Magnus spent a few days in Celestic Town by meditating, visiting the shrine – sometimes with Cynthia, sometimes without her – and made a few additional attempts to let Giratina out of its Pokéball. But the mighty Pokémon always remained half-hidden in its portal to the Distortion World and Magnus wondered if it understood that he was still a bit uneasy about it. Day by day, his mind became more and more refreshed and a regular sleep schedule made his body feel much better, too. After a week, he thanked the Champion and her grandmother for their hospitality and decided to leave the town.
"Are you sure you're ready?" Cynthia asked.
"Yes", he nodded. He was confident that his mind had recovered enough. Sure, Giratina still crept him out a little, but maybe he just needed some time to get used to it.
"Then we shall hope that you will not need to visit our shrine again anytime soon", her grandmother said, "But we will surely be delighted to welcome you back as our guest whenever you wish."
"What are you going to do now?", the Champion asked and added with a bit of curiosity, "Will you beat Volkner and challenge my Elite Four?"
"No", he answered and Magnus could sense a brief flash of disappointment on her face, "Professor Birch asked me to visit him. He wants to give me a reward for helping him with the Hoenn Dex."
"So you'll return back home?"
"Maybe", Magnus answered. But was home still in Hoenn?
"But not immediately", he continued, "See, Professor Birch isn't in Hoenn right now. He's visiting Oak and Elm in Kanto and I'll meet him there. From there, I might travel through Johto and further south to pay Hoenn a visit."
Cynthia recommended him to visit the historic sights of Johto, especially the Sinjoh ruins – "But better bring your warmest winter coat or you'll get frostbite" – and they said goodbye to each other.
Days later, after a cruise on the S.S. Anne, Magnus spent his first night in Kanto in the Vermilion City Pokémon Center's dorm room. Luckily, there weren't many other people sharing the room with him, but he couldn't stop himself from feeling a bit uncomfortable. It wasn't the horrible feeling of dread that had plagued him so long in Sinnoh, but rather the sketchy look of some of the other people around here and, of course, the lack of privacy. He rolled around in his bed, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep, when he suddenly saw a swift movement from the corner of his eye – just this time, he wasn't hallucinating! In the darkness, someone had grabbed the belt carrying his Pokéballs! He jolted upwards and tried to jump at the thief, but too late – the hooded figure was gone. A million thoughts crashed through is mind at once: How was he gonna stop the thief without his Pokémon? What is he going to do to them? Will he ever see his Sceptile and his grandpa's Garchomp again? Then, he realised that not all of his Pokéballs were on his belt. He grabbed its ball out of his backpack and, still in his pyjamas, ran after the dark figure. "Please help me!" echoed again and again in his head. Storming out of the Pokémon Center, he could see a hooded figure just across the street and ran after it. Suddenly, two other men appeared out of the dark alleys and stood in his way. A red "R" was printed on their clothes.
"Your Pokémon will serve the noble purpose of rebuilding Team Rocket's glorious future!" the thief shouted and turned around to face Magnus who clenched his fist around his last Pokéball, "So give up and get lost!"
The thief sent out an Arbok and the other two grunts followed with their Weezing and Raticate.
"Or do you really want to face us all on your own?"
"Please help me", Magnus whispered and, to the thief's surprise, threw out his final Pokéball. Dark mist came out of the ball, even darker than the night sky, and the mist formed into an all too familiar serpentine shape. As its six giant claw-like wings stretched out of Giratina's back, the Rocket grunts' smug smiles disappeared in an instant and gave way to an awed look of primal fear. The six wings merged into two new shapes which looked more like actual wings and less like giant fingers. Magnus was surprised to see that the golden spikes turned into short, stubby legs which made the ground shake as Giratina landed onto the road. He was actually relieved that it looked a bit less unsettling than in the Distortion World.
"Shadow Ball!" Magnus shouted and a purple orb pushed Arbok across the entire road.
"Fuck!" the thief shouted and ran away, leaving his two "comrades" alone. A Dragon Claw left and right quickly dispatched their Pokémon, but the thief had used these valuable seconds to gain some distance.
"Crap!" Magnus thought. Giratina was powerful, but would such a massive and heavy Pokémon be fast enough to catch up on him? But before he could think this through, he realised that Giratina had vanished in front of his eyes! A few dozen steps ahead of him, the thief suddenly froze cold in his steps as a dark portal appeared in front of him. An enormous neck looked out of the portal and within an arm's reach of his face, a pair of giant golden jaws opened wide, charging a powerful Dragon Pulse.
"Stop!" Magnus shouted, "You're gonna kill him!"
Red flares flickered across the blue orb in Giratina's mouth. They lit up the thief's terrified face, but at least, the orb didn't seem to grow any larger.
"No!" the thief plead and tears ran down his eyes but evaporated under the orb's heat, "Please!"
He let Magnus's belt drop from his shaking heads onto the floor before dropping onto his knees, all the while being unable to turn his terrified eyes from the Pokémon.
"Please", he whispered.
"He learnt his lesson!" Magnus shouted desperately. Giratina's eyes darted between Magnus's and the thief. Magnus hated that thief with every fibre of his body, but he didn't want Giratina to blast off his head. The orb started to pulsate and became smaller, then slightly larger, again much smaller, once again slightly larger and then vanished as Giratina closed its jaws. Magnus grabbed the belt with his other Pokémon and gently patted Giratina's cheek. "Thank you", he whispered and returned it to its Pokéball.