Chapter 594. Breaking the Limit

Raticate had always prided himself on his ability to spot weaknesses in an opponent’s guard. That didn’t mean he could always land a critical hit, far from it. Rather, he could identify openings he could exploit without giving his opponent a chance to retaliate. All it took was the right speed, the right combination of actions, and enough boldness to seize the opportunity.

To fulfill those requirements, Raticate had focused everything he had on Quick Attack. It was exactly the kind of move that allowed him to maximize his talents. As a result, during his entire time with Alex, it was the move he had trained more than any other in his arsenal.

His goal was simple. He wanted Quick Attack to be as fast as possible, so he naturally focused on increasing its power and, subsequently, speed. The greater its speed, the farther he could exploit an opening, catching his opponent by surprise as he arrived, landed a hit, and escaped before they could react.

His progress had been going well. As long as he had solid footing, he could redirect his Quick Attack and essentially land a hit and escape before the move ended. The damage wasn’t particularly impressive, but Raticate had never been a powerhouse in the first place. His role was to attack, stay alive, and keep his opponents on the defensive, and his talents were perfectly suited for it.

Fighting Hoopa in the desert, however, had presented his greatest challenge yet. Sand offered no purchase during a high-speed battle, making it impossible for him to redirect his Quick Attack. At least, that was what he had believed.

“Dodge!” Alex’s voice and concern suddenly radiated through Raticate’s mind, filling him with the urge to redirect his Quick Attack.

He followed the command despite his own logic telling him that the sand wouldn’t allow it. Yet he tried anyway, and to his surprise, his trajectory shifted ever so slightly. It wasn’t enough. He passed through the portal and suddenly found himself beneath the surface of a lava field.

Raticate immediately used Quick Attack to burst through the surface, only to find himself still in danger of burning to death. He activated Endure at the last moment, allowing him to survive the ordeal and shake off the clinging lava, but leaving him with only 1 HP.

Once he landed safely, his thoughts returned to that singular moment when he had somehow stepped on nothing but air to redirect his attack. It had been faint, but it was proof that solid footing might no longer be necessary.

So he practiced.

He tried again and again, desperately trying to recapture that fleeting sensation. He leapt over the lava with only 1 HP remaining, uncaring that a single touch of the bubbling magma would make him faint and quite possibly kill him. He was on the cusp of reaching the ultimate form of Quick Attack, and he refused to stop now.

Raticate used Quick Attack to leap from one rocky foothold to the next, maintaining his full concentration as he tried to land somewhere other than where his momentum naturally carried him. He repeated the process over and over until the foothold he was projected to land on was suddenly splashed with lava. If he touched it, he might very well die, but that danger only sharpened his focus.

Then the faint feeling returned.

As his concentration reached its peak, Raticate felt the Normal type energy of Quick Attack flow through him. For the briefest moment, that energy solidified beneath his paws, giving him something to push against. He stepped on empty air and, with a sudden twist, redirected the force of Quick Attack, veering away from the lava-covered foothold and safely landing on another rocky outcropping beside it.

Pure joy and triumph radiated through Raticate’s mind as his aura soared to its peak.

He had done it!

He tried again and again to solidify the feeling, each attempt making the sensation clearer and more natural until he could redirect Quick Attack in midair without hesitation.

Finally, the same ominous portal as before opened before him. Raticate stepped through without hesitation, knowing through their bond that Alex was on the other side and had likely convinced Hoopa to return his Pokémon.

Alex was reliable like that.

“You’ve reached Master rank?” Alex exclaimed, showering Raticate with praise as the latter basked proudly in the attention. “How did you do it?”

Alex received Raticate’s memories through their bond and nodded thoughtfully.

“Forcing the impossible beyond logic, huh? That doesn’t sound like you,” Alex commented.

“Raticate!” he complained, raising a paw into a defiant fist.

“Alright, alright, calm down,” Alex said, patting the little rat on the head before turning to Arcanine. “How about you?”

Arcanine merely shrugged, an almost vacant expression on his face. He honestly hadn’t even realized he had reached Master rank.

Alex received Arcanine’s memories of the event and could only sigh. It was, indeed, a very Arcanine way of breaking through to Master rank.

Essentially, he had been dropped 2 kilometers underwater. Feeling the cold seep into his body, Arcanine used Heat Wave to warm himself as he swam toward the surface. The extreme temperature created by the attack triggered the Leidenfrost effect, allowing a layer of vapor to form around his body and helping protect him from the surrounding water. In doing so, he inadvertently made his body remarkably resistant to the water pressure and temperature, giving him a way to survive the ordeal. As a Fire type Pokémon, staying soaked for too long would have been dangerous, and he would have eventually died if he couldn’t dry himself off.

As he continued upward, simply expelling heat through his mouth wasn’t enough to keep himself warm, so Arcanine instinctively began radiating heat directly from his body. In the process, he developed a rudimentary degree of control over his Fire type energy.

He never even made it to the surface. Before he could breach the water, Arcanine accidentally swam through the portal and emerged on the other side without a single drop of water on his fur.

There had been no struggle, no determination, and certainly no grand realization. He had simply been cold and done whatever was necessary to stop being cold.

Having sated his curiosity for now, Alex quickly turned his attention back to the battle. Togekiss, Lucario, and Raichu had already been revived with Max Revive and stored in the backpack to rest. Meanwhile, the man in the turban and cloak, wielding the Arceus Plates, was still running around trying to slip through their defenses, though rather poorly, Alex might add.

Regigigas, Reshiram, and Zekrom had already fainted after being overwhelmed by a combination of Guzzlord, Urshifu’s team, Grim’s team, Ultra Necrozma, and Altaria’s team. Despite being Legendary Pokémon, they were only Champion ranked and heavily outnumbered. Against Alex’s well-trained and highly coordinated Pokémon, they simply didn’t have the strength to turn the battle around. Their bodies had already been retrieved, leaving Alex with little reason to worry about them anymore. In addition, the village was relatively safe, and the remaining enemies were no longer an immediate threat.

More importantly, Alex had Hoopa wrapped around his finger.

“Hoopa, why don’t we take our discussion somewhere else?” Alex suggested. “Preferably far away from here.”

“Hoopa!” it growled before creating a portal and stepping through.

Alex recalled all of his Pokémon, leaving the man behind as he followed Hoopa through the portal. The moment he stepped through, the portal closed behind him.

Alex suspected the man fighting him was likely Ghris, the man who, in the original timeline, had sealed Hoopa’s powers and led to the distinction between its Bound and Unbound forms. He was considerably more powerful than Alex had anticipated, likely because Arceus’s blessing allowed him to fight on the level of a Master ranked Pokémon despite not being a Trainer himself.

That blessing was also the reason Alex had no intention of killing him. If Arceus had its own plans for Ghris, killing him could potentially anger the Alpha Pokémon and disrupt whatever it had set in motion. Alex had no desire to meddle with a being like Arceus without knowing what it was planning.

So, escaping was the obvious choice. Ghris might be powerful, but he wasn’t omniscient. As long as Alex and Hoopa kept a low profile, there was little chance he could track them down.

Alex found himself in a mountainous forest with no idea where they were or even whether they were still in the same dimension. It didn’t matter, though. The return beacon would bring him home from anywhere.

“So, Hoopa, how about we make a permanent deal?” Alex began. “If you take me as your Trainer, I can promise you all the food and comfort you could ever want. In exchange, though, you’ll have to follow my instructions and arrangements. You’ll train like your life depends on it, and you won’t be allowed to suddenly lose control and go on a rampage.”

“Hoopa?” it asked seriously.

“Yes… there will be ring-shaped foods. As much as you want.”

“Hoopa!” It immediately accepted.

Alex sighed, feeling as though all the emotions he had experienced earlier had been completely wasted. He should have just waved a box of donuts in Hoopa’s face when they first fought instead of trying to beat it into submission. Hoopa was a glutton for anything ring-shaped, but Alex had assumed there would at least be some resistance to the idea of becoming his Pokémon.

Then again, perhaps the forced bonding was influencing Hoopa’s judgment. It seemed far more receptive to Alex’s ideas than it probably would have been otherwise.

“Alright,” Alex said. “I only have the one box on me for snacks so we should go get some more. Read my memories and take us home. Specifically, Rhea’s laboratory in the main hub in Kanto. There should be enough space for you to fit there.”

Hoopa nodded and dove deep into Alex’s memories. It quickly found a path toward the location he had mentioned, but its natural mischievousness got the better of it, and it began poking around.

There were plenty of mental defenses scattered throughout Alex’s mind, but Hoopa found them easy enough to bypass without breaking them. Its curiosity only grew as it explored deeper, until it stumbled upon the mother of all secrets.

A heavily restricted portion of Alex’s mind radiated a sense of danger so overwhelming that even Hoopa couldn’t comprehend it. Every instinct it possessed screamed at it to stay away. Whatever was hidden there, it was far beyond anything Hoopa was ready to face.

For once, Hoopa decided that curiosity wasn’t worth the risk. It quickly found the memory it had been looking for and opened a portal to the desired location.

Maybe someday it would be strong enough to explore those forbidden memories. For now, though, it was better not to poke the sleeping beast.

Alex stared through the portal Hoopa had opened, a slow smile spreading across his face as he considered what its portals could mean for him and his family. With Hoopa by his side, places, Pokemon, and resources that had once been unreachable were suddenly within his grasp, opening up opportunities he had never even considered before.

The possibilities were endless.