Handshakes

Here they were, the Supernova guild. Maybe it was from being away for so many days, but it looked bigger than Mark remembered.

Mark stopped right at the entrance. It was weird to be back. Not that much time went by, and still, he felt different than how he left.

“You okay?” He looked at Simon. With a deep breath, he nodded. It was weak, but he meant it.

As they entered, the Breloom at the entrance widened his eyes. “Oh! You’re back!” But after seeing their tired faces, his expression changed to a frown. “I’ll let Gren know, wait a second.” And there he went.

“You know, after all this time, I don’t think I even got his name.”

“Oh, I never told you? He’s Daniel, been here ever since me and Rose joined.”

“I still feel weird for not knowing like half the teams in this place. Especially because they all seem to know me.”

“If it makes you feel better, everyone gets to know you in one iteration or another.” Rachel chimed in.

“It… it doesn’t, but thanks for trying, I guess.”

“You’re back!” Gren ran to the team, clearly worried. They inspected them from top to bottom again, just like last time they saw each other. “Arceus, are you three okay? Did you see Dialga? What happened?”

“There have been some… complications.” Mark sighed. “So it turns out that-”

“Actually.” Simon cut in. “Gren, is the whole guild available?”

“Um… There are still a couple teams that we’re waiting on to get back from their mission, but that’s it.”

“Do you think you could gather them all? I think we need to do a meeting or something.”

Gren didn’t like that one bit. “Is it that bad?”

“Can you do that for us?”

They nodded. “You should rest while the others come back. I’ll let you know when it’s time.”

As the Guildmaster left for their office, Mark retorted. “What the hell was that, Simon?”

“I know you. You were going to explain it all and then deny all the help. I’m not having it. This guild cares about us as much as we care about them, and with Arceus as our opponent, we have no chance. We NEED the help, Mark.”

“Your boyfriend here is right. We were already walking on thin ice on the Dialga encounter, and you saw how it went. Let’s not be stupid and actually gather more Pokémon for this.”

“I just don’t want to get more people involved in this, guys… What if they get hurt? Or worse? You know what could happen.”

“And you know what WILL happen if we go in alone. We have a lesser chance of losing anyone if we go as a group.”

Mark grumbled. He knew they were right, but he already felt guilty still for losing Rose, he didn’t want that feeling again. “Promise me you’ll be careful, though. I don’t care if we win if I lose any of you.”

“That goes to you too, Mark. I really appreciate you saving me back there but, if it wasn’t for these impossible moments you have, we both would have been dead.”

“I know, it’s just… I don’t know…” He slumped. He didn’t have a response for that, he didn’t value himself as much as he valued others, but there was no way in hell he’d say that outloud.

“Alright, you two can keep being depressing if you want, I’m going upstairs to Lily before I go crazy and eat this whole building.”

“Well that’s a way to lift the mood up.” Simon chuckled. “But she’s right, let’s get something to eat. No point in staying here regretting our actions, what’s done is done.”

‘Heh. I really fell in love with the correct guy, didn’t I?’

---

After a meal, it didn’t take that long for Gren to come to them. Everyone was here, so it was time to talk.

The lobby was pretty much filled. All the teams stayed on the side opposite to the entrance while Gren and the other staff took their positions next to the center column. Everyone Mark knew was there, and then some. There were some Pokémon that he hadn’t even seen before. It was a great display of how much bigger this guild was than what Mark thought.

Without letting himself think about it twice, he stepped onto the center along with his team.

“So. Do we need a recap again?”

“No need, Rachel.” Gren chimed in. “When you were away, I imagined this was going to concern us, so I already filled everyone in on the situation.”

“Okay, so everyone knows we went to talk to Dialga, right?” To that, everyone in front seemed to nod. “Well, the thing is…”

“There’s no easy way of saying this, might as well cut to the point.” Mark said. “Dialga is dead.”

As expected, everyone had a reaction. From gasps, murmurs, to simply staring with a concerned expression.

“What do you mean?” Charlie cut in. “Did you three kill them?”

“No, we didn’t. Let’s start from the beginning, okay?” Simon explained. “We went there, met Dialga. They knew of us. Or at least, they knew of me and Mark. I was apparently brought here to bridge the gap between the human world and the Pokémon world. They said they decided that ‘as a collective’ so I imagine most of the other Legendaries were in on it. They wanted cooperation between the worlds and I was the first step, according to them.”

“So? Is Mark another human with the same purpose?”

“No. One Legendary specifically didn’t approve of me being here. Dialga didn’t get to restore my memories and we couldn’t communicate anymore.”

“What other Legendary could have the power to decide over all the others what gets or doesn’t get done?” As soon as Lance finished the sentence, he seemed to catch their drift. “Wait… No. No, no, no, no, you don’t mean…”

“Arceus.”

“What?!” Gren exclaimed. Seemed like everyone else was feeling the same way. “You can’t be saying that Arceus themselves are the one behind this.”

“Can you please let me finish?!” Simon shouted. He was struggling to keep himself together, Mark knew. “Dialga also said that nobody brought Mark here. As to how that is even possible, we don’t know yet. After that they said something about fixing their mistakes, and tried to kill me on the spot. If it wasn’t for Mark having another one of those miracle moments, I wouldn’t be here.”

“Miracle moments? What happened this time?” Charlie asked.

“I used Protect. Don’t ask me how, it was as sudden as with Zigg. Also, that means that we’re in Phase 4, in case you all forgot about the iterations. And according to Rachel, no other cycle has gone this far, so we’re entering this blind.”

“Okay, but… Surely Dialga wouldn’t just let you go scott-free if they wanted to kill you.” Gren said. “What happened next?”

“Well, Arceus happened. They materialized over Dialga and killed them in front of us. Or at least that’s what it looked like. On their last breath they used Earth Power, bringing the whole fortress down and letting us escape. I imagine Arceus doesn’t have a rush to end us, else they would have followed us…”

“Why would Dialga help you escape after trying to kill you?” Verm asked.

“Because killing Simon wasn’t their idea. They seemed to care about Simon, they did bring him here after all. But it was either that or disobey Arceus, and we already know how that ended.” Rachel sighed, calming herself down. “With all of that explained, we wanted to ask the guild for help. We know that asking you to go fight a deity is a hard thing to demand, but we’re out of options and between the three of us, there’s no way we’re making it out.”

Silence. No one was making a move. Mark expected this, it was just as Rachel said, it seemed crazy to just go in and try to literally kill a god. And yet, that’s exactly what they were going to do.

“I’m in.” The voice came from a familiar ghost. “After what happened to Rose, I’m not letting either of you die on me.”

“Count with us too, then.” Siobhan and Dot got up. “We’re with you.”

“We’re joining too.” Dave and Tyson said.

“Don’t think you’re getting away from me that easily, either.” Gren said. “I’m the Guildmaster, it’s my duty to protect you.”

More Pokémon were standing up, declaring their cooperation. It was honestly beautiful to see. Mark was trying to keep calm, but he couldn’t avoid letting some tears fall. All of these were his friends, some of them he didn’t even know, but it didn’t matter. They trusted him, and he trusted them.

In the end, by some miracle, the whole guild agreed to tackle this together. It wasn’t due to pier pressure or anyone feeling obligated, they all wanted to actually help.

“Okay, everyone.” Gren clapped their paws. “We don’t know where Arceus is, so we can’t charge in just yet. I recommend everyone to keep doing as always until we have a location. The day we know what to do, it’ll be the first thing I’ll tell you in the morning. With that said, the meeting is adjourned.”

And so everyone left to do their thing. Except for one team.

“So.” Verm said. “When were you going to tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

“Oh c’mon, Simon. Don’t think I haven’t seen you two holding hands during the whole meeting.” He smirked. “You two are together, I know it.”

They both blushed, but of course, Verm could only see Simon do it. Before any of them could respond, the ghost put an arm around Simon’s shoulder. “I’m proud of you, dude. Of both of you.”

There was a nice feeling there, a feeling of comradery, if there was a word for it. Verm and Simon were always really close, so this must have meant a lot for him.

“Well, I’m off. Team Acolyte has some things to do, I’ll see you around.”

With the three of them alone, Mark sighed. It was only a smither of hope, but it was there, and he was going to cling to it like his life depended on it.

Because it probably did.