Meloetta might have been saved, but Giovanni still needed to be stopped. Honestly, any plan involving Legendary Pokémon was doomed to fail, and I was surprised he had actually gone through with it here. However, since we knew where he was, we needed to both stop and capture him.

Unfortunately, I had no clue where Cynthia was, and since whatever Team Rocket had done had taken down the phone lines, I was in charge. Out of all the clues I had, I knew Giovanni was likely to be in the watery ruins, which was supported by the fact I had seen him fly eastwards. Given that information, I could assume the ruins were in the ocean, and my assumption was proven true when we all reconvened at Cynthia's villa, as I could see the peak of a structure just past the water’s horizon.

I knew for a fact there had been nothing there before.

"Ash, Iris, with me. Cilan, do you mind staying behind and trying to contact the League?" I asked.

"Phone lines are down, but Jervis is working on them. I'll make sure he stays safe and the shore is protected, no problem at all!" Cilan replied.

He smiled at me, and I turned to Diancie, whose gaze seemed to be stuck on the aforementioned, unfamiliar structure. As she stared forward, her lips pressed together in a thin line. As a Legendary Pokémon, she would be most at risk of being targeted out of all of us, but, seeing that expression, I knew she’d refuse to stay behind.

I sent her a nod. She smiled back.

There was no reason to delay.

"Let's go.”

Transport was awkward. Iris had some sort of heart-to-heart with her Dragonite, and her Pokémon allowed her to ride on its back. As for the rest of us, we found spots in Altaria’s basket. It was cramped when split between Ash, Diancie and I.

Suspiciously, no one attacked us as we approached, and there were absolutely no defenses in the sky. No boats circled the ruins nor was there anyone keeping watch. Our method of transportation should have been too obvious, yet no one responded. It was nerve-racking.

Team Rocket was acting far too confidently.

"Sky's getting dark," Iris said from where she flew on Dragonite's back nearby.

I only grew more and more concerned as heavy rainclouds condensed over the ruins. What made it worse was that Altaria’s Cloud Nine didn’t cause those clouds to go away. He let out several unhappy squawks as we approached, as I knew he preferred to fly in clear weather (and caves).

As we approached, it became obvious that I’d forgotten something major about this place. The mysterious, lost ruins that had sunken off the coast had risen up to sit above the ocean, as I had predicted. However, it wasn't just some large, single structure, but it was an entire, massive city complex, complete with destroyed houses all across it. At its very center, a large temple pyramid stretched up into the sky. I could see movement at the top, and the clouds seemed to be densest above it.

Notably, several large helicopters were parked at the pyramid’s base.

"We're landing," I ordered.

Altaria pulled down to the city’s edge, and Dragonite clicked its tongue when it was forced to follow. We touched down on an empty side street, hidden behind a broken building. As we quickly disembarked, I had to hold back a shiver. Winds were beginning to whip around, chilling the area and causing it to be dangerous to stick to the air. I made sure to return Altaria, just in case.

"A plan. We need a plan," I mumbled.

I got us this far, but even after everything else, I felt like I was scrambling to respond.

"We go up there and beat Team Rocket!" Ash shouted.

"Shh!" Iris hissed. "Keep it down."

I hummed.

"Actually, he may have a point," I said.

Weighing my options, Carbink was out of the picture, Ninetales was injured, it was too dangerous for Altaria to fly in this storm, and Gardevoir was out with Meloetta. That left me with just Dedenne to fight, though Altaria could still participate if he stuck close to the ground.

"I don't have my team," I said. "Not all of them, at least."

Ash and Iris looked over as I grimaced.

"I don't like asking you this, but with your healthy Pokémon, I need you to serve as a distraction. The only thing I can think of is getting to the top of that pyramid and taking whatever artifact Giovanni has before he can use it."

I didn’t like sending people younger than me out to fight, but if there was anyone in this world prepared to fight a villainous organization, it was Ash. In response to my suggested plan, Ash just grinned and pressed a fist in his palm. Behind him, Iris gave me a smile that would better fit a Dragon Type.

I can see why Drayden is recommending her.

"You can count on us!" Iris said.

"Thank you. I imagine you've done something like this before."

"I've been fighting Team Rocket for years and my Pokémon have never let me down! Come on, Alex, what's the worst that could happen?"

“Really?” Iris mumbled at Ash’s jinx. “What a kid...”

Both of them ran off towards the central structure after that, moving down the obvious, main road that connected to an exterior staircase. As for me, I glanced over to Diancie, who had stuck behind. She sent me a comforting nod.

“I support. Fight with you,” she said.

"Thank you,” I said. “Will you be able to Mega Evolve?”

I received a sharp grin in reply.

Diancie and I moved through the city, keeping quiet and using the buildings as cover. Our trip was uneventful outside of a single wild Duskull who tried to give us a scare. Diancie simply knocked it out with a single stone to the center of its skull, and we continued on towards the center of this city.

We neared. Loud booms began to ring out as Ash and Iris started their fights. I could see where Iris’s Dragonite was attacking from the sky, roaring and forcing itself through the harsh winds of the growing storm. I imagined the rest of their Pokémon were enjoying letting loose below.

Not only that, but it seemed the pair were succeeding, too, as Diancie and I were forced to press ourselves behind a crumbling wall when a duo of Team Rocket grunts approached. However, their radios soon went on, requesting backup, and the patrol ran off to join the fight against Ash and Iris.

"Kind of brings back memories," I said quietly.

"Not good ones," Diancie replied.

The only stairs on this structure were in the front, so when Diancie and I reached the edge of the pyramid, we were forced to climb. Each block that formed a level was taller than my head, and it took me a full minute just to figure out I didn’t have a way to climb over the first one.

Diancie ended up being the solution. After all, she was incredibly skilled when it came to the manipulation of stone. After watching me struggle for several long moments, she giggled and broke a chunk of the platform out from the ground. I sighed, stepped on, and she levitated it upwards, bringing me along.

Thanks to that, we reached the top relatively quickly and unnoticed. I clutched Dedenne’s Fast Ball in one hand.

As we neared the top, the sounds of fighting grew louder and louder. I started to be able to hear the sounds of Ash’s and Iris’s voices and their Pokémon using moves. Krookodile roared, Pikachu burst with lightning, and Iris’s new Druddigon shouted its name. However, what drew my attention was not the sound of their battles. Diancie slowed our approach as we listened to a faint, familiar melody that soon became clear over everything else.

It was a song—Meloetta’s song. I could feel something mad rumble in my gut as I recognized it as the very same song she used to change forms.

Team Rocket had recorded it. They were playing it here.

“Damnit. If we hadn’t sparred—”

Diancie shook her head to remind me of our plan. Meloetta would have sung eventually, regardless of our presence. However, since she had done so while we were here, we at least had the chance to save her—successfully—and we had the chance to capture Giovanni, too.

When we reached the very top of the pyramid, Diancie paused and had us linger just beneath a ledge. We crouched down to ensure we wouldn’t stick out, and we peaked our heads up by the barest amount to see what was going on.

The fighting stopped. At least, there was no fighting going on at the peak of this pyramid.

Giovanni was here, standing in front of a plinth and clutching a decorative mirror. It was about twice the size of his head with carvings representing each of the four seasons around its sides, and he held it up to the sky and laughed.

"Yes! This is it! So long spent planning, and I have finally obtained the Reveal Glass! Nature itself will bow to my whims, and Unova will be forced to relent to my demands!"

"Jeez. Generic, much?" I mumbled.

Diancie suppressed a laugh besides me.

Outside of Giovanni, there were a few more points of interest on the platform. Behind him, a large, diamond-shaped opening was indented in the ground, and several large cables and tubes were connected to a machine attached to its center. Those cables originated from a desk-sized computer situated at the platform's side, and an old man with a chaotic frizz of white hair furiously typed on the device’s keyboard.

“Dr. Zager, I presume,” I whispered, gesturing to the mad scientist and repeating the name Giovanni had casually mentioned earlier.

Thankfully, Ash and Iris arrived at this moment, and they clutched Pokéballs as they faced off against the mad Team Rocket Boss. Giovanni let loose maniacal laughter as he continued to hold the mirror to the sky.

A tap on my shoulder, and Diancie pointed upwards. Pausing, I craned my neck towards the clouds. I cursed at the sight.

“He did it,” I whispered. “He actually did it. We were too slow.”

Giovanni had summoned three beings from the sky.

Three burly humanoids sat on wispy clouds, hovering over this central platform. Harsh yellow eyes stared down below with an intense glare, even more imperious than Giovanni’s before. From the trio’s backs, strange, tail-like tendrils curled out and wrapped up and over their bodies and clouds. The trio looked like gods of nature or some sort of unbound genie. They came in three colors, and I recognized them all.

Green—Tornadus, master of the winds and a Pokémon capable of creating billowing gusts that could knock down even the sturdiest of structures.

Blue—Thundurus, master of the storm and a Pokémon capable of summoning lightning that carried the power of the heavens themselves.

Orange—Landorus, the master of both land and sky, only ever summoned by the combined presence of both Tornadus and Thundurus. Cynthia had talked about it on the flight over, and, apparently, it was able to ensure bountiful harvests in any lands it “blessed.”

Each of these three Pokémon were incredibly powerful Legendaries. I knew Landorus was especially strong for a multitude of reasons just on its own. None of them should have been acting so impassively around one another, yet they were all silently waiting above this temple, not fighting at all, seemingly waiting for orders from the one holding the Reveal Glass: Giovanni.

“This is getting complicated,” I mumbled, though, the Forces of Nature being present wasn’t wholly out of expectation. As I held back a grumble, my eyes flicked around. Soon, they settled on the Reveal Glass itself, and I pressed myself closer to the stone. “...Diancie, I might have an easy solution in mind.”

I began to silently signal to Diancie, discussing my plan involving both Giovanni and the doctor off to the side. The recording of Meloetta’s voice continued to loop around us, and I could see the wires attached to the strange crystal in the center occasionally spark with electricity.

"Mad doctor or main villain?" I offered.

"Villain," Diancie sent, continuing to glare forwards.

“We’ll move in the moment we have an opening.”

She nodded and braced herself, preparing.

On the platform itself, Giovanni continued to rant, mostly monologuing about his plans. Apparently, he considered himself to have won, so he wasn’t bothered by revealing his end goal.

With the power of the Forces of Nature, he planned to take over Unova not through literal force, but through the force of their special capabilities. Tornadus and Thundurus could destroy food stores and conjure storms that made shipments impossible. Landorus could let him grow an immense amount of produce on land.

He intended to starve Unova into doing his bidding, gaining a stranglehold on both trade and harvest. Though the three genies were Legendary Pokémon, there were enough strong trainers in the region that the Forces of Nature could eventually be defeated. That’s why he wanted to attack everyone where it hurt—their pockets. With their combined powers, even the strongest of Grass Types wouldn’t be able to help offset the scouring of the land.

“There’s a problem with your plans, Team Rocket guy!” Ash shouted.

I tilted my head.

Does he... Does he not know Giovanni’s name? Didn’t I just say it back in the woods?

“Oh? And what is that, you snarky child?”

“There aren’t three Forces of Nature, there’s four!”

Giovanni looked bewildered at the statement. To most people, such a claim was entirely nonsensical. For me, however, my eyes widened.

After all, Ash had mentioned that Enamorus, the lost Legendary Pokémon he encountered in Sinnoh, had been following him for some time.

“Now, Diancie! Dedenne, you too!” I cried, taking this opportunity for what it was.

The two of us jumped out from where we were crouched in the back, and Giovanni turned around, completely surprised.

“Tornadus! Thundurus! Stop them!” he yelled.

The round, decorative mirror he held in his hands shone, and the two named Legendary Pokémon rushed down from the sky. Diancie had only a moment to react, and she chose this moment to begin to glow.

As lightning struck down around her and harsh winds blew, Diancie’s form shifted with a fully self-controlled Mega Evolution. Using her innate connection to stones themselves, her form grew upwards, and she gained a vast dress of pink crystals while the gem on her head enlarged. The sheer threat she posed caused all the attacks from above to be drawn her way, but Diancie was able to conjure solid Reflects and Light Screens that blocked their moves.

As that happened, I moved.

“Dedenne!” I shouted, throwing his Fast Ball forward. The little fat rat appeared in the air, sailed over to where the old scientist was working, and he landed right on the keyboard of the computer.

“W-what?” The doctor stepped backwards out of shock.

“Discharge!” I yelled.

The Totem-sized Pokémon grinned, and then he burst with almost every bit of electricity in his body.

Not all pieces of technology were able to resist Electric Type moves. The machine he stood on was definitely advanced, but it seemed to be hastily made, in parts. It crackled and fizzled; as for Meloetta’s voice, it stopped. Both the good doctor and his invention were fried, with Dr. Zager himself falling to the ground, zapped into unconsciousness by Dedenne.

As for the indent that all of the technology connected to, something popped, and smoke left the diamond shape. The attacks from the flying Legendary Pokémon against Diancie began to slow, but Diancie wasn’t going to risk them going berserk. Even with their control fading, the two Pokémon continued to recognize her as a threat and attacked. Given that Thundurus and Tornadus were liable to attack one another if left alone, Diancie continued to serve as a distraction to ensure the fight did not become worse.

In her Mega Evolved form, she was even holding them back, too. A crystalline Ancient Power was sent into the sky to jab both of the flying Pokémon in their chests, sending them back with super effective damage. Not only that, but Diancie was infused by the power of her own attack, becoming stronger in every degree. Given enough time, she’d win.

“I still have the Reveal Glass!” Giovanni shouted. “I still control—”

A pink blur. Ash shouted in excitement. By having Dedenne stop the music, apparently, it allowed our fourth guest to finally appear.

A pink variant of those trio of Legendaries swooped down to yoink the mirror right out of Giovanni’s hands. The act of the theft knocked him back, and he fell to the ground and stared up at the sky in shock.

“No... It can’t be. That Pokémon has been missing for millennia!”

“That’s your fault for underestimating Ash. You should have researched the nonsense he gets up to,” I shot back.

The leader of Team Rocket opened and closed his mouth, staring at the sky in complete disbelief at the sight of the pink, flying genie above him. Enamorus looked much like the other three Legendary Pokémon, except it had a much thinner, almost feminine humanoid body, and its tail was a snake that wrapped around its neck.

The pink, Fairy Type Legendary held the mirror in its hands and stared down at the raised platform. It gained a smug grin and winked at Ash, then it glanced down into the mirror.

I felt like my heart skipped a beat out of fear. Enamorus suddenly froze. It stared into the mirror, completely enthralled, and I could already picture what would happen next.

“He called that the Reveal Glass,” I realized. “Diancie, that artifact can let them shift into more powerful forms!”

I could already see Enamorus beginning to shift. Its serpentine tail moved to wrap around its body as well in preparation to enter its alternate form. What was worse was that Landorus, above, stared down at Enamorus, but when I looked closer, its eyes were locked onto the mirror as well.

“You... you fools,” a hoarse voice said from the ground. The smoking Dr. Zager glared at us from where Dedenne attacked him. “The Reveal Glass was used by the ancient civilization of these ruins to control the Forces of Nature! Without Meloetta’s stabilizing song—”

“Doesn’t matter,” Diancie interrupted. “I solve.”

Before the transformation could continue any further, Diancie demonstrated just why I wanted to bring her along. She held her hands close to her chest and conjured a single, pink, crystal shard. It resembled a dagger in its design, and she focused on it intently, causing it to sharpen and become denser by the second.

She was satisfied with her creation within only a few seconds, and her gaze snapped up towards Enamorus. Thrusting forward her hands, the dagger sailed into the sky.

“Support!” her voice shouted in our minds.

“Pikachu!” Ash yelled.

“Dedenne!” I added.

“Thunderbolt!”

Pikachu had been sitting on Ash’s shoulder, and Dedenne had been resting on the ruined remains of Dr. Zager’s computer. With the two of them given orders, they shared a single glance before immediately jumping into the air.

Two electric rodents squeezed their bodies, and two electric rodents sent out their own force of nature—lightning. The paired Thunderbolts struck the flying, crystal dagger, supercharging it and causing it to travel at literal lightning speed.

With that, the stone hit the mirror and then continued all the way through. Coming straight through the center, the legendary artifact shattered in Enamorus’s hands. With the item breaking, the Legendary Pokémon shook its head, coming to its senses, and four, equal shards of glass fell from the sky.

Enamorus had the bright idea to scoop one up before it fell.

The Fairy Type wasn’t the only one to have that idea, as Thundurus and Tornadus sent one another a glare before rushing forward with incredible speed to grab shards for themselves as well. As for Landorus, a deep, echoing huff escaped from its mouth (somehow almost sounding like a laugh?), and it practically fell out of the sky to grab the last of the shards right before it shattered against the pyramid’s peak.

To that end, the four Forces of Nature now held shards of the Reveal Glass in their hands. They spent a moment, getting lost in its reflection, but in its broken, weakened state, the Reveal Glass lacked the power to fully constrain their minds. They all were able to snap their gazes away.

Then, they left, as simple as that.

Thunderus turned to lightning and disappeared into where the weather was densest. Landorus shoved its shard into its cloud and floated back up into the sky. As for Tornadus, it brought its gaze back to its shard, and I got worried it would attack. Instead, its body shifted out of its humanoid genie form, becoming a great, green bird, and it flew off with casual flaps of its wings.

“Huh,” I said. Enamorus stayed in the air above us, smiling out of amusement.

To our side, Dr. Zager laughed.

“To think the Reveal Glass would shatter in such a manner. It takes Legendary Power to usurp Legendary Power. With those limited shards... The Legendary Pokémon won’t lose control. I’ll posit that they’ll now be able to change forms at will.”

He let loose a mad laugh before I sent a sign to Dedenne and one last, weak shock sent the doctor into true unconsciousness. Looking around, it was clear the battle ended, so I stepped forward to finally do the one thing I came here to do.

“Giovanni,” I said. “You lost.”

The man's eyes widened. Now, Ash and Iris stepped forward too.

It really seemed like this would be a complete victory. Giovanni would be captured, and Team Rocket would meet its end. It seemed so easy, so simple to do. But, of course, it didn’t exactly work out the way I wanted.

"Cofagrigus!"

"Jellicent!"

"SHADOW BALL!"

A pair of ghostly attacks slammed into the platform, sending darkness into the air and causing all of us to stumble back. Not only that, but gas was somehow mixed into this attack, giving everyone here a coughing fit, rendering us unable to give any commands and our Pokémon unable to use any moves. As Ash and Iris tried to wave the smoke out of their face, I was just barely able to recover to look up in time to see what had happened.

Giovanni was no longer on the platform. Instead, he was being carried off in the sky. A certain trio had been conspicuously absent, but now, they made themselves known. Jessie and James themselves had swooped down to rescue their beloved Boss with jetpacks, of all things.

"Nice try, twerps!" Meowth shouted as he trailed behind his human partners with a jetpack of his own. "But Team Rocket isn't going to go down that easily!"

We still had an out, though. We still had a way to win.

What Team Rocket didn’t realize was that Altaria was still in his ball and was unaffected by their gaseous attack. His ability, Cloud Nine, would let him clear out their smoke, and his flight would mean he could catch up. With his efforts combined with Iris’s Dragonite, it was still entirely possible for us to—

A hand clasped me on the shoulder.

"No. Let them escape."

Cynthia, who had been missing this whole time, stepped forward to watch them leave, and their catchphrase felt like poison to my ears.

"Team Rocket is flying off once again!" the trio shouted.

Ash and Iris grumbled as if they expected this to happen, but I'd never felt so betrayed in my life.

Years.

That was how long the League knew this would happen.

And at the last minute, Cynthia stopped us from capturing Giovanni?

"Why?" I whispered. I found myself unable to put much more emotion in my voice.

"What do you mean, Alex?” she replied. “We saved Meloetta. We won."

"But Giovanni escaped! We could have captured him! We could have taken Team Rocket out right here and now!"

She looked at me, smiling, as Ash moved off to chat with the descending Enamorus. There was a story there, somehow, but it was one I couldn't bring myself to care about right now.

"Where have you been?" I practically accused.

Cynthia turned away and hummed, watching the Team Rocket leader board one of the escaping helicopters.

"When it comes to what Pokémon are on my team, do you know what I have?" she asked me.

"Garchomp, Gastrodon, Roserade, Lucario, Milotic, Togekiss, and Spiritomb,” I easily replied.

I didn't like Spiritomb. I didn't like how the stone in her pocket laughed when I said its name.

"You’re correct, but that's not all," Cynthia said. "I also have a Braviary and Eelektross I keep in Unova and a Glaceon I'm in the process of training up."

"So?" I asked. "Why bring all this up?"

"Because," she said grinning. "I have one more."

I wracked my mind for clues, but, for the life of me, I couldn't remember what her mysterious, final team member was. Somewhat exasperated, Cynthia pulled up her arm, exposing a Pokétch, a piece of technology from Sinnoh, and then she tapped its screen before pointing at the helicopter.

When I still didn't get it, she let out a sigh.

"Porygon-Z," she grumbled as if I had spoiled her joke.

At that, my eyes widened. All the clues fell into place.

Cynthia’s absence made sense. She likely had a stealth mission of her own. Capturing Giovanni would have been a crippling blow to Team Rocket but not a fatal one. The organization would be hurt but not finished from his absence. It had too many independent, secret projects going on—too many secret cells—and I doubted Giovanni would ever give up the true depths of his plans.

However, if Cynthia had her Porygon-Z secretly tag along with Giovanni...

"Porygon is going to be feeding you information about them for years," I whispered in realization.

"Not only that," Cynthia continued, "but we'll be able to slowly hunt down and take out all of their projects and secret hideaways even if Porygon is found out within an hour! He works fast and has had years of practice defending me against personal hacks. I imagine Giovanni wont find out for quite a while, and, even then, the amount Porygon will have revealed will be too much for the organization to ever recover.”

A groan rang out from our side. Turning my head, I realized there was that old man still on the floor. Cynthia grabbed Spiritomb's rock and tossed it forward, the Ghost Type landing on the scientist’s chest. One Hypnosis later, and Dr. Zager was rendered unconscious once more, no longer in danger of waking up and escaping.

"Another piece of good news,” she added. “It seems you've captured the infamous Dr. Zager. He’s not that well known outside of Kanto, but he is one of Team Rocket's head engineers and lead scientists. This alone is a major win."

I felt like I was in a daze. I had whiplash from the back-and-forth of revelations Cynthia was giving me. I watched silently as Ash and Iris waved goodbye to Enamorus, who held up its own shard of the Reveal Glass to change its form. Where once it had a humanoid body with a snake coiling around its neck, it was now a turtle poking out of a cloud, and its serpentine tail had taken the shape of a shell on its back.

Enamorus left as if swimming through the air. Iris and Ash continued to wave goodbye even long after it disappeared.

"We won?" I asked.

"Yes, Alex, we won,” Cynthia replied. “Not only that, but we have all of these ruins to explore at our leisure!" She sighed. "It’s a shame I’ll need to return to Sinnoh soon to manage the upcoming Conference. I would have loved to spend more time here."

With the disappearance of the last of the Forces of Nature, the clouds finally started to part, and Diancie moved over to my side. She was no longer Mega Evolved, but she was staring up at the clear skies and smiling brightly to herself.

“Good job,” I mumbled.

“Victory!” she sent.

Ash came over, and so did Iris. Everyone who had come to these ruins reconvened, with Team Rocket defeated in the end. With Cynthia’s reveal, it was clear that this had been a victory. It was a mess, but it was a victory. Knowing what I knew, with all the plots I knew left, there was now only one last, big thing I still had to do.

With this over, I was set to return to Alola. There, I’d need to complete my job for the League, protect Lillie and Nebbie, finish going through all the islands, and, hopefully, I’d be able resolve that entire situation involving Necrozma, the Aether Foundation, and the Ultra Beasts.

Yeah.

An easy task.