[SEADRA - Level 18]
[Type: Water]
Two Pokémon.
Both were higher-level than Gible had been, even at full strength. And I had nothing to fight back with.
I held Gible tighter and kept backing away, but my legs hit something—a snow drift, a rock, I didn't know—and I stumbled, nearly falling.
The female Team Rocket member smiled, and it was the coldest expression I'd ever seen.
"Seadra," she said quietly. "Hydro Pump. On the boy."
Not on Gible. On me.
The Seadra's snout compressed, and I saw water begin to gather, compress, and build pressure until it glowed with condensed power.
This wasn't a warning shot. This wasn't meant to scare me. This was an execution.
'I'm going to die,' I thought with strange clarity. 'Three weeks in this world. That's all I got. Three weeks as Samael Oak, and now I'm going to die holding my unconscious partner in the snow outside Pallet Town.'
The Hydro Pump charged, growing brighter, more intense. I couldn't run—not fast enough, not while carrying Gible. I couldn't fight back. I couldn't do anything except stand there and watch my death approach with the inevitability of gravity.
I closed my eyes.
And then the world exploded.
A sound like thunder, like mountains colliding, filled the air. I felt the shockwave wash over me, the pressure change, and the burned snow.
But there was no pain.
I opened my eyes.
A massive foot—easily six feet across, covered in dark blue scales and tipped with razor-sharp claws—had slammed down directly on the path of the Hydro Pump.
The water attack struck that foot and dispersed harmlessly, spraying everything within a radius of twenty feet but causing no damage.
And above that foot, rising like a mountain given form, was a Garchomp.
Not just any Garchomp. This was a champion's Pokémon.
The creature stood easily six feet tall at the shoulder.
Dark blue scales covered most of its form, with red accents along the chest and underbelly that seemed to glow.
Its arms ended in massive claws that looked capable of tearing through steel, and its head was dominated by a jaw full of teeth like daggers and eyes that burned with intelligence.
Scars crisscrossed its body.
This Pokémon had fought countless battles, had won against opponents that would have killed lesser creatures, and wore the evidence proudly.
And it stood between the Team Rocket members and me like an impassable wall.
The Garchomp didn't even look injured from blocking a Hydro Pump that should have killed me. It had taken the attack with the casual indifference of someone swatting a fly.
"What—" the female Team Rocket member started, her voice carrying shock.
She didn't get to finish.
The Garchomp move was fast. Impossibly fast for something that size. One moment it was standing still, and the next it was charging, its claws glowing with purple-black energy as Dragon-type power condensed around them.
The attack slashed through both Steelix and Seadra in a single movement, the Garchomp's claws carving arcs of light through the air that left afterimages burned into my vision.
I heard the sound of metal being torn, scales being shattered, of two high-level Pokémon being devastated by a single attack from something operating on an entirely different plane of power.
Steelix—already weakened from Gible's Dragon Rage—roared in pain as the Dragon Claw opened a massive gash along its armored hide.
The great serpent collapsed partially, its body losing cohesion as it fought to stay conscious.
Seadra was thrown backward, its body tumbling through the snow before coming to rest against a tree, barely moving.
But the Garchomp wasn't done.
Its mouth opened, and golden light began building in its throat. Not the orange of Dragon Rage.
This was something else. Something that made the air itself vibrate with power.
The attack released with a sound like reality tearing. A lance of golden energy, easily three feet across, shot forward with the speed of thought.
It struck the ground between Steelix and Seadra, and the resulting explosion was visible even through the daylight.
Snow vaporized. Earth cratered. The shockwave sent both Team Rocket Pokémon flying, their bodies ragdolling through the air before crashing down dozens of feet away.
When the light faded, and my vision cleared, I saw Steelix, desperately trying to move, its steel body dented and cracked in multiple places. Seadra wasn't even conscious, just a motionless form in the snow.
Both Pokémon were defeated. One more attack from that Garchomp would finish them both.
The male Team Rocket member stared at the devastation, his face went pale behind the mask. "Retreat," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Retreat now!"
Both of them recalled their Pokémon in flashes of red light, then sprinted north toward Route 1 as fast as their legs could carry them.
But the Garchomp wasn't chasing. It just stood there, watching them flee.
And then something happened.
Suddenly, Garchomp roared at the fleeing Team Rocket members.
He stumbled, tried to catch himself, and his mask—the black cloth covering the lower half of his face—caught on a branch.
The mask tore away, fluttering to the ground behind him.
And I saw his face.
Dark skin. Sharp features. A strong jaw and intense eyes that I recognized instantly from countless episodes watched in my previous life.
'Brock.'
The thought hit me like a ton of bricks.
'That's Brock. THE Brock. Pewter City Gym Leader. Rock-type specialist. One of Ash's first traveling companions. One of the good guys. One of the people you could always count on to do the right thing.'
But this Brock wore Team Rocket colors.
Brock had just tried to murder me.
He had tried to kidnap someone and ordered his Pokémon to execute a witness without hesitation.
'What the hell happened in this timeline? If Brock is Team Rocket... then who runs Pewter Gym? What else has changed? What else did the previous system user break when they altered this world?'
The man seemed to realize his mask had fallen. He looked back, saw me staring at his face, and for a split second our eyes met.
He saw him register that I'd seen him, that I knew who he was.