The dawn broke over the Kanto Sea with a mocking, golden clarity. The storm was a memory, but the survival raft was a soggy, floating testament to our collective misery. Ten people, one talking cat, and a very confused fish were huddled on a platform of crates that had the structural integrity of a wet biscuit.
I sat in the corner of the raft, my emerald dress now more "seaweed-chic" than "high-society," frantically waving my G-Pro terminal in the air like a madwoman.
"Signal... give me a signal, you overpriced piece of tech," I muttered. "I did not survive a ship snapping in half to be done in by lack of 5G."
"I'm hungry," Ash moaned, his stomach letting out a growl that sounded like a hungry Snorlax. "Pikachu is hungry. Even the wood looks tasty."
"Pika-pi..." the mouse agreed, looking at a crate with predatory intent.
Brock, ever the realist, looked at the only other "organic" thing on the raft. His gaze shifted to the Magikarp flopping in the center. Then Misty looked. Then Ash. Then the Rockets.
"Scales and bones," Misty warned, her voice flat. "Magikarp are basically the crackers of the ocean, but without the crunch. There's no meat on them."
Meowth, driven by feline instinct and a hollow stomach, didn't listen. "I can't take it anymore! Sushi is served!" He lunged, jaws wide, and clamped down on the Magikarp's head.
***CLANG.***
A sound like a hammer hitting an anvil echoed across the water. Meowth recoiled, clutching his mouth as shards of white fangs flew into the air.
"MY TEETH! HE BROKE MY BEAUTIFUL CANINES!" Meowth shrieked, his voice hitting a register that made Pidgeotto flinch.
James, who had been watching this with a mounting sense of buyer's remorse, finally snapped. The stress of the sinking, the cold, and the dental bills for a talking cat was too much.
"That's it!" James screamed, leaping to his feet and wobbling the raft dangerously. "You useless, golden-scaled parasite! The salesman said you were a 'Golden Opportunity,' but you're just a paperweight with fins! I shouldn't have even brought you on that ship!"
He reached into his pocket, pulled out the Magikarp's Pokéball, and hit the release trigger with a violent click. "I don't want to be your Trainer anymore! You're free! Go be useless in the trench!"
With a final, desperate kick, James sent the Magikarp flying into the ocean.
The fish hit the water with a pathetic *splat*. It didn't swim. It didn't dive. It just drifted there, its eyes wide and vacant, staring at the sky as if wondering why the floor had suddenly turned wet. It began to sink, the current pulling it away from the raft.
Suddenly, a blur of charcoal-grey moved. Alain had leaned over the side, his arm plunging into the freezing water. With a sharp grunt, he hauled the gasping fish back onto the wooden planks.
Alain turned to James, his eyes flashing with a cold, Champion-level fury that made the air temperature drop ten degrees.
"You bought this life," Alain said, his voice a low, dangerous rumble. "You took responsibility for it. And the moment it serves no utility to you, you discard it like trash?"
James let out a squeak of pure terror. He scrambled backward, literally trying to phase through Jessie and Meowth to hide. "I—I just bought it! I never even laid a hand on it! I'm a victim of a scam!"
"Yeah!" Jessie barked, shielding James though her knees were knocking. "We may be bad people, but we're *good* bad people! We have standards!"
I stopped waving my terminal and stared at them, my jaw hanging open. "Standard? You hear yourselves, right? 'Good bad people'? God, you guys are idiots. You're absolute, Grade-A, platinum-certified morons."
I looked down at my screen. A tiny, green bar flickered. **SIGNAL ACQUIRED.**
"YES!" I screamed, nearly tackling Alain in my excitement. "Emergency G-Pro uplink! Send coordinates to Kanto High Command! Priority: Survivors of SS Anne"
*"Signal locked, Host,"* The AI's voice buzzed. *"Tracking active. A rescue vessel is being diverted to your location. Estimated arrival: 15 minutes. Please maintain signal integrity."*
"We're safe!" Ash cheered, throwing his hat in the air.
"Hooray for technology!" Misty cried, hugging Togepi.
Alain, however, was still looking at the Magikarp. He set it gently back in the water, his hand lingering on its scales. "It's okay," he whispered. "You aren't useless."
The Magikarp looked up at him. For the first time, the vacant, goggly eyes seemed to *see* something. It leaned its head against Alain's palm, a tiny, finned gesture of trust. Then, it leaped.
It wasn't a pathetic flop. It was a powerful, rhythmic arc into the ocean. The moment the fish hit the water, it didn't sink. It began to glow with a blinding, sapphire-white light.
"It's evolving!" Brock yelled.
The water erupted. A massive, serpentine body burst from the waves, rising thirty feet into the air. Scales the color of a stormy sea shimmered in the morning sun. A roar ripped through the sky, so powerful it sent ripples across the ocean's surface.
**[Data Scan: Gyarados]**
**Rank:** Champion Potential (S-Rank Growth)
**Aura:** Intimidating Majesty
**Note:** This specimen has undergone a "Desperation-Triggered" evolution. Its power is exponentially higher than standard wild Gyarados.
My eyes nearly popped out of my head. *Champion potential?* I gripped my terminal, my fingers itching for a Pokéball. *God, I want to catch it. But wait... the Lake of Rage one is a Red Shiny. Logic, Regina. Stick to the plan.*
Ash scrambled for his Pokedex. *"Gyarados, the Atrocious Pokémon. Once it appears, its rage does not settle until it has burned everything to the ground."*
James, seeing the massive power of the beast that used to be his 'worthless' fish, suddenly found his courage. Or his greed. He stood up on the raft, waving his arms.
"That's my Pokémon! I mean—oh, look at you, my beautiful, powerful friend! Come back to your Master! I was just testing your resolve! It was a motivational kick!"
The Gyarados turned its massive head toward James. It let out a roar that blew James's hair back and sent him sprawling onto his rear.
"You already released her from the ball, remember, idiot?" I yelled, laughing at the sheer karma. "You renounced your ownership! She's a free agent now!"
The Gyarados ignored the Rockets. Instead, it lowered its massive, crested head toward the raft. It moved slowly, almost gently, until its snout was inches away from Alain. It let out a soft, vibrating huff and actually *smiled*—or as close to a smile as a fifty-foot sea dragon can get.
Alain blinked, looking genuinely confused. "Me?"
"Guess the Gyarados has decided its Trainer," Brock said, a small smile on his face. "It knows who saved it when it was sinking."
"God, that potential," I muttered, checking the G-Pro stats. "This Gyarados is going to be an absolute beast. Alain, you just stumbled into a tactical nuke."
"What do you mean?" James whined from the floor.
"I mean this Gyarados was a high-potential specimen that just needed a reason to fight, you moron!" I snapped. "And you literally kicked it away!"
Jessie turned and delivered a slap to James's head that sounded like a gunshot. "ARE YOU AN IDIOT?! THAT WAS OUR RETIREMENT PLAN!"
Alain didn't hesitate. He wasn't a rookie; he knew when a Pokémon was making an offer. He pulled out a spare Pokéball and tapped it against the Gyarados's forehead. The dragon was sucked inside without a single wiggle. The ball clicked instantly.
"Hey! That's stealing!" James cried.
Alain didn't even look at him. He reached for his primary Pokéball and released Charizard. The Level 80 dragon appeared on the raft, its tail-flame roaring with a heat that threatened to turn the wood to ash. It looked at James and let out a low, guttural growl.
James shut his mouth so fast he nearly bit his tongue.
---
### The Rescue and the Bill
A massive wake cut through the fog. A Global Police cruiser, flanked by two military-grade Lapras, roared toward us. Standing at the bow, looking like a Valkyrie of the Tundra, was Lorelei. Beside her, Lance stood with his arms crossed, his Dragonite hovering overhead.
The ship pulled alongside, and the boarding ramp lowered. Lorelei didn't wait for it to touch the raft. She leaped, her boots hitting the wood with a sharp *thud*.
She didn't look at Alain. She didn't look at the Rockets. She lunged forward and pulled me into a hug so tight I heard my ribs give a frantic SOS.
"Regina!" Lorelei's voice was uncharacteristically thick with emotion. "I saw the ship snap on the satellite feed. I thought—I thought I had sent you to your death. If I had lost you because I insisted on this mission..."
"Can't... breathe... Ice Queen... crushing... organs..." I wheezed.
She pulled back, her eyes misty but her face quickly hardening back into her professional mask. "You're safe. That's all that matters."
Lance stepped onto the raft, nodding toward Alain. The two Champions shook hands—a silent acknowledgment between two titans of the world. "Good work holding the line, Alain," Lance said. "The Kalos region can be proud."
The moment the tension broke, the "Protagonist Trio" pounced.
"MR. LANCE! CAN I HAVE AN AUTOGRAPH?!" Ash screamed, shoving a soggy notebook in the Dragon Master's face.
"MISS LORELEI! YOUR STRATEGY ON THE FOURTH ICE CIRCUIT WAS INSPIRING!" Misty squealed.
Even Brock was busy asking Alain for grooming tips for high-level fire-types. It was a circus. A wet, loud, freezing circus.
Then, the police officers stepped forward with handcuffs.
"Wait! Why are we being arrested?!" Jessie shrieked as they led her toward the ship.
"Yeah! We're good people! We helped!" James added, looking genuinely offended.
I looked at them as I climbed the ladder to the cruiser. "Because you're Team Rocket, duh. You tried to rob a ship, remember? The 'good' part was a temporary survival glitch."
I stood on the deck of the cruiser, wrapped in a thick, warm G-Pro blanket, nursing a cup of hot cocoa. Lorelei stood beside me, watching the S.S. Anne's wreckage bobbing in the distance.
"So..." I said, looking down at my ruined emerald dress. It was missing a sleeve, the hem was gone, and it smelled like a Magikarp's gym socks. "Since this was a mission-critical failure due to structural issues beyond my control... I don't have to pay for the dress, right?"
Lorelei turned to me. She smiled—a beautiful, radiant, terrifyingly sharp smile. She reached out and pulled me into another bone-crushing hug.
"Oh, Regina, darling," she whispered into my ear. "You absolutely do."
I stared out at the ocean, the warmth of the cocoa turning to ash in my mouth.
"I should have stayed in the trench," I whispered.
**[Chapter 45: END]**
**[Status: Rescued / Debt-Ridden / Slightly Traumatized]**