The sound of the waves was no longer gentle. Instead, it transformed into a dull, increasingly heavy impact, pounding thunderously against the construction site's temporary seawall, splashing murky water with an eerie purple hue.
The cloyingly sweet and chemical stench in the air seemed to be forcefully suppressed by a more primal, more immense salty, damp aura.
Some kind of retribution seemed imminent.
"These waves... something's wrong!"
Brock was the first to notice the abnormality.
"Trouble's here."
He cautiously looked towards the direction of the sound, his brows tightly furrowed.
Though both were Gym Leaders, Brock had seen more than Misty... he hadn't aged five years for nothing.
The seawater no longer flowed evenly onto the tidal flats; instead, it swirled like it was being stirred by an unseen giant hand, forming chaotic and powerful vortices.
The Horsea in Misty's arms suddenly stopped trembling. It strained to lift its head, looking towards the sea.
In its small eyes, there was no longer fear, but a certain ineffable... awe? It even gently nudged Misty's palm, letting out a faint, urging cry.
Is this the power of the ocean?
Or the power of nature?
Unclear... but it was certainly the power of a Pokémon.
Ash's gaze sharply swept across the sea. His extrasensory perception caught the power spreading through the seawater faster than his vision.
Warm, vast, and imbued with an indescribable life force, it continuously surged from the deep sea, gently enveloping the dying jellyfish along the shore. Their shriveled bodies visibly plumped up, and their dull colors once again radiated the unique spectral glow of Tentacool and Tentacruel.
"This is..."
Ash's pupils constricted slightly; the "texture" of this power filled him with a sense of unexplained familiarity. The colossal, sky-obscuring figure next to Bill's Lighthouse flashed in his mind.
"...Giant Dragonite?"
This power felt exactly like the Giant Dragonite to Ash. He became increasingly certain.
"What?!"
Misty gasped, but immediately understood. Aside from that legendary creature, what else could possess such world-altering power, capable of healing such widespread poisoning and dehydration in an instant?
"...It's a test, and also nature's punishment..."
Brock already knew what was about to happen. Something similar had happened in Pewter City before.
Pewter City was a mining town. After that incident, Pewter City no longer dared to mine recklessly. Mining operations had to be kept within limits.
"Giant... Dragonite?"
Old Lady Kin's triumphant and arrogant expression instantly froze, replaced by a trace of barely perceptible panic.
Though domineering, she had heard the astonishing news from the coastline a few days ago.
Old Lady Kin forced herself to be calm, pointing her cane at the sea, her voice involuntarily rising, shrill with a bluster that barely concealed her inner fear:
"What nonsense are you spouting?!"
"The waves are just a little bigger!!"
"My project must..."
Her words abruptly stopped. Because the anomaly on the sea surface had already exceeded the scope of "just a little bigger waves."
BOOM———!!!
A thunderous roar, far more terrifying than any before, exploded.
A gigantic wall of water suddenly rose like a mountain. It almost obscured half the sky, sunlight fragmented into shards.
Murky seawater, carrying broken construction materials and sediment, crashed down head-on onto the construction site!
"Watch out!"
Brock abruptly pulled Misty and Ash back.
Starmie instantly spun and erected a faint barrier of light, barely fending off the most fatal impact, but all three were soaked to the bone.
Old Lady Kin and her black-suited bodyguards were even more disheveled, screaming as they were knocked off their feet, some even swept into the sea.
And right at the center of this monstrous wave.
All the seawater seemed to come alive, furiously contracting and coalescing inwards.
Beneath the surface of the sea.
That warm and vast power surged and gathered with unprecedented intensity, finally transforming into a dazzling blue pillar of light. This power forcefully surged into the body of a Tentacruel in the waves, which had only just recovered some vitality.
ROAR——!!!
A deep roar, definitely not from an ordinary Tentacruel, mixed with pain, fury, and a sense of surging power, instantly drowned out all the sounds of the waves and human screams.
That Tentacruel's body began a terrifying expansion.
Ten meters... twenty meters... thirty meters...
Its tentacles thrashed wildly, growing thicker and longer, like colossal, terrifying whips covered in suckers and venomous barbs.
The agate-like crown on its head rapidly expanded, its luster so deep it seemed to absorb all light.
Its venomous barbs, originally slender relative to its body, now transformed into colossal, battering ram-like weapons, shimmering with a chilling, spectral purple glow.
A Tentacruel generally has 80 tentacles. This presented an extremely terrifying appearance.
Indeed, most creatures are cute when small, but once they become gigantic...
Its growth even surpassed that of the original Giant Dragonite. In just a few breaths, it reached a height comparable to Dragonite's fifty meters, and... was still rising.
Finally.
When it completely stopped growing, its colossal shadow, like a shroud of death, entirely enveloped the entire construction site, along with the nearby shallow sea area.
The shadow it cast was even heavier than the setting sun on the horizon.
Sixty meters? Even taller!
It slowly lowered its head. Its massive eyes, which might originally have been simple, now burned with a cold and furious crimson glow.
It stared intently at Old Lady Kin, tiny as a gnat below, and at this toxic, corrupted tidal flat that had imprisoned its kind.
The air seemed to freeze.
Soaked to the bone, Old Lady Kin's mouth hung open, and her cane clattered to the viscous ground. All color drained from her face, leaving only boundless fear and unbelievable despair.
The bodyguards around Old Lady Kin had long lost their previous ferocity, their legs shaking like sieves; some even collapsed to the ground.
The Giant Tentacruel slowly raised a tentacle like a massive bridge pier; the mere wind pressure from this action nearly knocked Old Lady Kin over.
The shadow of destruction descended, as if tangible.
Ash abruptly stepped forward, shielding Misty and Brock behind him, looking up to confront the terrifying giant shadow.
"Partner!"
"Pika——!"
Pikachu leaped onto Ash's shoulder, its entire body blazing with golden light, electricity crackling.
"Is it a Totem Pokémon?"
Misty's hand went to her Poké Ball; she carried a Gym Leader-level main team Gyarados just to be prepared for the unexpected. But even a Gym Leader's ace couldn't guarantee a win against such a behemoth.
"...We usually call this... a [Pseudo-Totem Pokémon]."
Brock's face was incomparably serious as he spoke.
"When the natural environment is destroyed."
"When Pokémon die in large numbers."
"When they gather."
"The power of prayer will summon a divine advent."
"Some call it nature's wrath."
"Some call it divine punishment."
"Some call it karmic retribution."
"And the most significant manifestation is the appearance of an incredibly powerful Pokémon, that is filled with hostility towards humans."
"I've only heard about it; this is my first time seeing it."
Brock explained to Misty and Ash. Such occurrences were common before the League was founded, but have become rare since. He never expected to witness such a thing firsthand.
"In any case, we'd better retreat first."
____
New Story: FGO: Building a Lostbelt from Scratch, the Winner is Canon
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