The sun slipped behind the volcano as Alex reached the main docks, casting long shadows across the water. Lanterns flickered to life one by one along the boardwalk, warm and golden, swaying gently with the evening breeze. Normally, this hour was peaceful—a soft transition from the island's rhythmic bustle to its quiet night hum.
Tonight, the calm felt thin.Artificial.Like a blanket pulled over something dangerous.
Ferris Ito stood at the edge of the dock with his Quagsire, scanning the sea for any abnormal movement. His expression brightened slightly when he saw Alex—but only slightly.
"Tell me you're coming to say the currents are behaving today," Ferris called, his voice rough but hopeful.
Alex stepped up beside him. "I'd be lying."
Ferris groaned. "Then don't say it. Just stand here with me and pretend everything's fine for ten minutes."
"Five," Alex replied. "I'm expecting reports from the Rangers soon."
Ferris took a deep inhale, exhale. "Yeah. That tracks."
They stood in silence for a moment, watching Gyarados coil lazily beneath the surface and disappear into the depth again. Infernape perched on a piling like a sentinel, eyes reflecting the lamplight, flames held low.
Ferris finally asked, softer now, "It's happening again, isn't it?"
Alex didn't sugarcoat. "The operatives are pressing in. They've set up something under the ridge."
Ferris scratched Quagsire's head in a slow, methodical way. "The last time we had that kind of activity, half the island evacuated."
"Not this time," Alex said. "They're not getting that far."
Ferris studied his face—calm, focused, unwavering. The old dockmaster snorted. "Wish I could bottle whatever storm-proofing you've got in your veins."
Alex cracked a faint smile. "It's mostly stubbornness."
"I can believe that," Ferris said, patting Alex's shoulder. "You tell me when you need boats ready. You know Cinnabar moves when you say the word."
He meant it.All of them did.The island listened to Alex not because of authority, but because of trust built through blood, sweat, and fire.
Before Alex could respond, footsteps approached fast.
Hana Okimoto, the island clinic nurse, skidded to a stop with her hands on her knees, Gardevoir gliding behind her like an elegant shadow. Hana's hair was a frazzled mess, her scrubs half-untucked, but she looked deadly serious.
"Alex—outpost wants you," she panted. "Now."
Ferris sighed. "There go my ten minutes."
Alex was already moving.
The outpost was a storm of orders and movement. Rangers sprinted across the floor, relaying data, securing gear, preparing dive equipment. Screens flickered with feeds, maps, seismic readings—all centered around Cinnabar's underwater ridge.
Sariah looked like she'd aged ten years in an hour. She pointed at a screen as Alex entered.
"There." She zoomed in, highlighting a glowing hotspot under the ocean floor. "We thought the shards were monitoring the ridge. They weren't."
Alex leaned closer. "They were shielding it."
"Exactly." Sariah tapped more commands. "Whatever is under that ridge has been active for at least two days—possibly longer—but we couldn't detect it because the shards dampened the signature."
Kai appeared at Alex's side, tablet in hand. "It gets worse. The pulse the operative released today? It didn't deactivate the shards."
Lila stepped in, eyes sharp. "It synced them."
Alex turned to her. "Synced them to what?"
She swallowed. "The hotspot."
Alex stared at the map again, a slow realization forming like gathering smoke.
"They built a conduit," Alex said quietly. "A supply line. Under Cinnabar."
Sariah nodded grimly. "Not just a line. A lattice. Look."
She zoomed out.
The hotspot wasn't alone.Three more appeared, faint but visible, forming a subtle arc across the ocean floor—an arc that mirrored the pattern of the cliff shards above.
Lila murmured, "They're caging the island."
Kai swallowed, eyes locked on the screen. "Guys… this is a siege layout."
Sariah crossed her arms. "At first we thought they were scouting. But this is infrastructure. Entrenchment. They're preparing something big."
Alex kept his expression even, but he felt the shift in his chest—a familiar tightening that meant danger was closer than anyone wanted to admit.
"What's the power source?" he asked.
Kai zoomed in on the hotspot. "Heat. Lots of it. More than the volcano produces naturally."
Alex's brow furrowed. "Volcanic manipulation?"
"No," Sariah replied. "Something infused into the rock. Something foreign."
Alex's eyes flicked to the volcanic ridge drawn across the map. The ridge that was, essentially, Cinnabar's lifeline.
"Have we detected any attempts to breach the island surface?" he asked.
"Nothing yet," Lila answered. "But if they complete the underground grid…"
"They'll be able to direct energy under the island however they want," Kai finished.
"Pressure build-up," Sariah added. "Heat redirection. Structural destabilization. If someone understood volcanic systems well enough, they could cause landslides, tremors, fissures—"
"Or worse," Kai said, voice tight. "They could trigger a controlled eruption."
The room sank into an awful silence.
Infernape's fists ignited instinctively.
Alex blew out a slow breath. "No. They wouldn't risk destroying the island completely."
"They don't need to," Sariah said. "A small eruption, targeted, would devastate the town, the gym, the residential sectors."
Alex didn't raise his voice, but every Ranger stopped when he spoke.
"They won't get that far. Not while I'm here."
Lila led Alex to another corner of the outpost where Doc Kurogane hovered over a geological model projected in the air. His hair stuck up wildly, eyes wide, glasses crooked. He'd clearly been living off caffeine and adrenaline.
"Ah—Alex!" Kurogane exclaimed. "You need to see this."
He spun the model, highlighting volcanic channels beneath the island.
"I've matched the shard grid with the ridge's heat pathways. They're aligning them. Artificially. They're trying to force the nodes under Cinnabar to sync with the volcanic channels."
"Why?" Alex asked.
"To weaponize them," Kurogane said plainly. "The island's geothermal system is stable under natural conditions, but if someone manipulated those channels…"
He exhaled shakily.
"The Jewel of Kanto becomes a loaded cannon."
Alex's eyes hardened. "Not happening."
Kurogane stepped back. "What are you going to do?"
Alex straightened, Infernape stepping in beside him like a living flame.
"Go down there again," Alex said. "Find out what they're building. Break it before they finish."
Kai blinked. "You're going alone?"
"Not alone," Alex corrected. "My core team is coming."
Lila stepped forward instantly. "I'm coming too."
"No," Alex said, gentle but firm.
She clenched her jaw. "I'm not sitting on the sidelines."
"I'm not protecting you," Alex said. "I'm protecting the island. Someone has to coordinate topside operations. That's you."
She stared at him, fury and fear battling in her eyes—but she knew he was right. After a moment, she gave a short nod.
Kai didn't argue. "I'll run logistics here. We'll guide you."
Sariah stepped up. "I'll send divers to support you—but you'll be the point team."
Alex nodded once. "Prep the equipment. I'm moving now."
The ocean was darker than before when Alex plunged beneath the waves with Gyarados at the lead. Hydreigon hovered just above the surface, keeping watch from the air. Talonflame circled high overhead, maintaining a tight perimeter. Roserade followed, wrapped in a protective barrier of energy that Lila had helped calibrate for underwater work.
Heatran wasn't in the water—it waited on the shores, stabilizing surface temperatures to prevent manipulators from hiding their signatures in shifting heat spikes.
The core team, synchronized and deadly.
As they descended, the underwater ridge came into view again. But this time—a glow seeped from the cracks.
Red.Unnatural.Too rhythmic to be volcanic.
Infernape surged forward, flames flickering even underwater, illuminating the trench like a submerged cavern.
Then Alex saw it.
The shards were gone.Removed.Not destroyed.
The grid beneath the ridge now pulsed on its own—no external devices, no visible machinery. The manipulation wasn't in the tools anymore.
It was in the rock.
Someone had fused the shards' energy into the ridge itself, creating channels that hummed like veins full of foreign power.
Alex hovered there in the water, staring at the twisting glow, feeling the heat shift beneath him.
"This is worse than I thought," he murmured.
Infernape touched his shoulder, steady and firm.
Alex nodded. "We break it. Tonight."
He didn't know who the operatives were. He didn't know how deep the plan went.
But he knew one thing with absolute certainty.
Whatever was happening under Cinnabar—whatever cage they were building around the Jewel of Kanto—it was nearly complete.
And Alex would tear it apart with his bare hands if he had to.