It's the gems, Gary realized, staring at the diamond-shaped crimson stones still fused to the foreheads of the three unconscious Lake Guardians. The Red Chain fragments. Charon embedded them directly into their jewels—they're acting as both a binding mechanism and a capture override. As long as these things are attached, the Lake Trio can't wake up, and no Poké Ball can claim them.
The Red Chain. An artifact forged from crystallized divine energy—fragments of Arceus's own power, reshaped into a tool of subjugation. In the games, it had been the key to binding Dialga and Palkia. Here, Charon had found a way to miniaturize pieces of it and use them as parasitic control nodes on the Lake Guardians themselves. The gloves Cyrus had worn were merely the interface—the real chains were these gems.
There was only one option: destroy them.
But Gary wasn't about to touch something infused with the power of Arceus with his bare hands. He had no idea what kind of reaction it might trigger—a psychic backlash, an energy discharge, or something worse entirely.
"Weavile, come here," Gary called.
"Vile?" Weavile tilted its head, dark eyes curious. It padded over without hesitation, its razor-sharp claws clicking against the stone.
"Use Metal Claw," Gary instructed, kneeling beside Uxie's small, motionless body and pointing at the crimson gem embedded over the yellow Pokémon's forehead jewel. "Try to crack the gem on Uxie's head. Carefully—just enough force to break it."
Weavile didn't fully understand why Gary was having it do this instead of doing it himself, but it didn't question the order. Its claws shimmered with metallic silver energy as Steel-type power coated them, and it reached forward with precise, delicate control—tapping the tip of one claw against the surface of the red gem.
Crack.
The gem fractured instantly. A single hairline fissure split across its surface, and then the entire stone shattered like glass, fragments tumbling away from Uxie's forehead and scattering across the rocky ground. The pieces hit the earth and immediately lost their crimson glow, turning dull and inert—nothing more than dead crystal.
"Uxie…!"
The Being of Knowledge stirred. Its small yellow body twitched, and then its sealed eyes shifted beneath their lids. Uxie floated upward—slowly, weakly, like a creature surfacing from deep water—and looked around with evident confusion. Its tiny hands reached up to touch its forehead, finding the jewel there bare and clean for the first time in what must have felt like an eternity.
"Uxie, it's alright," Gary said quickly, keeping his voice calm and steady. He held up both hands, palms open—a universal gesture of non-threat. "I'm not with Team Galactic. I'm the one who stopped Cyrus. You're safe now."
Uxie's head turned toward him. Though its eyes remained perpetually closed—as befitting the Being of Knowledge, whose gaze could erase memories—Gary could sense its psychic awareness washing over him, reading his intentions. After a moment, Uxie's tense posture relaxed, and it gave a small, tentative nod.
So much for capturing it, Gary thought with a flash of private frustration. The moment the gem broke, it woke up. There's no window to throw a ball at a conscious, healthy Legendary Pokémon without it looking extremely suspicious—especially with Cynthia nearby.
He pushed the disappointment aside. There were more important things to handle.
"Uxie," Gary said, gesturing toward the other two Lake Guardians still lying motionless on the ground. "Mesprit and Azelf have the same gems on their foreheads. Can you remove them?"
"Uxie!" The Being of Knowledge turned immediately to its fallen companions. It raised one small hand, and a pulse of golden psychic energy—gentle but precisely targeted—lanced outward, striking the red gems on Mesprit's and Azelf's foreheads simultaneously.
Click! Click!
Both gems cracked and crumbled, their fragments falling away like shed scales. The crimson glow died instantly.
Mesprit stirred first—the Being of Emotion letting out a soft, confused cry as it rose from the ground, its twin tails curling protectively around its body. Then Azelf—the Being of Willpower—snapped awake with sharper alertness, its blue eyes blazing as it scanned the environment for threats.
All three Lake Guardians were free.
Gary watched them hover together, exchanging wordless psychic communication—a rapid, silent conversation that rippled through the air as faint shimmers of pink, gold, and blue light. After a moment, all three turned to face him. Their expressions—small and difficult to read on their diminutive faces—carried something that looked remarkably like gratitude.
No chance to capture them now. Not with them awake and aware. Not with Cynthia minutes away.
Gary accepted the reality with practiced composure and shifted to practical matters.
"Listen carefully," he said, addressing all three Lake Guardians. "Team Galactic's Commanders are still inside the ruins. They have the Red Chain with them—the full artifact, not just fragments. If you get close to it, it could affect you again. I'd recommend staying out here where it's safe."
The three Legendary Pokémon exchanged another silent look. Then, one by one, they nodded.
"Uxie!" Uxie affirmed.
"Mes!" Mesprit agreed, its expression tight with residual unease.
"Azelf!" Azelf's nod was sharp and decisive.
They understood. The Red Chain's power was specifically calibrated to bind Legendary Pokémon—ordinary Pokémon were far less susceptible—and none of them wanted to experience that imprisonment again.
"Gary!"
The shout came from behind him. Gary turned to see Cynthia emerging from the transport ship's hatch, and behind her—
"Ash? You're alright."
Ash came bounding down the ramp, Pikachu perched on his shoulder, both looking disheveled but very much alive. Dawn followed close behind, her blue hair tangled and her expression a mixture of relief and lingering fear. Brock brought up the rear, steady and composed as always.
Behind them, Looker climbed out as well, adjusting his rumpled trenchcoat. And trailing at the very back, looking thoroughly sorry for themselves, were Jessie, James, and Meowth—the Team Rocket trio.
"Did Team Galactic's people come out of the ruins yet?" Cynthia asked immediately, her gray eyes sharp.
"Not yet," Gary replied. "Are you planning to go in after them?"
"Of course." Cynthia's voice left no room for debate. Her expression was the cold, focused mask of a Champion who had a job to finish.
"I'm going too!" Ash declared, clenching his fist. His eyes burned with that familiar, stubborn fire.
"Pika pika!" Pikachu echoed from his shoulder, cheeks sparking.
"Count me in," Brock said firmly.
"Me too!" Dawn added, clutching a Poké Ball.
"Pip-piplup!" Piplup puffed out its chest.
Gary glanced at Looker. "Someone needs to stay out here and keep watch over Cyrus. He's unconscious, but he's still the real leader of Team Galactic. Can't risk him slipping away."
Looker straightened his coat and nodded. "Leave it to me. I don't have any Pokémon on hand at the moment anyway—I'll be more useful as a guard than in a fight. You can count on Agent Looker of the International Police."
The Team Rocket trio, sensing an opportunity to avoid further conflict, quickly volunteered to "assist" Looker—which in practice meant standing at a safe distance from both the unconscious Cyrus and the three Legendary Pokémon hovering nearby.
With the arrangements settled, the group moved toward the ruins' entrance. Gary led the way alongside Cynthia, with Ash, Dawn, and Brock close behind. Mega Blastoise lumbered at Gary's side, its massive back-cannon still humming with residual energy.
The interior of the ruins was pitch black—an absolute, consuming darkness that swallowed all light beyond the entrance. But as they stepped onto the ancient stone staircase, the path itself responded to their presence. Lines of pale, luminous energy traced themselves along the edges of each step, illuminating the way downward in a soft, ethereal glow that felt less like technology and more like memory—as if the ruins themselves remembered what it meant to guide visitors.
They descended in tense silence, the sound of their footsteps echoing off walls carved with symbols older than recorded history. The air grew colder as they went deeper, carrying the mineral scent of stone that hadn't been exposed to sunlight in millennia.
Halfway down, the staircase opened into a vast chamber.
The space was enormous—cathedral-like in scale, with a vaulted ceiling that disappeared into shadow far overhead. At its center, a triangular formation was carved into the floor, its lines glowing with faint golden light. Two stone altars stood within the formation, and upon them—
The Adamant Orb, shimmering with a deep blue radiance.
The Lustrous Orb, gleaming with a pale pink luminescence.
The artifacts of Dialga and Palkia. The keys to summoning the gods of Time and Space.
Standing around the formation were the remaining members of Team Galactic: Saturn, Mars, Jupiter, Charon—the hunched scientist clutching a tablet-like device—and two ordinary grunts who looked like they desperately wished they were anywhere else.
Saturn saw them first.
"You—" His face contorted with shock, then fury. His eyes locked onto Gary, then dropped to the destroyed control gloves Gary held casually in one hand. The crimson gems were shattered, the mechanism ruined beyond repair.
"What did you do to Lord Cyrus?!" Saturn demanded, his voice echoing through the ancient chamber.
"What do you think?" Gary replied flatly, holding up the ruined gloves for all of them to see.
The reaction was immediate and visceral.
"Lord Cyrus…!" Mars's face twisted with anguish and rage, her hands balling into fists at her sides.
"You'll pay for this!" Jupiter snarled, her violet hair whipping as she stepped forward.
"Damn you—I'll make you suffer!" Saturn's composure shattered completely. Of all the Commanders, he was the most fanatically devoted to Cyrus, and the sight of his leader's destroyed equipment—the implication of what had been done to the man himself—drove him into a cold fury.
"Purugly, Shadow Ball!" Mars screamed, hurling a Poké Ball.
"Skuntank, Flamethrower!" Jupiter followed instantly.
Purugly materialized with a hiss—a rotund, gray-and-white cat Pokémon with deceptively fast reflexes. It conjured a roiling sphere of ghostly energy between its paws and launched it forward. Beside it, Jupiter's Skuntank reared back and unleashed a torrent of searing flames from its mouth.
Shadow Ball and Flamethrower screamed across the chamber toward Gary—
"Blastoise. Dragon Pulse," Gary said.
"STOISE!"
Mega Blastoise stepped forward, positioning its armored body between Gary and the incoming attacks. All three of its cannons—the two arm-mounted guns and the massive back-cannon—aligned simultaneously and fired.
Three serpentine waves of draconic energy erupted outward. Two of them intercepted the Shadow Ball and Flamethrower in mid-flight, detonating them with effortless precision—the attacks didn't even slow the Dragon Pulses down. The ghostly sphere shattered into wisps of purple energy, and the flames were torn apart and scattered.
The third Dragon Pulse continued unchecked, slamming into the ground between Purugly and Skuntank.
BOOM!
The detonation sent a shockwave rippling through the chamber. Both Pokémon were hurled off their feet—Purugly tumbling end over end before crashing against the far wall, and Skuntank skidding across the ancient stone floor in a spray of sparks. Neither rose again.
Mars stared at her fallen Purugly, her mouth open, her face blank with disbelief. Jupiter looked at her unconscious Skuntank with a similar expression of stunned incomprehension.
One move. A single Dragon Pulse from Mega Blastoise had neutralized both of their aces simultaneously.
"Is that… Blastoise?" Ash breathed from behind Gary, his eyes wide. He'd seen Gary's Blastoise before—he'd battled against it, even—but the Pokémon standing before him now looked nothing like the one in his memory. The massive back-cannon, the reinforced armor plating, the sheer presence it exuded—
"That's what Blastoise looks like when it undergoes Mega Evolution," Cynthia explained, a note of respect in her voice as she studied the Mega Blastoise's form.
"Mega Evolution?!" Ash, Dawn, and Brock exclaimed in unison.
"What's Mega Evolution?" Dawn asked, eyes round with wonder.
"I'll explain later," Cynthia said crisply, refocusing on the mission. She stepped forward, her expression hardening. "Garchomp—destroy all those machines. Dragon Claw."
"CHOMP!"
Cynthia's Garchomp moved like a bolt of living lightning. One instant it was standing beside its trainer; the next, it was a blur of blue and gold, crossing the chamber in the space between heartbeats. Its claws blazed with draconic energy—brilliant turquoise crescents that carved through the air like scythes.
CRASH! CRASH!
Two devastating swipes. That was all it took. The machines flanking the altars—the devices designed to channel the Red Chain's power through the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs—were reduced to sparking, twisted wreckage in the span of a single second. Components scattered across the floor, circuits severed, power cells ruptured. Cynthia's Garchomp landed in a crouch beside the ruins of the second machine, its golden eyes scanning for additional threats.
There were none left to find.
Saturn, Mars, Jupiter, Charon, and the two remaining grunts stood surrounded—no Pokémon left to fight with, no machines to activate, no leader to rally behind. The chamber fell deathly silent except for the soft hum of the ancient formation beneath their feet and the fading crackle of the destroyed equipment.
"Saturn," Mars said quietly, her voice hollow. "What do we do?"
Saturn's jaw worked. His fists clenched and unclenched at his sides. His eyes swept the chamber—Mega Blastoise blocking the only exit, Cynthia's Garchomp standing amid the ruins of their life's work, and a room full of trainers whose Pokémon outclassed everything Team Galactic had left by an immeasurable margin.
"Surrender," he said at last. The word came out like broken glass—sharp, painful, and final. "We have no possibility of winning."
Jupiter closed her eyes. Mars bowed her head. Even Charon, who had remained eerily silent through the entire confrontation, let his tablet slip from his fingers and clatter to the floor.
It was over.
Gary, Cynthia, and Ash's group bound the Team Galactic remnants securely and marched them out of the ruins and into the daylight. The sun had climbed high overhead during the time they'd spent underground, and the mountain air felt almost warm after the cold stillness of the ancient chamber.
Outside, they found that reinforcements had arrived. A fleet of Officer Jenny's patrol vehicles was parked along the ridge, blue lights flashing. Professor Rowan stood among them—his tall, stern frame unmistakable—along with a contingent of League security personnel who immediately took custody of the Team Galactic prisoners.
Cyrus was loaded onto a stretcher—still unconscious, his shattered hands splinted and immobilized. Gary watched them carry him toward a secure transport vehicle and felt a flicker of disappointment. He'd wanted to see the look on Cyrus's face when the man realized his grand plan had been dismantled by a teenager with a bag full of Poké Balls and a Gengar hiding in his shadow. But the Team Galactic leader remained stubbornly unconscious, denying Gary even that small satisfaction.
Some villains don't even have the courtesy to be awake for their defeat, Gary thought dryly.
Once the prisoners were secured and the Lake Trio had been confirmed safe—Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf hovered nearby, watching the proceedings with quiet vigilance before eventually departing with soft flashes of golden light, returning to their respective lakes—Cynthia gathered everyone together.
"I want to thank all of you," she said, her voice carrying the weight of genuine gratitude. Her gaze moved across the group—Ash, Dawn, Brock, the Team Rocket trio lurking awkwardly in the background, Looker standing at professional attention—before settling on Gary. "Especially you, Gary. If you hadn't intercepted Cyrus and the Lake Trio before they could activate the ritual, Team Galactic's plan might very well have succeeded. Sinnoh owes you a great debt."
"You're welcome," Gary said casually, then added with a pointed look: "Though if you really want to thank me, getting that travel restriction order lifted would be a good start."
The restriction from the Veilstone City meteorite incident—an administrative headache that had kept Gary confined to the Sinnoh region for the past several months—was still technically in effect.
Cynthia smiled. "Consider it done. I'll have Officer Jenny process the cancellation immediately." She paused, then continued: "Beyond that, the Sinnoh League will be issuing formal rewards to everyone who participated in stopping Team Galactic. If there's nothing specific you'd like, we'll provide a monetary compensation."
"Oh! There's a reward?!" Ash's eyes lit up like a child's on Christmas morning.
"Alright!" Dawn clapped her hands together.
"Pip-lup!" Piplup chirped excitedly.
Even Brock looked pleasantly surprised. "I wasn't expecting that."
Gary watched Ash's group celebrate with the easy enthusiasm of people who'd been through a harrowing experience and come out the other side intact.