Prologue:

All hope was lost for Sinnoh.

Lucas knew this as he stood there in the Distortion World, ordering his Pokémon to push through the pain. Blasts of energy pulsed around him, nearly knocking him off his feet. Even the scenery around him was melting into nothingness.

"Empoleon!" Lucas shouted, pushing his hand forward, "Use Protect!"

Struggling to keep itself up, the large penguin Pokémon crossed its massive wings. After several seconds of concentration, a bright green wall shimmered in front of Empoleon.

Despite the heated battle taking place in front of him, the Galactic Boss Cyrus remained calm. His spiky blue hair danced softly in the un-natural wind; his eyes filled with anger and passion, the very qualities he was working to destroy.

"Crobat, use Sludge." Cyrus practically whispered the command, not feeling it necessary to raise his voice.

Crobat, the large purple bat fluttering before him, lunged towards Empoleon. Opening its mouth, a revolting purple liquid was expelled and propelled towards the blue penguin. However, due to the barrier previously formed, the sludge dissolved on impact.

"Good work, Empoleon!" Lucas smirked, "We're not giving up yet!"

Empoleon roared in optimistic agreement. Even though the pair of them truly knew that the possibility of success was slim, they fought on. Lucas did his best to ignore the melting space all around him. The distorted trees slowly dissolved into nothingness. The dirty ground beneath his feet began to fade away. Lucas was so intent on winning the battle; he could barely hear Cynthia's shouts from behind him.

"Lucas!" She yelled over the noise of the fight, "We're running out of time! The Distortion World is fading away!"

He knew she was right. And it wasn't just the element of space that was going out of whack; time too. Seconds seemed to take hours, minutes felt like milliseconds. Cyrus was winning; he was making his own world. And it wasn't just the Distortion World that was melting away, Lucas knew that the entire region of Sinnoh was experiencing the same symptoms. Soon everything would be lost.

Unless Lucas had something to say about it.

"Empoleon, use Hydro Pump!" Lucas yelled at the top of his lungs, pointing at the wicked-looking Crobat.

Empoleon screeched, opened out its massive jaws, and let loose a powerful blast of water that hurled itself at Cyrus' Crobat.

"Evade," Cyrus murmured the command.

With stunning elegance, the Crobat managed to twirl out of the way of the blast. Water sprayed in every direction, soaking both of the trainers. Lucas struggled to keep his eyes open as the water poured onto his face.

"Give 'em another one!" Lucas ordered, and the Empoleon performed yet another Hydro pump. The deadly blast of water slammed into the Crobat at full force, causing the large purple bat to crumble to the distorted ground.

As Lucas laughed over his triumph, Cyrus' eyes flared with anger.

"Get up!" He roared, "Get up and destroy them!"

Opening its bright, menacing yellow eyes, the Crobat struggled to pull itself up. Now managing to balance on its thin and weak legs, it snarled at Lucas' Empoleon. In response, the large penguin roared in anger.

"Crobat! Use Poison Fang!" Cyrus cackled, his spiky blue hair bouncing in the distorted breeze.

Crobat, its eyes bloodshot with anger, roared as it sped at Empoleon at an immeasurable speed. Opening its mouth, Lucas saw that a purple liquid was excreting from its fangs. This meant trouble.

Lucas broke out into a sprint towards his partner Pokémon, who was currently off guard.

"Empoleon, watch out!" Lucas yelled as he ran towards the penguin.

Empoleon, now turning towards the Crobat, widened his eyes in shock. The bat was less than ten feet away.

Diving towards his Pokémon, Lucas yelled, "Empoleon!"

But it was too late.

"No!"

Crobat sunk its poisoned fangs into Empoleon's right wing. The penguin opened its mouth to yelp, but the poison already began to spread. Empoleon slowly closed its eyes as it dropped to the ground, fainted.

Lucas dropped to Empoleon's side, attempting to awaken it. Crobat swiftly fluttered towards Cyrus, who took out his Poke ball. There was a click as Crobat transformed into a red light and was reabsorbed into the capsule.

Cyrus leisurely strolled towards his downed opponent. The entire Distortion World was silent except for the echoing click of his heels. Cyrus kneeled down next to Lucas.

He whispered, "You failed, young man. I told you: I wouldn't loose. Not to you, at least. Now, I shall destroy this useless world, capture the Shadow Pokémon, and brick by brick I will rebuild Sinnoh from its ashes."

Lucas was too grief-stricken to move. He laid there, both hands on his fainted Empoleon, keeping his head down. Everything was lost.

"Not so fast, Cyrus," a mysterious feminine voice announced.

The Galactic Boss looked up. Surprisingly, he saw the Elite Four Champion, Cynthia, standing there proudly with her hands on her hips. He forgot she had been standing there all along.

Cyrus slowly rose, cackling quietly to himself. "It is too late, Cynthia. I've already won."

"On the contrary," Cynthia glared at Cyrus, slowly removing a Poke ball from her belt, "I'm still here, and I challenge you!"

Cyrus stopped smiling. Now, he found himself glaring at the young woman before him. "I have no doubt that you are far stronger than me as a Trainer. However, like I said before, it is too late. The world is mine."

Suddenly, the chunk of rock that the two of them were standing on ripped into two pieces. Cynthia was on one. On the other, Cyrus stood proudly over Lucas and Empoleon. The two platforms began to drift apart. It was now impossible to fight.

As Cynthia's platform descended into the dark abyss below her, Cyrus looked down at her.

"Au revoir, madame!" Cyrus called down to her in French.

"Cyrus, no! It's not too late! You can still undo it!" Cynthia screamed after him until she plunged into the darkness below, out of earshot.

Laughing, Cyrus turned away. He strolled towards the end of his platform, peering into the distance. There was no portal back to Sinnoh anywhere in sight. But he wasn't looking for an exit. He was looking for the Shadow Creature.

Suddenly, he heard a low-pitch, menacing growl. Cyrus quickly glanced up above him. He slowly smiled to himself.

Floating in mid-air above the platform was a massive, terrifying creature. It was over 14 feet long and it resembled a ghastly serpent. It wore chunks of yellow armor and spikes, not to mention six, grisly strips of black cloth that looked like wings. In the space around this incredible Pokémon swirled a black and red vortex that seemed to be attempting to absorb the creature. However, the Pokémon was in complete control. It stared down at Cyrus with dark, menacing eyes.

Despite his current situation, Cyrus couldn't help but smile. He had succeeded. He defeated Lucas, Team Galactic was in control of both Palkia and Dialga, and he was about to capture his third Deity Pokémon of the day.

"Giratina," He mumbled to himself, "You're mine."

All hope was lost for Sinnoh as Cyrus slowly pulled out a Master Ball from his belt.