The Space Candle

by Matthew Andrews, aged 12, Holton-Beckering

It was cold. It was always cold. And dark. It was always dark. Nothing moved. It was silent. It was always silent. Nothing had happened here for 5,000 years. That was about to change.
Two red eyes appeared, shining like blood in the pitch dark. Six legs shifted. Two wings unfurled from a stretching back, blacker than the darkness surrounding them. A mouth opened, and a piercing screech exploded from it. The first noise in 5,000 years echoed through The Distortion World. The Pokémon in the real world below had no idea what was about to happen. The creature reared up and screamed again. Giratina was awake!

“Remind me why we have to go to this dumb party?” My little brother was always complaining.
“It’s not a party Riolu, it’s the Space Festival. When Palkia made space, he put a candle in our forest to keep it right. We have to relight the candle every 100 years or space will fall apart!”
“If you say so…”
Elder Charizard always says tell the story from start to finish so I’ll try that. Basically, I’m Lucario. I live in The Forest with my (annoying) little brother Riolu, my friend Milotic, the town elder, Charizard, and loads of other Pokémon, from Abra to Zangoose. The Space Candle is the most important thing in the forest, and our story begins with me and Riolu heading off to the relighting ceremony.

The mud was really thick underfoot, the bug Pokémon were driving me mad with their buzzing, and if Riolu jumped in one more puddle I was going to whack him into next year. Not really ideal conditions for a festival but the weather can’t be helped. If only a forest Pokémon knew Sunny Day…
Soon we made it to a clearing with the Space Candle in the middle. I spotted Milotic in the lake beside the clearing and ran off to join her. Riolu ran off, probably to jump in more puddles. All the Pokémon were gathering in the clearing, and as darkness fell, Elder Charizard stepped forward.
“Forest Pokémon!” the crowd fell silent, “I will now relight the Candle of Space, and then the celebrations will begin!”
He stepped forward and charged up his Fire Blast. I wonder what would happen if the town elder was a water Pokémon… anyway, on with the story. Charizard prepared to shoot his fire at the flickering candle, when a tremendous crack sounded and the clearing filled with smoke.
When the smoke cleared, the crowd gasped as they saw Giratina stood over Charizard. Charizard fired at Giratina but Giratina dodged and returned with a Shadow Claw. As Charizard’s limp body smashed into the dirt, there was another crack and Palkia appeared, prompting more gasps.
“Yeah, ’coz one mythical Pokémon wasn’t good enough for us,” whispered Milotic. I found that it is possible to giggle while watching your town elder get battered by an insane legendary Pokémon and gave Milotic a gentle nudge. Meanwhile Giratina and Palkia were facing off. Palkia smashed Giratina with a Spacial Rend, but Giratina dodged it with Shadow Force and popped out to hit Palkia with the attack. Palkia looked dazed and Giratina’s next Shadow Claw sent him spiralling into the trees, knocked out.
Giratina paraded round the watching Pokémon, as if daring someone to fight him. I noticed the candle looked dangerously close to going out and prayed for a miracle. Maybe Dialga, the Lord of Time would appear. Or maybe he wouldn’t. Then the candle blinked out.
I think that might be what made me act, or maybe I just hated watching Giratina beat people down. The trees were already stretched out of shape, the grass was rippling and the lake water was twisting into spirals and curves. I felt my muscles tense and, not knowing what I was doing, I let rip with my Extreme Speed attack and smashed into Giratina. He was caught off balance and I thought, “If he’s going to kill me anyway I might as well give him something to remember me by.”
As Giratina regained his balance I shot my signature Aura Sphere into his face and followed up with a double kick, but as he reeled his claw hit me and sent me flying into the lake. He walked up to me and readied the Shadow Claw that had knocked out Charizard and Palkia, but at that moment an Ice Beam hit him in the head. I saw all the forest Pokémon fire all sorts of different types of attack at him. Pinned down under everything from Fire Blast to String Shot to Hydro Pump to Gust, Giratina could only try to block the attacks as Palkia sent him a Spacial Rend, sending him crashing into the dirt.
“LONG OVERDUE,” roared Palkia, smashing a Water Pulse into Giratina, then giving him an Aqua Tail for good measure. “GET BACK TO WHERE YOU BELONG, GIRATINA!”

Palkia grabbed Giratina and Giratina glowed for a minute before disappearing back into The Distortion World. Palkia turned round and said, “THANK YOU, POKÉMON OF THE FOREST,” then there was a flash and Palkia was gone as well.
There was a crackle and everyone turned to see the candle back alight. Charizard stood illuminated in the glow from its flame. As everyone ran up to the elder, I slumped on the grass and looked up, and maybe it was just a coincidence, but in the sky there were only three constellations. Giratina and Palkia stood facing each other. And the other one? Well let’s just say it looked a little like yours truly…