Outside the Sinjoh Ruins, Pryce, Lance and Giovanni have successfully lured Dialga, Palkia and Giratina away from the ruins chamber, and continue to fight them with Swinub, Dragonite and Ursaring. Crys stays airborne on her Xatu, Tupeon, and notices that Dialga and Palkia seem to start showing signs of calming down. Lance believes that the two must have begun to understand the situation, and probably even view them as comrades now after seeing how Giovanni fought Giratina, whom they are hostile towards. The dragon trainer states that Giratina is the only one left to subdue now, and Giovanni proceeds to order an Avalanche from Ursaring. The giant bear raises its arm to summon a snow slide, and quickly buries the serpentine creature in a pile of snow.

Suddenly, the former Team Rocket leader feels a sharp pain in his chest, and cringes in agony as he falls onto his knees. Silver, who is flying on his Honchkrow, cries out in shock and calls out for his father, but Giratina resurfaces from the snow at that moment, and prepares to launch another attack. Silver hurriedly sends out Weavile and Rhyperior to his father's aide, and orders an Assurance from Weavile, which is super effective on Giratina, as well as a Rock Wrecker from Rhyperior. The armored rhino aims both cannons at its wrists to fire a barrage of powerful boulders towards the ghost dragon, and inflicts significant damage to stun it, giving Silver time to tend to Giovanni.

Giovanni wonders how Silver learnt to use Rock Wrecker, and Silver shows him the book 'Mysteries of the Earth', which Green passed down to him. Giovanni wears a smile of content on his face, since the book actually originates from him, and relents that he would have no regrets even if his life ends there and then. His words cause Silver to become emotional, and Crys turns to Lance, requesting to know if Silver's father is sick. Lance nods in response, and states that it is the reason why he was seeking Celebi. According to the tale of the Pokeathlon's origins, Celebi is said to bring ailment even to those with incurable diseases. As they are speaking, Celebi is collecting the ingredients in the Ilex Forest for the medication that would heal Giovanni, and in fact, one of Gold's Pokemon is helping the time travel Pokemon. Crys is surprised to hear that, and rationalizes that Lance must be talking about Gold's Pichu, Pich.

Lance states that Giovanni's status deteriorates with every minute and should get treatment as early as possible, but the man insisted on coming to Sinjoh first, for he wants to safeguard the lives in this world, though it is clear that it was only Silver's life he was trying to save. It will be best if they could leave this realm and return to Johto quick, so that the ailment could arrive in time before it is too late. Crys realizes that there is urgency at hand, and prays that Gold could find a way to pacify Arceus soon.

Back inside the ruins chamber, Gold lets out a cry as Arceus fires an attack at him to sweep him off his feet. He gets annoyed that the deity is apparently too furious to let his words get through to it, and barks that it should get its head cooled. He grunts that if Arceus thinks that talk is not enough, he shall put things into action. With that, he takes out his six Pokeballs, and sends out Explotaro, Aitaro, Politaro, Suntaro, Sutaro and Togetaro, declaring that he will show Arceus the strong bond that humans and Pokemon share.

Gold's six Pokemon leap towards Arceus as they unleash their individual attacks, and Togetaro targets the forehead of the deity Pokemon as it slams its body forward repeatedly. Arceus sweeps its gaze between the six Pokemon, and as it locks eyes with Togetaro, Gold notices that it has put on the look of sorrow he saw previously again. At that moment, Gold recalls what Lance said about Togepi not fully bonding with him, and suddenly realizes where the problem lies.

Just then, the green jewels on Arceus's abdominal ring glow with an intense light, and without warning fire off laser-like beams to strike at Gold's Pokemon. Explotaro, Aitaro, Politaro, Suntaro, Sutaro and Togetaro lay around battered on the ground, and Gold mumbles to himself that he finally understands what Lance meant. Togetaro struggles to climb back on its feet, but Gold calls out to stop it, and says their relationship seems to directly affect the amount of hope Arceus has in humans. Since Togetaro is not opening its heart towards him, there is no way he could turn things around in this battle against Arceus, and although he knows Togetaro will not be happy, he has no choice but to retrieve it and keep it as a backup.

The little Togepi halts in its motions with an expressionless face upon hearing Gold's words, and after a moment of hesitation, sprints towards Arceus on its own will. Yet, Gold forcefully sends it back into its Pokeball despite its apparent protest, and opts to continue the fight with his other five Pokemon instead, whom he calls his main battling forces.

The boy orders a simultaneous Double Hit from Aitaro, Solarbeam from Suntaro, Blast Burn from Explotaro, Rock Tomb from Sutaro, and Bounce from Politaro. However, Arceus throws its forelegs forward, and smacks hard on the five Pokemon with its golden hooves, knocking every one of them down. He then delivers a kick on Gold, and sends the boy crashing against the ground.

Togetaro's Pokeball rolls off from Gold's hand, and the little Togepi fights to spin the switch towards the floor, tactfully activating it and releasing itself. Wearing a determined look, it leaps towards Arceus, and hops up along its massive body until it manages to jump right above its head to prepare a strike down. Unfortunately, the alpha Pokemon swings its head around, and easily swipes Togetaro off with its pointed mane. Togetaro tumbles backwards as it hits the rocky floor, but quickly gets back up again, and charges forward for another attack. Gold calls it a fool, and says it could not win this way, but Togetaro seems oblivious to his words, and keeps advancing until Arceus delivers another blast to shoot it down.

Crawling over to Togetaro, Gold relents that perhaps as Lance predicted, Arceus is far too strong for them to do anything for it. He tries to grasp Togetaro by its little hand, but Togetaro whacks him off, and turns to make a face by sticking out its tongue. The mischievous look instantly reminds Gold of what DJ Mary said about him and Togetaro knowing and trusting each other a lot. At that time, he took the compliment with grace and even bragged about personally hatching Togetaro from its egg. He even said at some point that he could confidently bestow his trust in its powers, but in reality, this seems quite far from the truth.

Thinking back, in every major battle he has participated in so far, Togetaro has always played the role of a backup. In his showdown against the Mask Of Ice, he called his team of six his full team of entrusted partners, but Togetaro was left out of the picture. Even now, while confronting Arceus, he also treats it inferior to his other Pokemon, and refuses to let it be part of the main team.

Togetaro once again jumps forward in an attempt to attack Arceus, but the deity-like creature wastes no effort in swatting it down, and the little Togepi finally lays exhausted on the ground. Gold slowly moves over to kneel next to Togetaro, and says it really seemed ridiculous of him to accuse it for not opening up its heart towards him. Obviously, he is the one who hasn't opened up his heart towards Togetaro, and he should know better than anyone how it feels to constantly be in the position of a replacement.

Gold grins that he will not hide Togetaro from the spotlight anymore, and says he now wants it to help him defeat Arceus. Hearing the words, Togetaro climbs back onto its feet despite its fatigue, and dashes forward as Gold lets out a holler and orders a Double-Edge attack. A glow gradually envelops the body of the little Togepi as it advances towards Arceus, and in a blinding flash, it evolves into a Togetic. The Shiny Stone it holds glitters in another shower of light, and to Gold's shock, Togetaro further evolves into a Togekiss, a split second right before it lands the blow on Arceus.

Alas, the attack fails to cause any substantial damage to the alpha Pokemon and Togetaro tumbles back onto the ground. However, Gold notices a sudden shift in Arceus's emotions, and the deity-like creature gives Gold one last look through the corner of its eye before turning towards the entrance of the ruins chamber. Startled, Gold follows Arceus out into the open, and as Arceus steps onto the snowy ground, Giratina stops its rampaging and quiets down like Dialga and Palkia.

Everyone else also notices a change in Arceus's emotions, and in the next instant, the deity Pokemon creates a blinding flash of light that rapidly inflates to envelop them all…

Volume 43