Chapter Text
Keely opens their eyes and is greeted with golden light.
They remember, some time before, passing out asleep in their bed at the Guild HQ. They'd been filling out some paperwork with Admin and Edward until late, and hadn't felt like warping back and waking everyone at the Orphanage, so they had claimed use of their room. That's the last thing they remember happening before waking up to this.
They think they’re awake, anyway.
The first thing Keely does is try and hold up their arm, but they find— to their alarm— that they can’t feel their body at all. Maybe it is a dream, then? But it doesn’t feel at all like a dream.
Coco?
“Welcome to my realm, young Ruler of Monsters. It is well that thou art here.”
It is most certainly not Coco’s voice that responds. It’s not even really a voice, and yet it is somehow, somewhere between sound and thought. It surrounds Keely, and they feel sincerity in the words.
“I am that which humans call Arceus,” the ‘voice’ continues, and suddenly Keely is able to sense a presence nearby. They reach out with their mind, and find something… large. Not human, and not Nexomon, although strangely somewhat like the latter. Keely doesn’t understand that at all. But it’s the largest presence Keely’s ever felt, and though strange, it does not feel hostile.
Good to meet you, Keely sends out. Dream or not, it always pays to be polite, especially when whoever they’re talking to is as powerful as this being feels. I’m afraid I haven’t heard of you.
“Thou wouldst not have,” Arceus assures them. “Young Ruler of Monsters, thou wilt soon find thyself in a world strange to thee, a world inhabited by wondrous creatures which humans call ‘Pokemon’. They are not quite like thy kind. But I believe… thou shalt be the answer.”
Alarm bells start ringing in Keely’s head. Wait, I can’t, they protest, forgetting to be diplomatic or dignified. I— I’ve got so much to do, and the Nexomon are just starting to heal. There’s a conference next week, and— and ‘Paragons of Golden Justice’ is on tomorrow! I need to stay!
“Fear not,” the voice says, and once again Keely feels the gentleness in it brushing up against them. “My realm is beyond both time and space. Thy home, thy family, need not feel thy absence. And I give thee my word that thou wilt be returned, once thou hast done what must be done.”
Keely feels themself and the space around them moving, even as the golden light remains steady. Their fear grows.
“Young Ruler of Monsters… Keely Briar… Seek out the Pokemon and humans of this world. Heal the rift, and thou wilt find me once again.”
Keely’s mind reaches again toward the being, a plea filled with as much sincerity and desperation as they can convey. But Arceus’ presence retreats, and with it, the golden light. Keely reaches frantically for something to latch onto, but there is only darkness, and it isn’t long before even their awareness slips away.