Palkia Report

Palkia (the Spatial Pokémon) is a legendary Water/Dragon-type Pokémon seen only on rare occasions within our own world, generally remaining within a small pocket dimension stuck somewhere amongst the fabric of spacetime. Though once considered to be nothing more than a mere myth, Palkia is a fearsome monster whose control over space is both unparalleled and completely impossible to override without its consent. It is highly unlikely that you will ever have to worry about encountering this legendary beast on your own, but even so, you would be wise to heed its power and respect its importance in the world; after all, without Palkia, there wouldn't be any space for energy and matter to exist in!

Although very little is understood about the actual anatomy of Palkia, its importance in the lives of every organism on the planet is beyond incredible. While it is still not understood how, it appears that Palkia's very breath is the source of space's existence, as every breath that leaves the beast apparently stabilizes space and allows space within different dimensions to be separate and yet still connected to the entire multiverse; the exact mechanics behind this power are still poorly understood. Regardless, this grants Palkia the ability to freely manipulate the space around itself to any degree, even going so far as destroying the space within a given area. Palkia seems to be quite aware of its incredible power and generally stays within a small pocket-dimension referred to by some as the Spatial realm, a place where reality is formed of strips and ribbons of existence and in turn is a dimension that normal creatures can likely not safely travel through (in stark contrast to the Distortion World). The actual extent of Palkia's powers is currently a mystery, but it is known that Palkia can utilize its control over space to launch a devastating attack capable of literally tearing a hole in the space surrounding a target: Spacial Rend. Although Palkia is technically made up of normal matter, it can generate extremely small amounts of antimatter within the two crystals on its shoulders, which effectively act as super-potent energy processors. Once a minute amount of antimatter has been generated, Palkia then coats the antimatter with a shield of energy before releasing it forward in the form of a crescent-shaped energy wave; when the energy wave hits something, it dissipates and allows the antimatter to come into contact with the normal matter in the atmosphere, generating a massive blast of energy capable of literally vaporizing everything in the blast's immediate vicinity (the only creatures verified to not undergo such a destructive process when hit by the attack are Palkia, Giratina and Arceus). While not extraordinarily powerful in terms of sheer damage potential, the attack delivers such a concentrated burst of energy that the space around a target is effectively torn; in practice, this appears to increase the chances of the attack scoring a critical hit on an opponent. It is also important to note that Palkia, much as with Dialga and Giratina, is associated with an artifact (dubbed the Lustrous Orb) that is believed to have been constructed by the ancient inhabitants of the Sinnoh region; though still relatively mysterious, it appears that the stone is imbued with the same energy that flows through Palkia, possibly indicating that it could power up Palkia’s Water and Dragon-type attacks if placed within its immediate area (though this is still highly speculative).

It is further important to note that, in recent times, it has come to light that the form that Palkia is normally seen in is not in fact its true form but an altered avatar that is better designed for interacting physically with the reality most other Pokémon dwell in; with the power of an object known as an  Lustrous Globe, however, its true power can be unleashed, thus allowing it to enter what is known as its Origin Forme. In this state, Palkia takes on a form much closer to that of the creator, Arceus, with a more elegant and centaur-like quadrupedal body, mutated posture and a mouthguard similar to Arceus, but perhaps the most noticeable change comes with its arms, as in its Origin Forme, it loses them completely and is left with little more than its rounded shoulder orbs, granting it a misshapen and alien appearance that echoes the words of religious ideologies in saying that it was made in Arcues’ own image. Information on this form is fairly scarce, but it is known that this change in form causes some physical impairment to the offensive strength of the beast as its frame becomes a bit more delicate, experiencing a moderate drop in its base Attack stat, but as a consequence its now quadrupedal form is able to move about much more quickly and even run to some degree, in turn moderately increasing its base Speed stat. In addition, this form has the effect of altering the execution of its Spacial Rend attack, as when it is in this state, the attack is executed as Palkia generates a ring of energy around itself that stabilizes the attack’s destructive power, and while this has the effect of slightly decreasing the Base Power of the attack and removes the sharp slicing of the move so it no longer has a higher chance of scoring a critical hit, the remnants of the energy ring is infused into Palkia as the attack concludes, increasing its internal energy reserves and focus and in turn severely increasing the chances of it scoring critical hits with future attacks, much more so than any other known move, item or method is capable of. While it is believed that the power needed to allow Palkia to transform into this state might be lost in modern times, this is not a certain truth, and it is likely that if it were to enter into this state again, its spacial powers may overflow and likely put the entire world as we know it at risk of total destruction.

In recent times, Palkia has played an important part in a total of three major incidents, the first and most important of which being the Alamos Town Incident, during which it almost destroyed an entire town while attempting to heal itself. Although Dialga and Palkia normally stay within their own realms without ever interacting, the Alamos Town Incident stemmed from a chance encounter eight years ago in which Dialga managed to find its way into the Spatial realm. Even though time and space exist together as one within the confines of the normal world, Dialga and Palkia are so intensely oriented towards one side of the equation that they absolutely can't stand each other. When Dialga invaded the Spatial realm, it attacked Palkia viciously and managed to damage it considerably, forcing the beast to travel into the normal world in order to heal itself. Unfortunately, due to its wounds, Palkia could not fully control its powers and its presence began to slowly warp the space in and around Alamos Town. The resulting disturbances were blamed on a local Darkrai, who was dutifully hunted by the town's inhabitants until Palkia revealed itself in conjunction with Dialga's appearance in the normal world. Because the normal world was never designed to take the temporal and spatial punishment their powers inherently cause, the fabric of space-time within Alamos Town became warped and eventually cut off from the rest of the world. Alamos Town itself possessed a pair of towers that were long ago built to honor Dialga and Palkia with a special 'music box' of sorts installed within as a way of playing music that everyone in the town could hear. The true purpose of the device, however, was to play a powerful melody that could calm even the most vicious of beasts in times of crisis; it is likely that the original designers feared what would happen if Dialga and Palkia were ever to meet one another and chose to plan accordingly. While the Darkrai involved in the incident used its Dark Void technique to hold back the two beasts before their attacks could fully destabilize the pocket of spacetime the town was now engulfed in, a small group of young trainers managed to make it to the top of the towers and play the required music. Although they were too late to save the Darkrai from being destroyed, the music did in fact calm the two deities, allowing them to go their separate ways in relative peace. It was later discovered that despite how intense the temporal distortion had been in the area, the actual structure and inhabitants of Alamos Town were effectively restored to how they were before the incident began at its conclusion with all of their memories retained, including the Darkrai that had sacrificed its life to protect its home.

The second event of note is the now infamous Galactic Incident that took place fourteen years ago. The leader of Team Galactic, an intelligent 27-year-old man (at the time) named Cyrus, despised the world around him because it was incomplete; in order to change it, he wished to create a world where he alone ruled without the painful emotions that riddled his mind from his childhood. In order to do that, in his eyes, he literally had to start from scratch...he had to use Dialga and Palkia to make a new world free of spirit. Capturing the three guardians of life, Cyrus created a mysterious object known among some as the Red Chain; though the artificial process he used in making the chain as well as a second copy is long gone, it apparently had the powers of Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf imbued within it. Their combined powers, when used in the right place, could potentially open a gateway between dimensions, allowing Dialga and Palkia to pass through; perhaps not surprisingly, such a specific place existed at the ruins of an ancient temple in the Sinnoh region, known locally as Spear Pillar. While efforts were made to stop him by a young trainer, the Red Chains inevitably did their job and successfully summoned both Dialga and Palkia; with these two creatures in his presence, Cyrus was essentially invincible. Although the three life guardians attempted to stop Cyrus, their attempts were in vain; the power of the Red Chains was simply too much. It would have been a complete disaster if Cyrus had remembered another legend that was long forgotten...the one creature capable of stopping him: Giratina. Sensing that a disturbance within the our world would soon affect the Distortion World catastrophically, Giratina took the liberty of appearing before Cyrus and dragged him into the Distortion World; this broke the power of the Red Chains, allowing Dialga and Palkia to return to their respective dimensions. In the end, Cyrus was defeated within the Distortion World by the same young trainer that had tried before to thwart his plan, Giratina was calmed, and balance was restored within both worlds. To this very day, no other human has attempted to control Dialga and Palkia in such a way, and Cyrus remains MIA, lost within the Distortion World.

Lastly, it is important to note Palkia's role in the most recent associated event (thirteen years ago), the Michina Town Incident. Thousands of years ago, Michina Town was a barren wasteland that could not support life at all and the people living there were in constant agony. Although it is unknown why Arceus chose to do so, it is said in legend that it once protected the world from being destroyed by taking the brunt of a meteorite swarm, losing the seventeen life plates it normally carried with it in the process. While Arceus normally would have died, a man from ancient Michina Town, known only as Damos, rescued Arceus and nursed him back to full health. In return, Arceus used five of its life plates to create a powerful artifact known as the Jewel of Life, which would supposedly bring prosperity to whatever place it rested in. As such, Michina Town flourished for quite some time, but eventually Arceus returned to reclaim the Jewel of Life, only to be tricked by Damos and sealed away. In the recent past, Arceus had begun to re-awaken, sending disruptive shockwaves throughout the Temporal and Spatial realms as a consequence (which in turn led to Dialga accidentally entering the Spatial realm, triggering the events of the Alamos Town Incident and indirectly the events of the Zero Incident). Eventually, Arceus did wake up and began to destroy everything around it with its powerful Judgment attack. The three original deities, namely Dialga, Palkia and Giratina, had already been feuding amongst themselves when this occurred and, with a little direction from a young woman gifted with the ability to communicate with such wild beasts, began attacking Arceus in an effort to save the world. Their efforts, however, proved to be useless; even when the young woman (who coincidentally happened to be the descendant of Damos) attempted to give Arceus the Jewel of Life began, it was only infuriated further and forcefully crushed it beneath its foot, revealing that it was a fake. In a last-ditch effort, Dialga used its powers to send the young woman, along with a friend and a group of young kids, back to the past in order to reverse the events that had transpired. During the course of their journey, it was revealed to them that Damos had not tricked Arceus intentionally but had been brainwashed by a Hypnosis technique from a Bronzong owned by ancient Michina Town's leader, a cruel man named Marcus. Through the efforts of the children, however, the attack from Marcus against Arceus was halted and the Jewel of Life was re-absorbed into the beast before they were all returned to the present. Due to Dialga fainting in the meantime, however, the present had not actually changed even though the past had; it was only after a young boy amongst the group reminded Arceus of what had happened that it finally calmed down and departed for its home-dimension, the Hall of Origin (as did the other three back to their respective dimensions).

While little may truly be known about its powers, it cannot be argued that Palkia is truly a fearsome beast that all life forms should fear and respect with a passion. With the highest base Special Attack stat out of all Water-type Pokémon (tied with Kyogre) and base stat total out of all Water-type Pokémon, the very essence of the observable physical world on its side and a powerful attack capable of literally vaporizing everything that it hits, it goes without saying that this is truly one beast that you don't want to encounter in any world. It's unlikely that society as a whole will ever get the chance to see this monstrous creature again, but if you are beyond lucky, you might someday have the opportunity to actually see this beast in the wild; if that happens, do your very best not to make your presence known, or you may end up finding out, in an exceptionally explosive fashion, exactly what defines the term ‘annihilation’ in physics!

Professor Wormwood