A fishy—overpoweringly fishy—sea stench suddenly flooded his nostrils, so thick it was almost suffocating.
Above him, the scorching sun that had been burning his skin darkened without warning, as if an invisible giant hand had covered the sky.
Alex—a boy barely past ten, his skin darkened by years under the sun—was playing barefoot on the warm sand.
Instinctively, he looked up.
The horizon had been split cleanly in two.
To the west, ink-black storm clouds churned violently, lead-gray lightning twisting through the gaps like grotesque venomous snakes.
To the east, the sky burned an eerie crimson, as if molten lava had been splashed across it. The red was thick and blinding, lingering within the clouds and radiating a heart-stopping sense of impending doom.
Rumble—!
The thunder didn't come from the sky.
It came from beneath his feet.
Dull, earth-piercing impacts echoed upward—like the heartbeat of a colossal beast, or the grinding, crushing scream of something breaking apart deep underground.
A chill shot from the soles of Alex's feet straight to the crown of his head. His hair stood on end.
It was the wail of the earth itself.
"Alex—! Run! Geothermal heat!!"
A desperate, heart-rending shout tore through the rumble.
Alex snapped his head around.
At the far end of the pier, his father was sprinting toward him, face twisted with panic. The gale plastered his thin clothes to his body, and around his neck, an ancient stone fish pendant thrashed wildly as he ran—like a living fish struggling out of water.
Too late.
The entire beach beneath Alex's feet—like a sleeping giant suddenly jolted awake—let out a deafening roar and heaved upward!
Alex was thrown backward, slamming into the sand behind a reef. His vision went black. He never even saw the cold, small object that landed beside him before the violent震动 made his ears ring.
Then—
An even greater roar swallowed everything.
A tsunami?
No.
A wall.
A hundred-meter-high moving glacier of water, mixed with biting frost and countless glittering ice shards, crashed down with world-ending force!
Through the jagged gaps in the rocks, the last thing Alex saw was his village being devoured in an instant by murky waves, leaving behind only scattered planks…
And against that monstrous backdrop, a single, small figure charged desperately toward their already-submerged home.
Dad—!!
The scream never left his chest. It was completely drowned out by the roar of the waves.
As his consciousness faded, two blinding flashes of light tore through the chaos and burned themselves into his retinas—
One was lava-red, ripping apart the darkness.
The other was deep-sea blue, freezing everything in its path.
They intertwined, colliding violently…
Was it destruction?
Or—
…
…
"Hah—!"
Alex jolted upright, his heart hammering so hard it felt like it was being crushed by an invisible giant hand.
That disaster from six years ago had appeared in his dreams again this morning—and today's battle with the Poochyena had dragged those buried memories painfully back to the surface.
Cold rainwater soaked his undershirt. Alex gasped for breath, his fingertips trembling uncontrollably.
Lava.
Freezing tides.
Towering waves.
His father's final, resolute back.
And that red-and-blue light woven together in destruction.
The images burned into his mind like red-hot iron.
"…That dream again," Alex murmured hoarsely, the voice of a survivor who had stared into the abyss.
Six years.
Ever since that day when the world seemed to end, when he was pulled from the ruined beach by the old sailor Grandpa Hachi and taken in, this nightmare had followed him like a shadow.
Patter.
A drop of sweat fell onto the cold, hard object resting against his chest—the ancient stone fish pendant.
The only thing his father had left behind.
"A-woo—? (´^｀?)"
A worried cry sounded beside him, followed by a gentle peck at his clothes.
Alex took a deep breath, forcibly calming the storm in his heart, and turned his head.
Beside him crouched a snow-white Wingull, wings neatly folded, its body forming a cute little "M" shape. It tilted its head, round black eyes full of concern and confusion, its orange-yellow beak lightly touching his damp clothes.
Pokémon.
Mysterious beings that shared this world with humans—appearing in endless forms, wielding incredible powers, with much of their ecology still unknown.
They lived everywhere: the sky, the sea, the forests, the towns.
Looking at the small Pokémon beside him, the tension in Alex's face finally softened into a faint smile.
A year ago, while fishing from a small boat, he had saved this Wingull—its wing injured—from the poisonous tentacles of a Tentacool. After careful treatment, the little one had refused to leave, becoming his most trusted partner out at sea.
Only today—after the battle with the Poochyena—did Alex truly understand that bond and decide to make it his first Pokémon.
"It's okay, Wingull," he said softly, still a little unsteady as he stroked its smooth white head. "Just… a bad dream."
"Goo~"
Wingull seemed to understand, relaxing and nuzzling against his finger.
To fully reassure it, Alex stood up briskly and brushed the wood chips off his pants.
"Let's go. If we're any later, Grandpa Hachi's going to lecture us about Slack Off again."
---
"I'm back!"
With a creak of the door, a soaked Alex stepped into the warm little house, water dripping from his clothes.
Just then—
"Alex, why are you home so late? And soaked through, too?"
An old but lively voice rang out, teasing in tone, accompanied by the thump-thump of a cane against the floorboards.
Alex turned around.
Grandpa Hachi stood there, puffing on a large pipe, smiling as he walked over. His face was weathered by years at sea, yet his eyes were still sharp and spirited.
Behind him, a fluffy white figure poked its head out—it was his old partner Wingull, affectionately nicknamed "Little Seagull."
Concern crossed the old man's face. "Where's your Wingull?"
Rain slid down Alex's hair, but it couldn't hide the joy in his eyes.
"Don't worry. It's right here."
He took out a Poké Ball and pressed it lightly.
A flash of red light, and Wingull appeared on the floor, lively and energetic.
Seeing the Poké Ball, Grandpa Hachi opened his mouth, then stopped.
Looking at the boy who had grown so independent, the old man felt a complicated mix of affection and helplessness.
Alex had lived here for six years now.
Unlike the other children who only knew how to play, he absorbed Pokémon knowledge like a sponge—never tired, never satisfied.
Hachi knew that this small harbor could never hold the heart of a youth who longed for the open sky.
Seeing Alex catch Wingull, he understood—the boy had taken his first real step onto the road of a Pokémon Trainer.
"Wing—cha—"
Wingull chirped happily and soon began playing with Little Seagull, completely unconcerned about the bandage still wrapped around its wing.
After that, Alex changed into dry clothes and went to sleep.
---
The next morning, the rain had stopped, and a crimson dawn rose over the horizon.
That was the weather here in the Hoenn region—unpredictable as the sea itself.
On the beach beside the cottage—
"A-woo—!"
When Alex's Wingull spotted Little Seagull, it flew up happily to greet it, blue patterns tracing graceful arcs through the sunlight.
"Haha! Little Seagull, go!" Grandpa Hachi laughed, tossing his pipe high into the air.
Little Seagull spread its broad wings, skimmed the crests of the waves, and traced a perfect spiral before catching the falling pipe neatly in its beak.
Watching the two white figures chase each other along the shore, Alex's hand drifted to his chest, fingers brushing the stone pendant.
It was shaped like a Relicanth.
Grandpa Hachi had pointed to it countless times, eyes shining like those of a young adventurer.
"When I was young, I sailed all seven seas trying to catch this legendary ancient Pokémon. You were carrying it when I found you—this is the sea's fate!"
Fate…
Alex gazed out at the glittering ocean.
It was fate that led Grandpa Hachi to find him when he'd lost everything. For six peaceful years, they'd lived here along Route 104, days passing like a quiet fishing song.
Yet deep down, Alex carried a secret no one else knew.
A truth he had never even told his parents in this world.
His soul did not belong here.
He came from a distant planet called Earth.
From the moment he was born, he had lived with that knowledge—an outsider carrying memories of another world.
The disaster six years ago.
The mysterious pendant.
That intertwining red and blue light.
Did it all have something to do with him?
Beneath this peaceful surface, was a greater storm waiting to erupt?
The pendant lay cold against his chest, silent under the sun.
And that nightmare…
Was it really just the past?
Or was it an omen yet to come?
Staring at his reflection on the sea's surface, Alex couldn't help but think of his former life.