| May POV |
I am going to scream.
Not metaphorically. Not emotionally. I mean full-volume, window-shattering, primal screech into the void.
Because when I finally catch up to the flaming hallway Rio diced through like a cursed blender… there he is. Standing in the epicentre of the destruction. Surrounded by the shredded remains of what used to be a lab. The smell of ozone, burnt plastic, and psychic despair clings to the air like bad decisions.
Rio turns around with the most punchable smile I've seen since that one selfie Norman posted on the family group chat.
"Hey, good news! I fixed the outbreak!"
ZAP.
"You caused the outbreak!!"
He raises a paw like he's about to object—then pauses.
"…Technically true," he admits. "But I also fixed it."
I feel the vein on my forehead throb.
Kirlia floats next to me, humming softly as she casually scans the remains. "Well. Everything is dead. Or unconscious. Or… decaying in the fourth dimension. So… win?"
"No." I hiss. "This is not a win. This is not even a draw. This is… this is…!"
"An acceptable loss," Professor Rowan says calmly, stepping into the room with all the serenity of a man who's already written three grant justifications in his head.
I whirl around. "Excuse me?!"
Professor Oak adjusts his glasses. "We were going to introduce Rio to this chamber anyway. The idea was to gradually expose him to corrupted specimens and monitor how his cursed energy reacted."
Birch follows behind them, coffee still in hand. "Honestly, the fact that the outbreak happened while he was alone in here might have been a blessing. If there had been researchers inside…"
He trails off. The implications hang heavy.
Rio shrugs. "You're welcome."
"Don't you start," I growl.
Oak walks up to a busted console, inspecting the melted screen. "These readings are incredible. The X-energy concentration was off the charts… and then it just dropped. Like someone pulled the plug."
Kirlia points at Rio. "That would be him."
Rowan hums. "We'll need to analyse the damage radius. That move… I assume it wasn't any normal psycho cut? It almost seemed spacial in nature."
Rio blinks. "You can tell?"
"You left a signature distortion across nine separate rooms and someone's lunch fridge, and all our Pokémon refused to teleport us into the vicinity. Yes, we can tell."
Birch pulls up his PokéNav. "We're going to need damage reports, clean-up crews, legal waivers… and probably a new vending machine."
"Already called it," Rio says. "There was a rare Poképuff in there. That was my kill."
Kirlia smacks his head.
Oak sighs. "Regardless… the data we gathered is invaluable. And while this was extremely unorthodox… it's better than what we feared."
I grab my hair in both hands. "WHY are we rewarding him for this?!"
"Because it worked," Oak says plainly.
"Please don't encourage this behaviour..."
Rowan chuckles. "Sometimes science is messy."
Rio winks at me. "See? I am helpful."
"You're grounded," I say immediately.
"You don't have that authority."
"I'm your trainer..."
"Nuh-uh!"
"Then I'm telling Sada."
Rio freezes. "...No, not the scary time mom."
Kirlia zaps his tail again for good measure.
Oak claps his hands. "Excellent work, everyone. I suggest we break for a short recess while we salvage the hallway and install new structural supports. Also, someone please confirm if the Clefairy in Pod 42 is still vibrating."
Rio stretches, cracking his neck. "So what now?"
Birch hands him a folder. "Now? You get some rest. Because the next phase of the research involves field work."
"…With more monsters?"
Oak smiles. "Yes. But this time, we want to see what happens before you cut the building in half, what made the Pokémon react to you specifically? How did they react to a lethal threat when we already observed that most show no inhibition to death?"
| Rio POV |
Victory tastes like vending machine sugar bombs.
I lounge across a toppled lab bench like it's my personal throne, legs swinging off one side while I shovel what must be my seventh pack of Sweet Poffins into my mouth. May glares at me like she's deciding whether to punch me now or let Kirlia zap me again for good measure.
I wink.
She zaps me anyway.
Worth it.
"Honestly," I say between bites, "I don't see what the big deal is. Nobody died. Except the floor. And the ceiling. And like, seven walls."
May groans into her hands. "You are the reason I stress eat."
"I'm the reason you'll get a research grant," I counter.
Kirlia sits beside me, daintily nibbling on a berry like she didn't just psychically delete an entire room in the name of 'clean-up'. She reaches over and neatly steals one of my Poképuffs without looking. I let it happen. She's earned it.
Professor Birch claps once, drawing our attention. "Alright, if everyone's done either screaming or looting the snack pile—"
"I regret nothing," I mumble with full-mouth authority.
"—then it's time we regroup. Sada's waiting in her lab."
I sit up, brushing powdered sugar off my scarf. "Wait, like, her actual lab? The one she terraformed into a techno jungle with gravity issues?"
Oak raises an eyebrow. "...Yes?"
"Oh good," I grin. "Always wanted to see what it felt like to walk through an active time paradox."
May looks like she's about to throw something.
Rowan just chuckles. "Try not to collapse space-time again on the way there."
| Rio POV |
"No promises!" I sing, skipping after the professors with my bag of stolen snacks crinkling like a battle drum.
Behind me, Kirlia floats along like a disapproving balloon. May drags her feet like someone walking into their own intervention. I can feel the secondhand migraine radiating off her aura.
Together, we march down the pristine halls of the central wing. Clean white tiles, humming lights, the occasional mechanical arm carrying a coffee tray for some reason. The air smells faintly like antiseptic and disappointment.
Toward Sada's lab.
Toward more eldritch research.
Toward destiny.
Probably.
Or at least another containment breach.
The door hisses open with theatrical flair, revealing a sleek, chrome-heavy lab filled with floating diagrams and whirring holo-screens. Sada's already there, tapping away at some translucent interface. Several assistants scurry around like stressed Magnemite.
"Welcome," she says without looking up. "Try not to vaporize anything this time."
"No promises," I reply cheerfully.
She sighs audibly.
May steps forward, clearly trying to pretend the last hour didn't happen. "So, uh… Tera Orbs?"
"Yes." Sada gestures and an image of a glowing orb forms in the air, rotating slowly. "This is a Tera Orb. It allows Pokémon to channel crystalline energy from localized spacetime distortions—specifically tuned to the natural leyline grid across Paldea. The effect essentially re-aligns the user's typing and amplifies specific move properties based on their Tera Type."
I nod along thoughtfully while chewing on what I think is a vending machine éclair. I understood maybe three words of that. Leylines? Spacetime distortions? That's like, breakfast.
Still, the orb looks cool. Shiny. Explodey. Probably would look really dramatic if I used it mid-air with some kind of spinning axe kick.
ZAP.
I flinch. Kirlia glares at me.
"Stop imagining dramatic anime attacks."
"You don't know that's what I was thinking—"
"You clenched your paw and whispered 'finish it' under your breath."
Damn. Caught.
Sada continues, unbothered. "In theory, certain Pokémon with unstable internal energy signatures—such as Paradox Pokémon or those possessing foreign dimensional energy—may experience unusual interactions with a Tera Orb."
I blink slowly.
Wait.
"Foreign dimensional energy..."
I freeze.
[Quest Reminder: Containment Breach]
Optional Objective:Don't let any of them escape.
Rewards:
+1000 EXP
+1 Random Item
Oh yeah. That was a thing.
Suddenly, the air pulses.
Every screen in the room glitches—just for a moment. Like someone sneezed on the code of reality.
A cold chill runs down my spine. Kirlia flinches next to me. May stiffens. The professors stop mid-sentence.
And then—
Something appears.
A single object. Right in front my face. Floating ominously as if it was beefing with gravity.
Small. Severed. Rotten.
A finger.
Blackened and warped, but unmistakably similar to the one I ate way back in Rustboro. It radiates cursed energy so thick it makes the lights buzz overhead.
I stare.
Everyone else stares.
And I say the only thing that makes sense:
"DIBS."
Before anyone can stop me, I lunge forward and chomp down.
Crunch.
Sukuna's cursed energy detonates inside me like a black sun going nova.
A massive pulse of cursed aura explodes outward. The air howls. Reality twists. One of the floating diagrams turns inside out and explodes into static.
My fur going back to its comedically pink hue, the black marking seemingly more vivid, as if ready to lash out at a moment's notice?
Wait that's not right...
[Level Up! Lv. 14 ➔ Lv. 17]
[New moves unlocked: Ten Shadows, Low Kick]
[Move Info: Ten Shadows]
Type: ???
Category: Status/Control
Effect: Take on the characteristics and abilities of ten unique Shinigami after beating each one, or summon them to fight by your side.
Flavor Text: "JumpJujutsu Express"
Note: Origin unknown. Move classified as [Extra-System].
"WITH THIS TREASURE I SUMMON—"
| ??? POV |
Deep within the Distortion World, where gravity is an opinion and logic takes personal days, Giratina watches.
It has no schedule, no meetings, no interest in petty mortal affairs.
But today?
Something… pings.
A pulse.
Familiar, yet wrong. Like hearing your own name screamed in a dialect you don't remember inventing.
Its many eyes narrow. Across the veil of dimensions, a tear briefly forms — unanchored, unstable — showing the image of a Lucario glowing with pink-tinged cursed energy, munching on something that should not exist.
Giratina tilts its head.
...Did I have a child?
Before it can spiral further into existential reflection—
Palkia appears.
Ripping through space in its usual dramatic sparkle-glow swirl, the spatial deity glares down at its sibling.
"I knew you were up to something!" Palkia declares. "I saw the rift. The EVIL aura. What are you planning this time?!"
Giratina blinks.
Then silently gestures toward the still-flickering tear, which now shows Rio trying to make some weird closed hand hand signs while May screams in the background and half a dozen Pokémon try to stop him.
Palkia squints.
That… is not a creation of Giratina.
That's a Lucario.
Wearing pink aura like a tuxedo made of dimensional crimes.
They both stare for a long, awkward moment.
Then Palkia asks, slowly, "…Did you make that?"
Giratina shrugs all twelve wings in eerie unison.
Maybe?
"Wait…" Palkia turns back to the tear, eyeing Rio closer. "Does that mean… I have a nephew?"
They stare at each other again.
Silence.
Confusion.
Mild offense.
"That's my kid?" Giratina says flatly, the first words it's spoken in a thousand years.
Palkia huffs. "I'm adopting him, hands off."
"Like hell you will..."
Word Count: 1806
MC: ACHOO— sniff... Was someone talking about me?
Oh you know, just the Pokémon equivalent of Khorn and co.
MC: ( '• ω • `) I beg your fucking pardon?