The boundary between sea and sky had blurred.
Turbid giant waves carried shattered building materials and desperate cries, crashing repeatedly against the crumbling seawall.
The Giant Tentacruel raised its tentacles, ferocious like an ancient sea monster, its shadow of destruction completely enveloping the ruins.
It was unleashing its rage and hatred wantonly.
The entire construction site could be said to have been utterly destroyed, with no value left for rebuilding.
...The current state of destruction here made it better to relocate than to reconstruct.
Even the foundations below had been injected with a large amount of venom by the Giant Tentacruel.
The ruins' foundations had also suffered from ultrasonic impacts.
The Giant Tentacruel's scarlet eyes burned with the purest hatred, locking dead onto the tiny, limp figure below—a tentacle had seized Old Lady Kin.
Pokémon were highly intelligent beings.
When truly seeking revenge, they wouldn't kill their enemies all at once.
Ash stood amid the raging wind and waves, his soaked clothes clinging to his body, cold and heavy.
But one thing was unexpected.
Because...
"I didn't expect I could still breathe in this situation?" Ash thought, realizing it must be the ability granted by the Cerulean Gym Badge.
The surrounding conditions were extremely harsh, with air moisture content so high that ordinary people could barely breathe.
But it had no effect on Ash.
"Pika?!" Pikachu on his shoulder erupted in golden light, electricity crackling.
Yet for the first time, it showed a sense of powerlessness like facing a natural disaster.
Its power was like a firefly compared to the bright moon before this colossal behemoth.
Ridiculous.
This behemoth could topple skyscrapers with a casual movement.
Even if Pikachu used all its strength, it couldn't dent it.
However, it could pierce through the surrounding water vapor and waves, maintaining its breathing and mobility.
"Partner..." Ash's voice was nearly torn away by the wind.
"Aim at the base of its tentacles!"
"Use maximum power Thunderbolt, see if you can draw its attention!"
Even if hope was slim, he had to do something.
He absolutely couldn't watch destruction descend helplessly.
Old Lady Kin, who deserved it, was one thing.
But the innocents in the city who might be affected—absolutely not!
Because after grabbing Old Lady Kin, this Giant Tentacruel began approaching the city on the shore.
If this massive thing actually came ashore?
What then?!
Ash's plan was simple.
Draw aggro, then escape with Gyarados.
Size didn't mean speed in water; larger bodies faced greater resistance when swimming.
Plus, this Giant Tentacruel had been catalyzed into existence.
Ash was certain this thing couldn't match the Giant Dragonite's strength.
"Pika—chu!!!" Pikachu gathered all its power, dazzling thunder light shooting like a reverse meteor toward the sky-obscuring giant shadow.
However.
Just as the golden thunder was about to touch the terrifying tentacle covered in slime and suckers—
A sudden change occurred.
Time and space seemed trapped in viscous amber.
The thunder light halted mere meters from the target, as if hitting an invisible, absolutely unbreakable wall.
No explosion, no roar, just a faint "buzz" nearly swallowed by the wind and waves.
The golden electricity scattered instantly, erased by an invisible hand, leaving no trace.
"What?!" Ash's pupils contracted, staring incredulously at the incomprehensible scene.
Pikachu was stunned too, its cheek arcs flickering erratically, eyes full of confusion.
Not just their attack.
The Giant Tentacruel's massive tentacle, poised to smash down with immense force, also froze mid-air.
As if countless invisible threads yanked it taut; no matter how furiously it roared and struggled, it couldn't descend an inch.
The descent of destruction was forcibly paused.
The wind still howled.
The waves still roared.
But the core collision in this area was isolated by a higher, absolute force.
Amid the chaotic energy turbulence and deafening fury of nature, an ultimate "stillness" abruptly descended.
Ash's extrasensory perception amplified to its limit at this moment.
He whipped his head around, gaze piercing the dancing waves and mist, focusing on a smooth black reef by the sea.
There, at some point, an "existence" had appeared.
It wasn't a massive or majestic form.
Quite the opposite—it was tiny.
No longer than a forearm, translucent deep emerald green throughout.
Shaped like a miniature planarian or a living emerald droplet.
It hovered silently a few centimeters above the reef, emanating a faint but crystal-clear green halo.
It had one eye, no facial features, yet seemed to "observe" everything before it.
Observing Ash and Pikachu's attack.
Observing the Giant Tentacruel's rage.
Observing Old Lady Kin's despair.
Observing this natural catastrophe triggered by human greed.
It simply existed there.
Quietly.
An indescribable, bone-chilling sense of order emanated silently from it.
As if it weren't a creature, but the embodiment of some... rule.
The scale weighing life and death.
The gauge defining boundaries.
The ultimate arbiter maintaining fundamental balance.
[...Order...]
A voice resounded directly in Ash's and all creatures' minds on site.
[...Dispute... permitted...]
[...Excess... forbidden...]
Ash understood instantly.
It had casually erased Pikachu's attack.
It had forcibly halted the Tentacruel's destructive strike.
It wasn't helping any side.
It was here to draw the "line"!
It permitted this conflict born of grudges to continue.
But absolutely forbade ordinary humans or Pokémon from using "excessive" power.
That would expand the flames of war endlessly, harming true innocents and disrupting deeper balance.
"Zygarde..." Ash murmured the true name of this deity.
Not its complete form, not even one of the two cores.
Merely a... cell?
A tiny avatar of the order guardian silently monitoring ecosystem balance across the world.
"Woo-roar—!!!" The Giant Tentacruel roared even more furiously, yet shackled by invisible chains.
It felt that absolute suppression—an incomprehensible, irresistible rule.
Or rather, the power within it refused to submit to Its will.
Clearly, the Giant Dragonite had no intention of clashing with Zygarde.
That was something only its boss—Sea King Kyogre—could do.
At this moment, Ash knew clearly.
The conflict's direction no longer depended solely on humans or this rampaging behemoth.
A higher-level "referee" had entered the field.
It coldly observed the grudges, permitted the reckoning, but also gripped that unyielding bottom line tightly.
Originally just a dispute between ordinary people and ordinary Tentacruel.
But after humans massacred with poison.
The Sea Kings bestowed Sea King power.
If this Giant Tentacruel razed Vermilion City... how would humans retaliate?
Thus, the situation couldn't escalate further.
____
New Story: FGO: Building a Lostbelt from Scratch, the Winner is Canon
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