A few days later—
The sea breeze still carried its familiar salty tang.
But the despair and rage from before were gone, replaced by something new—
The quiet energy of reconstruction.
And a faint hint of celebration.
Kin's grand "Paradise Resort" project, half-built and half-destroyed, had not been completely demolished.
Instead, under Ash's rather forward-thinking suggestion, as much of it as possible had been preserved.
Waste not, want not.
Broken rebar, toppled concrete, even those stretches of purple-stained ground where the poison had seeped deep—
All of it was folded into a new blueprinted design.
This world had Psychic-types, after all.
And Pokémon like Alakazam and Metagross could think at speeds to rival a supercomputer.
Once Ash and Lt. Surge agreed on the broad plan, Surge handed it off to the professionals.
Design proposals came out fast.
And once the design was set, construction went even faster.
Because in this world, even the construction industry had Pokémon.
Machop, Machoke, Machamp.
Timburr, Gurdurr, Conkeldurr.
Human and Pokémon life wove together through every industry.
Outside of the Trainer's stage, that meshing was even more obvious.
Not every Pokémon loved to fight.
Not every human wanted to be a Trainer.
In just a few days—
The core feature of an open-air memorial plaza was largely complete.
Its main purpose: silently telling the story of greed-born disaster and the brutal power of nature's backlash.
A constant warning to anyone who came after.
In a world with gods—
When humans destroyed nature, nature's response was very simple.
It raised a fist—
And swung.
After seeing the giant Tentacruel with their own eyes…
Ash sincerely felt this kind of large-scale "disaster movie" needed to be recorded and remembered.
This time, Surge had stopped it at the shoreline.
But what if some smaller city ran into something like this—and their Gym Leader couldn't hold the line?
Take the Kanto League, for instance.
There weren't just eight Gyms in the whole region.
But those eight were the strongest.
Even if Cerulean Gym's reputation was a bit embarrassing lately, that only meant they were eighth among the top tier.
Powerful Gym Leaders like Surge could stand toe-to-toe with local Pokémon Overlords.
That didn't mean the Gym Leaders in every small town could do the same.
And the fact that a Legendary Pokémon could temporarily bless regular Pokémon, boosting them to near–Overlord level…
That was basically a mass-production method for temporary bosses.
Anyone who could do that had to be far above those Overlords.
Then on top of that, you had the true gods at the apex—
Sea Kings like Giant Dragonite, whose own power still didn't reach that of its boss, the Sea Emperor, Kyogre.
Ash remembered the images:
Kyogre awakening—
And the whole planet drowning in storm and flood.
Yeah.
That was not something ordinary people had any hope of dealing with.
At the seaward edge of the plaza, in the most prominent spot—
A huge statue's base was being poured.
It was modeled on Lt. Surge's beloved Raichu, captured mid-leap in the finishing pose of that decisive Iron Tail—
Crashing down on a Tentacruel twisted in agony, tentacles snapping.
The sculpture was sharp, coiled with motion and power.
Surge himself came by to "inspect" almost every day.
He'd cross his arms, look up at the growing statue, and let out a booming laugh:
"Yeah! That's it!"
"Raise his chin higher!"
"I want that aura to hit people in the face!"
"Everyone who comes here is gonna see, clear as day—"
"It was me and Raichu who won this fight!"
"Ahahahaha!"
His loud laughter echoed all along the beach.
He was obviously loving this chance to immortalize his "great achievement."
Back in the army, all that mattered was honor.
What was wrong with fame?
Why should he have to be some nameless shadow?
He wanted his name shouted.
He wanted people to know—
If you actually did things—
No one would forget you.
Set up an example and show everyone—
Desire isn't shameful.
Show everyone—
If you strive, you'll reap rewards.
The full-scale jellyfish theme hotel would still take time to complete.
But a trial-run platform had already been built out over the sea.
It was a wide wooden deck extending over the water, decorated with nautical banners and warm lights.
The railings had been specially designed to make it easy for Water-types to approach.
Tonight—
It was serving as the venue for a Vermilion-area elite Trainers' gathering.
Surge had simply moved this month's club party to the new site.
On the deck, lights glowed bright.
Voices and Pokémon cries blended together into a cheerful buzz.
Gentle waves lapped against the pilings below, playing nature's background music.
Surge, of course, was one of the main stars of the night.
The hero of Vermilion, at least for this incident.
He was hoisting an oversized wooden mug, spraying spit as he retold the "epic showdown" to a cluster of Trainers and local business owners crowding around him.
He waved grandly toward the sea.
"Once my hotel's up, this place'll be one-of-a-kind in Kanto!"
"Let's see who still dares say Vermilion City's nothing but a port and a Gym!"
Thinking of all that—
Surge found himself liking Ash more and more.
He wasn't just talented as a Trainer.
When it came to handling everything around a crisis, he had a good head on his shoulders too.
Real leadership potential.
If Ash made it to Champion one day…
Lt. Surge would raise both hands in support.
He was even planning to give Ash ten percent equity in the hotel.
Don't think that's stingy—that's a lot.
Surge still had to deal with costs, maintenance, networking, logistics…
Ash just had to sit there and wait for his cut.
On the far side of the deck, Professors Oak and Fuji were leaning on the railing, talking while watching the sea.
Oak pointed toward the Tentacool drifting peacefully in the moonlit water.
"Giant Dragonite's residual power is still purifying this whole area."
"The ecosystem's recovering much faster than projected."
"This gives us a perfect sample to study the long-term environmental effects of Legendary Pokémon energy."
Fuji's eyes were shining.
"Exactly!"
"And more importantly, Zygarde acknowledged this kind of 'co-existence order'!"
"That proves that even within absolute rules—"
"There's still room for creative solutions."
"This is basically a perfect intersection of Pokémon sociology and divine behavior studies!"
His Gardevoir stood at his side, hands folded neatly at its waist, posture elegant and serene.
…Honestly, with the way it was standing, it looked exactly like Fuji's date.
Except this particular Gardevoir was male.
Tough not to crack up.
On another side of the deck, Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy were chatting with drinks in hand.
Jenny looked much more relaxed than a few days ago.
"The crisis is over at last."
"I've worked out a new patrol plan with Lt. Surge."
"We'll make sure tourists and Pokémon both stay safe in this area."
Joy smiled gently.
"The injured jellyfish are recovering well."
"They seem to be adapting nicely to this new way of living."
"This really is the best outcome we could've hoped for."
But the ones drawing the most attention tonight—
Were the "waiters" moving back and forth along the edges of the platform.
Several Tentacruel and a whole little cluster of Tentacool hovered in the water around the deck.
They used their flexible tentacles to get around and work.
Some carefully held waterproof trays stacked with drinks and snacks, lifting them up to the guests at the railings.
Others plucked fresh berries straight from cooled bins below and gently placed them on the tables.
Their movements weren't as smooth or polished as a veteran human staff member's.
Sometimes they got nervous and splashed a bit.
But the way they tried so hard to get everything right—earnest, clumsy, and determined—
Was genuinely adorable.
It drew waves of laughter and fond praise from all around.
Letting humans and Pokémon live together in harmony—
From any angle, that was the right direction.
There was nothing to criticize.
In a sense, this was also helping the jellyfish integrate into human society.
And yes—they were getting paid.
The Tentacruel didn't really understand the idea of wages at first.
But wages were non-negotiable.
Once they figured out that "money" could be exchanged for food…
All resistance simply evaporated.
Just carrying things around and doing small tasks—
In exchange for guaranteed food and comfort?
That was amazing.
Especially the special energy cubes—
Way better than anything they could find out in the wild.
Being "domesticated" definitely had perks.
And this setup was only half-domesticated—half wild, half employed.
Even better.
Tentacruel: Punch bones in three strikes—your boss is my loyal dog now!
Tentacruel: Pokémon will never be slaves—unless it's full room and board!
Tentacruel: What're you laughing at? Jellyfish don't even have bones!
From the Pokémon's point of view, you could only say this world's Pokémon were simple.
A solid ninety percent of them, at least.
Surge had also guaranteed they'd have an eight-hour workday.
No 24/7 soul contracts here.
They even had holidays and rotating days off.
Not that it mattered to the jellyfish all that much—
Because there were more of them than the hotel could ever hire full-time.
With supply way over demand, they actually had to compete for the shifts.
Split across everyone, some Tentacool might end up only working an hour or two a day.
laughs in labor law abuse but in a good way
Ash, Misty, and Brock stood at the railing, taking it all in.
Misty still held the little Horsea that had first warned them, and it peered around curiously at the bustling scene.
"Looks like your idea really came to life, Ash," Brock said, smiling with open approval.
"Pika pika!" Pikachu nodded happily on Ash's shoulder.
He really liked this atmosphere.
Ash watched the jellyfish ferrying food and drinks.
Watched the people laughing and chatting.
Watched the half-finished silhouette of Surge's grand statue against the night sky.
And nodded firmly.
"Yeah."
"This is how I want the Pokémon world to be."
He didn't want this world to be ruled by endless conflict.
So he had to become stronger.
Strong enough to influence where this world was heading.
I'll be the one… who says how this world should exist.
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