Arms of Arceus

Celestia didn’t know how long she had been fighting, but it felt like weeks. She had managed to cause Doom pain and had even sent him on the defensive several times. She wanted to continue holding out to give Joan the chance to do what she had to, but she wasn’t sure she could any longer. Those were her thoughts as she raised what she feared would be her final shield and hoped it would hold out. As Doom’s energy blast shattered her shield, the three watchers that sat atop the Spear Pillar came to her aid. She wasn’t sure what had shocked them into action, but it was as if a switch had been flipped. Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina flew to her side and knocked Doom back. Then they carried the princess off to the entrance to the Hall of Origin.

“What’s going on?” Celestia said as she looked to the legends. They hovered in the air before the pillar, glaring at Doom as if daring the god to attack.

Celestia opened her mouth to speak, then the sounds of footsteps reached her ears. She turned to see Joan and Charles walking out of the Hall. The Mega Gardevoir held one arm and was slightly slumped over. She didn’t carry herself as one who was defeated, but she didn’t seem to be the victor, either. In contrast, Charles walked with his head held high, the red-eyed Unown shapes glaring out from their positions on his body. Korish bobbed along behind them, a peaceful, satisfied smile on her face as if she had been relieved of a great burden.

“Joan!” Celestia said, happily. She limped over to her friend and they hugged. “How did it go? Why is Charles still…”

“In possession of the Arms of Darkness?” Charles said with a raised eyebrow. “They will return to their owner when this mess is cleaned up. For now, I’m holding onto them for assurances.”

“Assurances of what?”

“We came to an agreement,” Joan said. “Arceus chose to take back his dark armaments, and Charles has become more reasonable.”

“That’s wonderful news!” Celestia said, her happiness shining through her exhaustion. “I hate to say this, but something still seems off.”

“I’ve declared a truce and withdrawn all of my shades,” Charles said. “And I do mean my shades. Now that Dark Arceus is to return to its greater self, the Forces of Destruction serve me directly. Yet they will no longer trouble you. Is that not enough?”

“Withdrawn your…” Celestia said in confusion. So preoccupied had she been with her duel that she’d lost all sense of her surroundings apart from passing glances as she dodged Doom’s attacks. She looked at the battle and saw that the Forces of Destruction had indeed been withdrawn. The Pokémon, ponies and remaining Thors now fought a massive, joyfully violent Ork invasion that was busy looting what they could from Doomstadt and sending it all back into orbit on shuttles. “What of the golden chain? My sister is out there trying to cut it! If you dispel that chain we can all go home!”

“We could, but dispelling it is a difficult task. The Chaos Gods have corrupted the part of the chain that extends through their realm. They hold it in place and sustain it. Neither Arceus, nor myself, can pull it from their grasp without all out war.”

“Then send your shades to help Luna cut it!”

“The dark armaments say that they would rather see if the princess can do it herself,” Charles said, smiling broadly. “They think it’s more fun that way. I tend to agree.”

He waved his hand in the air and five large screens appeared before him. Their surfaces showed images of the fighting in Ashes, Dystopia, and Greenland. They could also see Luna leading her army down the great, golden chain through ranks of unspeakable horrors.

“You should act more like a team player if you want to redeem yourself, Charles. What sort of agreement did you come to?”

“Well, I’ve recognized that humanity has some… issues it needs to resolve,” Joan said, nervously.

“What do you mean?”

Joan explained their debate and the revelations Charles had provided. Doom appeared to have grown tired of fighting and simply hovered in the air, glaring at the group impatiently. Charles invited him over to watch the action reflected in his screens. Content that his world would eventually be left alone, Doom agreed. He was laughing hysterically by the time Joan was finished describing the meeting with Arceus. Celestia’s mouth hung open in shock and horror as the information sank in.

“We aren’t going to hurt the humans,” Joan said, hurriedly. “No matter how much Charles wants to, we can’t do that…”

“Yet,” Charles interrupted.

“Yet,” Joan said in appeasement. Celestia got the impression from her friend that there was no true “yet”, and while that made her happy to hear that the Pokémon wouldn’t be going to war with the humans of their world, there were still more details that confused her. She wanted to know why the humans thought this was an appropriate way to advance their civilization. She wanted to know why King Siebold had seemingly turned a blind eye to Infinite Energy when he had the power to change things. But most of all, Celestia was questioning which side of this debate she and her ponies should take.

“How did you get Charles to agree to this?” she asked after a moment. She chose to start from a place that would hopefully not incite another argument, or worse yet, violence.

“It wasn’t difficult,” Joan said, though she sounded emotionally drained. “Arceus seemed rather hesitant to give into Charles’ wish, though I don’t think the god will ever take action for either side. I simply suggested we let others weigh in on this issue, and Arceus agreed. It was all I could think of to stop the long war and prevent a genocide of revenge.”

“And where will this debate be held?”

“The Slowking College. They’ll find this issue absolutely fascinating. They’ll be debating it for years. In the meantime, I plan to send out Dittos to infiltrate the human world. They’ll have the information needed to let humanity replace Infinite Energy with something more… kind.”

“That won’t absolve them of their sins, Joan,” Charles said, resolutely. “I will see to it that the Pokémon of the outside world are aware of every development and argument in the debate. Things will be different, this time.”

“Don’t worry, Joan,” Celestia said gently. “I have a former student who has lived as a human for several years now. Perhaps she can testify on behalf of the humans in your world.”

“Would a human from another multiverse even be capable of such a thing?” Doom questioned. “Are humans truly the same across all creations? Are they truly such simple, repetitive creatures?”

“You’re human,” Charles said. “Why don’t you tell us?”

“I am more than human, and I am certainly not simple. I am a god. I was worshipped as a god even before I gained the powers I now possess. No mere human can face the Beyonders and claim victory as I have. I am, and always have been, transcendent.”

“Yet you can’t even fix the damage done to your face,” Discord said as he floated down to the ground. There was a moment of shock in Doom’s eyes before it faded. “A little birdie told me, and by little birdie I mean your wife, that your face is just horrid!”

“I sent my family away with Galactus to the stronghold of my Thor Corps,” Doom said, dangerously. “How did you speak to my wife? How did you survive my wrath?”

“Non-existence wasn’t fun, so I came back. There were two humans fighting on a ship, which was fun for a bit. Eventually, that got boring so I sent the ship back into orbit. Then I traveled a bit and found Doomgard. Your children were asleep and your wife was rather talkative when she thought I was her favorite maidservant. I’ll admit, it took a bit of magic to get the juicy stuff, but it was worth it. She’s honestly worried about you. It’s a shame you never told her about her real husband.”

“I’ll flay you!” Doom roared as he curled his hands into fists.

“Aren’t there more pressing matters?” Celestia said as she took a stance between Discord and Doom. “Your world has a future now, Victor. Our Pokémon friends have seen it. You can build a better world when all this is over.”

“It’s no use, Celestia,” Discord said as he grinned mischievously at the dictator. “He doesn’t believe that any of these people are worthy of his leadership, yet he lets them live for his own enjoyment. He will continue to rule with an iron fist. He will torture and slay any who oppose him. That is the only future he foresees. At least, that’s what his wife told me amid tears and cries of ‘Why are you so evil, Victor?’”

Doom screamed and waved his hand angrily at Discord. The Draconequus laughed as his body disintegrated. His laugher only intensified as he faded from the sky before he reappeared behind the angry, brooding Dr. Doom. Celestia sighed in frustration.

“If the two of you start fighting I won’t be able to watch my sister and my friends,” she said as she stamped her hoof in anger, causing flames to erupt beneath her. Doom and Discord paused just as they were about to strike each other. “Keep your squabbling silent until the battle is over.”

Doom grumbled as he lowered his fist. Discord blew a raspberry at Celestia, but obeyed nonetheless.

“I have faith that they’ll succeed,” Joan said, as if trying to will herself to believe it.

“They’ll succeed,” Celestia said, calmly. “I have no doubt about it.”