Chapter 18

I closed my eyes as I flew through the air. It was always nice to fly, especially since I got to be in my Latiform. Ash was riding on Latios to give me a break, so I was free to do a few flips and turns. I didn't know exactly why it felt good, but I always shrugged the feeling off. If it felt good, then it just did.

"Hey! I'm still here you know!" Pikachu's yell made me snap open my eyes.

"Oops, sorry," said Latias.

"It's fine," said Pikachu, "just warn me before you decide to be a roller coaster,"

"It wasn't that bad," said Latias.

"Knowing you sis, it probably was," chuckled Latios.

Latias rolled her eyes. "Come on brother, you know you're just as bad,"

"Does that mean I'm also just as good?" asked Latios.

Latias smirked. "Well, sometimes,"

"Speaking of which," I said, "could you guys teach me how to fly faster?" This was something I had wanted to learn ever since I saw Latias fly off that day, but I hadn't thought about it until now.

"Sure!" said Latias, "If you want to fly faster, just tuck your arms in and…"

Pikachu coughed.

"Maybe you should show him when you don't have passengers sis," said Latios.

"Right," said Latias.

"Sir, we are ready to summon Dialga and Palkia,"

Cyrus nodded. "Very well Mars, everything is secure?"

"Yes sir,"

"Then you may go ahead and begin,"

"What about you sir?"

"I'll catch up," Cyrus smirked, "there are a few things I have to take care of first,"

Cyrus waited until Mars had left the room before walking over the a control panel and pressing a few buttons. As he did, three glass cases opened, revealing Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie. However, all three of them had a red crystal stuck to the gem on their foreheads. Cyrus smirked as the lake guardians struggled in their cages. It was time to take control. With a flick of a lever, the crystals began to glow. As they did, Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie stopped struggling as their eyes began to glow a faint red.

After a short flight, we arrived at Mount Coronet. The mountain was large, the tallest one I had ever seen, though I have to admit I haven't seen many mountains. Instead of having a cone-like structure, however, one side of it was much longer than the other, making it look like several small mountains all side by side with one larger mountain in the middle. At first, I thought we would have to look for Team Galactic's base, but instead, a giant building sticking out of the side of the mountain awaited us.

"I'm just going to take a wild guess and say that's their base," said Pikachu.

"That's strange," said Latias, "wouldn't they at least try to hide it?"

"They might not need to," said Latios, "the fog around here blocks out most of the view, and you wouldn't notice unless you looked carefully,"

We landed a few yards away from the building and Ash dismounted Latios as soon as he did, Pikachu jumped onto his shoulder.

"Should we just go in?" I asked, not really knowing what to do.

Ash shrugged. "I guess," he stopped to think for a moment. "Latios, Latias, Michael, how about you guys turn invisible for now just to be safe,"

"What about you?" asked Latias.

"I'll be fine, just follow me," said Ash.

"Don't worry," Pikachu whispered as Ash walked into the building, "he never has a plan,"

"Hey! I heard that!"

We went in through the 'front door' of the building. I noticed Ash tense up, expecting an attack. The building, however, was deserted.

"Shouldn't there be someone here?" asked Ash.

"Maybe they're just somewhere else?" suggested Pikachu.

I looked around and noticed some strange metal bars right above the door. My eyes widened as I realized what they were for. "Ash! We need to get out of here now!"

Before Ash could respond, the metal bars dropped with a bang, sealing the exit. Around the room, several other bars dropped on the other doors. We were trapped.

"That was easier than I thought,"

"Who said that?" demanded Ash, turning around.

"Impatient, are we? Not that I blame you," A hologram of a man with blue hair and a gray and black outfit appeared in front of us. "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Cyrus, the leader of Team Galactic,"

Ash said nothing.

"Now that you're here," continued Cyrus, "Allow me to show you Team Galactic's goal,"

A buzzing noise filled the room as a large screen descended from the ceiling. Once down, the screen lit up, showing a black void with several ancient-looking pillars floating in it. The pillars surrounded a triangle which had three small pillars on each of its corners. I noticed a few people standing on one side of the triangle which I assumed to be Team Galactic.

Looking closer I could see a man on the screen who looked exactly like the hologram in front of us. 'That must be the real Cyrus,' I thought.

Standing beside Cyrus were a man with blue hair and two women, one with pink hair and one with orange hair. Around them stood several men who had green hair and looked exactly the same. All of them wore the same Team Galactic uniform.

"Isn't that..." said Latias.

"Spear Pillar, yes," said Latios.

"What's Spear Pillar?" I asked, hoping it wasn't something bad.

Latios turned to me. "Spear Pillar is an ancient place said to be linked with the creation of the world."

The hologram of Cryus nodded. "Now sit back, relax, and watch Team Galactic create a new world! One where I will be in control so nothing can corrupt it!"

"A new world?" said Ash.

"That's right," said Cyrus, "once this old world is gone the universe begins again." He laughed. "Of course, I would let you go, but I can't have anyone disrupting my plans."

"Wait a minute, you can't do that!" yelled Ash.

"Oh, but I will," said Cyrus, "goodbye now,"

"Hey, come back! Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash commanded.

"It's no use," said Latios, as Cyrus' hologram faded, "attacking a hologram won't do anything,"

Ash sighed. "You're right,"

We all looked back at the screen. A man who looked like a scientist was putting several rainbow plates around the triangle.

Latias gasped. "Brother, don't tell me those are Arceus' plates,"

"I'm afraid they are sis," said Latios, "we need to get out of here, and fast,"

I wanted to ask what Arceus' plates were, but I knew there wasn't much time.

"Can you guys use teleport?" asked Ash, "That might be our only escape,"

"I can't," said Latios, "teleporting takes a lot of practice and even then you can only teleport to places you've been before,"

"Yeah, neither can I," said Latias.

I was about to give a similar answer when something strange clicked inside me. I couldn't place the feeling, but somehow I knew I could get out of here. "Um, I think I can," I said.

Ash turned to me, surprised. "Are you sure Michael?"

I nodded. "Remember that Luster Purge I used earlier?"

"Yeah, you did a really good job with that," said Ash.

"The thing is," I continued, "I didn't know how to properly use that attack if just came somehow. I don't know why, but something's telling me I can use Teleport,"

"Well, no harm in trying," said Pikachu.

"Go ahead Michael, you can do it," said Latias.

I nodded and closed my eyes, trying to concentrate on the power I had felt earlier. After a few seconds of trying, something inside me clicked.

I blinked. I was no longer inside Team Galactic's base. Instead, we were halfway up a mountain which I recognized as Mount Coronet. In front of me was what looked like an entrance to a cave, but instead of a floor, there were lots of white steps that seemed to be floating in a black void as they descended.

"Great work Michael!" said Ash, "But... where are we?"

"I think this is the entrance to Spear Pillar," said Latios.

"Does that mean Team Galactic's down there?" asked Latias.

"Yep!" said Pikachu, "Come on, let's go!"

Here's another chapter!

So, as some of you may know, I'm taking the month of November off updates so I can do NaNoWriMo which is short for National Novel Writing Month. This is a challenge where you write 50,000 words in a single month! That means I will be offline trying to get the word count in most of the month. Don't worry though, I'll be back with updates in December (and may have something special for Christmas)!

If you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a review and consider joining my discord server to keep up with my word count in November! (discord . gg/eX4k3bV2au) (link on my profile page if that one doesn't work)