On his way home,
seated on Metagross as they flew steadily along,
Li Wei answered Cynthia's call.
The instant the call connected,
Cynthia breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly asked,
"Did something happen in Michina?"
"And you're all right, aren't you?"
Li Wei smiled. "Perfectly fine. Something did happen in Michina. Arceus came..."
Far away in the Galar Region, Cynthia stood before her hotel's floor-to-ceiling window, holding her breath on the other end of the line.
"It's a bit of a long story. Do you want the short version, or should I go into detail?"
He could go into detail, too. Li Wei still had a long way to go before he got home, so they could spend some time chatting on the phone.
Cynthia said softly, "Give me the short version over the phone. You can tell me all the details when I get back."
"It all started with a legend from Michina. A thousand years ago, Arceus was badly wounded after shattering a meteorite.
"Damos of Michina saved him, and the two became friends."
"To help the barren land of Michina, Arceus took out five of his Plates and combined them into a Life Orb."
"They agreed that Damos would return the Life Orb to Arceus on the day of the next solar eclipse."
"Damos didn't betray him, but his subordinate Marcus was worried that Michina would become barren again, so he plotted to seize control of Damos."
"In the original timeline, Marcus succeeded."
Cynthia suddenly caught a crucial detail.
"Wait. The original timeline?"
Li Wei nodded and said with a smile,
"Remember how you couldn't reach me for a while? I traveled back a thousand years, with Dialga's help."
"Ash and the others went back with me, and we successfully stopped Marcus's betrayal and returned the