The absolute majority of its body was blanketed in a dense layer of rigid, steel-hard bristles, granting it exceptional defensive metrics and a terrifying cutting capacity.
It brandished two colossal claws that served as its primary instruments of destruction. The bristles armor-plating Sandslash's frame were entirely swathed in churning, liquid magma, its curved claws exceptionally sharp, and its spine heavily encrusted with thousands of jagged rock spires. Infinite streams of molten lava continuously bled out from Sandslash's vessel, sizzling and crackling into white smoke the exact millisecond the droplets hit the floor.
"I successfully sequenced and injected the genetic tissue of Hoenn's Legendary deity, Groudon, into this Sandslash," Colress remarked, a dangerous glint flashing across his eyes.
"Cultivating a specimen of this caliber was an unmanageably staggering task. I initiated the cloning sequence for over a thousand Sandslash, yet this singular specimen was the only vessel resilient enough to override the violent cellular backlash of Groudon's cells."
"Feng Che, I am fully aware that your active roster houses an Incineroar that integrated the parameters of Groudon. Tell me, do you have the courage to permit the two of them to trade blows?" Colress unmasked a thoroughly playful sneer.
"Directing my Incineroar to engage a prototype like your Sandslash? My apologies, but my Incineroar looks down on a creature of this caliber," Feng Che countered coldly.
"Come forth, Genesect!"
For the absolute first time in his public campaign, Feng Che unleashed Genesect before an outside audience.
"Genesect... To think you actually command an apex predator of the ancient world!" Colress's composure fractured instantly, his scientific obsession driving him into a state of manic excitement.
"I initiated multiple cloning vectors targeting Genesect in the past, yet every single sequence collapsed. Feng Che, your absolute intuitive genius within the fields of genetic replication is staggering!" Colress breathed in pure awe.
"This Genesect was not synthesized under my hand. It was harvested from a Team Rocket research facility, meticulously engineered by Dr. Fuji," Feng Che explained smoothly, correcting the scientist's deduction.
"Dr. Fuji's raw talent within the realms of genetic engineering anchors the absolute pinnacle of global science; he has successfully reconstructed and stabilized various specialized Pokémon strains," Feng Che added.
"Dr. Fuji... I have long harbored an immense intellectual admiration for his work," Colress murmured under his breath, his eyes fixed on the Paleozoic Pokémon. "If Team Plasma is completely dismantled today, pledging my intellect to Team Rocket might be an exceptionally fine alternative."
"Sandslash, use Magma Pin Missile!" Colress commanded.
Instantly, thousands of molten needles wreathed in liquid fire erupted from Sandslash's spine, shrieking through the air like a high-velocity ballistic barrage.
"Genesect, use Slash."
A brilliant red glow flashed deep within Genesect's eyes. A fraction of a second later, a sharp, metallic gust of wind cleaved the air, cleanly neutralizing the molten projectiles until they dissolved back into harmless, stray splashes of magma along the floor.
"Splicing Groudon's genetics into a Sandslash merely supplements its baseline typing with a secondary Fire-type affinity at best," Feng Che remarked flatly, analyzing the exchange. "I fail to detect a single shred of actual growth in its baseline parameters."
"That is because this Sandslash has yet to initiate its primary output phase," Colress shot back with a manic laugh.
He snapped his fingers with a sharp crack, and a massive flood of liquid magma instantly surged out from Sandslash's cell lines. Its physical volume ballooned to over twice its original mass, its entire frame liquefying as it reshaped into a colossal, roaring magma titan.
"The reinforced steel plating anchoring my laboratory walls was synthesized using premium hyper-alloys; its structural integrity will not sustain a single shred of damage from Sandslash's Magma Overload form," Colress boasted with supreme confidence.
"This Genesect shall remain securely locked inside my vaults to serve as the baseline specimen for my future research. Sandslash, use Precipice Blades!"
Colress directed his partner to unleash Groudon's absolute signature move. Thousands of gargantuan rock lances saturated with boiling liquid magma thrust violently upward from the earth, roaring straight toward Genesect.
Genesect smoothly dropped its center of mass, the heavy artillery cannon anchoring its back shifting elevation to discharge a localized beam of absolute-zero frost. Six separate trajectories of Ice Beam slammed dead-center into the ascending Precipice Blades. With a frantic, deafening hiss, the molten lances were instantly flash-frozen, their glowing textures turning into brittle, blackish-grey pillars of permafrost.
Immediately after, Genesect swept its razor-sharp claws through the airspace, the kinetic impact violently shattering the frozen lances into a thousand flying shards.
"Phenomenal! For a Genesect to manifest an offensive caliber of this scale... That high-powered sniper cannon anchoring its spine was a specialized custom modification engineered by your team, wasn't it?" Colress scribbled data frantically onto his tablet, his expression rich with academic marvel.
"However, do you truly harbor the delusion that this marks the absolute peak of my Sandslash's parameters?" Colress added with a prideful, condescending grin. "Sandslash, unleash the absolute zenith of your life force!"
The liquid magma plating Sandslash's vessel instantly shifted from a deep crimson to a brilliant, blinding white-hot sheen, colossal pillars of pure fire erupting violently from its chassis.
"This stands as the single finest masterpiece I have cultivated—but the exact millisecond it discharges its maximum payload will also mark the absolute hour its cellular structure vaporizes into nothingness."
"No matter. I can continuously print duplicate clones from my master database at a whim, but opportunities to stress-test and break a Genesect manufactured under Dr. Fuji's hand are exceptionally rare."
"Sandslash, use Magma Cannon!" Colress bellowed.
Sandslash unhinged its molten jaws to an impossible angle. Raising its clawed forelimbs to lock the vector, a gargantuan sphere of white-hot liquid fire condensed within its throat, before launching a colossal beam of incandescent energy straight toward Genesect.
Genesect crossed its steel-plated forelimbs over its chest, anchoring its chassis to endure the absolute brunt of the Magma Cannon payload.
Colress tracked the cataclysmic impact, yet he noticed that Feng Che's expression remained entirely flat, showing zero emotional fluctuation—as if the world-shaking Magma Cannon was nothing more than a stray spark.
Having fully expended its residual lifespans to execute the strike, Sandslash's physical vessel dissolved into silent fragments of ash, leaving the laboratory choked under a thick cloud of white smoke. As the roaring fires scattered across the steel floor, Genesect stepped calmly out from the blinding smoke ring.
Its metallic armor plating was heavily fractured and scored into countless jagged fragments, its appearance looking thoroughly battered from the thermal impact. However, a massive wave of liquid alloy began to fluidly pour over its chassis. Within a matter of seconds, the structural wounds were perfectly sealed, and a pristine, completely renewed Genesect stood before them.
"Fascinating... So the armor integrates a highly developed shape-memory alloy matrix, and the thermal conductivity of the composite shell must be exceptionally optimized," Colress murmured, hypnotized by the data.
"Colress, your line has officially failed," Feng Che announced smoothly.
Only then did Colress snap out of his trance to survey his surroundings. Every single one of his cybernetic guard Pokémon had already been completely incapacitated, their bodies pinned to the bedrock under a dense, impenetrable matrix of razor-sharp leaf feathers.
"Hmph! Do not presume you have claimed victory just yet! I hold one definitive, final trump card secured within my vaults!"
Colress frantically inputted an alphanumeric encryption key into his console. Instantly, a heavy floor panel split open, and a gargantuan cultivation pod rose aggressively into the clearing.
Feng Che fixed his sharp gaze onto the specimen, finding a creature whose anatomical layout completely transcended any recorded species profile. The entity possessed the majestic, quadrupedal build of a Raikou, yet the raw elemental aura bleeding out from its vessel shared a near-flawless alignment with the dark parameters of a Darkrai.
"I successfully harvested the baseline genetic sequence of Raikou to serve as the physical vessel, before splicing and editing modified Darkrai cellular structures into its core pathways to forge this entity," Colress crowed maniacally.
"It commands a unique Dark and Electric typing—the absolute, unrivaled masterpiece of my scientific career."
"Its baseline strength comfortably anchors the parameters of a pseudo-Legendary deity. If your current roster possesses the capacity to break a god of this caliber, I shall officially validate your strength and grant you safe passage to confront N."
The exact second Colress finalized the neural-link commands on his terminal, the modified Raikou unleashed a world-shaking roar, the sheer acoustic weight of the dark soundwave violently shattering the reinforced glass of its containment pod into dust.
"In that case—come forth, Ditto," Feng Che directed flatly, deploying his primary partner.
"What?! You intend to face a god using a pathetic, bottom-tier gimmick like a Ditto? Just how monumentally do you look down on my research?!" Colress's face turned completely black with absolute fury.