The smell of blood and gunpowder mixed into the salty, humid sea breeze, drilling into his nostrils and making him nauseous.
The Team Aqua squad leader leaned on his knees, panting heavily, his lungs burning with pain.
He looked around; everywhere he looked were floating debris and the corpses of his companions, as well as those Alliance lackeys whose bodies were slowly losing warmth in the seawater.
They were all dead.
Only he remained.
The laughter grew louder, eventually turning into a heart-wrenching, frenzied cackle that echoed across this silent sea of death, sharp and insane.
His gaze pierced through the thick black smoke and locked onto the Speedboat that was slowly sinking.
The Speedboat's hull was tilted beyond recognition, and the confidential box had slid into the sea, but it was floating on the surface due to its own buoyancy.
The Alliance eagle emblem on the box reflected a cold light in the sunset's afterglow.
"The confidential box..."
The squad leader's breathing instantly became heavy, and a near-pathological greed erupted in his eyes.
He even forgot to take a look at his own dying Walrein, just staring fixedly at the box.
Wealth, status, power... everything was in that box!
The ecstasy of victory made him forget the pain and completely let down all his guard.
He stumbled as he swam toward the confidential box, wanting to take it away.
But just as he grabbed the box and had barely returned to the boat.
He didn't notice that not far behind him, in the shadow of an unremarkable reef, a pair of eyes colder than the deep sea had long since taken in all his ugly antics.
Ariel watched him, his heart as still as stagnant water.
Now.
He didn't even make any unnecessary movements; with a single thought, he silently transmitted a command to the Greninja beside him, which stood like a sculpture.
"Do it."
The moment the order was given, Greninja's figure faded away, so fast it was as if it had never existed.
Its hands traced afterimages invisible to the naked eye in front of its chest, completing the hand seals.
There was no sound.
Three Water Shuriken, highly compressed to the limit by water currents, were released silently without stirring up a ripple, merely drawing three straight, almost invisible white water lines on the sea surface.
They were not weapons, but more like three invitations from the Grim Reaper, aimed directly at the squad leader's heart.
Water Shuriken.
It wasn't until the bone-chilling killing intent was almost pressing against his skin that the squad leader, immersed in his beautiful dream, suddenly woke up.
A chill shot from his tailbone straight to the top of his head.
His smile froze right there.
"Pfft!"
Blood spurted out.
The expected agonizing pain of his heart being pierced didn't come; instead, it was replaced by the pain of his right arm being instantly torn apart.
Water Shuriken precisely severed his arm, along with the hand that was about to touch the box.
"Aaaah—!"
A shrill scream finally broke through his throat.
He watched helplessly as his severed arm and the briefcase fell into the sea together, splashing up a small crimson spray, then quickly sank and disappeared into the dark seawater.
"Who?!"
He turned around in terror, clutching his spurting wound, his face pale as paper.
From the shadows, a slender figure slowly stepped out.
Ariel's footsteps were light; he stepped on the slippery reef without making a sound.
Greninja followed closely behind like the most loyal shadow, its scarlet scarf swaying slightly in the sea breeze.
He didn't speak, just looked at the other calmly; that composure, that look of regarding him as nothing, made the squad leader feel an unprecedented suffocation.
"Walrein! Give me..."
The squad leader roared to give the order, but his Pokémon, which was already seriously injured, only struggled to lift its head, lacking even the strength to stand up.
Greninja moved.
Its figure blurred again, closing in on the Walrein with a trajectory that completely defied physical logic.
It didn't use any flashy skills, just the purest fighting techniques.
Aerial Ace!
A flash of white light passed, accompanied by a heavy muffled thud, and the Walrein's massive body was sent flying, crashing into the damaged hull of the Speedboat, completely losing consciousness.
The whole process took no more than two seconds.
A one-sided crushing victory.
The squad leader completely collapsed on the ground, the color drained from his face, leaving only a deathly gray.
He watched Ariel approach step by step; the fear of death gripped his throat, making him unable to even speak a word of begging.
Seeing Ariel appear, he seemed to understand something.
It was over.
Everything was over.
Just then, a dazzling red light shot up from the distant horizon, exploding in the dim yellow sky like a blood-colored flower blooming in despair.
A flare!
The squad leader's pupils constricted suddenly, and then, on his deathly gray face, a strange flush appeared.
He stared at Ariel and suddenly burst into laughter, even more piercing and frenzied than before.
"Haha... Hahahaha!"
He laughed until tears flowed, mixing with the blood on his face, looking like a madman.
"Like hiding in a corner and picking up scraps?"
"You think you won? That you're the final winner? What are you even?"
He pointed at the red firework that was about to dissipate and roared with all his might:
"See that? This sea area has long been under our blockade! My reinforcements have arrived!"
"That is our Team Aqua Captain! Brother Chao!"
His voice was filled with a pathological worship and glee.
"A Gym Leader Level powerhouse! You and your Pokémon will soon become dinner for the small fry in the sea! Hahahaha!"
Ariel stopped and looked in the direction he was pointing.
He was a bit surprised; he hadn't expected the opponent to have a backup plan.
The sea surface, at some unknown point, was no longer calm.
On the distant horizon, a huge white wave was breaking through the sea surface at an astonishing speed, racing toward them.
That was not a boat, but a creature.
A creature so huge it defied common sense.
As the distance closed, the creature's outline became clearer.
A ferocious head, a streamlined shark-like body, and a dorsal fin that cut through the water like a drawn blade.
Sharpedo!
And it was a Sharpedo whose size far exceeded its peers!
Standing on the back of that Sharpedo was a man.
He was burly, wearing the special Team Aqua uniform, his muscles stretching the clothing until it was bulging.
He didn't make any gripping movements, but his feet were planted firmly on the back of the shark that was using Agility, as if they had taken root.
The man's face was angular, with a ferocious scar running from the corner of his brow to his jaw, his eyes sinister, like a predator waiting for an opportunity in the deep sea.
Just by looking from afar, an invisible pressure came rushing toward him, and even the surrounding air seemed to become thick and heavy.
By Ariel's ear, the pokédex's mechanical prompt sounded at the right moment.
"Sharpedo, the Brutal pokémon. Level: 55 (Gym Leader Level). ability: Speed Boost (Speed increases every turn)."
Gym Leader Level.
These three words represented the pinnacle combat power of a region's trainer pyramid; it was a height that ordinary trainers could hardly reach in a lifetime.
The squad leader, who was paralyzed on the ground, saw the man's figure, and the ecstasy on his face could no longer be described in words; he seemed to have already seen the scene of Ariel being torn to shreds.
"Brother Chao! Brother Chao, save me!"
However, facing this pressure that would make any Superior trainer tremble with fear, not only was there no trace of fear on Ariel's face, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up slightly.
It was the kind of expression a hunter would only have when seeing a desired prey.
His hand had already been in his pocket at some point, his fingertips gently rubbing a cold, hard stone.
On the stone, a ferocious Gyarados totem was carved.
Mega Stone.
Ariel's gaze crossed over the ferocious Sharpedo and landed on the man on its back, a thought spontaneously arising in his heart.
Gym Leader Level, huh?
As the first sacrifice for Mega Evolution... barely, it's good enough.
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