The chamber was filled with Pokémon from the four trainers. Among Arthur's team was a Zoroark named Cynder, his Espeon Dawnlight, Oceanstar the Milotic, an Absol called Midnight, and his Blaziken Amber. Servine was taking a second look at Midnight feeling like she had met her before. Midnight denied the claim of having any encounter prior. Everyone was placed into lines according to their attack range. The fighters like Kangaskhan, Druddigon, Scar and Amber were out front with support from the mixed group like Servine, Marshtomp and Beedrill, leaving the back to rangers like Dawnlight, Charmeleon and Kirlia.

Everyone was prepared to hold themselves against the army of Unown as Shadow moved to Golurk. Shadow threw out his arms, encasing himself and Golurk in a sphere as the lights slowly started to glow again throughout the Automaton Pokémon. As Golurk started to move once more Unown started to flood the chamber as Shadow had warned. The Unown were coming in a multitude of shapes that resembled letters from the entire alphabet, but their forms were like how they were depicted before and in the journals, thin, flat black appendages with their eye roughly at the center of the letter they resembled.

The sheer number of them coming into the chamber was daunting in of itself and they just kept coming. Servine and a few of the others had to restrain the use of their more powerful attacks as to not cause a cave in of the ruins, but even without these powerful moves they continued to fight on. Mizuki and Taiichi were studying the battles, trying to determine what type these Unown were based on their attacks and how well they handle the attacks coming at them.

The Unown seemed capable of shrugging off Fighting and Psychic moves, "They're Psychics that's for sure now, but what is the attack they're using?"

The Unown fired off red beams of energy from their eye and given their mass they occasionally manage to hit some of the Pokémon. However what the attack was seemed conflicted as some seemed effective against one Pokémon from the group but attacks another Pokémon and also seemed effective, such as an attack that Kangaskhan blocked that looked painful for her to take and another that is capable of giving Oceanstar the same super effective hit. "They're all using the same attack, but the typing is different every time. You don't think…?" Mizuki turned to Taiichi.

"It's the only explanation for it." Taiichi and Mizuki's attention turned back to the Pokémon, "Everyone, be extra careful! These Unown are using Hidden Power! Try to keep track of the ones that have hit and figure out what their attack type is!"

Servine knew a way of doing that, coordinating with Kirlia to help. She started spinning and tossed a Leaf Tornado at a group of Unown, as others intercepted with their attacks, burning and freezing the leaves. Kirlia's eyes were glowing blue now as she started to 'tag' the Unown by colors for everyone to easily distinguish. Charmeleon blasted a group with Flamethrower to reveal the ones who had Hidden Power with the effectiveness of water.

"Golurk? Can you hear me?" The lights that were Golurk's eyes started to flicker back until it was glowing again. Golurk saw the Unown and the Pokémon fighting to keep them inside the chamber. Golurk wanted to help, but Shadow's barrier remained, "No. If you wish to help, then return the Unown to their dimension where the others reside."

Golurk glared to Shadow, uncertain why he wanted to do that, but given the situation, it was the best plan they had to combat so many Unown. Golurk started to manipulate the energies around them, channeling and focusing them to connect the two realities. Though centuries had passed, Golurk manipulated the energy as though he did it mere moments ago.

Golurk could sense the humans these Unown had kidnapped, forcing Golurk to use his own energy to safely transfer the humans back before trapping the Unown back in their own dimension. Lombre continued to dance around everyone, avoiding attacks from both sides with relative ease. Kirlia had withdrawn herself from the fighting, encasing herself in a protective field to identify the Unown by the type their Hidden Power was. As the fighting continued, Mawile threw her horns in front of Druddigon to block an attack with Dragon type attributes. The attacks though hit Mawile, but the strange thing was she didn't feel a thing. In fact it was as if something was nullifying the attack entirely. It was similar to when Kangaskhan blocked Ghost attacks or the Dark types against Psychic attacks or when she countered Poison attacks. Right now wasn't the time to worry about such things, right now they had to continue holding the doorway for a bit longer.

Ayame had thrown herself into the front group to give the Unown a new target to aim at. "This is getting intense. Golurk, how much longer?"

The Unown were also hammering against Shadow's barrier trying to disrupt them, "Just a bit longer. He's trying to rescue the humans before collapsing the dimension…"

"Great, even more of them in here!"

"No, this is the majority. There is only a handful still in hiding. We can handle this!" Shadow was maintaining the barrier with a single hand now as a dark sphere started to form in the other hand. Dawnlight jumped to the center of the group as Shedinja fell back. Dawnlight rose her head as her tail also raised, creating a massive barrier around everyone. Shadow pushed the sphere out of his barrier and it started to fire of smaller orbs at the Unown. A number of the Unown were hit and the ones that missed hit against Dawnlight's barrier. The Unown who were hit were surrounded in a dark crimson sphere for a moment and once the sphere disappeared they were fast asleep. Even from their closed eyes they could see that the sleeping Unown weren't having pleasant dreams.

Dawnlight dropped the barrier to allow the team to fight once more. Now Arthur was fighting alongside his Pokémon just as Ayame rushed to join them, his hands glowing blue and managing to hit the Unown back. Ayame was using her skills to dodge the Unown's attacks to provide the others openings against them.

Mizuki and Taiichi both watched from the back, providing coordination every so often for their Pokémon, "Servine, watch your left. Riolu, stay close to Kangaskhan and don't take too many risks."

"Purrloin, stop having Druddigon be your shield. Wartortle, keep watching over for Lombre for us."

Taiichi was trying to follow the Unown and see if the last few Unown had joined them yet. Kirlia's color coding by attack type was very helpful, and there weren't any new Unown yet. Golurk was almost finished collapsing the dimension they had isolated themselves in, but they seemed to have taken a liking to their creation and taunting Golurk with the captive humans. Golurk became concerned when two of the Unown left the dimension willingly.

The two Unown were right behind Taiichi and Mizuki who were too focused on the battle in front to notice them. Servine saw them, running back to them with her vines flying out to try and attack the Unown first. Before the vines were halfway to the Unown when two bones flew out spinning and hit both Unown down to the ground.

Mizuki and Taiichi turned to look for the one who attacked the two Unown behind them but the bones continued their path deeper into the ruins. "Who did that?"

Scar rushed over and slashed at a group of Unown trying to attack Servine from behind. He yelled at her to pay more attention to what was going on in front of her instead of behind. Normally Servine might have shot back, but he was right, as much as she wished he wasn't. The two Unown that had just shown up weakened the barrier enough that Golurk forced the remaining Unown out of the dimension and safely returned the humans to their campsite.

Shadow dropped the barrier around them and rushed out at some of the Unown. The Unown all moved on Golurk, but Shadow stood as his defense and released a powerful wave of dark energy to slow them down. Shadow dropped down into the shadows, "Brace yourselves!"

Golurk tossed the sphere to a wall though it dissipated. Scar and Druddigon assumed the old machine must be busted but suddenly the portal opened to a very estranged world skewed with a multitude of colors and an innumerable number of Unown orbiting each other in groups that formed circles of varying sizes. Golurk's portal seemed to have a vacuum effect as everything was being pulled into it. Everyone did their best to bunker down as the Unown were being sucked back into the dimension by force.

Riolu was doing his best but lost his footing. Lombre swung around grabbing hold of Riolu's arm as Servine's vines wrapped around both of them with Charmeleon and Marshtomp helped hold her down. The portal remained open for roughly a minute, ensuring that every Unown was taken back into that dimension. When the last Unown was sucked through the portal closed and Shadow reemerged from the shadows and everyone was able to ease their grip.

"Is everyone alright?"

Taiichi and Mizuki did a head count, "Everyone's accounted for. Thank goodness…"

Golurk started to move, though it only moved back to his original position. Arthur walked up to Golurk, "What, you want to return to being a statue? Unused and abandoned? Forgotten?"

Golurk started to speak, though it wasn't something the others could easily understand. It wasn't even the normal sounds that would have been expected from a Golurk. "I must remain," Shadow floated over, "I must remain. Priority: Unown containment. That is what he's repeating."

"A vanguard who is dedicated to his duty until the end of time…" Ayame was ready to leave, but it would seem the others weren't willing to let it end like this.

"Don't you think it's a waste of your talents to just stand around waiting for the Unown, even if they never show up again?"

Shadow turned back to Mizuki, "Golurk is intent on remaining even if he must wait another thousand years, or until the damage finally does him in."

"Damage?"

Shadow pointed to the belt across Golurk's chest, "The energy required is from Golurk's very power source. He has been using it to prevent the Unown from breaching and will continue to do so, unfortunately with such constant usage and regulation outside of normal parameters the stabilizer has been pushed beyond normal conditions. It may look proper but it has long since needed a rest. His energy will either burn out or run rampant and destroy him."

Servine looked to Taiichi, and he knew what she wanted to do. "Then if he won't come with us willingly, we'll just have to capture him and force Golurk to recover."

Before Taiichi or Servine could try, Arthur stepped in the way, "Sorry to steal your thunder, but I'll be the one to capture him."

"It is not so much you lack the ability to capture, but your lack of battle experience," Shadow floated down, "Golurk has stood guardian to the realm of the Unown for over a thousand years, but his services to man stretches out threefold that."

"Right and you've battled against Golurk before, right Shadow?" Shadow didn't respond, glaring at Golurk as the Automaton Pokémon started to move toward them. "Looks like this is your showdown, Shadow." Arthur stepped back as Shadow moved away from them.

The two of them were moving so that the others would not be caught in the missed attacks. Ayame felt like this was a waste of time, but there was no urgent matter at hand nor would she be capable of convincing them out of it.

Shadow watched Golurk's every movement, though general slow Golurk could move from an attack to defense fairly quickly. But unlike Golurk, Shadow has been fighting and learning new tactics. Shadow's hands cupped together firing off beams of ice.

Golurk countered this with the very stone around them, crushing his feet into the ground to lift them into the air. Golurk then followed up the defense with a punch that projected a shadowy form though the stone and out toward Shadow. Shadow quickly dropped down to the floor to avoid the attack but was carefully watching Golurk as to where he was going to move. One of Golurk's hands pulled into his arm charging up an attack aimed at Shadow. The sliver beam tore through the area, forcing Shadow to move to the shadows of the room.

Golurk moved to use the uplifted stone to propel himself with both arms out. Golurk crashed into the wall completely unaffected by ramming into stone at high speed. Golurk quickly reached into the shadows and pulled Shadow out, tossing him out. "Shadow, are you alright?"

"It has been sometime since I've felt a strong hit like that," Shadow picked himself back up, "Impressive Golurk. You can still hit like a brick wall even after all of this time unmoved." Shadow returned to a combat stance as he moved toward Golurk again.

As Shadow started to attack again, Shedinja seemed almost entranced by two of them. Kirlia was the first to notice this from Shedinja. Servine noticed as well, though the two of them didn't say a word as they shifted their attention back to the battle.

Shadow launched a blast of dark energy, knocking Golurk back onto the ground. Golurk used its arms unique flight capability to pick itself back up. Golurk started to spin rapidly now with its arms out and flying straight for Shadow. Golurk was spinning at incredibly high speed, decimating the pillar that stood in his path. Shadow shifted to the floor again to avoid the attack but Golurk managed to shift the angle to scrap against the floor too.

It was unclear if Shadow was hit during the attack, but Shadow retaliated with another Dark Pulse and pushing Golurk back. Shadow started to speak to Golurk, though what it was seemed to have everyone guessing it to have been an ancient dialect that was lost to time itself. Golurk responded in kind, throwing another punch as the shadow launched out to hit Shadow. Shadow projected a barrier, blocking the attack and firing Ice Beam once more. The Ice Beam encased Golurk, but the cracks forming showed Golurk was working to free himself. "Now!"

Arthur tossed a Heavy Ball, hitting the block of ice Golurk was in. The entire ice block was captured into the Heavy Ball as Golurk attempted to free himself. Shadow was ready to continue the battle, but he quickly eased up as the Heavy Ball continued shaking. The Heavy Ball pinged as Arthur picked it up, "Welcome to the team, Ironhand."

As soon as Arthur gave Golurk his new name the Heavy Ball was transported away to wherever Arthur's other Pokémon were being held. "Must you always give names to those you accommodate into your fold?"

Arthur just smiled to Shadow, "What's the point not to? It gives everyone individuality."

Shadow looked away, though his eye did shift toward Shedinja for a moment. "Fine, but know that…Ironhand…will need time to adjust. Much has changed since he was last active in the world. Technology, human-Pokémon relations, even the environment is different on many portions of the world."

"Which is why he'll be staying with the others for now. Don't want too much of a culture shock."

Shadow nodded, "Then send me back as well. It will ease the process considerable." Arthur pulled out a Luxury Ball as Shadow was recalled.

Arthur then had out a rather unique Pokédex and pressed two buttons on them, causing Shadow's Poké Ball to disappear and was replaced with another Luxury Ball, "Welcome back Lara. And thinking about it…" Arthur had another one of his Poké Balls swapped out, "Sorry Amber, but I think Ruby will get better experience traveling with this group."


Cubone looked to Haunter, questioning the battle and what the two had said. Haunter wasn't entirely sure, but he did like the looks on a few of the new faces. Haunter then commented that if they hadn't continued following this little band two of these humans could have been lost forever. Now with the big guy around, they might have a way to the ghost world. Cubone gripped the two bone clubs in his hand, his desire to be with his mother, even if it's only fleeting and for a short amount of time, was burning stronger than ever.

Cubone looked to Haunter, asking if he thought the machine Pokémon was willing to help them. Haunter wasn't sure, but there was only one way to know. But with the mecha gone he couldn't float over and ask. Cubone didn't like Haunter's suggestion of just asking, though he was more concerned about the new human. He also participated in the Pokémon League ranking in as one of the Top 4 trainers at the gathering.

Haunter then joked that it'd make things go a lot faster if Cubone was captured by the humans instead of tiptoeing about like this, then Cubone could ask Golurk directly. Cubone was completely against the thought. Sure he wanted to see his mother, but to be captured by the humans…

Haunter commented, saying that he'd never allow himself to be captured, though that was because he had too much to do and so many faces to make smile with all of the material he now had at his disposal for shticks, skits and slapsticks along with everything he still could learn.


A/N: If you're wondering about the Fairy-type Mawile just gained, don't. It gets elaborate on in another chapter.