Mount Coronet

In order to make any progress, I'm going to need to make use of this "rock climb" move, another of those "hidden" machine techniques that this world permits me to utilize outside of duels and encounters with wild pokemon. On discovering this, I leave the mountain briefly to configure my team. Well, I leave once I fight my way through all the Geodudes that keep blocking my path. Articuno flies me to Oreburgh City. I weigh my options: it seems that most of my pokemon cannot learn this move. Ryujin can. Good enough. He's low in level and I want a strong team to take on Cyrus. But I also don't want to have to return to town again if I run into some obstacle. So I need my HM moves. Hanuman has rock smash and Ryujin has rock climb. Both Enki and Apsu have surf. Both Enki and Ninhursag have cut. Only Apsu has strength. So I am compelled to bring Ryujin, Hanuman, Apsu, and Ninhursag. With Articuno too, that leaves me only one open slot. Sekhmet has been holding her own, but Khali's immunity to normal and fighting moves could be valuable here, so I take her.

Mt. Coronet is huge, or at least, I think it is. I can never really see all of it at once. I don't know why not. I have no idea how to navigate this or what I am even looking for, other than Cyrus. I don't know how much time I have to find him and he probably has some of his devoted cultists ready to sacrifice themselves to stall me. Better keep moving.

Ryujin isn't strong enough to fight these wild pokemon, but the rest of my team are making quick work of them. After winding through some rocky passages and crossing a few inexplicable bridges, I meet my first cultist. The idiot openly states, without interrogation, that the operation is taking place at the summit. Now I have a general idea of where to go, even if it's just "up." Somehow, her Beautifly severely wounds Hanuman, but that was her only pokemon, so I continue. The next cultist to accost me uses only Bronzor, which takes a beating before fainting.

I rush ahead to the end of the cave. I appear to have ascended a great deal of the mountain. I'm outside and it's snowing. Rock climb helps me ascend a bit farther. I rely on Articuno for the wild pokemon that attack out here on account of the hail (experience has taught me that the hail somehow hurts pokemon, but that ice-types are unaffected). I enter another cave, scale another wall, and encounter another fanatic from Team Galactic. This one has three pokemon, which is three times as many as they usually use. Khali dominates all three of them: a Dustox, a Golbat, and another Dustox. Psybeam is strong against poison-types.

As I dash through the tunnel, another one ambushes me around the corner. Hanuman's close combat brings Stunky down in one hit. Apsu is more than a match for the Golbat that follows. I see another exit, one that might lead me closer to the summit. I have no idea, really. I wade through a few more wild pokemon and proceed to daylight, er, nightlight. It does look unusually bright out there for being so late. Enough of this. I am back outside. More rock-climbing. Either there's a passage somewhere out here or I need to turn back and go a different way.

After a little more climbing, I run into a wild Golbat. Business as usual, except Ryujin evolves into Gabite, which is awesome, although I'm a bit preoccupied right now, so I'm not going to celebrate. I find the next passage and continue. I see two more cultists. I must be going the right way. The first one leads with Bronzor, which Hanuman deals with. She sends in Glameow. Hanuman's close combat takes care of that in one hit. The second Team Galactic moron also leads with Bronzor, and Hanuman takes care of business once more, although at this rate he might run out of flame wheels. This one's other pokemon turns out to be Golbat, so I switch to Apsu for ice fang.

I must be getting close to the summit by now. Here's another obstacle courtesy of Team Galactic. Khali exchanges attacks with a Golbat and, of course, wins. She uses Bronzor next, so Hanuman gets to practice his flame wheel again. Her final pokemon is Glameow. Close combat solves that problem again. And that's it. I've reached the summit. Or something. This place is strange. Team Galactic has two guards posted.

Switch Ryujin for Khali and have Hanuman flame wheel Dustox. Stunky's night slash nearly finishes Khali. So then I have Hanuman close combat Stunky and Khali pain split Croagunk. Hanuman is down to his last close combat, but I use it on Glameow anyway. Khali's psybeam easily finishes Croagunk. The guards offer to let me pass so that their bosses can pulverize me.

I'm walking through some sort of ruins. There are broken columns everywhere. What is this place? Why is it at the top of Mt. Coronet? It's irritatingly ominous. But Mars and Jupiter are up ahead and I shan't keep them waiting. Cyrus is behind them. As I approach, he speaks...

"Now, all will end. And everything will begin. With this red chain I pry open the portal to another dimension. I command that you unleash your power for me. Palkia, the mythical pokemon, and the master of space and dimensions!"

And then a black sphere appears out of nowhere and it appears: the phantom from my dream. At the beginning of all of this. Perhaps it was this Palkia that brought me here in the first place. However this happened, I can tell that this is very serious. This demon has the power to control space itself. And Cyrus claims to control it with his chain. I need to do something, anything, to stop him. Or else, there goes the universe. But what can I do against a god? Cyrus continues...

"This will bring about the destruction of all things. With everything gone, there will be no fighting and no strife. Feel the dimensions distorting. Only I can stop it. This is the mythical pokemon that created Sinnoh! Palkia, the ancient deity of space and dimensions!"

The monster roars. Cyrus is unfazed...

"This world cannot be molded into the ultimate world I seek! It's far easier to create an entirely new world than to change this one! A new world in which I am the ruler of all things! I shall become a deity!"

My mind is reeling. I envision a hundred plans to stop him and a hundred failures. So I do the only thing anyone can do when all else fails: I rush him. Of course, I don't make it. Mars grabs me and says, "There's no need to rush. I can understand you want to battle our boss real bad, but you'll have to go through me first. After all, you've made me look bad more times than I care to remember!"

Jupiter chimes in: "And I'll be next. You might be tough, but this time, the gloves are coming off!"

My team is weakened. I do have a lot of healing items, but beating both of these two will be a challenge. Beating both of them and then stopping Cyrus from crushing me into a singularity or something will be downright impossible. But I have to try. A familiar voice rings out across the ruins...

"Hold on one second! Don't you start the party without me!"

It's Slave. Oh, you two are in so much trouble now. Jupiter tries to mock him. "Well, if it isn't the little boy who ran off crying at Lake Acuity! Did you get any tougher since then? We'll beat you two-on-two!" No, Jupiter, you won't. There is no way in all the unspeakable hells your boss has traversed to bring this about that you are ever, ever winning this battle. Cyrus might use his godlike powers to turn me into a fine, red mist before I can even get close to him, but first, I am going to beat you both one last time.

Both of our opponents lead with Bronzor. Slave leads with Munchlax. I switch from Ryujin to Ninhursag. Extrasensory brings Ninhursag down, although she does set up one layer of toxic spikes. Hanuman takes one Bronzor out with flame wheel, but not before they both use extrasensory on him. Skuntank, a poison-type, is next, absorbing the toxic spikes Ninhursag sacrificed herself for. Hanuman will go down in one more hit. Thanks to Munchlax softening it up, the other Bronzor goes down in a single flame wheel. Skuntank finishes Hanuman off. Munchlax screeches to weaken Skuntank. I bring Apsu in. Strength damages Skutank. Munchlax paralyzes the next pokemon, Purugly, with body slam. Apsu weakens Skuntank some more with strength, Skuntank nearly finishes Munchlax with poison jab, Munchlax devastates Purugly with body slam, and Purugly puts Apsu to sleep with hypnosis. I use an awakening. Skuntank hits Apsu with a huge night slash and, to my surprise, Apsu goes down. Purugly puts Munchlax to sleep with hypnosis. Khali, I guess you're up next. Skuntank takes Khali out in one hit before she can do anything. That night slash is getting very annoying. Ryujin wouldn't stand a chance against this Skuntank and Purugly. They're higher in level than anything I have with one exception. Remember how I said you would not win this battle, guys? Articuno, do your thing. Articuno flies, Skuntank and Purugly both try to attack, but the icy phoenix is already in the air. That takes care of Skuntank. Purugly hits Articuno with hynposis and Golbat comes in to replace Skuntank. Then Purguly finally finishes Munchlax off. Slave sends Staraptor in. Articuno wakes up and ice beams Golbat. Staraptor takes Purugly out with aerial ace. I let Slave finish the battle with his Staraptor.

Slave says that his pokemon have hit the wall. He thinks I have a better chance here than he does, so he fully heals my pokemon. I needed that. But it looks like, just as I feared, we were too late. Cyrus is going to use Palkia to obliterate me (and also the entire universe). Or maybe not? Something is going wrong with his plan. Uxie appears behind Palkia. Mesprit appears on one side of Palkia. Azelf appears on the other side of Palkia. Cyrus's vortex of doom vanishes. The three legendary pokemon vanish. Mesprit reappears, this time floating directly over my head, then vanishes. Cyrus is livid...

"The red chain! It crumbled away to nothing! But why? Why would Mesprit, the pokemon of Lake Verity, appear by your side? But never mind that! It's all destroyed! My galaxy is gone! I won't allow this. I will capture those three again and craft another red chain! But before I even think about that, I'm going to completely crush you!"

Yeah, I'd like to see you try that now that you're just a psychopath and not a psychopath controlling a god. This ends here, Cyrus...

He leads with Honchkrow. I switch to Apsu. Honchkrow's dark pulse heavily damages Apsu. Apsu hits back with ice fang. Cyrus uses a super potion. Apsu freezes Honchkrow with ice fang. The next ice fang finishes Honchkrow. I caught a lucky break there. If all of his pokemon are this high in level, I'm going to be stuck relying on Articuno, and even Articuno would be vulnerable against something with a type advantage. He switches to Gyarados and I switch to Ninhursag. Giga impact takes Ninhursag out in one hit. Poor thing. I switch to Khali and am able to weaken Gyarados with confuse ray and psybeam, but aqua tail takes Khali out in one hit. Back to Apsu. Aqua tail does little damage against Apsu. Gyarados hurts itself in confusion. Apsu and Cyrus' Gyarados hit each other with strength and aqua tail respectively, a contest that Apsu would have the advantage in normally, but this Gyarados is level 45 and Apsu is only level 37. Khali's confuse ray pays off, though, and Apsu barely wins. I use a hyper potion as Cyrus brings Weavile in. Weavile hits Apsu with brick break and x-scissor. Apsu strikes back with surf. Weavile uses night slash. Apsu survives and hits again with surf, but the next x-scissor easily finishes my leviathan. I use Hanuman next. Cyrus has Weavile use night slash for some reason, so Hanuman is hurt, but easily able to retaliate with close combat and take Weavile out. He's down to his last pokemon: Crobat. I switch Ryujin in and hit Crobat with dragon rage while Ryujin is affected by Crobat's confuse ray. I switch back to Hanuman. Crobat's bite damages Hanuman. Crobat uses confuse ray on Hanuman, who retaliates with flame wheel. Cyrus is starting to realize that he will lose again. I switch to Ryujin again. Crobat brings Ryujin down in two attacks. Crobat devastates Hanuman with cross poison. Hanuman hits back with flame wheel, but Crobat survives. Cyrus uses a full restore on Crobat. Hanuman's flame wheel weakens the bat. If Cyrus wants to play with healing items, I can respond in kind. I use a hyper potion. Crobat's confuse ray and then cross poison weaken Hanuman. Cyrus finally does something intelligent, although it's probably blind luck, and has Crobat use air slash. Good job, Cyrus, now we're both down to our last pokemon. Now goodbye. Cyrus has Crobat use air slash. Articuno flinches. Cross poison. Articuno laughs and strikes back with ice beam. Articuno gains a level.

Cyrus asks me, "What is truly ultimate to you? What do you consider perfection? The most beautiful thing. Joy that shines the brightest. Telling you is meaningless. But I will not give up. I will become a deity one day. And I will make the ultimate mine. All three of the Team Galactic leaders disappear into thin air. How do they do that?

Before I can turn to run from the horror before me, Dawn and Professor Rowan arrive. I could have used your help earlier, guys. You know, before he summoned the apocalypse dragon. Professor Rowan exclaims...

"Palkia, the master of space and the dimensions. It's impossible to tell if it is enraged or saddened."

Fascinating. But now that doom has been temporarily staved off, I am not waiting around to find out which.

"But to me, Palkia appears to be waiting for you, Master. It seems to be challenging you as a test."

All the more reason to run away very quickly.

"Go on, Master. Face up to Palkia!"

Are you insane?

"Listen to its heart. Understand its thoughts. Palkia is out of control after being dragged out by the red chain and forced to use its power."

They're not going to let me leave. I just know it.

"Palkia seems to be entrusting you with stopping it."

No. Bad idea. This thing controls space. I occupy space. It can kill me in millions of ways without even breaking a sweat. Also, it is a big dragon.

Dawn butts in...

"Master, I ran into Slave a little while ago. He said he believed in you, Master. He said you could get the job done."

I have a better idea. How about you guys do it. I believe in you. Go for it. Go fight the galaxy dragon. It'll be great. I'll provide moral support for a change.

"I feel the same way. Please help that pokemon! It's suffering from being dragged out by Team Galactic!"

No, you don't understand. I'm not a doctor or a pokemon doctor or anything. I specialize in fighting. I beat stuff up. My talents are not useful here because the thing that is the problem is a god. But of course, they won't listen. They won't let me leave. I am cornered. I try to sneak around Palkia. Not happening. The space-devil roars at me and attacks. I'm down to Articuno. that's it. Articuno has never been beaten. But even an ice phoenix can't hope to defeat this kind of power.

The demon is momentarily distracted by Articuno. I do have one idea so crazy that it just might work. Even though this thing is a demiurge and our universe is apparently putty in its talons, they do keep calling it a pokemon. And pokemon can be caught in poke balls. They have to be weakened first, and that involves fighting, which involves giving Palkia the opportunity to open up a black hole in my face. But I happen to have acquired a "master ball." It supposedly catches any wild pokemon without fail. I can only hope that this includes dimension-controlling monstrosities from beyond.

I throw the master ball. It works. Palkia is caught. I nickname it Anu, although for all I know the creature is only humoring me. Well, if it really was caught, that thing is never leaving the storage box. Sure, I like power and all, but some forces are best left locked away. Now that the danger is passed and I have saved the world, Dawn and Professor Rowan approach me. Rowan is astounded...

"Master! I don't know how...You were magnificent. Truly, you were incredible. I've lived for sixty years, but I've never been thrilled like this!"

Dawn adds, "Since the last time, the professor did a lot of research. He became very concerned about you, Master, so he came out to a place as treacherous as this. Master, I'm so glad you're safe. Let's go home!"

As Dawn drags me away, Professor Rowan stands near where Cyrus summond Anu, I mean Palkia...

"No one has a right to take away anyone's future or anyone's world."

I came all the way to this place. I'm not leaving without checking it out. I break away from Dawn and run back. Behind the spot that I capture Anu, I find an item. Something called a "lustrous orb." I begin descending the mountain and am attacked by a Machoke, an ordinary pokemon that doesn't threaten to wipe out the whole world. My whole team is down except Articuno, and Articuno easily demolishes Machoke. I keep dashing back the way I came. Another Machoke interrupts me and another aerial ace takes care of that. I'm almost to the exit when a graveller attacks.

As soon as I get back out into the snow, I have Articuno fly me home. Mom is watching television as usual. I go upstairs and crawl into bed. Well, I guess I stopped Team Galactic and saved the universe and now a demiurge is contained in one of the boxes in my PC storage. Let's never do that again.