Update 39: Sirius The split in the story here is that when you reach the floor where Connal is keeping Heather, you have a choice to either fight him and release Heather, or move on to the top floor where you would end up fighting Sirius instead. I scouted out the short term outcomes of both choices, and it turns out that Sirius’ team has higher levels than Connal’s does. Also, if you say no to fighting Connal, he reveals that he’s sticking around Team Meteor due to hearing a name being tossed around that he’s familiar with, and is curious to find out more. So, harder battle + more information = probably the route you’re supposed to take for the secret ending. Obviously I led with Pumpkin and started off by setting up some screens. While I did, my ally actually made one smart choice by Shadow Balling Chandelure and almost KOed it. I tried switching to Strider, but as soon as he came out he got confused. I tried Water Pulse anyway, and actually hit, but by then Sirius had already used an Ultra Potion on it. But then my ally Nidoking finally came through and used Shadow Ball on the right target for once, taking Chandelure down! All this time, Hitmontop’s attempts at doing damage were kinda sucking. Since it wasn’t much of a threat, my plan was to keep it alive as long as possible and take out everything that appears on the right side, one by one. Unfortunatley, Cain didn’t understand my plan and kept whaling on it. Out came Manectric, so I switched to Jack, who would resist its electric moves and avoid Hitmontop completely. Didn’t expect Hitmontop to aim a High Jump Kick at Strider just as he switched out, though. The resulting recoil damage almost killed it, but Sirius fixed that with an Ultra Potion one turn later. Manectric had Fire and Ice Fang, which I also didn’t expect, but it didn’t matter that much because a Phantom Force and a field boosted Shadow Sneak were enough to take it down. Next up was Honchkrow, so Strawberry was the obvious choice. Just then my screens went down, so I spent two turns setting up Cotton Guard to compensate before using Draining Kiss. In those three turns, Honchckrow WRECKED Cain, killing half his team (yes, one of his Pokemon died every freaking turn) and leaving him with Haunter. Out came Serviper, and since I had no screens I had to switch to Pumpkin, hoping he wouldn’t get one shot. He didn’t, but guess who did? Haunter. Man, Cain was doing kinda well at first, and now he’s just getting the crap beat out of him. Since Cain was doing so badly anyway, I went with a strategy that would sacrifice him. After setting up a reflect, DiggersbyTho came out… and was promptly shot down in one hit by a critical hit super effective Aqua Tail from Serviper. Well, never mind then. I sent out Apollo this time, and went for a Thunderbolt (I would have used Parabolic Charge first to reactivate the field, but I didn’t know how long he could last with Hitmontop out there). By the way, what was Cain doing this whole time you ask? Using Sludge Bomb on Serviper. WHAT THE HECK CAIN. Suprisingly, Apollo outsped everyone on the field, and destroyed Serviper in one hit with his attack! Glad to see he’s useful again now that he’s evolved. Unfortunatley, he seems to be the “glass cannon” type, because he died in one hit immediately afterward to Hi Jump Kick. Last guy out was Probopass, so I went back to Jack and finally took out that Hitmontop with Phantom Force. From there, it was two against one, so obviously I wo- no wait, it was just one on one. Yeah, Cain sucked so hard this battle (oh crap I just realized what I said) that Muk was his last Pokemon, and Probopass just took it down. Right, well It didn’t matter much anyway. Jack was tougher and dealt more damage, so a bit of Phantom Force spam later I had won the batt- THIS THING HAS REST? I had to change to Strider and Spam Water Pulse, and only after getting it to be slower, asleep, AND confused, was I able to take it down. Ughh it’s a good thing this came out last, it took WAY more hits than any one Pokemon could possibly survive. After beating that battle and the subsequent cutscene, don’t just run out the door and down the stairs. In the bottom left corner of the room you fight Sirius in, there’s an item ball with a key you need to progress. If you miss it you’ll have to come all the way back up again, like I did. Also, in case you were worried about how I didn’t take Heather back from Connal, she’s with the rest of the gang in the next scene. I guess the other kids came in and got her while Cain and I were fighting Sirius.