Virus Evolution: Pokémon, Marvel & Beyond

Heh… the Djinn of the Rings, Hoopa, huh?

By its original lore, Hoopa's Confined Form, a being classified alongside Celebi and Latios, is a Legendary Pokémon with a base stat total of 600.

But once unsealed and restored to its Unbound Form, the six-armed giant boasts a base stat total of 680, placing it in the realm of Mythical Pokémon, alongside titans like Ho-Oh and Xerneas.

In Lucius's original world, Hoopa had seemingly disappeared into some forgotten slumber, and he'd never once crossed paths with the Mythical Djinn.

Yet here in this world… this Hoopa had already been found, and controlled, by this alternate version of Lucius.

"Here, take it." Possessing Colress's body, Lucius casually tossed the ball of plasma energy back toward the other Lucius.

"Hoopa~!" Hoopa zipped ahead of its trainer, flinging a golden ring that instantly absorbed the glowing orb into its warped space.

The energy vanished like a stone sinking into the sea, silent and gone.

Then, without warning, a second golden ring materialized behind Colress. From its depths, the very same plasma orb shot out, striking him squarely in the back.

Not even a scream escaped his lips. The chief scientist of Umbrella was vaporized on impact, erased without a trace.

"Hoopa, use Psychic Disturbance."

Hoopa's eyes flared blue. A spiraling psychic wave burst outward, scanning the entire facility for hostile thought signatures.

But, nothing. Not a single suspicious signal.

"What the hell…?" Parallel Lucius frowned. He knew better than to think the enemy had been eliminated that easily.

Then it came.

A terrifying pressure descended from above, heavy as a mountain, swallowing the sky in its grip.

Parallel Lucius's body shattered instantly. Hoopa winced in pain, but a heartbeat later, its form shimmered, and vanished.

BOOM.

The detonation tore through the skies.

Umbrella's headquarters, along with hundreds of miles of surrounding islands, were obliterated.

A massive sinkhole formed in the Kanto Sea, more than 500 miles across. Tidal waves rushed inward, creating the largest whirlpool system the planet had ever seen.

In that moment, even the global ocean currents began to change direction.

Hoopa reappeared in the sky, its body flickering into view.

This time, its eyes weren't vacant. They burned with lucidity.

Parallel Lucius had already discarded his human shell, reverting into viral form and retreating back into Hoopa's body.

"Bastard…" Hoopa muttered, glaring down at the smoldering ruins of the base.

He'd spent years building Umbrella's infrastructure in this world, only for this interloper to destroy over 80% of it in a single day.

"I swear, I'll—"

His words froze on his lips.

Something vast loomed on the horizon, descending from the skies.

One after another, they emerged: titanic, divine figures flying toward him through the clouds.

Rayquaza.

Kyogre.

Ho-Oh.

Lugia.

Zekrom.

Reshiram.

Yveltal…

Legends. Myths. Gods.

Their arrival shook the skies and split the earth, their pressure alone suffocating every living being across a million-mile radius.

Impossible…

Hoopa's eyes widened in disbelief.

He'd spent years studying how to infect Mythical Pokémon, had even found the dormant Regigigas.

But even with his fully evolved virus strain, he hadn't been able to penetrate Regigigas's immunity.

In the end, he'd only succeeded with Hoopa, whose Confined Form was weakened by sealing and thus, susceptible to infection.

Though he could draw on fragments of Hoopa's Unbound Form, any attempt to unlock more power triggered severe resistance from Hoopa's suppressed will.

He had never once accessed the Djinn's true potential.

And yet this invader had arrived, already commanding an army of Mythical Pokémon.

Still… he was no ordinary opponent either. After a brief moment of shock, Hoopa steadied his breath.

The strongest Mythical who could fight multiple gods at once, and hold his own?

Hoopa. Obviously.

"Hahahaha! I don't know how you pulled this off… but you won't take me down."

Purple-blue smoke spiraled from Hoopa's crown, coiling into a storm that surged skyward.

Crush them first. Then deal with Hoopa's will.

He'd been waiting for this moment.

Lucius struck.

With perfect timing, he injected the Old One Virus directly into the swirling vortex of power Hoopa had just released.

"No... who's there?!" Hoopa shrieked.

A foreign will had emerged within his liberated energy, a ravenous force consuming it from within.

"No! That's mine!"

Hoopa desperately tried to reabsorb the leaking energy, hoping to reclaim enough to unseal himself fully and regain his true form.

But just as he began channeling his power inward—

A piercing Ice Beam shot from the sky.

Freeze.

Lugia's attack struck him dead-on. Hoopa was instantly frozen, encased in a perfect sculpture of ice, his face still frozen in shock.

A second later, his ghostly form slipped out of the ice, transparent and vaporous—but it was too late.

That one-second delay had cost him everything.

The purple-blue storm in the sky condensed, morphing into a towering figure, its head crowned with upright braids, six golden-ringed arms, and a long, sweeping tail.

A giant.

Hoopa Unbound.

But not controlled by Hoopa anymore.

No, this was something else entirely.

"Hahaha! You infected Hoopa's body, but I infected Hoopa's power!" the colossal giant laughed, flexing its six arms with glee.

"Infected…?" Hoopa stared, stunned. "You're part of the Virus Evolution System too?"

"Exactly." Lucius, now occupying the body of Hoopa Unbound, nodded. "You're Lucius, aren't you?"

"You—" Hoopa's expression twisted in disbelief.

He'd just said his real name, his name from his past life. That startled him more than even the arrival of the Mythical swarm.

"I am you," Lucius said calmly. "But more successful."

"And frankly, I owe you thanks. Without you, I might never have grown this strong."

If the Tyrant Virus hadn't destroyed this world…

If Ash hadn't traveled back in time and triggered the chain reaction…

Lucius would never have evolved into the Veronica Virus.

"You're… me?" Hoopa, no, the parallel Lucius, looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

Lucius's eyes gleamed. "You failed. You used a Gu ritual, sacrificing others through endless battles to breed stronger Pokémon. Meanwhile, the system used a different Gu ritual, raising us system-bound hosts across parallel worlds."

He narrowed his gaze, voice low but resolute.

"We are all versions of Lucius. But in the end, only one will be the strongest."

His gaze pierced through dimensions.

"And that one, is me."

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