Clearly, Rayquaza was not a Psychic-type Pokémon—its mental fortitude was not as strong as Lucius's is now. The virus slowly but steadily deepened its infection of Rayquaza's mind.
As Lucius intensified his psychic erosion of Rayquaza, Leviathan began recovering faster from injuries, while Rayquaza's will weakened, and its recovery grew slower with every clash.
Hundreds more rounds of combat followed, ending in mutual devastation.
Finally, Leviathan bit Rayquaza clean in half. This time, the Sky High Pokémon could not regenerate.
Even in its final moments, its golden eyes fixed on Lucius—without a trace of fear or plea for mercy. Only the pride befitting a ruler of the skies remained.
[Successfully analyzed Rayquaza's Air Lock ability. Virus evolution rate increased by 50%. New ability acquired: Tempest Surge. Obtained Primal Gene (Rayquaza).]
Lucius glanced at his task log—sure enough, the mission tracker showed "Primal Genes consumed: 3/10."
The newly acquired ability, Tempest Surge, allowed him to summon winds and storms at will—essentially controlling weather within his surroundings. A decent power, to say the least.
All in all, this battle caught Rayquaza completely off guard.
According to Rayquaza's memories, the Mythical Pokémon had not been idle either. After Lugia's plan to trap Lucius and the others in the Distortion World failed, it began gathering powerful Pokémon it had absorbed over the years, summoning them to Pledge Grove in Unova. There, it intended to ignite a large-scale Pokémon uprising against humanity.
Of course, they wouldn't personally intervene. Everything would be orchestrated by the Pokémon under their command.
And why Unova? Because Lugia and the others had already allied with Kyurem, who had, in turn, taken control of Ghetsis, the leader of Team Plasma, long known for advocating Pokémon liberation. If the uprising were launched, it would even gain support from some humans.
That move...
Lucius frowned. In the original storyline, Team Plasma always promoted the idea of Pokémon liberation, but their true goal was domination. Their rhetoric had some effect, but most people weren't gullible enough to fall for it entirely.
Now, with the Mythical Pokémon involved, this concept might actually be turning into reality.
Lucius could foresee that if dozens—or even hundreds—of Leader or King-level Pokémon waged war, it would spell catastrophe for human society.
Even worse, if regular Pokémon joined in, the fragile balance between humans and Pokémon could collapse.
After all, most Pokémon Trainers' partners were captured from the wild. If war broke out between humans and Pokémon, who could say where their loyalties would lie?
Would Pikachu betray his species for Ash Ketchum? Lucius didn't know. But most Trainers' Pokémon would likely side with their own kind.
Besides Lugia and Kyurem, Ho-Oh had also dispatched Entei and Suicune to recruit allies far and wide. That explained why Entei had tried to recruit Phantasm into Azelf's Wild Pokémon Coalition.
At the same time, Ho-Oh had recently manifested several times atop Bell Tower, granting powerful items through Entei and Suicune to the monks, significantly boosting the strength of Bell Tower's influence.
Lucius knew that Bell Tower was more than a place of worship. Based in Ecruteak City, it was a religious faction that revered Ho-Oh. Rumor had it that its three greatest sages—Monks Amos, Braham, and Malachi—each possessed power on par with a Champion-level Trainer.
As for Dialga and Palkia, they had been traveling through time, space, and the Distortion World non-stop. Rayquaza had a vague idea of what they were doing.
Though all considered Mythical Pokémon, Rayquaza was a naturally born entity, unlike Ho-Oh and the "Dark Trinity" of Time, Space, and Antimatter created directly by Arceus. It had little contact with them.
It seemed the gods were all setting the board in their own ways.
If Unova truly broke into a rebellion, Bell Tower in Johto might very well respond in kind.
Monks were always talking about equality for all living beings.
From that perspective, it wasn't surprising they would support a movement seeking to free Pokémon from perceived oppression.
Rayquaza's memories contained many secrets beyond these Mythical Pokémon's plans—secrets worth delving into. But for now, Unova took priority.
"Next target: Team Plasma," Lucius muttered, controlling Leviathan to exit Rayquaza's broken form and return to Phantasm's body.
"You're halfway there already," Anabel said softly.
"What?" Lucius blinked, not quite catching her meaning.
Halfway to what?
"You once said you'd wipe out all the world's dark forces. Well… now half of them are gone," Anabel said, turning to face him.
Ah, that.
Lucius remembered saying that to Anabel back at the Battle Tower in Hoenn. Now, with Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn under his control, he'd essentially dismantled half of the world's major criminal organizations.
"The other half won't be far behind," Lucius said with a small laugh. "But compared to the Mythical Pokémon threat, those criminal syndicates are like harmless infants."
"The Mythical ones are tricky… but I believe in you," Anabel replied.
As the Hive grew stronger, Anabel began to notice something curious during this time. Most of the infected—what they called "hosts" of the virus—didn't change much from who they were before. In fact, many of them had improved. Their physical capabilities had clearly been enhanced.
Although discrepancies in assimilation levels still caused occasional complications, those issues were steadily being resolved as the organization's systems became more refined.
But the biggest shift was in mindset.
Now, all members of the Hive shared one will—or rather, they had to. Unlike before, when Silph Co., the Syndicate, and even the Pokémon League operated only for their own agendas—ruthlessly seizing resources to fuel their own power—now each division, while still technically independent, functioned with a shared purpose: to strengthen the Hive.
That unity reduced infighting and allowed for far more efficient allocation of assets.
In short, the organization—and the virus—weren't as terrifying as some of the so-called "future champions" had claimed.
"Those last few fights—we couldn't have won without you," said Lucius, his voice firm but sincere. "I have something I want to give you."
Ever since the battle with Primal Kyogre, whose energy was so immense that no Poké Ball could contain it, the only way to move it across distances was through space-time warping, something only Anabel could pull off.
But the strain it put on her psychic reserves was considerable.
"A gift?" she asked, puzzled, tilting her head slightly.
"Come with me." Without waiting, Lucius grabbed her wrist—and with a flicker of distortion, the world blurred around them. A moment later, the two souls—and their Pokémon—reappeared atop a remote islet in the Orange Archipelago.
Anabel looked down from the jagged cliff edge. The rocky island couldn't have been more than ten square kilometers wide. She closed her eyes and focused—her telepathy scanning beneath the surface—and there it was. A structure. Metallic, cold. Hidden. A lab.
"This place is…?" she began.
"That's Team Rocket's X-Laboratory," Lucius replied quietly. "The body I'm using now—it was cloned here."
Without hesitation, he teleported them inside.
The lab was just as it had been. Sterile, hauntingly quiet, filled with cylindrical chambers lined with faintly glowing nutrient fluid.
But unlike before, these cloning tanks no longer just housed copies of Mewtwo. Now, the facility was cultivating something far more diverse—a new generation of engineered Pokémon.
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