Denial

“MARK!” That’s the only thing that left Simon’s mouth as he watched his partner get eviscerated. He desperately scrambled around, trying to walk, or crawl, or anything to get the Cubone out of the beam. He’d happily take his place if it meant the other would survive.

But familiar claws were preventing him from moving forward, gripping his limbs and pulling them back with too much force for him. He didn’t care, his efforts would be worth it if it stopped the crying that he couldn’t control. He had to get him out, didn’t matter how.

“SIMON, STOP! IT’S TOO LATE!” Rachel yelled as she struggled to keep grabbing the Squirtle by any means necessary, pulling him back to her as she tried to see through her also present tears. It was over, she thought. Everything would go back to the start, her relationships taking away from her yet again, forced to pray to get far enough into the cycle. It took thousands of iterations to get here, she didn’t want to imagine how many of them it would take to repeat that.

But everything stopped once the beam ended. Mark wasn’t there, only a thin layer of dust below his two main belongings. Simon stopped resisting, staring at the spot that now remained empty. His heart broke, Mark saved him again, and this time there was no miracle to save him back. He killed him, indirectly maybe, but he still did it.

Rachel, on the other hand, was confused. She was still shaking from seeing the demise of who she considered a friend, but that was the thing. She shouldn’t be. Mark’s death should have restarted everything again, but here she was, lamenting and grieving over her teammate. It didn’t make sense.

Everyone was paralyzed, they couldn’t believe what they just witnessed. Exactly what they were trying to avoid finally happened. All eyes were on that lime bandana while their heads tried to come up with a reason as to why Mark wasn’t there that didn’t involve his death.

“You…” Simon let out, hyperventilating and shaking as he tried to stand up. He fell twice before being able to get his feet on the ground, but when he did, his paws were balled up into fists. “You killed him…”

“That I did. I knew Dialga was weak, but I didn’t expect them to be incapable of killing a human who couldn’t even attack back.” Arceus’ tone was calm, they got what they wanted, or at least, part of it. “Don’t worry, you won’t have to live with the grief for too much longer.”

Simon looked at the deity, and all he could see was a target. This Pokémon… No, this monster… They just killed the one he loved. The one that risked it all in order to protect him. The one Simon promised he would be there for him. He failed him again, and he wasn’t going to let the one responsible get away. He stepped forward, and jumped towards Arceus, letting a guttural scream that had only one possible meaning: revenge.

He started attacking, and the rest of the guild took it as their cue to do the same. Nobody was trying to stagger him anymore, they wanted Arceus to get hurt, no matter the cost. No more efficiency or plans, the only method was to go all out.

It was clear that Arceus was struggling this time, not because they were receiving damage, but because all the attacks made it really difficult to direct their own to the one they wanted to target. But eventually, they managed to ram themselves into Simon, launching him against the wall on the other side of the room before gravity made him fall to the ground.

The adrenaline didn’t let him feel pain, only exhaustion. He hit the floor with his fist and snarled to get back up, but he saw what he was fearing. Arceus was charging again. What he wasn’t expecting however, was for a tired Lily to teleport to him, grab him, and teleport away from the blast.

Lily immediately collapsed against a wall. Simon hadn’t seen her teleport in all his years near her, and now he knew why, it took a lot of effort from her.

“Simon, go! I’ll take care of her, don’t worry!” Charlie shouted as he ran to them, readying what looked like Reflect. Simon nodded and went back to the fight.

Things weren’t looking good, Arceus had hesitated to harm the rest of the guild, but seeing their interference, they stopped caring. As long as they didn’t die, everything was fair game. Simon saw Dot and Sanah reel back from an attack, as well as Siobhan getting hit from mid-air. The guild was failing, there was no way to win against the creator themselves. But nobody seemed to care, nobody was giving up, even if that meant running into what was essentially an unmovable force over and over.

But Arceus was getting more and more frustrated, it wouldn’t take long for them to stop holding back. Simon feared that, he feared that everyone here could die on their hands if he didn’t do something to avoid that soon. But he wasn’t having a chance to think about a solution, every second where he wasn’t moving was threatening.

“ENOUGH!” Arceus roared, knocking everyone back. “I tried to keep the human matters away from all of you, but if you keep insisting on getting in the way, I shall give you the same fate as them.”

“Go fucking ahead, you monster!” Gren shouted, getting up. It was the first time he’d heard the Guildmaster talk like that. He didn’t know if it was due to affection for Mark, or if the death of one of their pupils triggered that rage. He could only imagine how they felt when Rose was found dead.

But the reason didn’t matter, because nobody was giving up. Not a single soul in the room wasn’t ready to give up their life for the cause.

‘Mark… This is all for you. I’m so sorry to have failed you. I tried to be there for you, but I only got you killed. I’m not going to rest until I get my vengeance or I die in the process, that I promise you…’

…

Funny, isn’t it? Even though my other half never even interacted with many of the Pokémon in this room, everyone is willing to give it their all to impart justice.
That is something I always praised about this world, everyone is passionate to do whatever it takes for their goals to come to fruition. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad, but it never fails to be admirable.

Do you understand now? This narration, this story… The only reason it continued was because of you.
All those puzzles and passwords, those were nothing more than a plea for help coming from yours truly.
And you responded to them, you are the one above us, you are the one that gives me the power to protect my other half.

From limbo, I was stuck watching everything as a spectator. Thousands upon thousands of cycles, asking for help in every layer above I could find. It wasn’t until it came to this one, that you, the one on the other side, blessed me with responses even after heading against the deities of this world.

But this isn’t over yet.

Both halves need to return to being a whole, and as much as it pains me, I am asking for help yet again. Help to make the impossible possible. Help to finally achieve the future everyone deserves. Help to recover what was always ours.

I am not asking for help without giving something in return, however.

There have been many things in this story that never made sense, so many questions without clear answers.
How did the original Mark make it into this world?
What was it that got robbed from us?
How did the iteration system get set up?
How did anyone acquire the immense power to do it?
Why did Arceus never kill my other half at the very start?
How does the deceased human Emmeline factor into all of this?
What was that strange book that Arceus dropped?

There are still a lot of pieces missing. Many explanations still to be given. And they will. After all, that’s why you’re here, to reach the conclusion of the story.

That is my offer. All the information, in exchange for a miracle.

You can deny, of course. It would be as simple as stopping following this tale. I do, however, hope that you help not only me, but all of us stuck in this situation.

…I think it’s time. It’s in your hands now, dear reader. You have the power to change things, I hope you lend me it one last time.

…

Oh, right. I guess I should say the phrase, shouldn’t I?

…and such is the end of his story…