—Flashback: Earlier, at the edge of the seal chamber—
Skylar stepped away from the ring of stone, ducking behind a jagged wall where the light dimmed. Misty was tending to Froakie near the cave's edge, and Gardevoir stood nearby, silently keeping watch.
Skylar pulled out his PokéGear, activating a private communication line.
He hesitated for just a moment—then hit Gary Oak on the emergency frequency.
The screen buzzed once.
Twice.
Then connected.
—"Skylar?" Gary's face appeared, slightly grainy. "What's going on? You're calling on a secured channel—"
—"I'm in Mt. Moon," Skylar interrupted. "We've found something. No. Something found us."
Gary straightened. "Be specific."
—"The corruption Darkrai warned us about? It's real. It's happening here."
Gary went silent.
Skylar continued. "We've already fought several corrupted Pokémon. Zubat, Poliwhirl… even a Nidoking. They're twisted. Controlled. And we just encountered a new species—something not native. Intelligent. Watching us."
Gary exhaled sharply. "Mt. Moon was always weird… but if this is tied to that vision—"
—"We need reinforcements," Skylar said. "And someone from the research division. This isn't a natural outbreak. Something came down. Something alive."
Gary nodded. "Alright. I'll get a recon team together. Stay alive until then."
Skylar looked back toward Misty.
—"That's the plan."
The call ended.
Skylar slid the PokéGear back into his bag, clenched his fist, and turned to join her.
They descended into darkness.
—Present—
The tunnel behind them sealed shut like skin stitching over a wound.
Skylar and Misty stood frozen at the mouth of the chamber beyond.
It was vast—easily the size of a stadium, but it shouldn't have existed under Mt. Moon.
The walls were no longer rock. They were made of some fleshy, mineral-fused substance that pulsed faintly with violet veins. Large, translucent sacs hung from the ceiling, each glowing with soft internal light—and inside…
Skylar's stomach turned.
—"Pokémon," he whispered. "Or what used to be."
Inside the sacs, half-formed aberrations twitched.
A Machop with four arms—but no eyes.
A Clefairy with blackened skin, twitching uncontrollably.
An Onix, smaller than usual, its body melted into an obsidian spiral with glowing teeth lining its segments.
—"They're not dead," Misty whispered, her voice trembling. "They're evolving. Being changed."
Charmeleon stepped protectively in front of them, growling, his flame flaring brighter.
Gardevoir froze.
—"The aura in this place is… muted. Twisted. As if the will of something larger is overwriting the instincts of everything within it."
At the center of the chamber stood the hive's heart: a large black crystal spike erupting from the ground, wrapped in dark, web-like growths. Around it, several of the new species—the serpent-like, eyeless watchers—crawled silently.
But they weren't hostile.
They were working.
Harvesting the sacs.
Injecting them with glowing fluid from small nodes at their wrists.
Creating more.
Skylar whispered, "They're building an army."
Misty's breath hitched. "This is what Darkrai saw."
Skylar reached slowly into his bag and pulled out the crystal shard from the last battle.
It pulsed faintly in response to the chamber's core. The shard wanted to return.
—"Skylar…" Misty said. "What happens if they finish?"
He looked up at her.
—"Then they don't just take Mt. Moon. They take Kanto."
She tightened her grip on Starmie's Poké Ball. "Then we stop them before that."
A movement on the far side of the hive caught Skylar's eye.
One of the sacs was… different.
Larger.
Darker.
And it twitched in time with the hive core's pulses—like it was breathing in sync.
Whatever was inside… it wasn't done.
But it was almost ready.
Skylar took a step back.
—"We're out of time."