Recaps

After Lillie defeated Lusamine’s Milotic, An Xiu left Alola for Galar, leaving Lusamine and Lillie focused on building the new Alola League and unconcerned about Gladion. An Xiu returned to Stow-on-Side, where Rose learned that he had helped establish the Alola League and questioned how closely he was involved.

• Lillie defeated Lusamine’s Milotic in battle, proving she had reached Elite Four level without relying on Solgaleo.
• An Xiu told Lusamine and Lillie he planned to leave Alola, then flew to Galar with Chic Freya; Lusamine and Lillie resolved to develop the Alola Region and left Gladion where he was.
• During the flight, An Xiu used the Mega Monster Battle Nizer and drew Hyperion, a Merafissian, and Gatanothor.
• An Xiu landed at Stow-on-Side Stadium, reunited with Bea, and discussed recent events, including the Alola League’s establishment.
• Rose met An Xiu and asked whether he had helped establish the Alola League; An Xiu confirmed that he had assisted its chairwoman, Lusamine.

An Xiu showed Rose how a Trainer’s bond with a Pokémon could become battle power, offering a potential solution to Galar’s dwindling Dynamax energy. After Bea and Machamp demonstrated the power, Leon arrived to test it in battle, and the chapter ended as Machamp charged his Charizard.

• Rose learned that An Xiu knew about the Legendary Pokémon beneath Hammerlocke and listened as An Xiu proposed a way to address Galar’s energy crisis.
• An Xiu had Chic Freya draw out the bond between Bea and Machamp, and Bea channelled that power into Machamp, raising its strength to the Champion level.
• Rose summoned Leon to Stow-on-Side Stadium, where An Xiu arranged a battle between Leon and Bea to test the bond power.
• Leon sent out Charizard, and Bea and Machamp resonated with one another, boosting Machamp’s strength to match or surpass Charizard’s.
• Leon ordered Charizard to use Air Slash, and Bea sent Machamp charging through the attack to strike Charizard with Dual Chop.

An Xiu explained that Bond Power could be collected and used to solve Galar’s energy crisis, then proposed a worldwide Pokémon tournament with the Galar and Alola Leagues. Rose agreed to organize it and tried to win An Xiu’s favor by offering to arrange a meeting with Nessa.

• Bea’s Machamp and Leon’s Dynamaxed Charizard exchanged powerful attacks until both lost the ability to battle, producing a draw.
• An Xiu explained Bond Phenomenon and had Chic Freya gather the Bond Power left behind by Bea and Machamp’s battle.
• Rose realized Bond Power could help resolve Galar’s energy crisis and pleaded with An Xiu to grant the ability to more Trainers.
• An Xiu proposed a worldwide tournament jointly hosted by the Galar and Alola Leagues, with Chic Freya granting Bond Phenomenon to the selected Trainers, and Rose agreed to proceed.
• Rose showed An Xiu a modeling magazine featuring Nessa and offered to arrange for her to appear in his bed within three days.

Rose brought Nessa and Sonia to Stow-on-Side Stadium, where Nessa lost badly to Bea before Rose secretly drugged both women. An Xiu revealed what had happened as they struggled with the effects, leaving them shocked and asking why Rose had targeted them.

• Bea said her battle against Leon had exhilarated her, then returned to training to improve.
• Rose arrived at Stow-on-Side Stadium with Nessa and Sonia, intending to offer them to An Xiu; Sonia also wanted to ask him about Bond Phenomenon and his Legendary Pokémon.
• Nessa battled Bea in a six-on-six match, but Bea defeated all six of Nessa’s Pokémon without using Bond Phenomenon or Dynamax.
• After the battle, Rose handed out drugged water; Nessa and Sonia drank it, while An Xiu noticed the water was suspicious.
• Rose left with Bea, and An Xiu told Nessa and Sonia that the water had been tampered with as they began feeling its effects.

An Xiu explained that Rose had offered Nessa and Sonia to secure his support for Galar, then persuaded Nessa to stay and train rather than seek futile revenge. Half a month later, Nessa had grown strong enough to defeat Bea’s Hawlucha, while Rose viewed her and Sonia as ties that could keep An Xiu aligned with the Galar League.

• An Xiu told Nessa and Sonia that Rose had treated them as bargaining chips, and he brought them to his room after they were weakened by the altered water.
• Afterward, Sonia accepted the situation more readily, while Nessa prepared to leave but paused when An Xiu offered to train her and help her gain the Bond Phenomenon.
• Nessa agreed to stay for training, and Sonia remained with An Xiu as well.
• Over the next half month, An Xiu gave Nessa the Bond Phenomenon seed and Exp. Shares for her Pokémon, while Bea also trained with Exp. Shares.
• Nessa’s Drednaw defeated Bea’s Hawlucha, marking a major improvement in Nessa’s battling strength and command.
• Rose praised the two Gym Leaders and considered Nessa and Sonia potential anchors tying An Xiu to the Galar League, despite Nessa’s continued resentment toward him.

An Xiu rushed to Sinnoh after Dialga and Palkia warned that Arceus’s avatar had awakened early and threatened to destroy the world. When Arceus attacked the Sinnoh trio, Chic Freya broke through his Plate-based defenses with bond power and struck him, leaving Arceus shocked.

• Rose told An Xiu that plans for the joint Galar-Alola tournament had stalled over choosing a venue, and An Xiu considered ways to create one.
• Dialga and Palkia urgently warned An Xiu that Arceus was about to awaken, so An Xiu left for Sinnoh with Chic Freya after informing Nessa, Sonia, and Rose of the danger.
• An Xiu met Dialga, Palkia, and the hidden Giratina near Michina as they prepared to confront Arceus’s avatar.
• Arceus arrived and nullified Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina’s attacks with the power of his Plates, then battered the three Legendary Pokémon.
• An Xiu sent Chic Freya to attack Arceus, and her bond power, reinforced by reality-warping, pierced his defenses and sent him crashing to the ground.

An Xiu and Chic Freya defeated Arceus’s avatar, then An Xiu proposed testing whether the world’s people would show compassion when faced with destruction. He released Gatanothor, whose darkness engulfed the world, leaving Arceus to decide whether to intervene as the League regions struggled against the spreading black mist.

• Chic Freya overwhelmed Arceus with Bond Power and defeated it with Dimensional Transcendence Cannon.
• An Xiu told Arceus he would not demand that it abandon its hatred, but urged it not to punish the innocent world for the humans who betrayed it.
• An Xiu proposed a bet and released Gatanothor from the Mega Monster Battle Nizer near Sunyshore City.
• Gatanothor’s darkness spread across Sinnoh and then the world, while Volkner, Cynthia, and Wallace reacted to the growing catastrophe.
• The Leagues evacuated civilians and sent Trainers to attack the black mist, but their efforts failed and people and Pokémon vanished when swallowed.
• An Xiu told Arceus that no one was in mortal danger yet, but warned that it needed to make its choice before his control over the darkness ran out.

As the black mist spread across the Pokémon World, Cynthia rode Garchomp to confront its source, the enormous Gatanothor. Steven Stone, Wallace, and Lance joined her, but their combined attacks barely affected the monster, leaving the four Champions facing an enemy they had no confidence of defeating.

• Leon, Bea, and Nessa fought to hold back the black mist while Sonia tried to analyze it, and Xerneas and Ho-Oh sheltered people at great cost to their strength.
• Ultra Necrozma protected Alola's central island as Lusamine and Lillie organized aid and evacuated civilians.
• Cynthia flew toward the black mist's source and encountered Gatanothor rising from the sea; despite Professor Carolina's warning, she ordered Garchomp to attack.
• Gatanothor's tentacles struck Garchomp, but Steven Stone and Wallace arrived and used psychic force to save Cynthia and her Pokémon.
• Lance joined Cynthia, Steven Stone, and Wallace, and the four Champions launched a coordinated attack that barely diverted Gatanothor's tentacles.

Arceus agreed to abandon his hatred of humanity and went to face Gatanothor after An Xiu refused to recall the monster immediately. Arceus’s attacks barely affected Gatanothor, while a gold-blue light rescued the exhausted Champions from the sea.

• Lance’s Dragonite struck Gatanothor with Dragon Claw, but its attack failed to damage the monster’s hard carapace.
• Cynthia, Lance, Steven Stone, and Wallace boosted their Pokémon and launched their strongest moves, but Gatanothor remained unharmed and knocked them into the sea.
• Arceus told An Xiu he would let go of his hatred, and An Xiu said Arceus had to defeat Gatanothor with help from Chic Freya.
• Arceus flew to the battlefield and attacked Gatanothor with Judgment and a powerful charge, but neither attack caused significant damage.
• Wallace and Cynthia struggled to stay afloat as the Champions drifted apart, until a gold-blue light lifted all four into the air.

An Xiu and Chic Freya helped defeat Gatanothor, whose black mist had plunged the Pokémon World into despair, and An Xiu was summoned into a consciousness space by Arceus’s true body. Arceus thanked him and agreed to a friendly relationship, but An Xiu still needed to learn how they would contact each other.

• An Xiu and Chic Freya returned the Champions’ Pokémon and sent Cynthia, Steven Stone, Wallace, and Lance to safety.
• Chic Freya used Wings of Soaring Hope, drawing Bond Power from people across the Pokémon World and blasting Gatanothor back twice.
• Chic Freya and Arceus’s avatar unleashed their strongest attacks, and An Xiu recalled Gatanothor as the attacks cleared the black mist.
• Arceus’s true body brought An Xiu into a consciousness space, thanked him for resolving his avatar’s anger, and asked why he had come to the Pokémon World.
• An Xiu explained that he had come to establish a mutually helpful relationship, and Arceus agreed before An Xiu asked how they could contact each other.

After defeating Gatanothor, An Xiu used Arceus's avatar to create an island venue for a tournament jointly hosted by the Galar and Alola Leagues. Half a month later, he arrived for the Top 32 Tournament's opening ceremony, where Chic Freya was expected to grant the contestants the Bond Phenomenon.

• An Xiu returned from the battle against Gatanothor with Arceus's avatar captured in a Poké Ball, and the Black Fog lifted across the Pokémon World.
• An Xiu told Rose he would solve the tournament venue problem, then had Arceus's avatar create a large island and battle venue between Galar and Alola.
• Rose and Lusamine arranged preparations and regional selections, and thirty-two top Trainers qualified for the tournament; Nessa and Bea could not enter because they already had the Bond Phenomenon.
• During the voyage to the tournament, An Xiu asked Lillie why she had declined to compete, and she said she wanted to strengthen her other Pokémon before entering a future tournament.
• An Xiu arrived at the packed venue with Nessa, Sonia, and Lillie, where Rose told him the opening ceremony was ready and the contestants, including several regional Champions, had gathered.

An Xiu granted the Bond Phenomenon to the tournament’s contestants, then returned three days later to face Cynthia, the tournament’s final winner. Cynthia and Spiritomb awakened their bond power and began their challenge against An Xiu’s Regigigas.

• An Xiu and Chic Freya bestowed the Bond Phenomenon on the thirty-two contestants and empowered the battlefield to pass on that power in future battles.
• Three days later, Cynthia emerged as the tournament champion and challenged An Xiu, explaining that her Garchomp and other Champions’ aces had grown stronger after facing Gatanothor.
• An Xiu explained that Cynthia had to defeat three of his Pokémon to win, and both Trainers began their six-Pokémon battle with Spiritomb and Regigigas.
• Cynthia and Spiritomb activated the Bond Phenomenon, raising Spiritomb’s strength enough to threaten Regigigas.
• An Xiu ordered Regigigas to use High Horsepower; Regigigas closed the distance and smashed Spiritomb into the cracked battlefield.

An Xiu’s Regigigas defeated five of Cynthia’s Bond Phenomenon-empowered Pokémon before Cynthia sent out her ace, Garchomp. An Xiu brought out Arceus, which defeated Garchomp and ended the match with his victory.

• Cynthia’s Spiritomb landed Will-O-Wisp on Regigigas before being knocked out by its Hammer Arm.
• Cynthia sent out Lucario, and Bond Phenomenon empowered it to fight An Xiu’s Regigigas.
• After Regigigas defeated five of Cynthia’s Pokémon, An Xiu recalled it and Cynthia faced him with her still-strong Garchomp.
• An Xiu sent out Arceus and ordered it to use Judgment against Garchomp’s Dragon Rush.
• Arceus defeated Garchomp, and the referee declared An Xiu the winner.