The sheer size of an entire planet made it impossible to infect every corner through traditional means. Vast regions remained untouched by human feet, and the terrain—sprawling oceans, labyrinthine underground caverns, towering mountain ranges—rendered any attempt at global infection via directed viral control utterly futile.
But there was one thing that all life on this planet shared: the air.
Be it plant, animal, or even inorganic matter, as long as the virus could be introduced into the planet's atmospheric circulation, it would eventually reach every living thing.
That was why Lucius turned to the microbial dispersal device.
Thousands of years ago, AZ had unleashed the ultimate weapon by draining the life force of countless Pokémon. But Lucius had found a perfect alternative.
He tethered the "Flower" to the violet meteorite. Instantly, the immense energy within the meteorite surged, activating the ancient weapon that had slumbered for millennia.
Geosenge Town trembled as Rayquaza ripped open the ground beneath it.
The Ultimate Weapon began to rise, emerging slowly like a budding stem breaking through the soil. Towering in the center of the stone forest, it loomed like a colossal flower stalk seeking the sky.
As energy continued to flow into it, the top of the weapon spun open, blooming into a massive flower gleaming with a violet halo, living up to its namesake, "the Flower."
At that moment, Lucius began injecting his viruses into a second meteorite.
The Leviathan Virus, Mindworm Form Veronica, T-Virus, G-Virus, C-Virus, each more nightmarish than the last, flooded the meteorite's core. It was soon corrupted, changing from emerald green into a nauseating swirl of iridescent colors that defied the senses, dazzling and dizzying in their unnatural hue.
This single act consumed nearly 90% of Lucius' viral reserves, excluding his main body.
And when this meteorite, more terrifying than Pandora's Box, finally took shape, the skies themselves recoiled. A wave of black energy lanced down from the sky, unstoppable and pure.
Simultaneously, the sun and moon appeared overhead, a paradox in broad daylight, one radiating golden fire, the other casting silver brilliance like a full moon at midnight.
They struck in tandem.
So, they came after all. But you're too late.
Lucius had hidden Necrozma well, and now it opened an Ultra Wormhole around the Flower in the blink of an eye.
The purifying silver light and the black beam of annihilation were both swallowed into the portal, diverted into a desolate realm beyond this world.
Lucius, who now was the planetary will incarnate, could still feel the damage those attacks inflicted on the world's surface.
But their true target, the Flower, remained unscathed.
As the attacks were shunted to the Ultra Space, the Flower's violet glow surged with blinding brilliance. Fueled by the energy of the violet meteorite, the virus-laden stone was enveloped by the Ultimate Weapon's beam, transforming into a radiant comet streaking into the skies.
Unlike AZ's original deployment of the Flower, where the weapon's blast crashed down to earth with destructive force, Lucius had no intention of letting this meteor fall.
Instead, it was destined for the stratosphere.
If it exploded there, the virus particles would scatter with the prevailing winds, drifting across the globe through the air itself.
If successful, it would only be a matter of time before the entire planet was saturated with these pathogens.
Of course, this tactic only worked with Lucius' viruses, most pathogens wouldn't survive long outside a host.
As the meteor soared upward, the silver "moon" above began to shift, transforming into a vast silver net that descended to ensnare it.
From the horizon, a massive black-and-red figure hurtled forward, its very presence warping the world into stark black and white.
Black Rayquaza coiled in a tight spiral, cloaking itself in radiant lapis dragon energy, then burst upward in a Dragon Ascent, smashing into the net and forcing it upward with brute strength.
At the same time, a streak of green pierced through the monochrome world, colliding head-on with the incoming red-and-black figure.
It was Mega Rayquaza, the Sky Sovereign, engaging Yveltal, the God of Death, in a savage midair clash.
The virus meteor shot higher still, nearing the top of the troposphere, when another phenomenon occurred.
Thousands of green lights erupted from across the Kalos region, rising in perfect synchronicity.
These countless points converged in the sky, merging into a single colossal form, an immense serpent, interwoven in black and green.
After Xerneas, the God of Life, and Yveltal, the God of Death, the third divine Pokémon had arrived: Zygarde, Guardian of Balance.
In the face of unparalleled crisis, the mythic overseer of the ecosystem, the one who punished those who disrupted nature, had finally recombined its countless scattered cells.
Zygarde's final form resembled a living mountain suspended in the air, vast beyond comprehension.
It opened its abyssal jaws and swallowed the virus meteor in one terrifying gulp.
From launch to interception, less than ten seconds had passed. All three Kalos legends had acted in unison to neutralize the threat.
But was the crisis truly over?
Zygarde's immense body convulsed midair, spasming uncontrollably.
Xerneas appeared in full form, galloping across the sky. Sacred light radiated from its rainbow antlers, washing over Zygarde's serpentine form and momentarily calming the tremors.
But only for a moment.
Then the guardian god spasmed again, even more violently. Cracks spread across its massive body. Hexagonal scales broke loose and tumbled into the void. Agonized roars tore from its throat.
Zygarde's greatest power was its decomposition ability, its capacity to break down threats at the molecular level.
It had tried to dissolve the meteor the instant it was swallowed.
But in doing so, it had overlooked a crucial fact: during its long dormancy, many of its dispersed cells had already been infected by Lucius' viruses.
The moment it reassembled, it brought those viruses home.
By ingesting the meteor, it had internalized the full payload.
Now, with its own decomposition unleashing the virus payload inside its core, infection spread unchecked throughout its massive frame.
Lucius, controlling the hidden pathogens dormant in its cells, triggered them all at once.
The viruses joined forces inside Zygarde's body.
And they weren't a single strain, some, like the G-Virus and C-Virus, were actively hostile to each other.
Zygarde's body became a battlefield, its organs the arena for viral warfare.
Lucius gave the command.
Both Mega Rayquaza and Black Rayquaza broke off their respective fights and turned toward Zygarde.
Mega Rayquaza, the faster of the two, reached it first, coiling its massive body around the thrashing guardian and climbing higher into the atmosphere.
Xerneas and Yveltal gave chase.
Yveltal, powered by its Flying-type speed, reached them in a blur, its massive wings spread like death's embrace, gripping both dragon and serpent.
Below, Xerneas unleashed radiant multicolor beams from its antlers, wrapping the entwined trio in bands of light, like divine chains trying to hold back the apocalypse.
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