#arceus

[askthetraveller]

Pan gods

Pan gods.

[woodenplankstudios]

The God Champion

[duckapus]

Idea: one of those "Ash somehow ends up in a group chat (usually with the Champions or Legendaries, sometimes with other characters) the first day of his journey and it messes with the series" AUs that've been popping up on AO3 lately, but instead it's a group chat made up of alternate versions of himself. One of them's the canon version (or at least close to it), the rest are AU versions, at least one of them is Ashley (not sure if trans or just genderbent. leaning towards trans), and all of them are from post-series and trying not to give too many spoilers because they don't want to overwhelm their "mini-me" or make things too easy for him 'cause if they do he won't grow as a trainer and person like they did (not that he'd want them to coddle him like that anyway. He's always wanted to get through on his own merits not have victories just handed to him). Also Arceus told them not to (who else do you think would've set this up?).

Granted, sometimes even when they do give spoilers it doesn't help much between them not having perfect memories, being from alternate timelines so a lot of the details are different between them, and forgetting just how stubborn and bull-headed their Kanto Era self could be.

I call it the "Self-Help Hotline" AU

[assumptionprime]

There is no escaping Arceus' plans to make you a protagonist.

Bluesky / Patreon / Instagram

[bottle-of-harpoons]

My theory for how Pokemon Z - A will start.

[xxtc-96xx]

I imagine this as a scenario

oops

[dinoserious]

hello mama!

[reestallized]

Mochi Mayhem when

[galaxysketches]

volo goes to court

[critterbitter]

re: your thoughts on legendaries (which is very cool and based) what’s your take on the differences between legends:arceus giratina and platinum giratina, especially since you defined them as hating the world? specifically the bit where giratina (at least seemingly) actively defended the world from cyrus trying to destroy it, after trying to do the same thing with volo’s help centuries prior?

Weird ghost worm upon yee (AND MORE ART BELOW CUT!)

Anyways, here’s my mad ramblings about Giratina and Arceus’s backstory.

Tldr: Giratina’s a conglomerate of angry souls scorned by Arceus.

(Here’s the playlist. It’s all about worms.)

How it Started.

The original one has chosen favorites over the passage of time. Heroes, legends, protagonists…

Arceus intervenes for those it loves, and the consequences of a god touching the mortal world is devastating in its entirety. One act of divine intervention causes entire civilizations to collapse. One whispered suggestion drives an entire legacy insane.

So Arceus, paralyzed by its love for the mortal world, acts very little, learning from its mistakes. Apathy soaks through every motion. And thus is the way of the world.

But people love the Originator. Religions are born from Arceus’s rare deeds, and generation on generation taught its benevolence. Imagine spending your entire life chasing after that golden light. Imagine knowing its real and there, and it loves you.

Imagine begging it for help, and seeing it turn away when you need it most.

I think those people would feel very abandoned indeed, if they spent their lives worshipping, and receiving no response at all.

Giratina is born from the abandoned, the lost, and the angry. They’re a hundred thousand souls who’s adoration turned to spite. They’re an entity who demands for Arceus to look at them, so they can finally rest.

Arcues can not look at them in full, because if it does Giratina will fade.

(Scio, beloved. For I can not let you go.)

So the Original One banishes the Unwanted Beast into the distortion world, and Giratina seethes, and starves, and screams.

(Here are two truths about the Beast Between Dimensions—

1. Some part of them still loves Arceus. Arceus is their anchor, after all— the sole reason why they exist, why they are. But Arceus can not love it back in a way that matters, and that hurts.

2. Giratina is made of a thousand voices. Some of these voices remember that there’s a world above. They miss it.)

Why Giratina attacked Hisui in PLA:

PLA Giratina’s not a new god, but they’re very, very bitter and barely coherent on a good day. Volo serves as a conduct to help unite the broiling mass of ghosts against Arceus, and thus Giratina’s hatred overcomes any flickering affections they have for the land.

It doesn’t help that Arceus intervened for Hisui, sending Akari to directly stop Volo from summoning Giratina.

(As for Volo, well.

Imagine being a child who was thrown into the future due to Palkia and Dialga’s fits, who learned his people (his world) no longer exist beyond a shadow in the history books and a single, bitter lore keeper.

Volo doesn’t remember his original culture beyond vague imprints and singing praises to Sinnoh, but he knew he was loved, and he knew his family is dust four hundred years in the past. There’s a special sort of rage in him that echoes Giratinas.)

(Why did you abandon my people, Arceus? What kind of god are you, to leave those who love you so callously behind?)

(Maybe some part of Giratina recognizes Volo, beyond a feeling of kinship.

Maybe some part of Giratina grieves because it recognized the child Volo was.)

When Volo gets his pound of flesh, (when he realizes Arceus is not beholden to him, that the inherent alien morality Arceus holds is not a personal slight), Giratina will finally rest.

Anyways what I’m trying to say is: Arceus is never a person, but a nebulous embodiment of the connection shared between pokemon and humans. It tries to experience what it’s supposed to embody, but millennia of watching people be and cease has given it choice paralysis, apathy, and a hoarding issue. If something lasts forever next to it? Good.

Giratina was once a person. (Correction, a LOT of persons.) They don’t think very linearly either, but they have context on mortal matters and are thus the more benevolent and malicious of the two. One day, time will smooth them into something like Arceus. We can only hope the two keep each other in check.

THE DIFFERENCE OF LEGENDS ARCEUS GIRATINA VS PLATINUM PEARL GIRATINA

If the ancient version of giratina is an angry conglomerate of ghosts scorned by Arceus, the modern iteration of Giratina’s a creature that’s more settled in its skin and more assured in its duties. Giratina still has beef with Arceus, but they unionized into one being who’s love of the mortal world has triumphed over its ancestral grudge. One might even postulate they have shifted their anchor from Sinnoh the god, to Sinnoh the place.

((We call this character developement. Good for you, weird ghost worm!))

(((FULL DISCLOSURE, VOLO BEING FROM THE PAST IS INSPIRED FROM FOXFALL. You know. The fic that got me into this fandom. Please give it some love.)))

[raitnrong]

😭😭 this nemona tweet >>>>>>

[claitea]

"The sweetness of her voice speaks to Volo's love for her."

Then perhaps he'd like to hear it himself when it matters most.

~

left it a little open ended because i couldnt decide how exactly this happens:

1) arceus straight up does give him the ability to understand pokemon. it does not consider this either a blessing or a curse. it is simply allowing him to hear what they've been saying this whole time.

2) going off how iris only understands the hearts of dragons as opposed to n's ability to directly translate, maybe understanding pokemon is some sort of hyper-empathy thing. volo gains such a strong connection with his pokemon through fighting god he can actually understand what they feel

3) his guilty conscience catches up with him and he's imagining this just based on what n told him

either way. get guilt tripped idiot

[joyfulness03]

You ever think about how Farigiraf is the same height as Arceus?

[deathflare]

legendz

[kharmii]

Art credit: E_Volution_@Evolution_ygo Twitter.