The room, which exudes a somewhat sci-fi vibe, is filled with various incomprehensible instruments, and in the center of the room, a metal platform holds an egg with peculiar patterns.
From the outside, this egg, aside from its size and patterns, appears entirely ordinary.
But from the inside, a strange creature has opened its eyes.
"How long has it been... The accumulated energy can finally hatch..."
The peculiar creature stretched its curled-up body, observing the entire world through the shell.
Its torso, mane, tail, and the dark parts of its face are adorned with gray vertical stripes. Its four sharp legs end in golden hooves. Its mane is high and flowing from its head, its face is gray with green eyes and red pupils, and it has green circular patterns around its eyes.
In another world, this creature is known as Arceus, the Phantom Pokemon said to have created the world.
However, this Arceus is not the original Arceus; the story must be told from the beginning.
Inside an ordinary rental room next to a university, a near-graduate was playing "Pokémon Legends: Arceus."
Then, the doorbell rang. Curious about who would knock at this time, he got up to check, but suddenly a small truck model appeared by his feet, causing him to fall to the ground, his Switch flying out of his hand.
When he woke up again, all he could feel was chaos.
He sensed that his body had undergone changes but was unable to act, and a strange consciousness also entered his mind.
This was a newly born Arceus.
Then, a wave of drowsiness ensued, and he drifted off to a deep sleep. Upon his next awakening, he had gained the ability to perceive changes in the outside world. To be precise, he could sense the changes before, but back then, the external world was in a state of chaos.
During this time, he received the knowledge belonging to this body and accepted what had happened to him. There was no avoiding it; in this state, he could do nothing.
At this time, he was not yet Arceus but an Arceus egg, surrounded by eighteen Plates that protected the life within the egg.
Subsequently, seemingly drawn by an unknown force, he penetrated a solid barrier and entered a whole new world.
During this process, some Plates scattered while colliding with the mysterious force to protect the egg shell, whereas the rest, including himself, fell to the ground below.
The best way to obtain a body that allows for free movement is to assemble all those Plates. Utilizing the power of the Plates, he could soon break free from the shell's constraints.
But an egg cannot find the Plates on its own.
Having previously fallen here, only three Plates remained by his side, and he had no idea where the other Plates were, being able to sense and control them only within a certain range.
At that moment, some strange indigenous people gathered around him, with black wings on their backs and flames burning behind them, making him realize that this world was different, although he didn't know at the time that these people belonged to the Lunarians Race.
He had read a fair share of manga before, but the "Pirate King" manga he hadn't kept up with after the Whole Cake Island arc, due to various reasons. In fact, by the Dressrosa Chapter, he only occasionally read it.
Regarding this mysterious race, which appeared later in the series, he had no impression.
These indigenous people seemed to have treated him as a Sacred Object for worship. A falling egg from the sky didn't look ordinary at all.
This behavior sparked some thoughts in him. Although he couldn't move himself, he could find ways to drive these indigenous people to search for it.
With wings, they should be able to cover a wide range.
However, he could only perceive changes in the outside world but couldn't communicate with it.
Unlike the world-creating Arceus, he was still in an infant state, his strength primarily dependent on the Plates. During space traversal, the connection between the Plates and his body had become loose, and when crashing down from the sky onto the ground, most of the Plates scattered to who knows where.
Therefore, he couldn't communicate with others through thoughts yet.
But where there's a will, there's a way. Among the remaining three Plates, one was the Fire Attribute Flame Plate, and during the sacrificial ceremonies, he noticed that these people could harness the power of flames.
Hence, during one of the sacrificial activities, he used the power of the Flame Plate to grant some of the indigenous people the ability to wield stronger flame powers.
He thought that since these indigenous people arrived quickly nearby, they must have witnessed his falling process.
The impact of the fall was great, indicating that either these people were strong enough to withstand the impact or they were extremely fast. Either way, they were excellent tools for finding the Plates.
By letting them know that the Plates could grant them power, the indigenous people would proactively seek similar Plates, whether finding the Psychic Type Miracle Plate directly or acquiring extra Plates. With more replenished power, he could then communicate with these indigenous people.
Regarding the language barrier, he recognized it to be Japanese, thanks to years of watching anime. Through a multitude of anime series, he had self-taught Japanese sufficiently to understand it without issues.
Meanwhile, he planned to offer them rewards for locating more Plates. Once hatched, he could undertake more actions. He was unsure how long it would take to hatch, but his body's instincts told him that the Plates would expedite the process.
The ideal was lavish; the reality was bleak. Initially, just as he had envisioned, these indigenous became even more respectful towards him after gaining power, and even the sacrificial ceremonies grew much more elaborate. During the ceremonies, he learned the name of this race was Lunarians.
However, the problem arose. Even though he heard chieftains and prophets discuss Plates during the ceremonies and sent people looking for them, they never ended up finding a single one.
Due to merging with Arceus' body, he wasn't pressed for time. Therefore, he devised Plan B: given enough time, the power of the remaining three Plates was adequate to allow him to hatch. Once born as a Sacred Object, he could still have them help trace the whereabouts of the Plates.
Thus, he entered into a slumber, only waking occasionally to observe changes in the outside world.
However, over time, unexpected factors emerged.
War seemed to have started, with outsiders launching an offensive here. In principle, he held no special sentiments for these Lunarians people, but due to his body, he had come to view these Lunarians who worshiped him day and night as his subjects.
He had some theories about his own situation. Similar to the nearby basement-dwelling Bone King, who transformed into an Undead Race flying squirrel and had his thought process gradually align with the Undead Race due to bodily influences.
His thought process was also influenced by the Creator God Arceus. However, Arceus wasn't an Undead Race, and this influence differed from the Bone King, appearing more as a blend of divinity and humanity, with the behavior's principal agent remaining himself.
Such behavior, that harmed his subjects, had already crossed his line. However, still being an egg, he could do nothing but activate the power of the Flame Plate, temporarily granting it to the chieftain.
Being in this state consumed much of his current strength, so he slipped into another round of slumber.
Before that, he heard the chieftain's final order, instructing the remaining tribespeople to flee with him, regarded as the Sacred Object.
Every time he woke, he'd see new faces among the Lunarians, and their numbers dwindled each time.
A hundred people, ten people, two families, until only two remained: a boy named Abel and a girl named Shaina.
Upon awakening again, he noticed an array of unfamiliar people and various strange instruments, while Abel and Shaina, as he remembered, were nowhere to be seen.
Initially, he thought these two had perished like the previous Lunarians under the pursuit of the enemies, but later he discovered that he was wrong.
He encountered these two again, but their state mirrored his own, being subject to bizarre experiments.
The people above were likewise curious about what the Lunarians' egg really was. They had tried to hatch it and destroy it during this period, but to no avail, as the shell was unfathomably hard.
They placed the egg, the Plate obtained years ago by killing the chieftain, the Plate received with the egg, and Abel in the same research institute.
So only two Plates remained here, due to a Plate lost during the Lunarians' escape.
While the actions these people took couldn't destroy his egg shell, some peculiar machines rendered him uncomfortable. If even his body, in such condition, was distressed, how could those two withstand it? His anger accumulated, both from his own and Arceus' influence.
By now, the energy he collected was reaching a level nearing hatching. With the two Plates beside him, within his sensory range, and the accumulated energy, he was poised to take Abel and Shaina away from here.
But first, he needed to locate the boy. Their usual placements were different, and recently, he had been with Shaina, but Abel's whereabouts were unknown.
Just as he prepared to act, he sensed an explosion from outside. The tightly shut metal door opened, but this time, it wasn't the researchers entering; it was Abel.