If Yuga saw this woman, he would definitely recognize her as Ariana from Team Rocket, and the Pokémon by her side was none other than Hoopa's evil thoughts.
So it turned out that the current crisis facing the Arche Valley was caused by none other than Ariana and Hoopa's evil thoughts.
After stealing Kyurem from Team Plasma in the Unova region, Ariana was assigned another mission by Giovanni: to capture the twin gods of time and space—Dialga and Palkia.
Because these two Pokémon were crucial to Giovanni's subsequent plans, he specifically instructed Ariana to carry out the mission with extreme caution.
The twin gods of time and space were far too powerful, and Ariana's Kyurem and Shadow Lugia had already been transported back to Team Rocket's headquarters, leaving her no choice but to provoke a conflict between the two legendary Pokémon to achieve her goal.
With the help of Hoopa's evil thoughts, she used summoning rings to fabricate an illusion that Dialga and Palkia were invading each other's territories, causing the two gods to clash violently.
However, Ariana miscalculated. During the battle, she was caught in the chaotic spatial distortions caused by the fight between the two gods and accidentally fell into Mount Belljade, where she discovered the existence of the Arche Valley.
Although the entrance to the Arche Valley was in Kalos, its actual location was extremely special. It was created by Arceus, and therefore not only connected to Arceus's own dimension but also not far from the dimensions of the twin gods of time and space.
The fierce battle between Dialga and Palkia threw space into disarray, affecting the Arche Valley. In order to stabilize the valley and ensure that the sleeping Arceus remained undisturbed, the elders of the Super-Ancients worked tirelessly to keep the battling gods out.
As a result, the parents of Meray and Baraz were trapped in the space-time prison.
But in the end, they still failed.
Ariana, having discovered the crisis in the Arche Valley, remained outside with Hoopa's evil thoughts, waiting for an opportunity to profit from the chaos.
Ariana hadn't known about the existence of the Arche Valley at first, but Hoopa's evil thoughts did—it had been sealed away by Ghris, after all. How could it not know? So it told Ariana everything it knew about the Arche Valley.
Yuga didn't notice Ariana secretly watching him. After leaving the Arche Valley, he flew around in all directions until he finally found a place with a strong enough signal and called home.
The one Yuga sought help from was Giratina, so he asked Doduo to bring Jellicent out from the Ecopark. After giving it a few instructions, he sent it off to find Giratina.
Jellicent was the only one who had Giratina's permission to freely enter and exit the Distortion World using the Reversal Mirror.
Luckily, Jellicent hadn't gone to the Distortion World today—otherwise, Yuga would have had no way to seek help.
Although the Mewtwo at home was a powerful ally, there was no teleportation device in the Arche Valley, so the Pokémon at home couldn't be sent over.
But Giratina was different. Its Distortion World mirrored the real world, allowing it to travel to any place in reality through its own world.
After giving Jellicent its instructions, Yuga quickly go back to the Arche Valley.
Upon returning, he saw Lunala being struck to the ground by Palkia's Aqua Tail. Palkia raised its arm, summoning a white spatial blade—it was preparing to follow up with Spacial Rend.
Yuga shouted, "Latios, Dragon Pulse!"
"Latios~"
Latios opened its mouth and unleashed a bluish-purple dragon-shaped energy wave that collided with Palkia's Spacial Rend, giving Lunala a moment to catch its breath. Seizing the opportunity, Lunala unleashed a Moonblast—its silver beam of light instantly hit Palkia.
Boom!
Palkia plummeted from the sky and crashed into the farmland beneath the Arche Valley, leaving the crops in ruins.
The elders didn't have time to worry about the trampled fields. They immediately commanded their Pokémon to attack Palkia, and wave after wave of attacks overwhelmed the spatial deity.
Bzzzz~
A buzzing sound came from the farmland. A blue spatial shield suddenly appeared, repelling all the attacks that were still being launched at Palkia. Palkia, protected by the spatial shield, flew up into the air.
Lunala flapped its wings and soared into the sky, its entire body glowing with a dazzling array of colors. It rammed fiercely into the spatial shield, knocking Palkia slightly downward again.
Yuga wasn't idle either. He said to the Latios beneath him, "Latios, Draco Meteor!"
As a powerful Dragon-type move, Draco Meteor comes with side effects (a significant drop in Special Attack), so it can't be used too frequently. But Yuga couldn't afford to worry about that now.
"Latios~"
With Latios's resonant cry, blazing meteorites suddenly appeared in the sky, descending mightily toward Palkia under Latios's control.
After attacking Palkia with Dazzling Gleam, Lunala used Teleport to vanish from the spot, and the Draco Meteor came crashing down on Palkia.
"Roar!!!"
The spatial shield finally shattered under the onslaught, and Palkia let out a painful roar as it once again plummeted toward the ground.
Now enraged, Palkia finally shifted its attention from Dialga to Yuga and the others.
The pink gem on its shoulder suddenly lit up, and its body size increased noticeably. One by one, circular spatial prisons appeared out of nowhere, trapping one of the elders and his Pokémon inside.
The spatial prisons created by Palkia were not the same as the space-time prisons formed from the intersection of temporal and spatial rules earlier. In these, time did not stop flowing, so people and Pokémon trapped inside could still move and call out.
The remaining prisons, under Palkia's control, chased after Yuga and Lunala. They had no choice but to flee, but the spatial prisons relentlessly pursued them.
Florges and Latias, who were busy dealing with Dialga, weren't faring much better. Although both Pokémon were adept at healing moves, they were still battered under the assault of the God of Time.
Dialga's attention remained on Palkia. Even though Florges and Latias were trying their best to draw its focus, after knocking both of them down, Dialga still flew straight toward Palkia.
The other elders quickly commanded their Pokémon to block its path, but their efforts had limited effect.
However, at least Dialga and Palkia had been separated. Without their battle continuing, the collapse of the space where the Arche Valley was located finally began to slow down.
While Yuga and the others were fighting the two gods of space and time, Ariana was still waiting outside for the moment when Dialga and Palkia would wear each other out.
What she didn't know was that the battle between the two Legendary Pokémon had already had a tremendous impact on the Kalos region, drawing the attention of the God of Order—Zygarde.
In the sky, the black hole merging with the Arche Valley slowly began to appear in the real world. Not far from Winddrio Ravine, the shadowy outline of a black hole faintly emerged.
Ariana said to Hoopa Unbound, "Why don't we get a little closer and take a look?"
Of course, Hoopa had no objections. The Prison Bottle was in Ariana's possession, so it couldn't resist her and had been obedient all along.
But just as the woman and the Pokémon were about to leave the mountain peak they were on, a canine-shaped Pokémon blocked their path.
Recognizing the identity of the canine Pokémon, Hoopa's body trembled almost imperceptibly, but it said nothing.
The canine-shaped Pokémon was none other than the God of Order—Zygarde.
However, the Zygarde present was not in its Complete Form; it was only in its 10% Forme.
Ariana did not recognize Zygarde, and since its 10% Forme did not emit an aura strong enough to make her wary, she casually ordered Hoopa to drive Zygarde away.
Faced with Zygarde's eyes that seemed to see through everything, Hoopa had no choice but to brace itself and step forward—after all, it was under someone else's control.
However, before Hoopa could launch an attack, Zygarde opened its mouth and used Crunch, pouncing toward it.
Hoopa hurriedly used a Summoning Ring to block in front, defending against Zygarde's Crunch, and then forcefully swung its arm, flinging Zygarde away.
Bang~
Zygarde tumbled several times across the ground before coming to a stop, growling a low "gurr-rurr-rurr" from its throat.
Seeing this, Ariana said to Hoopa, "This Pokémon looks pretty good. Let's capture it."
Hoopa: "…"
"I don't think it's that great. Let's just leave quickly!" Hoopa said stiffly, forcing a response.
However, Ariana had no intention of giving up—of course, Zygarde didn't plan on letting them leave so easily either.
Zygarde's cells were spread throughout the Kalos region, monitoring its ecological balance. By communicating with the cells from Mount Belljade, it had roughly determined that the major disturbance it sensed had been caused by this human and Pokémon before it.
Zygarde pounced at Hoopa again but was once more blocked.
At this moment, Ariana said impatiently, "What are you doing? Hurry up and take it down!"
But as soon as she finished speaking, countless green lights began converging on Zygarde from the forest. Its form rapidly changed, transforming from a canine shape into a massive serpent.
The disturbance was so large that even the people from Arche Valley on the other side of Windrest Ravine noticed it.
However, their full attention was focused on the crisis they themselves were facing, and they had no capacity to worry about anything else.
"Roar~!"
Now in its 50% Forme, Zygarde viciously lashed its thick tail toward Hoopa. Hoopa instinctively tried to block—but this time, it failed and was sent flying.
Ariana was startled by the sudden scene and finally realized that the Pokémon before her was not to be trifled with.
"Hoopa, let's go!" she immediately called out, wanting to flee with Hoopa.
Originally, Hoopa could have used its Summoning Ring to open a portal and escape, but as it looked at Zygarde, it suddenly changed its mind and silently put the ring away.
Because of this moment's hesitation, it was struck again by Zygarde and sent flying once more.
Although Zygarde wasn't in its complete form yet, Hoopa wasn't complete either—and even in its complete form, it wasn't necessarily a match for Zygarde.
Seeing Hoopa getting beaten up by Zygarde, Ariana was frantic. She didn't understand how she had suddenly provoked such a powerful Pokémon.
She kept urging Hoopa to fight back, but even using all its strength, Hoopa couldn't defeat Zygarde.
Covered in wounds, Hoopa teleported to Ariana's side and whispered, "That's Zygarde, the legendary Pokémon in charge of order in the Kalos region. I can't beat it!"
Only then did Ariana realize how terrifying the Pokémon in front of her was. She said, "Then quickly use your ring to get us out of here!"
Hoopa nodded without hesitation, "Okay!" and pulled out the ring.
At that moment, Zygarde opened its mouth and fired a Dragon Pulse toward Hoopa. Just as Ariana thought Hoopa was going to use the ring to take them away, Hoopa instead held the ring in front of itself as a shield.
The Dragon Pulse passed through the ring and was transported elsewhere through the space opened by the ring. But in the next second, another ring appeared behind Ariana, and the Dragon Pulse surged out from it, instantly engulfing Ariana.
Under Zygarde's Dragon Pulse, Ariana didn't even have time to let out a scream before she turned to ashes and scattered in the wind. At the same time, the Prison Bottle on her body was also destroyed.
Seeing this scene, Hoopa burst into loud laughter: "Hahaha… I'm finally free!"
Hoopa's evil thoughts was naturally wild and obsessed with freedom, and having been sealed in the Prison Bottle for over a hundred years, it had long grown tired of a life of constraint. After Ariana took control of it, she constantly ordered it around, and it had already had enough.
Giovanni probably never imagined that the trusted subordinate he had always relied on would just die like that out in the field.
Come to think of it, it was also Ariana's carelessness. Ever since the Hoopa's evil thoughts had followed her, it had been acting subservient and docile. After a long time, she was fooled into thinking that Hoopa had truly submitted.
But how could a defiant spirit like the Hoopa's evil thoughts possibly submit so easily?
Even Hoopa Confined (the one who stayed by Ash's side), such a pure-hearted Pokémon, only gradually gained human-like qualities after more than a century of guidance and reformation by Ghris.
Zygarde hadn't expected the sudden infighting from the other side, and for a moment, it froze in place.
Hoopa seized the opportunity to open a space portal with its ring and dove in, disappearing without a trace. Zygarde didn't even have time to stop it.
However, since Hoopa had already escaped, Zygarde didn't dwell on it. It glanced at the black hole shadow in the sky and quickly ran toward the entrance of the Arche Valley.
At the same time, inside the Arche Valley—
Latios and Yuga had already been trapped in a spatial prison by Palkia. Florges and Latias had also been defeated by Dialga, and even among the elders of the Transcendence Clan, only two remained.
Dialga and Palkia clashed once again. Lunala was still doing its utmost to stop them, but the two Legendary Pokémon turned a deaf ear, and the space was collapsing at an increasingly rapid pace.
Just as Yuga was becoming extremely anxious, a whirlpool suddenly appeared in a lake within the Arche Valley, and in the next second, Giratina emerged from it.
Giratina had spent a great deal of effort to finally locate the battle site of the time-space duo.
When Yuga saw Giratina appear, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Giratina also spotted Yuga instantly, and in a flash, flew to Yuga's side. It opened its mouth and exhaled a stream of black energy, and the spatial prison trapping Yuga instantly dissolved into nothingness.
Once freed, Yuga said to Giratina, "Giratina, please stop the battle between Dialga and Palkia!"
Giratina nodded, and immediately flew toward the battling gods of time and space, while Yuga mounted Latios and flew to heal Latias and Florges.
The two Pokémon had been severely injured by Dialga.