Looking at the now-empty magma—
everyone was dumbfounded.
Groudon, the God of Land and the being ranked TOP 10, had just been snatched away by the hand that emerged from the golden ring?
Then what exactly were that golden ring and severed hand?
Everyone's heads were full of question marks.
The scene shifted. Stars turned, the scorching environment vanished.
All of them arrived in a pitch-black place.
There was seawater all around them. This was a place even sunlight could not reach.
Within an ocean trench—
deep inside that black abyss—
there was also a source of light.
A blue glow spread faintly across the surface of something there.
Like a breathing lamp, it brightened and dimmed in steady rhythm.
Everyone's eyes narrowed as they made out the figure.
Kyogre!
This was where Kyogre slept.
Buzz—
In the black deep-sea trench, a dazzling streak of gold appeared, extremely conspicuous.
It appeared suddenly, without the slightest warning.
That same golden ring again.
The golden ring rapidly expanded, its opening widening to a hundred meters across.
Inside the ring, the curtain of light rippled.
The red severed hand appeared once more, grabbed the sleeping Kyogre, and dragged it into the ring.
Then the golden ring vanished.
Everyone looked at one another, mouths slightly agape.
Kyogre had been taken too.
What the hell were that golden ring and severed hand?!
Crackle—
Boom, boom, boom...
Everything went dark again as the scene changed once more.
Now everyone stood high above the world, beyond the atmosphere, looking down on the main world.
Streaks of fire were falling toward the surface.
They were meteors—countless meteors trailing long tails of flame as they entered the atmosphere and hurtled toward the ground.
"ROAR!!"
A dragon's roar shook the heavens.
Above the ozone layer, a black figure came flying in—
like a bolt of black lightning.
It was Rayquaza—
the shiny black Rayquaza.
Rayquaza roared as it devoured the meteors.
A satisfying meal later, the small meteor shower had been dealt with.
With one flick of its tail, Rayquaza shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, streaking into the distance.
Buzz—
A golden ring suddenly appeared in the air directly ahead of Rayquaza.
Maybe it was just an illusion—
but the viewers felt this golden ring seemed slightly different from the previous ones.
"Rayquaza, come help me for a bit."
A crisp voice rang out.
Rayquaza immediately plunged headfirst into the ring—
and disappeared along with it.
That made the third divine beast taken away by the golden ring.
"What exactly is this? The principle behind that ring already involves space, doesn't it?"
Many people across the myriad dimensions were baffled. Wasn't Palkia supposed to be the God of Space?
Could it be Palkia's power?
In subspace—
even Palkia wore a puzzled look. To be honest, it had no idea what that golden ring or red severed hand was either.
It rarely appeared in the real world.
Usually, it simply slept in its own subspace and had little interaction with the other divine beasts.
So what was that ring?
It clearly involved the principle of space, almost like it could instantly transfer anything away.
Then suddenly—
its eyes widened.
Because the scene in the video changed again.
It saw itself—
sleeping within its own spatial realm.
A golden ring appeared soundlessly in front of it and rapidly expanded, like a net descending over it.
At the very instant it was about to engulf it—
Palkia in the video opened its eyes. Light flashed over its body as the power of space activated, and it instantly shifted itself far away.
It stared suspiciously at that golden ring.
Seeing this—
the Palkia in subspace laughed. As expected, it was superior. Those three idiots before had been dragged away without even reacting.
Then in the very next second—
the smile froze on its face.
Although the Palkia in the video had dodged the ring, a second golden ring suddenly appeared beneath its feet.
"Get in here!"
A red severed hand shot out, grabbed Palkia by the leg, and dragged it into the ring.
Palkia: "..."
The outside world was shaken again.
Even Palkia, the God of Space, hadn't managed to escape that ring.
The scene changed again.
This time, it was Dialga.
The God of Time, sleeping in its own subspace, was likewise unable to escape. It too was dragged away.
Then—
the scene arrived in the Reverse World.
The ruler of dark matter, the king of the world's other side—
Giratina.
The golden ring descended over it.
Giratina was taken away as well.
At this point—
everyone was so shocked they had gone numb.
Could it be that all the divine beasts shown in the preview had been dragged away by that golden ring and red hand?
The scene changed yet again.
This time, everyone found themselves in the sea.
There, sleeping on the ocean floor, was a creature with a pure white body.
Its skin was smooth, and it had fleshy wings with broad, paddle-like thickness. At the ends of its wings were structures resembling the five fingers of a human hand.
This was a divine beast no one had ever seen before.
It lay there quietly in the depths of the sea, as if it had become one with the ocean itself.
[Its name is Lugia, an existence on the same level as Ho-Oh]
[Lugia can create and calm storms. With the slightest flap of its wings, a storm will rise somewhere in the world]
[One flap of its wings can trigger a storm that lasts forty days]
[To restrain its own power, Lugia lives in the depths of the sea]
[In ancient times, the tribes of Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres warred endlessly to the death]
[Lugia appeared, stopped the fighting, and by itself defeated the three divine bird races]
[From then on, it ruled over the three divine bird races]
[Even the divine birds who possess divine authority must still show Lugia respect]
The scene appeared.
From beneath the sea, a snow-white Pokémon rose and tried to mediate among the three divine bird races.
The three divine bird races immediately turned their hostility toward that white Pokémon, intending to eliminate this overconfident fool first.
But the result was entirely unexpected.
That snow-white Pokémon, facing all three divine bird races, directly crushed them in utterly overwhelming fashion.
At the end of the scene, the three divine bird races, who had fought for countless years—
all lowered their proud heads before that white Pokémon.
"Lugia? The ruler of the three divine bird races? An existence on the same tier as Ho-Oh?"
Countless Trainers' eyes widened.
This divine beast was actually the boss of Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres!
That was definitely new.
This special episode really had substance.
It was exposing the hidden secrets between divine beasts.
If Lugia had appeared in the main ranking series, it would definitely have been enough to claim one of the TOP spots.
At the very least, it could have tied with Ho-Oh at TOP 9.
And yet it was only being revealed here in a special episode.
Buzz—
Without any surprise at all—
the golden ring appeared once again.
Lugia was enveloped by it—
and then vanished.
The scene shifted again.
This time, they arrived on a snow-covered mountain range.
Jagged boulders jutted everywhere.
On screen stood a towering stone mountain, reaching into the clouds.
From the middle upward, it was blanketed in white snow and thick ice.
The mountain was so bitterly cold and deprived of oxygen that even Flying-type Pokémon might not be able to reach the summit.
No human had ever climbed to the top.
At the peak of the mountain—
there stood a huge, oddly shaped boulder, half-buried under snow and ice.
What made it strange was that at the base of this giant rock, some green vegetation was growing.
By all logic, that was impossible.
Buzz—
The golden ring appeared.
The moment it appeared, it seemed to awaken some terrifying existence.
The massive rock began trembling violently, chunks falling away one after another.
Only then did its true form emerge.
That was no rock at all—
it was a giant golem-like Pokémon.
It had an enormous white torso with no obvious head.
A yellow stripe-like structure ran across the center of its body, from back to front, with seven circular holes arranged in the pattern of the Big Dipper.
Its arms were very long, with yellow disc-like structures at the shoulders and wrists. Its hands ended in short, stubby fingers.
Its head, waist, back, and limbs were all covered in black zigzag markings. Green vegetation grew over the center of its head and on both feet. On either side of its torso were three pairs of circular dots resembling eyes.
"So that's the silhouette from the preview—the one that looked like one of the Regis," Professor Oak said as he recognized it.
What exactly was this thing?
This divine beast, which looked so much like one of the Regi trio, had never been seen before.
[Regigigas, also known as the Giant God]
[A first-class divine beast]
[Regigigas possesses incomparably monstrous strength. With a single hand, it can drag continents across the earth]
[It has lived for ages beyond counting. With nothing better to do, it likes to stand in some place where no one will disturb it and sleep like a giant stone statue]
[But in order to maintain the order of the world, it created three beings to act in its place]
[Using itself as the template, it created Regice from an iceberg]
[Regirock from stone]
[And Registeel from magma]
As Rin Aokawa's magnetic narration sounded—
everyone was dumbstruck.
No one was unfamiliar with the Regi trio. Countless legends about them circulated across the world.
They were peaceful by nature and even helped humans settle disputes.
And yet—
they had actually been created by this divine beast called Regigigas?!
Another Pokémon capable of creating divine beasts.
Even as he was shocked, Professor Oak also felt deeply embarrassed. Earlier, he had still wondered whether this might simply be some undiscovered Regi.
Buzz—
The golden ring descended.
Regigigas disappeared too.
…
The scene changed again.
The narration resumed.
[Legend says that ideals and reality were once one]
[But in ancient times, ideals and reality split apart]
[Reality split into the Dragon of Truth — Reshiram]
On screen appeared a Pokémon covered in smooth white fur, resembling both a bird and a dragon, as though it were a fusion of a white bird and a Western dragon.
At the end of its tail was a structure like an engine.
[Reshiram is a Pokémon that believes in truth and guides the world toward goodness. It is willing to aid those who bravely pursue truth, but if truth is scorned and desire allowed to run rampant, Reshiram will mercilessly reduce everything to ashes with its flames]
[Ideals split into the Dragon of Ideals — Zekrom]
A Pokémon with a body black as obsidian appeared, its whole body shining with metallic luster. It stood upright on two legs, with broad mechanical-looking wings on its back, and its tail also ended in an engine-like structure.
Its presence was overwhelming.
[Zekrom is a Pokémon that believes in ideals and guides the world toward hope. It is willing to assist those resolved to pursue ideals, but if ideals are cast aside and righteousness forgotten in corruption, Zekrom will mercilessly destroy everything with lightning]
[From that point on, ideals and reality stood opposed]
[The two divine beasts became bitter enemies, destined to clash every time they met]
[The split between ideals and reality also gave rise to another divine beast]
[The Dragon of Brutality — Kyurem]
A Pokémon resembling a tyrannosaur appeared.
It had icy blue protrusions on its face, pale yellow eyes with no visible pupils, and yellow horn-like structures on its head. Its face and lower jaw were also icy blue, like shattered icicles extending upward into frozen horns.
The scene split into three parts—
showing the Dragon of Truth, the Dragon of Ideals, and the Dragon of Brutality.
At each of their respective resting places, the golden ring appeared and dragged them away.
All the viewers looked at one another.
More divine beasts they had never even heard of.
Divine beasts born from ideals and reality…
This was truly eye-opening.
Across the myriad dimensions, discussion erupted. Seeing all this information about the divine beasts, they felt that the Pokémon world was simply too wondrous.
Even concepts as abstract as ideals and reality—
could give birth to divine beasts.
What a bizarre world.
"Damn it, why do even the insects of that world wield such fundamental powers?" In the Dragon Ball world, Frieza was truly sour with envy, like he'd swallowed an entire lemon.
The scene shifted to a modern city.
This was Alto Mare.
A city surrounded by water, familiar to everyone.
It was a famous tourist city.
At the gates stood two statues—two Pokémon that resembled fighter jets.
In the skies above the city, everyone could clearly make out two invisible figures gliding through the air.
No one else could detect them.
Those two figures resembled fighter jets—one blue, one red.
Latios and Latias.
The guardians of Alto Mare.
The golden ring appeared.
They too were dragged into it and vanished.
"All the divine beasts that showed up in the preview have now been taken."
"There shouldn't be any more after this!"
"What the hell is that golden ring?!"
"And that red severed hand and golden ring are way too terrifying. So many divine beasts, and not a single one escaped. Every last one got dragged inside."
After watching all these scenes of divine beasts being abducted by the golden ring—
everyone understood.
The reason the divine beasts went to war had to be because of the owner of that golden ring and red severed hand.
Which only made them even more curious about what kind of Pokémon could wield such terrifying power.
It could abduct so many divine beasts at will.
And those divine beasts were scattered all over the world.
Palkia, Dialga, and Giratina were even in their own separate dimensions.
And they still got taken.
That alone showed how terrifying the other party was.
"Professor Oak, do you know what Pokémon this ability belongs to?"
"No idea. I'm completely lost. What about you archaeology people? Have you ever excavated anything related to this?"
"No."
In the Pokémon world's chat, Champions, Elite Four members, and Pokémon research professors were all heatedly discussing it.
What exactly was this ability?
Then a message suddenly appeared.
"This looks like Hoopa's ability. Hoopa's rings connect all spaces, so it can drag them away." — Hoopa
Professor Oak: ????
Elite Four: ????
Champions: ???
The user's name was Hoopa?
Only then did they suddenly remember the one thing they had all ignored.
The title of Special Episode 2:
Hoopa vs. Hoopa Unbound!
Holy shit—
Could this Hoopa really be the culprit?!
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