"We're nearly there. Hurry now," Darkrai ushered us from the head of the pack.

I watched Jacob from the corner of my eye. He was limping and being careful not to place any weight on his leg. Though he tried to hide it I could see him wince with each step. He's got his paws full; guess I'll have to step up as leader for now.

"Darkrai, where are we going?" I asked.

"we're going to find Arceus."

"Arceus? You know where he is?!" I said, getting excited.

"No, don't you?"

"Us? Why would we know where Arceus is?"

Darkrai stopped moving and turned around. His large blue eye studied Jacob and I intently. "You're telling the truth. You've no idea where Arceus is..."

"No. Why would you think that we do?"

Darkrai's gaze grew distant and he began muttering under his breath.

"What's happening?"

Darkrai kept mumbling and began gesturing wildly before snapping his fingers.

"Darkrai!" I shouted.

Darkrai looked up in surprise and raised his hands innocently. "Hey, no need to shout."

I rolled my eyes in response. "Darkrai, what's going on?"

"I'll go from the start and tell you what I know, but we need to keep moving. Those Pokémon are still after you."

"Why?"

"Do you want me to tell you what I know or not?"

"Yes."

"Then shut up."

Jacob growled in between his quiet whimpers of pain. "Don't. Don't talk to her like that."

Darkrai rolled his eye but otherwise ignored the comment.

"Two weeks ago, Arceus went missing. Normally he doesn't reside in the Pokémon world. Rather he rules over it from his dimension, which presides over this one, so his absence is not unusual. However, when natural disasters; earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes and so on began occurring with greater frequency concern grew. Rayquaza went to speak with Arceus about this, only to discover Arceus was gone. Since then legendries have kept this quiet to limit panic but have been secretly searching day and night. There is no sign of Arceus. He vanished without a trace. We had nothing to go on until last night when Palkia did something... unexpected."

I opened my mouth to ask a question but thought better of it. Something big was going down and it was finally time to find out what; I didn't want to annoy Darkrai again.

"Palkia..." Darkrai said, apparently gathering his thoughts. "Palkia used his spatial powers to broadcast a telepathic message to every Pokémon on the planet. The message warned of an Eevee named Jacob and a Vulpix called Pixie."

"What?" I exclaimed.

"Palkia said that the two of you are fugitives. You somehow kidnapped Arceus and if you were seen you should be captured and delivered to him. You see being the ruler of space Palkia tends to notice when someone calls upon his name: so if you two were sighted or captured simply shout about it and Palkia would notice. No legendary or mythical Pokémon understands why Palkia did this. There was no evidence for it and many of us hold knowledge of your valiance in the fight against Zeraora. Although, admittedly, that fight did leave many legendries divided, hence cooperation has been... limited."

Darkrai took a moment to think and breathe after his long explanation but he shortly began talking again. "When Palkia's message went out I decided to investigate. I sent Jacob a nightmare last night telling him to run and that I would find him."

"That was you?" Jacob asked through his heavy panting. "How'd you know Uxie was trying to kill me?"

"Uxie tried to kill you?" Darkrai replied in surprise.

"You didn't know? Then why'd you say; 'she's going to kill you'?"

"I didn't know how else to wake you up. Convenient though."

"Convenient that Uxie tried to murder me and Pixie!?"

"No. Convenient that I saved you. You're welcome by the way. Damn I'm brilliant. Anyways, Palkia sent out that message about you, do you have any idea why?"

"No," Jacob huffed in annoyance.

'H'm.' I thought; 'Palkia directly targeted us. There must be something special about us. Something we know or something we've done.'

"Palkia helped me come back here after I returned to my world. Why would he target us?" Jacob exclaimed incredulously.

'That's right. Palkia helped me bring Jacob back. Back from another world. Not something we know. Not something we've done, but somewhere we've been!'

I looked up and spoke gravely. "There is one thing. Jacob and I went to a different world: A separate universe. What if Palkia sent us there for a reason?"

"What reason would that be?" Darkrai asked intrigued.

"Those of us with knowledge about this universe, we'd be gone. We'd be out of his way."

"But we came back." Jacob observed confusedly.

"Which means he has someone to frame. Either way he won."

"There you can't tell anyone. Here he has someone to blame. So, Arceus could be in this different universe," Darkrai finished as he understood what I was saying.

"Exactly."

Darkrai floated silently for a second. Jacob took a second to process the idea, but then he smiled at me and nuzzled my cheek. "You're so smart and beautiful."

"One of us should be."

"I agree, one of us should be. And the other should be charming, charismatic, strong."

"I guess both burdens fall to me then," I mock-whined.

Jacob chuckled and licked my cheek. "I love you."

"How much?"

"What?"

"How much do you love me? I know how much I love you."

"Oh really, how much?"

"To the moon and back."

"Out the door jack."

"Round the earth and round again."

"I'll love you lots."

"Till the very end."