Chapter 22:
The Heavy Assault Shuttle carrying Samus, General Hastings and a platoon of Galactic Federation in Exile and Earth Marines and Army Troopers made its way to the Sinjoh Ruins, tracking the Star Fox Team, at its maximum speed. They knew that Cyrus not only had a head start on them, but that he had a shorter distance to fly than Samus and the general did as well. She stood on top of the shuttle, her magnetic boots being the only thing keeping her attached to the ship. Her superhuman reflexes and reaction times would allow her to spot and react to any threat that came upon them. So far, everything had been quiet.
Onboard the shuttle, the pilot and copilot were busy checking the sensors to make sure that the way was clear. They had been surprised to find that there was no Galactic Federation presence here. A captured Federation Heavy Assault Shuttle and six Hellcats was something that General Hastings would have expected to draw the attention of any Federation force that was in the area. So far, there had been no contacts. The copilot also continued to monitor all radio and subspace transmissions. So far, reports were indicating that the planet killer bomb had inflicted heinous casualties upon the invading Federation fleet and that the weakened fleet was having trouble advancing on the defending Earth, Federation in Exile fleet and the planet's defenses. No Federation reinforcements would be coming to reinforce the Federation lines anytime soon. On the other side of the coin, though, Cyrus had found the location of the Sinjoh Ruins and was fast approaching. While no one here knew exactly what Cyrus intended to do there, they knew that it the consequences would be disastrous if he were not stopped.
Eventually, the cone on the shuttle's sensors indicated that they were getting closer to Star Fox. The shuttle's orange cone on the sensor display began to expand. "Sir," the pilot began, "we're approaching the location of the Star Fox Team."
General Hastings looked over the copilot's shoulder and saw the Arwing emblems appear on long-range sensors. He also spotted several other ships engaging them. Judging by the new emblems that were appearing on the screen, he knew exactly who it was that was engaging Star Fox. "Looks like Star Wolf has joined the fray," he noted.
"Couldn't have come at a better time," the pilot noted. "We're detecting several more waves of Federation fighters coming in. They'll reach us before we reach the battle site."
General Hastings drew out his communicator and opened a channel to Samus, telling her, "Get ready, Samus. We've got numerous contacts coming in."
"I see them," she confirmed.
"We do have a small number of air-to-air missiles," the pilot told the general. "But it won't be enough to deal with the entire assault force headed our way. And with Samus on top, the enemy'll be drawn to us like a magnet."
"I know," Hastings sighed. "But we'll need her extra firepower if we're going to get through this. Just get ready. Once those enemy fighters get within range, identify the most dangerous of the fighters and shoot them down with the air-to-air missiles we do have. We'll have to let the Hellcats deal with the rest. But before we do anything, call in all the reinforcements we can muster. Without them, we won't be lasting very long, that's for sure."
"Aye, sir," the pilot responded.
General Hastings then took one of the spare weapons consoles and linked it to the twin rear-mounted cannons. He only hoped that he and Samus would be able to shoot down any fighters or missiles that got too close for comfort, for he knew that with the numbers that they would be facing, that they would not survive for long in an extended battle without help.
On top of the shuttle, Samus kept her eyes peeled for any sign of enemy fighters or heavier vehicles. She selected her Wave Beam since its electrical and energy disruptive properties would be the most useful against the Federation fighters that would be sent their way. Peering out into the distance, she spotted several squadrons of fighters approaching. Given the fact that the shuttle launched its payload of air-to-air missiles at the fighters, she suspected that they were Federation ships. The missiles erupted from the weapons ports of the shuttle and zeroed in on the fighters. Some of fighters attempted to perform evasive maneuvers in order to avoid the missiles while others unleashed scarlet bolts of energy at the incoming missile volley. A few of the missiles were taken down, but the vast majority managed to get through and struck the fighters, blowing them apart in midair. Those that survived came screaming towards the Heavy from the bow and the starboard side. While the shuttle unleashed a barrage of energy fire from its forward cannons, blowing a valley through the ranks of approaching Rapiers and Epées, Samus targeted the fighters coming in from the starboard side.
She charged her Wave Beam and targeted the lead starfighter. Once she had locked onto the fighter, she unleashed her Charged Wave Beam and a trio of purple electrical energy pulses homed in on the fighter. The fighter was unable to evade the Wave Beam and the pulses scored a direct hit on the fighter, its armor useless against the Wave Beam, which caused damage to the fighter's power systems and controls. Electricity arced across the hull of the fighter and smoke issued from the engines as various systems short-circuited and others were blown out. The now powerless fighter took an involuntary dive to the ground, where it crashed and crumpled into an unrecognizable mass of metal, the pilot unable to eject before the fighter hit the ground. Samus repeated the process numerous times, shooting down any Federation fighter that got within range of the shuttle. As for those that approached from the rear, even with the limited firing arc of the damaged twin energy cannons, they were still able to shoot down any fighter that pursued the shuttle and came within firing range.
Back onboard the shuttle, General Hastings operated the rear-mounted twin energy cannons, shooting down two more fighters that had opened fire on the shuttle. The fighters had managed to get off a couple of shots before being taken down. The shuttle shuddered under the weight of the laser blasts, but the shields were only taken down to ninety-two percent by the blasts.
As the general was shooting down enemy fighters, the shuttle's copilot kept a constant watch on sensors. They indicated that only a few kilometers ahead, the Star Fox and Star Wolf teams were duking it out in the sky, along with numerous Federation and Earth fighters entering the fray as well. One of the Wolfen's had charged a Homing Laser and unleashed it at a flight of Claymores that had headed towards an area that did not appear on sensors. The scarlet energy ball homed in on the Claymores and struck their leader, annihilating the flight leader and taking down the other fighters, searing off the wings of the enemy fighters and damaging their engines, causing them to either spin out of control as they dove to the ground, or simply have their power cut out and fall to the ground, reduced to massive deadweights, where they crashed and exploded.
The copilot turned to the pilot and said, "Take the shuttle to this area." He then pointed to the area that was blind on sensors. "I think that this is where these fabled Sinjoh Ruins are located."
The pilot looked at the area and noted, "I'm reading anything at all."
"If this place is important to Cyrus, then chances are that there's a special energy there," the copilot responded. "Also remember that the Spear Pillar had a special energy that shielded the Space Pirates from Federation sensors, too. I think that this is our destination."
They both turned to General Hastings and told him, "Sir, I think we've found the Sinjoh Ruins! There's a blind area on sensors that doesn't belong." They pointed to a small circle on sensors that showed nothing, as if nothing existed in that circle. They then continued, "Given the fact that we can see the surrounding areas, and that Mount Coronet's Spear Pillar also gave off strange energy that made it invisible to sensors, I wouldn't be surprised if the Sinjoh Ruins were also invisible to sensors, and that circle is suspicious."
"Good work," the general told them. "Take us to the blind area on sensors now!" He then opened a channel to Samus, informing her, "Samus, I think we've spotted the Sinjoh Ruins. We're going there now. Get ready."
"I am," she assured him, looking off into the distance, towards the mountain.
Meanwhile, Cyrus, Venus, and Mercury's Alakazam reappeared on a snowy path just behind the cabin. Gray rocky walls stood tall over the two on either side as they appeared a few feet above the ground and came down awkwardly. The Team Galactic leader gave a grunt as he landed on his feet. "Sorry about that," Venus apologized. "I haven't quite gotten the hang of teleportation when I'm blind to where I'm going."
Gazing around at the gray rocks and the falling snow, Cyrus scanned his surroundings. Looking down both sides of the path, he saw flashes of light in the distance, punctuated by sparks of lightning, as well as some green and red-orange energy blasts that Cyrus knew were Energy Ball and Hyper Beam, respectively. Turning to Venus, he commanded, "Release your Mr. Mime and have him and Alakazam raise a Reflect shield and Light Screen over the pass. We can't afford to let Cynthia and the defenders get through once they deal with the rest of Team Galactic."
"Understood," Venus replied, bowing to her commander. She drew out a Poké Ball and pressed its center button. The ball, which was the size of a ping pong ball, grew to a size that was a little larger than a baseball. She tossed the ball into the air and it opened. A blue blob of energy emerged from the ball and landed on the ground, forming a humanoid creature that had a white body with a red dot in the center, two thin arms, each with a five-fingered hand, connected to the main body by red spheres, two legs, also connected to the main body by red spheres, and bluish-gray frizzy hair. Mr. Mime and Alakazam soon stood behind Cyrus and Venus and held up their hands. A disturbance in the air appeared for an instant as they raised a Reflect and Light Screen shield, respectively. Cyrus grinned. Now they could accomplish their objective without interference. Cyrus only hoped that Cynthia's Lucario would either be rendered unconscious, or killed, in the fighting, for if he was still conscious while Team Galactic were still alive, he would be able to break through the barriers and allow the Pokémon Trainers to get through to face him.
Once the barriers were set, Cyrus and Venus turned around and saw a large building in the distance, about a couple hundred yards away. They ran towards the building as quickly as possible, doing their best to reach the ruins as quickly as possible. As they approached, they came across two Pokémon Trainers that had been stationed close to the ruins in order to slow down Cyrus's progress. One of them was young man of around twenty-three years of age, with short gray hair, hazel eyes, and wearing a blue and black coat and black pants. The other was a girl of about fourteen years old with brown hair, wearing a white tank top and short blue jean shorts. They both had a Poké Ball in each of their hands. Staring at Cyrus, the boy, who Cyrus recognized from newscasts as being the Pokémon Trainer Wes from the Orre region, an area in America in the Mojave Desert, declared in a loud voice, "By the order of both the Johto Pokémon League, and the Sinnoh Pokémon League, you must leave this area immediately!"
Cyrus merely laughed at the two trainers that were standing before him. He could see a hint of trepidation in the eyes of the girl, who he did not recognize. "Don't underestimate us," she warned, unsteadily, releasing two of her Pokémon, one a Tyranitar: a large bipedal dinosaur-like Pokémon with green armor that covered most of its body. There was also a diamond of dark gray hide on its stomach. It also had numerous spikes protruding from its head. The other Pokémon she released was a blue serpentine dragon-like creature with a white underbelly and a single small spike on its head called a Dragonair. She then promptly released her other Pokémon on Cyrus: Lucario, a bipedal jackal-like Pokémon that had blue skin with black forepaws, each with a single spike on the back of them, as well as black feet. He also had a furry chest with a single spike protruding from it, as well; Golem, a large, rocky Pokémon with a round body and stubby, yet strong, legs and arms; Chansey, a pink egg-like Pokémon that had tremendous healing abilities; and finally, a Hypno, a yellow-skinned human-like Pokémon with pointed ears, thick arms and legs, as well as a pendulum that it would wave around in order to hypnotize its opponents.
Wes soon released his own Pokémon. They were an Umbreon, a black feline or fox-like Pokémon with yellow markings and crimson eyes; an Espeon; a Jolteon, a yellow dog-like Pokémon with spiky fur; a Vaporeon, a blue skinned Pokémon that shared the physical traits of dolphins, fish, cats, dogs, and other animals. It had four legs, like the other Pokémon of the Eevee, their progenitor, line, but also had a fish-like tail, a white collar, and fin-like ears. In addition, he had a Flareon, a Pokémon covered in red fur with a cream-colored bushy tail, fluffy collar, and a tuft of fur on the head, each of the same cream color; and finally, a Glaceon, a light blue-skinned Pokémon that resembled the other Eevee evolutions in the boy's party, only it appeared to be wearing what looked to be an almost turquoise tuque on its head. He looked over at the girl and gave her a reassuring smile, indicating that she was powerful enough to defeat Cyrus and Venus.
The Pokémon and trainers stared at Cyrus and Venus, each and every one of them confident in their ability to defeat Cyrus and Venus. Venus drew out two Poké Balls of her own and opened them. Out came a Bronzong, a large, blue-green bell-shaped Pokémon with two arms coming out of its sides and two red eyes at the bottom of its body; and a Crobat, a purple bat-like Pokémon with two pairs of wings and a fat body and long, pointed ears. She then proceeded to deploy a Salamance, a Nidoqueen, a large, blue Pokémon with both mammalian and reptilian characteristics, a horn on her forehead, spikes running down the length of her back, a thick, strong tail, and cream covered chest plates and lower torso; and a Magnezone, a gray metallic saucer-like Pokémon with two Magnemites, round Pokémon with magnets attached to their sides that have single eyes, attached to its sides, and a yellow antenna sticking up from its center.
Once the Pokémon were deployed, Venus glanced over at Cyrus and told him, you go ahead. I'll deal with these nuisances."
Cyrus nodded and moved forward, however Wes and his Pokémon blocked the Team Galactic leader's way. They then stepped back and powered some attacks, but Venus used her telepathy to temporarily freeze Wes's Pokémon. "Go," she urged. "I can't keep them frozen for long!"
Cyrus then ran down the path while Venus glanced back at her other Pokémon and commanded, "Bronzong, cast a Reflect just behind the two trainers to cover Cyrus! Then engage Wes and Cassandra's Pokémon. I'll cover you!"
Her Pokémon obeyed and engaged Wes and Cassandra's Pokémon, doing their best to put up a good fight against their numerically superior opponents. All of Venus's Pokémon that were present, save for Nidoqueen, rose into the air in order to avoid Nidoqueen's initial attack, and prepared to unleash a volley of Hyper Beams. Nidoqueen jumped into the air and came crashing back down, causing the ground to shake and many of Wes and Cassandra's Pokémon to not only lose their balance, but also sustain heavy damage. Since Earthquake was a ground-type attack, Wes and Cassandra's Jolteon, Flareon, Tyranitar, Lucario, and Golem each suffered significant damage from the attacks and lost their footing, falling to the ground, with Jolteon and Flareon being rendered unconscious by the attack.
Venus then turned her attention to Cassandra's Hypno. Knowing that its Insomnia ability would prevent Bronzong's Hypnosis from working, she disabled it with her own telepathic ability and yelled to her Magnezone, "Use Thunder Wave on Hypno!"
Magnezone obeyed and a trio of golden electrical ring emerged from the metallic Pokémon and struck Hypno directly in the chest. Hypno fell to the ground, paralyzed and unable to move, golden sparks arcing across his body. Venus followed that up by yelling, "Salamance, use Hyper Beam on Hypno!"
Salamance obeyed and an orange blast of energy erupted from its mouth down towards the stricken Pokémon. Hypno suffered a direct hit and there was a massive explosion and a great deal of dust and debris was thrown into the air. The blast formed a crater and at the center of the crater lied Hypno, unconscious but still alive. Three down, nine to go, Venus thought darkly. As much as she wanted to kill Hypno in order to make sure that he did not cause any trouble later, she knew that she had to deal with Wes and Cassandra's other Pokémon before they got their act together and became a dangerous force. The good news was, though, that she was doing more than enough to distract the trainers from her boss, Cyrus. A second Earthquake dealt with Lucario and dealt significant damage to Tyranitar and Golem. That was one more Pokémon down, and two more having suffered heavy damage. A third of the opposing force was rendered unconscious, with several others having sustained heavy damage and not likely to last too much longer before going down as well. Bronzong used Hypnosis to put Cassandra's Dragonair to sleep, taking another Pokémon out of the fight, albeit temporarily, and Crobat used Confuse Ray, firing a ghostly light upon Chansey, confusing her, making it just as likely that she would attack her teammates and allies, rather than use Softboiled to heal the rest of the team. And this was all before they had even launched their first attack against her team. However, soon, the counterattack would come.
After managing to recover from the initial wave of attacks, the Pokémon that were not fainted, asleep, or confused counterattacked with tremendous force. Umbreon began the counterattack by using Confuse Ray on Bronzong, causing it to become confused and use Psychic on Nidoqueen. A purple field of energy surrounded Nidoqueen and she was promptly sent flying through the air, and into Salamance. The two Pokémon collided, knocking Salamance out of the sky, and into the wall. The two slid down the wall, where Nidoqueen came to a rest, unconscious. Salamance was still conscious, but would not remain so for long, since Nidoqueen's Poison Point ability came into play when the two collided and one of her spikes broke through Salamance's skin. The now poisoned Pokémon did his best to continue the fight, but only managed to send forth a Flamethrower attack that failed to hit anything before he succumbed to the poisoning and fainted, unable to continue the battle. That left three Pokémon for Venus, not counting Mr. Mime and the on loan Alakazam from Mercury, both of which were maintaining the barrier to ensure Cyrus's security, to Wes and Cassandra's six conscious Pokémon and two Pokémon afflicted with the sleep or confused battle condition. While she had done better than expected, Venus knew that she would need help, and also that Cyrus would need extra security. Fortunately, help was about to come.
Coming in from behind Venus, two more Team Galactic Executives, the purple-haired Jupiter, and the young, red-haired Mars, came to support her. When they arrived, Venus turned to them and suppressed a groan. She did not like Mars's immaturity, but she knew that help from a crazed Cyrus fangirl was better than no help at all. Besides, Jupiter was coming as well, so that was a little more comforting. When she saw the two, and only, Executives from the previous incarnation of Team Galactic arrive, she asked, "How's the battle going with Cynthia and the others?"
"Not good," Mars answered. "The others have lost half their Pokémon, and by lost, I mean killed, with Cynthia and Ethan only having a few Pokémon being fainted. Fortunately, though, one of those Pokémon was Lucario. The others have been able to keep Cynthia and Ethan away from it, so we've gotten a reprieve, for a time. How's the battle going here?"
"Could be worse," Venus answered as her Crobat used Toxic to badly poison Chansey, which would eventually cause her to faint, unless either Wes or Cassandra had a Full Heal, Antidote, Pecha Berry, or other cure for status ailments.
Once they stood with Venus, they deployed their remaining Pokémon. Mars sent out a Golbat, a dark blue bat-like Pokémon with a huge mouth and two wings, a Purugly, a fat gray and white furred cat-like Pokémon with big ears and a curly tail, and a Bronzong. Jupiter sent out a Bronzong, a Golbat, and a Skuntank, a purple skunk-like Pokémon with a white stripe running down its back. Venus was less than pleased, since they were each supposed to have six Pokémon, but Mars was down to Golbat and Purugly, and Venus merely had her Bronzong, Golbat, and Skuntank with her. Still, she suspected that with the new influx of Pokémon, the three of them would be able to fight the two trainers in front of them and, hopefully, manage to defeat them and aid Cyrus, should anyone manage to get past them.
Farther down the path, Cyrus continued to make his way towards the Sinjoh Ruins temple off in the distance. With no further sources of resistance to hinder his progress, he arrived at the temple in short order. Looking back, he saw the flashes of a Pokémon battle, as well as the flashes of weapons fire off in the distance. He also heard the arrival of numerous fighters and larger ships and the sounds of weapons fire pervaded the region. He looked forward once more and rushed to the temple, not wanting anyone to be able to see him with their eyes, even if their ships' sensors were blind. The temple was a relatively small building made of gray rocks, glued together with cement. He fingered the two Arceus trophies in his pocket and shuddered with excitement. He knew that the time had come. He drew out his Arceus trophies and tossed them into the air. The trophies immediately grew to be life-size representations of the Alpha Pokémon. The trophies landed in the snow a few feet away. Remembering the reports that he had read about the ruins, and the process of having an Arceus create a new Pokémon, he went up to the trophy on the left and touched it first. A glow lit up the golden base of the trophy and the figure shimmered. A light went up from the base of the trophy and washed over the figurine, rising to the top. As it did, the metal on the figure was replaced with flesh, blood, and fur as the trophy came to life. No longer did a mere figure of Arceus stand in the snow, but a real full-sized Arceus stood before Cyrus. The Team Galactic leader did not know if this Arceus was as powerful as the original Arceus, and he did not care. All he cared about was that this Pokémon would be able to create a Dialga and a Palkia.
He then went over to the Arceus on his right and touched the base of the trophy stand. Just as with the Arceus to the left, this Arceus came to life as well. Once both Arceus had come to life, he told the one on his right, "Remain here and keep guard until I call for you. Make sure that you cloak us, as well as yourself as well. If anyone comes, kill them!"
The Arceus nodded and, without saying a word, went to assume a defensive posture, looking out towards the path. To the other Arceus, he said, "Come with me."
The Arceus followed Cyrus as he made his way into the Sinjoh Ruins. He approached the building slowly. Close to the temple's entrance, four columns surrounded a path in a square formation. They looked to be ancient and appeared to be crumbling due to their age. A set of stones jutted out from the snow, giving a path to the entrance of the ruins. Looking at the sides of the temple, the Team Galactic leader and current Chairman of the Galactic Federation found several fallen stones littering the grounds. He did not worry too much about that, though, as he and his companion made their way into the temple.
The inside of the temple was made of stone with few adornments save for the line of Pokémon statues that depicted numerous legendary Pokémon that lined a path leading directly to a stage at the far end of the room, three on each side of the path. The statues depicted the legendary Pokémon Dialga, Palkia, Giratina in its Origin Forme on one side, and Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit. All of which had a connection to Arceus. Looking ahead, he found the stage where Arceus would create the necessary Pokémon for him to fulfill his dreams. The stage looked to be made of a marble-like substance, though he suspected that it was of a material that was either not native to Earth, or one that had been created under the direction of Arceus by the humans who had worshipped him as a god.
Cyrus ascended the few steps that led onto the stage. Once he was there, he found that it was shaped like a triangle and had three circles at the end of each edge of the triangle, along with one huge circle that encompassed most of the stage. Each of the smaller circles, along with the larger circle in the center, had symbols inside. Cyrus did not view them as important, he just wanted to get this out of the way and have his dreams of a new world fulfilled. Looking out over the edges of the triangle, he found stones littering the surrounding area. He looked up at the ceiling, though, and found that it was still intact. There was no chance of anyone spotting him in here from above. He was soon joined by his animated Arceus trophy, who came to his side. Glancing over at the Arceus, he thought, muttered inaudibly, "Don't disappoint me."
He was not disappointed, for the moment that his Arceus stepped onto the stage, the three circles at the edges of each triangle started to glow white and the symbols inside each circle became much more pronounced. Cyrus's eyes lit up with wonder and anticipation. The time was coming. A new universe without spirit and emotion would soon be his. Once he was ready, he focused his gaze towards the legendary Pokémon. "Alright, it's time, Arceus. Do what you have been brought here to do!"
Without a word or a nod, the Arceus stepped past Cyrus and made its way to the center of the stage. Once it arrived, Arceus turned and faced Cyrus. The glowing circles and symbols inside them started to change color, the far symbol at the far edge of the triangular stage in front of Cyrus glowing red, while the circle to his right glowed purple, and the circle to his left glowed blue. A telepathic message soon sounded in his head, Which Pokémon do you wish for me to create? I may only create one Pokémon. Choose wisely. The message ended and Arceus stood in the center of the stage, waiting for Cyrus to make his choice.
Cyrus waited to see if Arceus was going to tell him anything else, but Arceus was silent. He grimaced. He had hoped that Arceus would give more information than that. He had not even told Cyrus how to go about choosing Dialga or Palkia. Arceus motioned towards the circles to Cyrus's left and right. "What do you mean?" Cyrus demanded. "Tell me what I'm supposed to do!"
"Choose," came Arceus's only response.
"How?"
Again, Arceus motioned towards the circles. Something then clicked in Cyrus's head. He figured that the circles would be the spawn point for whichever Pokémon he had chosen. Now, all he had to do was choose the right circle. According to the special reports that Venus and Uranus had obtained from the Pokémon League on the Sinjoh Ruins, the circles were color-coded so that it would be relatively easy to choose the desired Pokémon. According to the reports, Ethan had managed to obtain an Arceus from a special event and, upon taking said Arceus to the Sinjoh Ruins, had chosen Giratina in its Origin Forme, since the Griseous Orb allowed Giratina to remain in its Origin Forme. He did not know whether or not the reports were legitimate, and he did not care. All he cared about was getting Dialga and Palkia. And since the reports had said that Ethan had chosen Giratina, but not which circle had been chosen, he still did not know which circle to choose; and if he chose incorrectly, he would be unable to accomplish his dreams unless he went back to Mount Coronet, which would undoubtedly be crawling with Earth and Galactic Federation in Exile military forces.
After a few more seconds of nervous thought, Cyrus remembered the appearance of each of the Creation Trio. He remembered that Dialga was blue, while Palkia was purple. Looking at the circles to his left and right, he found that the circle on his left was blue, and the one on his right was purple. That was it! He finally had the missing piece of the puzzle. Elated, Cyrus ran to the blue circle as quickly as possible. Once in the circle, he skidded to a halt. As he stepped into the circle it began to glow. So, you have chosen Dialga, came the voice of Arceus in his mind.
"Yes, I choose Dialga!" Cyrus blurted.
Arceus then nodded and it began to shimmer. As it shimmered, a series of black and white Pokémon resembling letters of the English alphabet called Unown appeared and surrounded Arceus. Soon, a glowing orb of blue energy formed above Arceus and Cyrus stared in wonder at the orb, his eyes wide with delight. Soon, the orb solidified into an egg and it began to float over to the circle. Cyrus quickly stepped out of the circle and let the egg descend onto the glowing circle. It floated down to the center of the circle, where it hovered a few feet above the ground. The egg soon glowed once more and it began to break apart. A blue blob of energy emerged from the egg and took shape inside the circle, as if the Pokémon being created had been released from a Poké Ball. The energy soon solidified and the dark blue sauropod-like form of Dialga appeared, accompanied by a flash of shimmering sparks. Dialga also had some gray metallic parts, most notably a chest plate with a blue diamond over its center. Once Dialga had been created, the Unown vanished and Arceus stood in the center of the stage once more. Dialga has been born, Arceus declared proudly. I cannot create any more Pokémon. You must bring another of my kind if you wish to create Palkia to go along with Dialga and claim your dreams.
Cyrus had no issues and merely called for Arceus, saying, "Come with me."
Arceus obeyed and went to join Cyrus. Once he did so, Cyrus stepped down, followed by Arceus. He then lead Arceus out of the temple and went over to the other Arceus who was standing guard. The Arceus turned to Cyrus and the Team Galactic leader said, "You're being relieved of guard duty. The time has come for you to fulfill your true purpose. Come with me."
The Arceus nodded and stood at Cyrus's right side. Once it had joined Cyrus, the Team Galactic leader and Chairman of the Galactic Federation looked over at the other Arceus and told him, "Your work here is finished. Stand guard out here and make sure that no one passes. Should anyone try to pass, kill them."
The Arceus nodded, understanding Cyrus's order. Cyrus then took the second Arceus with him as he made his way back to the temple so as to have a Palkia created for him; and, together with Dialga, he would have them create for him a new universe: one without emotion, spirit, or suffering.
Above the mountain that the ruins were located on, Samus stood on top of the Heavy Assault Shuttle as it carried her to the Sinjoh Ruins, or as close as it would be able to take her. The mountain's valleys and passes looked too small for the shuttle to be able to land, or at least be able to land intact if there were any defenses stationed around the ruins. That was the farthest thing from Samus's mind, though, as she blasted a Federation Epée-class starfighter that was making an attack run on the shuttle with her Wave Beam. A charged blast issued forth from her arm cannon and tracked the fighter and scored a direct hit on the engines. Electricity arced across the fighter and the engines immediately lost power, their glow ceasing and the fire erupting from them vanishing. The now dead starfighter fell to the ground in an arc, spinning as it fell to its death. Fortunately, the pilot managed to bail out of his doomed fighter and a chute opened well before he risked hitting the ground. With that threat being out of the way, Samus went to search for any other fighters that managed to get past either the forward energy cannons, or the rear-mounted twin energy cannons and try to launch an attack on the shuttle.
So far, she did not have much work to do, for the heavy energy cannons were clearing a path out in front of the shuttle, and her Wave Beam was giving the fighters that tried to launch attacks from the side pause as well. She soon looked ahead and saw a large number brilliant flashes of light off in the distance. She soon heard the voice of General Hastings tell her, "Samus, we're not getting clear sensor readings below, but our ventral emergency cameras spotted a number of people below us. We're also detecting a large number of dogfights in the air up ahead, as well as several engagements on the ground, too. It looks like we've reached our destination. We're searching for a place to land, now."
"Thanks for the update, sir," Samus answered as she looked over the starboard edge of the shuttle and saw a large number of mountain trails and valleys.
She scanned the area and thought that she saw the air shimmer over one of the passages for a brief second. Samus figured that the shimmering was due to a shield that had been erected to keep people out. That had to be the path to the Sinjoh Ruins. She was about to inform the general that she suspected that she had found the path and would jump from the shuttle and fall towards the path, due to the likelihood of a shield when she heard the general's voice break through once more, saying "It looks like we've run into a bit of a snag, Samus. We're detecting a shield over one of the paths. We'll try to crack the shield with our missiles…"
"Don't bother, General," Samus interjected. "I have a feeling that if that is the path that leads to the Sinjoh Ruins, that chances are that the shield won't be easily breached. Let me go down and do it."
"How will you get down there and survive if you hit the shield?" Hastings asked.
"I'll use my Screw Attack to break through," the bounty hunter answered.
"Will that work?"
"We're about to find out!" Samus told him as she jumped off of the shuttle and down towards the shimmering barrier.
She immediately curled into a Screw Attack and barreled towards the barrier that had been erected by the Alakazam and Mr. Mime that were stationed in the pass that led to the Sinjoh Ruins. She fell through the air, making her way to the barrier and after a few seconds, she made contact with both barriers. The Screw Attack instantly negated the Light Screen and shattered it, while the Reflect shield was a little more difficult to break through. As her Screw Attack struck the Reflect, it a translucent field of energy appeared like a glass window over the entire pass. As soon as she made contact with the barrier, bright cracks began to appear where she had struck. Her Screw Attack energy field began to pierce the barrier and she began to push her way through. More cracks appeared on the barrier and soon, the Reflect was broken. Large energy cracks appeared and the field broke apart, creating a sound that resembled the breaking of glass. Samus then continued her descent until she reached the ground. Once she hit the ground, she uncurled herself and took stock of her situation.
As she made her way down the pass, she felt a force shove her forward and into the ground. She checked her HUD and found that her shields were still at full strength, but the numbers were now being shown in red, indicating that something was pushing against them, attempting to break through. Given that her suit was not suffering any damage at the time, she figured that someone, or something, was attempting to launch a telepathic attack on her. She smiled. One of the advances that had been made to her new suit was its ability to block out low to medium strength telepathic attacks. This had been a result of her having endured a telepathic assault during her mission to Research Facility 777. Turning around, she saw two humanoid creatures that she only knew of as a Pokémon. She did not know their species, and she did not really care. All she cared about was that the one with yellow skin's eyes were glowing, indicating that it was launching a psychic attack of some sort on her. Switching to her Wave Beam, she took a few shots at the two Pokémon, making sure to target the Alakazam first, and the Mr. Mime second. The Wave Beam blasts easily phased through the Light Screen and Reflect that the two Pokémon had erected and scored direct hits on them. Electricity arced across their bodies and they were paralyzed for a few seconds. In those few seconds, she switched to her Light Beam, in order to see if the Pokémon were evil or not. Two shots erupted from her Light Beam, and both the Alakazam and Mr. Mime were disintegrated as the two uncharged Light Beam blasts hit them. Samus merely gave a sigh and shook her head as she turned and rushed off in the opposite direction. She had to stop Cyrus before he managed to accomplish whatever he had to do to create his new universe.
She charged forward down the path and quickly came across the final part of a battle between three Team Galactic Executives and two Pokémon Trainers. As she arrived, she witnessed Mars's Purugly unleash a Hyper Beam on Cassandra's Tyranitar. The orange beam scored a direct hit on the large Rock and Dark type Pokémon and felled it, but not before Tyranitar used Earthquake to take down Jupiter's Skuntank, leaving only Jupiter's Bronzong, Venus's Magnezone, and Mars's Purugly conscious. A Thunder Wave from Magnezone was enough to paralyze the two trainers, causing them to cry out in pain as they fell to the ground, electricity arcing across their bodes as they remained on the ground, unable to move.
The three Team Galactic Executives approached the fallen trainers and their Pokémon, drawing stylized guns with two barrels and an electric charge between the two barrels, much like an old Earth stun gun, but this weapon seemed to be quite deadly. Jupiter grinned as she looked down at the trainers and commented in a sadistic tone, "Not the ones that stopped us last time, but I'll take it."
She leveled her lightning gun at Cassandra's head and prepared to pull the trigger, grinning as she was about to kill the fallen girl when an red-orange burst of plasma burned through the center of Jupiter's back, burning a hole through her body, the blast emerging from the center of her chest, blowing out most of her torso. The blast caused her to tense up and fire the gun, missing Cassandra by inches as she fell to the ground, a look of shock and pain etched on her face as she fell into the snow face first. There, she remained motionless, the life having left her body before she even hit the ground.
The blast took Mars and Venus by surprise as they had drawn their own weapons in order to execute Wes and they turned around to find Samus firing again. This time, she fired her Plasma Beam at Purugly. The blast blew through the thick fur and flesh of Purugly's head, disintegrating it, before the Pokémon could even launch an attack. Instantly recognizing their attacker, Mars yelled, "Oh crap, it's Samus!"
She immediately ran towards the ruins so she could alert Cyrus to the threat, leaving Venus and the Pokémon to deal with Samus. The remaining Pokémon were no match for Samus as she charged her Plasma Beam and unleashed the charged blast at the now dead Jupiter's Bronzong as it attempted to use Confuse Ray on her. The suit's shields blocked the light emitted from the Pokémon and Samus destroyed the Pokémon with her Charged Plasma Beam, the blast burning a massive hole in the metal casing of the Pokémon. Bronzong fell to the ground, its eye still open, but the Pokémon dead. This left only Venus's Magnezone.
Magnezone attempted to attack Samus using a Thunderbolt, but Samus's quick movements made it difficult for Magnezone to score a solid hit on Samus. The bounty hunter did not have the same difficulty hitting the electric and steel type Pokémon, though, for a single Plasma Beam blast was more than sufficient to fell the Pokémon, the saucer falling to the ground with a hole in its center. This left only Venus. Venus, knowing that she was no match for Samus, turned and fled from the battle.
Samus proceeded to make her way past the fallen Pokémon when she came upon the paralyzed humans and unconscious Pokémon. Seeing them, stopped for a moment and checked on their condition. They struggled to turn to face her when she placed her fingers on their necks to take their pulses. She felt the throb of blood flowing through their veins and arteries. Looking up at her, Wes said weakly, "Don't stop for us. Cyrus has made it to the Sinjoh Ruins. You have to stop him."
"Don't worry. I will," she assured him.
"Listen," came the voice of Cassandra as she turned to face the bounty hunter. "If Cyrus is headed into the ruins, then he likely has at least one Arceus. With Arceus, he can create Dialga, Palkia, or Giratina. He won't need Giratina, so he'll focus on either Dialga or Palkia. If already has one of them, then he'll only need the other before he can fulfill his desire and have them create a new universe for him out of the ruins of this one."
Samus had suspected that Cyrus had a plan. Given his need to find the Sinjoh Ruins, it was highly probable that he had either more than one Arceus, or he already had either a real Dialga or Palkia. She then rose and charged forward to chase down Cyrus and hopefully manage to stop him before he fulfilled his dreams of remaking the universe.
Venus made her way towards the Sinjoh Ruins, and Cyrus, quickly managing to catch up to Mars. As she did, the two of them approached the temple, seeing one of Cyrus's Arceus standing guard outside the temple. When they saw Arceus, they stopped and told him, "Let us pass! We have to alert Cyrus of Samus's arrival!"
Their only response was a Judgment attack as he fired a large purple ball of energy from his mouth into the air. Realizing that they were under attack, Mars cried, "Wait! We need to let Cyrus know that Samus is here! She's coming for…" but she was cut off as the purple meteors fell to the ground. Mars had been frozen by shock and was annihilated by the first of the meteors. Venus did not last much longer, as she fled from the remaining meteors, but was unable to outrun them as they followed her and collided with her body, annihilating her. Once the two Team Galactic Executives were beaten, Arceus remained motionless, awaiting the arrival of Samus Aran.
Samus continued down the path, rushing forward but still taking numerous glances around her to make sure she was not running headfirst into a trap. Her map's outline on her HUD soon turned red, alerting her to the presence of a known enemy. Seeing this, she figured that switching to her Light Beam would be her best bet against anything that Cyrus would send against her, especially if she had to deal with any Legendary Pokémon. Making her way around a corner, she found the temple where Cyrus was located directly in front of her. Standing in front of the temple, she found an Arceus, ready for battle. Seeing that this Arceus was different from the previous Arceus that Mewtwo had fought earlier, she activated her Scan Visor, her scan coming back, reading, Morphology – Arceus? Arceus is a Legendary Pokémon and in mythology, has been said to have created the universe. Strange energy reading, plus a drastically reduced power level indicate that subject might not be the real Arceus, but either an organic or magical replica instead. Subject is vulnerable to the Light Beam.
Samus did not know what to think. The Arceus standing in front of her looked identical to the Dark Arceus that Mewtwo had fought before they were drawn into the void above Mount Coronet a year ago, but her scan indicated that this Arceus was much weaker than the Arceus that was a threat to the universe a year ago. She waited as Arceus rose and moved towards her. A glow surrounded the Arceus as it began to charge her. She dove out of the way as the Pokémon zoomed by her. She took aim at the Arceus and charged her Light Beam. She then let fly with her Light Beam, a large golden ball of light rocketing towards the Alpha Pokémon at the speed of light. The Charged Light Beam blast struck Arceus in the back and engulfed the Alpha Pokémon in a glow of light. Samus checked Arceus's life bar and found that it had lost almost a tenth of his life bar to the attack. Her eyes went wide at the damage that her Light Beam had inflicted. There was no way that her arm cannon's weaponry should have been able to inflict this type of damage to something like Arceus. She had expected her Light Beam to merely be effective against the Arceus, not inflict this type of damage to it. Her Light Beam was supposed to work on evil enemies, not beings like Arceus. She began to wonder if her other beams and missiles would also be effective against him. She brought up her scan and there was an addendum to it, saying, Additional scan indicates that subject is animated from magic since figure's skin is made of a sort of metallic substance not native to Earth.
She then decided that it was time to bring this battle to a quick end. As she charged her Light Beam in preparation for using her Light Missile, the Arceus powered a Judgment attack, a purple ball of energy forming in its mouth. Once it was powered up, it unleashed the attack directly towards Samus. The bounty hunter leapt into a Screw Attack and barreled towards Arceus. The purple ball of Judgment collided with her Screw Attack shields and immediately detonated, forcing Samus backwards but not inflicting any damage to her. The explosion expanded towards the walls of the mountain pass, but did not expand any farther, and did not do much more than inflict minor burns on the walls. The attack was much weaker than Dark Arceus's attack had been. She had a feeling that while this Arceus was never as strong as Dark Arceus, or even the original Arceus, she felt as if this Arceus was not even fighting at its own full power. She began to worry that the reason why this Arceus was weakened was because it had already created one of the Pokémon known as the Creation Trio. The fact that the universe had not come to an end told her that if that was the case, then Cyrus only had one of the Creation Trio. However, she did not know how much time it would take for him to get the other one, and how long she had to stop him.
She immediately uncurled herself and took aim at Arceus. Once she had locked onto him, she unleashed a Light Missile at him. The ends of her arm cannon opened and a Light Missile erupted from its center. The missile streaked towards the Pokémon and Arceus powered a Judgment attack, preparing to unleash it on his enemy. Before it could power up the attack, though, the missile struck the Pokémon in the mouth and exploded, not only inflicting tremendous damage onto Arceus, but also detonating its ball of Judgment in its mouth. Arceus was bathed in another shower of light and the added damage done by the detonation of its own attack brought Arceus's life bar down to critical level. A single Charged Light Beam Blast would be enough to take it down.
Arceus began to glow again as Samus charged her Light Beam once more. She steeled herself against his upcoming attack as he came straight towards her. He continued his charge towards the motionless bounty hunter as the ball of light on the end of her arm cannon continued to grow in size until it was fully charged. By the time it reached its full charge, Arceus was only an inch away from Samus. In that second, Samus raised her arm cannon to Arceus's chest and fired her Light Beam blast. The blast struck Arceus in the chest and the blast stopped the charging Pokémon in its tracks. As soon as the blast hit, Arceus began to change. The organic flesh was replaced by a metallic or marble-like substance as a gold stand formed below the Pokémon. In less than a second, Arceus had transformed back into a trophy.
Samus stared at the trophy and activated her Scan Visor, her scan coming back, Object – Arceus Trophy. This is the Arceus's Trophy form, formed once this Arceus is defeated in battle. The magic controlling the Arceus is still present albeit at a weakened level and the animation magic has been neutralized, for now. Touch the trophy base to revive the Arceus to full strength. Use a Power Bomb to destroy the Arceus Trophy. Samus knew exactly what choice she would make.
She curled into her Morph Ball form and laid down a Power Bomb, and then fled the scene, knowing what would come next. After a few seconds, the Power Bomb detonated, its annihilation field vaporizing the Arceus Trophy, and also having the blast expand to thirty meters in diameter. The explosion also damaged the walls of the mountain pass, but they did not crumble and block the path. Once the blast had dissipated, Samus made her way past the scene and towards the temple. As she passed, she examined the scene to see if there were any traces of the trophy remaining. Finding none, she proceeded towards the temple at full sprint, wanting to stop Cyrus before he got too far in his plans.
Back inside the Sinjoh Ruins temple, Cyrus watched as the purple egg of Palkia descended to the purple glowing circle to his right, his second animated Arceus trophy standing in the center of the triangular stage. It continued to descend until it was only a few feet above the ground. Just then, Arceus's eyes stopped glowing and he turned towards the ruins' entrance. An explosion blew the door to pieces, propelling the shrapnel into the temple. Entering the temple was Samus Aran. Cyrus's eyes went wide with shock and anger. "No!" he roared in anger and apprehension. "I can't be stopped now!" Looking at Arceus, he commanded, "Kill her now!"
I am uncertain of my ability to do so, Arceus answered telepathically. And besides, I have to focus my power on not only creating Palkia, but also maintaining Dialga's form since the other Arceus trophy has been destroyed. If I engage Samus now, chances are that I would lose, for if am transformed back into a trophy and destroyed, both Dialga and Palkia will disappear, since they are merely extensions of my own power, now.
This was the worst-case scenario for Cyrus. He could not afford to let Samus ruin his plans, not after having come so close to success. He looked at Samus nervously as she charged her Light Beam. A myriad of thoughts entered his mind at that instant. He knew that he was no match for the bounty hunter and that if he would be cast aside with ease if he were to engage her in a battle. Still, he had to do something, for if she fought Arceus now, it would be destroyed, and his plans would be ruined. Knowing he had no choice but to fight Samus and hope for the best, he went over to Arceus and told him, "Give me something that I can fight her with! I'll cover you while you finish creating Palkia. You will have to maintain them as they create the new universe!"
Understood, Arceus answered.
Almost instantly, a suit of power armor appeared over Cyrus's body. It was a blue suit of armor with green highlights. On the side of his right arm was the Shock Coil, an experimental weapon designed by the Galactic Federation under the auspices of former Chairman of Defense Rickard Lorenz. At first, he thought that it was a creation of Arceus, but upon feeling it, he realized that it was a prototype of the Shock Coil suit that Elric had ordered Lorenz to design just after he had taken office. He grinned. With this suit, he should be able to hold off Samus for long enough to allow Palkia to fully form and for the two Pokémon, along with the power of the Arceus trophy that was still intact, to recreate the universe in his own image.
Once the suit of armor had formed, he Cyrus charged towards Samus and unleashed a stream of energy from his Shock Coil. Blue lightning emerged from his Shock Coil projector and searched for Samus. She used one of the pillars below the stage to take cover from the coil. She retaliated with her Charged Light Beam blast. It struck Cyrus directly in the chest, but only inflicted minimal damage on him, much what was to be expected from one of Samus's normal beam weapons. She glanced around at the Sinjoh Ruins. While many archeologists would have wanted to explore and study it, to her, it was merely a building and held no importance to her at all. She soon saw her shields depleting at an alarming rate as she saw Cyrus unleashing his Shock Coil on her. She returned fire with a charged Plasma Beam blast, which scored a direct hit on his head. The blast inflicted twice the damage that it normally would have, due to hitting Cyrus's suit in the head, but it still did not inflict a great deal of damage, relatively speaking, and time was of the essence since Palkia was already beginning to form.
She curled into her Morph Ball form and rolled behind one of the pillars as Cyrus gave chase in order to maintain his contact with her. For every second the Shock Coil's stream of neutrinos and electricity maintained contact with her suit, she the damage that she had already inflicted on him would heal. She used one of the Pokémon statues, the one of Azelf, to break the connection between her and Cyrus and she laid a Power Bomb at the base of the statue, hoping that Cyrus would miss it in his quest to keep her away from Arceus, Dialga, and the forming Palkia.
Sure enough, Cyrus rushed past the bomb as he attempted to fire on Samus once more. As he passed the bomb, she uncurled herself and leapt into a Screw Attack. Not knowing why she did such a thing, he fired his Shock Coil at her once more. As the stream of neutrinos and electricity was deflected by the Screw Attack shield, the Power Bomb detonated and both Cyrus and Samus were engulfed by the explosion. Just as with other Power Bombs, the blast expanded to thirty meters in radius and blew the windows out of the temple, the fire and energy expanding beyond the windows, but not damaging the structure of the temple.
In the distance, Cynthia, Ethan, and the Team Galactic Executives that were still alive looked off into the distance as the light and sound of a massive explosion rocked the landscape. A horrified look crossed the faces of Cynthia, Ethan, as well as the faces of the Team Galactic Executives. For Cynthia and Ethan, a rich part of the past and evidence of the connection between the Sinnoh and Johto Regions of Japan had been either damaged or destroyed. For the Team Galactic Executives, though, a much darker fear entered their minds. That explosion was likely powerful enough to kill or severely injure Cyrus and possibly the other Pokémon inside. If that was the case, then Cyrus's mission was in danger of failing. Unwilling to let that be the final outcome, they charged towards Cynthia, Ethan, and their Pokémon along with the few Pokémon that remained in their parties, and continued the battle, hoping to keep Cynthia and Ethan away from the scene.
Back in the Sinjoh Ruins temple, rubble was strewn about the entire temple. Where once, magnificent statues of Azelf, Uxie, Mesprit, Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina had been erected, now only debris remained. As Samus landed from her Screw Attack and surveyed the wreckage in the temple, she was surprised that the entire temple had not been destroyed, for the Power Bomb should have been powerful enough to do so. In the center of the triangular stage, which also still remained intact, Arceus still stood. She scanned him and found that he had sustained no damage from the Power Bomb's detonation. Apparently, neither did the Dialga that the Arceus was now maintaining, for Dialga stood right where he had originally been before the Power Bomb had gone off. In addition, in the purple circle on the right side of the triangle, Palkia, the dinosaur-like bipedal Pokémon with light purple skin, a gray underside, round purple striped plates on its shoulders with two round pink encrusted pearls, gauntlet-like formations on its arms, and a powerful tail. Palkia appeared to be menacing and gave off a loud cry as it formed. Looking into the eyes of both Pokémon, though, Samus saw no intelligence to speak of. They were merely robots created by Arceus to do its bidding, or rather, Cyrus's.
Not too far away from Samus, Cyrus stood and took stock of himself. His armor's shields had been breached and the Shock Coil had been destroyed. His armor was badly damaged and his HUD was non-functional. He tore his helmet off and turned to the stage, witnessing the final stages of Palkia's formation. His eyes went wide with excitement. He was so close, and he had survived Samus's attack and taken her attention away from the Pokémon. His dreams were about to be realized. As Palkia was finally completed and gave its trademark cry, he charged towards Palkia, heedless of Samus as she leveled her arm cannon towards him, and crying, "Now, Arceus, Dialga, and Palkia. Fulfill my desires. Make me a new universe from the ruins of the old one: a universe without spirit, emotion, pain, or suffering. Make me a new universe where I am its god!" Just as Cyrus had finished his command, he felt a thump in his back as he was knocked down by a blast of plasma from Samus's suit. She had fired on him with an uncharged Plasma Beam blast. He felt the heat burn through his armor as he fell to the floor, suppressing a cry.
After he fell, he stood back up over to the stage, where he crawled up the steps as Dialga gave a roar and blast of energy formed in front of his mouth as the fins on his back extended and grew. An indigo blast was then shot into the air, where it ceased moving for a time, as if being blocked by a shield near the roof of the temple. It was quickly joined by Palkia, whose shoulder pearls began to glow. Pink sparks of energy formed around its arm and entering it, causing it to glow pink. It then made an upward swipe and a pink crescent of energy sent from its arm to the suspended blast of energy from Dialga's Roar of Time. The two energy attacks collided and a black sphere erupted near the top of the temple's roof. Cyrus's eyes went wide with delight. "It's happening!" he stammered, barely able to contain his excitement. "It's really happening!" he cried. "Yes! I've done it! I've won!" He stared into the expanding black globe and saw a faint shimmering light at its center. A new universe was being born and was about to explode onto the scene, destroying this one.
Samus was not about to let this current universe be destroyed without putting up a fight, though, and targeted the center of the black sphere. She powered a Light Missile and, once it was charged, she fired it at the sphere's center. The missile rocketed from her arm cannon towards the black void and disappeared inside. It exploded once it had entered the sphere, but it did nothing to close or destabilize it. Cyrus merely laughed at Samus. "Heh, heh, heh. That weak Light Missile won't be enough to destabilize my new universe. It's over, Samus. I've won!"
She then opened fire in the direction of the three Pokémon, focusing her fire on Arceus, hoping that his destruction would also result in the destruction of Dialga and Palkia, and, in turn, their destruction would disperse the black sphere. However, Palkia intercepted the blast and was bathed in a golden light once the Light Beam hit, inflicting minimal damage to the Pokémon. Palkia countered with a Spacial Rend, sending down a crescent of energy towards Samus. She dodged the blast, allowing it to strike the ground, but when it made contact with the ground, it expanded and formed a new portal. Casually glancing into the portal, Samus thought she saw a land filled with green pipes, as well as flashes of a battle being fought. She turned back to Arceus, who was now protected by Dialga, Palkia, and Cyrus. Cyrus laughed as he turned and stared into the black globe, which was beginning to expand at an increased rate. As she tried to deal with the trio in front of Arceus, Arceus and the other Pokémon began to power their signature attacks once more. "It's all over," Cyrus cried as he commanded his Pokémon, "Now kill the last source of resistance and allow my universe to consume this one!"
The Pokémon nodded and launched their attacks at Samus, but she flipped over the portal, allowing them to sail into the portal. However, before they arrived, blue waves of energy erupted from the portal and pushed the blasts back to the Pokémon. The attacks collided with the Pokemon and sent them sailing into the wall behind them. Cyrus had seen the attacks coming and had managed to dodge before taking the full brunt of the damage. However, his elation was soon replaced with anger, hatred, and terror as he saw a figure appear in front of the portal. Upon seeing the figure, his eyes went wide with fear as he recognized the humanoid cat-like Pokémon standing before him as Mewtwo. "Noooo!" he cried in despair as Mewtwo stared at the Arceus trophy and the other Pokémon, his eyes glowing.
Samus emerged from behind the portal and joined Mewtwo presenting a united front against Cyrus and the other Pokémon. Mewtwo stared at the expanding sphere and held his hand out. Immediately, a field of blue energy encompassed the expanding sphere, halting its expansion in its tracks. After halting its expansion, he closed his hand into a fist. As he did so, the blue field of energy collapsed onto the black globe and crushed it. The black globe continued to be compressed until it imploded and dissipated in its entirety, leaving behind nothing but a few sparks of energy, which promptly faded into nothingness. "I will not let you destroy this universe," Mewtwo declared. "And I will use all of my power to defend it!"
Cyrus seethed and glared at Mewtwo. His plans had been crushed, but he was not dead yet. He would get back at him for this. He then yelled, "Then it will take all of your power!" Turning to his Pokémon, he screamed, "Attack! Kill them!" And Arceus, Dialga, and Palkia obeyed Cyrus and launched their respective attacks on Mewtwo and Samus. The battle for the universe had begun in earnest.