Aah. There it is.

[Giratina grins, lumbers towards it, and -

- vanishes. Follow?]

Mm. It is a point anchored to the outside.

More secure. This is not the Distortion World we are walking in, you see.

[can it be learnings time]

...This will take a while to explain. It is called a mystery dungeon, and in my own world is taken for granted. I do not often have to tell this story, you see.

...I will try to keep it simple, but I will start at the beginning.

Our world was once very young - very young, and very lively. But that was not so fortunate for the life that had begun to creep and crawl upon its surface. We who came before Pokemon work surely, but slowly...over the course of many generations of mortals. It may have been too late for life to flourish, if there had not been a decision made to share our powers with the creatures called Pokemon. Their presence upon the earth, in that way, would...settle it down, you see. And it seemed to work as it should have.

Time marched on - but as it did, it began to do things it should not have. We realized that the powers that made the world grow were placing a heavy burden on Dialga's domain, somehow, and came to the decision to solve that problem in much the same way. The Timekeeper would make...objects, as pillars to hold up time, and himself in the center. They are called Time Gears, and they would be kept safe by mortals.

Do you follow?

Pokemon are mortal, and we are not. It may be different for other worlds.

[nod]

...It would have gone perfectly, had one of our own not betrayed us then.

We do not speak its name.

[...that's not quite true. Most don't like to - Giratina herself does not fear that one. But of them all, it was Cresselia who was hurt the most, and it stands to reason that this one easily could be as well...]

Its identity does not matter, for its betrayal came when it discarded its name and face to practice deceit. It riled the mortals to war, chased the humans away...endangered the Time Gears. And that was its goal - to strike down time itself and claim our world as its own.

...I cannot say.

[And that is a "fuck idk" sort of tone of voice right there.]

It did not succeed. The humans were forced to leave their homes - but they survived. Many of us were injured - but we fought on. And the Time Gears...we reclaimed them from the mortals, and hid them away, and to this day guard them well.

It fell within my duty to repair the damage that the Traitor had done by shattering Time Gears. I had to contain the chaos, somehow, and give it a way to exist without consuming the world.

[and that is where this place comes in]

...From where they are anchored...it starts there.

Time ceases to flow. Light ceases to shine. The world becomes still and grey and cold. Where things once fell, they hang suspended. Where the wind once blew, the air dies. Only life persists in motion, and it is an eternal and miserable experience.

The effect of another Time Gear puts a stop to the darkness. But where there is no Time Gear - where another was broken - it continues on. And on, and on, another and another, until the world is consumed. It is called the Planet Cessation.

...I could not say. I rule death, not life, and that alone has the fortune of being...extinguished in such a world.

[She closes her eyes thoughtfully.]

And so our world lives on. Still young, and still troubled; and with little hope for the stability others have achieved.

But the time for regrets is long past. All I can do is continue to watch over these places, and slowly restore the balance needed.