Chapter XXI: Great Space Escape

We got all of our wounds patched up and then over the next few days, we made our way back to our team's base. You think Cresselia would've given us a way back when she teleported us there. We collapsed on the ground and went to sleep almost as soon as we got inside and closed the door. However we all woke up instantly when the ground started shaking uncontrollably and suddenly.

"Ahhh! Earthquake!" Yelled Fluffi.

Stuff started falling off shelves, out of cabinets and from tables and breaking upon impact. Then, the earthquake increased in intensity.

"We need to get out of here!" Yelled Duran.

We started to do so, but then the earthquake stopped and an unfamiliar Pokémon stood before us.

"I'VE FOUND YOU!" Roared the Pokémon, "THE TWO FOOLS WHO DARE TO DISTORT SPACE!"

"Who?" I asked.

"YOU DARE TO DISTORT SPACE WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!?" Roared the Pokémon.

This Pokémon had the same enraged eyes as the Lake Trio did, but something seemed off. This was clearly an enraged Pokémon, but he seemed to be in complete control of his own actions. As I dwelt upon this, the scenery changed and I was standing in a place that looked like the surface of the moon. Palkia teleported me away, but not only me, Pyroar was here too. No one else from our team was with us.

"Pyroar?" I asked, "where are we?"

"I have no clue," said Pyroar.

"MY NAME IS PALKIA!" Roared the Pokémon, "AND THIS IS MY DOMAIN, SPACIAL RIFT!"

"Jirachi was telling me about Palkia last night," said Pyroar, "he is the Pokémon who embodies space."

"YOU TWO HAVE COMMITED THE UNPARDONABLE SIN OF DISTORTING SPACE!" Roared Palkia, "THE PUNISHMENT IS DEATH!"

Palkia attacked us and knocked us into a chasm.

"YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE MY WRATH THAT EASILY!" Roared Palkia.

We finally crashed to the chasm floor and then quickly got to our feet.

"Curse our luck!" Said Pyroar, "we cannot win against him by ourselves, not when we're injured and he's like that."

"We have to get out of here somehow," I said.

"We may have to use the Etherlight again," said Pyroar, "be ready if that happens."

We proceeded slowly and carefully through this new Mystery Dungeon known as Spacial Rift, keeping an eye out for Palkia as we went. Eventually as we entered a room, the walls shifted and we were trapped inside the room.

"We're trapped!" I said.

"Brilliant deduction there, genius," said Pyroar.

"Was that sarcasm?" I asked.

"No, it was the sound of me running over a Gogoat," said Pyroar, "what do you think?"

The ground shook again and then Palkia stood before us once again.

"YOU HONESTLY THOUGHT YOU COULD ESCAPE!?" Roared Palkia, "I CAN BEND SPACE TO MY WILL!"

"Drake! We must fight!" Said Pyroar, who then started glowing with the power of the Etherlight.

I then started using the power of my own Etherlight.

"Attack him and at the first opportunity we see, we'll get out of here!" I said.

"DIE TRYING!" Roared Palkia, "THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM ME!"

Palkia tried to hit us with Scald, but we dodged it.

"Flame Charge!" Yelled Pyroar, but somehow, Palkia avoided all damage from him.

"Dragon Pulse!" I yelled, which missed Palkia as well.

Palkia used Flamethrower, which I met with my own and Pyroar used Bounce.

"SPACIAL REND!" Roared Palkia, who then hit Pyroar with the attack, ending Bounce in its tracks, by tearing the space around Pyroar.

I hit Palkia with Dragon Pulse, but Palkia countered by hitting me with Thunder.

"It's no use," I said, "even with the Etherlight, we seem to be doing nothing to him."

"Don't lose heart," said Pyroar, "we're not trying to beat him."

Palkia grabbed me as soon as Pyroar had finished talking and slammed me into a wall and hit Pyroar with Scald.

"Flame Charge!" Yelled Pyroar.

Palkia hit Pyroar with his tail mid-attack, knocking him into me in the wall.

"Oof!" I said as Pyroar crashed into me and buried me deeper into the wall.

"SPACIAL REND!" Roared Palkia.

"Did this guy eat a Quick Seed or something?" Asked Pyroar.

Pyroar met the attack with Flame Charge, but Spacial Rend had too much power, and it broke through Pyroar's attack, damaging him. Palkia then appeared suddenly in front of me and used an unavoidable Spacial Rend. Pyroar moved to attack, but Palkia avoided it by teleporting a short distance away, which allowed me to get out of the wall.

"What is with this guy?" I asked, "we can't hit him anymore!"

"Palkia's manipulating space to his advantage!" Said Pyroar.

"Doesn't that count as cheating?" I asked.

"Ask him if he cares!" Said Pyroar.

Then, the ground shook again and then Dialga, Cresselia and Jirachi appeared before us.

"PALKIA! HOW COULD YOU BE WEAK ENOUGH TO LET YOURSELF LOSE CONTROL LIKE THIS!?" Roared Dialga.

"I WASN'T THE ONE WHO LET TEMPORAL TOWER GET SABOTAUGED!" Roared Palkia.

"Thank the stars we got to you in time!" Said Jirachi.

"Jirachi? Cresselia?" I asked.

"You did the right thing telling us about this," said Cresselia, "Get out of here, we must calm him down! You'll die if you stay!"

"Follow me!" Said Jirachi, who used her power to open an exit from the room.

We followed Jirachi through the tunnel she made.

"A wish was made for me to save you," said Jirachi, "but, Palkia summoned you here, and my power is far inferior to his in this place, so we must get as far away from Spacial Rift as possible, before I can teleport us out of here!"

"If you can teleport us, why did we use Magnagates all this time?" I asked.

"I can only use my full power if a wish has been made," said Jirachi.

Then the tunnel collapsed behind us and then Palkia was in the tunnel as well.

"THERE IS NO ESCAPE!" Roared Palkia.

Then Dialga hit Palkia with Dragon Pulse, knocking him down.

"Run!" Yelled Jirachi.

We ran through the tunnel, dodging Palkia's attacks the entire way and ducking on occasion as Dialga or Cresselia would fire an attack at him. We eventually arrived at an exit, except, the exit was on top of a seventy foot cliff overlooking a chasm with pointy looking stalagmites at the bottom.

"Dead end!" spat Pyroar.

Then Palkia found us and had our backs against a wall, so to speak. So we either had to go through Palkia or fall and skewer ourselves on the rocks.

"END OF THE ROAD!" Roared Palkia.

Dialga and Cresselia continued to attack him, but he ignored them, using his powers over space to instantly seal any wounds they caused.

"We must jump!" Said Jirachi.

"WHAT!?" Pyroar and I shouted in surprise.

"Trust me!" Said Jirachi.

We jumped and then Jirachi surrounded us in a golden light as we fell, then right before we met our messy ends on the rocks, we shot through the ceiling of the cave and we became a shooting star across the night sky, flying at record speeds. Night? We must've been in there longer than I thought.

We eventually crashed into the ground, in front of our team's base, where we were met by Fluffi, Duran and Ivy.

"Are you all right?" Asked Ivy.

"We've been better," said Pyroar.

"The better question is will we be safe here from you-know-who?" I asked.

"I wouldn't worry about that," said Jirachi, "Dialga and Cresselia were holding back, now that you two aren't there anymore, Palkia will be fixed in no time."

"By fixed, you mean-?" Began Fluffi.

"Back to his old self," said Jirachi.

"Oh, I thought you meant something else by 'fixed'," said Duran.