The five of them swam forward with everything they had for quite a while. It was past midnight—the darkest hour of the day—and out on the open sea, darkness felt especially oppressive. None of them dared to swim too fast. Losing one's sense of direction in the ocean was a terrifying prospect.
With Kael leading the way, they continued straight ahead for another fifteen minutes. By then, Ash and the others had gone almost numb, their minds blank—instinctively following the silhouette ahead of them. Somehow, just seeing that figure was enough to steady their nerves.
Nearly half an hour had passed since they'd put distance between themselves and the S.S. Anne when a thunderous roar suddenly echoed from afar.
They turned back—
The massive, sea-dominating cruise liner was being torn apart. Seawater surged inward, snapping the ship cleanly in two. The shrill screech of tearing metal sent chills down their spines.
Once the S.S. Anne fractured, it sank even faster. Five minutes later, starting from the bow, the enormous silhouette had nearly vanished beneath the horizon.
The sinking of a vessel weighing tens of thousands of tons gave rise to a devastating, man-made whirlpool. Even though Kael and the others were already far away, they could still feel a powerful pull in the seawater, dragging them toward the site of the sinking.
No one hesitated. They immediately swam forward, fighting to break free from the current's grip.
"Alright—we can stop now!"
Kael's voice rang out across the dark sea. A beam of light suddenly cut through the darkness as he pulled a flashlight from his military folding pack.
"If you can see the light, swim toward me!"
"I see it!" Ash shouted.
"So do we!" Miki and the others called back.
The four of them gathered beside Kael. In the flashlight's glow, their faces were still pale with lingering shock. Thinking back on it now made their hearts race—if they hadn't listened to Kael and left the ship's vicinity early, they might truly have gone down with the S.S. Anne.
"The S.S. Anne sank along the route to Porta Vista…" Kael wiped seawater from his face and continued. "We can't keep swimming. It's too dark. We'll stay here and wait. Something this big will definitely bring police and rescue teams. We're not far from the sinking site—once the sun comes up, we'll look for help."
At this point, Kael was clearly the group's anchor. Whatever he decided, they followed without question. After everything that had happened, their trust in him was absolute.
He checked his watch.
3:00 a.m.
Dawn was still three hours away.
Floating in the open ocean like this was dangerous—wild Pokémon attacks were a real risk. Worse still, exhaustion could easily make someone lose consciousness, and that would spell disaster.
But Kael wasn't worried.
He opened his military pack and pulled out a vacuum-sealed, flattened rectangular strip of rubber.
It was an automatic inflatable raft.
Once the vacuum seal was torn open, it would expand instantly into a raft capable of supporting six people.
Under the others' stunned gazes, Kael ripped open the packaging and tossed it onto the sea. In the next second—like a magic trick—a simple blue inflatable raft materialized before them.
Ash stared, mouth hanging open. "T-This is incredible…"
"Get on first," Kael said calmly. "Staying in the water makes us easy targets for wild Pokémon."
With that, he vaulted onto the raft and then reached down, pulling them up one by one.
Brock patted the thick rubber surface and smiled. "I've seen these automatic inflatable rafts at Silph Co. expos. Thought they were way too expensive at the time."
Ash looked at Kael, who had closed his eyes to rest, and blurted out excitedly,
"Big Bro Kael—what do you do for a living? This is just… so cool!"
The kid had adapted fast. Earlier it was just "Kael," but now it was "Big Bro Kael."
Given that Kael was three years older—and had saved his life—it wasn't an unreasonable upgrade.
"Bounty hunter," Kael replied.
"Bounty… hunter?" Ash blinked. It was the first time he'd heard of such a job.
Kael chuckled lightly. "Simple. Someone pays. I do the work."
"Oh!" Ash scratched the back of his head with a sheepish grin. Somehow, that explanation instantly stripped the job of its mystery.
After a night of sheer terror—and a desperate fight for survival—once they were finally safe on the raft, exhaustion crashed over them like a tidal wave. Their eyelids felt impossibly heavy.
Ash and the others quickly fell into deep sleep.
Kael felt the fatigue too, but he didn't dare relax completely. The sinking of a massive ship like the S.S. Anne didn't mean the danger was over—its aftermath could be just as deadly.
Just as a forest fire could drive Pokémon into a frenzy, the sinking of a colossal ship could severely disrupt the Water-type Pokémon living in these waters.
...
Time passed, second by second.
Keeping watch through the night, Kael eventually succumbed to sleep despite himself. When he finally opened his eyes again, the blazing sun was already high overhead.
He checked his watch.
8:00 a.m.
"Something's wrong…"
Kael's expression hardened.
The surroundings were far too quiet. No seabirds. No fish. No Pokémon in sight.
"ROOOOAAAR—!"
A deafening bellow erupted from beneath the surface.
In the next instant, massive waves surged upward as a gigantic, serpentine Pokémon burst from the sea. Its body was pale blue, its enormous jaws lined with razor-sharp teeth that gleamed like metal in the sunlight.
"What's happening?!"
The roar jolted everyone awake. When they saw the colossal creature before them, their faces drained of color.
Misty reacted the worst of all. Trembling violently, she pointed at the beast and cried out,
"G-Gyarados… it's Gyarados!"
As a child, she had once accidentally fallen into a Gyarados's mouth. The trauma had left deep scars on her young mind—ever since, even the sight of this ferocious Pokémon made her shake uncontrollably.
Gyarados was the evolved form of Magikarp—infamously violent and prone to uncontrollable rage. Even trainer-raised Magikarp often became disobedient after evolving, sometimes turning on their own trainers.
And a wild Gyarados?
One could only imagine how aggressive it would be.
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