The Dynamax pillars were merely energy unconsciously leaking out from some creature while it slept!?
Terrifying!
Horrifying!
Unfathomable!
Unbelievable!
Those Dynamax pillars that could make Pokémon grow gigantic and return to their terrifying ancient forms…
That inexhaustible energy buried beneath the entire Galar region, estimated to be [Infinite], everlasting and impossible to exhaust…
was actually just energy unconsciously overflowing from some creature while it slept!
In other words—
wasn't that basically just the energy produced by its breathing?!
In subspace…
Palkia and Dialga suddenly understood.
That was right. Those red lights…
were like the spatial ripples and temporal ripples they themselves occasionally released while sleeping.
So there was another divine beast sleeping beneath Galar?
The two fell silent in thought, running through every divine beast they knew.
There was no such one.
Could it be—
just like Hoopa—
another existence even they didn't know about?
What in the world was Arceus doing?!
Why were there still so many divine beasts stronger than them?!
Across the countless anime dimensions, countless experts felt their scalps go numb.
"It's only the leaked energy of a sleeping creature? Then just how strong must that creature itself be?!" In the One Piece world, Admiral Kizaru looked incredulous. Each Dynamax pillar contained more energy than Devil Fruit users like them.
Beneath Galar…
the source of the Dynamax phenomenon, that endless energy, was merely the overflow of some creature?
"Hey, Nine-Tails, don't you also claim to have infinite chakra? And your chakra is red too," Naruto said to Kurama in front of the seal cage.
Kurama could not even be bothered to answer this idiot.
How had Minato Namikaze managed to give birth to such a fool? Did he have no self-awareness at all?
Was he worthy? Was he even remotely worthy?
Worthy my ass!
That nearly scared the fox to death.
If Kurama could absorb all the energy buried beneath Galar, then forget nine tails—he could probably grow a hundred of them.
He'd pound that old Sage of Six Paths into the dirt.
Even Kurama had never imagined that such energy was only the unconscious overflow of a sleeping being.
That had to be the divine beast being ranked this time.
The real star—
was about to appear.
"In the Bleach world, inside Las Noches, Aizen stared at the Hōgyoku in his hand. "The energy hidden beneath Galar, even vaster than the Hōgyoku… is only the energy spilled by a sleeping creature?"
"This should be the true subject of this ranking."
"Hmph. Leaked energy? In front of me, it's still just an insect!" Frieza snorted coldly in the Dragon Ball world.
Across the myriad dimensions, everyone was shocked, but they also understood—
the sleeping creature had to be the divine beast ranked this time.
Its casually leaked energy alone was described as infinite and inexhaustible, enough to provide an entire region with endless energy.
At the same time, it could also trigger Dynamax.
They truly could not imagine how terrifying the divine beast itself must be.
It hadn't even appeared yet—
and based on the information revealed so far, TOP 3 fully deserved its place.
Across the many dimensions, anticipation rose.
What exactly was TOP 3?
What kind of law did this divine beast govern?
Compared to the other worlds that were simply watching the spectacle—
the people of the Pokémon world were all terrified.
What the hell?!
From the video just now, they had already understood the origin of the Dynamax pillars.
There was infinite special energy buried beneath Galar, and within that special energy, the main component was Galar Particles. Once those particles reached saturation, they would erupt like a volcano, producing Dynamax pillars on the surface.
And now—
they were being told that the so-called infinite energy underground was merely the leakage from some sleeping creature!?
That creature had to be the divine beast ranked TOP 3 this time.
Professor Oak and the others all went dark in the face.
Just moments ago, they had been relieved that the "world-destroying red light" did not refer to the Dynamax pillars.
And indeed, it did not.
The Dynamax pillars were merely the result of this being's excess energy overflowing to the surface.
Looking at Rose in the video—
if looks could kill, he would have died countless times over.
Why the hell had he gone around collecting so many Wishing Stars and extracting energy?!
Still, Professor Oak and the Pokémon research professors did not panic too much.
This divine beast had been awakened and enraged by human actions.
This was a future scene.
Now that they knew the cause and process, all they had to do was stop Rose from collecting Wishing Stars and prevent him from extracting the energy.
So the problem wasn't unsolvable.
It could still be interfered with.
They fixed their eyes back on the ranking video.
On the screen…
"Chairman, this is bad! The Galar Particle levels have exceeded the limit!"
"Stop the extraction!"
"We can't! The Galar Particles are acting as if they have consciousness—they're all flooding into the storage units!"
The scene descended into chaos.
Endless crimson energy surged through the pipes and poured into the spherical containers.
The instruments emitted shrill alarms.
Energy capacity exceeded!!
"Hurry! It's going to explode! Run! The energy's gone out of control!"
Everyone in the research institute released their Pokémon, mounted them, and fled in panic.
Crack… crack… crack…!
A faint sound rang out.
The huge storage tank, along with the dozen or so relay spheres, all began to crack across their surfaces.
Red energy seeped from the fissures.
Not as gas—
but as liquid.
The energy had become so dense that it had materialized.
At last, every container exploded at once.
Endless fire and shockwaves swept across the entire site.
Like a nuclear blast, the enormous research laboratory was instantly flattened by the explosion.
The shockwave rippled outward. Mountain peaks were blasted apart, then shattered layer by layer into powder.
Fortunately, the laboratory had been built in the wilderness, surrounded by rocky mountains.
That was why the destruction hadn't spread too far.
An astonishing mushroom cloud rose from the ground and expanded into the sky.
But strangely—
this mushroom cloud was crimson, and like liquid made solid, writhing endlessly in the heavens.
The skies twisted and changed, as though some invisible hand were stirring the winds and clouds into a vortex.
That solidified red cloud began to gather.
"ROAR!!!"
The crimson mist churned madly.
In the end—
it condensed into a massive Pokémon.
Its entire body was black and red.
Its appearance resembled a skeletal dragon.
Two long, bony tendrils extended from its back, and its head was savage and triangular.
The moment it appeared, a terrifying pressure spread across heaven and earth.
The skies around it had already turned scarlet, the red heavens stretching for thousands of miles.
It hovered there, overlooking the land below, its eyes seizing the heart.
This was the one named in the subtitles—
[Eternatus]
The existence ranked TOP 3 among the ten strongest divine beasts!!
But…
everyone frowned.
Something felt off.
"This insect is way too weak. It's even worse than the earlier ones," Frieza frowned. The creature called Eternatus couldn't compare at all with the previously ranked beings. Its aura was far too weak. He could poke a hundred of them to death with one finger.
And indeed—
it wasn't just Frieza who felt that way.
Others across the dimensions felt the same.
The moment Eternatus appeared—
the pressure it exerted was nowhere near as great as the divine beasts from the earlier rankings.
It gave off the feeling that it didn't deserve to be TOP 3.
They were suspicious.
"Maybe it just hasn't shown its real power yet."
After all, when Mew first appeared, it had also looked pathetically weak.
Eternatus roared.
Under the scarlet sky, countless Dynamax pillars rose from the earth.
A disturbance spread.
Wild Pokémon illuminated by the pillars grew gigantic, their eyes turning blood-red.
They became violent, with destruction their only thought.
In an instant, the land beneath the crimson sky seemed to return to the ancient era.
Gigantic Pokémon as large as mountains rampaged wildly, destroying everything in sight.
Forests were wrecked.
Rivers ran dry.
Mountains were shattered by a single slap.
These berserk Dynamax Pokémon ravaged everything around them.
And they were moving toward the cities.
In the face of these giant Pokémon, powerful Trainers rushed in to support the front lines.
They used Dynamax Bands to Dynamax their own Pokémon and battle these berserk wild ones.
For a time, the sound of explosions rang nonstop.
Battle cries rose and fell without end.
Fortunately, these rampaging Pokémon were not especially strong.
They were wild Pokémon, after all—not ace Pokémon trained by expert Trainers.
The situation was brought under control.
But the audience of the Pokémon world felt no relief.
After all—
the true threat was Eternatus.
The existence ranked third among the ten strongest divine beasts.
Just thinking of the divine beasts ranked before made them shudder.
Thankfully, this was the future.
It could still be avoided.
Now that they knew that endless extraction of energy would awaken Eternatus, then no matter what, Rose must never be allowed to draw out that power.
"Charizard, Gigantamax!!"
A voice rang out from the screen.
A red light rose from beneath the ground.
Then a Charizard's body expanded with the wind, growing into an eighty-meter giant standing upon the earth.
Its wings, formed entirely of flame, twisted the air with heat.
Majestic and awe-inspiring, an overwhelming pressure burst from its body.
The moment they saw this Charizard—
everyone knew.
This was Leon's Gigantamax Charizard.
Leon was going to challenge Eternatus!!
But no one dared to hope.
Eternatus was ranked TOP 3 among the ten strongest divine beasts!
"Charizard, Dragon Claw!!"
Sure enough, under Leon's command, Charizard shook both hands and formed a pair of energy claws.
Its wings beat once, and its massive body shot into the sky, charging straight at Eternatus.
Eternatus let out a cry.
Its powerful tail became covered in black-and-red matter and slammed downward at Charizard.
So Eternatus had a Poison typing?
Boom!!
Poison Tail and Dragon Claw collided.
No one expected anything from this clash.
A divine beast!
That was TOP 3 among the divine beasts!
Even the energy powering Charizard's Gigantamax came from Eternatus itself.
How could it possibly fight back?
Dragon Claw and Poison Tail met head-on.
Everyone stared dumbly at the two attacks—
locked in a dead heat.
What the hell?!
A Champion-level Charizard was evenly matched against a TOP 3 divine beast?!
It felt like their entire worldview had exploded.
Everyone was stunned.
Even Leon himself was dumbfounded.
His future self…
could actually fight a divine beast without falling behind?
Then the battle between Eternatus and Charizard unfolded beneath the crimson sky.
"Charizard, G-Max Wildfire!"
Leon's voice rang out.
"ROAR!!"
Charizard roared.
The flames on its body swelled violently. The air twisted, a terrifying aura spread out, and the fire burst free from its body, turning into a gigantic fiery phoenix that slammed directly into Eternatus.
This was a Gigantamax-exclusive move.
Boom!
A heaven-shaking explosion rang out.
Eternatus was struck head-on.
Endless flames filled the sky. Every drop of moisture in the air was burned away. The heatwave washed over them, curling the hair on their foreheads into pale yellow spirals.
Everyone's eyes widened.
Because within the endless fire—
a giant figure came crashing straight down from the sky.
Boom!
Its body smashed into the earth, kicking up clouds of dust.
It was Eternatus.
Silence.
Nothing but silence.
Leon had slain a god?
Gigantamax Charizard had defeated Eternatus?
An extreme sense of disbelief rose in everyone's hearts.
Eternatus—
ranked third among the ten strongest divine beasts—
had been beaten just like that?
Wasn't that way too weak?
That was supposed to be a divine beast!
Even Leon's eyeballs nearly bulged out of their sockets.
Holy shit, was his future self really that insanely fierce?!
But that didn't make sense either.
No matter how much stronger Charizard became, how could it defeat a divine beast?
Leon had seen the power of those divine beasts in the ranking videos with his own eyes.
They were all beings who controlled laws.
Forget first-tier divine beasts—even third-tier divine beasts were far beyond what he could fight.
The reason divine beasts were called "divine"
was because they belonged to a realm that humans and ordinary Pokémon simply could not touch.
Then there was only one possibility—
the TOP 3 being was not this red skeletal dragon that Charizard had defeated.
This thing was not the true Eternatus!
"L-Look!"
An uproar broke out.
Leon hurriedly turned back toward the screen.
The black-and-red skeletal dragon lying defeated on the ground began to melt.
In less than a few seconds, it dissolved back into endless red mist.
Black lightning crackled faintly within the mist.
An unrivaled pressure spread through heaven and earth.
It was no longer limited to a single area.
It spread across the entire Galar region.
The air became heavy, as if a mountain had been placed on everyone's back.
The entire world seemed to sink lower.
On the screen, every Pokémon throughout Galar, whether belonging to Trainers or living in the wild, was trembling.
Even the viewers across the dimensions, though only watching the video, felt every hair on their bodies stand on end.
A great crisis washed over them.
"T-The ground is bleeding!!"
Professor Oak's tongue went numb.
On the screen, red blood seemed to pour from the earth of Galar, dyeing the entire land scarlet.
No—
that wasn't blood!
It was red mist!
A crimson mist filled with countless Galar Particles.
This red mist seeped continuously from every inch of Galar's land—
including the cities where humans lived.
Every piece of ground was bubbling out red mist.
Screams rose one after another throughout Galar.
The sight was horrifying beyond belief.
When the density of the mist reached a critical point—
the crimson fog rose from the earth like clouds.
In the end, the entire sky of Galar…
was sealed off from sunlight.
The whole world sank into a sea of blood-red.
The red mist roiled endlessly, and black lightning dozens of meters thick coursed through it.
"ROAR~!!"
At everyone's ears, a faint but clear cry echoed.
It came from deep underground, reverberating through heaven and earth.
It shook the soul.
Though the sound itself was not especially loud, it boomed in the heart like a giant bell.
"W-What is that sound?"
"What is happening?"
[Because Rose continuously extracted energy, the energy concentration rose beyond all limits. Once it reached a certain density, it formed an energy body of Eternatus.]
[When that energy body was defeated, the sleeping Eternatus was fully awakened.]
[In the ancient era, when heaven and earth underwent great transformation, all Pokémon lost their gigantic bodies, and no longer remained in their final forms at birth, but instead gained evolutionary forms.]
[Eternatus is the embodiment of the power of the world's laws that stripped away those gigantic forms during that transformation.]
[More accurately, all the conceptual power of "gigantic bodies" that was stripped away, combined with the world laws that deprived them of those gigantic bodies, fused together to become Eternatus.]
[That is why the red light released by Eternatus can return Pokémon to the gigantic forms of the ancient era.]
At last, everyone understood.
Now they knew why the Dynamax pillars could restore Pokémon to their ancient gigantic forms.
Eternatus!
It was the fusion of all gigantic bodies of ancient Pokémon—
together with the world laws that stripped those bodies away!
Ancient Pokémon had all been Demigod-level beings.
Divine beasts were less than dogs, Demigods littered the ground, and among those stripped powers were even portions of Groudon's and Kyogre's might.
Could Eternatus—
formed from all those stripped powers plus the world's laws—
possibly be weak?!
In other words—
Eternatus was the aggregate of all giant ancient Pokémon, fused with the power of the laws of the world.
The heavens and earth shifted.
A massive vortex appeared above Galar, the clouds spinning madly.
The vortex was so vast it seemed without limit—
covering more than half of Galar.
And then—
a crimson pillar of light beyond all description shot up from beneath Galar and pierced the sky!
Or rather—
it burst up from beneath the entirety of Galar.
A pillar as large as the whole region!!
It slammed into the spinning cloud vortex overhead.
"ROAR!!!!"
An even more terrifying divine beast's pressure filled heaven and earth.
Its roar thundered across the world, carrying anger—
like a person with terrible morning temper being yanked out of bed against their will.
From within that immeasurable crimson pillar—
a savage head burst forth.
Then the rest of its colossal body followed.
It soared upward—
and rushed into the scarlet vortex in the sky.
The true body of Eternatus—
had descended into the world!!!!
There are still six thousand more words. Because of Goh in Pokémon Journeys, it annoyed me so much that I only watched a dozen episodes before stopping. As for Sword and Shield, I did play it when it first came out, but it was too long ago, so I'd forgotten most of the plot.
All I really remembered was staying up day and night trying to catch every Pokémon that could Gigantamax, and constantly finding people online to trade version-exclusive Pokémon so I could complete the Pokédex.
These past two days, because I was covering Eternatus, I went back and replayed the plots of Pokémon Sword and Shield, and also rewatched the TV episodes, so my updates have been a bit slow.
In Journeys, Eternatus was caught by that one Poké Ball idiot, which was seriously annoying.
And Eternatus didn't really get to show anything particularly powerful there.
So I could only go back to the games and anime, then think up a version of the story that I'd actually be satisfied with.
You handsome guys have probably noticed too—most of the depictions and scenes in these divine beast rankings are either my own original creations or heavily modified versions.
When writing this ranking series, I have to add some original plot elements of my own. Otherwise, if every scene just copied the canon directly, then wouldn't it just become a text version of the movie?
At that point, wouldn't you all be better off just watching the movie yourselves?
Wouldn't the movie visuals be stronger anyway?
There'll be another six thousand words later. I'm pulling an all-nighter and finishing it.
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