Just as Team Rocket's defensive line was about to be torn apart by Zapdos's endless golden thunderstorms, and Apollo was preparing to order a retreat, covering the core personnel at any cost, a crisis loomed.
From the other end of the Power Plant, far from the central battlefield, came the sudden, dull roar of a violent explosion, utterly unlike the thunder.
Boom!!!
The sound carried the wild force of human industry and gunpowder, accompanied by the piercing shriek of tearing metal. A half-meter-thick alloy wall leading into the central area seemed to have been struck hard from outside by a prehistoric beast. Its surface instantly bulged inward around the point of impact, countless cracks spreading like lightning. Then, with a second, even more violent explosion, the entire wall was brutally blasted apart!
Countless burning metal fragments hurtled into the central area amid billowing smoke and dust. Dazzling, tightly focused searchlight beams shot through the enormous breach like sharp swords of light, dispelling the darkness between lightning flashes and illuminating the chaos within.
Then, amid heavy, synchronized footsteps, an exceptionally tall, burly man charged in aggressively with his well-equipped main force. He wore an imposing American military uniform, his brilliant blond hair was meticulously groomed, and his face was filled with arrogance and fury.
It was none other than the nominal administrator of this Abandoned Power Plant, Celadon City's Electric-type Gym Leader, the man known throughout the Kanto Region as the "coldhearted American soldier"-Lt. Surge.
"Which blind bastard dared to cause trouble on my turf?!"
Lt. Surge's roar, as explosive and powerful as the man himself, echoed forcefully throughout the thunder-filled central area, briefly drowning out even several thunderclaps.
Yet when his gaze swept across the scene, and the searchlights laid everything clearly before his eyes, the battle-hardened Gym Leader froze