The sight inside the lighthouse laboratory made all three of them stop short.
If the outside was classic white stone—
The inside was pure science fiction.
Everywhere gleamed in cold silver-white. Smooth alloy walls met seamlessly, reflecting a faint metallic sheen.
Complex energy conduits ran like veins through the walls and ceiling, pulsing with a dim, ghostly blue light.
No doubt about it—this was the lab of a world-class Pokémon researcher.
But what really drew the eye were the enormous, ancient stone slabs mounted all around the circular hall.
They looked wildly out of place in this ultra-modern setting.
Rough stone, edges worn by time, carved with blurred yet powerful images:
Roaring leviathans. Coiling tentacles. Figures riding the waves. Deep-sea giants too strange to name.
They stood in solemn silence, like relics torn straight from some forgotten ocean temple, radiating age and mystery.
These were all excavated artifacts, collected and studied by Professor Bill.
The research scope of most Pokémon Professors was surprisingly broad.
Though Bill was most famous for his work on the Pokémon Storage and Transfer System, he had other active projects too.
Recently, he'd been investigating the true identities of the five great "Sea Kings" said to serve the Sea Basin Pokémon, Kyogre.
"These are…" Brock's gaze locked on the slabs instantly.
As the heir to a Rock-type Gym, he had a natural pull toward ancient ruins and relics.
Ash stayed quiet for a moment.
Because on one of those stone slabs…
He could've sworn he saw something that looked very much like Mewtwo.
Emm… what?
Don't tell me…?
"Tablets of the Sea People," a voice said from the center of the hall.
There—
A young man in a white lab coat, hair slightly messy, stood at a complex console, fingers dancing across a glowing screen.
He looked up.
His face showed clear fatigue, but his eyes were startlingly bright.
Professor Bill.
His gaze moved over the three of them, lingering briefly on Ash.
"They record ancient tales of the sea… and warnings."
His tone was level, but what he said next made the air go still.
"You've actually come at just the right time."
He turned, gesturing toward a massive screen behind him—
a snow-white panel of solid light.
On it, real-time scans of the sea around Vermilion City flickered and shifted.
One enormous, irregular energy signal was moving slowly through the deep ocean.
Wherever it passed, the signals of other sea life scattered and fled.
"The Sea Emperor's envoy is coming," Bill said.
This was something he'd been waiting on for years.
"The Sea Emperor's envoy?" Brock frowned. "You mean some kind of exceptionally strong Water-type Pokémon?"
He glanced at the stone slabs, searching for answers.
Beside him, Misty's face went pale.
She hugged her arms around herself again, orange ponytail seeming to lose a bit of its bounce.
There were some things about her parents' "accident" she only half knew—
But she knew enough.
She opened her mouth, then closed it again, unable to force words out. Her eyes were full of an almost instinctive dread.
The Cerulean Gym had dealt with the sea for generations.
Some fears were etched into blood and memory, far deeper than anything you'd read in a book.
Ash took a step forward, eyes fixed on the massive moving signal on the screen. His face under the cap was unusually serious.
"Professor Oak mentioned something to me last time…" His voice dropped.
"About the Pokémon under Kyogre's command. Those that rule different seas—the so-called 'Sea Kings' or… 'Overlords'."
He paused, then recited the titles, names heavy enough to crush an ordinary rookie flat:
"One: The Ancient Sentinel of the Mist Strait – The Immortal Watcher."
"Two: The Billions-of-Wills Ocean Current – The Abyssal Legion."
"Three: The Island-Bearing Mobile Fortress – The Abysswalker Colossus."
"Four: The Ballad Lord of the Polar White Sea – The Frozen Ocean Sovereign."
"Five: The Cursed Source of the Fogbound Ghost Ship – The Phantom Ferryman."
"Professor Oak's naming sense, of course."
"When he first told me all that, I thought he was drunk and going through a chūni phase."
"Emm… drunk Professor Oak."
Ash couldn't help slipping in a muttered jab.
Professor Oak's lab had the most cutting-edge research data in the world.
In the academic community, outside of confidential projects, most new discoveries got forwarded to him automatically.
Ash had no idea whether what the Professor told him was the full truth.
But just hearing those names felt like listening to myths.
With each title he read off, Misty's face went a shade paler and Brock's brows knit a little tighter.
Behind those names were powers beyond normal Gym battles—
beyond even Elite-level battles.
They were natural disaster–class beings.
Ash lifted his head and looked at Bill.
"But Professor… right now we still can't be sure which of those 'envoys' is headed here."
"Or even what they really are, exactly… right?"
At that, Bill's lips curled in a sudden grin.
"Hahahahaha… drunk Professor Oak, huh?"
"Honestly, that's weirdly accurate~~"
"He still hasn't lost his sense of humor."
His attention slid back to the huge screen.
"The signs of the Sea Emperor's stirring have been showing up more and more often. Its envoy walking into waters humans use regularly—that's not a coincidence."
Bill's fingers swept rapidly across the console.
"Did you know?"
"One day, I heard a sound from the far side of the ocean."
With another tap, a strange audio clip began to play.
Static. Then a long, echoing cry—alien yet hauntingly emotional.
"What I heard felt like this: 'I want to see you. I want to see you.'"
"So I built a system to reproduce that same sound, and used this lighthouse to broadcast it out toward the sea."
"As if to say: 'I want to see you too. I want to see you.'"
Rather than fear, Bill's face showed the pure exhilaration of a scientist staring down the unknown.
Even knowing that the one answering his call would be an unimaginably powerful Pokémon, he didn't flinch.
How could a Pokémon Professor who truly loved Pokémon be afraid of danger?
This was what it meant to love Pokémon.
"Day after day went by like that."
"Until one day, I heard a reply—"
"From the other side of the sea, the same voice echoed back."
"I'm certain it's one of the Five Sea Kings."
"And as it happens, that's exactly what I've been researching."
He turned back to them.
"Instead of sitting around overthinking things and spinning out wild theories based on scraps of evidence…"
"If you want to know what the Sea Kings really are—"
"Isn't it much simpler to just ask them directly?"
In this world, archaeology was a little… awkward.
In theory, archaeology was about uncovering the past that time had buried.
But this wasn't a world of just humans—it was a world full of Pokémon.
And some Pokémon had lifespans that stretched far beyond human imagination.
Especially those called "Legendary."
What humans called "history"…
…was just "stuff they remember" to those long-lived Pokémon.
So instead of obsessing over textbooks and ancient tools—
Maybe Trainers should focus on getting stronger first.
Then go ask those ancient Pokémon, face-to-face, what really happened.
If you could get in touch with the deity ruling time itself…
The whole archaeology field could retire and become official record-keepers instead.
Way fewer mistakes that way.
"Once we meet him, we'll understand this world that much better," Bill said quietly.
"You three should stay here for a couple of days."
"What you're about to see—"
"Will be a memory you'll carry for the rest of your lives."
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