After the three flew to Pastoria and cycled/rode to Lake Valor, they found the lake completely drained of water. Helpless flopping Magikarp and Team Galactic goons were everywhere. The kids expected most of the Magikarp to be dead from the explosion (the shockwave alone would have done it) but they were all alive, if inconvenienced. Moreover, the lake bed was undamaged, so the water hadn't been drained by cracking it open. Either Team Galactic had perfected a hydrophobic explosive or the Magikarp were made of adamantium.

"Manny, why are you making that face?" Hanny poked the boy in the shoulder.

"I just had lunch, but now I have to smell stinky Magikarp while fighting a horde of Galactic goons in fresh mud."

"How did they blow up all the water without mincing the Magikarp?"

"Mint, stop asking stupid questions and help us fight."

"But Hanny, none of this makes sense!"

Hannah returned Zeke in favour of Glitch, who honked angrily at the nearest Team Galactic member and began to chase him.

"Quit it! I don't have any Pokémon!"

"PO-RY-GON!"

"I don't want to die!"

"Glitch, use Tri-Attack!"

"AAAAAH!"

THOOM!

The goon flew into the treetops surrounding the lake, disturbing a flock of Pidgey that rose cheeping into the sky. The children were bespattered with wet mud from the explosion.

Manny's face was white. "Hannah, killing people is wrong."

"Glitch does not use lethal force, I promise."

"NOOB," Glitch accused Manny, who forgot to be angry in the midst of his utter surprise.

"Did you teach him Leetspeak?"

"Manny, you can't be that dense! Glitch is a digital Pokémon, with a natural wireless connection to the Internet. I have four terabytes of music downloaded onto him."

Glitch began to play the fake My Chemical Romance song, "Safe and Sound," while projecting a holographic music video of Kyosuke Himuro as the lead singer.

Some colour returned to Manny's face. "You're going to jail when you're old enough to be tried as an adult."

"They'll never take me alive."

Glitch halted his illegal activity so that he could chase down another defenseless Team Galactic member, inflicting a non-fatal maiming. Mint raised a Pokéball, summoning Espeon.

"Um, I'm going after the guys who can put up a fight."

"There's no fun in that," Hanny retorted, sticking out her tongue before directing Glitch to his next victim.

"Yeah, I'm gonna agree with Mint for once," Manny said before calling Keira to the field.

One of the goons Mint defeated mentioned that Team Galactic was already on its way to TwinLeaf and Lake Verity. The grunt guarding the cave entrance said something even more alarming: "All legendary Pokémon will be brought to our headquarters in Veilstone!"

The kids laughed at him. Glitch dealt him a non-terminal Psybeam to the face.

Manny snorted. "Those jumpsuits must be cutting off the circulation to their brains. Nobody can capture a god, must less an entire pantheon!"

Inside the island cave, they encountered a Galactic commander: Saturn, who had funky, gravity-defying blue hair.

"Hey, you're the kids who raided our warehouse in Eterna!"

"The very same. Glitch, get ready!"

"PO-RY!"

"Our Team's plans are going off without a hitch! Jupiter should be ashamed of herself for losing to children!"

He summoned Golbat, Bronzor and Toxicroak, whom Glitch and Zeke all knocked down. Commander Saturn recalled his last fainted Pokémon with a self-disgusted scowl. "I, a Commander, am only able to buy the Team more time to carry out our mission!" He got over himself quickly, however, and pointed a finger at the trio. "Know this: children like you will never be able to stem the flow of time! Team Galactic will get the three legendary Pokémon of the lakes. With their power, the Team will create an entirely new universe! By now, Mars should have captured the Pokémon of Lake Verity."

He disappeared with a smoke-bomb.

"PWNED," Glitch commented.

"Three guesses as to where I'm going," Mint said, summoning Togekiss.

Manny climbed aboard Keira. He told Mint, "We'll need your help at Lake Verity."

"Starrraptor!" Keira agreed.

"No, dummy, I'm headed north to Lake Acuity before Team Galactic show up there. Togekiss can outrun them, can't ya?"

"Kiss!"

Hannah remounted Zeke. Manny started to say that flying would be faster, thought better of it, then summoned his own fiery horse, clambering onto her saddle.

"We'll back up Rowan and Dawn at Lake Verity. Good luck, Togekiss," Hanny said.

"Aren'cha gonna wish me luck?"

"With you as his Trainer, he's the one that needs luck."

888

At Lake Verity, they found Rowan and saw, further ahead, his intrepid sidekick Dawn surrounded by Galactic goons and their menacing bowl-cut hairstyles.

"Children! Team Galactic is trying to get the legendary Pokémon! You must help Dawn!" Rowan shouted, then rounded on the nearest goon. "You misguided thugs!"

He punched the jumpsuit. The goon rubbed his arm. "Ow! What are you doing, you crazy old fool?"

"ROWAN used DYNAMIC PUNCH!" the Professor yelled, socking the man's upper arm with all his elderly might. The goon continued to yell at him without doing anything.

Leaving Rowan to his physical assault, Manny and Hanny Pokémon-battled their way through the Team Galactic lines. One of the Team members helpfully informed them that the legendary Lake Pokémon had already been taken to their HQ in Veilstone.

When they caught up with Dawn, there was Mars of the flaming red hair, sneering at the girl and her Prinplup.

The Galactic Commander recognised Manny. "You're that boy from the Windworks! I caught a whole lotta trouble for that incident!"

"…Who are you again?"

"Your ploy to anger me will not work!"

"Hanny, I'm sure I've seen this lady before, but something tells me she's too insignificant to be worth remembering."

The Commander's face turned almost the same colour as her hair. "You're just here to rescue your girlfriend!"

It was Manny's turn to be outraged. "SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!"

Mars summoned Golbat, Purugly and Bronzor to further taunt him. Manny responded in kind with Luxray, Torterra and Ponyta. At the end of it, his fiery mare finally evolved into a blazing Rapidash.

"OOOOH!" Mars squealed, stomping her feet. She calmed down after a few moments. "Hah! That's right; I HAVE accomplished my mission, this time! Thanks to Saturn's grandstanding at Lake Valor, an island appeared in Lake Verity. It was where the Pokémon Mesprit slept. It went to help its friends, but that made it super-easy to catch. So now we have them all: Mesprit, the being of emotion; Azelf, the being of willpower and Uxie, the being of intelligence. Team Galactic has plans for them!"

The Galactic members disappeared with their Commander in a hail of smoke-bombs. They children began coughing, forced to flee the lake area with Rowan.

When they had moved to fresher air, the adult among them voiced his concern: "What is happening up at Lake Acuity? Is Mint safe?"

Dawn went to his side. "Hanny, Manny, I'll stay with Rowan before he punches more people. You back up Mint!"

Manny gave the thumbs-up, promising, "We shall."

They flew away on Keira and Wise Shitashi.

"I would have made a fine pugilist," Rowan boasted, flexing his arms, then crying out in pain at how sore they were.