Walkthrough · Part 3
Lost Artifacts questline
The story that names the hack: seventeen Plates scattered across two regions, a choice between time and space, Arceus, and a trip to ancient Hisui to face Volo. This is the last and hardest content in the game.
- Sinnoh League and the Ultra League cleared.
- A strong level-100 team. Volo's final fight is six level-100 legendaries in a double battle, with Dynamax.
- Note-taking: the game itself says "It might take a while, so take your own notes." The Plate list below saves you that.
1. Cynthia and the hidden ruins
Near Celestic Town, Cynthia investigates new ruins that appeared when the Ultra Wormholes started: "Perhaps if you gather all the tablets and set them into the empty slots in the underground ruins, something will be revealed." She has heard from Waji, the green-haired keeper of the ruins, that a tablet "records some kind of instruction". One tablet on the way tells you to "leap down from the northwest corner… remember to back up a bit and take a running jump."
2. Waji at the Spear Pillar: the 17 Plates
Waji describes each Plate's hiding place in riddles. His words are quoted, with the resolved location beside them.
| Plate | Waji's hint | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Fist Plate | "in an underwater ruin covered with ancient writing" | Sealed Chamber, Hoenn |
| Sky Plate | "inside a cabin full of Wingull" | Mr. Briney's cottage, Route 104 |
| Toxic Plate | "in a marshland of the Sinnoh region, on top of a little hillock" | Great Marsh, Pastoria |
| Earth Plate | "on a small island… in a cave at the deepest part of floor 1 of a rock cavern" | Granite Cave 1F, Dewford |
| Stone Plate | "in a mine in Sinnoh, surrounded by digging machines and ore" | Oreburgh Mine |
| Insect Plate | "ruins in the Sinnoh region with a tangled, complex layout… inside one of the large caves" | Solaceon Ruins |
| Spooky Plate | "in a tower in the Sinnoh region, quite close to the ruins of the Insect Plate" | Lost Tower |
| Iron Plate and Dread Plate | "in a hidden base in the Hoenn region, surrounded by computers and cultivation tanks" | The Team Rocket base under the Mauville Game Corner (the Type: Null lab) |
| Flame Plate | "at the summit of an active volcano… lava flowing all around" | Mt. Chimney |
| Splash Plate | "in the ocean of the Hoenn region, surrounded by white reefs, the plate lies underwater" | An underwater spot among the reefs of the eastern sea routes |
| Meadow Plate | "a forest… it rains here all year round, surrounded by green trees and Berries… hidden in the shade of the trees" | Route 119 / 120 rainforest |
| Zap Plate | "surrounded by giant generators… hidden in a secret corner" | New Mauville |
| Mind Plate | "in the same ruins as the Insect Plate but in a different spot" | Solaceon Ruins |
| Icicle Plate | "in a snowfield of the Sinnoh region, the plate was taken home by a mountain man" | The hut on Route 217; he gives it when "the plate is reacting" |
| Draco Plate | "the abode of one of Hoenn's two ancient peoples… within their forbidden grounds" | The Draconid cave in Meteor Falls |
| Pixie Plate | "Sinnoh's land of origin… buried deep within this mountain" | Mt. Coronet |
The eighteenth, the Blank Plate, is not in either region; it comes from Volo at the end. When you have seventeen: "bring every tablet and step onto this altar, maybe something will happen."
3. The altar: Dialga or Palkia
"As the plate resonated, [you] sensed turbulence in space-time!… Activate the plate's power and enter the rift?" Inside, "[you] must choose between the god of time and the god of space." Whichever you choose is lent to you for the next fight; the other can be reached later at the Celestic ruins community. Both are level-80 encounters in the ROM.
4. The god-king
Cyrus has "mastered time and space… and reached the realm of the divine". You must fight him with the borrowed Dialga or Palkia: "You wish to challenge me, the god-king, without even a shred of divine power to match me?" His team is six level-100 Pokémon including both Dialga and Palkia.
On defeat he banishes you: "Cast him into the world I once ruled!… Wander that world of void for all eternity!" In the void world an old acquaintance from Petalburg Woods blocks the way home; beat them, and the Lake Guardians and Giratina return you: "Thank you for helping us free Palkia and Dialga… I will send you back to your world." Giratina has wrecked the spatial supports around the Spear Pillar, so leave before it collapses.
Waji afterwards: the same energy is now coming from Celestic Town. Go there, and when you return "that altar suddenly changed, and a new passage appeared."
5. Arceus on Mt. Coronet
Waji only sends you up once "Dialga, Palkia and Giratina… are now all gathered in one Trainer" and "all 17 scattered shards have also been recovered." You need all three in your possession plus every Plate.
At the summit the Plates resonate and Arceus speaks: "I am the one you humans call the God of Creation, Arceus!… let Me first test your current strength!" The trial of Genesis is a battle against Arceus (level 80 in the ROM); losing gets "Unworthy! Our trial is absolute!" Winning: "We acknowledge you! Until the moment the world reaches its end, we shall lend you our strength!" Arceus points you onward: "Go to Jiayuan City and seek out a certain someone." That someone is Cogita.
6. Cogita and the Dawn of Hisui
Cogita, a "poet", tells the legend of Hisui and gives you a Hisuian Pokémon. Then: "Allow me to carry you back to that era, to gather the last plate lost amid space and time… Only those recognized by Arceus may pass freely through the rifts." She sends you to the Diamond and Pearl Clans.
- Prelude Beach. Rei and Akari meet you. Rei is your fast-travel NPC in Hisui ("Come find me when you need to go somewhere else") and his Rotom PC gives you box access.
- Deertrack Heights base camp. Rei explains: Volo tore open the rifts, was beaten at the Temple of Sinnoh and vanished; now the rifts spawn giant red-glowing Pokémon, which the game treats as Dynamax. Only the safe zones are reachable: Prelude Beach, Deertrack Heights, Firespit Island, the Snowfall hot spring, Coronet Highlands, the settlements and the Primeval Cave. Kleavor's rampage blocks Deertrack Path.
- Snowfall Hot Spring. Both clan leaders are here. Irida senses Palkia in your party and, after a battle, gives the Lustrous Globe. The wounded Adaman senses Dialga and, after a battle, gives the Adamant Crystal. Bring both legendaries. Both leaders point to the Coronet Highlands.
- Primeval Cave: Volo. He introduces himself as a Ginkgo Guild merchant hunting "square stone plates carved with writing" and battles you once to "take each other's measure". Then he recognises Arceus in your party and shows his "brand-new power": Hoopa's rings have replaced the Red Chain to control Dialga and Palkia in their Origin Formes, Giratina "bows at my feet", and he can Dynamax. This is the final boss.
Losing is not the end: "The powers of Dialga and Palkia resonated! [You] were sent back to before entering the Primeval Grotto!" Winning: "Take it. I am not worthy of holding it." He hands over the Blank Plate. "All the plates have been gathered! They shine with a dazzling light!" Arceus appears, redeems Volo, and gives itself to you: "The eighteen shards become one… Let me bear witness to the world together with thee." Arceus joins your party.
7. After the Dawn
- Akari confirms the distortions are under control; Adaman and Irida invite you to the hot springs.
- Back home, Cogita hints at a further mystery ("'They' may not be enemies…") and opens the Dream Sky Gauntlet at her retreat in Sootopolis: Cogita, Rei, Akari, Adaman, Irida and Volo in a row, healed between battles. She also grants Enamorus once you own the other three genies.
- Volo also appears in Hoenn's Sealed Chamber as a Ginkgo merchant selling rare goods, once you have read the Braille there.
- A blue-haired passer-by offers, for 500,000, to send you "back to the recent past", a New Game Plus style loop.