Dark clouds gathered overhead, strong winds howled across the water, and rain poured down in heavy sheets.
The weather in this stretch of sea had changed without warning. Massive waves surged in from the open ocean, crashing toward Belon City one after another. The once-calm sea had become a churning, violent mess in a matter of minutes. Rescue ships pitched and rolled with each swell — only the largest warships managed to hold steady. Smaller vessels were tossed about like toys.
David, riding atop his Lapras, struggled to keep his balance. If the situation kept deteriorating, people were going to get hurt.
He could see that this wasn't natural. Someone was behind this storm, pulling strings from the shadows. The senior trainers from Belon City had clearly reached the same conclusion, because they had already begun to move.
A figure leaped from the bow of the lead warship. Just before hitting the water, a Lapras surfaced beneath them, breaking their fall with practiced ease.
The trainer who had jumped was Naomi — Gym Leader of the Azure Wave Gym.
"Lapras, freeze the sea! Use Sheer Cold and Blizzard — together!"
The moment she gave the command, a brilliant blue light erupted from her Lapras. A fierce Blizzard tore through the curtain of rain and howling wind, and within seconds, the sea across several kilometers had been locked beneath a thick sheet of ice. A frozen strip of land now divided the raging outer sea from the calmer waters closer to shore.
The waves lost their momentum and died down. A collective breath of relief passed through everyone on the ships.
"So that's the power of an Azure Wave Gym trainer," David murmured to himself. "But why does this feel familiar?"
He had already worked out the mechanics. It was a combination of Blizzard and Sheer Cold, fused into a single, unified technique. On the surface it sounded straightforward, but executing it was anything but. This was not like when David had his Zorua use Calm Mind and Agility at the same time — that was basic multitasking, managing two moves while carefully regulating energy output.
What Naomi had just done was something else entirely. She had blended two distinct moves into one new technique, achieving an effect that far exceeded what either move could do on its own. The skill involved was enormous. Developing something like that from scratch would take years.
David wondered whether this was a secret technique passed down within the Azure Wave Gym itself, or something Gym Leader Naomi had created on her own.
Then it clicked. The style — the precise control of high-level Ice-type moves — reminded him strongly of Chelsey, the trainer he had faced when he first challenged the Azure Wave Gym. She had been left to guard the Gym in the Leader's absence, and she had shown that same elegant command over Ice.
Is the Azure Wave Gym secretly an Ice-type Gym? David thought. Everyone here seems more comfortable with Ice than Water.
Taking advantage of the calmed sea, the warship crews pulled everyone aboard — David included — for safety.
Only the members of the Supreme Organization, led by the man in black, used the brief window to slip away, retreating swiftly toward the outer sea.
Now on the warship, David finally had a moment to breathe.
But the battle at sea was far from over.
"Janis!" Naomi's voice rang out across the water. "You've come all this way — stop lurking and show yourself. What is it you actually want? Or are you planning to let everything you've done here count for nothing?"
"Old woman, mind your manners." The reply came from somewhere within the storm. "Lurking? I call it patience. Not that someone like you would understand the difference."
Naomi's eyes narrowed. She had said exactly what she meant to say — and it had worked.
A figure rose from the churning tide.
A massive Gyarados coiled upward from the waves, its scales catching the faint light filtering through the clouds. Perched atop its head, standing with easy confidence as if she were on solid ground, was the Sea Pillar.
David studied her carefully.
She was younger than he had expected — early twenties at most, not yet thirty. Maybe four or five years older than his own sister. Her slender frame was wrapped in a sky-blue uniform that moved with the wind. As the storm clouds parted slightly, her face came into clear view.
She was striking. But what caught David's attention most were her eyes — a deep, crystalline blue, sharp and luminous, the kind of eyes that drew your gaze whether you meant to look or not.
Then he noticed the cape.
A cape? David blinked. In the middle of the ocean?
He thought of a certain Flying-type Champion he knew, who at least had a reason to wear flowing clothing — they spent their time in the sky. But someone who worked at sea? What exactly was the cape for?
Showing off, probably.
Still, her youth didn't make her any less dangerous. David pulled up his system and scanned both sides quietly.
[Name: Gyarados] [Type: Water / Flying] [Energy Level: 69] [Aptitude: Light Red]
[Name: Lapras] [Type: Water / Ice] [Energy Level: 69] [Aptitude: Light Red]
Both were veteran-level Elite trainers. Their ace Pokémon each sat just one step below Champion level — which explained why the air felt so heavy the moment both of them were in the same space.
At the Elite trainer level, a single battle fought at full power could level a village. Against an unprepared city with no high-level trainers present to intervene, an Elite could reduce an entire district to rubble without much effort. The two women in front of him — clearly hostile toward one another — had already altered the sea across several kilometers without even going all out.
The power of an Elite trainer was terrifying. The fact that two of them were about to clash was even more so.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Organization's group had reached a position near the outer sea — close enough to the Pillar of the Sea to regroup. The man in black wasted no time. He spoke rapidly, describing how they had been attacked and stripped of the treasures they had retrieved from the ocean shrine. He told Lan Xinqi about the Breath of the Sea God — a sacred relic said to have been left behind by the Sea God itself — along with several other secret treasures. All of them, he claimed, were now in David's possession.
What he did not mention was exactly what had happened inside the Main Temple when it was just the two of them.
David had been hoping to keep a low profile. He had drawn too much attention lately, and the last thing he needed was more eyes on him. But the man in black's account had already done the damage.
Every head on the ship — and off it — slowly turned toward David.