Just then, a small commotion broke out in a corner of the hall, cutting through the relaxed atmosphere.
Everyone turned toward the noise.
Vermilion City's mayor—a middle-aged man in a neat suit, wearing an anxious expression—was walking toward them, half a step behind an elderly woman in extravagant clothes, leaning on an ornate cane.
The old woman's hair was arranged flawlessly.
A huge pearl necklace hung around her neck, and her face carried the practiced arrogance of someone used to giving orders.
"Good evening, Gym Leader Lt. Surge. Sorry to disturb everyone,"
the mayor said with a somewhat forced smile. He first greeted Lt. Surge and Professor Sakuragi, then stepped aside and made introductions:
"Please allow me to introduce—this is Granny Kin, the investor behind the 'Paradise Heaven Grand Hotel' super-luxury offshore resort project. She's a very important investor for Vermilion City."
Compared to Lt. Surge, Sakuragi, Officer Jenny, and Nurse Joy—who were responsible for League business—the mayor looked unimpressive.
But he was actually in charge of the city's economic planning and development.
It looked less important, but in reality it mattered a lot.
Granny Kin lifted her chin slightly and swept her gaze over Lt. Surge, as if she were evaluating a business partner.
She got straight to the point. Her tone sounded less like a request and more like an instruction:
"Gym Leader Lt. Surge, I've heard much about you."
"My Paradise Heaven Grand Hotel construction site has recently been harassed by a group of Tentacool in the nearby waters. They're severely affecting our progress."
"I hope you can mobilize the Gym's forces to drive them away—or 'take care' of them."
"Of course, compensation won't be an issue."
Her tone was full of entitlement, as if driving off a group of Pokémon was something that could be done with a single phone call.
And in Granny Kin's mind, that was exactly how it should be.
A Gym Leader's duty was to protect the city's residents and support the city's growth.
Her construction site was right off the coast, not in some remote wilderness.
In theory, it should fall under Vermilion's protection.
"…"
Lt. Surge's smile vanished instantly.
The sharp eyes that had seen countless battlefields narrowed.
The easygoing mood from the gathering evaporated.
He leaned forward slightly. The pressure from his towering frame made the mayor unconsciously step back half a pace.
"'Drive them away'? 'Take care of them'?" Lt. Surge's voice dropped low, vibrating like distant thunder.
He didn't even bother to look Granny Kin in the eye. Instead, he glanced at the mayor.
"Mr. Mayor, Vermilion Gym's duties are:
testing Trainers, maintaining the regional battle standard, and protecting the city from hostile Pokémon disasters."
"Not acting as private security for some rich old lady's fancy hotel, cleaning up whatever she thinks is a 'nuisance.'"
Then he snapped his head back toward Granny Kin.
His gaze crackled like lightning as he swept her up and down, and when he spoke again his booming voice carried open, undisguised scorn:
"And who exactly are you supposed to be?"
"You think you get to tell me what to do? Order me around to handle your little mess?"
His words struck like a thunderclap in Granny Kin's and the mayor's ears.
The old woman's carefully maintained face flushed bright red.
Her hand tightened around the cane, trembling with rage.
It was obvious no one had ever humiliated her this bluntly—
and in a room she probably considered full of "brutish" Trainers, no less.
"Y-you… how dare you!" Granny Kin's voice sharpened into a shrill screech.
"I am—"
"I don't give a damn who you are." Lt. Surge cut her off mid-sentence, utterly merciless.
His voice boomed across nearly the entire hall, which had fallen abruptly silent.
"My strength exists to protect Vermilion City and Trainers I acknowledge—"
"Not to wipe the ass of your stupid hotel project!"
"Understand, old hag?"
Lt. Surge was a smart man who'd survived the battlefield,
then successfully transitioned from soldier to Gym Leader.
Whether as Vermilion's Gym Leader or as a Rocket executive,
there was no universe in which he was going to march down to the coastline and bully a bunch of Water-type Pokémon for money.
What a joke.
A massive Dragonite had just surfaced off these shores, and not long ago at that.
And now she wanted to start something with the Pokémon of the sea?
That was begging to die.
"Outrageous! Vulgar! Ignorant!"
Granny Kin slammed her cane down hard, shaking with fury.
"Mr. Mayor! Is this the attitude of Vermilion's Gym Leader?!"
The mayor's face was a tangled mess of embarrassment and panic.
He desperately tried to smooth things over:
"Gym Leader Lt. Surge, Granny Kin is also thinking of the city's economic growth. That resort will attract many tourists, which would be a big boost to Vermilion's economy…"
"Not my problem," Lt. Surge said flatly.
He didn't give them a shred of face, waving his hand as if to shoo away a fly.
"My answer is—no. Not doing it. Get lost."
The last two words left no room for negotiation.
Granny Kin's face shifted from red to a sickly blue.
She threw Lt. Surge a venomous glare, then swept her eyes across the silent Professor Sakuragi, Joy, and Jenny—
as if hoping someone would side with her.
But no one spoke.
In the end, she forced her fury down into a cold snort.
"Fine… very good, Gym Leader Lt. Surge. I'll remember this."
She spun around sharply. Her cane struck the carpet with dull thuds as she stormed toward the doors without looking back.
The mayor watched her retreating figure, then glanced at Lt. Surge's "what are you gonna do about it?" expression.
He could only sigh.
He hurriedly nodded to Lt. Surge and Sakuragi, then rushed off after Granny Kin.
Pokémon Trainers could afford not to care about the city's economy.
He could not.
The economy only had up and down. There was no such thing as "staying flat."
If development went south, it would drag down every part of the city.
Then they'd be looking at real trouble.
And just like that, this attempted "high-society" negotiation—
collapsed completely under Lt. Surge's brutal refusal.
The hall fell quiet for a moment, then a buzzing wave of whispers rose up.
Quite a few Trainers were now looking at Lt. Surge with more respect than before.
Lt. Surge spat to the side, tugged his crooked tie loose, and slipped back into his casual, rough-around-the-edges attitude.
He snorted to Ash and Sakuragi:
"Most annoying kind of geezer.
Get a bit of money and they think they can order everyone around."
"Since when is the Pokémon ecosystem something you can just 'take care of' on a whim?"
"Ridiculous."
He didn't have to spell it out.
Everyone here knew exactly what he meant.
Ordinary people might not understand—
but did they not know how terrifying that giant Dragonite was?
If you pissed off a Sea King–class Pokémon…
Well, Vermilion was a city built right on the coast.
If that Dragonite kicked up a single tsunami,
who knew how great the damage would be?
Ash watched quietly from the side, committing both Lt. Surge's stance and Granny Kin's fury to memory.
"I don't think that old lady's going to let this go," he murmured.
This was already straying from the anime's version of events—but he remembered a giant Tentacruel appearing there…
In the original, a horde of Tentacool shows up around this point.
But Team Rocket's trio had gone to Saffron in this world. If they never came to Vermilion… would the giant Tentacruel still appear?
Ash could only reference the anime. He couldn't treat it as a guaranteed script.
After all, the Rocket trio hadn't even shown up in Vermilion at all.
"If she pushes this any further, she can't complain about what happens next… right, Officer Jenny?" Lt. Surge said, turning toward her.
"That's right," Jenny replied, her tone serious.
"A city's development absolutely cannot be built on destroying nature and ruining Pokémon habitats."
"That's something the entire human world has learned the hard way."
If humans damaged nature too heavily,
and drew the wrath of a local 'boss Pokémon' in response…
It would be a nightmare.
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