975Outsiders (ZnT/Pokémon Reverse Summon)
Season 1, Episode 1, Chapter 1
Being a god, Arceus mused, was not as easy as people think. Godhood was a massive responsibility. Between temporal anomalies, extra-dimensional threats, Ultra Beasts, and preventing his creations from destroying each other... et cetera, et cetera. Not that Arceus would bemoan His role in existence (He was quite happy with the task fate had appointed Him) but in the end, He would not wish it on anyone. Those thoughts, and more like them, surfaced irregularly as Arceus went about His duties as the creator-god of His iteration of Earth.
Quieting His thoughts, Arceus cast His senses out, immediately aligning on Keldeo, the youngest of the Swords of Justice. He smiled, feeling proud of the young colt's achievement, having finally been accepted as the full-fledged fourth member of the trio, then briefly passed over a man with messy, mint-colored hair. This man, the chosen of Reshiram, was working to bring Humans and Pokémon closer together, beyond the traditional Trainer-Battler relationship that defined so many. Indeed, there were few that held the conviction that this man had, such as a raven-haired boy who had touched so many.
Moving on, Arceus rested His gaze on Shamouti Island to check on the Lugia living there and his flock. The last time the three winged mirages got riled up, it took Arceus days to clean up their mess and ensure that there wouldn't be any lasting damage. No one wanted a repeat of that... incident. To His relief, it appeared that there weren't any problems on or near the island, for the moment at least.
Arceus returned to observing the world, taking note of events as they transpired: big or small, good or ill. A couple holding hands, an egg appearing at a day care, criminals preparing a heist, an old Pokémon breathing its last. Arceus could gaze upon all of His children, no matter who or where they are, and His gaze fell next on a particular young boy currently in Alola.
"Humph, they were bound to win at some point," Arceus chuckled to Himself, noting how a familiar trio of criminals finally managed to beat the boy they had been hounding after so many years. His amusement turned into curiosity as a Bewear arrived to take them away. "Strange, I wonder how-"
Then Arceus felt it, a disturbance reaching out across His world towards a specific target. He had plenty of experience dealing with anomalies like this and immediately set about canceling and locating the source.
"Where are you?" Arceus questioned as He began to narrow down His search. Much to His annoyance, the anomaly repeated itself. That was odd. Usually, it only happened once before the source gave up. Having it happen twice in a row was a rare occurrence.
Soon after, Arceus located the source: a world that was both separate yet connected to His, one He had been dealing with for the past six millennia. He should have figured, but there'd been a few false leads over the centuries and He wanted to be sure. Arceus normally couldn't gaze upon worlds beyond His own. He could gaze upon all His children, yes, but His sight didn't extend to where His children weren't. This time, however, He was in luck. For the first time in six thousand years, He could finally look upon the world that had given Him so much trouble. A single family located in a small village on the western subcontinent, with one luckily employed at the location of the anomaly - they were His.
Arceus noted that much had changed since the last time He saw it in full, although that admittedly was only a partial observation. That was to be expected, after all; six thousand years had passed. All things change given enough time. The small tribes of the past had coalesced into kingdoms, united into empires, prospered for a time, declined and collapsed via decadence or infighting or outside invasion or natural disaster or all the above, and picked themselves up to start all over again. A time traveler could learn much more, but the most basic glance at the number and architectural variety of abandoned and ruined structures suggested that this cycle of civilizations had repeated itself on the western subcontinent at least five times... in the last two thousand years alone. At the present, the region's technological and cultural state was roughly equivalent to His world's Early Modern period, with the mages, who had once lived alongside their non-magical neighbors as their protectors, asserting a divine right to rule over them.
"How crude," Arceus muttered to Himself. That information, although interesting, was not His concern. He focused again on the source of the anomaly: oddly enough, a young girl, with hair on the lighter side of pink, dressed in what appeared to be a university uniform - judging by the dress of her compatriots - complete with a pentagram-engraved brooch and cape. Compared to her compatriots, she was quite unassuming, with the only distinguishable features being her pink hair and less than developed figure.
"A Familiar Summoning. Of course," Arceus snarled as He pieced together what was happening. Judging by the creatures that were around what He assumed were her fellow students, Arceus figured that the girl before him was the source of the disturbance. Worse, given what her intended summoning was, she could only have one possible affinity. "Void." Oh, how Arceus hated the term, ever since He first encountered this meaning of it six thousand years earlier. Arceus was about to turn away when, to His surprise, the girl began to chant again.
If twice was rare, three times was unprecedented. No other Void mage had ever attempted to summon something from His world three times. Most gave up after the first try, or simply summoned something else, so what was driving this girl to try to summon one of His children three times? Was it power? After all, her target had a lot of potential. Status? Fame? At this point, His annoyance became cold anger at the rosette's actions and He was about to dismiss the summoning again when an errant thought stopped Him. Although Arceus had been dealing with these summonings for thousands of years, He never had a chance to discover why they kept happening, why those "Void" mages kept trying to enslave his children. Until now, Arceus never had the opportunity to explore Halkegenia in full, merely glimpses as he stopped the various summonings from over the years. But since this girl kept attempting her summoning, He could now to hijack the summoning from the onset, turning it from a one-way gate into a two-way bridge that He could, at least for the moment, use to his advantage. While He would need a scout to better understand the Void mage and the land itself, Arceus already had a little sprite in mind for the task, and although in Halkegenia the gate would only be open for a fraction of a second, for beings of time that would be an eternity. It would be more than enough to satiate both of their curiosities.
Now, after all these years, He had a perfect opportunity to question one of these mages in person, to discover why they kept occurring and why this girl persisted instead of giving up like all her predecessors. If he could stop a summoning, what stopped Him from reversing it and bringing her to Him? He could easily pull her through, interrogate her, and return her to the university without any of her peers noticing.
With His mind made up, Arceus ordered the sprite to gather intel on the Void mage and the land she called home. Once Celebi made it through, Arceus forced His will upon the spell, overpowered the magic and intention of the caster, and instead of something crossing over into her world, she was brought over to His.
The smoke from Louise's latest failure cleared, revealing... a place that wasn't the Academy grounds. She stood on a floor of the clearest glass she'd ever seen, framed by pristine lines of white marble. A matching stairway behind her connected to a ruin of much less intact stone that looked like it was maybe possibly important hundreds of years ago. If the clouds further below were any indication, the ruin itself was atop a mountain as high as any in the Romalian Alps, and with her standing a hundred feet above that... it was enough to make her a little woozy. Just a little, though. This still wasn't as bad as that one time she and Henrietta stole a flight on Mr. Fluffles, but at le- A curt series of taps drew Louise's attention to the floor's other occupant, a great, white, horse-like, obviously magical... creature.
The beast itself towered over Louise, standing twice as tall as the girl but feeling even greater, as if she was a mere ant and it a human. It stood on four legs, the white of most of its fur accented by dark gray on its lower neck and underside. Three horns adorned its head, two small ones pointing up from the sides and a grand one on the back - or maybe it was more of a mane? Its hooves shone like pure gold and around its waist was a cross, almost circular in design, shining the same gold as its hooves and adorned with emeralds matching its eyes. It had no mouth Louise could see, but to her shock it somehow began to speak directly into her mind.
"Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Vallière," the creature began, in a deep, powerful tone that sounded equal parts heavenly and utterly terrifying to the strawberry blonde girl. It continued, not in a natural speaking tone but as if it was simply reading a list of facts - and Louise soon realized the comparison was all too accurate. "Age: 16. Gender: Female. Species: Human, Mage. Status: Daughter of Duchess Karin de la Vallière and current second year student at the Tristainian Academy of Magic."
"Wha…where am I?! Who are you!?" Louise yelled, frightened out of her mind. To her frustration, the creature ignored her and continued.
"Theoretical applications of magic are stellar, receiving top marks from all professors and tutors." Louise perked up at that, if only slightly, still too confused and frightened to go any further. "Practical applications leave…something to be desired." And just like that she deflated. "Ranking: Dot. Affinity: Void."
"Wait what!?" Louise yelled out in confusion. "I'm a what mage!?"
"You will not interrupt again," The creature declared, the sheer force of its statement quieting Louise despite herself. Satisfied, it repeated, "Affinity: Void. You were attempting to summon a…familiar, yes?"
After a few moments, Louise spoke up again, her questions pouring out in a flood. "Wha…What? What is going on?! Where am I?! Who are you!? Am I dead?! Oh Founder, I'm dead aren't I! They all said this would happen! I said it wouldn't but now I'm here and now I'm dead and…!"
"Silence," the creature ordered. It sighed, then carried on. "You are not dead. I brought you here to answer a few questions. I will answer yours; you will answer mine," the creature proposed.
Louise didn't really know what to think. At the very least, she wasn't dead, but the way the creature spoke... she didn't have a choice, not really. Louise responded before it could grow any more irritated, "I…okay. Before I answer any of your questions, I dema- I want to know who you are, where we are, and why I am here. ...Please?"
The creature stood there, almost in contemplation, before it answered. "I am Arceus, the Original One, the creator of my world. You stand in the Hall of Origin, my home atop Mt. Coronet in the land of Sinnoh, the place upon which I watch over all my children. This is not Tristain, Halkegenia, or any place in your world. You are in mine. Now, I will ask again. You were attempting to summon a familiar, yes?"
Louise almost didn't hear the question, she was in so much shock. The creature, Arceus, basically called itself a god who had taken her not only out of Tristain but to another world altogether. Not only was that unheard of, it was heresy of the highest order... and she was inclined to believe it. After all, it brought her here, and she could hardly deny its power while standing in such sheer presence. "I…yes. I was partaking in the Springtime Familiar Summoning Ceremony. It's a sacred-"
"I know what it is. It is a ritual that all mages undertake after their sixteenth year of age where they summon a familiar. I would know what it is, as I have been dealing with it for the past six thousand years." Annoyance and anger leaked into Arceus's voice, Louise could tell, as its tone intensified. "Every generation, for the past six millennia, at least one person, most of the time many, has attempted to 'summon' one of my children, to spirit them away from their homes and families without any regard for them, and bind them to their will!" Arceus was yelling at this point, and Louise was starting to feel the air around her shift with Arceus. "So, when I find that you attempted to kidnap one of my children not once, not twice, but three times, I demand answers!" The force of this last shout was enough to knock Louise over.
"I…Mr. Arceus, I did not intend to kidnap one of your children. I intended to only summon a creature from my home, not from yours. Here." Louise began to panic at this point. Who wouldn't, after being told by an angry parent you almost summoned their kid? ...A parent who could easily kill you, as it turned out. It was a long way down from the roof of the world.
"It wasn't from my Hall, the mountain below, or even Sinnoh. All creatures on the Earth, from Humans, Pokémon to the smallest insect, are my children, my responsibility. After what that fool did, I was not about to let another one of my children suffer at the hands of a Void mage!" Arceus snarled, but then seemed to calm itself upon looking at the fear on Louise's face. "For the past six thousand years I have blocked these summonings - and yes, before you ask, I am the one who stopped your first two attempts. But when you kept trying to summon one of my children, rather than stop like all your predecessors did and either abandon the summoning or summon something from your world, you persisted. Why?"
"Wait, you…stopped my summoning? Both times?" Louise asked, hope and irritation rising in her voice: hope from the knowledge that she perhaps wasn't a failure, and irritation as to know beginning to realize why she failed. "Did you cause all my spells to misfire too?!"
"Only your failed summons were my doing. As I said previously, you are a Void mage and simply used the wrong element. Now answer the question: Why. Did. You. Keep. Persisting?"
At this point, Louise was no longer scared, or at least that fear she had got replaced by anger, and she refused to back down. "That was not my intention! I kept trying because if I didn't summon something, anything, I would have been a failure as a mage and as a noble!"
Arceus stared down at her, looking at her with a strange look in its eyes, before it once again spoke. "I see. Not malice, then, but desperation?"
"Yes!" Louise yelled.
After a moment of contemplation, Arceus calmly answered. "I believe you."
"Thank you. Now, I will take my familiar and be on my way." Louise shot back, fully done with this situation, and turned to leave.
"No." Arceus's abrupt reply caught Louise off guard, causing her to trip.
"What!? Why not!?" Louise yelled back at Arceus, in righteous anger.
"You are not worthy of it." Arceus' answer stopped all thoughts in Louise's head. "No matter. You will be home shortly. No time will have passed for the others." Arceus turned his back towards Louise, preparing to send her back, however only one thought passed through Louise's mind.
'Not worthy? NOT WORTHY!' Louise shook with indignation. How dare this thing, this foreign god, this overgrown GOAT! Tell her she wasn't worthy after all she'd been through! She could not, would not return without a familiar, without proof of being a mage, not after being told the only reason why she wouldn't have proof was become some being decided she didn't deserve it. So, with its back turned, Louise used the one thing she knew she was good at, and aimed at the back of Arceus' head. "Fireball!"
The spell went wide, trailing off into the sky and exploding in the distance, hitting nothing but air. Arceus turned, and faced her in amusement.
"Not worthy!? I am not worthy!? What, am I not good enough!? Is the ridicule and humiliation I went through not 'worthy' enough to gain anything!?" Louise screamed out, even as Arceus levitated her up to its face.
"You are not worthy of it because you didn't earn it. You summoning one of my children would have been cheating. The runes you would have placed upon it could have bent it to your will. You wouldn't have earned its friendship. It would be your slave!" Arceus's voice could have frozen lava, with cracks of anger coming though as he continued, but Louise was unmoved.
"Oh, so if I 'earned' it then there would be no problem!?"
"Correct."
"Well then, what do I have to do to 'earn the privilege' that is my familiar!?"
At this, Arceus went silent as he mulled the situation over, quickly going through the possible futures for the girl in front of him. He could just send her back regardless, but that wouldn't solve the issue at hand, and would also have started her on a very dark path. Finally, after what felt like an age, he spoke.
"You would have to go on a Journey, wher-" Before Arceus could even finish his sentence, Louise interrupted him.
"I'll do it."
"What?"
"I said I'll do it. I don't care what this 'Journey' requires of me, if it means getting my familiar and proving you wrong I'll do anything!"
Arceus went silent for a moment before speaking with degree of finality "Very well. I will give you your chance to prove yourself."
"Of course. Now, send me back to Tristain and I…"
"What made you think that your Journey would be in Tristain? In Halkegenia? Or even in your world?"
At this, Louise's thoughts, for a second time in about…ten minutes? Time seemed different here, but regardless, dread began to build in Louise.
"Wha…. what do you mean?" She asked timidly, slowly realizing that she just agreed to something that she really shouldn't have.
"Your Journey will be in my world, on Earth." Louise almost wanted to ask if the overgrown goat was serious but with one look at its face said it all.
"I didn't agree to that!" Louise yelled out as a white light began to surround her.
"Oh, but you did. 'I don't care what this 'Journey' requires of me, if it means getting my familiar and proving you wrong I'll do anything'," Arceus said in a perfect recreation of her own voice. "I will be monitoring your progress. You have one year to prove yourself to me, after which we will meet again."
"NOW JUST A MINUTE YOU DAMNED GOAT! I DEMA-!" Louise screamed before vanishing in a bright light, leaving Arceus alone once again.
"As noisy as an Exploud." Arceus mused, before a green flash appeared beside Him. "Have you finished exploring?" Arceus asked, quickly noting the concerned expression on her face.
The small green sprite quickly started chattering off a reply. "Yes, and it's not good, not good at all there. A large war is on the verge of breaking out and a big, no, HUGE disaster that is on the way, you remember Shamouti? The oversized birds throwing a temper tantrum? That is NOTHING compared to this! And that's not even mentioning the-"
"I see," Arceus muttered as He quickly processed the information. Apparently, that other world had more problems than he initially thought, and without a reliable way to travel there was not much He could do. Perhaps... "How long can she be gone before the timeline begins to fracture, Celebi?"
Celebi quickly chattered off a reply. "Seven days, maybe, fourteen if we push it. Any more than that and we risk a temporal instability or a cataclysmic spatial collapse or-"
"Very well. Ask Dialga to modify the time dilation. I want a week to have passed, at most, by the time she's done."
"You sure that girl will help things there?" Celebi spoke, looking skeptically at the place where Louise once stood.
"Perhaps, if she proves herself." A short silence fell over the hall before the sprite spoke up.
"Are you sure she's gonna be alright? Getting dropped into a strange world all alone without anyone to help her and only the clothes on her back and-"
"I placed her somewhere she will get the right start to her journey, if she accepts it. I'm not heartless."
Celebi nodded before vanishing in a flash of green light, leaving Arceus alone in the chamber once again.
"Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Vallière. I hope, for your sake, you prove me wrong."
Hello, everyone! I've previously posted this over on , and I wanted to bring this over here as well. I couldn't have done this without the help of Grendel4823, Firebird Zoom, Catboy41, wildrook, and SwiftRosenthal, who all either helped edit this story or helped to write this. We all hope that you enjoy this story, just as we've enjoyed writing it.
We already have several chapters already posted on the Spacebattles thread, and will be posting each chapter one by one on a daily basis until we catch up. After that, we will be moving to a weekly posting schedule. Please let us know what you think! If you have any questions for us, or simply want to discuss the story, please come on over to Spacebattles over here: threads/outsiders-pokémon-familiar-of-zero-crossover-reverse-summon.621934/#post-44832454.
We hope you all enjoy!