Paradise Pokeball System

Vol. 2 Chapter 94: The Ultra-Static Architect

The laboratory didn't exist on any map of the Alola region. It didn't even exist on the planet.

Deep within a pocket of Ultra Space, suspended in a nebula of flickering violet radiation and jagged crystalline debris, sat the Axiom Central. It was a spire of white polymer and graviton-emitters that shouldn't have been able to maintain a physical form in the chaotic pressure of the "Between," yet it held steady—anchored to the Luminos R&D Island in Landon’s timeline by a shimmering, mile-wide umbilical cord of light.

Inside, the laws of physics were suggestions at best. Shadows fell toward the ceiling, and the sound of humming machinery seemed to originate from the air itself.

Colress paced the length of the command deck, his boots clicking rhythmically against a floor that looked like a window into a starless void. Every few steps, his image would flicker, momentarily replaced by a version of himself wearing a different coat, or a version that was five inches shorter, before snapping back into his current "Prime" form.

"Another micro-fracture," Colress muttered, tapping a glass tablet with a frantic, trembling finger. "Every time the tether pulses, the causality-leak increases by 0.004 percent. Fascinating. Simply marvelous."

He stopped in front of a massive, holographic array that displayed a flickering, 3D map of the multiverse. It looked like a shattered mirror, with thousands of jagged shards representing different timelines. Several of those shards were highlighted in a sickly, necrotic red.

"You're destabilizing the local cluster, Version 8," a cold, dry voice rang out.

Colress didn't turn. He looked at the reflection in the glass. Behind him, seated in a high-backed chair, was a version of himself that looked to be in his late eighties. His hair was a dull, ashen gray, and his eyes were milky with cataracts, yet they burned with a terrifying, ancient intelligence.

"The 'local cluster' is a redundant variable, Ancient One," the active Colress chirped, his voice rising in an unhinged, manic lilt. "Every portal I rip open to feed the DD System holder causes a ripple. A character here, a memory there... the timelines are bleeding into one another. It’s shortening the map and making it much more accessible. Isn't that what we wanted? To turn the multiverse into a single, observable petri dish?"

He turned and gestured wildly to the perimeter of the room. There, floating in individual stasis pods, were dozens of other "Colress" iterations. Some were mere children; others were twisted by Mega Evolution energy into something barely human. They were his collective, a hive-mind of ego spread across the stars.

"If I have to break a few thousand timelines to find the source of the Prism Energy, I will do it," he laughed, the sound sharp and echoing in the thin atmosphere of Ultra Space. "Landon is the key. His PP System creates a 'Paradise'—a stable, closed-loop reality. My DD System holder..."

He walked toward a central containment unit where the captured Hero—the DD System Holder—was suspended. The man was a blackened husk, his body serving as a living conduit for the Disillusioning Destruction.

"He only creates rot," Colress whispered, leaning his face against the cold glass. "He tries to remember his lost home, and his system projects a 'Disillusion'—a beautiful, fake overlay. But because he’s infected, the 'Destruction' eats the physical world beneath the image. It’s a tragedy of code. A beautiful, entropic failure."

A console nearby let out a high-pitched, melodic chime. Colress’s eyes widened, and he lunged for the controls, his hands dancing across holographic keys with terrifying speed.

"He's moved! Landon has stepped onto the transport!"

Colress watched as a golden dot appeared on the Luminos R&D Island's sensor grid. The Prism Energy signature was so bright it was actually causing the sensors in Ultra Space to smoke.

"He’s bringing the girls. The 'Family.' The 'Harem,'" Colress sneered, his face twisting into a mask of pure, scientific malice. "He thinks he's coming to a high-tech sparring ground to hunt my little pets. He thinks he’s going to use my equipment as a 'lightning rod' to vent that Primordial itch while he trains to face the convicts I 'accidentally' released. He has no idea that the island is the enemy."

Colress flicked a finger, bringing up the dossiers of the seven psychopaths he had unleashed as the ultimate bait.

[ReaderDex Entry: The 7 Psychic Convicts]

Codename: Brawn – Uses Advanced Telekinesis to simulate super-strength, crushing objects and enemies without physical contact.Codename: Rocket – A sadistic career criminal who can hijack the motor functions and verbal centers of others.Codename: Sage – A disgraced cult leader. Uses an AoE frequency to put targets into an unbreakable, deep sleep.Codename: Violator – A sociopath who specializes in Memory Manipulation and rewriting short-term perceptions to gaslight allies.Codename: Temptress – An international spy who projects a psychic "Charm" that pacifies aggression and lowers target defenses.Codename: Shadow – Generates a "Dark Aura" shield that corrosive cellular structures upon close proximity.Codename: Gigolo – Uses a hypnotic psychic-pheromonal aura to permanently subjugate the minds and hearts of women."They are perfectly placed," Colress chuckled. "Landon will be so focused on neutralizing these 'threats' that he won't realize the island itself is siphoning his energy to keep the DD holder alive."

The command deck shuddered as the energy transfer completed, but the hum of the Axiom Central didn't fade. Instead, it deepened into a rhythmic, terrifying thrum that vibrated in the marrow of Colress’s bones. He walked toward a heavily shielded bulkhead at the rear of the deck.

The air grew heavy here, saturated with a static charge that made the blue hair on his head stand on end. As the thick blast-doors hissed open, the true secret of Colress’s multiversal reach was revealed.

Anchored in a gravity-well at the very bottom of the spire was a fragment of a creature that should have been impossible. It was a skeletal, multi-limbed ribcage of glowing red energy and cosmic metal, pulsing with the heartbeat of a dying star.

Eternatus.

[ReaderDex Entry: Eternatus (The Gigantic Pokémon)]

Type: Poison/Dragon. Origin: An extraterrestrial entity that arrived in Galar via meteorite 20,000 years ago. It is the source of the Dynamax phenomenon. In its "Eternamax" form, it warps the fabric of space-time into a literal hole in reality."The Great Battery," Colress whispered, his eyes reflecting the poisonous red glow. "Necrozma energy is the poison, but Eternatus... Eternatus is the needle that injects it into the veins of the multiverse."

This specific Eternatus wasn't whole. It was a "Version 0" specimen, plucked from a timeline where the Darkest Day had never been stopped. Colress had fused its core with the corrupted data of his own Necrozma infection, creating a hybrid power source that allowed him to keep the Axiom Central invisible to the gods of time and space.

"The pressure is holding," a voice said from the shadows.

Colress didn't jump. He was used to the intruders by now. Out of the darkness stepped a man wearing the high-collared, futuristic white suit of the Aether Foundation.

[ReaderDex Entry: Faba] 

Profile: Former Branch Chief of the Aether Foundation. A brilliant, ego-driven scientist responsible for the creation of Type: Null and the reckless opening of Ultra Wormholes in his home timeline.

"The energy output from the Galar-Specimen is spiking, Colress," Faba warned, his green-tinted glasses flashing as he stepped into the light of the holographic array. "If you keep opening portals to track this 'Landon,' the containment field will fail. We are already seeing 'causality ghosts'—echoes of other timelines—appearing in the lower levels. I had to personally eject a version of Professor Birch that was trying to study the floorboards."

"Causality ghosts are merely data points, Faba!" Colress snapped, his laughter returning. "And don't look so worried. If this spire collapses, we simply hop to the next one. I’ve already secured the cooperation of several... 'likeminded' individuals to ensure our perimeter is safe."

He gestured to a secondary monitor showing the island across different temporal phases.

[ReaderDex Entry: Multiversal Antagonists]

Lysandre: Former leader of Team Flare in Kalos. A nihilist who sought to use the "Ultimate Weapon" to wipe out all life he deemed unworthy to preserve "beauty."Ghetsis: The ruthless true leader of Team Plasma. He seeks absolute power by manipulating legendary Pokémon to freeze and control the world."You've assembled a circus of failures," Faba sneered, watching a screen where Lysandre was pacing a separate laboratory wing, his red hair bristling with his usual brooding intensity. On another terminal, the cold, singular eye of Ghetsis remained fixed on a stream of data-code, his presence like a dark weight in the room.

"I’ve assembled a team of Architects who know what it’s like to have their systems rejected by the world!" Colress roared. "Landon thinks he's coming to a lab to train for the convicts. He doesn't realize he's plugging his Paradise into my Destruction. The Eternatus core will act as the bridge."

Colress looked at the main viewscreen. The golden dot representing Landon had reached the dock.

"The Mirage is active," Colress whispered. "The Disillusion is perfect. He won't notice the smell of the rot until the Necrozma energy has already mapped his soul. Version 12-B, prep the harvest protocols. The experiment begins... now."