The Giratina Guardians [PG-PG 13]

[Velocity]

OH LOOK ANOTHER FIC.

DISCLAIMER: Graceful Suicune and Scytherwolf forced inspired me to make a fic centering on Pokemon, with humans involved. My spewing of the travels of Rikki, Merri, and whoever else may join them are entirely their faults the results of their beautiful stories.

EXPECT LESS.
The Giratina Guardians is going to be a break from my other writings when I need it, so it's likely to be updated more sparsely.

OBLIGATORY GUEST STAR FORM.

Name:
Species (Pokemon please):
Alignment (Good? Evil - are they a Giratina Guardian or just evil?):
Age:
Gender:
Appearance:
Personality:
History:
Moveset:
Any special abilities/other?:

AND HERE IT COMES.

The Giratina Guardians

Prologue

A gust of wind whistled over Nocturne Forest like the breath of Arceus.

An odd group was traveling together, stealing through the shadows of the night. It consisted of an Aggron, a Waruvial, and an absolutely bizarre Houndoom.

It wasn’t the Houndoom’s being there that was odd; Pokémon like that were quite often spotted in Nocturne Forest. However, this Houndoom was like nothing anyone else had ever seen. It had three heads – the two on the outside were normal, and the one in the middle was biggest, with saber teeth and far sharper ram’s horns. Its horns were gilded, carved with ominous-looking runes.

“Hurry, fools,” hissed the Houndoom’s middle head. “We are almost there.”

The Aggron and the Waruvial nodded, slipping along quietly. Their eyes were blank; they stared at the forest without seeming to comprehend. The eyes could see, but they had no pupils.

On they went, until the Houndoom’s sharp senses picked up muffled snores and the smells of fox-like Pokémon. All three of the heads were grinning coldly and evilly now, as they stared into the night with eyes that pierced the darkness.

“Stay back here,” the Houndoom ordered softly. The two Pokémon behind him instantly halted like they’d been frozen. The Houndoom slipped ahead, following the reek of Zoruas and Zoroarks.

Good thing, the Houndoom thought, that they won’t live to see the morning. The fire will purge this forest.

He purposely began to make more noise now, snapping every possible twig as he came toward the clearing. He heard a bark of alarm from up ahead, the rustling of ferns and the whispers of mothers soothing children. The sounds of a disturbed camp.

The Houndoom waltzed into the clearing with heads held high. On the far end, Zors scrambled in and out of the caves nestled into a craggy rock wall. One of them – a big, old male with a scarred coat – dashed towards the Houndoom.

“Hades!” the Zoroark barked. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, nothing,” Hades’ three heads smiled evilly at the terror of the Zors. “I was just in the neighborhood, doing the will of Giratina, when I decided I might come here and visit an old friend, Mayerzor.”

Mayerzor bared his teeth. “We are no friends, Hades. Get out of my camp.”

Hades fixed Mayerzor with three even stares. “You should not impede an agent of Giratina,” Hades snarled. His voice contained a thinly veiled threat. “The Law clearly states that I have the freedom to go where I like.”

“Do not manipulate the Law in front of me!” snarled Mayerzor. “I know lies when they touch my ears, fool! If you are not on the business of Giratina, it does not fall under the Law’s scope!”

Hades snorted with amusement. “Who says I’m not here on Giratina’s business?”

Mayerzor took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. “All right, Hades. Just tell me what you think you are doing here.”

“I came with a message,” said Hades, “and a warning.”

“A warning?” a new voice asked. A young Zoroark dashed forward. He had striking turquoise eyes and claws the color of rubies. His hair, a mess of spikes, trailed behind him in crimson billows. He had Mayerzor’s broad muzzle and strength of bearing. His sharp white fangs were bared in aggression. “Are you threatening us, demon?”

Hades laughed. “You see your son, Mayerzor? He’s so cute, just like his father. He takes after the family neanderthals.”

Mayerzor's pup growled. "Say that again, beast!"

"Silence, Rikki!" thundered Mayerzor. Rikki quailed but continued to glare resentfully at Hades.

Mayerzor closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “What is your message, and what your warning? And be careful what you say. My clan does not tolerate threats.”

Hades’ three heads nodded in unison – a rather dizzying effect. “They are nearly the same thing; both were spoken by Giratina himself. The message is that your plan is idiotic and will not work; by giving power to Dialga you will only spur him on to destroy Palkia – and then where will we be, without space? And the warning is that if you continue hunting the Adamant Orb, you and your precious clan,” three lips curled in a sneer, “are dead.”

“You fork-tongued wretch!” Mayerzor howled. “You dare to threaten our clan? You would kill innocents among us just because Giratina is misled about our intentions?”

Hades blinked calmly. “What can I do? It is not my choice, but the will of Giratina. As his humble servant I do naught but obey his wishes,” the Houndoom blinked meaningfully. “And I know – Giratina knows – that these are not rumors, but truths. Why else seek such a treasure? Giratina wants a bloodpledge - an Arv'ten - that you will not seek to awake Dialga.”

Mayerzor growled. “I had – have – no desire to wake Dialga, and I will not give an Arv'ten for something that amounts to little but an accusation.”

“Be careful,” whispered Hades’ right head, “Giratina does not like to be scorned.”
But Hades’ middle head only grinned. “Hush,” he told himself, then added to Mayerzor, “Very well. You doom your clan to die.” Hades looked at the Zors who still scuttled around the clearing. “You hear this?” he called. “Your clan leader has doomed you to death, because his pride has prevented him from taking a pledge – a pledge to not do something he has no thought of doing! So as you die, blame him!”

“GET OUT!” barked Mayerzor, then his voice dropped to a deathly hush. “Leave, or I will tear out all three of your throats.”

Hades smiled coldly and turned away. “Remember, you’re doomed!” he called lightly, then he melted into the night.

As soon as he reached the Aggron and the Waruvial, he said, “It went as expected. Let us end this.” The two minions followed him to a secluded section of the Nocturne Forest, where a dead tree stood on dry dirt and was surrounded by scraggly bushes.

Hades tested the wind by loosing a small stream of smoke from his wet black nostrils. “Good,” he murmured, “it will spread,” the Houndoom approached the tree and blew a little spurt of orange flame onto it. The fire caught almost instantly, touching the parched shrub into inferno-like life. The blaze spread to the other bushes, then lit the night as it began to climb the tree.

“Run!” Hades barked, laughing madly. “Run! Fire will claim their lives!” he ran into the night howling otherworldly arias, with the Waruvial and Aggron at his heels.

And the Night Forest burned.

[DarkraiRaider]

This. Is. SO. COOL!! Aeon, just wow.

Cryst: *reads it and just stands there staring, jaw dropped*

Darkrai: *reads it and just stands there staring, jaw dropped*

Tygruti: *reads it and just stands there staring, jaw dropped*

Everyone: *reads it and just stands there staring, jaws dropped*

*suddenly sprouts a thousand arms and pushes their jaws up and closed* Yeesh! What drama queens! Seriously, though aeon, this is so good! I love it!

[NES2]

Wow, this is pretty awesome and dark. I like it... keep going with this. I want to read more.

[Graceful_Suicune]

Ooh. Wow. I inspired this? And Scy too? :D That is SO AWESOME. c: Well, I've gotta say that I'm really impressed. c: Your vocabulary is really well used here, and I really love the dark atmosphere. I think you should get a soundtrack to give us the link to at the beginning of the post, because there would be plenty of good tracks to add a darker effect. :D

I'm really interested in the fact that Giratina has servants like this, and it's really cool... I also like how they're not villains as such, but more neutral. I guess setting a forest on fire is kinda villain-like (and very reckless xD), but yeah. I really like it. c: And it's awesome to know I forced inspired you to do this! ;D I'm excited to see where this will go, and I wonder how many of those zoroark are going to be killed. o: Maybe all!

I found the speech pretty fitting, and the language used was great! I also really like Hades. c: He seems awesome. :D And I agree that that's a foolish thing to do...if they were really seeking the Adamant Orb for that reason, that is.

GUEST STAR! 8D

Name: She calls herself Nigh

Gender: Female

Species: Ninetales

Alignment: Giratina's Guardian

Age: (I use a formula for pokemon ages. Every seven human years is ten pokemon years--as in, even though they're seven human years, they have the maturity of a ten year old attitude-wise and physically.) So, she would be 20 in pokemon years, but she's 14 years old. (I use a formula which isn't quite accurate (xD) but it's rough anyway.)

Appearance: She is missing half of two of her tails. Other than that, a normal ninetales, but with a darker red set of irises. However, from being in many battles, and from never washing, she has a dirty, dark pelt. She tends to coat herself in ashes on purpose sometimes, especially when going out to do Giratina's bidding and needs to hide herself in the shadows.

Personality: Nigh is fairly cold and has never been seen smiling. She isn't angry, necessarily, but just has a solid and serious expression. Her eyes are usually clouded by her brow, as she has her head down most of the time, and her paw pads are resistant to most terrains due to the amount of travelling she has done throughout lands. She barely speaks, but when she does, it's because she needs to tell her clients the reason she has to kill them (or do whatever Giratina asked), or to warn them (like Hades did). She tends to work alone most of the time, and frequently disappears when Giratina has no requests. When she's set to work with others, she will keep to herself and usually decides that someone else could be the leader and the speaker, while she would back them up and be ready to take out any pokemon necessary. She does get angry, but this shows mostly through expression. She bottles her scorn to prevent starting fights within the Guardians, which she usually unleashes when she tears her victims apart either hunting or on a job. She feels minimal remorse when she injured or kills a pokemon if they are guilty (or if she's hunting), but she reacts unusually when exposed to another ninetales or vulpix.

History: Nigh was raised like any other vulpix in a temperate forest with her siblings and parents. One day a disaster struck and there was an earthquake, which led to a landslide. Her mother and one of her siblings were killed, crushed beneath the strong boulders, which luckily she didn't witness, and after that she lived with her father and two other siblings.

They lived happily until one day when her father didn't return from hunting, which was when Nigh had a breakdown and abandoned her younger siblings, fleeing to wherever she could go. Eventually she had travelled to a completely different forest, one that she had never even heard of, and was forced to fend for herself.

Several days into her stay at the forest, as she shook with food deprivation, she was crouched under a cluster of rocks. She was watching as a pidgey scraped the ground with his talons to uncover food, and she sprung, not even coming close as the flying type noticed and flew away. She collapsed, confused and starving, lost, distressed and frightened.

Suddenly a pokemon's voice echoed in her ears, and she looked around, alarmed and fearing she was being targeted. The pokemon revealed himself and questioned her presence in such a place, but she was too frightened to reply. He chuckled and offered her a "special" position in some kind of group, and she had no choice but to nod. Turns out he was one of Giratina's Guardians, and he was one of the oldest members.

He raised her from then on, as he showed her how to participate in missions and stuff, and although he was looked down upon for accepting a small vulpix as a Guardian without getting proper permission, he continued to train her and teach her things like how to hunt. He eventually died (on a mission or from old age, or something) and she was not sure how to react. He had basically become her replacement father, and he was suddenly gone again. She eventually worked her way up in ranks until she was a high qualifying agent, and she's never said another word other than to the targeted pokemon if she had to since.

(You can decide things like the pokemon species - if it's brought up again - and his name, and if any of this doesn't fit in with the rules of the Guardians or anything, feel free to change it. xDD)

Moveset: Double team, fire spin, dark pulse, flamethrower, confuse ray, quick attack, swift. (Tell me if your pokemon only have 4 moves so I can change this.)

Any special abilities/other?: Nope. :P Not other than what I've stated. ^^

I'm so looking forward to more. And if you can include Nigh, that would be awesome! 8D

~GS.

[Velocity]

DUDE. LOOK AT ALL THE PEOPLE WHO FOUND THIS. (well, I told DR about it, but... still.)

@ Darkrai Raider

Rikki: Now hold on, I think you're exaggerating just a little...

Hades: No, he isn't.

Mayerzor: Get out of this post, you demon!

Hades: Meanie... -grins-

Thank you for the approval~!

@ NES2

Oh mi gosh, something I write seems DARK? LE GASP. I don't get that a lot. And The Giratina Guardians will ever march on. ;)

@ GS

YES YOU DID XANTHE.
Well, you and Scytherwolf technically, but still.

AND DON'T YOU JUST LOVE MY ENORMOUS VOCABULARY.
Though I don't know how to go about a soundtrack...

Oh, they're not neutral... Not while Hades leads them~ However, it IS kinda a grey areas thing, because Mayerzor's up to some pretty dumb stuff too. And as for the forest fire, lets just say Hades likes sending his master new souls for his dominion. ;)
And if all of them were killed, then where would the story be? A Zoroark's the main character and something tells me that a blue (spoiler) M-- would make a pretty boring main character - though she is epic.

And I liked writing the speech so much~ Hades is SO fun to write for. He's kind of like the Joker in The Dark Knight, just a little more... sane. And you'll find out why Mayerzor's doing what he's doing...

Nigh is accepted~ I'm looking forward to seeing how I can fit her in. Maybe as one of Giratina's less-corrupted agents...

[Velocity]

Hey, I'm gonna post in this fossil, kay?

Chapter One: Forest Fire

Rikki slept badly that night.

His head was still ringing with Hades’ insults. Family neanderthals? Our clan killed, by the ‘will of Giratina’? Rikki just couldn’t believe that any Legendary – even the one in charge of guarding the Gates of Death – would do something like that. Would they?
Then again, Arceus had been the one who had banned Giratina to the Reverse World – the Netherworld, Underworld, whatever you’d like to call it – just because he was powerful. Drakivortek from the far-off Eos Region strove to swallow the sun. Zekrom and Reshiram fought constantly, and Groudon and Kyogre were no better.

Rikki shook himself. This wasn’t a way to be thinking.

“The Legendaries are here for a reason,” Rikki’s father had told him once when he was young. “They are here to protect and guard us. And when they can or will not do their job on their own, we are here to remind them of their duties.” Rikki had been very young then, so he’d just nodded and asked very politely if he could play in the forest. But now…

Now Rikki was just confused.

I need some night air to clear my head.

Rikki stood up, stretching on all fours in the cramped space. As the clan leader’s son, he slept in a den with some of the more important Zors, and he didn’t want to disturb them. Almost silently he managed to slip out of the den, into the cool midnight. With the moon shining down and reflecting off the cliffs, it was almost as bright as day. Rikki stood on the ledge and breathed in the cool scents.

“Hi, Rikki,” called a soft voice. Rikki turned his head, surprised, to see a young female Zoroark standing at the entrance to the clearing.
Rikki felt his face heat up. “Oh… Hi, Neya.”

Neya beckoned him over. “Come out here. This is odd.”

Rikki nodded and loped easily across the clearing to Neya’s side – the side of the night sentinel. She pointed at a spot just above the trees. “Look, Rikki,” she whispered, “look at all the birds.”

Rikki frowned. A large amount of bird Pokémon were flying around just above the canopy, very near the clearing. He caught a glimpse of small, rectangular wings and an obnoxiously big beak. A Pelipper…? He could also see a faint smudge of orange light, even though it was nowhere near sunrise.

Suddenly a gust of wind blew, sweeping the leaves towards the clearing. The birds screeched in alarm, and Rikki almost did the same as the smell hit his nostrils.

“Pretty weird, don’t you think?” Neya was asking – she obviously hadn’t caught the scent. But Rikki didn’t hear her question; he turned and howled.

“Smoke!” he barked. “Fire! FIRE! The Forest is burning!”

Sleepy heads poked out of the cliff crags. “What?” asked a bleary-eyed Zorua with pup-fuzz still rimming her face.

“FIRE!” Rikki repeated, and at that second a loud crashing filled the forest. Rikki whirled to see that a blazing tree had crashed near the clearing’s entrance.

Instantly the clearing erupted like a disturbed Ainto-hill.

“RUN!” screamed a voice.

“Get the children out!” a mother wailed.

“Arceus, help us!” a warrior moaned.

“CALM YOURSELVES!” Mayerzor bellowed, leaping into a tall tree. “To panic is to die! We must keep order! We must –”

He broke off with a curse as the branches he stood on snapped. Mayerzor leaped, landing with a yelp of pain on the rocks.

“Dad!” Rikki cried. He was about to run for his father, but the old Zoroark stood, shaking himself off.

“Get the pups out!” the clan leader called. “We must save the pups!”

Rikki raced towards the lowest cave in the cliff, one of the largest. He dove into it to find a mother Zoroark frantically trying to carry all four of her mewling babies.

“Rikki!” she whirled, gasping. “I need you to carry two, Rikki!”

Rikki nodded, holding out his paws. “Give them to me, Starcross.” She nodded gratefully and plopped the wiggling children in his claws. Rikki burst out of the hole with Starcross following behind.

Most of the Zors in the clearing were already gone, with only a few of the older warriors searching dens. One of them, a large male with a missing eye, turned to Starcross as they made for the exit. “Is everyone out of the nursery?”

“Yes,” she breathed.

Rikki looked around. The flames had spread; orange firelight now made the rocks glint instead of silver moonlight, giving the world a high contrast. Rikki held the pups tighter to his chest as they wriggled; they seemed to calm down when they could nestle in his puffy chest fur.

“Be quiet, brats,” he muttered, hoping that Starcross couldn’t hear, “I’m saving you.” He looked at the camp entrance. Flames were felling trees all around it; the ancient trunks were smoldering, far too hot to touch. A few warriors milled about it anxiously. One of them was growling, “Wish I could learn a Giratina-condemned Water Move!”

“Where’s Garen?” called Mayerzor. Rikki knew what he meant; the ancient shaman knew Rain Dance, which would have helped them greatly.

“We can leap the logs!” Rikki urged. “We have to do it now, before any more of them pile up!” to demonstrate, he hooked both pups under his left arm and used his right paw to propel himself in a three-legged run. He dashed out of the clearing and into a tunnel of blinding light and dizzying heat, leaping up into the air with all his might. He rolled out into an untouched section of grass, sparks flying from his mane. Rikki checked the pups; they hadn’t been hurt by the fall.

Starcross leaped out next, landing on three paws in the same way Rikki had been running. However, she skidded on the grass and stumbled, falling gracelessly on her chin and skidding to a halt. Her pups whined and yelped under her arm.

“Are you all right?” Rikki asked. She looked up at him to answer, but her words were drowned out by an ear-splitting crash. Rikki whirled, cursing, to see that a huge tree was falling practically on top of the clearing. He heard his father shout, “NO!”

And then the tree fell, landing with a deafening thud and making the earth vibrate beneath Rikki’s and Starcross’ paws. A conflagration of glowing orange sparks twisted into the sky before winking out like fickle Illumise.

Rikki gasped. “Father!”

“I’m all right!” Rikki let out a breath of relief at Mayerzor’s call. “We’re all okay! However, you must leave us!”

“What?” Rikki called. “Father, no! I can’t leave you!”

“You have to, Rikki!” snarled Mayerzor. “Go… we’ll be fine.”

Rikki felt Starcross lay a paw on his shoulder. “Come on, Rikki… we have to save ourselves, and let your father save himself.”

Rikki felt tears well in his eyes. “But how are they all… how can they escape?”

“Your father and those warriors are tough,” Starcross assured, “and they have a chance. We have to leave now, however, or the smoke will kill us.”

Rikki turned away. He tucked the pups further under his arm. “Fine,” he growled, and began to run.

They were silent from then on. They dashed through the flames and smoke, coughing and gagging from the noxious fumes and feeling nauseous from the extreme heat. Rikki’s pads acquired numerous stubs, scrapes, and burns, but he didn’t care.

“Go! We’ll be fine… What kind of warrior was Rikki? He’d left his father, his clan chief, alone with four other warriors; he’d left them alone to perish in smoke and flames. He was nothing, lower than dirt, lower than an Ekans’ belly.

Tears escaped from the corners of Rikki’s eyes. I’m sorry!

Suddenly, there was the sound of cracking bark and wood. Rikki and Starcross stopped – foolishly – to see a pillar of orange motes spiral up into the air, stemming from a thick oak tree. A second later, the tree released a huge, menacing noise and began to fall. Rikki leaped to the side, but Starcross began to frantically scamper backwards.

“STARCROSS! NO!” Rikki howled, engendering vengeful squeaks and yips from the pups. Starcross seemed oblivious to the looming shadow that was rapidly growing over her – she had stumbled and was now laying on the ground, the puppies beside her, and staring with blank eyes up at the falling tree. The Zorua babies began to wail and crawl blindly in Rikki’s direction.

No. No! NO! Rikki was frozen the same way Starcross was. Time seemed to slow as the tree fell, blazing.

Time seemed to slow until Starcross’ scream cut the air.

Her body was crushed under the tree; Rikki could see that instantly. However, he still rushed forward. He had to see the damage for himself.
A thin trail of blood oozed out of Starcross’ mouth. Her teal eyes were glazed, staring sightlessly into the sky as the conflagration of flames burned her home to the ground. The rest of her body was lost under the ancient trunk.

Rikki felt as if the ground was being torn out from beneath his paws – Starcross was not his mother, but she had been his friend, and she had been one of the firmest roots in his young life.

Arceus, why? Rikki thought desperately. He looked up at the sky and shuddered, scooping up the other pups. He was dimly grateful for them and he knew without knowing that if they hadn’t have been there, vulnerable and needing him, he would not have been able to go on.
But as he stood up, straightening, he realized that there was no way for him to go on. The clearing was enveloped by the blaze on all sides. He could swear he heard a mocking voice come through the flame.

“Zyqm emc coi, duukr,” the voice whispered, deep and malevolent. “Sumofgs auy ekk coi.*”

Rikki crumpled, despairing again. He could feel the smoke and heat filling his lungs like a poison, and he knew his body couldn’t take much more of the fumes. The pups had stopped squirming and were now just moaning.

How could I have hoped for escape when all the others died?

... So this is what happens... This is how life ends.

“SQUARK!”

The screech of a bird Pokemon brought Rikki’s mind back somewhat. He opened his eyes and saw a hazy white shape descending through the smoke. As it drew nearer, Rikki realized that it was a Pelipper.

The huge-beaked bird hovered above him, its black eyes wide. “Are you alive?” it asked rather Mareepishly.

“I dunno,” Rikki grunted honestly.

The Pelipper clucked to itself, then winced as it heard the sound of a falling tree above the din of howling and crackling flame. “Here,” it said, bending down towards the pups with its beak open.

“No,” Rikki growled. “They die with me, not in a Pokemon’s belly.”

“I’m no Sharpedo!” the Pelipper assured anxiously. “I just want to help. You can ride on my back, and I can carry the pups in my mouth. Please? They’ll die if I don’t and so will you.”

Rikki hesitated; perhaps it wasn’t over. “Their mother died tonight,” he whispered, moving his arm off the limp furballs. “If you hurt them...”

“I won’t,” the Pelipper promised gravely. It opened its bill wide and gently scooped the babies up. They disappeared into the great red-lined cavern.
“Now...” It squished itself down a bit farther. “I can make a ramp with my wing, but you’ll have to climb on yourself.”

Rikki gave a little grunt, then scrambled up. The Pelipper’s wing wasn’t a good incline, but the Pelipper managed to hold it stiff and Rikki managed. He slung a leg over the feathered back, wrapped his claws around the odd bump that formed the bird’s forehead, and clung.

With a whoosh of wings, the Pelipper took off. The white feathers became swishes in the flames to Rikki’s tired eyes, with the rounded blue feathers at the end distant smudges.

They may have flown for seconds or days and Rikki wouldn’t have known any different. One moment the steady rhythm of the Pelipper’s wings was mesmerizing him, the next the flames were running out and the bird was descending.

There was a sudden burst of cool. The world became far more vibrant in color, so that Rikki could see the humans and Pokemon directing massive amounts of water at the conflagration. He could see more clearly, the heat was gone, and the air... Oh, sweet Arceus, the air! It was cool with night and it cut at Rikki’s throat, but it was beautiful and it cleared Rikki’s head, firing panic and the will to live. It took him a few seconds to realize what had happened: they had passed out of the smoke cloud and were now flying –and descending – through clean air.

“Just hang on,” the Pelipper told him. “We’re almost there!”

Rikki tried, but he just couldn’t. He was exhausted, both physically and emotionally, and his whole body ached, especially his lungs and eyes. He could sense that the danger was past, and now he could do what he wanted most: sleep.

And sleep he did, closing his eyes so as to escape into the sweet relief of dreamless slumber.



Sorry it took so very long; it was difficult to write and with the ASBL being back and with my art life coming back and my OTHER fanfic taking up time... You get the point~?

*Burn and die, fools. Tonight you all die.
Just a little cipher~!