Pokemon Heroes: Sinnoh Saga [Book 1]

Chapter 66: Celestic Mystery, the Deities of Old

"Mama Lama was tougher than she looked. That walking stick of her must've been made of titanium. I didn't think a wooden stick could hurt so much—even after getting it right in the face once. I think more Team Galactic Grunts fell to her walking stick than to us during the infiltration of the shrine. We learned a lot that day...many secrets of the ancient Legendary Pokémon of Sinnoh. I've lived in Sinnoh my whole life, and after 16 years, I thought I knew it pretty well. Yet visiting Celestic Town and meeting Mama Lama taught me—and everyone else—that we knew nothing. We know but a fraction of nothing. Let me tell you this, Legendary Pokémon are never to be underestimated."

Mama Lama had knocked out a small platoon's worth of Team Galactic grunts on the way to the shrine, leaving them tied up and unconscious in the streets where she had knocked them out.

"I will not let them desecrate my Shrine," warned Nilama, "For too long have my people tended to the Gods only to let some flippant children ruin all of that."

Getting into the Shrine was a little harder.

The sunken part of the centre of town held a small Shrine, and a lot of Team Galactic grunts and scientists.

Getting into the Shrine Cave proper required a distraction, provided happily by Niya.

Getting past the guards guarding the Shrine Cave was providence a la Jeremy and his Pikachu. The guards were zapped unconscious, and Nilama and her young wards snuck inside once Niya returned from her distraction providing ways.

Inside there were a few grunts, but they were made quick work of thanks to Pikachu's electric attacks.

Within moments the grunts were tied up, unconscious—and yet, Professor Yarrow was nowhere to be found.

It wasn't hard to look. The cavern shrine was a single room, carved into the natural cave that had been there.

The consensus was that he was likely somewhere else in the town or was taken back and being held prisoner at their Veilstone Headquarters. The latter was more likely; if Team Galactic was as close to their goal as Sam believed, they weren't taking any more chances of getting disrupted. Their plans for Jubilife City had been thwarted, and their siege of the Valley Windworks was nearly cut short if not for the stalling of Mars, and Eterna City had nearly ended in calamity for Team Galactic. Though the withdrawal had been intentional, likely another stall, Sam still had a feeling it had been a premature withdrawal from their secondary base.

Pastoria City's explosion was likely both warning and distraction from Team Galactic's real goals.

If Sam and the others had rescued Team Galactic's only hope of achieving their goals, everything they had done would be ruined.

Looking back at the cavern shrine, Sam noticed it looked like the ruins at Solaceon and Hearthome—likely from the same time period. The first settlements after the Sinnoh Tribes came down from the mountains.

The walls bore designs and carvings identical to the ones underneath the Hallow Tower.

"Lyss, these—" started Sam.

"So, you've met with the Great Mother and her Shrine Maidens?" wondered Nilama, though she knew the answer.

Alyssandra and Sam nodded.

Nilama smiled. "I will keep your secret then."

"What do these pictures mean?" asked Jeremy.

Nilama walked up to the wall and placed her hands against the ornate, raised carvings on the wall. She sighed, her face going tranquil as she ran her hands over the ancient pictures.