Reversal series

Naoki returned to the kitchen with three buckets of reversal water.

He opened the cupboard and took out the ingredients while humming a little tune.

Sister Indeedee, stood nearby and asked curiously, "Ai Ai?"

Naoki chuckled and shook his head. "No, I don't need your help this time. I'll handle it myself, this is just a test."

Hearing this, Indeedee nodded. She thought Naoki was experimenting with new dishes, so she stood quietly by his side, ready to assist if needed.

However, Naoki wasn't planning anything too complicated.

For his first attempt, he decided to use the water to make a simple bowl of clear soup noodles.

He boiled water in a pot, added the noodles, then tossed in sesame oil, salt, chicken seasoning, light soy sauce, chopped green onions, a few slices of ham, shredded mushrooms, two pieces of bok choy, and a perfectly poached egg.

In no time, the bowl of clear soup noodles was ready.

The yellow broth glistened, with the chewy noodles floating in the flavorful soup, a soft poached egg resting on top, garnished with fresh green onions.

Just the sight of it could make anyone's mouth water.

"It smells amazing! I'm getting good at this!" Naoki grinned, proud of his growing cooking skills.

One batch of noodles made three bowls in total.

Naoki lined them up on the stove, then checked each one closely. Information about the three bowls of clear soup noodles appeared in his mind.

[Reversal Noodles and Hearts (S): A delicacy made with water from the Reverse World and premium ingredients.

Cooking effect: After eating, the hearts of humans and Pokémon will be reversed—kind individuals will become evil, evil ones will become kind, timid ones will gain courage, and selfish individuals will become generous.

Comment: Eat with caution!]

"Just as I expected," Naoki muttered to himself.

For both him and the Pokémon on the ranch, this effect was definitely something to consider carefully before trying.

Naoki hesitated, staring at the steaming bowl of noodles, unsure whether to eat it.

His eyes drifted to the other two bowls. At first glance, they seemed the same, but upon closer inspection, there were slight differences.

The names of the two bowls still read "Reversal Noodles," but the suffixes were different.

[Reverseal Noodles and Skill (S): Reverses the Pokémon's abilities, aura, and authority, effective only for Legendary Pokémon.] 

[Reversal Noodles and Body (S): Reverses the physical condition of humans and Pokémon—strong individuals become weak, while weak individuals gain the strength of an ox.]

"Huh? Heart, body, and skill? Three different effects?" Naoki was taken aback.

The heart and body effects were easy enough to understand, but what did "skill" mean?

It only applied to Legendary Pokémon, reversing their powers, aura, and authority.

'Could it mean that if fed to a legendary Pokemon like Giratina, it would transform from the Dragon God of Destruction into the Dragon God of Creation?'

'And what about Xerneas, the God of Life, and Yveltal, the God of Death?'

'If I feed them this food, could I really swap their abilities?'

Naoki was a little unsure.

But his instincts told him that tampering with abilities like this might cause an imbalance in the ecosystem and possibly attract the attention of Zygarde.

However, when he thought about the Pokémon best suited to eat this dish, his mind didn't immediately go to the famous Legendary Pokémon, or even the ones on his own ranch.

Instead, he thought of the four disaster Pokémon sealed in the Paldea region: Chien-Pao, Ting-Lu, Chi-Yu, and Wo-Chien.

Wo-Chien absorbs energy from plants and trees, causing forests to dry up and crops to fail in nearby fields.

Ting-Lu can trigger massive earthquakes. When it swings its massive, tripod-like antlers, it creates cracks over 50 meters deep in the ground.

Chi-Yu, playful by nature, can manipulate flames hotter than 3,000 degrees to melt rocks and gravel, creating a sea of lava to swim through leisurely.

Chien-Pao is innocent in nature, but it can control hundreds of tons of snow, causing avalanches just to play in them.

'But… if I reversed them?'

Wo-Chien could repel insects and weeds. Ting-Lu could make the soil fertile. Chi-Yu might help fisheries flourish, and Chien-Pao could control snowfall, helping crops survive the entire winter.

Wouldn't that create a whole new legend—the Four Great Treasures instead of Four Disasters?

Naoki couldn't help but feel tempted.

He already had some ideas about these four ancient Pokémon, especially the fluffy Snow Leopard. Its ice-typing and soft fur made it perfect for cuddling in the summer.

But given their reputation for disaster, Naoki knew he had to push these thoughts aside.

Yet now, with these reversal noodles, could their fates be entirely rewritten?

After his initial excitement, Naoki took a deep breath and calmed down.

The truth was, he didn't know the current locations of these Pokémon. All he knew was that they were sealed away in the Shrine of Ruin.

To free them, you'd need to remove the stakes from various places first.

"Too complicated..." Naoki muttered.

"There's no rush for this," he decided. The most important thing now was to test the effects of the three bowls of noodles in front of him.

He handed the [Reversal Skill] noodles—since it only worked on Legendary Pokémon—to Brother and Sister Indeedee, asking them to give it a try.

Then, he ate the "Body" noodles himself.

As he slurped down the noodles, Naoki immediately felt changes happening within his body.

The muscles he'd built over years of working on the farm seemed to shrink. Strength drained from his limbs.

When everything settled down, Naoki looked down and realized he had become well, scrawny. Like a stick-thin twig.

Naoki: "..."

Brother and Sister Indeedee gasped in shock at the sight of him.

Naoki twitched his lips, turned around speechlessly, and began boiling water to make a cup of black tea using the water from the Reverse World.

Soon, the tea was brewed, and its information popped into Naoki's mind.

[Reverse Black Tea – Heart (S)]

Naoki shook his head in disbelief and brewed another cup. This time, there was a different effect.

Naoki: "Seems like this is completely random."

After brewing eight cups of black tea in a row, he finally made a cup that seemed just right. 

He quickly drank it, and his body returned to normal, going from a thin, lanky form back to his regular size.

The Indeedee siblings breathed a collective sigh of relief.

While Naoki was eyeing the remaining dishes with heart-reversing and skill-changing effects, an idea suddenly popped into his head.

'What would happen if these were fed to Giratina?'

As everyone knows, Giratina represents shadows and destruction. 

The opposite of those

Light and creation came to Naoki's mind.

Excited by the thought, he hurried over to the lake with black tea and hot noodle soup, then drank a mouthful of the poisonous mushroom soup to access Giratina's domain once more.

This time, as soon as Naoki arrived, he was surprised to see Giratina immediately.

It seemed Giratina had never left and was still lingering in the same spot.

Naoki looked around, noticing that the food he'd previously offered as tribute had vanished. It must have all been eaten by Giratina.

Giratina glared at him. "Human, what are you looking at?"

Naoki smiled confidently. "Were you satisfied with the food I offered you earlier?"

Naoki had figured out the secret to getting along with this intimidating dragon—praise it, stroke its ego, and avoid any sign of confrontation.

Giratina, although pleased, still grumbled, "Human food is nothing special."

Naoki, undeterred, smiled and said, "Well, I've just made some food using the water from your domain. I thought I'd bring it over for you to try."

Giratina raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

It seemed to appreciate this human's attitude. Although Naoki didn't match Giratina's connection with Volo, he was respectful and admired Giratina in his own way.

'Just like humans once built statues for Dialga and Palkia,' Giratina thought.

With a casual gesture, Giratina opened a vortex of time and space.

Naoki called over his sister Indeedee, who carefully poured the hot noodle soup and black tea into the vortex.

The gravity of the Reverse World was strange—similar to space. The tea and soup didn't drip as they would in the real world; instead, they floated gently in the void.

This time, Naoki's offering had two effects: the reversal of personality (heart) and the reversal of abilities (skills). He was curious to see how Giratina would react to these changes.

"Give it a try!" Naoki encouraged.

Giratina glanced at him and, with a flick of its tail, its massive body moved through the void, approaching the floating food.

The hot noodles and black tea disappeared instantly.

'What a rough way to eat!' Naoki couldn't help but think to himself.

He stared at Giratina, waiting for something to happen.

At first, Giratina seemed unaffected after consuming the food. But soon, a strange sensation spread through its body. Giratina's eyes widened in surprise.

A burst of radiant white light suddenly erupted from Giratina's form.

"A Flash move?" Naoki muttered, surprised and puzzled.

He had grown glowing crops before, and food made from those crops sometimes gave Pokémon the ability to learn Flash. Back then, only Pawmot had understood how to use it, and the glowing looked similar to this.

Moments later, as the bright white light covering Giratina faded, Naoki was left speechless.

A completely transformed dragon stood before him.

Giratina's eyes were no longer blood-red but had turned a sacred golden color. The golden parts of its body had shifted to a pure, holy white, and the blood-red stripes running across its form were now a serene blue.

Hovering before Naoki, the massive dragon gave off an entirely different aura.

Naoki's eyes widened even further.

'This is… Shiny Giratina?!'

'No… It's even more distinct than the usual Shiny form!'

Maybe it should be called "Light Giratina," much like Shadow Mewtwo or Shadow Lugia!

At that moment, Giratina looked at the human before it with calm eyes. "What did you feed me?" it asked.

Naoki hesitated and cautiously replied, "Just some human food with magical effects?"

To Naoki's astonishment, Giratina's normally fearsome face softened into what could only be described as a grin.

"I can feel the magical changes it caused within me. This is a sensation I've never experienced before. Thank you very much. You're always welcome to visit my domain."

Naoki was in shock, unable to believe what he was hearing. 'Giratina has changed!' he thought.

This was definitely not the Giratina he once knew!

Seeing Naoki's shock, Giratina chuckled softly and added, "Don't be so surprised. I quite like this new feeling. Come on, let me show you around my domain!"

Naoki blinked in disbelief. 'This was certainly not the Giratina he remembered.'

Giratina wanted to use its powers to give Naoki a flying tour, but nothing happened. Confused, it turned its head to look at him.

Naoki quickly explained, "I'm not really in the Reverse World right now."

Giratina looked puzzled. "Why don't you come in then?"

Naoki thought to himself, 'Am I not scared you'll bombard me with your ultimate move for another ten minutes?' But he couldn't say that, so instead, he replied, "I haven't figured out how to get in yet."

Giratina said, "That's easy. I can connect to the real world through the water. I can open a portal for you anytime."

Naoki: "..."

Seeing his hesitation, Giratina glanced around its territory and sighed, "Compared to the world you live in, this place is awful. Definitely not fit for humans. It would be great if flowers could grow here."

Giratina's tone was wistful, and Naoki thought that if this were the old Giratina, it wouldn't just be envious—it would be full of jealousy and anger. That's likely why Giratina once joined forces with Volo, trying to cause a rift in space-time to destroy the real world. Just like an unappreciated child seeking revenge on their parents, with Arceus being that "parent."

Suddenly, Giratina invited him, "I see you're good at growing flowers. Can you come here and help me plant some on those floating islands?"

Naoki: "..."

He didn't know how to respond.

'Help'.

'If Giratina wakes up from this, it'll never let me go!'

At that moment, black energy started swirling around Giratina's body. Within seconds, the "light" Giratina reverted back to its original form.

It glared at Naoki, eyes wide, and growled, "What did you do to me?!"

Naoki, surprisingly, felt a sense of relief and said sincerely, "It's great to see you like this."

Hearing that, Giratina's anger deflated almost immediately. It huffed twice, then grumbled, "Forget what I just said! I'm not jealous! Foolish human!"

Naoki, taken aback, asked, "Wait… were you still yourself in that state?"

Although the wording wasn't clear, Giratina understood the question. It glared and snapped, "I'm always myself!"

Naoki fell into thought. 'The effect of the food doesn't seem to be permanent. Or maybe it's because Giratina is the master of the Reverse World and can change back on its own.'

He pondered further, 'It seems when a Pokémon's mind is changed, they're still the same Pokémon, just with a shifted personality. So, Giratina's comments earlier—about envying the real world—were genuine?'

Naoki smiled and asked, "Does your invitation still stand?"

Giratina looked confused for a moment, then realized he was talking about the invitation to plant flowers. A flicker of emotion crossed its mind, but it wasn't ready to acknowledge it.

Irritably, Giratina retorted, "I never said anything like that!"

"Okay, okay," Naoki said with a chuckle, sensing the conversation had reached its end. "I'll head back now. See you next time!"

As he spoke, the effects of the poisonous mushroom soup began to fade, and Naoki left the Reverse World.

Giratina, mid-complaint, paused, stunned.

'Did he just leave like that?'

...

Hey, while you're at it, don't forget to drop some power stones! ⚡✨