Pokémon World.
Professor Oak and the other Dimensional Platform members who could watch the videos in immersive mode—
stared at the message from the one named Hoopa.
Their minds were completely blown.
They were already dumbfounded.
So it really had been the one in the video—
the one that used those golden rings to seize all those divine beasts?
They asked that Hoopa in the chat.
Unfortunately, it never said another word.
In the Kalos region of the Pokémon world—
within a remote, uninhabited zone—
there was a valley cut off from the outside world, existing in another space-time.
This was Dahara City.
"Hoopa, don't go talking nonsense in there."
The girl smacked Hoopa on the head.
After saying that, she turned with worry toward the boy beside her. "Brother, in that ranking video, the golden rings that abducted the divine beasts… those were Hoopa's rings."
"I know." The boy nodded.
The two siblings looked at the little creature beside them.
It looked mischievous and full of trouble.
Its body was pink and gray, with a braid-like tuft on its head. On either side of its head were upward-curving horns, each looped with a golden ring.
Its body was round and plump, and there was a larger ring around its waist.
It had no feet below the waist—only a smoky cloud-like lower body that floated in midair.
Its arms were detached from its body, red in color.
Its face wore a permanent, wickedly playful grin.
This was Hoopa!
If Professor Oak and the others could see the three golden rings on Hoopa's body, they would instantly recognize them as the very rings that had taken away the divine beasts.
The girl and her brother both looked at Hoopa with worry written all over their faces.
Could it be that in the future, Hoopa would once again become the lawless demon king it had once been?
That would bring immeasurable disaster to the entire world.
The world itself might even be destroyed.
According to the records left by their ancestors, Hoopa was one of the strongest divine beasts, and its birth was connected to Arceus!
"B-Brother… l-look!"
The girl hurriedly pointed.
"Huh? Isn't that Hoopa's real form?" Hoopa tilted its head.
On the screen—
the ranking video had officially begun.
Dark clouds pressed down as if to crush the city beneath them. The atmosphere in the video was terrifyingly oppressive.
"Hoopa, Hoopa~!"
A voice like rolling thunder boomed through the heavens.
In the sky stood a gigantic figure.
Its body resembled that of a giant, with a pitch-black hollow in the center of its chest.
Its skin was pale gray. The braid atop its head rose straight upward, and the two horns on its head gleamed with a chilling light.
It had six arms.
Three on each side.
Yet every arm was detached from its body, floating at either side.
It stood in the sky, its eyes filled with savagery.
Black energy swirled around it, shrouding its entire body. A ferocious grin stretched across its face. Above its head, lightning flickered through the storm clouds, countless bolts writhing through the sky, making it look like a demon god crawling out from the abyss.
The moment they saw it, countless beings across the myriad dimensions felt their hearts seize.
Their breathing faltered.
It was as though an invisible hand had gripped their hearts, making them unbearably uncomfortable.
Around the two sides of this demonic Pokémon were arranged six golden rings.
Each one floated beside its body.
Ripples spread through those golden rings, and from every ring, a figure emerged.
Groudon. Kyogre. Dialga. Palkia. Reshiram, the Dragon of Truth. Regigigas.
The instant they appeared, the entire world seemed to tremble.
Everyone could only feel the suffocating oppression grow heavier.
These divine beasts rose into the air and all took their places at the sides of that demon-like figure.
In subspace, Palkia was grinning so hard it almost split its face.
Well, not every Pokémon was floating in the sky.
One crimson figure stood there all alone in the sea.
—Groudon.
Even Regigigas was floating in the air against gravity.
"How pitiful… Groudon."
"But… something seems wrong with my state."
Palkia looked at the version of itself in the video. It was just standing obediently beside that demonic Pokémon, with no reaction at all.
And it wasn't just Palkia.
All of the divine beasts were in an abnormal state.
With its personality, if someone had suddenly dragged it out of subspace, it should have flown into a rage.
But the version of itself in the video was eerily quiet, its condition strange and unnatural.
Its eyes were crimson, muddled, and its whole body was wrapped in strands of black aura.
It had been controlled.
That demon-like Pokémon had invaded the minds of all the divine beasts!?
No—
Palkia's pupils contracted sharply.
It felt a familiar power from that demonic Pokémon.
The power of Arceus!!
This Pokémon was connected to Arceus?!
In another subspace, Dialga had discovered the same thing, and its heart shook with shock.
Across the myriad dimensions—
seeing this scene—
seeing that vast divine might spread across the heavens, the auras of the divine beasts intertwining and giving rise to all kinds of strange phenomena—
all the viewers were stunned.
At the same time, they were certain now.
It was this demonic Pokémon that had abducted all the divine beasts.
"Hiss, this is way too terrifying!"
"So many divine beasts from the rankings were dragged here."
They looked at Hoopa, their hearts shaking.
So this was the Pokémon called Hoopa—
the one that had abducted so many divine beasts!
At Dahara City—
the brother and sister turned deathly pale, their faces drained of blood.
"Hoopa Unbound… Hoopa's true form!"
"In the future, Hoopa really does become that old demon king again—and even more savage!"
They looked at the little Hoopa beside them.
Little Hoopa jumped up and down, yelling that Hoopa's true form was way too cool and that it really wanted to return to its true form soon.
The two of them felt miserable.
Was their effort to guide Hoopa's heart truly useless...?
"No… that's not it! That isn't Hoopa!"
The boy suddenly spoke.
The camera in the video rapidly pulled back, revealing the full scene.
The brother and sister both trembled violently.
Their eyes were filled with disbelief as they muttered in a daze:
"T-Two… two Hoopas?"
Punished Hoopa—Little Hoopa—tilted its head.
"Oh? Oh? Why are there two Hoopas?"
In the video, opposite that abyssal demon-god-like Hoopa—
there was another, much smaller Hoopa.
Punished Hoopa.
The very same Hoopa now beside them.
"Hoopa~!"
A crisp voice rang out.
The rings on little Hoopa's body shot forward.
Then they rapidly expanded.
Little Hoopa only had three rings.
Ripples of light spread within them, dazzling and turbulent, and from inside emerged three divine beasts.
Rayquaza. Kyurem. Zekrom, the Dragon of Ideals.
Because little Hoopa only had three rings, it had to summon them in two waves.
After those three emerged, the rings trembled again.
Latios, Latias, Giratina, and Lugia came out from within them.
Demonic Hoopa and little Hoopa stood across from each other, locked in opposition.
The divine beasts each had summoned were also roaring, their voices shaking the air.
More than ten divine beasts had appeared at once.
The sight was so shocking it numbed the scalp.
Looking at them, the viewers all sucked in sharp breaths.
Those mysterious divine beasts that normally felt so distant and unattainable—
were now appearing before them as if they'd become commonplace.
With the platform's immersive enhancement, the scene pressed down on them so hard that their chests felt tight.
At last, they understood where the title of this special episode came from:
War of the Gods — Hoopa vs. Punished Hoopa
And they finally understood why the divine beasts in the preview had gone to war.
The culprit behind it all—
was the Pokémon before them, the one with the golden rings.
"The war of divine beasts! It's starting, it's starting!!"
"This is insane—so many divine beasts in a mixed melee!"
"Hahaha, isn't this just Red-Haired Pirates vs. Whitebeard Pirates?"
"The Four Emperors are worthy of being compared to these divine beasts?"
"Whoa, this is getting my blood pumping!!"
Compared to the spectators from other worlds, who were thrilled out of their minds—
the people of the Pokémon world were filled with worry.
So many divine beasts were going to battle in the real world.
In the future… wouldn't the world really be destroyed?
"W-What… what exactly is going on?" The siblings from Dahara City felt endless confusion rising in their hearts.
There absolutely could not be a second Hoopa in this world.
There could only ever be one Hoopa.
But if that was true—
then how could both Hoopa Unbound and Punished Hoopa exist at the same time in the video?
They were absolutely certain of it!!
What exactly had happened in the future?
…
Everyone else was also stunned when they saw little Hoopa.
Looking at the ring around its waist, they remembered something.
Some of the golden rings that had abducted the divine beasts earlier had seemed slightly smaller.
Looking at the demonic giant Hoopa and the small Hoopa—
could it be that the two were an evolved form and a reverted form?
In the video, a murderous tension filled the air.
None of the divine beasts moved.
More than ten mountain-sized divine beasts stretched across the sky.
The divine beasts confronted one another from afar, the air freezing solid, making people shudder involuntarily.
They simply stared at one another, not releasing even a trace of their own aura.
[These two Pokémon with golden rings are both called Hoopa]
[One is Hoopa Unbound, with the posture of a demon god]
[The other is Punished Hoopa, with the personality of a mischievous child]
It was like the stillness before a storm.
The calm before total disaster.
[Hoopa possesses the power to distort space. The planes within its rings can twist time and space, allowing it to transport any object, human, or Pokémon anywhere—to any place, to any subspace. Even the Reverse World can be entered and exited at will through its rings]
"Hoopa, Hoopa is going to devour you!"
The demonic Hoopa's eyes widened, its deep violet pupils fixing on little Hoopa as a savage pressure bore down on it.
At Dahara City, little Hoopa instantly leapt into the girl's arms, trembling all over.
"S-So scary… i-it looks like it wants to eat Hoopa."
"It's okay, it's okay. That's a scene from the future." The girl hurried to soothe it.
She stared intently at the video.
What exactly had happened in the future?
Why were there two Hoopas?
She watched carefully, not daring to miss a single detail.
Maybe this was their chance to change the future.
"Hoopa, Hoopa isn't afraid of you! I'm going to defeat you!"
In the video, little Hoopa looked at demonic Hoopa with determination.
"Ash told me to be brave! I'm going to defeat you fair and square! I'm the real Hoopa!!"
After saying that, little Hoopa glanced down toward the city below.
A boy in a baseball cap, wearing a red jacket and blue jeans, came into view.
A Pikachu was perched on his shoulder.
"Hoopa, go for it! You can do this!"
The boy cheered for little Hoopa.
At Professor Oak's Lab—
"Ash, Gary, did you see that? I showed up again." Ash wore a dopey grin.
Professor Oak: ?
Gary: ?
They both looked at Ash and slowly typed a question mark in their minds.
When I type a question mark, it doesn't mean I have a problem—
it means you do.
Why the hell are you there again?
This was a battle involving more than ten divine beasts!
And you were there too???
They were truly stunned.
What exactly was this kid doing in the future?
Why was he so ridiculously overpowered at this kind of thing?!
Across the myriad dimensions—
everyone else was stunned too.
"It's Pikachu! And that boy with Pikachu!"
"Holy crap, that kid is incredible! He's shown up in so many ranking videos!"
"He stopped Mewtwo's plan to destroy the world before!"
"He also awakened Palkia and Dialga's consciousness and saved Alamos Town!"
"Don't forget it was Ho-Oh's feather he got, and he even fought Marshadow!"
"This is insane. As expected of Pikachu's Trainer—even this battle of divine beasts has him in it!!"
"The strongest Trainer!!"
The narration interrupted everyone's heated discussion.
[Punished Hoopa and Hoopa Unbound each summoned divine beasts and took control of them]
[One wished to devour the other; the other wished to defeat evil]
[Punished Hoopa and Hoopa Unbound were originally one and the same]
Accompanied by gentle music—
the video shifted into a flashback.
[This happened a very, very long time ago]
[At that time, humans could only survive under the protection of Pokémon]
[Hoopa awoke. Hungry, and with a mind as blank as white paper, it came to a human tribe through its rings]
[Faced with Hoopa's overwhelming power, the tribe worshiped Hoopa as its guardian deity]
The scene unfolded.
Demonic Hoopa hummed to itself as it curiously looked around the world. Its eyes were pure and innocent, nothing like the violent destroyer it would later become.
It ate the humans' food and helped drive away a group of Pokémon that had been harassing them.
And thus, it became the guardian deity of that human tribe.
With Hoopa's powerful abilities, the city began to flourish, thrive, and live in peace.
No Pokémon dared come and harass them again.
As for Hoopa—
it only needed a few Berries to be delighted.
It was happy.
Humans needed its power.
It could help humans.
As the tribe grew stronger, many nearby tribes came to seek refuge.
The population increased drastically.
Hoopa used its golden rings to bring over enormous stones and helped the humans build a city.
A great city rose from the ground, and the tribe became a human settlement.
The people lived in peace and prosperity.
Seeing the bright, easy smile on Hoopa's face in the video—
the audience couldn't help but feel confused.
Hoopa looked kind.
It was nothing like that savage monster from earlier.
[Since birth, Hoopa had remained in slumber. Its mind was blank, like a white sheet of paper]
[The city's rulers realized that Hoopa was easy to fool. A few Berries were enough to make it do anything]
[This was its first awakening]
[Human desire is endless]
"Lord Hoopa, do you know where we can find these shiny stones?"
In the scene, a human held up a piece of gold and asked Hoopa.
"If Lord Hoopa can bring us more of these glittering stones, then all these Berries will be yours."
"Hoopa is strong! Hoopa can grant any wish!"
And so, Hoopa used its golden rings to summon mountains of gold and silver treasures.
"Lord Hoopa, I want gold too."
"Lord Hoopa, the people in the western city are bullying us. I want to conquer them."
"Lord Hoopa, I want a gold mine."
"Lord Hoopa…"
Hoopa patted its chest proudly. "Hoopa is strong. Hoopa can satisfy all of you."
[Faced with humanity's unreasonable demands, Hoopa, still blank and innocent, could not distinguish right from wrong and granted every one of their wishes]
[But humans did not realize that their endless greed and unreasonable demands were pushing the blank-slate Hoopa toward a darker path]
[Soon, the people of the city had no desires left unfulfilled. Anything ordinary people could hardly hope to obtain was now within easy reach, in exchange for a little food]
[No longer satisfied with that, they wanted to see something even more exciting]
"Hoopa, you always say you're strong. Are you really that strong? I don't believe it!"
A human challenged Hoopa like that.
"Hoopa is strong! If you don't believe it, Hoopa will show you!"
Hearing someone question its strength, Hoopa grew anxious.
With a thought, the ring in its hand floated into the air, ripples spreading across it.
Then it summoned a great number of powerful Pokémon.
Dragonite. Metagross. Hydreigon. Salamence. Garchomp…
All of them were pseudo-legendaries with extremely high base stats.
And not just one of each—
entire groups of them.
Hoopa, all by itself, defeated every one of those pseudo-legendary groups in mere seconds, then sent them back through its rings.
"How about that? Hoopa is strong!"
It stood there, hands on its hips.
"I can't tell. Fight something stronger."
"Hoopa will satisfy you!"
[Under humanity's unreasonable demands, Hoopa continuously summoned Pokémon to battle]
[And the humans watched Hoopa fight as though they were watching a monkey perform tricks]
[Humanity's demands rose step by step]
[In the end, Hoopa was forced to summon divine beasts]
"Hoopa, all you ever fight are weak Pokémon. I heard divine beasts are the strongest. What, are you scared? You don't dare fight divine beasts?"
Buzz—
Light rippled across Hoopa's golden ring.
It began summoning divine beasts.
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