Vermilion City.
Sakuragi Research Lab.
Shrill alarms ripped through the lab's usual quiet.
On the main screen, what had been a calm energy waveform suddenly spiked, shooting straight up into a vicious peak that nearly punched through the display's upper limit. Red warning icons flashed like crazy.
"Professor!"
"We've detected an ultra–high-level energy reaction along the coastline!"
"The location is… Granny Kin's Paradise Heaven resort construction site!" The assistant's voice shook with disbelief and panic.
Professor Sakuragi's head snapped up from the data display, lenses catching the harsh red glare. He strode to the main console, face so grim it looked like it could drip water.
"Energy profile analysis. Now!"
"We can't fully parse it!" the assistant rattled off while hammering on the keyboard. "But the life force and… the emotional 'anger' component inside it are way beyond normal thresholds! Wait—Professor Bill and Vermilion Gym are both sending in encrypted calls!"
"Patch them through!" Sakuragi didn't hesitate.
The screen split into three windows.
On the left: Professor Bill's slightly pale face, backed by his iconic lighthouse control room.
On the right: Lt. Surge. He'd already changed into his familiar camo vest, and behind him Raichu and the rest of his main team were visibly restless.
"Sakuragi! You getting this too?" Bill's voice buzzed through with a hint of labored breathing and that special tremor of an overexcited researcher.
"It's that power!"
"It has to be the power it left behind!"
"The sample I extracted from the seawater that night is going crazy—unprecedented luminosity and energy output!"
Sakuragi raised a sealed transparent container.
Inside, a small lump of azure liquid boiled and glowed like a living thing, raging in resonance with some distant existence.
"Giant Dragonite?" Sakuragi understood in an instant.
Pokémon Professors were all widely read and widely traumatized; they'd all thought of the same possibility the moment they saw that spike.
And that possibility was… not great.
"What else but that legendary might could trigger an ecological-level energy rampage of this scale?!" Bill's voice edged into mania, but then worry overtook it.
"But it's only lending power. The real source of the chaos is something else entirely… another entity. A mass born from fury and the urge to destroy."
Bill could confirm it now: Giant Dragonite had targeted the seawater itself when it granted power. That was why his seawater sample was reacting.
"Shit! That old hag Kin must've done something so rotten even the heavens couldn't stand it!" Lt. Surge's roar cracked through like thunder.
He roughly shoved a few last Ultra Balls onto his belt while yelling at the screen:
"I knew that old crone wouldn't keep her ass still!"
"Of course she'd stir up some giant mess!"
"She's dead this time, I'm telling you!"
"You hold your end. I'm taking my main squad over to take a look!"
Surge knew perfectly well the construction site would clash with the local Pokémon habitat.
But so what?
Humans fight humans.
Pokémon fight Pokémon.
Humans and Pokémon living spaces rub each other the wrong way—that's normal.
As long as it isn't too excessive, nobody really steps in.
Because they can't. There are just too many cases.
But the situation had escalated to this level—there was no way this was "not too excessive."
Just as Surge was about to cut the call, a new emergency request popped up.
A line of text flashed across the screen:
EmergencyCall—fromPalletTown⋅Ash'sPokeˊdexEmergency Call — from Pallet Town · Ash's PokédexEmergencyCall—fromPalletTown⋅Ash'sPokeˊdex
Surge paused mid–movement, frowning. "Huh? That kid?"
"Take it," Sakuragi said immediately.
Ash's face appeared in a fourth window.
Behind him: a coastline battered by roaring winds and crashing waves. His hair and clothes were soaked through, muddy spray flecked his cheeks, but his eyes were steady and sharp.
On his shoulder, Pikachu's fur bristled, electric sacs flashing violently.
"Lt. Surge! Good thing I managed to get through!"
"Huh? Professor Sakuragi? Professor Bill?" Ash blinked at the multi-way call, surprised—but there was no time.
He sped up.
"I'll keep it short!"
"Granny Kin's been using poison to lure and mass–kill Tentacool and Tentacruel. That drew in Giant Dragonite's power and triggered… some kind of mutation!"
"There's a gigantic Tentacruel now. Over sixty meters tall. The energy readings are insane!"
"It's completely out of control!"
He whipped his Pokédex camera around.
Even with the image shaking from the wind and splashing water, one brief glance was enough—
The towering silhouette of the giant Tentacruel, like a skyscraper given flesh and malice.
Those twin, crimson eyes burning with pure destruction.
On the other end of the line, three very experienced adults all felt their hearts lurch.
"Sixty meters?! A pseudo–Overlord?!" Sakuragi hissed, going pale. "So it really is a giantification case!"
"Just as I thought… Dragonite's power mixed with the colony's resentment and instinctive call for help…" Bill muttered, staring at the now violently boiling sample in his hand.
"We can now be sure… 'Sea King'–class Pokémon can act as delegated agents of divine authority…"
"…But a giant Tentacruel… that doesn't match past records of other pseudo–Overlords."
"…Is it because a Tentacruel's body is ninety–nine percent water?"
"…This is a massive discovery…"
Bill's focus was on an entirely different axis.
Then—
"OW—!" Bill yelped.
Next to him, Gardevoir jabbed a glowing fist straight into his kidney.
"Gar–de–voir!" Gardevoir snapped, clearly pissed. Now was not research time.
"Sorry, everyone. Habit…" Bill shrank down a little.
No one was listening to him anymore.
"Fuck!" Surge swore even louder.
The vein on his forehead throbbed. "That crazy hag!"
"She really had the guts to pull this!"
"Kid! How are you holding up?!"
"Don't you dare try to tank that thing head–on!"
"That's not something you solve with a normal battle!"
"Don't push it so far it starts smashing the city!"
"I'm bringing my main team over right now!"
"From here on, leave the rest to me!"
Surge still had a strong sense of duty.
That's where every city Gym Leader's authority and status came from.
When something really went wrong, they were the ones who had to step up first.
"We're okay—for now!" Ash had to shout over the roar of wind and surf.
"Brock and Misty are helping evacuate tourists and Pokémon that might get caught up in this!"
"Its first target is Granny Kin and this construction site!"
"But I'm worried once it's done venting, it'll head straight for the city!"
These Tentacool had been victims.
Their revenge was, in a sense, sacred and justified.
But—
Ash had no way of knowing whether the giant Tentacruel would stop after dealing with Granny Kin.
Hatred doesn't just… turn off.
Misplaced revenge is common enough even among humans.
Pokémon didn't understand human factions on that level.
If some humans had slaughtered them, it was all too easy for them to hate all humans.
And that… was understandable, but unacceptable.
"Hang in there, Ash!" Sakuragi's voice steadied, slipping into command mode.
"Bill, keep analyzing the energy structure. Look for any possible weaknesses—or ways to calm it!"
"Surge, get there as fast as you can!"
"I'll coordinate with Officer Jenny and the city office to trigger emergency protocols, evacuate the coastal residents, and try to throw up a long–range barrier to buy time!"
"Got it!"
"Leave it to me!" Surge and Bill replied almost in unison.
The screen flickered.
Surge's and Bill's windows went dark—they'd cut the call and gone all–in on their respective roles.
Ash took a deep breath of salty, danger–thickened air, staring at the last remaining window: Professor Sakuragi.
"Professor…"
He honestly didn't know what to say.
How do you deal with a hostile monster that's multiple stories tall?
He had no idea.
The whole scene looked like it had wandered out of a disaster movie.
Even counting both his lives together, Ash had never had to deal with this kind of problem.
This wasn't like the Dynamax battles in the games.
This was nothing like the fun fantasies from before.
Facing a creature like this, he had exactly one thought:
—Can someone go next door and hire Ultraman?
This kind of enemy was way outside his pay grade.
Right now, all he could do was buy time until Lt. Surge arrived.
What?
You're saying Brock and Misty are Gym Leaders too?
Sure, but they were inherited Gym Leaders, not ones who'd fought their way up.
And they only brought one Gym–ace each for this trip.
Brock had brought Onix.
What was an Onix supposed to do against a giant Tentacruel in the sea?
It would get deleted on turn one.
Misty had brought a Gym–ace Gyarados… but both sides were Water-type as their main attribute. It didn't help much.
Gyarados could blast off a Hydro Pump with all it had… and the giant Tentacruel probably wouldn't even feel it.
"Go do what you need to do, Ash." Sakuragi's gaze was deep, steady—and full of trust.
"Until reinforcements arrive, you're the commanding officer on site."
"Protect the civilians. Contain the situation. But… put your own safety first."
It wasn't "official," but it was a temporary appointment all the same.
Right now, solving the problem was more important than paperwork.
Emergency protocols didn't care about "proper procedure."
"Understood!" Ash nodded hard and cut the call.
He turned around. The gale nearly knocked him off his feet. Above him, a massive shadow swallowed the sky, and the roar of destruction pressed in from all sides.
The battle had already begun.
For now, all anyone could do was stall and wait for Lt. Surge.
Gym Leaders strong enough to guard a whole city—by tradition and by old pacts—stood on equal footing with the regional Pokémon Overlords.
In the end, it would come down to force.
And it couldn't be a dogpile.
That was part of an ancient rule, a ritual born from early humans carving out territory from the wilds: one champion human against one champion beast.
That was why Bill and Sakuragi couldn't go.
Only Lt. Surge's position gave him the right to face this legitimately.
For something like this to happen meant one thing:
God's gaze had turned this way.
If God's gaze was here…
Then God's avatar was coming.
And that meant:
God's order was coming with it.
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