Chapter Summaries

Lin Hao attended the Silver Conference preliminary draw and learned he would face Takeda Ken in the first round. As he prepared to compete, he also learned Cyrus remained at Spear Pillar while Team Galactic repaired its equipment, giving Lin Hao seven days before the threat could move again.

• Lin Hao and Red arrived at the Tournament Hall, where staff verified Lin Hao's eight Badges and directed him to the draw.
• Lin Hao learned the preliminaries used a double-elimination format and chose Pikachu, Charizard, and Greninja for his matches, while Ho-Oh and Suicune remained sidelined.
• Lin Hao drew Takeda Ken, a Goldenrod City trainer whose main Pokémon were Pinsir, Scyther, and Ursaring; their match was set for the next morning at Main Arena Ring 3.
• Red left for the League Library to investigate Team Galactic, and May warned Lin Hao that Takeda Ken's Pinsir was powerful.
• Morty told Lin Hao that Cyrus remained at Spear Pillar and would need at least seven days for his equipment repairs; Lin Hao decided to compete anyway.
• Lin Hao planned to use Charizard to defeat Takeda Ken quickly, and Charizard promised not to burn down the ring.

Lin Hao defeated Takeda Ken in the tournament’s first preliminary battle, with Charizard knocking out three opponents without being harmed. He learned that his next opponent would be Instructor Chuck, a powerful Fighting-type trainer, and planned to use Charizard again.

• Lin Hao sent out Charizard, which defeated Takeda Ken’s Pinsir with one Flamethrower.
• Charizard knocked out Scyther after enduring its rapid attacks and countering with Fire Spin.
• Charizard let Ursaring’s Hammer Arm strike its shoulder, then defeated it with one tail swing, winning Lin Hao the match.
• Red watched the battle and told Morty that Charizard was stronger than near Champion level and had held back.
• Lin Hao learned that he would face Instructor Chuck next, and Red described Chuck as a near-Elite Four-level Fighting-type trainer who fought without following a set style.
• Lin Hao chose Charizard for the next battle and said he wanted it to get more practice.

Lin Hao’s Champion-level Charizard defeated Chuck’s Machamp and Gallade, while Chuck learned that May had nearly reached seventy percent of his strength. Lin Hao then prepared Pikachu to face Qin Ye’s Dragonite and Mewtwo that evening, as his own Mewtwo detected that the opposing Mewtwo was suppressing its power.

• Lin Hao’s Charizard defeated Chuck’s near-Elite Four-level Machamp and Gallade in a complete rout.
• Chuck called Charizard Champion level, then asked Lin Hao about May’s progress and left satisfied that she had nearly reached seventy percent of his strength.
• Red and Morty discussed Charizard’s power and how it had deliberately tested Gallade’s attacks during the battle.
• Lin Hao learned that his next opponent, Qin Ye, would bring Dragonite and Mewtwo, and decided Pikachu would fight the Mewtwo.
• Lin Hao and Pikachu prepared for the evening match, while his Mewtwo confirmed that Qin Ye’s Mewtwo was suppressing its power by an unknown amount.

Lin Hao defeated Qin Ye’s Ampharos, Dragonite, and Mewtwo with Pikachu, earning a place in the Round of 16. As May planned to arrive for the knockout stage, Lin Hao learned the countdown to Cyrus’s plan had reached six days and continued monitoring him to delay the Three Lakes Project.

• Lin Hao sent Pikachu against Qin Ye’s Ampharos, absorbed its Thunderbolt with Lightning Rod, and knocked it out by returning the attack.
• Pikachu dodged Dragonite’s diving strike, climbed onto its back, and defeated it with Thunderbolt.
• Lin Hao used Pikachu’s Thunder Wave to disrupt Qin Ye’s Mewtwo’s psychic control, then closed in and knocked it out with a point-blank Thunderbolt.
• Lin Hao advanced to the Round of 16, and Red told him that May planned to watch his knockout-stage battle in person.
• Lin Hao received messages from Morty, May, and Cyrus, learning that the countdown had reached six days and that a Johto Elite Four member wanted to battle him.
• Lin Hao told Mewtwo to keep monitoring Cyrus so the attention would slow the Three Lakes Project and buy them time.

May returned from Special Training Camp to watch Lin Hao compete in the Silver Conference, where he defeated Murase’s Froslass with Suicune and forced Murase to concede. After the match, Lin Hao learned that Cyrus’s plan would begin in three days, leaving him two tournament battles to finish before heading to Sinnoh.

• May arrived at Silver Town Station and reunited with Lin Hao and Red, sharing that her combat stress response had improved by thirty-two percent during training.
• Lin Hao told May he had declined an invitation to the League Friendship Tournament and had only four days before Cyrus’s repairs were complete.
• Lin Hao entered the first knockout round against Murase and sent out Suicune instead of Charizard.
• Suicune broke through Froslass’s Blizzard with Water Pulse and knocked Froslass out in one attack, prompting Murase to concede.
• After the match, Lin Hao received a message from Cyrus warning that Spear Pillar would activate in three days.

Lin Hao faced Elite Four reserve Kijō Akito in the quarterfinals and defeated his Dragonite and Lucario with Charizard. Kijō conceded before sending out his near-Champion-level Tyranitar, and Lin Hao advanced while promising Akito another chance to see him fight at full strength.

• Lin Hao chose Charizard for his quarterfinal against Kijō Akito, whose Dragonite was near Champion level.
• Lin Hao let Dragonite boost its speed with three Dragon Dances, then Charizard stopped its Outrage with Dragon Claw and knocked it out with Fire Punch.
• Kijō sent out a Champion-level Lucario, which hit Charizard with an Aura Sphere as Lin Hao tested its power.
• Charizard unleashed blue-white flames and broke through Lucario’s Aura defense with Flare Blitz, knocking it out.
• Kijō conceded rather than send out his near-Champion-level Tyranitar, then asked Lin Hao to fight at full strength if they met again.

Team Galactic attacked the League tournament, where Cyrus confronted Lin Hao and used cloned Dialga and Palkia to threaten Silver Town. Lin Hao summoned Lugia to stop Dialga’s time distortion, then prepared to reveal another Pokémon as the battle escalated.

• Lin Hao told Red that Mars and Team Galactic had infiltrated Silver Town, and he chose to remain in the semifinals as bait for Cyrus.
• Team Galactic breached the stadium, overwhelmed its security, and surrounded the panicked crowd while Cyrus confronted Lin Hao on the ring.
• Cyrus released a Dialga Clone, whose temporal waves slowed spectators and threatened to freeze Silver Town unless Lin Hao cooperated.
• Lin Hao summoned Lugia, which halted the time distortion and restored everyone in the stadium to normal speed.
• Cyrus released a Palkia Clone beside Dialga, and the two clones began warping time and space as Lin Hao reached for Charizard’s Poké Ball.

Lin Hao and his Lugia and Charizard defeated Cyrus’s Dialga and Palkia replicas, but Cyrus escaped and challenged him to meet at Spear Pillar in three days. Arceus revealed that it was the true god Cyrus intended to use.

• Cyrus ordered Dialga and Palkia to attack, but Charizard and Lugia overpowered the replicas and broke through their combined time and space restraints.
• Lin Hao commanded Lugia and Charizard to finish the fight, and they destroyed Palkia and Dialga.
• Cyrus conceded the round, then escaped with Team Galactic and announced that he would face Lin Hao at Spear Pillar in three days with a true god.
• May checked on Lin Hao after the battle, while Red warned her that they had more important matters to handle.
• Arceus told Lin Hao that the true god Cyrus meant to use was Arceus itself.

Lin Hao learned that Cyrus planned to force open a passage at Spear Pillar in three days, risking the collapse of time and space, and the League agreed to let him act freely. As Lin Hao prepared to leave for Sinnoh with May, he accepted that stopping Cyrus might mean entering the passage and vanishing from the current timeline.

• Arceus told Lin Hao that Cyrus intended to force open a passage at Spear Pillar, which would shatter time and space and collapse order.
• At an emergency League conference, Pryce challenged Lin Hao over failing to report Lugia, but Red warned that only Lin Hao could stop Cyrus and the League agreed to support him.
• Cynthia declared that she would go to Spear Pillar because Cyrus was her responsibility, and Lin Hao accepted her decision.
• May showed Lin Hao her completed assessment and insisted on accompanying him to Sinnoh, and Red advised Lin Hao to let her come.
• Lin Hao said he would enter the passage if necessary, and Arceus warned that anyone who entered would leave the current timeline before promising to wait for him at its end.

Lin Hao prepared to confront Cyrus at Spear Pillar as the League weighed his growing power and Red pledged his support. He left Silver Town with Red and May, heading for Sinnoh while Cyrus waited atop Mt. Coronet.

• Lin Hao received travel plans from Morty, Steven, and Cynthia, along with an anonymous message challenging him to reveal his remaining trump cards at Spear Pillar.
• Red told Lin Hao that Johto League leaders feared him, then vouched for him to the League Chairman and decided to accompany him to Sinnoh.
• Lin Hao authorized his Legendary Pokémon to fight at full strength and declared that they would stop hiding.
• At Silver Town's Military Airport, Lin Hao, Red, and May learned that five hundred Team Galactic troops, the Four Commanders, and Cyrus were at Spear Pillar.
• Lin Hao boarded the transport plane with Red and May, determined to fight his way to the summit as Mewtwo reported that Cyrus had encrypted his communications.

Lin Hao, Red, and May arrived in Coronet City to stop Cyrus, who had only forty-eight hours left before opening a passage at the Spear Pillar. Cynthia laid out a plan to split their forces, leaving Lin Hao to race for the summit as the others fought Team Galactic’s commanders.

• Red told Lin Hao that his enemies were now Red’s enemies, explaining he had come because he would not let someone else face a dangerous summit alone.
• Lin Hao learned that Cyrus had increased his forces to eight hundred and accelerated his plan by two days to stall them in Silver Town.
• Cynthia met Lin Hao, Red, and May at the landing pad and reported that Cyrus was channeling energy into the Spear Pillar, with the passage due to open in forty-eight hours.
• Cynthia explained that Pluto had returned to Team Galactic and was guarding the highest defensive line with traps and strategy.
• Cynthia assigned the League elite unit to the outer lines, herself to Mars and Jupiter, Red to Pluto, and Lin Hao to confront Cyrus at the summit.
• Arceus warned Lin Hao that it would be pulled into reality if the passage opened, and Lin Hao said Arceus would have to close it if he failed; May told him not to die.

May resigned from Investigator Headquarters, confessed that she wanted to stay with Lin Hao, and sent him critical intelligence before her access expired. Red then revealed that Pluto had gained control of a copy of Giratina, raising the danger of the coming battle at Spear Pillar.

• Cynthia brought Lin Hao, May, and Red to the League's temporary command center, where May received an order from Director Xiao to return to headquarters.
• May resigned from Investigator Headquarters and told Lin Hao she wanted to stay with him; Lin Hao admitted he needed her and she agreed to be his partner.
• May sent Lin Hao files containing Team Galactic's communications keys, commanders' dossiers, and Pluto's defensive deployment.
• Red told Lin Hao that Pluto controlled a second copy of Dusknoir's counterpart: Copy Giratina, the Antimatter Dragon.

Lin Hao learned that Cyrus planned to use clones of Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina to force open a passage to Arceus, and decided to strike Team Galactic’s headquarters in Hoenn. As he and May prepared to leave, three Team Galactic aircraft attacked the command center.

• Red explained that activating clones of Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina together at Spear Pillar could give Cyrus a chance to summon Arceus.
• May reported that Team Galactic had withdrawn from Mt. Coronet, and Lin Hao concluded that Cyrus was relocating rather than abandoning his plan.
• Lin Hao used May’s communication logs to identify Hoenn as the likely location of Team Galactic’s headquarters and planned to attack it with May’s help, while Red stayed behind to defend Mt. Coronet.
• Lin Hao arranged a rendezvous with Steven near Rustboro City and prepared to leave the next day, with Cynthia’s forces guarding Spear Pillar.
• Three aircraft bearing Team Galactic’s silver-gray G markings flew toward the command center, while warning cries and the sound of breaking glass came from downstairs.

Lin Hao and May traveled from Sinnoh to Hoenn to investigate Team Galactic’s hidden relay nodes while avoiding attention. As their flight began, Lin Hao suspected Mt. Pyre was Team Galactic’s likely headquarters and learned Mars might be active in southern Hoenn.

• Cynthia gave Lin Hao his commercial flight pass and warned him that Team Galactic might have an informant inside the Hoenn League.
• Red told Lin Hao to contact him daily and warned him not to handle Groudon- or Kyogre-related ruins recklessly.
• Lin Hao and May agreed to pose as ordinary travelers and keep Lugia and Charizard out of sight, with Pikachu as Lin Hao’s partner.
• Lin Hao reviewed the coordinates of three Team Galactic nodes and suspected their headquarters was at Mt. Pyre.
• May planned to contact her Hoenn intelligence network, and Lin Hao told her Mars might be active in southern Hoenn.

Lin Hao and May arrived in Hoenn and learned that Team Galactic was hijacking League equipment to build the Red Chain. Steven planned to use Lin Hao’s arrival to expose a League mole, and the group prepared to investigate an abandoned mine near Rustboro the next day.

• May slept through the flight, and Lin Hao and May arrived in Lilycove City, where Steven greeted them and drove them to the Hoenn League Command Center.
• Steven told Lin Hao and May that four shipments of League-funded Energy Conversion Devices had been hijacked near Mt. Pyre and proposed using Lin Hao as bait to identify a mole inside the League.
• Lin Hao and Steven concluded that Team Galactic was assembling the Red Chain in Hoenn from the stolen equipment before transporting it to Sinnoh.
• Steven said they would investigate the abandoned mine near Rustboro the next day, and Lin Hao agreed to challenge Roxanne’s Gym as cover.
• Steven planned to show Lin Hao and May around Lilycove City and take them to meet trusted friends that evening, while Lin Hao kept Ho-Oh and his other Pokémon hidden.

Steven showed Lin Hao evidence that Team Galactic was gathering materials to make a vessel for the Red Chain and joined forces with him to investigate. Lin Hao agreed to check a Relay Node in Rustboro and then Mt. Pyre, while Steven arranged a meeting with allies that evening.

• Steven brought Lin Hao and May to the Hoenn Mineral Museum and explained that Team Galactic had stolen deep-sea scale stone and seventeen volcanic heartstones.
• Steven said the materials, combined with a Time and Space Fluctuation Detector, could make a vessel capable of holding the Red Chain, and that Mt. Pyre was the likely source of the missing stones.
• Lin Hao agreed to confirm the Relay Node near Rustboro the next day before investigating Mt. Pyre with Steven.
• Steven offered Hoenn's resources to Lin Hao, who accepted his alliance, and Steven said Sidney and Drake would help them.
• Steven arranged to pick Lin Hao up for a gathering at seven, and Lin Hao said he would challenge Roxanne's Rock-type Gym with Pikachu.

Lin Hao defeated Roxanne’s Nosepass with Pikachu and earned the Stone Badge, then learned that Team Galactic had been active at an abandoned mine. He and Steven headed toward the mine after Mewtwo detected a nearby Relay Node, while Groudon sensed something connected to itself.

• Lin Hao entered Rustboro Gym and chose Pikachu to battle Roxanne’s Nosepass in a one-on-one match.
• Pikachu shattered Nosepass’s Rock Tomb with Iron Tail, then used Quick Attack and Iron Tail to defeat it in under thirty seconds.
• Roxanne awarded Lin Hao the Stone Badge and told him that silver-gray-uniformed people had used fake-plated trucks to visit the Abandoned Mine at night.
• Roxanne gave Lin Hao a map marking the mine entrances, and Steven explained that entrance three led toward magma channels beneath Mt. Pyre.
• Mewtwo detected an active Team Galactic Relay Node forty kilometers northwest, so Steven drove Lin Hao and May toward the area.
• Groudon woke in System Space and said it smelled something that belonged to it.

Lin Hao found that Team Galactic had evacuated its mining hideout and then battled Drake to earn his approval. Drake agreed to support Lin Hao in Hoenn, and the group planned to investigate Mt. Pyre the next day.

• Lin Hao, Steven, and May found Team Galactic’s abandoned hideout, and Mewtwo traced the remnants of its signal toward Mt. Pyre.
• Steven brought Lin Hao to meet Drake, who challenged him to a one-on-one battle to test whether he was worthy of commanding Legendary Pokémon.
• Lin Hao’s Charizard matched Drake’s Salamence and defeated it after countering Draco Meteor with Fire Blast.
• Drake recognized Lin Hao’s strength and promised to support him, while noting that Lin Hao had a stronger Pokémon than Charizard.
• Steven explained that Drake’s backing would prevent the Hoenn League from questioning Lin Hao, and the group planned to go to Mt. Pyre the next morning.

Lin Hao learned that Team Galactic planned to use Pluto’s Giratina copy to open a spatial rift at Mt. Pyre, and he decided to stop them there. Pluto invited Lin Hao to face him in three days, while May insisted on joining the mission.

• Lin Hao received word that Cyrus might be close to completing the Red Chain, and Arceus explained that Team Galactic needed space-time fragments from a rift at Mt. Pyre.
• Lin Hao concluded that Pluto’s Giratina copy would tear open the rift and decided to seal off Mt. Pyre’s summit before Team Galactic could act.
• May showed Lin Hao Pluto’s message inviting him to Mt. Pyre in three days, and Lin Hao accepted the challenge despite knowing it was a trap.
• May insisted on joining Lin Hao in the field, and Lin Hao agreed to take her along.
• Groudon offered to counter Giratina’s antimatter energy with Earth Power, while Lin Hao kept Ho-Oh in reserve.
• Steven moved their departure to five the next morning after narrowing the suspected mole down to two people.

Lin Hao, May, and Steven rushed back to Rustboro after Team Galactic attacked Devon Corporation, where Lin Hao and Pikachu stopped the theft of Energy Conversion Cores and High-Density Energy Storage Modules. After finding Pluto’s note and an anonymous message at the scene, they headed for Mt. Pyre that day to confront him.

• Steven told Lin Hao and May that a Devon Corporation technician had leaked their plans, so he had altered the departure time to mislead the suspects.
• Steven received word that Team Galactic was attacking Devon Corporation’s Rustboro branch, and the group turned back from their trip to Mt. Pyre.
• Lin Hao and Pikachu defeated the Team Galactic Pokémon and forced the attackers to flee, preserving the crates of equipment.
• May found Pluto’s note ordering the team to withdraw after retrieving the equipment, and Steven confirmed that the altered intel had foiled the diversion.
• Lin Hao, May, and Steven set off for Mt. Pyre that day, and May received an anonymous message saying they had arrived faster than Pluto.