No one knew exactly what happened that afternoon at the lakeside of the otherwise unremarkable Lake of Rage.
But what the people of Mahogany Town did know was this—
the distant sounds of fierce battles roaring from the direction of Lake of Rage, along with the terrifying shockwaves carried by the wind, filled everyone with dread.
Howling winds, torrential rain, and the deafening noises of combat of all kinds.
Old Pryce, sitting in his wheelchair, had just finished carving an ice sculpture. He rolled out from the Mahogany Gym with a calm, weathered expression as he stared toward the distant lake.
Had Pryce not ordered his Dewgong to erect a massive wall of ice to shield Mahogany Town, the town would have absolutely been destroyed by the sheer intensity of the battle.
Most of the townspeople had already stepped out of their homes, pointing and discussing nervously as they looked toward the direction of the Lake of Rage.
The battle raged from afternoon all the way until dusk, only then did the rumbling finally subside.
And when a few brave—or reckless villagers dared to approach Lake of Rage, all of them gasped sharply, their faces full of terror.
The enormous Lake of Rage was now nearly half gone.
The grasslands and forests surrounding the lake were in total ruin—ravaged beyond recognition, reduced to a wasteland of scars and destruction.
Who could possibly be fighting?
They couldn't guess, nor did they dare to.
If their town didn't have a strong Gym Leader to protect them…
With destruction on that level—
Their town wouldn't have merely been affected.
No—
It would have been completely obliterated.
…
At the Blackthorn Clan Estate, Blackthorn City
"Did you hear? Near Mahogany Town, someone incredibly strong was fighting and they say the Lake of Rage was practically destroyed."
At the dinner table, Green leaned in toward Lucas, speaking mysteriously.
"This thing must've spread across every Indigo forum by now, right? And judging from the pictures, it definitely wasn't some friendly sparring match."
Marnie rolled her eyes and muttered before chewing thoughtfully on her chopsticks.
Photos of the devastated battlefield had been uploaded by Mahogany Town residents, giving clueless onlookers a clear sense of just how serious the situation was.
Normally, during a friendly spar or exhibition match, trainers would deliberately restrain their Pokémon's destructive power.
There was no way such catastrophic damage would occur.
But obviously, whoever battled at the Lake of Rage had absolutely no intention of holding back.
And this level of destruction was not something an ordinary trainer could possibly cause.
Lucas raised a brow, pulling out his phone to check the details.
He had been leisurely raising his Pokémon these last few days, relaxing like a couch potato, and hadn't paid attention to recent events at all.
"This level of devastation… that's champion-tier combat."
He flipped through the photos, eyes narrowing slightly.
The Lake of Rage was one of Johto's most famous large-scale natural zones and now half of it was gone.
Only a champion-level trainer could fight on such a scale.
"Indigo only has a few champions with names and faces… and yet the League still hasn't released any statements." Green propped up her chin, head tilting in confusion. Logically, with destruction on this scale, the Pokémon League would never stay silent.
But two hours had already passed since the incident began spreading online, more and more people were talking about it—and the League still hadn't responded.
"Let's eat first."
Lucas's eyes flickered thoughtfully. After a moment of pondering, he smiled at the two girls.
…
After dinner, Lucas lay on the recliner in the estate's pavilion and dialed Giovanni's video call.
The call connected quickly, but when Giovanni's face appeared, Lucas was slightly surprised.
"Moshi moshi? Old man, you don't look so good right now." Lucas couldn't help teasing him.
He had already suspected that Giovanni might be involved. After all, there were only a handful of people in Indigo capable of creating such destruction.
And the moment Lucas saw Giovanni's condition, he was almost certain.
Giovanni's normally composed face looked pale, and there was a fresh wound running from the side of his face all the way to his forehead. Fortunately it wasn't deep—otherwise…
"I'll live." Giovanni's condition was rough, but he seemed oddly in good spirits, answering with a faint smile.
"So… about Lake of Rage?"
"Mm. You've probably guessed." Giovanni replied casually.
"So, it was my dear cousin…"
Lucas's expression turned complicated. He truly hadn't expected Lance would go hunting Giovanni again.
But on second thought, it made perfect sense.
Even though Kanto's Team Rocket was now destroyed, with Lance's obsessive personality, there was no way he'd let Giovanni and the remnants of Rocket go so easily.
"He wasn't much better off than me. Besides…"
Giovanni's lips curled with a subtle, intriguing smile. The battle at Lake of Rage had practically been a death match.
Lance's strength was indeed tremendous, and neither side held back in the slightest.
At the beginning, Giovanni was actually at a disadvantage. Even with his Mega Beedrill briefly suppressing Lance's ace Dragonite…
Lance was determined and dead set on eliminating him.
Ace Dragonite, massive Dragonite, Mega Gyarados, two Dragonairs—
He overwhelmed Giovanni so intensely that Giovanni barely had room to breathe.
Fortunately, at the critical moment, Mewtwo who was wandering around Johto sensed Giovanni's distress call and rushed to his side.
Yes. After the Saffron City incident, Giovanni and Mewtwo had temporarily parted ways—Mewtwo wanted to travel alone and explore its own path.
Thanks to Mewtwo's arrival, the pressure on Giovanni decreased dramatically, and Giovanni eventually pushed Lance back, slowly forcing him into a disadvantage.
"So, you actually won against Lance." Lucas murmured.
"Mm." Giovanni's smile deepened—colder, darker. His mind drifted back to the battlefield earlier that evening.
A land laid waste.
"So that's the extent of your ability, Lance?"
Giovanni's face was stained with blood from a stone shard gashing his cheek—his expression twisted and shadowed, making him look even more sinister.
Lance's expression was thunderous—beyond furious. His gaze flicked toward the exhausted Mewtwo behind Giovanni.
He had lost.
His Dragon Army… had been defeated.
Every one of his dragons was down.
He had actually lost to that filthy sewer rat!
He had lost to the organization he despised—the Rocket scum he looked down on!
Lance grit his teeth. If not for Mewtwo, he never would have lost!
"Heh—"
Giovanni let out a couple mocking chuckles, wiping the blood from his face with a clean handkerchief.
Then he simply walked past Lance without saying another word.
But…
That silent superiority—
that unspoken mockery—
Was something Lance's pride absolutely could not accept.
Damn it.
What was this supposed to be?
He had been given mercy.
Mercy!
From the very scum he despised?
…
Indigo Plateau – League Conference Room
"Lance! Are you even listening to us?!"
"What arrogance! Even now, you refuse to acknowledge your wrongdoing?"
"You left Indigo Plateau without authorization! You destroyed the Lake of Rage! Lance, do you still consider the Indigo League your superior authority?!"
The furious voices of the gathered council members echoed endlessly around Lance.
Lance sat there, shrouded in a cold, suffocating gloom. A fallen dragon wreathed in rage.
The council members dragged out for an emergency meeting were far from pleased.
It was supposed to be after-work hours, yet Lance had "caused such a catastrophe," ignoring orders and leaving Indigo Plateau on his own.
Worse, he had battled the Team Rocket Boss at the Lake of Rage, wreaking massive environmental devastation.
And the most unforgivable of all—
He failed to bring Giovanni back!
Naturally, this gave the council members who despised Lance a perfect chance to attack him.
Lance's personality was too arrogant—he rarely even looked at them with proper respect. And because he pursued evil with ruthless resolve, many of these corrupt members resented him deeply.
"…"
Lance slowly raised his head, his icy gaze sweeping across the council.
These idiots.
These useless, filthy mongrels—
barking at him nonstop.
And then, abruptly—
Giovanni's mocking words echoed in his mind:
"A lapdog of the League?"
Lance's eyes darkened—blackness swirling in the depths.
His facial muscles twitched irregularly, his expression growing more and more twisted.
"Enough. You—"
Chairman Loki suddenly felt a chill in his heart the moment he noticed Lance's expression. He stood up sharply, slamming the table as he attempted to stop the council.
He had always understood Lance well.
Lance hated darkness, yes—but at his core, he was someone who deeply loved Pokémon and peace.
However… Lance's personality was becoming increasingly extreme—twisting further with each passing day.
Loki had always wanted to guide him back toward the right path, but these idiotic council members kept provoking him.
Last time, Lance had already exploded in the council room—yet these fools learned nothing!
Lance had lost to Giovanni.
Right now, Lance was at his most dangerous.
But Loki was one step too late.
SPLAT!
Without warning—
a massive Dragonite materialized beside Lance.
Its razor-sharp claws pierced clean through a council member's chest.
The man's face contorted in agony as he stared at Lance in disbelief.
Silence.
The entire conference room froze.
Every person stared in horror at the man impaled by Dragonite.
Even Loki's pupils shrank to needle points.
"L-Lance…"
After several long seconds, Dragonite withdrew its claw.
The council member collapsed, dying instantly.
Loki's throat tightened painfully. He turned toward Lance—who was now cloaked in a chilling, shadowy aura.
"Chairman," Lance began, rising slowly, his voice cold and dead.
"I have always believed that sin and evil… have no place in a pure world."
But not a single council member dared to speak.
A crushing oppressive aura filled the room—Dragonite's killing intent suffocating all of them.
Loki trembled. The heads of the Joy and Jenny clans in Kanto remained silent.
"So, tell me, what right do these vermin have?
What right do they have to live… and breathe?"
"Just sharing the same air as these filthy creatures makes me sick."
Lance's boots clicked against the floor as he walked forward. He stopped before the dead council member—the one who had yelled the loudest earlier.
"Reeking filthy maggot."
Lance's expression twisted again.
He stomped down violently on the dead councilman's skull, sending blood and hair scattering across the floor.
The sight of Lance's shadowed, bloodthirsty expression made everyone's hair stand on end.
Why? Why could he not defeat that filthy rat Giovanni?
"Lance… they ARE filthy, but—"
Loki's voice trembled. As he watched Lance vent even on a corpse, he closed his eyes in grief. A single tear slipped down his cheek.
Lance was gone.
He had completely stepped into the darkness…
And the one thing that tormented Loki the most—
was that it was the Pokémon League itself
that pushed Lance into this abyss.
Lance turned slowly toward Loki.
The elderly chairman looked as if he had aged another ten years in an instant—frail and worn.
A faint ripple flickered deep within Lance's darkened gaze.
"Evil is evil. And gentle measures will never make them repent. Starting today…"
Lance's voice cut sharply through the silence.
"I, Lance… hereby resign from the Pokémon League."
He was done with the League's chains.
He understood Loki's ideals—but he could not agree with them.
He would destroy evil his own way.
Even if, in the eyes of others—
he himself became darkness.
"But before I go…"
Lance's gaze swept across the room of trembling council members.
His lips curled into a twisted grin.
These vermin… These filthy creatures.
He had wanted to eliminate them for a long time.
A room full of monsters wearing human skin.
(End of Chapter)
TN: Damn…