Seafoam Islands

Mega Salamence charged through the sky like a ferocious super fighter jet, ignoring every disaster as it hurtled toward the Seafoam Islands.

Inside a wooden cabin on the Seafoam Islands, the woman in the Pikachu mask sat down, slowly removed her mask, and shed her tight-fitting outfit. "An outfit like this, and I forgot to change my shoes. But it doesn't matter. They go perfectly with Cacturne's Teeter Dance."

Without the mask, the woman's voice became deep and dull-more precisely, it was the rough voice characteristic of a man, with none of its original delicacy or softness remaining. A rich fragrance filled the room, and the atmosphere was deeply uncanny.

It was impossible to tell whether the face beneath the mask belonged to a man or a woman. He opened an antique wooden makeup box and narrowed his eyes in a seductive smile. "Seafoam Islands, tonight is destined to be a night you'll never forget."

Picking up an eyebrow pencil, he gently applied it to his face. A touch of vivid red instantly graced his fair, rosy features, almost like a faint blush. "The Sandstorm King's strength exceeded my expectations. To think a King of Kanto could be so powerful. It makes my heart flutter."

The suggestive fantasy made the man giggle, yet the sound was especially sinister and terrifying.

Meanwhile, atop the main peak of the Seafoam Islands, a unique energy controller drove the shattered fragments of a golden jewel to transform into a massive torrent of energy, filling the skies above the islands.

A gigantic black hole slowly appeared. The terrifying energy generated by its invisible atmospheric pressure was tearing apart everything around it. Along the islands' coast, countless local residents watched the dreadful disaster before them with despair on their faces.

Just like on Cinnabar Island, all communications and power facilities on the Seafoam Islands had been paralyzed. Enormous waves and severe weather prevented the residents from leaving, leaving them with nothing to do but wait. Yet the terrifying sight seemed like the end of the world.

The colored pencil in his hand lightly adorned the strange man's face. Stroke by stroke, he outlined a face as pale as a geisha's, accompanied by his deep male voice as he occasionally muttered to himself inside the cabin, singing a tune.

As he lowered the pencil, the candlelight revealed a face with one half made up as a gentle woman and the other as a handsome young man. The two different looks pieced together on a single face appeared particularly uncanny.

"This yukata cost me a fortune to acquire from the Celadon Gym. It's the formal outfit Miss Erika once wore to a Super Pokémon Contest."

He picked up a folding fan. Wearing the women's yukata Erika had once worn, he spun joyfully and stepped out of the cabin with dancing steps, gazing at the ever-growing black-hole vortex above the Seafoam Islands.

"Besides Crown Mountain, Kanto also has a spacetime passage leading to the Reverse World."

Compared with the passage on Crown Mountain, the one above the Seafoam Islands was extremely unstable. The terrifying magnetic field emanating from countless dark currents seemed poised to tear the islands apart at any moment.

Suddenly, the black hole in the sky abruptly distorted, and the pillar of energy light dimmed at once.

The eyes of the strange man with the half-male, half-female face instantly darkened. He let out a shrill scream that sounded neither male nor female, his yukata trembling all over as his mood changed abruptly. "Who dares destroy my device?!"

On one side of the islands' main peak, the blond boy Gary was climbing on foot through the wind and rain, trying to discover the cause of the strange weather.

Before the Indigo League had even ended, Gary had left to train on the Seafoam Islands. Throughout this time, Professor Oak's grandson had remained there, training and honing himself.

He had been too smug in the past and had failed to recognize the truly powerful people in this world. That was why he had not even made the top sixteen in the Indigo League. After painfully reflecting on his failure, Gary had come here to train with Eevee.

The sudden severe weather and terrifying signs in the sky prompted Gary to hurry to the main peak to investigate. In the end, he stumbled upon the device.

"That's the source!"

Countless shattered jewels on a gigantic device were releasing unstable fluctuations, stimulating the passage in the sky. Countless arcs of electricity filled the air, creating an extremely frightening sight.

Gary acted decisively, taking out a Poké Ball and sending out Arcanine. "Use Fire Blast!"

Greninja swiftly appeared and hurled Water Shuriken from its hands, quickly breaking through Arcanine's Fire Blast. At the same time, several Water Shuriken fell toward Arcanine's position.

Unexpectedly, Arcanine was no longer there. It had used Extreme Speed to appear close to the device and unleashed a second Fire Blast. Greninja hurled several more Water Shuriken after it.

The scorching flames formed the shape of the character 大 in midair and surged fiercely toward the device on the main peak. With a thunderous explosion, its outer defenses were destroyed, and some of its energy began to leak out. The already-formed black hole began to twist chaotically. Greninja's following Water Shuriken failed to hit Arcanine, instead smashing several of the device's backup energy systems and the shattered jewels.

Undeterred by its failed throws, Greninja hurled countless more Water Shuriken straight at Arcanine.

"Arcanine, use Extreme Speed!"

In a flash, Arcanine appeared beside Gary. Compared with the somewhat ditzy Ash, his rival Gary was far more mature than others his age. Someone had to be operating a device like this nearby, so after Arcanine's successful strike, Gary remained calm and ready to recall it at any moment.

However, Greninja changed the Water Shuriken's trajectories in midair, sending them flying from an extremely tricky angle. Gary's Eevee suddenly slammed hard into its trainer, helping him avoid a fatal hit from the Water Shuriken, though one still slashed a bloody wound across his right arm.

The intense pain changed Gary's expression. Amid the chaotic weather, a strange man with a face painted half male and half female slowly emerged, smiling at him. "What an impressive boy. A mere Rookie Trainer, and you've ruined my plan."

At that point, the man wearing Erika's yukata glanced at Greninja, only to find it still standing there indifferently.

Greninja, I hope you didn't do that on purpose just now.

As though sensing what its trainer was thinking, Greninja merely raised a brow and gave no response.

The passage twisted out of shape, and the energy field continued to weaken. His plan had failed completely simply because he had gotten too carried away and gone off to put on makeup, coupled with this blond Rookie Trainer. It infuriated the strange man inwardly, but outwardly, he smiled happily.

"What an adorable face. Just imagine-if I peeled it off, it would make a fine addition to my collection."

Cacturne had appeared at some point and unleashed Teeter Dance again. Its bizarre steps, paired with a distinctive percussive rhythm, made both Arcanine and Eevee dizzy. Gary gritted his teeth and stared at the strange man opposite him without a word.

His body grew heavier and heavier, but Gary knew very well that once he fell, everything would be over.

Yet he could not control his eyelids. They drooped, becoming harder and harder to hold up. The strange man with the half-male, half-female face stepped forward, his smiling face growing increasingly repulsive.

"Die, brat."

"Mega Salamence, Hyper Voice!"

At that critical moment, a clear voice descended from above, followed by a mighty roar that resounded across the sky. Terrifying Hyper Voice sound waves pierced through the air from hundreds of meters away and struck Cacturne directly.

It was sheer destructive power. In the distance, Mega Salamence's Aerilate Ability combined with the terrifying high-pitched force of Hyper Voice, transforming it into a horrifying sweep of sound waves. Countless rocks on the surrounding peaks exploded at the sound!

Under the effects of Aerilate, Normal-type moves not only became Flying-type moves but also gained greater destructive power. The penetrating force of those sound waves was enough to destroy heaven and earth, tearing apart everything before them.

The thunderous sonic impact swept over Cacturne's entire body. Amid a pained howl, the needles across its body shattered, and its cells and internal organs suffered severe shock damage. Blood streamed all over it. Cacturne staggered back several steps, slowly collapsed, and lost consciousness.

The earth-shattering attack also tore apart the dark clouds filling the sky, letting through the first ray of the morning sunrise.

High in the vast sky, a gigantic dragon tore through the air, diving straight toward the strange man with the half-male, half-female face on the ground.

"Pay for what you've done!"

The Sandstorm King, Gongping, let out his fiercest roar. In an instant, the most intense energy fluctuations surged across Mega Salamence's entire body as it hurtled forth!