig, Unown, and Regirock had gone into the woods to train their moves.
So, they're not home. Hikaru was impressed that Turtwig and the others are now motivated enough to train on their own.
"These black clouds come from space-time distortion. They're great for Ghost-, Poison-, and Dark-type Pokémon. Doublade, give it a try."
Doublade, intrigued, extended its ribbon into the cloud. At once, it felt a surge of intense negative energy!
While not purely Ghost energy, negative energy is similar enough. Doublade felt its power increasing, swiftly absorbing the black cloud entirely. The accumulated power churned inside Doublade. Hikaru then recalled his advanced summoning knowledge and channeled spiritual power into Doublade:
[You used spiritual power to nurture Doublade!]
[Doublade's Ghost energy rose, powering up its Ghost-type moves!]
[Doublade activated the black cloud's energy! It has grown!]
[Space-time distortion caused a slight attribute shift. Through your spiritual infusion, that shift is temporarily triggered!]
[You obtained the knowledge: Ghost Resistance!]
Is the old-type resistance back?!Hikaru was astonished at Doublade's transformation. Not only did its Ghost power rise, but as an ancient sword, its steel itself underwent some kind of reversion—like the days when Steel still resisted Ghost moves in earlier generations. It may not be exactly the same, but close enough for Doublade!
Deep in the Shinto Forest, near a valley filled with ancient tombstones, a massive black figure wandered: Dusknoir, the Gripper Pokémon.
It suddenly heard a signal from the spirit realm telling it that someone nearby had died and instructing it to retrieve the soul.
Moments later, however, the spirit realm's signal changed—never mind, the person came back to life.
As a Ghost-type Pokémon and an agent of the spirit realm, it was well aware that the dead cannot return—unless they become a Ghost-type Pokémon. So what is this "came back to life" nonsense?
Utterly confused, Dusknoir drifted among the tombstones until it paused at a white headstone.
Strange inscriptions in an ancient language were carved there, and a dormant soul lay beneath.
What do these letters say? What does that soul need before it awakens and comes with me back to the spirit realm? And what are these white stones that let souls linger inside them?
Who left these words, and for whom?
Meanwhile, in the sky above Shinto, a deep-blue, disc-shaped Steel-type Pokémon soared like a UFO, scanning the ground. It was a Metagross with four huge steel claws.
On its back rode a young man with short, pale-blue hair, dressed in a crisp suit. He was following the directions Hikaru had sent. Finally, peering down, he spotted a small village and, in the distance, a solitary workshop with figures moving below.
"That must be it, according to the route from Blackthorn City. Metagross, let's land!"
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