Qingque was entirely at a loss against Arceus. Even though the deity hadn't unleashed a single counterattack, the suffocating presence radiating from its form grew heavier by the second. For a long-lived Xianzhou native like her, the sheer weight of that aura made her skin prickle with deep unease.
Her first instinct was to call a tactical retreat, step out of the arena, and consult the chat to brainstorm counters. Surely someone in the audience could point out an elemental blind spot or an exploit.
She refused to believe the developers would code an adversary that was truly invincible.
Yet as she backed toward the hall's perimeter, her shoulder bumped hard against a cold, invisible wall.
The entire sanctuary was locked down. Slipping inside was easy enough, but the threshold back to safety was sealed shut.
Qingque's posture visibly stiffened.
"At times like this, all I want to say is that games really do not need this level of physical immersion," she muttered, letting out a dry, nervous sigh as she tilted her head back to look at the towering silhouette before her.
"Is the presence really that overwhelming? You're making me want to log in and face it myself."
"You can tell the person above is lagging behind on the main campaign. In several of the higher-tier ruin chambers, the pressure radiating from ancient guardians is genuinely terrifying. Watching a stream through a screen gives you awe, but standing there in full immersion is a different beast entirely."
"Exactly. Our Qingque might love slacking off, but her tactical foundation is rock-solid. If she is freezing up like this, an average player would probably faint on the spot."
"It's just simulated data. Your real body isn't in danger, so why get so worked up?"
"Sometimes pure primal dread hits harder than physical danger. In a hyper-realistic simulation where you face down a mythical sovereign without knowing when the strike is coming, your instincts take over whether you want them to or not."
"I won't buy it until someone ships me a top-of-the-line immersion pod so I can test it firsthand."
"Nice try, buddy. I could hear your abacus clicking from halfway across the star rail."
The viewers debated her reaction fiercely. The skeptics were largely casual fans who hadn't stepped into the high-end virtual pods or had barely scratched the surface of Sinnoh's story.
Those who had braved the harsh environments of the deep vaults, the horde defense gauntlets, and the grueling boss trials understood the feeling intimately.
Without steady nerve, simply finding the breath to shout a command was a struggle. The simulation felt so authentic that the boundary between virtual pixels and reality blurred, slipping past conscious logic until pure instinct took the wheel.
Qingque's breath came in shallow, hurried bursts under the mounting pressure. Just as her knees threatened to buckle, the sturdy shoulders of her partners pressed in from either side, holding her upright before she could hit the marble floor.
She wanted to whisper a word of thanks, but her throat felt dry and tight.
Just as her companions braced themselves to shield her, Arceus slowly opened its eyes. Within those golden pupils, the vast expanse of the cosmos seemed to turn.
The moment their gazes met, the stone hall dissolved from view.
Vivid scenes rushed past her sight like an unfolding tapestry across time.
Out of the boundless primordial chaos, a single radiant egg coalesced, giving rise to the being that would be called Arceus.
The newborn deity drifted through the empty dark, finding itself the sole living presence within an infinite void, wrapped in deep cosmic solitude.
With a single stirring of thought, creation began.
Countless manifestations spread outward from that primal will, breathing life into untamed realms and shaping stars from the dust. Qingque and her viewers watched in breathless awe as formless void was carved into thriving worlds.
From the remnants of the creative spark, Arceus forged the elemental plates, weaving the natural laws and elemental affinities that would govern all existence.
To anchor the foundations of reality, the deity brought forth Dialga to rule time, Palkia to stabilize space, and Giratina to preside over the antimatter void.
Yet when Giratina's destructive fury disrupted the balance, it was cast into the Distortion World to preserve the realm. Following this, the lake guardians—Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf—were born, bestowing upon life the sacred triad of knowledge, emotion, and will.
With the cosmos set upon its course, Arceus retreated into the Hall of Origin, sinking into an age-long slumber.
From the molten fires of the mantle, the deep oceanic trenches, and the high winds of the upper atmosphere, Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza rose in turn.
The clashes between land and sea threw early ecosystems into turmoil, until Rayquaza descended from the ozone layer to calm the raging storm.
Then came the ancestor Mew, heralding an explosion of diverse species, followed eventually by the emergence of humanity.
Centuries of shared history flickered past in flowing sequences: early humans clashing with wild beasts over hunting grounds, the first crude capturing crafts turning fear into tentative trust, and shared labor blossoming into genuine companionship across diverse regions, including sprawling territories that had never appeared in earlier promotional art.
The developers were clearly teasing vast lands yet to come.
Yet the core thread running through every frame was the evolving bond between two distinct forms of life.
From mutual wariness to cautious cooperation, and ultimately to living side by side as partners, humans and Pokémon had slowly built a world defined by harmony.
Watching the sequence unfold left many players across the cosmos with a quiet ache in their chests.
The history of the star systems was far longer and vastly more ancient than the setting depicted on screen, yet peace had always been a fleeting breath between endless wars.
True harmony never lasted.
The viewers knew all too well that the deep-seated chaos across the galaxy was tied to the towering wills of the Aeons, a cosmic reality far beyond the reach of ordinary mortals.
Even an Emanator was merely a slightly stronger moth circling a cosmic flame.
The divine beings of their own universe did not watch over mortal life with gentle benevolence. Bound by the primal momentum of their respective Paths, they marched along predetermined courses without regard for mortal strife.
As the vision faded, casual viewers simply marveled at the rich mythology and cinematic scope of the lore.
Others, however, compared that golden harmony to the fractured reality of their own stars, letting out quiet, reflective sighs.
Qingque, naturally, belonged to the former camp. As a diviner of the commission, she saw through cosmic structures well enough, but she was fundamentally an easygoing soul who preferred a peaceful life. Heavy philosophical burdens were meant for the General and Master Diviner to carry; why should she wear herself out fretting over matters beyond her control?
"Has the living world truly reached this height?"
Arceus spoke, its deep, resonant cadence carrying the solemn sanctity of an ancient bell.
"Since you stand here as a challenger, show me whether the bond forged between you and your companions possesses the strength to reach beyond my measure."
A soft, blinding luminescence poured from Arceus, swallowing the Hall of Origin whole.
Qingque shielded her eyes against the glare. When she lowered her hands and looked out, the ancient stone had vanished.
She was standing directly in the open cosmos, stars glittering in every direction.
Eighteen elemental plates rotated slowly around Arceus's flanks. Beneath their feet, crisscrossing lines of pure starlight formed a celestial arena floating in the void.
"So the real match begins now?"
The suffocating pressure had receded, replaced by a clean, focused arena tension. Qingque let out a breath, reaching toward her hip out of habit before remembering she had already called her team onto the field.
Yet when she turned around, her belt and her active lineup had vanished without a trace.
"For this trial, your partners shall be chosen by my hand."
The deity's voice echoed through the starlight, and six distinct figures materialized in a line before Qingque:
Meowth, Alakazam, Gardevoir, Milotic, Garchomp, and Altaria.
Qingque blinked in genuine astonishment.
Looking at the six companions sitting quietly before her, she realized with a start: these were the exact six species she had favored most across her hundreds of hours of playtime.
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