Rumble—
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—
Lt. Surge and the giant Tentacruel clashed again and again.
Without going all out, bringing this thing down was always going to take time.
It couldn't be helped.
This Tentacruel's body was just too huge.
In a way, size itself was a form of vitality.
If you stabbed Raichu straight through with a blade, that wound scaled up to the Tentacruel's size would barely scratch the surface.
Even if Raichu dumped every last volt of power it had in one blow, killing this behemoth in a single hit would still be almost impossible.
So Raichu fought while tethered to five "power banks" around him, trading blows and recharging at the same time.
And the "power banks"—the Electrode—were also continuously drinking in free-floating electricity from the air to refill themselves.
Add Magnezone on top of that…
Raichu was the only one attacking.
But it was being refueled by six different sources.
Energy shortage?
laughs in Electric-type
Yeah, not happening.
Between sea and sky, the aftershocks of thunder still hummed.
But the outcome of the battle had already been decided.
The giant Tentacruel let out one last howl, twisted by pain and unwillingness.
That mountain of a body finally lost all strength, crashing down onto the shattered shoreline and throwing up a wall of murky spray.
Then something even stranger started to happen.
That suffocatingly massive body began to shrink—visibly, rapidly—like a balloon being punctured.
The terrifying aura and seething crimson hatred surrounding it peeled away and dissipated, stripped from its form by a will higher than its own.
The borrowed might—the power from the deep sea that had filled it up, lifted it up, and fought through it—
Was being taken back.
To Giant Dragonite, one of the Sea Kings, this little strip of coast simply wasn't worth paying that much attention to.
The ocean was too vast.
So vast that even Giant Dragonite found it… vast.
Compared to that scale, this incident was just a minor blip.
It had lent its strength.
It had given its children a chance to strike back.
That was already more than enough.
Now that the battle was over, there was no reason for it to linger.
"…Muu…"
Shrunk back down to normal size, the Tentacruel collapsed into the sludge, letting out a faint, broken cry.
It struggled to lift its head, looking out over the shore it had grown up beside—a shore now scarred and ruined.
Its eyes were full of confusion and reluctant sorrow.
It didn't want to leave the home its species had lived in for generations.
But the fact of defeat, the ebb of the power inside it… left it with nothing but powerless grief.
"Whirr—"
Magnezone descended, carrying Lt. Surge safely back to the ground beside Ash.
The Gym Leader tugged off his tactical goggles in one motion.
Beneath his bright blond hair, his grin was completely unrestrained.
"Hahahahahaha—!"
"So, boy~"
"Did you get a good look?"
"This is what me and my partners can really do!"
"I won!"
He slapped Ash's shoulder with a heavy smack, his booming voice full of a victor's satisfaction.
"It sure is…" Ash admitted without hesitation.
Surge had been strong.
Strong, and responsible.
That was the power—and the duty—of a Gym Leader.
"So this is what battles at the Gym Leader level look like, huh?"
"Power used in more flexible ways… at a higher level of control…"
Ash had been thinking along those lines already—ever since Pikachu first chained two different moves together in one seamless rhythm.
But thinking about it was easy.
Pulling it off was hard.
"Hah! And this ain't even all of it~~" Surge's smug grin was almost reaching his ears.
He hadn't been bothered by Ash's earlier teasing… but that didn't mean he'd forgotten it, either.
"Boy~"
"My Raichu's strength is more than just this."
"Sure, Raichu is the final natural stage of Pikachu's evolution—but that's only in the normal sense."
"For my Raichu, my partner…"
"There's still a form beyond that~"
"A form that proves our bond!"
"It's a limitation of biology. A specific structure."
"Something Pikachu could never pull off, no matter what."
He wanted to show it off. He really did.
But Surge still swallowed the urge, keeping that trump card in his pocket.
"Hmph." Ash folded his arms.
"I believe in my partner just as much."
"Whether he evolves or not—"
"My aibō isn't gonna lose in power."
Ash met Surge's gaze head-on.
Different paths led to different choices.
Even if Pikachu could never reach that "beyond" form…
They would reach the summit just the same.
"Pika!" Pikachu threw up a little paw with all his might to agree.
He really did not want to evolve.
"Ahahahaha!" Surge didn't take offense at all.
"Everyone's got their own road to walk."
"If you can walk it all the way to the end, that's the right one."
"Boy, that's something you'll have to decide for yourself later."
The fact that Ash didn't just nod along with him—
Surge actually liked that.
Anyone who could be blown around too easily by other people's opinions…
Anyone who didn't have the grit to commit and keep walking…
Would never reach the next level.
To move forward, Trainer and Pokémon had to stand together, choose together, and believe together.
That was what separated shallow will from true resolve.
At that moment—
On the black reef—
The emerald Zygarde Cell pulsed with a faint ripple of light.
That cold voice once again echoed directly in everyone's minds:
[Battle concluded.]
[Victor: Human side—Vermilion Gym, Lt. Surge.]
[Defeated side must honor the terms: relocate at once, and never again intrude on this coastline.]
[Rules… must be followed.]
An invisible pressure settled on the exhausted Tentacruel and the cluster of Tentacool floating weakly nearby.
The migration order fell upon them like a final verdict.
Ash looked at the devastated shoreline, then at the helpless jellyfish Pokémon who'd been drained of power, and suddenly spoke up:
"Lt. Surge… is this stretch of ocean really that important to Vermilion City?"
He'd had an idea.
One that fit this world's logic very well.
"Important?" Surge raised a brow, digging at his ear in a very "couldn't care less" sort of way.
"Not important for squat!"
"Vermilion City already has a commercial beach. There're only so many tourists to go around. Build more hotels and they'll just sit empty!"
He knew the score.
If you wanted rich clients, you needed his Pokémon Club, not some cookie-cutter resort.
"This dump?" He jerked his chin toward the wreckage.
"Kin just had too much money burning a hole in her pocket and wanted some new gimmick."
He glanced at the trembling jellyfish. "What, boy—you got an idea?"
Ash took a deep breath, looking between the Zygarde Cell and the frightened Tentacruel, then laid out a bold proposal:
"If this coastline doesn't have much real development value…"
"And all they want is a place to live…"
"Then could we… change how we carry out the terms?"
"For example—"
"What if we turned this place into a jellyfish-themed resort hotel?"
"Let Tentacruel and the Tentacool become the hotel's special 'staff' and 'attractions'."
"They'd be free to live in these waters, and even have limited, controlled interactions with guests."
"In exchange, they'd get to stay here—earning the right to their home with their own work."
If possible, Ash still wanted to see humans and Pokémon coexist in peace.
There was no need to push things to extremes.
Even with a bet or a trial, the victor didn't have to push the loser to the harshest possible outcome.
But he couldn't be generous with someone else's victory.
Surge had done the hard fighting.
Surge had won.
If he agreed, then it was viable.
If he didn't… Ash had no right to decide for him.
Surge rubbed at the stubble on his chin, then grinned wide.
"Heh. Not bad."
"Letting Pokémon work to earn their territory?"
"You really do think fast, kid."
"Fine by me! I've got no complaints."
"This place sitting empty is a waste anyway. If we can turn it into something interesting, that's a win."
He wasn't just being swayed by Ash's words.
He was also thinking about Giant Dragonite.
As one of the Sea Kings, Giant Dragonite had already gotten involved.
In Surge's eyes, Vermilion City had to show some good faith in return.
Giant Dragonite might not need anything from them—
But Vermilion City still needed to show it understood.
A Sea King wasn't like the absolutely neutral Zygarde.
This was Surge's conclusion, spoken from his position as Vermilion's guardian.
—Surely no one really thinks he's an idiot, right?
—He's rough, not brainless.
Heart of a tiger, nose for roses.
Surge was a proper Trainer. Of course he loved Pokémon.
Even in harsh Gym battles, he might injure—but he didn't kill.
With Surge's agreement in hand—
Ash mustered up his courage and turned to the rock.
"Zygarde… Arbiter."
"Would a solution like this still fit within the 'order' you uphold?"
"It fulfills the defeated side's obligation to pay a price…"
"But avoids forcing them into a painful migration."
"And maybe… it could even create a new kind of balance?"
The emerald Cell hovered there, softly glowing, as though running calculations on the proposal.
After a pause, that cold voice echoed one more time—
But this time, there seemed to be the faintest hint of… approval.
Zygarde's Cell watched Ash closely.
And quietly recorded his image.
[Proposal… does not violate existing rules…]
[Permission… granted… proceed with negotiation…]
With that permission—
Ash turned at once to the Tentacruel at the head of the group.
He used clear, simple images and gestures to convey the plan:
"Stay here…"
"Work…"
"In exchange… keep your home…"
"Is that okay?"
To his surprise, Tentacruel and the others didn't hesitate at all.
To wild Pokémon, the idea that winners had authority over losers was something instinctive, written into the bones.
Obeying the strong was natural.
And this arrangement didn't just avoid further punishment—it let them stay in their ancestral waters.
"Mrruu!"
"Cooooool!"
Tentacruel lifted its head with effort and let out a cry of agreement.
Behind it, the Tentacool rose from the waves, chiming in with their own thin voices.
Relief at surviving.
Joy at keeping their home.
Everything ended there.
A good ending, by any measure.
As for certain people who were no longer worth noticing…
No one felt the need to spare them another glance.
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