Virus Evolution: Pokémon, Marvel & Beyond

Across Cerulean City, hidden passageways opened in all directions, not just weapons caches, but secret vaults built into the city's very foundations. From each one emerged Pokémon, mutated and twisted far beyond recognition.

These were Umbrella's subterranean forces, usually stationed deep underground. Each of them bore the unmistakable mark of biological corruption. Their forms varied wildly, some so far gone they no longer resembled their species, but all exuded overwhelming strength.

While the Umbrella base prepared for combat, the infected already within Cerulean and its outskirts had converged beneath the steel bastion.

Paul stared at the display, watching the infected encircle the facility. Their purpose, or the will driving them, remained unclear. He didn't order an immediate strike.

But he wasn't about to wait forever either. More infected poured in from distant zones with every minute. The longer the delay, the more their numerical advantage would spiral out of control.

Then, an alert.

The emergency channel lit up.

Paul's eyes flashed. A signal from the Commander.

"Hold your lines. Terminate any target that enters within five kilometers of the base."

Just one sentence. But that was all he needed.

Click-click-click—

The plasma cannons mounted on the bastion's mechanical walls rotated, locking onto targets. Then—

BOOM.

BOOM.

Each bolt of electric-white plasma detonated on impact, scorching ten-meter craters into the earth. Anything caught in the blast, aside from Ground- or Rock-types that resisted Electric attacks, was reduced to smoldering ash.

And then, as if triggered by a shared command, the horde retaliated.

Fireballs, Stone Edge shards, Ice Spears, and Mud Bombs surged toward the mechanical walls in a thunderous barrage. The shockwaves rattled the bastion, but the fortifications held. None of the incoming attacks could breach the steel barrier.

A mutated Golem took a direct plasma shot. Its rocky armor exploded outward, blood spraying, but it didn't fall. Instead, it roared and lunged upward, surging with destructive power.

Self-Destruct. It aimed to sacrifice itself to breach the wall.

But before it could land the blow, a magnetically controlled steel orb arced through the air, slamming into its skull and crushing it instantly.

From the haze, a massive Tyranitar emerged; three meters tall, its once-green shell now a deathly pale white. Its right arm was gone, replaced by a heavy artillery cannon. Thick blue-white plasma pulsed through pipes running from its back to the weapon, crackling with lethal charge.

It wasn't alone.

Alongside it came a Mega Evolved Salamence, bristling with modern armaments. Twin metallic tentacles, like the claws of a mechanized octopus, were grafted onto its shoulders, gleaming with rotating blades.

And then, a Weavile... at least, half a Weavile.

Its lower half remained familiar, but its upper body had been grotesquely altered: two heads, four arms, and an upright crest of red bio-tissue splitting its skulls like a crown of thorns.

This was one of Umbrella's Special Operations Units, a three-Pokémon strike team controlled via biotechnological chips, engineered for perfect synergy in combat.

Each of them had been a high-tier Pokémon before their augmentation. Now, they were monsters of precision warfare.

They plunged into the horde.

The Tyranitar fired steel slugs from its cannon, magnetically guided to pick off mutants that had evaded the plasma strikes.

Mega Salamence swept across the skies, its blade-tipped tentacles spinning like industrial meat grinders. Wherever it flew, it left crimson clouds of mist in its wake.

And Weavile, Umbrella's crowning masterpiece, moved like a black streak through the chaos. Its enhanced limbs struck with surgical lethality: blinding, disemboweling, eviscerating. Each slash targeted vitals. Even the resilient mutants couldn't endure its onslaught. In mere minutes, all four of its claws were soaked in blood.

These units had been elite even before their transformation. Post-modification, they tore through lesser infected like a scythe through grass.

And this trio was far from alone.

Cerulean City held more than one Special Operations Unit, at least ten were active, each deployed from a different sector. Their orders: to eliminate targets the plasma batteries couldn't destroy in a single hit, based on Umbrella's predictive combat algorithms.

Paul watched the evolving battlefield through satellite feeds.

Then, a signal flickered across his desk. Holographic projections shimmered into place as other Umbrella officials logged into the secured meeting channel. It was the full command council.

This was tech inherited from the Lysandre Labs, cutting-edge holo-interface systems.

One glance confirmed Paul's suspicion. Every Umbrella base was under siege.

This wasn't isolated.

It was global.

"Let me make this clear," the Commander said, his black eyes sweeping across the council's projections. "This is more severe than any of you realize."

Even through the illusion, his gaze was cold enough to chill the room.

But the others already understood.

To coordinate this many infected, across every continent, in synchronized silence, not even Umbrella, which effectively ruled the world, had that level of control.

"I'll say it again: this event concerns the fate of the entire planet."

Lucius, his counterpart in this parallel timeline, emphasized each word.

And behind his stern tone... was a flicker of excitement.

Because as the invasion began, he'd received a System Mission.

The first "Emergency Objective" in years.

The task was simple:

Resist the invasion of system-bounders from another dimension.

Lucius didn't feel fear.

He felt exhilaration.

For years, he'd known it was only a matter of time before he crushed the Resistance. Then what?

Would he just rule over the ashes of a ruined world?

Now, he understood.

This world wasn't the end.

He wasn't the only system user.

His future would no longer be confined to this small planet.

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