Virus Evolution: Pokémon, Marvel & Beyond

In other words, no matter how far the viruses of the future world evolve, unless they surpass the biohazard framework laid out in Resident Evil, they're still leagues beneath Lucius.

Even the Ouroboros Virus and C-Virus, among the most formidable in terms of overall capability, couldn't compare to the Leviathan Virus, let alone the conceptual monstrosity that is the Old One Virus.

With that clarity, Lucius knew exactly how to complete his mission.

It was simple: brute force.

He glanced up at the rift in the sky, hovering like a watchful eye, an open wound in space-time.

Though the temporal fissure had shrunk slightly from when it first opened, thanks to the self-repair mechanisms of spacetime, it would soon close completely.

But that didn't matter.

A deluge of swirling black mist surged in, coalescing into two enormous smoke-wreathed hands.

The hands grabbed the edges of the rift and tore at it forcefully.

CRACK—CRACK—CRACK!

Black lightning crackled violently along the edges of the portal, space itself groaning under the unnatural pressure of being forcibly pried open.

Within seconds, the breach had expanded several times its original size.

Satisfied, Lucius surged forward as a black mist, plunging headlong into the parallel world.

And in that very moment, when his presence crossed the dimensional threshold, something across the cosmos stirred.

"…What is that?" Perched on a branch of the Tree of Beginning, a majestic bird wreathed in a radiant rainbow shimmer turned its gaze to the distant horizon. "Such a dreadful presence."

As one of the world's most revered mythical Pokémon, Ho-Oh had, in that instant, sensed an indescribable force enter the world.

"Not good…" Ho-Oh suddenly realized that the mere act of becoming aware of this entity had allowed a foreign will, one that wasn't its own, to emerge within its mind.

With a powerful flap of its wings, Ho-Oh took to the sky from the Tree of Beginning. Flames of pure white burst forth, engulfing its enormous body in sacred fire.

A brilliant arc of white flame cut across the sky, but Ho-Oh's cry was filled with unease.

"This power… my Sacred Fire can't purify it?!"

And it wasn't just Ho-Oh. Every being sensitive enough to feel Lucius's arrival faced the same insidious invasion.

Such was the terror of the Old One Virus: unrestricted by the laws of nature, it corrupted all things, tangible or intangible, with even the faintest connection.

Somewhere in the Orange Archipelago, deep inside a sprawling underground facility…

"You're saying there's been a distortion in the space-time continuum over Oblivia?" A young man with black eyes and black hair, dressed simply, studied the high-tech data presented to him.

"Yes, Lord Lucius." The scientist, refined in demeanor, blonde-haired with blue circuitry bands around his temples and spectacles perched on his nose, nodded. "The Temporal Stabilizer detected a violent distortion over Oblivia just moments ago. And it appears to be growing."

This other "Lucius" pondered a moment. "Any movement from the Resistance?"

"None so far," replied the scientist. "Surveillance reports no large-scale mobilization on their side."

"Hmm…" Parallel Lucius nodded. "Colress, keep a close eye on them. If you detect any signs involving Palkia or Dialga, report immediately."

"Yes, sir." Colress, formerly of Team Plasma and now the lead scientist under Umbrella, turned and left.

Lucius walked deeper into the base.

Rows upon rows of containment tanks filled with green fluid stretched before him. Inside floated various legendary Pokémon, either completed specimens or still in development.

But none of them remained in their original state. Each bore some mark of mutation.

Meanwhile, across the desolate remains of once-great cities, now wastelands crawling with the undead, chaos reigned.

Outside Pewter City's museum, ghoulish figures fought and devoured one another.

And these weren't just human corpses. Pokémon and ordinary animals had joined the horde.

One mutated Electabuzz, mid-bite into a human arm, suddenly twitched violently.

Its skin split open as countless tendrils, like living ramen noodles, burst forth, wrapping its entire body into a cocoon of flesh.

Moments later, the tendrils retracted.

What emerged was no longer Electabuzz. It had become Electroblight.

No longer a mindless beast chasing meat, Electroblight had regained self-awareness.

And it wasn't alone.

All over the planet, similar transformations were unfolding.

Any Pokémon or human previously infected with the Ouroboros Virus underwent a sudden evolution, regaining consciousness, growing stronger, becoming something more.

Lucius, through a single Ouroboros host, had triggered a total system-wide update across the entire viral network.

Next came the T-Virus. The G-Virus. The C-Virus. And beyond.

Then, something unprecedented happened.

Zombies, human and Pokémon alike, stopped fighting. They stopped eating. They stopped moving.

It was as if the entire planet's walking dead had been powered off.

Then, all at once, they looked up, gazing in the same direction.

Their vacant eyes flickered with something new: confusion, awe, joy… and pain.

As awareness returned, so too did knowledge: of a master who now held dominion over them.

And then, as if receiving a signal from a single source, they began to march.

In Kanto, every infected creature moved toward Cerulean City.

In Johto, they converged on Ecruteak City.

In Hoenn, they began marching toward Petalburg City.

Each of these cities housed Umbrella's regional headquarters.

And, of course, such organized movement did not go unnoticed.

Satellites in orbit picked up the patterns instantly.

"Reporting in, Lord Paul, emergency situation. We're being surrounded by infected hosts," a tense Umbrella officer reported from within Cerulean City's massive central command facility.

"Surrounded?" The purple-haired young man sitting in the command chair glanced at the satellite feed.

Airborne, terrestrial, aquatic—mutated Pokémon in every imaginable form were swarming toward Cerulean in numbers too vast to count. They moved with the precision of trained troops.

"What the hell is going on?" Paul muttered, brow furrowing. After a brief pause, he gave the order: "Activate Level One Base Defense Protocol. You're authorized to deploy Class-A lethal force."

With Paul's command, mechanical rumbling echoed through the steel walls.

The twenty-meter-tall barriers around the base surged skyward, climbing to over a hundred meters. Armored panels shifted, revealing rows of gleaming plasma cannons aimed at the horizon.

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