Chapter Twenty-Seven: Pearl of Wisdom



Hoopa's POV



Chaos, swirling, storming, all around, everywhere. Unown crying, screaming, lost in the hurricane.



Hoopa is lost. Hoopa is alone. And Hoopa is scared.



Space and time, time and space, whirling, swirling, melting. Trapped! Hoopa is trapped!



Then, suddenly, silence.



...



Is Hoopa dead?



No; Hoopa is floating. Everything's still. The Unown are still. The mech is still. The Mewtwo are still.



"Hey, who turned off the everything?" Jessie asks, still inside her mech.



"I just want to get out of here before they turn it back on!" James says, afraid.



Hoopa hears a voice.



"Damn kids... criminy. I turn my back for a few millenia and they think they can tear the place up. What gives?"



A BIG BIG HEAD appears from a hole in the air. A white, draconic head with tusks and a sharp nose.



"Oh," it says, looking at me. "So THAT'S where you went off to, you little scamp. Why am I not surprised to see you're mixed up in this?"



"Hoopa didn't do this!" Hoopa explains. "Unown did this! Hoopa was helping Hoopa's friends to escape!"



The big big head gives me a look. "Indeed." It turns to Jessie and James. "And what do you two know about this?"



"We're not the ones who used Teeter Dance on a swarm of Unown!" Jessie snaps.



"And we just want to get out of here before the Unown wake back up!" James adds.



"Indeed," says the big big head.



The portal stretches, and the whole huge creature comes out. Its neck is long, its shoulders immense, with huge pearls and sharp scaly wings. It stands on two legs with huge claws. Behind it is a long, thick tail.



"I am Palkia," its voice booms, "the Guardian of Space. I was called here because the fabric of space was twisted to breaking. Now, what am I supposed to do with you?"



Jessie looks around at the two Mewtwo, the many Unown, and me. "Just... ha ha ha, why not just drop us off at Saffron City and be done with that?"



"That, I can do," Palkia says. "But the Unown caused this. They must be... otherwise detained, to prevent this situation from simply unfolding again."



Palkia waves his hand, and the frozen Unown begin to shift, forming flat shapes on square tiles. Palkia waves again, and the Unown tiles fly to him, shrinking in size and vanishing into a rift.



Hoopa sees devious grins on Jessie and James. Hoopa bristles. "Jessie and James are bad humans! Don't trust Jessie and James!"



Palkia looks at me. "It must be in a god's nature to forgive. If wrath flew down at the slightest infraction, no flesh would be spared. Who knows; there may be good left in these sinners after all. It is not the time and place to judge them, not yet. Be patient."



Hoopa shakes her head. "Then send them elsewhere! Not to Saffron! Evil things happen at Saffron!"



"So I have heard." Palkia strokes his chin. "But better to take them to where they wish to go than to have them journey there and harm others on the way."



Now Hoopa remembers! "Hoopa's friends must go to Saffron! Gary-Kun's family is in Saffron!"



"Of that, I am aware. The citizens of Pallet Town have been subjected to unethical experiments. Their physical state is unstable. If I were to free them now, then what has been done to them could be their undoing."



"Huh? What does Palkia mean?"



"Project Burst seeks to merge the DNA of humans and Pokemon. The people of Pallet Town are currently in psychic-imposed hibernation, awaiting the full awakening of the Berserk Genes placed inside of them. This transformation is as much mental as physical, and the psychics of Saffron City have been working to help the victims' brains adjust to their new power."



"Hey!" Jessie yells. "They didn't even tell us that! How do you know?"



"Because I am Palkia, the Guardian of Space," says Palkia, "and I make it my business to know."



Palkia snaps his fingers, and Jessie, James, and the two confused Mewtwo vanish into a spacial rift. Hoopa presumes that this is a rift to Saffron.



Palkia turns back to me. "What has been done to the people of Pallet Town is unthinkable. But hope still lives. The hybrids can still be saved from their fate. Team Rocket may transform the body, but they cannot fully destroy the spirit. Deep inside, there will always remain a human heart. And it is that which your friends must protect."



Palkia snaps his fingers again, and a smaller rift opens, a Hoopa-sized rift. "Wait!" Hoopa says. "How can Hoopa save the people of Pallet Town?"



"By reminding them who they are," Palkia says. "And reminding them what they must fight for."



"Then how can Hoopa save the world?"



"You and your friends must face the darkness that consumes this world," Palkia says, "and return it to the light."



Before Hoopa can say more, Hoopa's rift opens wider, and Palkia disappears...



Hoopa remembers one more question Hoopa forgot to ask.



Where does Hoopa come from...?