The ride to the Cinnabar Ranger Outpost was fast and quiet. Alex didn't run—he didn't need to. His pace was steady, controlled, the kind that made people instinctively move aside without him having to say a word. Infernape kept stride beside him, flames slightly brighter, its posture shifting into the calm alertness it always took before a mission.
The moment Alex entered the outpost, heads turned. Not in awe—Cinnabar didn't do awe. They turned because they trusted him, because seeing him walk in with purpose meant something real was happening.
Ranger Captain Sariah stood over a projection screen, arms folded, expression carved from stone. Her Umbreon sat under the table, tail twitching with contained tension. When she saw Alex, she straightened and nodded once.
"Good. You're here. We've confirmed the anomalies."
Kai and Lila followed behind him, and Sariah gestured the three of them closer.
"Start from the beginning," Alex said.
Sariah tapped a control pad, magnifying the first disturbance. A swirling distortion, faint but undeniable, hovered over the Fuchsia coastline.
"This signature appeared at 06:12," she said. "Subtle energy fluctuation, low-grade, but consistent with node tampering."
Alex studied it carefully. "Similar pattern to the last arc's activity?"
"Not perfectly," Sariah said. "Almost… refined. Cleaner."
Alex's jaw tightened.That was worse.
She switched to the second anomaly. This one shimmered like heat waves and pulsed at irregular intervals near the Johto border—close to Route 27.
"Unstable ground readings," Sariah explained. "But not a natural quake precursor. Something artificial. Something probing."
"And the third?" Alex asked.
Her face hardened. "This one's the most concerning."
The Indigo Plateau map expanded, highlighting a faint ripple near the lower administrative compound—where League logistics and supply departments worked.
Lila inhaled sharply. "That's where the Whisperer operative could be hiding."
"Could be," Sariah said. "Or could be someone testing the region's security response times."
Alex didn't speak right away.He didn't rush to conclusions.He took in every detail, every possible angle.
Then he exhaled slowly. "Three disturbances. Three locations. And all close enough to Indigo borders to communicate."
Sariah nodded. "Exactly. And the pattern suggests coordination."
Kai frowned. "But why show themselves now? Why not lie low? Why not strike quietly?"
"They're not striking," Alex said quietly. "They're probing. Testing us. Seeing how we react. Measuring our timing."
Lila swallowed. "Preparing for something bigger."
Alex's silence confirmed it.
Sariah tapped the console again, projecting the data feed from the outpost's observational satellites. "You need to see this too."
She pulled up heat signatures from Cinnabar itself.
Alex blinked.
Clusters of flickering warm tones spread through the northern cliffs—not dangerous, not threatening, but deliberate. Like small campfires that weren't supposed to be there.
"Unauthorized presence?" Alex asked.
"No boats logged, no flights recorded, no long-range teleport spikes detected," Sariah said. "Whatever's up there arrived without passing any known checkpoints."
"That shouldn't be possible," Kai murmured.
"It shouldn't," Alex agreed.
Roserade, who had walked silently behind Lila, released a soft, worried sound. It sensed something in the readings that wasn't visible to human eyes.
Sariah folded her arms. "I've dispatched scouts already, but they'll need backup if this turns out to be connected."
"It's connected," Alex said immediately. "They wouldn't place anomalies around the region and then just avoid Cinnabar."
He looked toward the cliffs through the outpost window, the volcanic ridges glowing faintly from morning sunlight. Something about that glow felt wrong. A little too bright. A little too rhythmic.
Infernape stepped closer to the window and let a small flame flicker from its fist.
"Yeah," Alex said softly. "I feel it too."
The team assembled quickly.
Alex didn't need to say a word—everyone moved the moment they saw his expression shift into mission mode. Talonflame was released first, its wings throwing a gust through the courtyard as it soared toward the northern cliffs. Hydreigon followed with a low rumble, its wings beating heavy, a warning to anything within miles.
Garchomp emerged from underground in a spray of basalt dust, shaking off dirt with a predator's grin. Gyarados erupted from the coastal shallows moments later, blue scales gleaming like polished sapphire.
Electivire rolled its shoulders and cracked its knuckles, sparks crawling down its twin tails like impatient lightning.
Roserade tightened the ribbon-like vines at its wrists, calm but fully alert.
The assembled team radiated power—not chaotic, not wild, but controlled and disciplined. Elite Four–level strength wasn't something Alex flaunted. It was something he carried quietly, like a weight he had learned to balance over many years.
Sariah met his eyes. "I'll send backup. But…"
Her voice softened. "Be careful. If this is what we think it is, the operatives are getting bold."
Alex gave a faint, reassuring smile. "I'll bring everyone home."
"Including yourself?" she pressed.
He huffed gently. "That's the plan."
The climb into the northern cliffs was steep but familiar. Black volcanic rock jutted up like sharpened teeth, heat radiating in waves from fissures beneath the surface. Talonflame circled above, occasionally letting out a sharp cry to signal a safe path.
When Alex reached the first ridge, he saw it.
A camp.Not large—but precise.
Small devices shaped like obsidian shards embedded into cracks in the stone. Each one pulsed faintly with a red glow, releasing thin streaks of smoke that rose straight upward.
Not natural smoke.Not volcanic.This smoke moved with purpose—forming thin, deliberate trails into the sky.
Signals.Coded.Coordinated.
Alex knelt, running a gloved hand close to one of the devices without touching it. "They're communicating."
Lila examined another shard. "But with who? There's no one here."
Kai swallowed, scanning the area with a portable sensor. "These aren't sending signals out. They're receiving them."
Alex's gaze sharpened. "Show me the direction of the strongest feed."
Kai adjusted the sensor, then froze. "North. Straight north."
Alex followed the line with his eyes.
Directly toward the Indigo Plateau.
The Whisperer was awake.
And watching.
A sudden shift in the air made Infernape leap forward, fire flaring. Hydreigon growled low, scanning the cliffs. Talonflame dove sharply, screeching a warning.
Alex stood instantly, muscles coiled.
A shadow detached itself from the rock formation above them, landing softly on a jagged ledge. For a moment, its shape was hard to decipher—almost fluid, almost wrong.
Then it shifted.Solidified.
A humanoid silhouette with a mask resembling fractured obsidian.
One of the operatives.But not one Alex had seen before.
The figure spoke with a voice modulated into something hollow."You came faster than predicted."
Behind Alex, Garchomp's claws carved deep scars into the cliffside, ready to strike.
Alex didn't raise his voice."Shame for you," he said softly.
The operative tilted its head. "You protect this island with such devotion. It's… admirable. Inefficient. But admirable."
"That devotion is why you're not walking off this cliff," Alex replied, heat sharpening beneath his calm tone.
The figure chuckled—a sound so thin and distorted it barely qualified as laughter. "We're only beginning. The Jewel of Kanto has far to fall before the end."
Electivire growled. Talonflame's wings ignited. Infernape stepped forward, posture lowering into a stance Alex had trained with him since childhood.
Alex glanced up—just a flick of the eyes.
"Don't test my patience," he said. "Not here."
The operative's mask glowed faintly.
"Very well," they whispered.
And then—
They stepped backward into the shadows—and vanished.
Not teleported.Not fled.
Gone like smoke dissolving into the air.
The shards embedded in the cliffside all flickered at once—and went dark.
Whatever message they had been receiving…they had gotten it.
Lila exhaled shakily. "Alex… this is bad."
"Yeah," Kai whispered. "Really bad."
Alex didn't immediately respond.
He stood at the ridge's edge, the wind pushing heat and sea air around him as Infernape stepped into place at his side.
Alex stared north.Toward the Indigo Plateau.Toward the heart of the coming storm.
"Cinnabar won't fall," he said quietly.
Not a declaration.A promise.
And promises from Alex Kade were carved in stone.