The ballroom didn't just tremble; it groaned as a support beam in the far corner buckled under the gravitational pull of the approaching Gate. The organizers, desperate to conclude the event before the ship's hull was compromised, signaled for the final modification.
"In light of the... environmental instability," the announcer shouted over the wind, "the Finals will be a Full-Field 3-on-3 Skirmish! First trainer to have their entire roster incapacitated loses!"
Aria didn't hesitate. She tapped three Luxury Balls in a synchronized motion.
In a flash of blue and white, her front line appeared: Manectric (Lvl 37), Froslass (Lvl 35), and the Gabite (Lvl 39). They stood in a perfect triangle—the Froslass floating high to provide aerial cover, the Manectric crackling with static to control the ground, and the Gabite crouched low, its claws furrowing the mahogany floor.
Zeth felt the Silver Thread in his chest tighten. This was a mental load he had never carried. He had to keep track of three different fights at once, his mind jumping between the heat of his Houndoom and the ragged breathing of his Charmeleon.
"Houndoom. Charmeleon. Croagunk. Out now."
The three materialized. Houndoom stood in the vanguard, its silver eyes fixed on the Gabite. Charmeleon took the right flank, its tail-flame flickering nervously at the sight of the Froslass. Croagunk crouched in the shadows of Houndoom's massive frame, its fingers twitching with the Custom Poison Jab.
"Manectric, Thunder on the Houndoom! Froslass, Blizzard! Gabite, Sand Tomb!" Aria commanded.
It was a professional-grade opening. The Blizzard turned the ballroom into an ice rink, while the Sand Tomb trapped Zeth's Pokémon in a localized vortex of grit and stone.
Zeth's mind raced. He had to move them as one, or they'd be picked apart piece by piece.
"Croagunk, foul the ice! Charmeleon, drop the floor! Houndoom, hit the center!"
The execution was messy. Charmeleon slammed its claws down for the Legacy Earthquake, but the recoil sent a jolt of pain through its iron-infused legs that Zeth felt in his own gut. The tremor shattered the Sand Tomb and cracked the Blizzard's ice, but it also nearly knocked Croagunk off its feet.
The Houndoom's Dark Pulse collided with the incoming Thunder. The shadows of the pulse were so thick they seemed to swallow the electricity, the black-and-violet waves clinging to the Manectric's limbs and slowing its movements.
Aria's coordination was flawless. Her Froslass dived from the ceiling, unleashing a Shadow Ball at the struggling Charmeleon. Simultaneously, Gabite used Dual Chop, its glowing claws aiming to shred Houndoom's reinforced armor.
Zeth began to see the "lines" of the battle—the way his team's movements overlapped.
"Houndoom, burn the ball! Croagunk, get behind her!"
As Houndoom's white-hot fire vaporized the ghostly projectile, Croagunk used the steam as cover. It vanished, reappearing high in the air behind the Froslass.
Thwip.
The Custom Poison Jab struck the Froslass's frozen mask. The Ghost-type shrieked as the toxin scrambled its ethereal form.
"Gabite, shred the frog!" Aria countered.
The Lvl 39 Gabite lunged with terrifying speed. Its Rough Skin brushed against Croagunk as it leaped away, drawing blood instantly.
"Charmeleon, keep it off him!"
The red lizard unleashed a blue vortex of Dragon Rage, forcing the Gabite to veer off. The three-way coordination was starting to click. Zeth wasn't looking at numbers; he was looking at the flow of the room, feeling the rhythm of the struggle.
The ballroom ceiling finally gave way. A jagged purple rift opened directly above the arena, and the Primal Spark—sitting on its pedestal—began to glow with a blinding, erratic light.
"The Gate is opening! End this now!" Aria screamed. "Manectric, Wild Charge! Gabite, Dig! Froslass, Destiny Bond!"
This was the "all-in" move. If Froslass fainted, it would take one of Zeth's Pokémon with it.
Zeth felt the Silver Thread snap into a hard, cold tether. He didn't just give a command; he threw his entire will into his team.
"Houndoom, crush the charge! Charmeleon, give me everything! Croagunk, blind them!"
The room exploded. Charmeleon's Legacy Earthquake tore the floor apart, collapsing the tunnels the Gabite was trying to dig. The recoil was catastrophic—Charmeleon's legs finally gave out, and it slumped to the floor, fainted from the strain.
But the tremor had done its job. The Manectric stumbled, its Wild Charge flickering out just long enough for Houndoom to lunge forward and Crunch the electric wolf's shoulder, the dark energy of the bite forcing the Manectric into the wreckage of the floor.
Croagunk's mud blinded the Froslass, causing its Destiny Bond to miss as it drifted aimlessly in the smoke.
As the dust settled, the ballroom was a ruin.
Aria's Side: Manectric was down, its body sparking and paralyzed. Froslass was severely poisoned and disoriented. Only the Gabite remained standing, though it was bleeding from the shards of the shattered floor.
Zeth's Side: Charmeleon was fainted. Croagunk was at its limit, clutching a wounded side. Houndoom stood in the center, its fur scorched and its breathing heavy, but its silver eyes were burning.
Zeth stood his ground, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He had done it. He had commanded three at once, and while Charmeleon had paid the price, he had dismantled a professional League formation.
"I can't... hold the rift," Aria gasped, her Manectric recalled. She looked at the Primal Spark, which was now vibrating with enough energy to level the ship. "If you take that Spark now, the Gate will stabilize around you. You'll be the target for everything inside that hole."
Zeth looked at the Primal Spark. He looked at his exhausted team. Then he looked at the purple rift in the ceiling.
"I didn't come here to play it safe," Zeth said, his voice cold.
He reached out and grabbed the Primal Spark.
The world went white.
The moment Zeth's fingers closed around the Primal Spark, the laws of physics on the SS Anne ceased to apply.
The "Spark" wasn't a stone; it was a humming, jagged tear of pure energy. As it touched Zeth's hand, the Silver Thread of his Aura didn't just vibrate—it roared. A pillar of violet light erupted from his palm, punching through the ballroom ceiling and connecting with the rift above.
Then, the ship screamed.
The SS Anne didn't just tilt; the middle of the ballroom floor surged upward as a massive, crystalline structure began to "grow" out of the deck, fueled by the Gate's manifestation. Mahogany was replaced by translucent, jagged obsidian. The smell of the sea was replaced by a dry, metallic scent—like old copper and ozone.
"The hull is breached!" a sailor cried, but his voice was cut short as a wave of purple mist rolled across the floor.
Zeth stood in the center of the chaos. The Primal Spark was feeding energy into him and his Pokémon, but it was also a beacon. He could feel eyes—hundreds of them—watching from the other side of the thinning veil.
"Houndoom! Croagunk! Get back-to-back!"
Zeth grabbed the fainted Charmeleon's ball, pulling the red lizard back into safety. He looked at the ballroom. It was no longer a room; it was a transitional space. Half of it was still a luxury liner, but the other half had become a Crystalline Jungle.
From the deepening shadows of the newly formed ravine, shapes began to coalesce. They weren't strange variants; they were Linoone, but not like any Zeth had seen on the Kanto routes.
These were massive, battle-scarred specimens, their fur thick and matted with mineral dust. Their eyes weren't just wild—they were sharp with an intelligence born of a world where food was scarce and power was everything. At Level 32–34, these were the "Border-Guards" of the Gate, and they saw the SS Anne as an intrusion into their territory.
"Aria!" Zeth shouted over the wind.
The Sinnoh trainer was struggling to stand, her Gabite shielding her from falling debris. She looked at Zeth, her eyes wide as she saw the Spark fused to his hand.
"You've anchored the Gate to the ship!" she gasped. "The League's stabilizers are at the port. Without them, this ship is going to be pulled entirely into the rift in an hour!"
"Then we stop thinking about the port and start thinking about the terrain," Zeth said. He didn't look like a student. The raw energy of the Spark was making his veins glow with a faint, pulsing light. "The exit isn't back through the ballroom. Look out the breach."
Through the shattered hull, the ocean was gone. In its place was a vast, vertical world of floating rock islands, connected by massive, rusted iron chains that seemed to hold the sky together.
As the Linoone pack hissed, Zeth noticed something glittering in the obsidian floor near their feet. It wasn't just rubble. It was Raw Moonstone Shards, ripped from the Gate's interior during the manifestation.
"Houndoom, Dark Pulse—don't kill them, just drive them back! Croagunk, Mud-Slap—foul the air!"
Zeth wasn't rushing for a kill. He needed to test the environment. As the Houndoom unleashed its shadows, the Dark Pulse felt denser here, the energy lingering in the mineral-rich air. The Linoone recoiled, but they didn't flee; they simply repositioned, watching for a weakness.
"Aria, get your Gabite to secure those shards," Zeth commanded, his voice a cold rasp. "If we're stuck in here, we need every bit of Gate-material we can find for recovery. We aren't in a tournament anymore. We're on an expedition."
Aria hesitated, then nodded, sensing the shift in the stakes. "If we survive the next ten minutes, we need to find the ship's galley. If the Gate pulled in the middle of the ship, the supplies will be scattered across the Ravine."
Zeth looked at the Linoone pack, then at the vast, vertical world beyond the ship. The "Overlord" was somewhere deep in the floating chains, but for now, the goal was simpler: Secure the wreckage, harvest the shards, and survive the first night.