Arceus and the Jewel of Life (manga)

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Arceus: To a Conquering Spacetime (Japanese: アルセウス超克の時空へ), is the manga adaption of the movie of the same name written by Makoto Mizobuchi.

• First published in Japan by Shōgakukan: July 18, 2009
  • ISBN 9784091408280
• First published in North America by VIZ Media: February 1, 2011
  • ISBN 1421538024

Synopsis

Chapter One - "The Climax of the Battle of the Gods"

In an endless world far removed from our own, a crystal floating in space begins to emit a light. Cracks in the crystal begin to appear and, before long, the shape of a Pokémon named Arceus appears, declaring that "the time has come."

At a temple overlooked by a solar eclipse, Arceus makes its way into what looks like the main arena of an oval-shaped shrine and announces that it has come to retrieve the Jewel of Life (命の宝玉). A man dressed in old-fashioned Greek robes appears and tells Arceus that he won't be giving it back. Just then, he signals for a group of Pokémon - Baltoy, Claydol, Electrike, Manectric, and Luxray - to attack. The Pokémon, all of whom are wearing special collars, assault Arceus all at once, catching the God Pokémon off guard. Arceus asks the man, who is revealed to be named Damos, why he's betraying it, but Damos responds merely by laughing maniacally. Suddenly, rubble from above starts to come crashing down, headed straight for Arceus! Much to Damos' surprise, the Pokémon has enough strength left to deflect the rubble and begin attacking the columns supporting the shrine's ceiling. Before long, the shrine collapses. The fate of Damos and the Pokémon who attacked Arceus is unknown.

Later, back in its dimension, Arceus declares that the humans will pay for what they've done and that they will soon receive its Judgment.

An unspecified amount of time later, Ash and his friends arrive at the outskirts of Michina. As the trio is resting underneath a tree, they spot what look like ruins on top of a plateau far in the distance. Brock finds information in his guide book stating that the ruins are thousands of years old, prompting Ash to jump up to go and see them.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket, who had been eavesdropping on Ash and his friends, decide that they want to go to the ruins to find the treasure that's sure to be hidden there.

Eventually, Ash and his friends find themselves in front of a massive highland with a waterfall flowing into a lake at the bottom. A town is also visible at the top. After seeing the beautiful land and taking in the crisp air, Ash declares that he is full of energy and can't wait to get to the top.

At the ruins above, a young girl notices Ash and his friends and believes that the thunder beast and the one who can control the thunder beast are coming...

Below, Pikachu is alerted when it sees a group of Pokémon running away. As everyone tries to figure out what they're running away from, a massive black void appears in the sky. Suddenly, a twister forms from the lake and begins heading up toward the void as if it's being sucked in! Pikachu and Piplup struggle to keep from being blown away, but they lose their footing and go flying through the air. Ash is able to catch both of them, but soon he finds himself struggling to keep from being sucked in as well.

Soon after, the young girl who had been watching Ash before calls out for Dialga to come and save the Pokémon. Suddenly, a rip in space appears and the Legendary Pokémon Dialga emerges! As Ash curses his luck, saying that this is a terrible time to have to deal with it, Dialga opens its mouth and shoots an energy ball at the black void. This causes the void to disappear. Ash, Dawn, and Brock all stand there, dumbstruck, wondering why Dialga just helped them out and who the young girl who summoned it could be. Before they can get any answers, however, the Legendary pokémon Giratina emerges from the lake and lets out a monstrous roar! Suddenly, it lunges toward Dialga and fires an attack from its mouth! Ash, meanwhile, remains on the ground, amazed that Giratina is still chasing after Dialga after all this time. As the fight continues, a young boy runs onto the scene and reveals that the girl who had summoned Dialga earlier is named Sheena. The boy tells Sheena that it's dangerous there and urges her to seek shelter, but she ignores him and watches the battle unfold between Dialga and Giratina. As Giratina continues to attack, Ash asks it to stop because Dialga had just rescued them. When Giratina ignores Ash and continues battling anyway, the young trainer begins to wonder if Giratina had already forgotten about him.

At that moment, Sheena approaches the two Pokémon, puts her hands together, closes her eyes, and begins to chant what seems like a spell. Her words, "Overcome the laws of space-time" (超克せよ、時空のさだめを。), appear to have an effect on Giratina for a brief moment, but before long the spell appears to be broken. Sheena believes that her words failed to reach Giratina because its fury is too strong. Next, Pikachu jumps out toward the two Pokémon and tries to reason with them, but it is quickly sent flying away by a stray attack. Upset at his buddy being attacked, Ash dashes for the Pokémon and throws himself in front of Giratina just as it's about to launch another attack. As Ash asks Giratina if it had really forgotten him, the two stare into each other's eyes for a tense moment. Giratina recalls the time when Ash and Pikachu rode on top of its head (from the end of the previous movie) and stops attacking, giving Sheena the perfect opportunity to try her incantation again. Sheena's words are finally able to reach the Legendary Pokémon, so she is able to tell it that its battle with Dialga is all due to a big misunderstanding. Giratina stands there for a moment before it turns around, opens a rift in the sky, and returns to its dimension. Dialga stands there and watches the whole thing.

Now that the fighting is over, Ash eagerly asks Sheena about the ability she seems to have to talk with Pokémon. She confirms that she can indeed reach their hearts and that she had indeed been the one who borrowed Dialga's power earlier to help save all the Pokémon. She then officially introduces herself as one of the protectors of Michiina's ruins while the young boy who had arrived late in the fight introduces himself as Kevin. Ash and Dawn introduce themselves and thank her for rescuing Ash's Pikachu. Sheena then looks over the town and begins to tell our heroes about an old story of how the thunder beast and the one who could control the thunder beast changed the fate of the little town many years before. Dawn immediately assumes that the "thunder beast" is Pikachu and that the "one who can control the thunder beast" is Ash, but Ash doesn't seem to be as sure. Sheena then asks Ash and Dawn if they'd like to go with them to the ruins, and the two trainers accept. Brock suddenly appears out of nowhere and begins to flirt with Sheena, but he is quickly defeated by Croagunk's Poison Jab attack.

Meanwhile, in the other dimension, Arceus' eyes flare up as it creates another portal between its dimension and the real world. This causes another black void to appear over the lake, and another twister begins being sucked into it. Dialga gets caught up in the whirlpool and appears to be unable to move while Pikachu finds itself flying through the air again. Suddenly, the sky appears to crack like a piece of glass, and the Legendary Pokémon Palkia breaks through and enters the dimension! Sheena wastes no time in asking Palkia to help Dialga out, and, much to everyone's surprise, it obeys! Palkia uses Spacial Rend to destroy the black void, stopping the whirlpool and freeing Dialga from its watery prison. Sheena puts her hands together, closes her eyes, repeats her incantation, and then thanks Palkia for helping them out. Kevin reiterates the fact that Sheena can communicate with the two Pokémon as Ash and his friends continue to look on in amazement. Before long, Dialga and Palkia open up rifts in separate areas of the sky and pass through them, returning to their own dimensions.

On the other side of the lake, Jessie, James, and Meowth can't believe what they had just seen. Jessie thinks that it's amazing that Sheena can talk to Pokémon and then takes a good luck at Meowth to see if she can do it herself. Her eyes become big, prompting Meowth to wonder if she actually can do it, but it turns out that she had simply caught a glimpse of her reflection in the coin on Meowth's head.

Some time later, Ash and the others arrive at the ruins of Michina. Sheena and Kevin lead the trio down a flight of stairs to a giant chamber containing a strange device that looks a lot like a model of the solar system. The device allows them to see various disturbances in space and time, and Sheena reveals that they had used the machine to witness the incident in Alamos. She then points out spots on the model representing "our world," Giratina's Reverse World, Dialga's space, Palkia's space, and Arceus' space.

Nobody seems to know who Arceus is, so Sheena explains that it's a Legendary Pokémon who is said to be the source of life as we know it. Apparently, Arceus had been sleeping for a long, long time, but there is evidence - such as the black voids that keep appearing in the sky - that it might have awoken. She goes on to say that Arceus has this massive amount of energy surrounding it that's ended up warping the space between Dialga's and Palkia's dimensions, resulting in the two Pokémon being able to contact each other. They started fighting in Alamos Town, thinking that the other had purposely invaded the other's territory when the whole thing was Arceus' fault to begin with. This fight had an effect on Giratina's Reverse World as well, which went and got Giratina all upset as well.

At this point in the conversation, Kevin reveals that Sheena's words can't reach Pokémon when they're engulfed in rage. Ash thinks back to Giratina's rampage at the lake and how it was so blinded by rage that it didn't seem to recognize him.

Just then, the device begins to wobble, and the area representing Arceus' space begins to shake violently. Sheena's expressions of worry confuse Ash since he just saw her interact with Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina without any trouble at all. Sheena responds by revealing that Arceus is different because it holds a grudge against humans. She tells Ash and his friends that it had promised to make the humans pay for what they had done and promised to unleash its Judgment upon them. She then states, quite clearly, that Arceus will most likely destroy all of them. Ash doesn't believe her, so the young protector walks over to a keyboard shoved in a corner and strikes a few keys. This opens up a compartment containing what appears to be a giant crystal. Sheena states that this crystal is one of the town's legends and prepares to relay it to our heroes.

Sheena explains that thousands of years ago, a giant meteor was headed toward Michina. Arceus flew up and decided to sacrifice itself to save the Pokémon who would have been killed if the meteor had been allowed to land. Arceus didn't die that day, but its body did expel sixteen pieces of itself (called "plates") after the incident. This severely weakened Arceus but luckily, it was saved by a man named Damos who collected the lost plates and returned them to the Pokémon. Kevin steps in and tells the group that Arceus took five of the plates - Water, Grass, Ground, Thunder, and Dragon (Splash, Meadow, Earth, Zap, and Draco) - to create an item called "Jewel of Life." Damos was to use the jewel to turn the barren wasteland that was Michina into a beautiful oasis and then return it next time the sun disappears. Brock interprets to mean "Solar Eclipse." The promised day comes, but Damos doesn't return the jewel, thinking that if he did, the land would revert to the way it had been before. So, Damos attacked Arceus instead, knowing that it wasn't able to fight at 100% due to it missing five of its plates. Kevin then reveals that, in its fury at being betrayed, Arceus destroyed the temple before going into a deep sleep in order to heal its wounds. Before it went into its sleep, though, Arceus proclaimed that the humans who betrayed it will soon know its wrath.

Everyone else listens in shock at the story of Damos' betrayal of Arceus. Both Brock and Ash agree that Damos is the bad guy here, prompting Sheena to reveal that she is a descendant of said "bad guy". She then walks over to a box elsewhere in the room and opens it to reveal an orb that she reveals as the Jewel of Life! Sheena tells everyone that if she can return this jewel, she can calm Arceus' anger.

Suddenly, the ground starts to rumble, indicating that Arceus is on its way. Outside, yet another black void appears in the sky. Arceus steps out of the void into our dimension and declares that the time for Judgment has come. Suddenly, a volley of energy shoots up out of its body and arches down, destroying houses and other buildings in the town of Michina.

After its attack finishes, Arceus looks over to the chamber where Sheena is and can sense Damos' aura surrounding her. Arceus approaches the protector of the ruins and asks if she's a descendant of Damos, saying that it can detect his presence within her. Sheena confirms Arceus' theory and apologizes for the horrible things her ancestor did. She then holds out both her hands and offers the Jewel of Life to the God Pokémon. As Ash and his friends stand there, amazed that they're able to hear Arceus' words, Sheena tells the Pokémon that she's been keeping the jewel safe for all these years so that she can return it to its rightful owner. Suddenly, within the blink of an eye, Arceus brings its right hoof down upon the jewel, shattering it to pieces! Ash angrily asks Arceus what it's doing, and the Pokémon responds by saying that Sheena's Jewel of Life is a fake. A disillusioned Sheena falls to her knees. Ash desperately asks her what she's doing, and she replies by saying that she was always under the impression that the jewel she had was indeed the real Jewel of Life. Off to the side, Dawn wonders where the real jewel is.

By this point, Arceus has had enough and prepares to resume its attack. It finishes charging up its energy and fires a blast straight for Sheena. An explosion occurs, and when the dust clears, Dialga can be seen shielding Sheena from the blast. Then, Arceus senses an incoming attack from the air and manages to dodge it. The attacker was Palkia, and both it and Dialga begin to circle Arceus in the air. After thanking the two Pokémon for helping her again, Sheena steps forward and tells Arceus that she will definitely find the real Jewel of Life and return it. Arceus has had enough and tells her to shut up before firing another blast at her. This time, both Dialga and Palkia fire off attacks at Arceus, causing another explosion whose shockwaves cause the humans below to struggle to keep from being knocked back. Everyone then looks up and sees Arceus emerge from the smoke without a scratch on it!

Everyone wonders what they can do to stop such a Powerful Pokémon. After Ash yells for it to stop, Dawn orders to Piplup to use BubbleBeam on Arceus. The Pokémon puts up a barrier that prevents the attack from even hitting it, prompting Ash to have his Pikachu attack with a Thunderbolt attack. Much to everyone's surprise, the attack hits Arceus and actually seems to cause it some damage! Kevin then guesses that since the Thunder (Zap) plate was used to make the Jewel of Life, Arceus no longer has the protection from electric attacks that it once had. Arceus then thinks back to Damos attacking with all his Electric Pokémon and becomes enraged.

Arceus begins to glow as rubble rises up from the ground. The time for Arceus' divine Judgment on the humans has come!

Chapter Two-"The Battle of the Gods Reaches Its Climax. The Creation Pokémon Finally Appears!!"

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Arceus has unleashed its Judgment! As everyone braces for the attack's impact, Ash thinks back to Sheena's prediction that Arceus will most likely destroy them all. Everything seems like it's going to come to an end.

Suddenly, a small ball of black energy appears and intercepts Arceus' large beam attack. Everyone looks up and sees that the attack came from Giratina! Everyone on the ground cheers the Pokémon's decision to fight on their side while, up above, Giratina continues its assault. The ruler of the Reverse World then unleashes an attack on Arceus that it easily dodges. At that moment, Palkia appears and traps Arceus in a ball of energy, preventing it from counterattacking! As the God Pokémon fight, Dialga steps in, unleashes a mighty roar, and causes Ash, Dawn, Brock, their Pokémon, and Sheena to disappear! Kevin, who is left behind, wonders where they went.

Our heroes fall and fall until they land in front of what appears to be a temple. After everyone gets their bearings, Ash notices that the temple they're in front of looks very similar to the ruins of Michina. Sheena steps forward and says that they must be in the past and that Dialga must have been the one to send them there. At that moment, a Solar Eclipse occurs, causing the sky to become dark. Dawn then points to the sky and draws attention to the fact that Arceus has appeared! Pikachu prepares to attack it, but Sheena stops it, saying that she can't feel any fury coming from this particular Arceus. Ash then remembers that they're in the past and that it has no reason to be angry yet.

Arceus, flying high in the sky, announces that it's come to retrieve the "Jewel of Life". Damos steps outside and tells the Pokémon to follow him inside. The Pokémon obeys, and before long the the two of them are inside the temple's main chamber. There, Damos climbs some stairs and then signals for a group of Pokémon, who until that time had remained hidden, to attack. The Pokémon - Claydol, Baltoy, Exploud, Absol, Manectric and Luxray - attack Arceus all at once, immobilizing it. Ash and the others, who had apparently been watching all this from a higher section of the main chamber, figure out that this is the event that they seen re-enacted in the room with the space and time device. They also determine that the man who had led Arceus into the trap was Sheena's ancestor, Damos.

Once the attack subsides, Damos decides that the attacks of majuu (魔獣, or "magical beasts") won't be enough to defeat Arceus. At that moment, a man with red, spiky hair and a toga pulls a lever on the wall that causes the ceiling to come crashing down on the paralyzed Arceus. Damos takes the lack of movement from the rubble to indicate that Arceus has been defeated, much to our heroes' dismay. Ash and Dawn curse Damos for being just as horrible as Sheena's story had made him out to be while Sheena simply stands there and shivers in disbelief. Damos then produces a scepter with the "Jewel of Life" on the end and tells Arceus that he won't give it back because he wants Michina to remain beautiful forever.

Light begins to peer out from the rubble and, after a brief calm, the rocks being to fly out as a big explosion from within blows them away. Arceus, the cause of the explosion, slowly floats into the sky and prepares to launch its counterattack. Surrounded with an aura of power, the Legendary Pokémon begins to fly through the columns holding the room up, eventually causing the temple to collapse. Water begins to flood in, presumably from the neighboring lake, and both Damos and his scepter are swept away. Ash exclaims that they're no longer safe there, so Sheena begins to pray to Dialga to send them back just a little further into the past. Just as the ground beneath our heroes begins to give way, a flash of light carries them away.

Back in the present, Team Rocket wander around the outskirts of Michina Town. They talk about how surprising it was to see the God Pokémon appear one after the other like that and how their presence indicates that treasure is nearby. Suddenly, Jessie spots a dirt-covered jewel floating in the water and runs over to fish it out. The jewel is attached to a scepter. Jessie and the others are happy to have found something, even if it is covered in dirt, and begin to wonder how much it's worth. Their celebration is cut short, however, when Dialga is knocked to the ground right in front of them! Arceus pursues Dialga, and so Jessie, James, and Meowth, not wanting to get caught up in the middle of things, run for their lives.

Dialga's battle with Arceus continues until it hears Sheena's prayer from the past. After struggling for a bit, the Pokémon lets out a ferocious roar and creates a beam of light that shoots into the sky. Back in the past, Ash and his friends disappear like they did before.

Our heroes land outside the temple. Brock notices that there is no solar eclipse while Ash comments on how the temple is still in one piece, more or less confirming that Dialga has indeed sent them even further into the past. Everyone rejoices until Dawn spots a pale-faced Sheena. She asks her what's wrong, and she replies by informing everyone that she can no longer detect Dialga's presence. Does this mean they're stuck in the past forever?

Suddenly, Ash and his friends find themselves surrounded by a group of armed soldiers! Ash, Dawn, Brock, Pikachu, and Piplup are all separated from Sheena by the guards' staffs. From the distance, the spiky-haired man with the toga who was in the temple before approaches the guards and asks Ash and his friends who they are. The man is accompanied by a Bronzong and a Heatran. Before waiting for an answer, the man orders the Bronzong to use Hypnosis on them, putting everyone except Sheena to sleep. The man reiterates his question, and Sheena responds by saying that she's from the future and that they came to stop Arceus' fighting. After she says that they know the events that are about to unfold, the man becomes interested and states that he wants to learn more. He orders the guards to take Ash and his friends away while he finds out what Sheena knows.

In the distance, a Notch-Eared Pichu watches.

Some time later, Ash and his friends wake up in what appear to be an underground jail cell. Dawn asks where they are, and a voice from elsewhere in the cell replies that they're in an underground jail. When Ash and his friends look to see who the voice belongs to, they're shocked to see a calm, kind-faced Damos! Ash angrily screams Damos' name, causing Damos to wonder if they had met before. Ash demands to know why he refused to return the "Jewel of Life" to Arceus, and Dawn asks why he lured it into a trap. A dumbfounded Damos responds by saying that he doesn't know what they're talking about and that he has every intention of returning the "Jewel of Life". Ash says that he saw Damos betray Arceus, but he is interrupted by Brock. The former Pewter City Gym Leader wonders about the Hypnosis the Bronzong used earlier. Damos asks if he's talking about the Bronzong that's always beside Marcus, and everyone guesses that Marcus must be the spiky-haired man's name. Brock then hypothesizes that Marcus used his Bronzong to cast Hypnosis on Damos to brainwash him into betraying Arceus, causing everyone to realize that the real villain here is Marcus, not Damos.

Damos asks everyone how they seem to know so much of what's going on, so Ash tells him that they came from the future. Dawn adds that because of that, they know everything that's going to happen. Damos says he doesn't believe them, so Ash takes out one of his Poké Balls and lets his Monferno come out. Damos expresses his surprise that this young boy has a "magical beast" while Ash explains what Poké Balls are. Dawn then unleashes her Pachirisu and explains that the creatures they call "magical beasts" in this era are known as "Pokémon" in the era they come from.

Elsewhere, Sheena and Marcus are seated at a dinner table. Sheena, apparently in mid-conversation, explains how Damos isn't going to return the "Jewel of Life" like he's supposed to. Marcus listens intently as Sheena explains that bad things will happen if the jewel is not returned to its owner. Marcus says that he understands and, after receiving a non-verbal signal from Heatran, agrees to do something.

Back in the jail cell, Damos is being brought up to speed. Damos curses Marcus for making him betray Arceus and then begins to recall how Arceus had saved his life many years before. He tells his fellow captors that meteors had rained down on the land and that if they had continued to do so, the world as we know it would have ended. Luckily Arceus, surrounded by sixteen plates, appeared and prevented the meteor shower from continuing. The resulting explosion sent Arceus' plates flying and weakened the Pokémon, so Damos decided to help it before anything bad happened. After Damos returned the plates to Arceus, the Pokémon came to. It asked Damos if he was the one who rescued it, and Damos replied by saying that it was the one who rescued them.

Damos explains that at that time, Michina was a barren wasteland. So, Arceus decided to use five of its plates - Water, Grass, Ground, Thunder, and Dragon (Splash, Meadow, Earth, Zap, and Draco) - to create a small orb known as "The Jewel of Life." Arceus explains that without the jewel, its life will eventually come to an end, so it needs Damos to return the jewel as soon as he's finished with it. Damos agrees and tells Arceus that he will return the "Jewel of Life" without fail. Damos then tells our heroes that the jewel's power is real and that it really did turn Michina into a beautiful paradise. And so, in order to show his thanks to Arceus for all it had done, Damos constructed the temple.

Damos then tells everyone that the "Jewel of Life" is now in Marcus's hands.

Meanwhile, Marcus's dinner with Sheena continues. Marcus tells his guest that he understands what will happen if Damos doesn't return the "Jewel of Life" and says that he'll step in to prevent him from betraying Arceus. He then stands up, followed by his Pokémon, and tells Sheena that the time has come for them to return the jewel. Sheena happily follows him, hopeful that Marcus's actions will change history for the better. Marcus, on the other hand, wants to make history go another route...

Outside, the Solar Eclipse occurs. Arceus materializes in the sky.

Back in the jail cell, Damos and the others decide that the time to break out has come. Ash wonders how they'll escape, and Damos replies by saying that he has a friend in the area. At that moment, a Notch-Eared Pichu appears, walks over to Damos' cell, and gives him the keys to the door. As Damos unlocks the door , Brock asks Damos if his words can reach a Pokémon's heart just like Sheena can. Dawn takes this moment to remind him that Damos and Sheena are related, so the answer is probably yes.

Now that he's free from the cell, Damos dashes up the stairs toward the main chamber, thanking the "kids from the future" all that they had done. After standing there for a moment, Ash and the others decide that they're going to go as well and follow Damos out of the jail.

Outside, Marcus hands the "Jewel of Life" to Sheena and tells her that when she returns it, history will be changed. He then hides behind a column, out of sight, just as Arceus is entering the room. Sheena and Arceus stare at each other for a brief moment before Sheena nervously presents the jewel to Arceus. The Pokémon asks where Damos is, and Sheena responds by saying that he isn't coming and to trust her instead.

Suddenly, Marcus gives the order to attack. At that moment, a number of Pokémon appear from hiding places all over the temple and attack Arceus all at once! Sheena turns to Marcus and exclaims that he tricked her, causing Marcus to burst into laughter. At that moment, Ash and his friends arrive in the chamber and witness Arceus being attacked. Can our heroes stop Marcus, or is history doomed to repeat itself?

Chapter Three - "Witness the Battle of the God Pokémon With Your Own Eyes! Go Through Time and Space to Save the World!!"

After a brief recap of what had happened at the end of the previous chapter, we see Arceus being attacked by Marcus's Pokémon. As Arceus writhes around in pain, Marcus thinks to himself about how weak Arceus is now that it's missing five of its plates. This thought overjoys Marcus so much that he raises both hands in the air and proclaim that Arceus is no god. He then turns to Sheena and, after thanking her for telling him what happens in the future, reveals that he is the one who has the real "Jewel of Life!" As he holds the orb up into the air, he tells everyone that he will use its power to become the god of this era! Sheena looks on in disbelief.

Next, Marcus turns toward his Bronzong and Heatran and tells them to unleash the "Silver Water." Bronzong flips a switch on a panel, causing the whole temple to rumble. Suddenly, liquid silver comes pouring in from the upper regions of the temple onto Arceus. The silver quickly hardens around Arceus, preventing it from moving. Marcus laughs at Arceus' inability to move and announces that this will be the place where Arceus dies. He then orders the other Pokémon to continue attacking the God Pokémon.

Sheena yells at the Pokémon to stop. Suddenly, Damos appears and pulls Sheena away from a stray beam that had crept up on her unexpectedly. After Damos asks Sheena if she's OK, the two stare at each other for a moment as they figure out who each other is. Suddenly, Ash and his friends burst into the room, calling out Sheena's name. Sheena rejoices at the fact that everyone was able to get out safely and then apologizes for causing this whole mess in the first place. Ash tells her that there's no need to apologize and that the one who's really responsible for everything is Marcus. With that, Ash rushes toward Marcus, saying that he'll put an end to his scheme once and for all. Marcus ignores Ash and turns his attention back to Arceus, asking it if it's ready to be sent to a better place now. Just as he's about to hit another switch on a control panel, Pikachu's Thunderbolt attack zaps the control device, destroying it.

Both Ash and Marcus stare at each other down for a moment. Marcus asks Ash what he thinks he's going to accomplish there, but the young trainer simply replies by telling him to return the "Jewel of Life." Marcus glances over at Arceus, who's still being attacked, and then presses a switch that sends rubble crashing down on Arceus. As the Pokémon is buried by the falling rocks, Sheena and the others look on in horror. Marcus bursts into laughter and says that before long, this Pokémon who is seen as a God will die. He orders his "magical beasts" to continue attacking Arceus.

As the attacks continue, Damos turns to Sheena and asks her to give him his hand. She complies, and in the next moment the two close their eyes and begin to chant the prayer from before, "Overcome the Laws of Space-Time." The two materialize in what appears to be a dimension where they are able to communicate with the hearts of all the Pokémon who had been attacking Arceus earlier. Damos and Sheena plead with the Pokémon to stop their attack, saying that Arceus needs to be saved or else life as they know it will cease to exist! The various Pokémon stop and appear to consider Damos' and Sheena's words.

Back at the temple, Marcus reiterates how he has no intention of handing the "Jewel of Life" over to Arceus. Ash responds by calling out his Monferno and ordering it to use Flamethrower. Marcus responds by telling Heatran to counterattack. Heatran produces a large plume of fire from its mouth that collides with Monferno's attack. Neither wave seems to be making any headway, so Ash recalls his Pokémon. Marcus, amazed at the ability to recall "magical beasts" into tiny balls, orders Heatran to burn its opponent to a crisp. Ash has his Pikachu use Thunderbolt in response, and the colliding attacks cause a giant explosion. As the smoke clears, Marcus notices that Ash seems to be gone. Suddenly, the young trainer lunges forward from the remaining smoke and tackles Marcus head-on! Marcus drops the jewel, enabling Ash to scramble over and retrieve it.

Marcus picks himself up and tells Ash to give it back before noticing Arceus attempting to free itself. He looks over and notices that his "magical beasts" are no longer attacking, so he angrily asks them what they're doing. Dawn and Brock, who had been watching the events this whole time, confirm that the Pokémon have stopped their attacks. Elsewhere, Damos and Sheena breathe a sign of relief, thankful that their words seem to have reached the Pokémon's hearts.

Marcus is getting pretty angry and demands to know why the Pokémon aren't attacking. When he receives no answer, he turns to Heatran and orders it to burn the whole place to the ground. Heatran doesn't respond, causing Marcus to wonder what's causing this sudden mutiny. Ash takes this opportunity to have Pikachu use Quick Attack on both Heatran and Bronzong, smashing the armor that they had been wearing this whole time. Ash looks down at the broken pieces of armor and decides that that is how Marcus was able to get the Pokémon to do what he had wanted.

The newly-freed Heatran turns toward its "trainer" and launches a fire technique toward the ground in front of him. As a fire rages right in front of Marcus's eyes, the villain calmly tells everyone that even though his "magical beasts" will no longer obey him, he's not worried because Arceus will die regardless. Everyone looks over in Arceus' direction and sees that Marcus doesn't seem to be bluffing. He tells Ash to hurry up and hand over the "Jewel of Life," but the young trainer ignores him and rushes to Arceus' side. Tears begin to well up in everyone's eyes as Damos begins to blame himself for not being there sooner. Ash tells everyone that they can't give up as he holds the "Jewel of Life" up to the dying Pokémon. As the chapter comes to a close, Ash tells Arceus that it absolutely cannot die.

Differences between the anime and the manga

• The characters of Kato, Kiko, Tapp, several of Marcus' servants and the Johto starters are not present in the manga.
• At the beginning of the film, all of Ash, Dawn and Brock's Pokémon are sent out to play which leads into the battle against Kato and Kiko for the watermelons that the Pokémon find in the stream. In the manga, none of the Pokémon are sent out upon arriving at Michina Town and (with Kato and Kiko removed) there is no battle, although an allusion to this is made when Jessie and James are briefly seen eating watermelons.
• In the film, the gang decide to go and visit the ruins on advice from Kato and Kiko whereas in the manga the gang decide to go after Brock reads about it in his guidebook.
• Marcus is spelled as 'Markus' in the manga.
• When the gang are thrown in the prison cell in the manga, Ash and Dawn prove they're from the future by briefly sending out Monferno and Pachirisu to demonstrate the technology of the Poké Ball, whereas in the film only Monferno was sent out.
• In the film, during the flashback of how Damos saved Arceus after it lost it's life plates, Arceus is surrounded by wild Pokémon and Damos is wearing an outfit more suited to the snowy climate. In the manga, there are no wild Pokémon present and Damos is wearing his usual outfit.
• When the gang were captured by Marcus and thrown in the prison cell in the film, Pikachu and Piplup were separated from the others and thrown into a hold where Damos' other Pokémon lived. From here, they were rescued by the Spiky-eared Pichu and (after freeing a Chikorita and Totodile from the armor that forced them to work for the guards) retrieved the key to the cell with the help of a Totodile and returned to rescue the others. In the manga, this entire subplot is removed, as Pikachu and Piplup are thrown in the cell alongside their trainers and the Spiky-eared Pichu simply turns up with the key (with no indication of how she retrieved it)
• When Marcus tells Sheena that she is to return the Jewel of Life, in the film he secretly removes the Jewel of Life from the staff before giving it to her while in the manga he instead gives her a fake jewel to present to Arceus (which could be the same fake that Sheena attempted to return to Arceus in the future).
• In the film, upon returning to the future the gang find Arceus still fighting the Dragon trio and preparing to destroy Michina before the changes in the timeline catch up to it and it remembers the new history of events. In the manga, upon returning to the future Arceus is no longer fighting the Dragon trio, with the changes in the timeline appearing to have taken immediate effect.

Trivia

• In several first print editions of the VIZ edition, the last chapter is cut off and instead the first chapter is repeated due to a printing error.

This article is part of Project Manga, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each series of Pokémon manga.