Acapulco—one of Kanto's most famous vacation hotspots.
Because it's a resort city, the law and order here are usually top-notch!
But today, something astonishing was unfolding in these streets. A teenager soared over the city on a Charizard, trailed by dozens of Pidgeot and a fleet of cop cars in hot pursuit. It looked like the kid had committed some unspeakable crime—the authorities were out in full force, hell-bent on bringing him in. Every passerby stopped and stared, whispering to each other about the chaos overhead.
"…What on earth happened? What kind of crime could call for a manhunt this huge?!"
"No clue, but I don't think anything like this has happened in Acapulco for at least a decade."
"Yeah, seriously—I can't remember a scene like this in ten years. The last time it happened, a master thief cleaned out the whole Pokémon Center. What did that boy do to make the city go so insane?"
As the bystanders gossiped, the cop cars and Silas both vanished from Acapulco's city limits.
Acapulco outskirts.
In a wide, deserted field, Silas guided Charizard down to a stop. Moments later, every pursuing Pidgeot and cop car thundered after him, screeching to a stop.
Silas hovered in the air, facing down the sea of cops. From the cruisers poured over a hundred people—uniformed police officers alongside civilian Trainer deputies. Every one of them eyed Silas like they were staring down a wild apex predator.
One man stepped forward, megaphone in hand: "Hey, kid on the Charizard! You're surrounded. I order you to dismount, turn in your Poké Balls, and surrender peacefully. If you refuse, don't blame us for what comes next!"
"..."
Silas's face twisted with amusement. That sounded exactly like the kind of speech you'd hear from police in a twenty-first-century movie.
As Silas made that weird face, the police officers and auxiliary Trainer cops on the ground quickly grew impatient. They all knew Silas was never going to surrender just because they told him to—the speech was just a formality. So next, Poké Balls were tossed out left and right!
"Go! Golduck! Use Psychic!"
"Let's go! Electabuzz! Thunderbolt!"
"Water beats fire—come on, Blastoise! Use Water Bubble!"
Bang bang bang—one after another, Poké Balls burst open, and two or three hundred Pokémon appeared to face Silas. Every one looked powerful; even the weakest among them were lower-elite tier, and several were already knocking at the door of the Elite Four! Guided by their Trainers' commands, these Pokémon unleashed a storm of signature moves at Silas and the Charizard underfoot!
As the attacks rained down, Silas and Charizard shared a look of perfect mutual disdain. Charizard didn't even wait for an order—it moved on its own, the flame on its tail blazing up, then surging outwards to envelop them both in a living wall of fire!
BOOM!
The next instant, all those attacks detonated across the blaze, triggering a massive explosion and churning up a thick black cloud in the air!
As the smoke billowed through the sky, people on the ground erupted in cheers.
"Did we get him?! Was that really all it took?!"
"I thought it'd be tough, him being a ruthless fugitive and all. But he just let himself get hit by everyone at once! With this much firepower, that Charizard could be Elite Four and still get flattened!"
"Yeah! We didn't even need to fight—just looking at that Charizard, you can see how fierce it is. It's way bigger than normal. I was worried about battling it myself, but I didn't think he'd be dumb enough to just let us attack him head-on!"
The crowd kept chattering, relaxing a little, but only Officer Jenny's face turned sour.
Because at the very instant of the explosion, she felt a rush of satisfaction—only to be quickly replaced by regret. After all, Silas was an Elite Four badge holder. He hadn't truly done anything terrible; okay, he broke Acapulco's no-flight rules, but people with "connections" always got special treatment, didn't they?
Yet, instead of making an exception, she'd escalated because of his attitude—and now things had spun out of control. If anything happened to Silas… she'd be in real trouble down the line.
While Officer Jenny worried, the smoke started to drift away.
As the black cloud dissipated, the crowd's chatter abruptly stopped—because floating there in the air, that wall of flame still protected Silas and Charizard, completely undamaged! All at once, everyone watching sucked in a cold breath.
"Jeez… is that Charizard a monster? All those signature moves and they couldn't even scratch its defense!"
"For real! Nearly 300 Pokémon each using their best shots—that would force even a League Elite Four's Pokémon to dodge! How the hell did that Charizard just tank it all?!"
"No way! There's no way it took that kind of punishment without a scratch! Let's hit them with a few more rounds—I refuse to believe they're really invincible. Unless it's literally Champion-tier, but come on, that can't be!"
"Yeah! That Charizard must be getting tired. Let's keep it up—come on!"
"Get 'em!"
And so… a fresh wave of attacks was unleashed!
Hundreds of signature moves hammered at Charizard's barrier. But to the growing despair of everyone below, the shield might as well have been a fortress wall—unbreakable, motionless, soaking up every hit.
"Heh…"
As the attacks finally trickled to a stop, Silas spoke up: "Had enough? So… is it my turn now?"
Nani?!
His words sent a chill through the crowd. Before anyone could react, a purple-and-white Master Ball came dropping down, unleashing a gigantic figure and a thunderous roar!
"Tyranitar!"
The roar was deafening, echoing through the skies!
It was regal. Furious. The kind of sound a monarch makes when peasants dare touch what's his. That voice alone struck terror into every Pokémon present—hell, even the people felt a primal fear of death!
As the light faded, there it stood: a colossal Tyranitar, at least twenty-five feet tall. Its massive frame and battlefield scars amped up the dread in everyone's eyes—voices shook as they spoke.
"Y-you've got to be kidding! Not only was the Charizard gigantic… even this Tyranitar? It's three, four times normal size! How are we supposed to fight that?!"
"Screw fighting—facing a monster like this, you could have nine lives and it wouldn't matter!"
"Exactly! Tyranitar's a pseudo-legendary—any grown one is Elite Four-level for sure! And this one? With that kind of bulk it has to be peak Elite Four at least! If he's running a peak Elite Four Tyranitar and that Charizard, we literally have zero chance!"
Voices trembling, fear-stricken stares—the presence of Tyranitar multiplied every negative emotion in the area. The formal police officers, at least, held their ground, thanks to training; but the auxiliary Trainer cops were different. Their fighting spirit shattered in an instant.
Auxiliary Trainer officers were just that—Trainers hired by the police for extra muscle. But up against an overwhelming power, they only ever did what they were paid for—not risk their necks!
After one glance at the terrified auxiliary Trainers and another at the monstrous Tyranitar, Officer Jenny finally stepped forward.
The frontline police officers freaked out seeing her move up.
"Officer Jenny, fall back! We can handle this!"
"Yeah, that Tyranitar is way too dangerous! Please, get to safety!"
"If anything happens to you, the chief'll have our heads!"
Ignoring their concern, Officer Jenny snatched the megaphone, faced Silas, and said something nobody expected: "This one's on me. But you're not blameless either. How about we just let this go and move on?"
After she spoke, her face looked a little defeated. All her life, she'd stood for justice—her enemies were always villains. She never in her life imagined she'd be apologizing, and just saying the words left her with a heavy feeling inside...
But what she didn't expect was Silas's face tightening with even greater disdain, his tone turning mockingly cold: "Drama? I never tried to cause drama. Sure, breaking the rules was on me—but it was to save a life. And yeah, I had Pikachu zap you, but you were the one who wouldn't back down."
"And finally…" Silas paused, his voice icy. "You brought this whole army and attacked me first. Now that I'm stronger, you want to just 'let it go' because it didn't go your way? You really think that's how it works?"
"…Then what do you want?"
Having Silas lay out the truth like that made Officer Jenny blush from embarrassment—she knew most of what happened was on her, not Silas!
"Tyranitar!" Silas couldn't have made his decision any clearer. He called out, loud and firm: "Earthquake!"
"Tyranitar!"
Tyranitar let out a mighty roar and slammed its foot down hard!
In a heartbeat, a quake on par with a magnitude-twelve earthquake erupted. The ground split open with fissures spreading from Tyranitar like lightning. With the cracks racing out faster and faster, every police officer and auxiliary Trainer's expression changed—they all started to fall back as quickly as possible!
"This… this is peak Elite Four-level power!"
"I… I'm never working as an auxiliary cop again! This isn't just working hard, it's a death sentence!"
"Shut up and just get out of the Earthquake's range or we're all dead!"
Two minutes later.
The Earthquake faded away at last.
Everyone who'd made it to safety was left gawking in disbelief at the scene before them.
That one Earthquake had utterly devastated everything within a 500-meter radius of Tyranitar, leaving nothing but ruins. All of their nearly three hundred Pokémon—except for the ones that could fly—were left lying on the ground with swirly eyes, totally out of commission!
Monster!
That was the only word in anyone's mind as they stared at Tyranitar—nothing else could even come close to describing it!
As they gawked, Tyranitar began lumbering slowly toward the stunned crowd, its huge frame making the ground groan in agony with every step...
"Officer Jenny." One of the cops beside her, now ghost pale, squeaked, "What do we do now?"
"Hold! Hold the line!" Officer Jenny gritted her teeth, her face full of frustration. "I'm calling for backup, NOW!"