Celestic Town.
Inside the police station.
Because the Lustrous Orb had been stolen, everyone had come to the police station to exchange information and discuss how to pursue Team Galactic.
"It's certain that Team Galactic knows far more than we do—about Dialga and Palkia, and even the meteorite from Veilstone City. What are they trying to accomplish?"
A brief analysis by Professor Carolina confirmed that Team Galactic understood the use of the two orbs better than she did, but she couldn't figure out what their ultimate purpose was.
Even if Dialga and Palkia were summoned into the world, what good would it do? Those two Pokémon had existed for countless ages. Even if Team Galactic had an ulterior motive, with their awareness over time and space, Dialga and Palkia would never obey.
That was what Professor Carolina kept thinking about. Dialga and Palkia would never allow people to travel through time and space casually. If something went wrong, it could cause the collapse of time and space itself. Once that happened, even Arceus couldn't stop it.
Arceus did have the ability to prevent the collapse of time and space, but its true divine body could not descend into this universe. If it did, the universe would collapse directly, unable to bear Arceus's existence.
Therefore, Arceus could only place its avatars across the multiverse, but an avatar's power was limited— even a large asteroid could bring one to the brink of death.
With only an avatar's power, Arceus could only temporarily suppress a collapse of time and space. It could not be fully reversed.
Cyrus also knew that his wish would not be realized so easily. That was why he had learned about the Red Chain from ancient books—the method of manufacturing it, with the meteorite as the raw material.
The energy contained in the meteorite was very special. It could be called cosmic energy, and it resonated with time and space. This energy could harm an avatar of Arceus, and naturally it could interfere with Dialga and Palkia as well. In addition, the three Lake Guardians—Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf—could work together to channel the origin power of Arceus.
Dialga and Palkia were both created by Arceus. With the power of Arceus itself and the mysterious power of the Lake Guardians, it was possible to influence the will of Dialga and Palkia.
The Red Chain existed to bind the bodies of Dialga and Palkia directly. With these two preparations combined, Dialga and Palkia would have no choice but to comply.
"Maybe they want to go to a new world," Gary said.
Everyone turned to look at Gary.
Even Cyrus looked momentarily disbelieving. Gary had just spoken his true purpose aloud.
"A new world? Can you explain that more specifically?" Cynthia asked.
"According to historical records, this world was created by Arceus. But Arceus definitely created more than one world—the rest can be called parallel worlds. I think Team Galactic wants to reach a brand-new one, a world not as polluted by humans, and then dominate it," Gary inferred.
"What? Team Galactic actually thinks like that?"
"But why would they do this? Is our world not good enough?"
Dawn was also very surprised. She was sheltered and inexperienced, having never witnessed the darker side of society. She had always believed that the world operated as fairly as it appeared.
"Of course it's for power," Gary said, waving his hand. "Otherwise, who would go to such lengths for something so dangerous and thankless?"
"How can you be so sure Team Galactic is after power?" Cyrus retorted. "Is it not possible that they simply hate this world and want to leave?"
"There's no such possibility."
"If you truly hated the world, you could just find a deserted island somewhere and live alone. Why go through all the trouble of opening a door to a brand-new world?"
Gary's expression grew heavy.
"Opening the door to time and space is extremely dangerous. If the forces of time and space collide violently, it will cause a collapse of time and space. A small, localized collapse might be containable. But once a large-scale collapse occurs, the entire Sinnoh Region will be reduced to nothingness. And if it's even a little more serious, the entire earth is finished."
He wasn't joking.
Alamos Town had nearly disappeared in a collapse of time and space. Fortunately, when the fighting escalated, Palkia had shifted Alamos Town into a separate space-time dimension. Otherwise, it most likely would have caused a large-scale collapse in reality.
"Time and space collapse… can that really happen?" Professor Carolina asked doubtfully.
Although many professors had theorized that time and space could collapse, no one had ever truly witnessed it. Even if they wanted to verify it, current human technology was incapable of such a thing.
"I've read the reports about the Sinnoh Region," Gary said. "The disappearance of Alamos Town should have been a collapse of time and space."
As soon as these words came out, Ash and the others were stunned.
Ash and his friends had been directly involved in the Alamos Town incident. They had seen the consequences of a time-space collapse firsthand, and it was terrifying. Every location within Alamos Town had turned into nothingness—reality itself had been erased, and nothing could stop it.
"Gary, how did you know that?" Cynthia asked.
Cynthia was naturally aware of the Alamos Town incident. She had personally investigated it and understood what had happened from the townspeople's accounts. After all, too many people had experienced it firsthand. The Sinnoh Alliance could have easily found out what occurred there. However, the people within the Sinnoh Alliance still didn't understand how Dialga and Palkia had made Alamos Town disappear—or how they had made it reappear again.
"You can figure it out just by analyzing the video footage," Gary said, turning the question back on her. "A lot of Pokémon professors already know about this."
Michina Town in the Sinnoh Region held much lore about the beginning of the world. There were even two guardians watching over Michina who possessed superpowers—abilities gifted by Arceus to humans, passed down through bloodline descendants.
"It really seems like you've inherited Professor Oak's talent, Gary," Professor Carolina said. "You're very well-suited to be a Pokémon researcher. Have you ever thought about trying that path?"
"Maybe someday, if the chance comes," Gary said.
Gary loved Pokémon deeply. After winning the world championship someday, he felt he would most likely follow in Professor Oak's footsteps.
Professor Carolina didn't press him further. After all, the conclusion Gary had just presented was terrifying, and they had more urgent matters to deal with right now.
"Oh, if only you had destroyed the other meteorite, Gary," Officer Jenny said helplessly.
…!
Who was it that slapped me with a restriction order in the first place and forbade me from leaving the Sinnoh Region?
I was being reckless enough as it was. If I had deliberately destroyed the meteorite, wouldn't I be sitting in prison right now?