After stocking up on vital supplies, the Trainers had a hearty lunch on the rooftop plaza, not forgetting to feed and water their own Pokémon. Fat and happy, they flew to Oreburgh City, taking Route 207 east into Mount Coronet. Using their Pokémon, they surfed to the northeast area of the cave. There, they rock climbed into a new area, where they used HM Strength to push boulders out of the way. They spied a northwestern entryway that seemed to have been recently blasted open; there was rubble littering the ground around it. Detective Looker appeared behind them. By now, the Trainers had accepted the fact that adults possessed the ability to teleport directly to their location without making a sound.
"Observe, if you will, that hole. There was once a cave painting that had blocked the way to the summit. But the wall, it is no longer there. It lies in pieces. Do you see? Ever since the three Pokémon of the lakes have been captured… Something terrible is happening, but what exactly, I do not know." He turned away, smacking a fist into his open palm. "There is but one cause! Team Galactic's Cyrus! And now, we are all caught up. Now, to the next step. Are you Trainers enough to advance? Show me, if you will!" he commanded, his eyebrows waggling fiercer than ever.
The Trainers looked at each other, pleased to discover that they all shared the same frustration.
"Looker," Mint said, "I'm way madder at Team Galactic than you are, but you've gotta stop pushing us around!"
"Yeah!" Manny chimed in. "You're three times our age! Learn to take some responsibility for yourself!"
"Use that huge walkie-talkie in your trench coat and call for backup! What Cyrus is planning to do will become an international incident. What if we fail, huh? Did you think of that possibility?" Hannah asked.
The detective paused for a moment, staring at them. Then, an amazing change came over him. His eyebrows rose. He smiled. He stood up straight, uncurling from his usual sneaky posture.
"Hahaha! You can relax now. You see, I understand. You are far superior to me. As are the Commanders. Cyrus, too, naturally. Team Galactic is beyond my reach… Please, you must stop them! For only you are able! All I can do now is give you this. It is a little something I obtained in an investigation long ago."
Manny received the Black Flute. The children were stupefied. Looker had even dropped the weird accent.
"Please! You must stop Team Galactic!" he implored. They noted it was the first time he didn't say "the" Team Galactic.
"You really are just a normal person. I'm a little disappointed, to tell you the truth," Hanny remarked. She then herded the boys through the blasted doorway.
When all was quiet, Looker switched on his walkie-talkie. When the static cleared, he spoke in a clear, determined voice. Gone was his façade of incompetence. Instead, he projected an aura of conviction.
"This is Codename Looker 0312. Sir, I am no longer of use to this investigation. In my place, I have deputised three ten-year-old Trainers on whom I have built an absolute trust. No, backup will not arrive in time to stop Cyrus; he has already begun the ritual. Yes, sir, I understand the implications of my decision. I will hand in my badge… if there is still a world tomorrow."
888
The trio headed upstairs to find a Galactic grunt, then another, who slowed them down with battles. The group headed outside to a grassy, snowy area, then inside again to a waterfall area. They climbed the cavern, battling another grunt, then another, before heading out an eastern exit. Snowy cliffs surrounded them on all sides, thus they were forced to use Rock Climb to reach the high ridges.
"I can see half of Sinnoh from here!" Mint observed.
"Mint, there are wild Absol in this area. I can smell them," Hanny said while consulting her Pokédex.
"You guys, the world is at stake!" Manny reminded them.
"Filling my Pokédex is more important," she replied.
"Yeah, the bad guys always wait for us to arrive, Manny. You should know that by now," Mint scoffed.
A grumbling Manny carried on, climbing higher to enter yet another cave. He was slowed down again… and again… and again by Pokémon battles with grunts.
At the peak of Mount Coronet, Manny walked onto a grand stone platform studded with Doric columns. The platform and columns were ancient, yellowed by time, and crumbling in places. For some obfuscating reason, the top of each column had been hewed into a point.
"So this is the legendary Spear Pillar."
Manny was again stopped by grunts, but two of them this time.
"If you let me pass, I'll give you free Lemonade," Manny bribed them. Unfortunately, the grunts did not have time to consider his offer because Hanny and Mint showed up.
"I caught an Absol before Hanny did!" Mint boasted. "Now we shall be tormented by natural disasters!"
"I'll trade with him later to get the entry in my Pokédex. Absol is cute!" Hanny squee'd. "Manny, take Mint and go on ahead. I'll deal with these two jokers."
"Thanks, Hanny!" the boys chorused while the combatants summoned their respective Pokémon.
They saw Cyrus on the middle of the platform, standing before some arcane symbol engraved on the stone, but two familiar hairstyles greeted them.
"Where do you think you're going?" Mars demanded, holding out her arms to bar them. "I won't let you disturb our boss. If you're not going to listen, you'll have to go through me first. After all, you've made me look bad more times than I care to remember!"
"And I'll be next," said Jupiter. "You might be tough, but this time, the gloves are coming off!"
"Hold on one second!" Mint yelled, confronting Jupiter. "Don't you start the party without me!"
"Huh?" Jupiter said, looking at the blonde kid.
Mint gave her a thumbs-down. "Remember me? I'm here to get revenge!"
"Ha! If it isn't that little boy. The little crybaby from Lake Acuity. Did you toughen up? Sure, let's battle two-on-two!"
The Galactic commanders used two Bronzor, two Golbat, a Purugly and a Skuntank. The boys verily vanquished them.
"Heh," Mint smirked. "My Pokémon are tough, right? I can get ever tougher! But, you know, that's it for us. We've hit the wall," Mint puffed, sitting on the ground.
"Stop lying! I'm the one who was battling all those grunts while you chased down an innocent Absol!"
"Manny, I'll help you with this!"
Using the contents of his backpack, Mint fully healed Manny's Pokémon!
"Hey, Manny! This is it! It's your show now!"
Mint got to his feet, taking a few steps back.
Manny looked to Cyrus who began a customary monologue: "Everything is ready for the creation of a new world. Now, all will end. And everything will begin. With this, the Red Chain made from the crystals of the three Lake Pokémon… and this, the Red Chain I replicated with technological means… with these Red Chains I will pry open the portal to another dimension. I command that you unleash you power for me…"
The Red Chains circled Cyrus in a double-helix, charged with blistering red energy, spinning faster and faster until they disappeared.
"Dialga, the mythical Pokémon, and the master of time! And the other. Palkia, the mythical Pokémon, and the master of space and dimensions!"
With two mighty cries, the legendary Pokémon appeared before Cyrus. Each had a Red Chain wrapped around its neck, like bloody necklaces. Manny's eyes dilated with wonder.
Dialga looked like an armour-clad sauropod. Its body was royal blue with glowing, sky-blue lines running along its limbs and comparatively short tail. Its metallic grey armour was actually growing out of its body to form short horns, a chest plate, spiky plates along the back of its neck, tail 'feathers' and claws. The centre of its chest plate held a blue diamond, which was the size of Manny's torso. Though leashed, Dialga stood erect and proud, the stone platform cracking beneath its weight; a streamlined, steel mountain on four legs.
Palkia resembled an armoured theropod. Its light purple body was striped with glowing violet lines. It had short, gauntlet-covered arms and metallic claws. Its huge, round, striped shoulder plates each held a pink pearl the size of Manny's head. Its long neck and horned head were protected by natural armour that swept along its back in the shape of vast metallic wings. Palkia stood squat, hunched over its short, pillar-like legs, its titanic claws digging into the stone platform, its tremendous tail swishing with anger at being leashed.
No sooner had these living gods appeared than a new phenomenon occurred. Above Mount Coronet, the three Lake Pokémon appeared, circling the peak like three stars. Cyrus took notice.
"I should have expected as much. Uxie, 'The Being of Knowledge'. Azelf, 'The Being of Willpower'. And Mesprit, 'The Being of Emotion'."
The pantheon stupefied Manny. His limbs were jelly. He forgot how to breathe. Who but the stoutest of hearts, with firmly-seated indomitable mind, could stand before gods and live?
Cyrus turned to face the boy, his calm voice unnerving: "The Pokémon have come to protect Sinnoh? Pathetic and worthless. It takes the three of them, the three Lake Pokémon that symbolise spirit, to balance either the Pokémon of time or space. But they can't maintain balance against the two. Not when both Dialga and Palkia are here. Their coming here is in vain. So much meaningless drama. Now, Manny."
"Huh?" the boy blurted, trying his best not to be overawed. At least he was breathing again.
"You've constantly interfered with my plans, but you will be forgiven. After all, there will remain no spirit for all time when I am done. All spirit will disappear. It will be ripped away… From you! From your Pokémon! From those precious to you…! It is time! My dream will be my reality!"
The area around them darkened, though it was midday. Cyrus grimaced, his shoulders slowly becoming hunched, as though an inexorable weight rested on them.
"What is this pressure I feel…? Something… is enraged?"
Behind Cyrus, puddles of pure darkness seeped from the floor, flowing together to form a fathomless hole in reality. A gigantic dragon's head, obsidian, with glowing red eyes, emerged from the portal with a bellow, staring down Cyrus, its dark wings folded around its body. Six blood red talons along its wings undulated rhythmically.
"Interesting," Cyrus grunted, attempting but failing to straighten his back. "So, there is a Pokémon that can only appear as a shadow."
The shadow dragon roared and unfolded its wings, raining drops of liquid blackness that splattered the ground and faded away.
"Regardless, the effort is rash and foolish. I have harnessed the powers of Dialga and Palkia… I, Cyrus, won't have any more interfere-"
His last word was lost in an echo as the shadow dragon arched backwards then sprang forward, engulfing Cyrus and dragging him into the dark portal. Dialga and Palkia disappeared through blue and purple rifts in space-time.
Once this drama drew to a close, Cynthia showed up.
"No!" she screamed.
The three Lake Pokémon also entered the dark portal, disappearing.
"I'm sorry I took so long," she apologised to Manny.
"But you can teleport! You could have been here before us! I am sure that Abra runs in your family!"
"I think I finally found the answer from studying the myths. When this world was made, Dialga and Palkia appeared. Apparently, there was one more Pokémon that appeared at the same time. A Pokémon with as much power as Dialga and Palkia… But also one whose name was never to be spoken… 'Giratina'!"
"But you just spoke the name!"
"I know, but what with the impending apocalypse and all, some taboos are meant to be broken."
"That unspeakable name sounds like Gina and Tina. Is it a girl Pokémon?"
"It's said to lurk in another world… A world on the opposite side of ours… That's what the shadow was. It must have been Giratina."
Cynthia looked around at the Spear Pillar. The stone was melting and shifting beneath their feet. The sharp columns were keeling over as though made of wax. Mint touched a pillar, and his hand went inside it. With a yelp, he withdrew his hand. His handprint melted along with the stone, but it gave off no heat. Reality itself was bending and shifting!
"The pillars are distorting. It's because of that portal: it's joined us to the other world. If it's not closed, the distortion will spread to Sinnoh and beyond… Our world will be destroyed…"
That was the last straw for Manny.
"No more Internet? No more instant messaging, no more pictures of cats? No more VIDEO GAMES?! I must not allow that to happen!"
"Are you ready? We've got to chase Cyrus!"
"CHASE him? A legendary dragon of pure darkness DRAGGED him into another dimension! I think we're chasing Giratina, not him!"
"You need to get ready? I'll wait here."
Manny fetched his partners in crime.
"Come with me and Cynthia, you guys!"
"You've done lost your mind! I don't want to die!" Hanny protested.
"Me neither! That dark dragon is scarier than Hanny!" Mint shivered, hugging himself.
"Are you guys kidding me? After all we've gone through? I will make an angry YouTube video and write an even angrier LiveJournal entry when I get back!"
"But you and Cynthia will die if you go into that portal! This isn't like fighting a bunch of retards in jumpsuits, Manny! This is life and death!" Hanny argued.
"I know! That's why I have to go: I WANT TO LIVE! I want to chat with people on the Internet and play video games!"
"What about preventing seven billion people from dying?" Mint asked. Manny shrugged.
"That's important too, I guess."
Manny and Cynthia jumped into the dark portal. After much hemming and hawing, Mint and Hanny called their parents to say their goodbyes. Hannah's parents picked up first.
"Mom, Dad, I'm jumping into a dark abyss to chase a vengeful god. I'll probably get killed."
"Have fun!" her Dad said over the phone.
"Send us a postcard at the resort!" added her Mom.
"…I hate you."
"We love you too!" they replied. Click.
Mint's mother picked up. He had her on speaker phone.
"Hi Mom…"
"Mint, a Riolu hatched out of the egg!"
Mint brightened up. "Hanny, good news! A Riolu!"
"Come home soon to play with her!"
"A girl Riolu? Roserade will finally have someone else to look after!"
"He's feeding her a bottle right now! I'll take a picture and text it to you!"
Roserade was cradling a tiny Riolu in the blue rose bouquet that was his left hand, and somehow holding a milk bottle in the red rose bouquet that was his right hand. The Riolu looked sleepy while it drank. Hanny and Mint stared at the picture.
"It's just like when you were a baby!" his mother cooed.
Mint wiped away tears. "Mom, she's beautiful. I know you'll take good care of her. Goodbye…"
"Bye, Mint!"
"Roserade!" he heard his surrogate father wish him well. Click.
"Hanny, we have to go."
She seemed to have something in her eyes. "Y-yeah."