"Gengar, Hypnosis!"
Lu Chen ordered Gengar to use Hypnosis.
Dark purple ripples spread in rings, precisely enveloping the Ancient Gengar and Ancient Alakazam.
The two giant beasts visibly slowed, their eyelids growing heavier and their bodies beginning to sway.
Hypnosis was Lu Chen's Gengar's greatest specialty.
After more than a decade with Lu Chen, it had brought down countless enemies with this move on the battlefield, using it as naturally as breathing.
The two Ancient Pokémon struggled desperately, but their consciousness still teetered on the brink of sleep.
Just as they were about to fall completely asleep!
Bang!
The Ancient Alakazam abruptly raised its golden spoon and struck its own forehead hard, finally managing to wake through the intense physical pain.
Beside it, the Ancient Gengar followed suit. Gritting its teeth, it frantically slapped itself across the face and barely managed to wake up.
Both Pokémon regained their senses at the same time, the confusion in their eyes instantly replaced by brutality.
Hokuto watched with her heart pounding. "They... they actually hit themselves?"
Lu Chen raised an eyebrow slightly, though he was not particularly surprised.
Anything revered as a world-destroying power had to have something going for it.
Their willingness to hurt themselves rather than be hypnotized showed that these two imitations had at least retained some of the originals' instincts.
But that was all.
Once the Ancient Gengar and Ancient Alakazam woke, the first thing they saw was Lu Chen's Gengar.
The dark purple monster, larger than the two of them combined, was grinning widely as it looked down at them.
An inexplicable fear welled up in both Ancient Pokémon.
Their own size was already monstrous, yet the Gengar before them was far larger still.
The Ancient Gengar and Ancient Alakazam exchanged a look.
Just like Groudon and Kyogre, even mortal enemies would choose to join forces when faced with a powerful foe.
What they did not know, however, was that even Groudon and Kyogre together had never gotten the better of Rayquaza.
The two Ancient Pokémon turned at the same time and stood side by side.
The Ancient Alakazam's golden spoon lit up with psychic energy, while masses of Shadow Balls emerged around the Ancient Gengar.
They both aimed at Lu Chen's Gengar.
"Heh heh heh~"
Lu Chen's Gengar laughed.
It was not the least bit flustered. In fact, it found this quite entertaining.
Even in its normal form, Lu Chen's Gengar possessed strength at the peak of Champion level.
In its super-giant form, it had even brushed against the realm of gods.
Dealing with these two punks could hardly have been easier.
"Gengar, Shadow Ball."
Lu Chen's voice was casual.
Lu Chen's Gengar raised one claw, and a Shadow Ball formed in its palm.
The Shadow Ball was not large, only the size of a washbasin, utterly insignificant compared with its sky-obscuring body.
But the Ancient Gengar and Ancient Alakazam froze simultaneously.
They could sense the energy compressed within that Shadow Ball.
It had a terrifying density capable of piercing both their bodies in a single blow.
"Heh heh heh~"
With a sinister chuckle, Gengar casually flicked its claw.
The Shadow Ball became a streak of black light, precisely striking the ground between the Ancient Gengar and Ancient Alakazam.
Boom-!
The ground exploded, and a shock wave spread outward. Both Ancient Pokémon were thrown back, slamming into the mountain walls on either side with two thunderous thuds.
Rubble rained down, and half of each of the two mountaintops collapsed from the impacts.
Hokuto sat sprawled on the ground, rocked from side to side by the tremors.
She looked up at Lu Chen's Gengar, her lips trembling, unable to utter a word.
Hokuto slowly turned to look at Lu Chen.
"Just who are you, to have caught an Ancient Gengar this powerful?"
Her voice held an almost desperate thirst for answers:
"You know so much about the language and affairs of the super-ancient era, and you have an Ancient Pokémon like this! Just who are you..."
Lu Chen spread his hands and said with a smile:
"Since you're a doctor of super-ancient studies, why don't you take a guess?"
Hokuto fell silent.
She began piecing together all the clues.
Lu Chen's command of the Pokémopolis Language surpassed that of any scholar she had ever met.
That strange look in Lu Chen's eyes when he saw the ruins they had first discovered.
And Lu Chen's Gengar bore the highest-ranking ritual markings of the Pokémopolis Civilization, a Gengar that could grow to super-giant size...
Besides, this was the world of Pokémon.
Traveling beyond time and space was not mere fantasy.
An outrageously bold conjecture surfaced in Hokuto's mind.
It was so outrageous that even Hokuto herself found it absurd, yet it made perfect sense!
If the Lu Chen before her really had traveled from the super-ancient era to the present, what meaning was there in all her years of researching the Super-Ancient Civilization?
Wouldn't all the knowledge she had learned look as ridiculous to Lu Chen as an elementary school student reciting a textbook?
Hokuto hesitated for a long while before silently burying that most likely answer in the deepest recesses of her heart.
She raised her head, took a deep breath, and voiced her second guess to Lu Chen:
"You're a researcher of the super-ancient era from another region, aren't you? You caught that Gengar in some ruins!"
Lu Chen rubbed his nose.
"More or less."
Meanwhile, the battle between the three Ancient Pokémon had reached its fiercest stage.
The Ancient Gengar and Ancient Alakazam gave it everything they had, pouring out Shadow Balls and psychic shock waves like a torrential downpour, but hitting Lu Chen's Gengar with them was like tickling it.
Lu Chen's Gengar dodged from side to side, occasionally swatting with a claw and sending the two Pokémon rolling across the ground.
The three giant beasts' battlefield stretched from the ruins all the way into the nearby mountains.
Every strike shook the earth, and every aftershock changed the color of the sky.
Never mind the nearby towns.
Even from Pallet Town, the three colossal figures were clearly visible on the distant horizon.
Dark purple and golden light flashed alternately, interspersed with the largest Gengar's signature dark purple, sinister laughter.
Professor Oak's Laboratory.
Professor Oak sat at his desk, holding a freshly prepared bowl of instant noodles.
He picked up his chopsticks, lifted some noodles, blew on them, and brought them toward his mouth.
Then he caught sight of something outside the window.
"What on earth has been going on lately? Are super-giant Pokémon being handed out wholesale?"
Outside the window, three gigantic Pokémon were fighting until the sky and earth darkened.
The largest Gengar was dark purple all over, its body covered in strange black patterns.
Those patterns glimmered in the moonlight, so familiar that Professor Oak's heart clenched.
"That's..."
Professor Oak's hands began to shake.
"Lu Chen's Gengar?"
His grip loosened, and the bowl of instant noodles smashed onto the floor, spilling broth and noodles everywhere.
But Professor Oak no longer had any attention to spare for his noodles. He lunged toward the window, pressing his face almost against the glass.
There was no mistake.
Those patterns, that size, that signature sinister laugh.
It was Lu Chen's Gengar.
Professor Oak's lips trembled.
He suddenly realized that he might never have truly understood Lu Chen's strength.
Delia was standing in her own yard as well.
She watched the three giant beasts on the distant horizon, her hands tightly clasped before her chest.
Mr. Mime cowered behind her, trembling in fear.
Delia did not recognize those Pokémon, but she recognized the familiar patterns on the largest Gengar.
"Mr. Lu Chen..." She closed her eyes and prayed silently.
"Please be safe."
Ash, Misty, and Brock also saw them on their way back to Pallet Town.
Ash stood by the roadside, staring up at the three enormous figures in the distance, completely stunned.
"Wh... what are those?"
Brock was silent for a long time before suddenly saying, "The patterns on the biggest Gengar are exactly the same as those on Mr. Lu Chen's."
Ash whipped his head around. "What did you say?!"
Throughout the Kanto Region.
Countless people witnessed this epic battle with their own eyes.
Some thought it was a natural disaster, some thought Legendary Pokémon had descended, some pulled out their phones and frantically took pictures, and some had already begun packing to flee.
By now, seeing that the time was about right.
Lu Chen's Gengar pointed with both hands.
A pitch-black fissure instantly opened beneath the Ancient Gengar and Ancient Alakazam, an entrance to another dimension.
Before the two Pokémon could react, the ground vanished beneath their feet, and half their bodies had already sunk inside.
The energy of the other dimension became invisible chains, binding them firmly.
"It's time to end this battle, Gengar!"
Seeing that Gengar was about to end the battle, Hokuto suddenly remembered something, and her face went deathly pale.
"Mr. Lu Chen! The archaeological team is still inside Gengar!"