Joe

I was surprised that Flygon was able to fly such a long distance. When we battled Mars at Lake Verity, she took a shadow ball straight to her midsection from Purugly, and I didn't think she'd get up. By the time she did, however, Mars had gotten away with Mesprit in a Team Galactic helicopter. If my other pokemon hadn't been busy fighting the rest of the Galactic grunt's pokemon, I'd have stopped her.

Professor Rowan had Alex, Steph, and myself stationed at each of the three lakes here in Sinnoh. Alex at Lake Acuity, Steph at lake Valor, and myself at Lake Verity. The others had similar defeats, and the other two Galactic commanders, Jupiter and Saturn, got away with Uxie and Azelf. We all ended up at the pokemon centers in the nearby towns, to heal our pokemon. About two hours ago, I got a video call from professor Rowan on my poke gear.

"Joe," he forced out, his voice thick with worry, "Team Galactic has all three members of the Lake Trio. I've gotten word from our spy inside Galactic that their leader, Cyrus, is indeed on his way to Mt. Coronet. His helicopter just took off from their base in Eterna City. They'll be there within an hour. Joe, I need you to head straight there, immediately."

I nodded. "Of course, professor. Nurse Joy is almost done healing my pokemon. Once they're ready, we'll get going. What about the others?"

"I've already spoken with Alex and Steph, and they're on their way there now. Our spy was able to conceal a homing beacon on his uniform. I'm sending you the frequency and a digital map of where he is right now."

My poke gear emitted a couple of quick beeps. A small envelope appeared on the screen in the bottom left-hand corner, indicating I had a new message. I checked it, and it showed a digital map of Sinnoh, automatically zooming in on the homing beacon from the spy, marked by a red dot. The dot was about three miles outside of Eterna city, and making quick distance from there to Mt. Coronet.

I got out of the map and back to professor Rowan's call. "Thanks professor, I'll be on my way in a little bit, don't worry!"

He nodded, and cut the video out. I'd never been involved in something this big before. I didn't even understand the complete range of implications of Cyrus' plan. Hell, I didn't even know exactly what his plan was, I just knew that it was up to us to save the Lake Trio and stop him, whatever his plans were. Once my pokemon were healed up, I hopped on Flygon's back and we sped off for Mt. Coronet.

Alex

I could tell that Charizard was extremely uncomfortable flying in such cold. That's why I didn't use her when I battled Jupiter. Now that I think about it, I probably should've used her against that damn Bronzong. Blaziken almost had it beaten down, but all it took was one psybeam to put him out.

I was almost at Mt. Coronet now. After the call from professor Rowan, I hopped on Charizard and we sped towards the mountain. From what he told me a few minutes ago when he called again, Joe and Steph were already on their way. I knew Steph didn't have any pokemon that could fly, so I called Frank, who was nearby, and asked him to go pick her up. Ever since our adventure in Hoenn, Frank decided to become a full-time bird pokemon trainer. He's even got his own section of forest that he claimed, and he uses it to raise and train bird pokemon.

From up in the sky, Sinnoh, and especially the northern, snow-covered areas, was amazingly beautiful. I could see out for miles. And after about two hours, I was nearly to Mt. Coronet. The mountain range that housed it stretched from north to south, all the way to the very southern tip of Sinnoh. The mountains were capped with brilliantly white snow. But this was no pleasure flight. I had to rescue Uxie, and the rest of the Lake Guardians. I'd let Jupiter get away last time, but not now. After I'd healed my pokemon, I promised myself that I'd get her back for hurting Uxie.

Finally, I reached Mt. Coronet. It stood tall above ever other mountain in the range. It was so high, actually, that the very tip of it was above the clouds. I would head straight up there to check things out, but I didn't want to risk Charizard's health. Before landing, I did a quick pass over the mountain, to see if anyone was there yet. Sure enough, I saw about a dozen Galactic grunts outside the entrance to what looked like a cave on a steep cliff. Hoping they hadn't seen me, I doubled back and landed Charizard on a nearby cliff. We would wait until the others got here, then make our way around the side of the mountain and hit them hard. Just after I put Charizard back into her ball, I heard a voice come out from behind me.

It had a hard, yet caring sound to it. "I see you're the first one here. You'd better call the others and let them know where to meet up."

I turned around, and there stood a tall woman with waist-length blonde hair. She had black pants, a black blouse with fur around the cuffs, a long black coat with fur at the bottom, and black hair bands above her ears that reminded me of Joe's Lucario's aura sensor, but with Umbreon's golden bands. I immediately recognized her.

"Cynthia!" I cried out, and ran over to give the Sinnoh league elite four champion a running hug. She wrapped her arms around me and laughed quietly. "Oh man, I haven't seen you since Celestic town! What are you doing here?"

She put me down, then replied with a stern face "Alex, you know why I'm here. You didn't think that professor Rowan would give you three the task of saving the world and rescuing the Lake Guardians, and not have someone to help you out, did you?" She smiled, then continued "Besides, after Galactic's raid on Celestic town, my hometown, I've dedicated every resource available to finding and stopping them. Myself, along with a few of the gym leaders here in Sinnoh, have been working around the clock to rooting out Team Galactic and stopping their operations in Eterna city and Pastoria city."

Shocked, I replied "Wow, that's amazing, Cynthia." Remembering that Joe and Steph still didn't know where to meet up, I took out my poke gear. "Oh, I need to call the others to let them know to meet up here."

I took out my poke gear and set up a three-way call with Joe and Steph. Video of their faces came up side by side on my screen. "Joe, Steph, I'm here at Mt. Coronet with Cynthia. I've found a great place for us to meet up. I'm sending you guys the coordinates, get here as soon as possible!"

Joe nodded. "Okay, wait there for us, Alex. Have you found out where Galactic is meeting?"

I nodded. "Yeah, they're just on the other side of the mountain. I was thinking we could meet up here, then fly around the side and attack from the air."

Steph nodded, then said "Sounds great. Frank and I are about an hour out, we'll be there soon."

"Yeah, I'm about forty-five minutes from where you are, Alex," said Joe. "Tell Cynthia I said hi, okay?"

Cynthia came over, smiling, and said "Hello, Joe, long time no see. Hurry up and get over here."

Joe nodded, then his video cut out, followed shortly by Steph's. Now all that was left was to wait for them.

Steph

Flying on Fearow's back was one of the most terrifying (and fun) things that I'd ever done in my life. When Frank showed up at Lake Valor and told me to get on Fearow, I was afraid that I'd break the damn bird's neck, its so thin! Fearow, however, was a lot stronger than I'd expected, and was even more powerful in flight. Frank, who was riding on Pidgeot, told me to just relax and let Fearow take care of everything, and he was right to do so. The two of us were making record time: we'd only been in flight for an hour and a half, and we were already halfway to Mt. Coronet!

The thrill of the flight, however, still wasn't enough to cover the guilt I felt about what had just happened at Lake Valor. For one, I let Team Galactic get away with Azelf. Two, I'd been defeated by Saturn. As much as I hated to admit it, he'd gotten stronger. When I battled him the first time at the Valley Windworks, I put his pokemon down with little effort. This time, however, it was like he was a completely different trainer than before. His Toxicroak was able to take down Marowak and Snover, not to mention that he beat Steelix down with little effort! What surprised me the most, though, was that he was able to put up one hell of a fight against Swampert, which even Drake, a member of the elite four back in Hoenn, had a tough time doing!

After the call from Alex showing us where to land, Frank and I put up more speed in order to get there faster. Even with the extra boost of speed, however, we still got there after Joe did. Frank put Pidgeot and Fearow into their poke balls, and we all gathered in a circle. Cynthia started talking.

"Okay everyone," she said with a definite purpose in her voice, "here's the plan. We're going to get around the side of the mountain to where Team Galactic is stationed. Steph, about ten minutes before you got here, Cyrus' helicopter landed. His commanders are with him, too. They're all standing outside of a large, metal door. I put a listening device on Togekiss and she got close enough to them to hear what was going on. Apparently, they're waiting for their head scientist, Charon, to arrive from their HQ in Veilstone city. We've got about thirty minutes until he gets here, so they're making their final preparations to get in, although I don't know how."

Joe spoke next. "So here's what we're going to do. Once he arrives, we're going to make our assault." He pulled a map of the area out from his backpack. "I was able to make this from video that we shot with a camera we also attached to Togekiss." On the map was the outline of the cliff, along with where the doorway was, and the positions of the helicopter and each of the grunts. He pointed to the helicopter. "From what we can tell, Cyrus and the commanders are in the helicopter. Each of the grunts are spread out in four-person groups in key watch-points around the entrance, most likely keeping a lookout in case anyone else shows up."

Frank leaned in over the map to get a better look. "So whats the plan, Joe?"

"The plan," he replied, "is this. Frank, you and Cynthia are going to go in there and keep the guards distracted. While you're battling them, we'll hit the commanders and Cyrus. Cynthia also told us that she's got Candice from the Snowpoint gym and Crasher Wake from the Pastoria gym on their way up. Hopefully, they'll be here before Charon arrives. From then on, they'll keep the commanders distracted while the three of us take Cyrus into custody. Professor Rowan's spy is a member of the world police, codenamed Looker. While we're battling with the commanders, he'll be-"

BOOOOM! CRASH!

The three of us looked up. "What the hell was that!" I shouted.

Cynthia's poke gear started beeping. She checked her message. It was a recording from Looker, Rowan's spy. He'd obviously been beaten. He had a nasty purple bruise around his left eye, and his bottom lip and nose were slowly oozing out blood. She hit play while we all listened in.

"Cynthia," he said, "it was a deception. They know you're out there. Cyrus saw Togekiss and put out false information. They just used the Galactic bomb to blow open the entrance, and Cyrus is already in the cave. He's going to try to summon Dia-"

He got cut off, and the camera switched view to the right. There was the three Galactic commanders: Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.

Saturn spoke first. "You really should try to be more wary next time. You're standing about one hundred feet below one of our guard posts. We've known you were there since the short girl landed."

Next was Mars. "Even if you wanted to, you'd never be able to stop us now. Master Cyrus is on his way to Spear Pillar. He's going to use the red chain that we made from the crystals of Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf to summon and capture Dialga and Palkia. When he does, he's going to use their powers to create a new world, just for Team Galactic!"

Finally, Jupiter spoke. "I suggest you just turn yourselves in now, and save us the trouble of coming out there and wasting our energy to capture you." Once she was done, the video cut out.

Joe

I clenched my fists into balls. They were one step ahead of us, just like always. Suddenly, it hit me. I turned to the others. "We can still do this."

Alex looked at me in confusion. "Do what, Joe? I screwed it up. I wasn't careful enough to check for anyone here, and now we're done for."

I shook my head. "No way, this isn't over. Our plan may have been ruined, but we can still get them if we hurry! We'll go with the original plan, but we'll just have to do it a lot quicker! We need to go now. Once we beat the commanders, Cynthia and I will hurry up to Spear Pillar and stop Cyrus. Are you guys in?"

I looked around at everyone. They all nodded their heads. "Okay, lets go. Steph, you can ride on Flygon with me. Cynthia, you take Fearow. Is everyone ready?"

"Yeah!" shouted the whole group in unison.

"Lets do this."

We shot off on our pokemon: I was in front with Steph on Flygon, Alex followed behind me on Charizard, and Cynthia and Frank came up last on Fearow and Pidgeot. Frank had let out his other two pokemon, Staraptor and Skarmory.

When we rounded the mountain to where Team Galactic was waiting, we were met by at least thirty Golbat and Crobat. They fluttered their wings, and swarmed us en masse. Frank gave orders to Skarmory and Staraptor to attack. I saw for Golbat heading straight for me.

"Flygon, dragon pulse!"

Flygon opened up her mouth and charged up a ball of purple energy. The ball exploded, and sent a thin beam towards the Golbat. When it was within five feet of them, the beam blew up and emitted a huge shockwave, striking each of them and sending them falling to the top of the cliff.

I saw a few Crobat flying at Alex. She saw them too, and shouted "Charizard, fire spin!"

Charizard roared and opened up his jaws. A thin stream of fire began to spiral from his mouth, tight at first, but then opening up as it got closer to the Crobat. It struck them hard, and they fell just like the other Golbat.

While we were flying around, taking down pokemon after pokemon, a thick purple beam of energy shot up right in front of Flygon. She pulled up and circled around it just in time. I looked down at the ground, and saw commander Mars. Next to her was her Bronzong. One more look at the helicopter, and I saw the other two commanders, Jupiter and Saturn, having their pokemon launch attacks at Steph and Alex up in the air.

"Joe!" shouted Cynthia from Fearow's back. "You three get down there and take out the commanders! Frank will handle things in the air, and I'll land and help keep the grunts off your backs!"

Alex, Steph and I nodded to her, and began to make our descent. I looked down at Mars once more, and decided to start out battle early.

"Flygon, go into a dive and hit Bronzong with dragon claw!"

"Gon, Fly-Gon!"

I wrapped my legs and arms tightly around Flygon as she went into a steep dive at Mars and her Bronzong. Suddenly, Bronzong's eyes flashed a bright gold, and it shot a yellow beam at Flygon.

"Crap, confuse ray!"

The beam struck her, and instead of following through with the attack I'd ordered her to use, she hit with aerial ace, which hardly did any damage at all. When Flygon got her footing on the ground about fifteen feet away from Mars, I jumped off.

Mars smiled at me, then laughed. "So, I guess this means you guys are going to put up a fight? Oh, sorry, I forgot that you have the battling skills of a ten-year-old." She looked me up and down, then touched her right index finger to her lips. "Although, I've got to admit, you're a cute one. If you were a bit better of a battler, I might be tempted to flirt with you."

Never the one to back down from a banter contest, I shot back quickly. "You know Mars, you're pretty cute yourself. If you weren't so evil, and trying to destroy the world, I might be tempted to ask you on a date." I looked her up and down too. I had to admit, that skin-tight dress and knee-high boots were definite turn-ons. She wasn't bad looking in the face, either.

She winked, and laughed. "Maybe under different circumstances, dear. Sorry, but I've got to put you down, here and now." Mars took out another poke ball, bringing out her Purugly. "Double battle, right here."

I looked at Flygon. She'd fallen to the ground in confusion. She was in no condition to battle, so I put her back into her ball. I took out two other poke balls. "Lucario, Bastiodon, lets go!"

Lucario was my main fighter. He'd have no trouble with Purugly. He stood just a foot shorter than me, but he was tougher than I would ever be. He had black fur on his paws, legs from the knee down, and length and width-wise on his head. From the knees up, around his ears, and on most of his arms and tail, the fur was blue. The majority of his body fur was yellow, but with a black line across the bottom. He also had a spike sticking out of his chest, and on both of his hands. Slender and fast, he was like my fighter jet.

Bastiodon, however, was more of a tank than a fighter. He stood just barely taller than Lucario, but much bigger, and on all four legs. His head looked like a giant, squared, iron shield. His eyes rested at the very bottom, near his mouth, with two bone-like spikes pointing out at the sides just above his eyes. Above those were four yellow half-circles that gave the illusion of extra eyes. The rest of his body was made of yellow and dark-gray skin, with a ridge at the middle on the top, bone-like spikes coming up from that, too.

One look at Bastiodon, and Mars put her hand over her mouth and chuckled. "Wow, that's a big pokemon you've got there. Are you sure you're not trying to compensate for something small with a big pokemon?"

"Oh, trust me babe," I retorted, "I don't need to compensate for anything. In fact, I'm pretty sure that you'd be surprised at how much I don't need to. Thirty minutes with me, and you'll be addicted."

Mars laughed at this. "Oh, hon, you wouldn't be able to handle this," she motioned her hands down, then up her body, "for five minutes, let alone thirty. Besides, we're not here to talk about who's better at that. Purugly, shadow ball! Bronzong, psybeam!"

"Bastiodon, get in front of Lucario and use protect! Lucario, once the attacks are done, use agility to get up near Purugly and then use close combat!"

Bastiodon moved with haste to get in front of Lucario, and positioned his shield-like head at an angle. When the attacks hit, Bastiodon just absorbed the hits like nothing. After they subsided, Lucario ducked around Bastiodon and dashed towards Purugly so fast, he was nearly a blur. Mars cried out for her to dodge, but wasn't fast enough. Lucario got right up in her face, grabbed her and tossed her in the air, and did a jumping spin-kick that sent her flying into the side of the nearby chopper. Purugly struck the metal, and created a deep dent in it, bounced off, and fell onto the snow underneath.

From behind, however, Bronzong hit Lucario with a psybeam, knocking him to the ground. Purugly was able to get up to her feet. Mars shouted "Purugly, take down on Bastiodon, go!"

"Bastiodon, use metal burst!"

When Purugly got steady footing, she began to charge towards Bastiodon. He took two steps forward, then stopped and tucked his head down. His great shield of a head began to glow a faint silver. When Purugly struck, there was a loud bang and a bright, near-blinding flash of light. Bastiodon had used Purugly's own attack against her, knocking her back ten feet.

I looked over at where Lucario was. He was struggling to get up on his own power. "Lucario, get up you can do it! Hit Bronzong with blaze kick!"

Lucario jumped to his feet, turned around, and began to charge at Bronzong. Bronzong just hovered there, while Mars shouted "Bronzong, use mirror coat!"

Bronzong began to emit a faint purplish glow, and was suddenly enveloped in a thin, purple coating. Lucario kept up his speed, and when he was within range, he jumped up and spun around, dragging his leg and producing flames around it. Finally, the kick connected with Bronzong, and hit it so hard that it went flying into a nearby rock that stuck out of the ground, shattering the rock and heavily damaging Bronzong.

Mars cried out in shock as her Bronzong was now incapacitated. "Nooooo! How did this happen! Mirror coat should have stopped Lucario in his tracks!"

I laughed, then answered her questions. " Mirror coat only works for special attacks, babe. Blaze kick may be a fire-type move, but it's a full-contact move! Maybe you should've paid more attention in Team Galactic brainwashing school!"

Purugly began to get up to her feet.

"Lucario, pick up Purugly and use seismic toss to throw her at Bastiodon! Bastiodon, use metal burst to send Purugly flying!"

Lucario nodded. He dashed over to Purugly, and before she could get off an attack, he grabbed her around her wide body and began to spin around and around in circles. It was slow at first, but began to pick up speed little by little. Finally, he let go and sent her flying at Bastiodon, who was waiting with his head tucked down and glowing silver. Purugly struck dead-center, and was sent flying towards Mars.

"NO!" she cried out, as Purugly flew through the air at her. Before she could get out of the way, Purugly struck Mars in the stomach, and the two of them went sliding through the snow.

"Haha, alright guys, good work!" Lucario and Bastiodon made their way to where I was. I patted both of them on their heads, and fed them each a poffin of their favorite flavor. "Good work you two, get a good rest, okay?" When they were finished, I put them into their poke balls.

I was about to go help out the others, but I glanced over at Mars, cuddled up in a ball, unconscious with her Purugly next to her. I ran over to them, and took out a piece of paper. After writing my poke gear phone number, name, and "call me" on a piece of paper and putting it in her pocket, I laughed. "Maybe after this is over," I said, "you and me can really see who's compensating or not."

I looked up at the sky, and saw Frank's pokemon more than holding their own against the swarm of Golbat and Crobat. Alex was in a heated fight with Jupiter. Steph had left Saturn knocked out cold against a rock, and was now helping Cynthia fight the grunts on the ground. I took out a poke ball and called out Umbreon.

Once she was out, the two of us took off running into the cave, after Cyrus. We were going to stop him, no matter what.