Chapter 75 – "Fault Lines"
The closer Alex moved toward the glowing ridge, the more the water vibrated—soft at first, like distant machinery, then steadily stronger, until every pulse felt like a heartbeat thudding through the ocean itself.
He tightened his grip on Gyarados' reins.Infernape kept pace beside him, flames dim but burning brightly enough to cast shimmering ripples of light across the underwater world. Roserade swam just behind, petals tucked, expression sharpened to a rare combat seriousness.
Above, Hydreigon's silhouette glided through refracted moonlight. Talonflame dove in tight spirals, signaling that the skies remained clear.
Only the sea itself felt wrong.
When they reached the first ridge crest, the glow intensified, painting the rock in a sickly, rhythmic red.
Alex slowed. "Gyarados, hold."
The massive Water-type halted with a rumbling growl. Steam curled from its nostrils—the water around them wasn't hot enough to cause that reaction. It was anger.
Something was hurting the island.Gyarados felt it.
Alex did too.
Infernape placed a hand against the ridge's surface. The stone pulsed beneath its palm like living flesh, rejecting the contact, its unnatural heat radiating in mottled bursts.
"Yeah," Alex murmured. "I don't like it either."
He reached out and touched the ridge himself.
A shock ran up his arm—brief, sharp, wrong. Not electrical. Not psychic. Something deeper. Something that felt like an echo of anger… but hollow, distorted.
His breath hitched. He'd felt that sensation only once before—during a mission years ago in Sinnoh, tracking a manipulator who'd been experimenting on geothermal nodes.
This was similar.But stronger.More refined.
"Someone has done this before," Alex said under his breath.
Infernape gave a low growl of agreement.
Roserade swam closer, vines curling defensively around Alex's arm. It sensed danger long before most trainers ever could, and right now its petals quivered with anxiety. Normally calm, Roserade did not frighten easily.
This was different.
"Kai," Alex said, activating his waterproof communicator. "We've reached the ridge. You seeing what I'm seeing?"
Kai's voice crackled through. "Yeah. Sensors are struggling—energy levels around you are spiking too fast to get a clear reading."
"Explain," Alex demanded.
"It's rewriting itself," Kai said. "The pattern is moving."
Alex stared at the living red glow for another moment, watching it pulse and flow along the ridge like blood through veins.
"They made it adaptive," he muttered. "The shard grid wasn't hardware at all. It was a blueprint."
Sariah's voice joined in, sharp and focused. "Alex, if the grid is adaptive, it could extend beneath the town. We need confirmation."
"I'll know in a minute," Alex said. "We're going deeper."
He put the communicator to his chest for a moment and whispered:
"Stay sharp."
They descended into a narrow trench between two sections of ridge, a deep cut in the rock only a Pokémon like Gyarados could navigate safely. The deeper they went, the brighter the glow became—until the darkness wasn't darkness anymore but an eerie red haze that replaced natural shadows with twisted ones.
Hydreigon kept to the upper layers of water now, growling low, scanning for movement. Talonflame flew tight circles overhead, occasionally letting out sharp warning calls.
The ridge pulsed.Then it breathed.
Alex froze.
"What was that?" Roserade signed through subtle vine movements.
Infernape bristled. Gyarados' body went rigid.
Something deeper in the trench shifted—a slow, grinding sound like molten stone scraping against itself.
Alex moved closer to the ridge wall and saw fine cracks webbing outward from the glowing channels. They spread a little more each second.
"Kai," Alex whispered. "The structure is expanding."
"Already? That shouldn't be possible!" Sariah said.
Alex didn't take his eyes off the ridge. "It is. It's using geothermal pressure as fuel."
Kai sucked in a breath. "Which means—"
Alex finished the thought. "It's growing faster with every degree of heat."
Something clicked inside his mind.Something ugly.
The manipulator wasn't trying to force an eruption.
They were building a system that depended on volcanic heat to strengthen itself.A parasitic grid.Using the island's lifeblood as its power source.
"Alex," Lila's voice came through, tense and thin. "The scanners just picked up a second hotspot activating—right beneath the southern cliffside."
Alex cursed—quiet, but cold.
"That's residential," he said.
Lila's breath shook. "I know."
Alex exhaled slowly, forcing calm. Anger didn't help. Panic didn't help.
Focus did.
"I'm destroying the primary node," he said.
"Do you know where it is?" Kai asked.
"No."But Alex looked down into the red trench, watching the glow intensify the deeper it went.
"I have a good idea."
Gyarados dove hard, cutting through the thickening water with a roar. The trench narrowed, twisting into an uneven tunnel of jagged rock and glowing fractures. Alex had to hold his breath deeper as they went—pressure tightening around his ribs, the water heating unnaturally with each meter.
Infernape swam ahead, flames encapsulated in tight barriers of controlled aura. Roserade followed close, vines wrapped around the rocky wall for stability.
Then the tunnel opened.
And the node revealed itself.
A cavern expanded before them—massive, circular, glowing with twisting red light. At its center, embedded deep within the volcanic stone, sat a core of pulsing energy. Not a machine. Not a shard.
A stone.A carved, crystalline stone with runic etchings that hummed with power.
Alex's heart skipped.He'd seen something like this only twice in his life.
A manipulation catalyst.A rare mineral capable of storing and distributing directed energy across wide terrain.
This one… was far larger than any he'd encountered.And far more active.
The pulse thickened, rising into a low thrumming that rattled Alex's teeth.
Infernape snarled, flames swelling.
Roserade's petals flared wide, glowing with radiant green energy.
Gyarados roared, shaking the cavern.
Alex clenched his fists."This is it."
He activated the communicator.
"I found the primary node."
Kai's voice was immediate. "And?"
Alex stared at the glowing stone."It's alive."
Silence.Then Lila's trembling voice:
"Destroy it."
Alex nodded once. "Already on it."
He raised a hand.Infernape shifted forward, muscles coiling, aura thickening around its body like molten gold.
But before it could strike—the stone pulsed again.
Harder.Faster.
The glow expanded into the cavern, and the water churned violently.
Sariah shouted through the comms, "Alex—energy spike! It's reacting to your presence!"
Roserade grabbed Alex's arm.Infernape pushed him back.
The node's glow brightened until the cavern resembled the heart of a volcano.
Then the pulse hit.
A shockwave burst outward—not physical.Not psychic.Something deeper.A manipulation of energy and heat that slammed into Alex like a punch to the chest.
Gyarados roared in pain.Hydreigon screeched above.Roserade wilted for a moment.Infernape collapsed to one knee.
The water heated sharply—boiling for an instant before stabilizing.
Alex's breath came shallow."Kai… what was that?"
Kai's voice was horrified. "A feedback surge."
Sariah added, "Alex… it recognized you."
Lila whispered, "It knows your energy signature."
Alex stared at the glowing core, pulse hammering in his ears.
This wasn't a tool.
This wasn't a device.
It was a trap.
A trap designed for one person.
For him.
He set his jaw, breath steadying, gaze sharpening.
"Then let it recognize this," Alex growled.
He grabbed Infernape's wrist, steadying the Pokémon as it rose again, fire blazing anew.
"We're breaking it."
Infernape ignited—a fire brighter than any that had touched the cavern in centuries.
Alex's voice was low, steady, calm.
"Together."
The cavern shook as Infernape lunged.
The node pulsed in response.
Two forces collided—
and the Jewel of Kanto trembled.