A lone boy wanders through the ruins of an abandoned zoo. His reasons for being there are unknown, but he will soon have a reason to get out of there. Shadow Bugs slowly descend upon the area, forming into soulless creatures. A massive moving stone statue makes his presence known with a thunderous stomp, threatening to crush Lucas under its rocky shoes.
Outrunning the stone nightmare
Starting off, you will be running from the Pig King Statue, a hostile structure built in the image of Porky. It is totally invincible to all of your attacks, so just focus on avoiding it. The screen will scroll as the statue advances, and you will face many obstacles and enemies. Luckily, Lucas' jumps will easily let you hop over the logs and breakable boxes in your path.
Other than the army of Primids, you will also encounter a new enemy called the Buckot. These flying robots drop red-hot chunks of metal on you, and can really impede your progress. Additionally, they fly very high up, making it difficult to reach them. Just focus on avoiding their attacks with airdodges. You'll soon reach a tall tunnel where you must attack buttons to open up gates that are blocking your path.
Outside of the tunnel, you will encounter a few more Buckots before reaching a small pool. Jump across the floating logs to avoid getting slowed down by the water. The Porky Statue, being a giant chunk of rock, can't follow you across and will sink into the pool. However, it will inexplicably reappear once you make it to the other side. Thankfully, the chase will end soon after it drops down a second time.
After running for quite a while, Lucas trips and gets his foot stuck in a dead branch. The Pig King Statue nears, and it seems like Lucas will face certain death. However, a ball of thunder strikes the statue, knocking it on to the ground. The spell is cast by Ness, a boy with strong psychokinetic powers. The Pig King Statue gets right back up and takes to the skies, but Ness follows. He uses PK Flash, the statue's one weakness, causing it to instantly shatter into rubble.
The nearly invincible horror is defeated, but another threat emerges. Porky Minch himself appears unscathed from the blast, controlling his improved arachnid Heavily Armored Machine. Both smashers having faced this spoiled brat before, Ness and Lucas prepare to take Porky down once and for all.
Boss Battle: Porky
Compared to the previous bosses you've encountered, Porky is a bit more tricky to fight, as his machine is a lot more mobile than Petey or Rayquaza. This means that Porky can move across the stage as opposed to staying at one particular part of the stage for much of the fight. The top of Porky's machine can be stood on, but you will quickly slide off. Its sides are also sloped.
Porky, like Rayquaza, follows a simple three-step attack pattern. His first attack will be either striking repeatedly with one of the machine's legs, quickly charging towards you or menacingly walk around. The leg strike has deceptive range and is difficult to escape from, so stay a fair distance away when he does that. The charge has a noticeable starting animation if you can recognize it, and you can dodge it by jumping over it. The walk is the weakest attack, but the hardest to notice, since it's very similar to his normal walking animation, so just stay out of the way when you suspect that he's doing it.
For his second attack, Porky either sends out explosive Porky-Bots or create a ball that emits a laser which targets you. The Porky-Bots will explode if they get near you, which can do a ton of knockback, but simply running around the stage will mean that their explosions miss most of the time. The laser is trickier to dodge and also does scary amounts of damage and knockback. Your best bet is to jump and airdodge through it.
Porky's third attack will be initiated by leaping into the air. He will then either try to land on you or send a beam to strike the ground below him, using the beam attack multiple times if he is at low health. The leap can simply be dodged by just running in the opposite direction of his jump, while you can evade the lightning beam by running around the stage to confuse him. Do not try to evade the beam by staying on top of Porky, as it can strike you from that position and will likely send you over the blastline.
Having beaten Porky in his armored mech, both psychic children encounter another foe: Wario. He is here for another trophy, and these two boys are nice candidates. He first target's Ness with his Dark Cannon, but fails due to Ness' agility. He then targets a panicking Lucas, but Ness sacrifices himself to push Lucas out of the way. As Lucas runs off in fear, Wario examines the new addition of his trophy collection.
At another part of the zoo, Lucas bumps into a young and aspiring Pokémon Trainer. They're both attacked by more Primids, but the trainer seems unfazed. He summons his faithful companion Squirtle to do battle. To him, this dangerous zoo happens to be a great spot to train his loyal Pokémon.
The abandoned exhibitions
Go right, defeating the Primids and Auroros in your path. Avoid the spiked floors as you move through this area, since they obviously hurt you. Across a pool and through a doorway, you will encounter a new enemy, the Floow. Its mad cries are one of the most annoying attacks of any Subspace enemy, and its high health pool and ability to regenerate health makes them a big nuisance. Attack them continuously or attempt to kill them in one blow to defeat them effectively.
There are quite a few Floows in this area, so be careful not to get overwhelmed. There are quite a few swinging platforms here, and you'll need to use them to cross the pool in this area safely. You can still cross it without using the platforms, but you risk getting ganged up by Floows while trying to leap over the logs on the right side of the pool. Across the pool, you will be locked in battle with waves of Primids and Floows. Defeat them all, then keep going to the right. The gateway of the building at the end is actually a door, so enter it to go to the next area.
The marine wing
This indoor area will be a bit more congested, partly because of a new enemy introduced here: Bytans. These living balls can multiply endlessly, and will likely overwhelm you if you ignore them for too long. In fact, you will be forced to fight off a bunch of them as soon as you reach the stone platform in the middle of the first pool. After the fight, jump on the descending platforms and hop up to the top alcove to find a gold item block.
Continue to the right and you will be locked into another battle with Bytans, but this time there's also a portal that spawns Glunders. With two enemies that can spawn more of themselves, you must focus on both the portal and the individual Bytans so that you don't get quickly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of enemies. Jump up and go through the door to return outside.
Outside the artic exhibit
Run to the right and defeat the enemies in your path. Use the springs to jump up to the roof of the building blocking your way, where you will encounter more Primids and some Tickens. Drop off the right side of the roof and go left, where you will find a secret door. Enter the door to reach an ice area with several ice platforms above a floor of spikes. The smaller platforms will crumble if you step on them, while the larger one contains a gold item box and doesn't crumble. The left side of the room also contains a blue item block. Go back outside once you're done collecting the items in the boxes.
Go to the right and hop on the springs to reach some elevated platforms. Be careful not to fall, as there are some spikes below. There is a floating blue item box situated directly above a much lower platform. Move right and jump on another spring to reach another set of elevated platforms, where you will be locked in battle with some Primids and Tickens. Drop down the platforms and go left to find a blue item box, then continue on to the right.
You will have to jump on another spring to bypass a tower of spiked logs, which you'll need your double jump to clear safely. After that, keep moving right and defeat some Tickens in your path. There is no golden door in this level, so run into the light rays to end the level.
Having cleared the zoo of enemies, the Pokémon Trainer bids Lucas farewell and continues his journey. However, Lucas, wishing to save Ness from Wario, decides to tag along with him on this adventure.
After clearing the level, both Lucas and the Pokémon Trainer will join your team!