"Gardevoir, stop it!" Lucius commanded.
In a blink, Gardevoir teleported into the air, intercepting Togekiss mid-flight.
But Togekiss showed no fear. With a flicker of its wings, it used Ally Switch, instantly swapping places with Gardevoir before darting away at high speed.
It wasn't here to fight. It was searching for Cynthia.
Lucius didn't hesitate. He issued a psychic-wide order to all the infected creatures within the Distortion World. The moment a Champion or their Pokémon entered, the infected would coordinate to attack and assimilate them.
As the source of the virus, Lucius viewed everyone here—Pokémon and human alike—as enemies.
He shared full psychic synchronization with each infected entity; they were his eyes, his limbs—like he was playing with a full-view cheat enabled.
Most of the incoming Champions and their teams had been scattered after entry. This was the perfect moment… to hunt them down.
...
The instant Lucius was pulled into Distortion World, every infected organism in the real world felt something… off.
It was like losing a loved one—not dead, but distant, unreachable. As if life had suddenly lost its meaning.
Deep below the ocean, aboard a stealth submarine…
Shelly and Matt exchanged a tense look.
"You felt it too?" Shelly finally asked.
"Yeah," Matt replied with a calm nod, his expression unreadable.
"Lady Shelly, we're approaching Sootopolis City. Leader Archie will rendezvous with us there," a subordinate of Team Aqua reported.
Over the past few days, Shelly and Matt had absorbed most of the remaining Team Aqua members into their faction. Archie had approved their exploration of the northern waters near Sootopolis.
After Shelly infected Stern, she learned from him that for years, he and the Devon Corporation had been using Infinity Energy to develop advanced tech—rockets, submersibles, you name it.
All of it now belonged to Hive.
Including this very vessel: Submarine Explorer 1.
Had Lucius been here, he would've recognized it instantly. It was the very same submarine featured in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, used by Team Aqua and Team Magma.
"Per the Source's directive, Hive must be present during our search for Kyogre. But now that we can't contact him... what should we do?" Shelly asked.
Matt was silent for a moment. Then he said, "Simple. Absorb every participant into Hive. That way—even if the Source isn't there—Hive is."
Shelly hesitated. "That means… even Archie—?"
Matt clenched his fist, veins pulsing with power. "Honestly, being part of Hive isn't such a bad thing, is it?"
Shelly said nothing. She knew this man—once unwaveringly loyal to Archie—had fully succumbed to the allure of Hive: its strength, its control, its promise of dominance.
Perhaps it was better this way. If Matt had already decided, she wouldn't have to agonize over it.
Still… if Archie was infected, didn't that mean Team Aqua would be completely absorbed into Hive?
...
Celadon City.
A convoy of trucks pulled into an abandoned mechanical factory on the outskirts. Inside, a group of individuals in black suits were already waiting.
"This is the inventory list. Check it," the lead truck driver handed over a paper manifest to a striking young woman named Flora. Behind her stood the receivers—silent, deadly.
Flora's subordinates cross-checked the list. No discrepancies.
"Excellent. The remaining funds will be transferred by Hive per the agreement," she said, then ordered the trucks unloaded. Every last Pokémon in the convoy was wheeled down into the underground chambers of the facility.
The driver nodded and returned to his truck, the convoy rumbling away.
"Boss, didn't Team Rocket disband?" one of the men in the truck asked. "Other than that girl, all the others looked exactly the same."
The driver lit a cigarette and exhaled slowly.
They had been supplying Celadon Game Corner for years. They knew the operators were Rocket affiliates—business had always been smooth, payment never late.
But after Team Rocket's official dissolution last week, they figured their biggest client was gone.
So when a new order came in from the same location, with the same contacts (except for a rebranded logo), it was… strange.
Same uniforms. Same people. Just a different name.
This pattern repeated across every city in Kanto. Despite their public collapse, Rocket's operations were undisturbed.
After Giovanni's public announcement expelling Pierce, Proton, and the rest of the high-ranking officers, it all made sense.
Team Rocket hadn't died—it had changed hands.
The name of this new overlord?
Hive.
Within a day, it echoed across the entire Kanto underworld.
...
"Brandon, have you been infected?" Mustard called out, sorrow heavy in his voice as he spotted the Champion fall nearby.
Despite his cunning, Brandon was still a valuable asset to the League. Losing him to the virus was a devastating blow.
"That's right," Brandon replied, grinning. "I feel twenty years younger. You should try it, old friend."
He'd already received Lucius' mental command: infect all encountered.
"Well, these old bones will pass," Mustard shook his head, tossing out a Poké Ball.
Out came a small gray-furred bear cub with white hair—his legendary apprentice.
The Kubfu had been in its Poké Ball when the pull into the Distortion World happened, so it hadn't gotten separated.
Brandon recognized it instantly.
A mythical Pokémon, one of the few that could evolve. But until it became Urshifu, it wouldn't be too threatening.
"Go, Dusknoir!" Brandon threw his own ball.
Ghost-type—perfect against Fighting-types.
Dusknoir's single eye gleamed as it launched forward. The two Pokémon clashed midair. Despite the type disadvantage, Kubfu held its own—it had been trained by a Champion, after all.
Just as they were trading fierce blows, Brandon made a sudden move—sprinting toward Mustard.
Before the old man could react, Brandon landed a brutal punch straight to his face.
Despite his years of training, Mustard couldn't withstand the enhanced strength of someone whose body had been boosted severalfold by the virus.
The blow sent him spinning like a top—full 3600 degrees—before slamming into the ground.
A Champion brawl… ending in brute-force fisticuffs.
Even Kubfu and Dusknoir paused in shock.
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