John's Team
Tyrant - Slaking
Vordt - Ursaluna
Smough - Snorlax
Klee - Blissey
Port - Mantine
Zephyr - Pidgeot
Klaus - Wyrdeer
Luna - Clefable
Pixel - Porygon-Z
Euphie - Sylveon
Ornstein - Obstagoon
Wraith - H-Zoroark
Winston - Lickilicky (Shiny)
The New Normal – 13-12 – The Final Plate
After recovering the Lake Guardians and returning them to their lakes for a slow but full recovery, we all were pulled out for a mandatory health check up just to make sure there were no lingering side effects from having to withstand that huge psychic explosion. Fortunately, we came back with a mostly clean bill of health, and the Nurse Joys only advised us to keep away from any psychic attacks in the future just in case.
I admit that the one nice thing about being injured meant that you got to be pampered by your girlfriend. Apparently she had gotten a huge shock when news of the explosion reached her, and she rushed down to the Pokémon Centre to check up on all of us, though she made sure to give me more attention as she pulled me into a tight, loving hug.
"…I'm glad you made it out okay." She whispered softly to me, uncaring of the looks that she got from the others, "I had thought the worst when I got the reports."
"It was a pretty close call." I admitted, "But I'm fine, Cynthia. I'm safe, there's no need to worry."
The two of us remained like that for a little bit, but that tender moment didn't last very long as our audience members started to call out.
"I don't know whether I should be offended or not that you seem to be checking up on John more than the rest of us." Flint joked from where he was resting on his bed, "I mean, we're your precious Elite Four, right? Where's our loving hug?"
"The only loving hug you'll be getting is from my Garchomp." She fired back, "I appreciate you, but not in that way."
"Why are you even complaining, Flint? Didn't Volkner run all the way here to check up on you? Why don't you ask him for a 'loving' hug?" I teased back.
"If you're feeling lonely over there, maybe I can come over and wrap my old and wrinkly hands around your neck." Drake laughed, "I'm sure you'll enjoy it."
"I think that's called a strangling, so thanks but no thanks." Flint replied, deliberately inching away from Drake on his bed.
Banter aside, we were all just relieved to have gotten out of that trap in one piece. Fortunately, as the injuries weren't made public, my parents weren't informed of my close call. I didn't want them to make them sick with worry. I also begged Karen, since she was in the information loop, to not tell my parents either.
Regardless, as far as the wider world was concerned, the whole mission was a complete success since we managed to capture many of Cyrus' key subordinates and everyone came out unscathed. Of course, the same could not be said for Saturn.
Just like Drake said, the man was completely gone mentally. Having been right next to the detonation point, he had taken the full brunt of the explosion which had completely overloaded his brain. We couldn't even perform a psychic interrogation on him because there was literally nothing to go through. No memories, no anything.
He might still be breathing, but with him in a permanent coma, the chances of him ever waking up again were extraordinarily slim. Not that anyone really cared; as far as we were concerned he merely reaped what he sowed.
As we were recovering, the Sinnoh Police also managed to extract everything they could from the scientists that we had taken down at the lab. The news was a mixture of good and bad. The good news was that Team Galactic was now officially out of resources. The lab that we had raided was the last functional lab that they had, and we had just destroyed all of the very expensive equipment within it.
Cyrus no longer had the resources to replace them.
All that he was left with were probably one or two hidden bases, but they mostly served as living quarters with no equipment within them. Additionally, we estimated that all he had left was a large group of grunts – certainly still sizeable, but a far cry from the small army that he once had – and his two remaining 'admins' in Mars and Jupiter.
The bad news was that a working prototype for the Red Chain had been completed and passed onto Cyrus. There were plans for the scientists to continue refining the prototype Red Chain, but we had taken them down before such plans could be completed.
From what we extracted, the captured scientists theorised that the prototype Red Chain would be able to summon and control a Legendary, but even the scientists themselves were a little wary about its efficacy. They had created it with significant haste, and they had cut many steps in the process.
Despite this, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that the Red Chain was still an extraordinary invention. Even if it was created for and by cruelty, and it was too dangerous to leave in the hands of anyone, let alone a crazed madman like Cyrus, but it was still a wonderous creation of science. Any item that could interact with the Legendaries would always be considered as such.
Nevertheless, the fact that Cyrus had an item that could theoretically summon a Legendary sent the Sinnoh League into horrified alarm. Even if Cyrus no longer had any other resources available to him, the fact that he had such an item in his hands was worrisome enough.
Still, the one thing that kept the Sinnoh League from full blown panic was that the scientists' memories revealed that the prototype Red Chain could only activate at places with significant Legendary presence, meaning that Cyrus wasn't just able to randomly summon a Legendary in the middle of Jubilife City, for example, and cause untold amounts of destruction there.
This meant that he was very likely to strike at Spear Pillar, just like we had expected, and it meant that the Sinnoh League could focus most of their defences there. But we couldn't put all our eggs in one basket, as Spear Pillar wasn't the only location with a Legendary presence, and the Sinnoh League also split off a few forces to reinforce other areas such as the Lakes as well.
Just in case.
Though we all knew that the final battle was around the corner, we still had no leads on Cyrus' current location and was forced to wait as the investigators continued their efforts in trying to track him down. As we expected, Cyrus had disseminated information rather carefully amongst his ranks, so not even the captured scientists knew everything about Team Galactic's operations.
Though, for the time being, Koga and I had received a call from Lance to update us about the situation at home.
"First of, I'm glad you're both okay." He said to us, "It would be a grave loss to Indigo if we had lost you to that explosion." Lorelei and Karen stood behind him with mutual frowns on their faces as they nodded in agreement.
"It's not something I'd like to repeat again." I said, "Though I highly suspect that this was a one-time thing. They don't exactly have other machines they could just overload again like that in the future."
"I hope for everyone's sake that you're right; I would hate for anyone else to fall victim to such despicable tactics." He sighed, "Still, I've received the report from Sinnoh. Cyrus having the Red Chain in his possession is definitely a huge cause for concern, and I've already called for several Gym Leaders from Indigo to start making their way over. Wallace has informed me that he will be doing the same from Hoenn. Sinnoh requires all the manpower they can get, and having Gym Leaders be there will help supplement their numbers."
"Good. There is no time for hesitation." Koga nodded, "If Cyrus successfully summons a Legendary to fight on his side, then he has won. We must do everything we can to stop that."
"Yes and no." Lance replied, "You're right that we must do everything we can to stop him, but just because he has summoned a Legendary does not mean he has won. Remember, even if Cyrus summons a Legendary, it is our duty to fight to the end, no matter the odds. If able, I will be in the fight alongside you, so never lose faith."
"My apologies, I misspoke." Koga bowed, "Indeed, victory can only be our course of action." I nodded firmly in agreement.
If worse comes to worst, then we will still fight. For we shall never stand aside and simply allow Cyrus to destroy the world.
We spoke a little more about the details about who was coming and how their Gyms will be supervised in their absence. In summary, Gym Leaders like Giovanni, Surge, and Pryce (the more experienced among them) were coming over and were due to arrive shortly. In the meanwhile, their Gyms would either be closed for the time being or an appointed second would serve as Gym Leader in their stead.
After our meeting was wrapped up, I knew there was one important thing that I had to do – and that was to check up on my Pokémon and thank them for saving me from a terrible fate. So before I went anywhere, I found a nice training field outside the Sinnoh League building and released my full team.
"Sla…" Tyrant immediately headed towards me, a concerned look adorning his usually grumpy face. He made a show of looking me over, before tilting his head with a questioning glance.
"I'm fine, Tyrant." I replied genuinely, "And thank you for getting me out of there in one piece. If it wasn't for you… then I would be in a pretty bad shape. But I'm fine now, don't worry."
"…King…" Despite my words, he still shot me a worried glance. He wasn't the only one. Smough and Klee, who had also been sent out during our fight, also felt bad that they weren't able to better shield me from harm.
"No." I shook my head, gently patting Luna on the head as she wrapped me in a tight hug, "It was never any of your faults. And I don't like you blaming yourselves for it. No one could have expected Saturn to overload the capture machines like that in a suicide attack, and you already did everything you can to keep me safe. So it is not you that needs to apologise – it is me who needs to thank you all for keeping me safe."
I bowed, "So again, thank you all. I might have been far more injured if not for all your efforts to protect me. I hope I can continue to rely on you all for the battles to come. For we still have big battles ahead."
Tyrant, as a representative for my entire team, laid a hand on my shoulder as he patted me with a reassuring smile – as if to tell me that they would all have my back. I smiled back, returning the show of trust and affection.
Even though the threat of Cyrus still lingered in the background, I found a moment of respite as my team and I shared a peaceful moment of silence together. I basked in the love and trust that radiated out of my team, eternally grateful of the unbreakable bonds that we had forged together.
In that moment, I knew that no matter the fights to come, my team would be able to surpass whatever they threw against us.
For they were unstoppable.
However, in that very moment, I felt something pulse into my brain as I suddenly fell to my knees. Klee immediately rushed over to see what was wrong, her face etched with worry about any lingering issues caused by the psychic explosion.
But as she fussed over me, I knew it wasn't that. I didn't know how, but I recognised this sensation. It was the same feeling that I felt when I encountered the sleeping form of Regigigas all that time ago. As if something was guiding my body, I unconsciously turned towards the north, in the direction of Snowpoint Temple.
Regigigas was calling for me.
Unbeknownst to John, as he was shaking off that strange phenomenon that had suddenly engulfed him, the explorers and scientists at Route 228 had been hard at work exploring a hidden underground cave system that they had unearthed.
Learning from the previous expeditions to find the Icicle and Iron Plate, they had brought plenty of devices to identify places where there were anomalous materials that didn't match their surroundings. Usually, even with their unbridled enthusiasm, such a task would take weeks or months to complete, but they had gotten lucky.
Having been pointed to Route 228, on one such inspection, they had realised that a particular cave within Route 228 was comprised of stone that was unusually tougher than what made up your typical cave. Immediately, the team suspected the existence of the Stone Plate, and they quickly brought up all of the specialised equipment that they had brought along. The hardened stone was only able to put up a little resistance against all of the drilling equipment and specialised mining Pokémon that they had brought, allowing the team to dig deep into the underground caverns beneath Route 228.
With experience backing them up, they were able to work much faster than before.
This expedition team, consisting of veterans from the expedition to find the previous Plate, were ready and completely unperturbed at the wild Pokémon that they found, sweeping through them with practiced ease as they made their descent downwards with efficiency and precision. Fortunately, it seems like the environment of this particular cave was not as hostile as the others had been. It was not freezing cold, nor did they risk iron oxide poisoning from the excess amounts of iron.
It was simply just a cave filled with plenty of very tough and sharp rocks.
As they carefully trekked downwards, they unfortunately did not encounter any previously undiscovered Pokémon lying around, but at least it didn't take them that long to find the same central chamber that they had come to expect which contained the Plate. After clearing out the nearby Pokémon, they dug straight into the core of the large stony pillar in the middle of the chamber and managed to unearth the Stone Plate that remained intact at the very centre.
Having dug up the Stone Plate, the eager and excited explorers were all crowding around it to get a better look at the third Legendary Plate that they had uncovered.
Yet, as they did so, a strange light suddenly began to radiate out of all three Plates, and strange dots suddenly appeared on the front and back of the Plates. For the Stone Plate, dots in the shape of a 'H' had appeared. For the Icicle Plate, dots in the shape of a wide cross were lit up. For the Iron Plate, dots in the shape of a hexagon had formed.
All three of the Plates shined brightly, stunning and nearly blinding all who saw it. Back at the Celestic Town Research Centre and the Oreburgh City Museum, the many scientists that had been startled by the sudden lightshow had all crowded around the Plates, all of them trying to observe the strange phenomenon as it happened.
However, after a minute of the Plates literally glowing with power, the light began to slowly fade away, and the three Plates eventually returned to their previously inert state. Yet their glowing dots remained, occasionally flashing with a faint pulse of light.
As the light faded, the scientists immediately rushed to research what exactly had happened, and what the dots of light meant. Calls were instantly made between Celestic Town and Oreburgh to confirm that the same phenomenon had happened with them, and they frantically tried to establish contact with the expedition team that had just located the Stone Plate.
Despite not being able to reach them, everyone figured that they had located another Plate, which had likely triggered such a reaction. With everyone in a state of excited confusion, no one knew what was going on. They had known that the Plates were likely tied to a Legendary, but not which or what. Neither did they recognise the strange patterns that had appeared on each Plate.
Some began digging through the archives to see if they could locate anything of relevance, but so far were unable to find anything that could explain the phenomenon. In the meanwhile, others made calls to the Champion herself to inform her of such Legendary developments.
Her reaction was one of utter disbelief and shock, though she too shared in the confusion of the scientists as she failed to understand what was going on about the Plates or what had caused such a phenomenon to occur in the first place.
However, a few hours later, once the team that had managed to uncover the Stone Plate returned to the surface and were informed about what had happened, Cynthia and Roark came to a mutual agreement. In the interests of discovering what had just happened, they decided to put aside their academic 'rivalry' and work together to uncover the mysteries of the three Plates as they both recognised the significance of what just happened. Therefore, instead of keeping the Plates separately, Roark and the team from Oreburgh agreed to temporarily move the Iron Plate to Celestic Town so that they could research and do tests on all three Plates in one place.
They had also hoped that by having all three Plates together in one place would cause the glowing lights to return, and others hoped that maybe the Plates would combine together into one. But nothing of the sort occurred. The three Plates continued to remain in their semi-inert state, no longer glowing with power like they once did.
Cynthia's academic and scientific side called for her to be there with the other scientists, browsing through ancient texts and working alongside them to figuring out these Legendary artifacts. To dedicate every last drop of her time and attention to figuring out this mystery. But with the threat of Team Galactic deemed more important, the Champion of Sinnoh ruthlessly crushed those ideas and set them aside for the time being, knowing that she had no time to waste on 'academic curiosities' when the very real threat of a madman controlling a Legendary loomed over them.
'It's unfortunate,' She thought to herself, 'But it seems like the mystery of the Plates will have to be delayed for now. Maybe one day in the future will we finally be able to figure out what these Plates were made for.'
Oh how wrong would those thoughts prove to be. Those answers would turn out to be just around the corner.
A.N. A split chapter this time, one part focused on everyone's recovery from the recent raid, and one part the discovery of the final Plate and its consequences. Since we've already gone into detail about how a Plate is discovered, I felt that there was no need to repeat myself a third time, so I cut right to the chase.
And now the time has come. The Plates have been gathered, and everyone's scrambling to find answers about what had just happened. Yet, there is one person that knows, and he will be the key to piecing everything together. I'm sure there's no need to be coy, but the Titan will finally be making an appearance very soon. I hope you enjoyed!
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