Rayquaza noticed Arceus tremble in his seat out of the corner of his eye as an explosion resonated through the ancient building the Final Guard called home. The dragon was not the worrying type, yet he felt some twinge of concern for his Master, who had been using his energy to sustain the boundaries around this final sanctuary for days now under this onslaught. Arceus’ form shivered back and forth between anthropomorphic and feral Pokémon as the explosions continued, then solidified as anthro as the sounds of combat died temporarily. Rayquaza watched as Arceus visibly relaxed and attempted to stand, only for Rayquaza to act as a support as his Master’s knees nearly buckled underneath his weight.
“Thank you, old friend.” Arceus said.
Rayquaza remained silent; he possessed phonetic telepathy even in his draconic form, but rarely used it, conveying most of his meaning through the exchange of emotions, as he did now. Arceus chuckled lightly, amused by his friend and servant’s pseudo-question.
“Of course I prefer my normal form, but for this… plan… to work, I require this form.” Arceus held up a hand and clenched it momentarily into a fist before lowering it back to his side. He paused a moment, then added “besides, I can hardly ride you as a quadruped, now can I?”
Rayquaza let out a mental sigh of exasperation; his master confused him sometimes. This last-ditch plan of Arceus’, for example: he had told Rayquaza few details, had only focused on what Rayquaza needed to know in order to fill out his role in these goings-on; had told the others in the Last Guard even less. All they knew was that they were carrying out a ritual, though none of them knew what ritual in particular. They had placed their faith in Arceus so many times that they had no doubts about what little they had been told, but that did little to ease the anxiety that had swelled to fill the halls of this temple. Rayquaza did his best to ease the rapidly rising tension, but when the enemy has been hammering at your door for far longer than they should be able to attempts to restore morale are more or less futile. Some of the Last Guard had half-joked about opening the doors just to break the monotony, and Rayquaza could only hope that whatever his master had in mind, he would carry it out soon, before someone snapped under the pressure. As if sensing his friend’s thoughts, which was entirely possible, Arceus nodded.
“I have waited in inaction for long enough,” Arceus muttered, half to himself, then, transferring his weight to the armrest of the throne, said “it is almost time; I must speak with Latias and Darkrai.” Rayquaza nodded silently and left, relieved that his Master had finally decided to act.
Arceus stood in the empty room, listening to the fading woosh of Rayquaza flying down the hallways of the temple in search of the dragon and dark legendaries, and reviewed his plan again, slowly attempting to convince himself that there was no other way. For the first time in his long existence, he was unsure of himself; there were too many variables for his tastes, but he had worked too long and hard to relinquish his efforts now. Too much power and time invested in this contingency to turn back and look for another road, even if there was one. He thought about the necessary “ingredients”- a Legendary of light, a Legendary of darkness, and a human; it seemed almost crude- simply a transfer of copied power to a receptive vessel and the creation of a second vessel- but it was necessary to form the Opposing Champions necessary for his long-term plan, and the anthro form necessary to manipulate the energy.
He raised his head a little, sensing Rayquaza approaching with the two others in tow. As the three of them entered the room, Arceus sensed the anxiety that emanated from Latias, both from being separated from her brother and from close proximity to Darkrai, but sensed nothing from the darker of the two but unshakeable determination. Darkrai has changed over the years, Arceus mused to himself. His thoughts were interrupted by a telepathic conveyance of concepts from Rayquaza that translated to a sort of report on the current status of the defenses as well as the completion of his assignment.
“Always so formal, old friend.” Arceus muttered, then said in a louder voice, “welcome both of you, and thank you for leaving your posts at such short notice. We have little time, so I will skip the pleasantries and skip right to the explanation of why I summoned you two in particular.”
Arceus cleared his throat, something he always thought felt strange, as he had spent most of his existence without humanoid vocal cords. “I require small samples of both dark and light energy that I might be able to create more, and creating said samples would use up more power than I have available. I selected the two of you for your corresponding energies, but understand that you don’t need to accept-“ Arceus was interrupted by a flurry of telepathic responses from both Latias and Darkrai, pledging their help. Arceus smiled a little; the loyalty of the Final Guard always went beyond what he could ever suspect, and he suspected that the members of the Final Guard knew it. “Very well then, we may proceed with the ceremony.”
Latias and Darkrai approached the half-circle of steps leading up to the throne, and Arceus slowly went to meet them, laying his hand first on Latias’ wing. This was where the anthro form came in; physical contact with a similar form as the one he was attempting to create was necessary. If Arceus had attempted this in his normal quadrapedal form, the vessel would have taken that form instead of the more humanoid one that was necessary for the fulfillment of Arceus’ plan. He drew out a small sample of Latias’ power, then fed it with a little of his own, then left the resulting shapeless ball of power open to expand and grow. He then, using a similar method, extracted a small amount of Latias’ DNA, then withdrew his hand. Latias bowed and left the room, eager to get back to her brother and her post.
As Rayquaza and Darkrai looked on, Arceus forced the power he had grown from Latias’ into the physical plane, then began molding it with his hands like clay, using Latias’ DNA as a blueprint, but modifying it to define a humanoid form instead of a draconic one. When he was satisfied that the vessel could survive on its own without its- no, HER- connection to his power, he solidified the body and lay her at the base of his throne. She looks perfect, Arceus thought to himself, the best combination of Latias and human that I could create. Turning away from the new life asleep at the base of his throne, Arceus approached Darkrai, repeating the process as he had with Latias. This time, however, instead of molding the power into the shape of a new form, he simply kept them contained. Darkrai bowed and left, his torn cloak flapping silently in his wake.
Arceus turned towards Rayquaza. “now it is your turn, old friend.” Rayquaza dipped his draconic form then, with a flurry of power gifted to him by his Master, he compressed his excess mass into a small interdimensional space, something he had never really understood, and changed into a human. In this form, Rayquaza was about 5’11, 6 feet, with yellow eyes and black hair. His clothes comprised of a green longcoat with red and yellow striping and a hood, as well as a long sleeved shirt, pants and shoes with the same color palette.
“The champions will not know it, but they will need you desperately, as a peacekeeper, protector, mentor and, later, ally.” Arceus stooped down at the base of the steps and, with a piece of chalk produced from somewhere inside the white robes he wore in this form, began drawing a circle, a crude way to open the Gate to another world, but necessary as the way that consumed the least amount of power. “You will carry the Champion of Light through the gate, and guard her from a distance as she makes her way in the world and seeks out the Champion of Darkness. Once they have met, only then may you reveal yourself to them.” Arceus completed the circle and began writing within its boundary, working quickly to complete the Gate. “You will teach them to use their power, and attempt to destroy the agents of our enemy that follow you.” Arceus completed the inscriptions and the stepped out of the circle, which then lit up, humming with power. He turned the human Rayquaza and nodded; Rayquaza quickly climbed the steps, retrieved the anthropomorphic girl from where she lay, and returned to his Master’s side. Arceus put his hand on Rayquaza’s shoulder for a moment as a large door formed in the center of the circle and another series of explosions rang through the halls of the temple, and uttered a single word before returning to his throne.
“Godspeed.”
With that, Rayquaza stepped through the open door, and into the world beyond. Arceus paused halfway up the stairs to his throne, then turned toward the Gate, reaching through it with his mind and quickly finding a suitable mind on the other side. He quickly secreted the power within this mind and merged the Darkrai DNA with the body, then sighed, satisfied that the plan was now out of his hands, except for one last thing. He waved a hand in the general direction of the Gate, changing the destination of the other end, then closing the entrance and returning to his throne to defend the sactuary.