Watching Raticate, Arcanine, Togekiss, Lucario, and Raichu disappear into unknown lands beyond rescue, Alex's eyes darkened as he arrived at a cold-blooded decision. His aura bloomed dangerously with killing intent, his expression turning ice-cold.
Gardevoir shivered.
She was instantly reminded of the last time Alex had been this bloodthirsty. It had happened during their battle against Mewtwo, when the Legendary Pokémon took control of over half their team. Before that, it had been when Forretress and Steelix were killed by Team Luminal bandits. Now, his darker side had surfaced once more in full bloom. There was no doubt he would show this Hoopa the exact same cruelty.
Suddenly, Gardevoir received instructions on how to proceed with the battle. No, that wasn't quite right. She received what amounted to a three-dimensional projection of exactly how Alex wanted the strategy to unfold. It was a viciously underhanded plan, a massive improvement over their previous strategy, which had relied far too heavily on raw combat ability.
Alex's intent was clear. They could not afford another mistake.
She quickly relayed the instructions to the remaining Pokémon, forcing them into the new formation and attack pattern. It was an unconventional setup, but it was perfectly tailored to exploit an opponent with six arms.
The seven remaining members of the attack team immediately started running in a circle around Hoopa. It looked chaotic because their individual speeds varied, but it achieved the intended effect. Hoopa was thoroughly distracted.
Next, the surrounding defense team turned their attention toward the six floating arms. They couldn't attack Hoopa directly without forcing it to play defensively, which would likely lead to its escape. Instead, they targeted its limbs to lock down its movement. They deployed high-accuracy, single-target attacks like Swift and Water Pulse to guarantee every strike connected. Given the sheer number of defenders, they were dealing massive damage.
This put Hoopa on the back foot, disorienting it further.
Suddenly, Kommo-o broke away from the circle and surged toward Hoopa. The Mythical Pokémon remained on high guard and quickly used the sixth arm atop its head to conjure a portal, intending to banish Kommo-o to a random dimension. At the very last moment, Kommo-o jolted backward and seamlessly rejoined the running circle. It was a feint all along, and it left Hoopa visibly startled.
This grueling cycle repeated relentlessly with unpredictable changes in timing, speed, and numbers. The attack team kept circling Hoopa and executed constant feints to trap the Mythical Pokémon in a passive state of defense. Meanwhile, the backline peppered it with calculated potshots. Hoopa was losing this agonizingly slow war of attrition in a process that felt closer to torture than an actual battle.
Unable to take the taunting any further, Hoopa unleashed its signature move, Hyperspace Fury.
Its six arms thrust outward, casting six gold rings into the air that expanded into swirling portals. Rather than utilizing them defensively to banish its opponents, Hoopa primed a coordinated assault through the dimensional gateways. A fraction of a second later, a devastating barrage of Dark energy exploded outward from every single ring at once.
"Now," Alex whispered, the word unheard, yet his intent flared with crystal clarity to Gardevoir.
At her command, the attack team absorbed the heavy impacts as they broke through the barrage, circling past the limbs and charging directly toward Hoopa's main body. Simultaneously, the defense team intensified their assault, locking down the six floating arms and preventing them from retreating to protect the torso.
Hoopa panicked, desperately trying to retract its limbs, but they were too slow to intercept the rushing Pokémon. With its defenses completely compromised, it had no choice but to weather the incoming storm.
Unfortunately for the Mythical Pokémon, the resulting damage was catastrophic. Ceruledge, Kommo-o, and Gallade unleashed a synchronized, max-Attack-stack X-Scissor while Lopunny pivoted with U-turn, Dusknoir drained its energy with Life Leech, and Breloom followed with a Pounce. Every single strike dealt devastating physical damage, ruthlessly exploiting Hoopa's low Defense stat and fatal 4-times Bug energy weakness to tear its remaining health to shreds.
The damage was so significant that Hoopa couldn't even summon the strength to roar. It simply crumpled to the ground and fainted, its six floating arms finally crashing down beside it.
The battle was won, but no cheers rose from Alex's Pokémon. They had lost five of their own, swallowed by dimensions beyond their reach, with no way to bring them back. Now, every eye turned toward Alex to see how he would handle the fallen Mythical Pokémon. Looking at his cold expression, everyone already knew the truth that there would be no mercy in what came next.
Alex knelt beside Hoopa's fainted body, placed his hand on its head, and closed his eyes to concentrate. He injected his Dark type energy into Hoopa in full force, completely filling its body. The Pokémon's energy immediately retaliated, fighting his presence with all its might, but Alex ignored the resistance and pushed forward.
Normally, bonding with a Pokémon required their approval. Otherwise, the energy would fight back and prevent the bond from forming. Most trainers used food, deals, or kindness to convince the Pokémon to submit before beginning the process. Cruel trainers, however, utilized this forced method to guarantee subservience from lower-ranked Pokémon.
Unfortunately, Alex's target this time was a Champion ranked Mythical Pokémon. The creature possessed power on par with his own Master ranked energy, which made the difficulty nearly impossible. That was where the presence of his other Pokémon helped. Their energies merged with his, allowing him to force the bond.
The essence of the process mirrored what had happened to him in the past with Grim. During their bond, Alex was completely consumed by Grim's primal, ferocious nature, which brought out his own stone-cold killer mentality.
Now, the process was reversed, with Alex completely dominating Hoopa and forcing the bond to build familiarity. While it wouldn't make Hoopa suddenly worship the ground Alex walked on, it should be enough to make the Pokémon listen without lashing out violently in its confusion.
"Friend, I do not know what you are doing but I cannot allow it to continue," a man said as he approached after Alex's battle with Hoppa.
Alex took a moment to examine the interloper and narrowed his eyes. The man was undeniably powerful, exuding the distinct aura of a Master ranked trainer. Oddly, he possessed no other energies within his body apart from two distinct signatures, his own and that of one powerful Pokémon. He was likely a trainer who relied on just one Master ranked companion. Stranger still, he didn't seem to have any Pokémon with him at all. Whatever the case, Alex felt confident his team could handle the stranger.
"Gardevoir," Alex called out.
Without further instruction, Gardevoir immediately ordered all of his Pokémon into a strategic formation. The defensive team encircled Alex to shield him, while the attack team simultaneously closed in around the stranger, prepared to strike.
"I do not want to fight, but I cannot allow you to continue," the man said, pulling out what appeared to be slabs of differently colored metals.
"Then it sounds like you want to fight," Alex said with a chuckle. "You don't care what's actually happening. You just barge in right after watching the battle, and now you're telling me to do what you say or else?"
"I will not allow you to corrupt such a powerful Pokémon."
"Gardevoir, you can eat him if you want. I'm curious to see where he gets his self-righteous attitude from."
"You leave me no choice!" the man said, as a massive wave of psychic energy erupted from the pink plate in his hand.
The blast felt just like a Master ranked Expanding Force, even without Psychic Terrain active. A powerful shockwave exploded from his body, attempting to blow everyone away, but Alex's Pokémon tanked the hit behind Protect shields. They immediately launched a coordinated counterattack from a distance.
"Tch," the man spat, quickly backing away.
Silver energy wrapped around his body in a rapid, retreat-focused Quick Attack. He dodged the oncoming barrage, weaved straight through the attack team, and bolted far away. A flurry of long-range attacks chased after him, driving him further and further from Alex and Hoopa.
The man then swapped his pink plate for a blue one and unleashed a massive tidal wave. It was Surf, empowered with an immense range meant to wash Alex and his Pokémon away.
Once again, they simply shielded themselves with Protect before launching an even stronger counterattack. They unleashed a combined storm of area-of-effect moves, mixing Surf, Dazzling Gleam, and Rock Slide. The onslaught forced the man to retreat yet again, giving Alex the breathing room to continue his forced bonding with Hoopa.
Finally, Alex managed to push through and reach Hoopa's heart, where the Pokémon's energy was at its densest. He forced his way inside and claimed it, allowing his Dark energy to pump through the rest of the body and flood the brain. This invasive method ensured his energy would linger to enforce familiarity, effectively half-completing the bond.
Once Alex felt satisfied with the saturation, he finalized the process by injecting a tiny fraction of his own Aura to impress his will upon the Pokémon. Though small in quantity, this piece carried immense power, having been carefully cultivated to completion over decades. Hoopa's body didn't accept the foreign presence immediately, but it didn't outright reject the power as before either, allowing the spark of Aura to drift freely and slowly blend their energies together.
"This should about do it," Alex said, letting out a sigh of relief.
He had worried that Hoopa might be too powerful to bend to his will given its Mythical status. Fortunately, having multiple Master ranked Pokémon by his side provided the extra energy he needed to tip the scales.
Alex took out a Max Revive and sprayed it all over Hoopa's giant body. Because that didn't seem to be enough, he kept pulling out more bottles and spraying the liquid until Hoopa finally sat up with a confused expression.
"Hello there," Alex said with a kind smile, catching Hoopa's attention.
The giant Pokémon looked down at the puny human. It sensed a strange familiarity with him, almost like they were family. The feeling made no sense to Hoopa, since it knew from the day it was born that it had no family in this world. It was a completely unique existence.
"I heard you grant wishes in exchange for food," Alex said, pulling out a box of donuts he got from Lina. "Would you mind returning my Pokémon in exchange for these?"
Hoopa marveled at the ring-shaped food, as it was the first time it had ever seen such a treat in this world. It tentatively grabbed one and took a bite, its face instantly lighting up with pure delight. The pastry tasted every bit as delicious as it had imagined.
Hoopa looked down at the amazing human and eagerly prepared to grant his wish as the exact specifications of the missing Pokémon flooded its mind. It recalled the five creatures that had attacked it earlier, all of which it had banished to random dimensions.
"Hoopa!" it growled, indicating that the task would be no problem at all.
With a sweep of its arms, five golden rings expanded into floating portals, dropping the missing team members back beside the others. Togekiss, Lucario, and Raichu tumbled out, fainted and covered in scorch marks or soaked with water, but they were otherwise alive. Strangely, Raticate and Arcanine stood tall and proudly raised their heads, unleashing the full weight of their powerful auras.
"You've reached Master rank?" Alex exclaimed as their newly elevated energies surged into his body.