John followed the Ginkgo Guild team deeper into the cave.
As soon as he entered, John noticed something was off.
The space that had just appeared on the water's surface was only that rock. Logically speaking, after everyone entered the cave, it should be a downward sloping path, or simply a straight descent. After all, only underwater would have space.
But the problem was, after entering, John discovered they were walking forward on level ground the entire time.
"Gardevoir~" Gardevoir quickly answered John's confusion.
They were no longer in the original space, but had entered another smaller dimension. That cave entrance was essentially a portal! It transported everyone who entered to this place.
"Quiet!" An order came from the front.
The Ginkgo Guild's footsteps immediately slowed, everyone doing their best not to make any sound.
When John reached that open space, he glanced around and immediately saw this trip's target Pokemon.
Sleeping in Lake Verity's legendary Pokemon, named "The Being of Emotion" Mesprit. Wait, no, it was "The Being of Knowledge," Uxie.
Wasn't Uxie supposed to be at Lake Acuity? How was it in Lake Verity?
This was a Pokemon with an appearance similar to Celebi, The "Forest Guardian", a small golden body, a yellow mushroom-shaped head, a ruby shining on its forehead. In the firelight of the illuminated space, it had its eyes tightly closed, as if sleeping soundly.
Very quickly, the Ginkgo Guild completed their encirclement of Uxie.
The leader raised his hand to signal. After counting down from 3, he suddenly slashed down!
"Attack!"
"Sucker Punch!"
"Dark Pulse!"
Boom!!
Crash!
For a moment, the spacious room became somewhat chaotic.
But this chaos lasted only three seconds.
It wasn't the Ginkgo Guild leader who stopped the chaos, but rather a force stronger than all of the Ginkgo Guild's power suppressing everyone in place!
Imprison!
Using its powerful strength, even though it unleashed moves of the same type, it could still firmly "freeze" all people, Pokemon, and even the rising smoke and explosive energy in place.
Uxie's gaze met the Ginkgo Guild leader's eyes.
One second later, the Ginkgo Guild leader immediately collapsed as if his body had been drained dry.
"Yawn~" Uxie yawned.
Uxie's Yawn move had extremely strong drowsiness inducement!
John still stood, with Gardevoir's Protection covering him. Uxie's Imprison and Yawn were completely ineffective against him.
Slowly turning its head, Uxie floated before John, still with its eyes-closed appearance, not launching any attack.
But in John's mind, a childish voice appeared.
'You are not with them.'
'Your companion... is blessed by Xerneas'
John couldn't help but furrow his brow. Uxie recognized Xerneas?
"That's right." John readily admitted.
Suddenly, John began to ask back.
"These people came to hunt you, what kind of plan do they have? Can you tell me?"
John remembered correctly, Uxie could read an opponent's memories through eye contact.
Just now, when Uxie faced the Ginkgo Guild leader, it was clearly reading his memories.
"Indeed, this disaster caused by you humans must be resolved by you." Uxie muttered to itself, then suddenly transmitted a portion of the memories it had just obtained to John.
Images appeared in John's mind.
After three minutes, John understood the reason for the Ginkgo Guild's attack this time, as well as their action plan.
One year ago, Volo accidentally opened the door to the Distortion World, and moreover contacted Giratina, who had been eternally imprisoned in the Distortion World by Arceus.
The former desired to capture Arceus and use Arceus' power to recreate the world. The latter was preparing to take revenge on Arceus.
One human and one Pokemon hit it off.
Their plan was to make the gods controlling time and space battle each other. When time and space collided, they would create a Space-Time Rift that could lead to Arceus' dimension.
Taking advantage of when Galaxy Team, Pearl Clan, and Diamond Clan were too busy calming the frenzied nobles to deal with anything else, they would harvest the power of the Lake Guardians and create the "Red Chain" that could seal and control divine power.
Soon after, Volo would summon and control the space and time deities, Palkia and Dialga, at the Temple of Sinnoh atop Mt. Coronet.
If successful, he would press his advantage, using the Origin Ball or perhaps the Celestial Flute, to summon Arceus.
Leading three top-tier divine beings, he would launch a battle of capture and revenge against Arceus!
John's expression grew increasingly grim as he absorbed the memories.
"This is insane." He muttered.
Volo's plan was completely unhinged. If Palkia and Dialga truly battled at full power, the resulting space-time distortions could tear apart the entire Hisui region.
And if they actually succeeded in summoning Arceus...
"Can you stop them?" John asked Uxie.
'Alone, I cannot. But if my siblings and I act together, we can disrupt their plans.'
"Your siblings? Mesprit and Azelf?"
'Yes. But they are also being targeted. Diamond Clan goes to Lake Valor for Azelf, and Pearl Clan to Lake Acuity for Mesprit.'
John's mind raced. The locations were wrong in this timeline. Uxie was at Lake Verity instead of Lake Acuity, which meant...
"They switched locations to avoid being captured?"
'Correct. We foresaw the danger and exchanged positions. But Volo's forces are larger than expected. Eventually, we will all be found.'
John made his decision.
"Then I'll help you."
'You would help us? Why?'
"Because I won't let Volo destroy this world." John said firmly. "And because Xerneas trusted me with its family. That trust extends to you, the Lake Guardians."
Uxie was silent for a moment, then its closed eyes seemed to smile.
'Very well. Then let us work together, human. But first, we must deal with these intruders.'
John looked at the frozen Ginkgo Guild members.
"What do you suggest?"
'Send them away. Erase their memories of this place. Let them report failure to their master.'
"That will only buy time."
'Time is what we need. Gather your allies. Warn the clans. We must be ready when Volo makes his true move at Mt. Coronet.'
John nodded.
This was it. The final battle was approaching.
And he needed to be ready.