Lucius understood what Dialga meant.
There are infinite parallel worlds—one of them had been completely annihilated by the virus, another saw him consumed in Ho-Oh's Sacred Flames. Each of these worlds exists alongside the one they now stood in.
Which meant there was more than one Lucius—and more than one Dialga.
This wasn't unfamiliar. It echoed the canon structure: the official continuity had countless movies, and while Ash and his companions appeared in all of them, the events didn't overlap with the main TV storyline.
The Ash who met Legendary Pokémon in the movies? That version had no memory of those encounters in the TV series.
Could it be that there are multiple versions of me spreading the virus across different worlds? And each of them chose a different evolutionary path for the virus?
"You just said this Celebi followed traces of dimensional turbulence to get here," Lucius said. "Then you and Palkia should be able to erase those traces, right?"
"We can," Dialga replied, his tone carrying a hint of amusement. "But in doing so, we leave behind traces of the erasure itself. So a perfect cleanup... is impossible."
"Then this 'danger from another world' that Arceus warned us about—could it be the world destroyed by the berserk virus?" Anabel asked, her timing as sharp as ever.
"The mythical Pokémon in that world have already given up. The virus destroyed their civilization, yes—but it hasn't yet gained the power to destroy this world..." Dialga shook his head slowly, casting Lucius a deep, knowing look before stepping into a swirling void tunnel and vanishing.
"It said the mythical Pokémon have given up?" Anabel repeated, trying to grasp Dialga's meaning.
"I recognized the virus that infected that Celebi," Lucius explained. "It's from the same origin as mine, but it doesn't have the capacity to infect mythical Pokémon."
"I see..." Anabel's expression darkened as realization dawned.
When Dialga spoke of giving up, he didn't mean abandoning the battle. He meant the mythical Pokémon of that world had abandoned its ordinary people—and their Pokémon.
Lucius had noticed something during the battle raging inside Celebi between two viral strains: Leviathan had completely overwhelmed the Ouroboros Virus. The latter's power was on par with Veronica: Mindworm Form.
And Veronica couldn't infect mythical Pokémon. Lucius still remembered clearly how she'd tried—and failed—to invade even a single cell of Kyogre, its immunity eradicating her completely.
If the virus overrunning that doomed world was still just Ouroboros, then their mythical Pokémon should've retained their autonomy.
And compared to those infected creatures, a mythical Pokémon's power was nearly unmatched. If an enemy world tried a mass invasion with just ordinary or legendary Pokémon, even the trio of creation would've wiped them out easily.
So… how could this be happening?
That world's virus had a seven-year head start. It should have evolved far beyond the Ouroboros stage by now.
Lucius couldn't figure it out completely yet. But it only made him more determined to complete his mission—fast.
"Anabel, when you get a chance, go with Cynthia to check out the Michina Ruins," Lucius said.
"Michina Ruins?" Anabel asked, puzzled. She'd never heard of the place before.
"Yeah." Lucius nodded. Since Anabel wasn't infected, he couldn't relay information via pheromone resonance—he had to transmit the data manually through a communicator.
What a hassle...
After some rapid commands, Lucius pulled the files from the League archives and sent everything related to the Michina Ruins to Anabel.
Michina was a town in the northern part of Sinnoh, perched beside Lake Acuity. According to legend, an ancient Pokémon slumbered there.
They said the town had been rebuilt in modern times—centuries ago, it had been devastated by a great calamity, leaving only the ruins behind.
And the one who had helped its people rebuild… was the ancient Pokémon now sleeping beneath it.
The records often mentioned this guardian, but never identified it by name.
"You're planning to investigate this sleeping Pokémon?" Anabel asked, already guessing Lucius's intent. She knew he'd been gathering powerful mythic Pokémon.
"That's right. Don't alarm anyone. Keep a low profile. Just uncover the truth behind the legend." Lucius gave a calm but firm order.
Anabel blinked, clearly surprised.
The virus itself is telling me to keep a low profile?
This is the same guy who trashed the Reverse World and went head-to-head with Rayquaza…
"I can handle this myself. Why bring Cynthia?" Anabel suddenly asked.
"Oh?" Lucius glanced at her. He hadn't expected her to say that, but nodded anyway. "Then handle it your way."
That was the downside of staying uninfected—you always had your own plans…
Once Anabel teleported away, Lucius turned his thoughts back to the matter at hand.
In the original story, Arceus had fused its Plates into a Jewel and lent it to the Michina people, only to be betrayed and gravely wounded, falling into a deep sleep for two years.
But in this world, something was clearly different.
Arceus had also fallen asleep—but not due to injury. It still retained partial consciousness. A century ago, it had already foreseen the coming disaster from another dimension.
It was very likely that this world's Arceus had not been betrayed by humanity.
It was still protecting them.
Which would explain why it ordered the mythical Pokémon to sign a pact forbidding them from interfering in human development…
If that was true, then a lot of things started to make sense.
And more than that—it pointed to a startling possibility.
With this thought, Lucius climbed atop Rayquaza and soared toward the Kalos region.
From above, Kalos looked like a five-pointed star. At its very center lay the world-famous metropolis: Lumiose City.
It was one of the most advanced cities on the planet, rivaled only by Castelia in Unova. A true cosmopolitan hub.
Lumiose's main industry was tourism. It was home to the Prism Tower and the Lumiose Museum. Its wide avenues were lined with popular boutiques, cafés, and restaurants beloved by locals and visitors alike.
And right there in the city's heart stood the headquarters of the Z Foundation Research Institute—funded quietly by the Umbrella Pharmaceutical Company.
Lucius teleported straight into the institute.
Inside, the staff—all members of Hive—barely reacted to his sudden appearance. They could feel it: the familiarity, the control, the essence of the Source.
"You've collected quite a bit," Lucius said, arriving at the deepest chamber of the facility.
Glass-enclosed pods filled the room—each containing a single Zygarde Cell.
"We've gathered over six hundred so far," Dolores reported. The cells glimmered softly, exuding an eerie vitality. As fragments of a mythic Pokémon, they radiated a palpable intelligence.
Lucius released Leviathan and began infecting them one by one.
He had to admit—among all the mythic Pokémon he'd infected so far, Zygarde's fragments were by far the easiest.
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