After getting the Jewel of Life back, Sheena is clearly in a great mood.
It's getting late, so Sheena especially insists that Damian and the other two stay for dinner, saying her cooking's really good.
Under her warm invitation, the three of them don't turn her down.
"Never thought a ruins guardian could actually summon Dialga."
In the pavilion in front of the old temple, Caitlin takes an elegant sip of tea and still can't help sighing.
If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she really wouldn't have believed it.
For such an ordinary guardian girl to be able to pull that off…
"Yeah. This world really does still have way too many secrets."
Cynthia, who's flipping through an ancient text, nods in agreement.
"Sheena's actually not even the craziest case. You probably can't imagine this—there's a Pokémon whose combat power can match, maybe even surpass Dialga's, and some human managed to seal it with nothing but his own strength."
Damian chuckles.
"Got sealed by a human…?"
Caitlin and Cynthia are both stunned.
It's not that they don't believe Damian.
It's just that what he's saying sounds way too out there.
A Pokémon whose combat power can rival Dialga—without question, that has to be a very powerful Legendary.
And a single human sealed it?
"It's true. Sounds insane, but it really did happen."
Damian's talking about the Mythical Pokémon Hoopa.
A hundred years ago, to show off its own power, Hoopa used its abilities to wildly summon Legendary Pokémon for battles.
Regigigas, Reshiram, Zekrom, Groudon, and so on.
Because these Legendary Pokémon were fighting each other, the town there got wrecked badly.
Later, a traveler arrived.
Using his own power, he created the Prison Bottle and sealed Hoopa's power.
From then on, the Djinn Pokémon Hoopa vanished, and only the Mischief Pokémon Hoopa remained.
The traveler who sealed Hoopa was from Arche Valley, named Ghris.
Arche Valley is a hidden place, home to a group of people who worship Arceus.
Ghris is one of them—and probably the strongest of them all.
Honestly, without exaggeration, Ghris is the strongest human ability‑user Damian's seen in the entire Pokémon franchise.
Just being able to create the Prison Bottle that sealed Hoopa's power is already outrageous enough.
And even then, that seal only suppressed Hoopa's power; Hoopa itself was still in the outside world.
That lines up with Ghris's ideology too.
He wanted to change Hoopa's heart—have it use its power to genuinely help people, instead of abusing it without restraint.
Beyond sealing Hoopa, Ghris also showed other abilities in the movie—like moving objects with his mind, or forcing plants to sprout and grow on the spot.
The guy's basically a Superman.
Stuff like the power of Viridian or Aura looks like cheap knockoffs in front of Ghris.
That's the kind of ability you get when your faith is in Arceus itself.
Arceus, man.
But this really is just Ghris as a special individual.
Other people from Arche Valley aren't anywhere near as ridiculous.
Take his great‑grandson and great‑granddaughter, for example—the two who raise Mischief Hoopa in the movie, Baraz and Meray.
"If we ever get the chance to go to that sealed Pokémon, I'll take you two to see it. As for the guy himself, he died of old age a long time ago."
Ghris was already a young man a hundred years ago; by now he's long been buried.
Caitlin nods.
Cynthia, though, is thoughtful.
Damian really does seem to have a very wide knowledge base.
"Speaking of which, what do you two think about using this place to lure Cyrus out?"
Damian suddenly thinks of something and asks Caitlin and Cynthia.
"What do you mean?"
Cynthia immediately catches his drift.
"Cyrus dreams of finding Dialga and Palkia. A lot of people in Michina Town just saw Dialga appear today."
Damian muses.
"And the Jewel of Life is one of Arceus's Plates. If we leak that intel to Cyrus, he definitely won't be able to sit still."
The Jewel of Life is Arceus's treasure.
And Arceus is "father" to Dialga and Palkia.
For someone as obsessed as Cyrus, this info is insanely tempting.
"Damian, we already promised Sheena we wouldn't leak the Jewel of Life's location."
Cynthia's dark brows pinch together.
Using Dialga to lure Cyrus here—she has no objection.
But also leaking intel on the Jewel of Life?
That really doesn't sit right with her.
Even if they nab Cyrus this time, there's no guarantee info on the Jewel of Life won't spread through Team Galactic afterward.
If that happens, these ruins in Michina Town will never know peace again.
"I'd only feed it to Cyrus. As long as he's not an idiot, there's no way he'd share that intel with anyone else."
Damian answers.
"And if we can catch Cyrus this time, doesn't that solve the whole problem?"
Damian doesn't worry about that point.
Info on something like the Jewel of Life is way too critical; Cyrus won't hand it around.
At worst he'd tell his Admin subordinates.
And if they wipe out Cyrus's squad in one go here in Michina, wouldn't that settle it?
"But how exactly are you going to get the notice to Cyrus?"
Cynthia frowns slightly at him, puzzled.
Damian definitely doesn't have Cyrus's contact info—if he did, he would've gone after Cyrus already.
"Of course I do. But for now we still need to talk this over with Sheena first."
Damian grins.
He really doesn't have Cyrus's contact info.
But there is someone who definitely does.
After dinner, Damian lays out his plan to Sheena.
"No problem! If it's to wipe out an evil organization, it's totally fine!"
Sheena clearly has a strong sense of justice.
Her answer's serious and firm.
They're just using the Jewel of Life and Dialga to fish out a bad guy.
That's fine—and she trusts both Cynthia and Damian.
"As expected of Miss Sheena."
Damian gives her a thumbs‑up.
Sheena's bright smile really is infectious.
"This is also doing my part for the Sinnoh region. I'll hide the Jewel of Life somewhere only I know, and I've already asked a craftsman to make a fake one."
Sheena's clearly learned from this whole fiasco.
She's going to stash the real Jewel of Life somewhere secret only she knows, then put a fake one in its place.
"By the way, Mr. Damian, do you need me to summon Dialga again so it can cooperate and shoot a video or something? That'd make it more convincing, right?"
After thinking it over, Sheena makes this suggestion to Damian.
Wait, Dialga's going to agree to that?
Cynthia is floored.
You're seriously talking about having Dialga shoot short videos?
"Will Dialga even agree to that?"
Damian voices Cynthia's doubt.
"Emmm… if I have something important I need Dialga's help for, it usually doesn't turn me down. Palkia's the one that's hard to reach."
Sheena tilts her head, thinking it over.
So in truth, she likes Dialga more.
Mm, she's personally more into diamonds; pearls are just so‑so.
And in practice, Dialga's the one who answers her more often, not Palkia.
"If it's purely staged, Dialga definitely won't cooperate. It'll think that's too childish."
"But we can stage a minor accident and then I'll ask Dialga for help."
Sheena's eyes light up a bit as she lays out her plan to the three of them.
Find someone good in the water and have him pretend to be drowning in the big mountain lake here in Michina.
Then she'll reach out to Dialga and have it come save the guy.
"Is that… really okay?"
After hearing all that, Cynthia is stunned.
"It's absolutely okay."
Damian's lips curl high.
Now they just have to wait for Cyrus to bite.
...
Meanwhile, atop a different mountain—
"Boss, we've secured the Adamant Orb."
A deep voice comes through the phone and into Cyrus's ear.
"Good. Next, keep looking for the Lustrous Orb."
Cyrus answers blandly.
"Yes, but boss, about Stark Mountain…"
Charon's voice is tinged with a bit of awkwardness.
"Charon, once the new world is complete, you'll have everything you want."
Cyrus's tone stays perfectly calm, without a single emotional ripple.
He knows what Charon's hinting at.
Charon wants him to send Mars to help push his Stark Mountain plan first.
But what good is one Heatran?
Once the plan is complete, he can control Dialga and Palkia.
"…Understood."
The call ends.
In a different base, Charon's face instantly goes several shades darker.
New world?
What a load of crap.
Charon curses inwardly.
The man's out of his mind.
His expression keeps shifting.
He might be a Team Galactic Admin, but he's always doubted Cyrus's "new world" plan.
Charon looks down at the diamond‑like Adamant Orb in his hand.
This is the mythical Pokémon Dialga's treasure.
According to Cyrus, once they find the other Lustrous Orb too, they'll be able to summon Dialga and Palkia at Spear Pillar.
And supposedly Mars has already caught Uxie at Lake Acuity.
By drawing power from the three Lake Guardians and refining it into the Red Chain, they'll be able to bind Dialga and the others and control them.
Whether that's true or not…
Cyrus, for his part—
His phone rings again.
Cyrus glances at the display and picks up.
"Boss, it's Sird."
"I know. Talk."
Cyrus's voice is even and cold.
"Today I got a notification through my permissions—Damian's made a new move here in Sinnoh."
Sird's voice is quiet, like he's afraid of being overheard.
"Go on."
Cyrus stays just as flat.
"Dialga showed up near Michina Town."
"What did you say?"
Cyrus finally reacts.
His brow creases.
Dialga appeared?
"There's no mistake. Damian posted a video of Dialga in the Admin chat. He also got a piece of intel: the ruins in Michina Town have manifested the Jewel of Life."
"What's the Jewel of Life?"
Cyrus frowns.
He's never heard of anything called the Jewel of Life.
Sird then gives him a rough explanation.
Cyrus understands instantly.
To get Dialga and Palkia, he's gone through a ton of data on the two.
So of course he knows what Arceus is.
One of Arceus's Plates?
Cyrus is tempted.
Could he use Arceus's Plate to control Arceus itself?
If he could control Arceus—
Then the new world he dreams of would definitely come.
Step one is getting the Jewel of Life.
"Good work, Sird. This time you've made major contributions. Once the new world arrives, you'll be the greatest hero."
Cyrus says it in the same mild tone.
"Thank you, boss."
Sird's narrow, cold eyes don't change, but his voice is clearly more pleased.
Cyrus, of course, has no idea that the man who used to be so loyal to him has already betrayed him.
After that, Cyrus glances over the video Sird sent.
"Mars, rally our manpower at once. You're coming with me to the Michina Town ruins. We're taking the Jewel of Life."
Cyrus contacts Mars.
This time, he's going personally.
Otherwise, he won't feel safe.
~~
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