Chapter 275: Please Help Me! Dialga!
"Right — I'll have Gladion and the others send people to look into it. It'd be interesting if we actually managed to find Akari."
Mammon mulled it over and settled on the thought — something he'd overlooked entirely until now. He'd unconsciously assumed Platinum was simply the protagonist of Sinnoh, without ever considering that Akari might exist too. After all, Unova had had two generations of female protagonists — Touko and Mei — coexisting just fine.
About an hour later, the four of them were still leafing through the ancient verses, chatting as they went — genuinely enjoyable, all things considered. Mammon found himself particularly interested in Wusi, the woman credited with recording these verses, since Wusi was an extremely important figure in Legends: Arceus.
Her background was shrouded in mystery — she knew an enormous amount about Legendary Pokémon, and even had Enamorus as a companion, willing to travel with her wherever she went. By her own account, everything she knew about those legends had simply been passed down from her ancestors, and she was merely relaying it to Akari. But the real issue was that she knew far too much — and was, herself, far too mysterious. There'd even been speculation that she might be some kind of Legendary Pokémon in human form.
If he ever got the chance to go back to Hisui, he was absolutely going to track this woman down for a proper heart-to-heart.
...Well. If he was being honest, there was also a somewhat more shallow reason — Mammon rather liked the look of her. She was one of the rare white-haired characters in the whole Pokémon franchise, and a strikingly attractive one at that, looks, presence, and figure all included.
But at the end of the day, Wusi belonged to the Hisui era. That would have to wait for another time.
"Miss Sheena, I have a rather bold request — would it be alright to ask?" Mammon said, after a moment's thought.
"Please, go ahead, Mr. Mammon." Sheena smiled as she answered. Her impression of him was quite favorable — warm, well-spoken, clearly well-read. He came across easily as a good person.
"Then I'll just say it plainly — would it be possible for us to see the Jewel of Life itself?"
Mammon didn't dress it up. He really was deeply curious about it — especially given it was a treasure formed from the fusion of five Plates.
Sheena froze at the question, her small face immediately creasing. Anything else would have been fine, but the Jewel of Life...
"Mammon?!"
Cynthia's stomach dropped, her elegant features shifting with alarm. This was exactly what she'd been afraid of. Mammon wasn't exactly a villain of the worst sort, but he was hardly a good person either — and wanting to seize a treasure like the Jewel of Life wasn't remotely out of character for him.
But Cynthia genuinely didn't want this to happen. Sheena had welcomed them so warmly, had generously shared Michina's history and her family's treasured ancient verses without a second thought — and now he wanted to steal the very artifact her family had guarded for generations, one steeped in her ancestors' most heartfelt wishes? That would be... genuinely awful.
"Relax, I don't mean any harm. I just want to take a simple look at it, that's all."
Mammon shook his head with a wry laugh. Saying he had no designs whatsoever on the Jewel of Life would be a lie — but he wasn't so far gone as to actually take it.
What would even be the point of stealing it?
If this world's Arceus were the wounded, weakened Arceus from the movie, he'd have snatched it without a second thought. But the crucial difference here was that this world's Arceus was completely intact — and might even possess the Legendary Plate on top of that. Sure, it hadn't shown itself in the world for a very long time, but if he stole the Jewel from Sheena and Arceus ever woke up and found out, who knew what it might do?
Sheena's ancestor Damos had, after all, been on genuinely good terms with Arceus. It wasn't remotely far-fetched that Arceus might look out for his descendant — and simply take the Jewel back for itself.
So Mammon was tempted by the Jewel of Life, certainly — but not tempted enough to actually take it.
Hearing this, Cynthia let out a breath of relief. If Mammon was saying as much himself, he probably wouldn't do anything reckless.
"By rights, I really shouldn't. But... I do feel like the three of you and I share some kind of genuine connection. Alright — I'll ask that all three of you promise not to reveal what you see today to anyone. Can you agree to that?"
After a long moment's hesitation, Sheena pressed her lips together and agreed.
"I can swear it on Arceus itself," Mammon said, smiling.
"We'll absolutely keep it confidential," Cynthia said earnestly.
"Then please, follow me."
Sheena let out a long breath, then led the three of them to the device resembling a model of space-time. The device could detect fluctuations in the stability of space-time itself — a genuinely remarkable piece of technology.
Sheena tapped something on the control panel in front of it. A mechanism clicked open, and a flower-shaped mechanical structure slowly rose up.
"Please, look. This is the Jewel of Life."
The mechanical flower bloomed slowly open, revealing what lay within.
A jewel glimmering with soft green light, radiant with the shimmer of life itself, appeared before the four of them, its center pulsing with a dazzling glow.
Formed from the fusion of the Earth, Water, Grass, Zap, and Draco Plates, this divine object didn't merely hold the combined power of all five — through their synergy, the Jewel of Life possessed an almost overwhelming life-giving force. With but a touch, it could make withered land burst back into bloom in the blink of an eye, blanketing the earth in lush, vibrant green.
"It's beautiful..."
Mammon couldn't help the exclamation. The Jewel of Life truly was breathtaking. Purely in terms of visual splendor, it put both the Adamant Orb and the Lustrous Globe to shame.
And yet...
Mammon studied the jewel, something turning over in his mind.
"Isn't it? We've protected it all this time, waiting for the day Arceus returns to us."
Hope bloomed across Sheena's face — she genuinely hoped Arceus might appear within her own lifetime. Unfortunately, the space-time device showed no signs of any disturbance whatsoever, which meant the Original World remained just as still as ever.
She wondered if she'd get to see Arceus before she died.
Caitlin and Cynthia were both studying the jewel closely as well.
"Something's off."
Mammon spoke up abruptly.
"What is it, Mr. Mammon?" Sheena asked, confused.
"This jewel isn't right." Mammon's eyes narrowed slightly.
"...?" Sheena blinked.
"Miss Sheena — you're someone with a special power too, aren't you?"
"Ah — yes, I have the Empathic Gift, inherited from my ancestors."
Sheena looked a little lost.
"I have a special power too — a gift granted to me by Viridian Forest, where I was born." Mammon raised his right hand, a faint green light flickering to life.
"Your Empathic Gift doesn't come with any real perceptive edge, Miss Sheena, so you may never have noticed — this Jewel of Life... there's no energy in it at all."
He said it evenly.
"...?" Sheena still didn't seem to fully grasp it.
"What Mammon means," Caitlin explained, "is that this Jewel of Life is fake. It's just a pretty stone — there's no divine power inside it whatsoever."
Once Mammon had pointed it out, she'd noticed it herself — her considerable psychic ability let her sense it too.
"What?! That's impossible!!"
Sheena understood this time, and her face went white as a sheet.
This was the Jewel of Life her bloodline had guarded and passed down for generations. How could it possibly be fake?
"Could there be some mistake?" Cynthia's brow furrowed deeply.
"There's no mistake. This jewel really is 'hollow' — it's nothing but a beautifully crafted piece of crystal. If you don't believe me, Sheena, pick it up and throw it on the ground yourself." Mammon shook his head.
All the color had drained from Sheena's face by now; her body had begun to tremble faintly. She still couldn't bring herself to believe it — but there was no mistaking her fear.
"If this really were the true Jewel of Life, fused from Arceus's own Plates, it would be utterly indestructible — not even a Pokémon's attack could damage it."
"And if it shatters when dropped, then there's only one possible explanation."
Mammon looked at Sheena, and in that instant she understood exactly what he meant.
Sometime across all these long years — the Jewel of Life had been swapped for a fake.
"I..."
Sheena's hand reached hesitantly toward the jewel, trembling. She thought what Mammon said made sense — she needed to verify it herself. But whether from the sheer weight of the moment, her movements were painfully slow.
At last her fingers closed around it. The Jewel of Life wasn't heavy. She lifted it, then drew in a deep breath.
"Take it easy. If it's the genuine article, it won't break."
Hearing Mammon's voice at her ear, Sheena gritted her teeth and let go of her grip.
The Jewel of Life fell.
Crack—
The instant it struck the hard stone floor, the beautiful "Jewel of Life" let out a sharp, brittle sound — and in the next moment, it shattered.
It really was nothing more than a piece of crystal.
Sheena felt the world spin, her vision going dark, her whole body suddenly going limp as though the strength had drained out of her all at once, leaving her unable to stay standing.
"Sheena!"
Cynthia rushed to catch her, but even with a firm grip on her arm, Sheena sank down onto the floor anyway, staring blankly at the shattered jewel with vacant eyes.
"How... how could this be..."
She stared dumbly at the fragments scattered across the ground. It really had just been a fake, all along.
Then what had all her guarding, all these years, even been for?
She'd spent her whole life holding onto hope — hope that Arceus would one day appear, so she could return the Jewel of Life with her own two hands, and thank it properly for the blessing it had granted a thousand years ago.
But now she couldn't even bear to imagine it — if she'd actually handed this fake to Arceus, what would Arceus have thought of her?
"Sheena, hold on. Has anyone infiltrated the ruins before, that you know of?"
Cynthia tried to pull her back up, but couldn't manage it, and settled instead for comforting her while she asked.
"No — no, there hasn't been," Sheena said, her eyes reddening as she shook her head over and over. "The Jewel of Life — I've always valued it more than my own life. Other than Kevin, no one else even knows where it's kept."
"And Kevin is a fellow ruins guardian I grew up with, from childhood. There's no way he'd ever steal it."
Her voice had begun to break with tears.
"Then what we can say for certain is that this jewel has been a fake since at least your grandparents' generation — possibly earlier."
Mammon hadn't expected this either. Even with the story having diverged so completely from the movie, the Jewel of Life had still, somehow, ended up swapped for a fake.
In the film, it had been Kicchin — the very subordinate who betrayed Damos — who'd stolen the real Jewel and replaced it with a counterfeit. Sheena's line had guarded and passed that fake down for generations, never realizing the truth until the revived, present-day Arceus itself crushed it underfoot.
As for the real Jewel of Life — it had actually still been hidden somewhere within these ruins all along. Kicchin simply never had time to smuggle it out; he'd died alongside Damos at the hands of an enraged, ambushed Arceus before he ever got the chance.
"Hnngh..."
The young guardian's composure had finally crumbled entirely; she buried her face in her hands and wept. She had no idea what to do anymore. If she at least knew who'd stolen it, that would be something — but she didn't even know that much. It might not even have been someone from her own generation. How was she supposed to search for something like that? She had no idea where to even begin.
"Stay strong. If you have people you can call on, send them to search the ruins and the area around Michina first."
"Or have some Pokémon search for it. Pokémon tend to be sensitive to objects charged with strong energy — they might be able to find it."
This wasn't even a hint anymore — Mammon was being completely direct.
"Pokémon... that's right! Pokémon!"
Sheena finally remembered. She had no idea where to look herself, but they might.
She hastily wiped away her tears and got to her feet, running out of the ruins, her quick steps betraying just how urgent she now felt.
"Sheena?"
The other three followed after her, Cynthia watching in confusion.
Sheena came to a stop directly in front of the ancient shrine, hands clasped tightly together and pressed to her chest, eyes shut tight. An inexplicable surge of energy began pouring out from her.
"Please help me! Dialga!!"
(End of Chapter)
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