(Arata's POV)
The camp had quieted.
Not silence not when the storm still growled over the harbor, thunder rolling like distant drums. But quieter. The cries had dulled, the rush of footsteps slowed. Lanterns swung under the sagging tarps, their glow soft and orange against the night drizzle.
I wandered past them without really knowing where my feet wanted to go. My coat hung heavy, boots caked with mud. Rin was gone. My aunt
I hadn't let myself think too hard about her. Not since the wave. If I did, the hollow in my chest might split open.
So when the voice came low, cracked but sharp I almost thought I'd imagined it.
"Arata !"
My head snapped up.
She was there.
A silhouette against the lantern glow, hair loose and damp, cloak ripped and streaked with mud. Her left arm was bound tight with makeshift bandages. Half her gear gone. But her eyes were sharp, grey, fierce, fixed on me.
"Hailey.. !"
The word barely left me before she closed the distance.
Her arms wrapped around me in one motion, crushing, sudden, warm despite the rain. My breath caught. She had never never been one for embraces. Discipline, orders, and training were her tools.
But tonight, her grip trembled.
For a heartbeat I stood frozen, stunned by the sheer strangeness of it. Then my chest caved in and I clung back, water and mud and exhaustion forgotten.
"You're alive," she whispered against my hair. Her voice shook, something I had never heard. "You stubborn little idiot. You're alive."
I swallowed hard. My throat hurt too much to speak.
When she pulled back, her hands stayed firm on my shoulders, scanning me up and down as if she couldn't quite believe what she was seeing. Her face was cut, cheek bruised, hair matted but her eyes burned steady.
"You're hurt?" she asked.
"Scraped. That's all." My voice cracked. "Caesar, Livia are fine too—"
Her gaze flicked to the Poké Balls at my belt. A sigh, shaky but fierce, left her. "We'll see them soon."
She squeezed once more, then straightened, that familiar edge returning to her posture. "Come. Outpost. We won't stay in this mess tonight."
The path through Vermilion was surreal.
Lanterns and floodlights lit the main road, casting long shadows across the rain-slick cobblestones. People still moved in groups, some with carts, others carrying bundles on their backs. Rangers guided them, calling orders, their Pokémon forming living barriers, Arcanine snarling at the dark, Machoke hauling timbers.
Beyond the rooftops, the sea still burned with lightning. Surge's Raichu flared again, discharges crackling like a second sun. The city shook with each distant strike.
We walked in silence, her hand firm at my back, steadying me whenever I stumbled on slick ground. Every time I glanced up at her, she looked back down as if needing to check I hadn't vanished.
At last we reached it: a Ranger outpost tucked against the wall, wood beams slick with rain, its insignia faintly glowing above the door.
Inside was warmth. Lantern light, rough-hewn benches, the smell of smoke and wet leather. Rangers spoke low in the corners, gear lay out to dry, maps spread across a central table. The storm's roar was muffled here, distant, like it belonged to another world.
My aunt guided me to a bench, then crouched before me despite the stiffness in her bandaged arm. Her hands unclipped my belt, fingers tracing over each Poké Ball with quiet care.
"Out," she murmured.
The capsules clicked.
With a flash, Caesar emerged first mud still clinging to his scales, tusked grin dim but unbroken. He blinked at the light, then huffed smoke, curling protectively at my side.
Livia followed, wings ruffled, feathers damp and bent. She shook herself fiercely, then hopped onto the bench beside me, pressing close.
My aunt's gaze softened. She ran her hand carefully along Caesar's crest, brushed Livia's feathers back into place. Neither flinched. Both leaned into her touch, proud but weary.
"Good," she whispered. Her throat tightened. "Good work. Both of you."
Her eyes lifted to mine. "Tell me."
So I did.
Not every word my voice wasn't strong enough for that but enough. The wave. The forest. The ridge, the Tentacool, the Ursaring. Daichi's Goldeen. Rin.
I spoke, and her eyes never left me. Every time my voice faltered, she pressed her hand over mine until I found it again.
When I finished, the silence between us was heavy. Her jaw was tight, her shoulders rigid.
And then, slowly, she exhaled.
"I was afraid." Her voice was soft, almost drowned by the storm outside. "Terrified, Arata. That I'd lost you. You did what had to be done. For them. For yourself. For your Pokémon."
Her hand tightened on mine. "I'm proud of you."
The words landed heavier than any blow. My chest ached, but in a different way—heat flooding through the cold that had lived there since the wave.
I lowered my head. "…I just wanted us to survive."
"And you did." She brushed wet hair from my face, her touch gentle for once. "That's all that matters."
Caesar rumbled low, curling closer. Livia nuzzled my jaw, feathers soft against my skin.
I breathed out. For the first time since the tide, it felt like maybe I could sleep.
The outpost walls breathed warmth. Lanterns hissed faintly, their flames bending with each draft that slipped through the seams of the timber. The storm still rumbled beyond Vermilion's rooftops, but in here, the world felt smaller just shadows, orange light, and the steady sound of rain against the shutters.
My aunt sat beside me on the bench, posture stiff despite the exhaustion carved into her shoulders. Caesar sprawled at her feet, tusks gleaming in the lantern glow, a protective shadow. Livia had nestled herself against my side, feathers damp but soft against my jaw.
For the first time since the wave, since the forest, since the Ursaring, I felt… safe.
But the quiet didn't last. The question pressed in on me, heavy as the air after thunder.
"Aunt Hailey," I murmured, breaking the silence. My voice sounded small, but steady. "What really happened? Out there. With the wave. The storm."
Her head turned. For a long moment, she just studied me eyes sharp, unreadable. The kind of look she gave before a battle command.
Finally, she sighed, the sound rough, worn.
"The League is… calling it a natural disaster," she said. Her tone was careful. "Anomalous weather pattern. Ocean disturbance off the coast. Something nonein the leauge could have predicted."
I frowned. "A natural disaster?"
"That's what it's being classified as." She adjusted the bandage on her arm, gaze fixed on the lantern flame. "Something like this hasn't happened in living memory. The tide rose too fast, the storm too violent. We lost comms, supply routes, and whole villages swallowed. There'll be investigations, reports… but officially, it's nature. Nature turning cruel."
The way she said it—too steady, too measured set a chill in my stomach. She knew something more. I could see it in the flicker of her eyes, in the pause before her words.
But she wasn't going to tell me. Not tonight.
I clenched my fists on my knees, feeling Caesar's tail thump faintly against the floorboards in sympathy.
"…And our home?" I asked at last. "What happens now?"
Her jaw tightened. She didn't look at me when she answered.
"For now, we stay here. Vermilion's one of the few secure zones left on this coast. The League's ordered evacuations inland, too many feral Pokémon stirred up by the flood. Until it settles, until they decide it's safe to return…"
Her hand brushed over mine. Firm, grounding. "Our home is gone, Arata. For now."
The words sat like lead in my chest.
Gone.
I stared past the lantern, into the wood grain of the wall. I saw the little fishing dock. The path through the pines. My mother's herb garden, the sun catching on the lake. All swallowed.
My throat tightened.
Hailey's voice softened. "What's wrong?"
"…It's nothing." The lie was bitter on my tongue.
She leaned closer. "Don't do that with me, Arata. Not tonight. What's on your mind?"
I hesitated. My hand drifted to the Poké Balls at my belt, brushing the cool metal. Caesar stirred, raising his head, his eyes catching mine with that wordless, steady loyalty. Livia pressed closer, a faint chirp breaking the silence.
What was on my mind?
The wave. The chaos. The helplessness as it tore everything away. The raw terror of Ursaring's roar. The thought constant gnawed at me that I wasn't strong enough. Not yet.
I looked back at my aunt. My voice came quiet, but firm.
"I'm going to get stronger."
Her brow furrowed. "Stronger?"
I nodded. My eyes burned, but I held her gaze. "Caesar. Livia. Me. All of us. We'll train until we can stand against anything. Even… even disasters. If nature can tear our lives apart, then we'll be strong enough to fight it back. ."
The words spilled out, sharp-edged, heavier than I expected. But once they were out, I didn't regret them.
Hailey blinked, surprise flickering in her expression. Then, slowly, she leaned back, studying me the way she might study a storm front cautious, measured, but with something almost like pride rising in her eyes.
"You sound like a Ranger," she said softly.
I shook my head. "I just don't want to feel that helpless again."
Caesar rumbled deep in his chest, smoke curling from his nostrils. Livia's wings twitched, feathers sharp in the lantern glow. Both of them watched me, waiting. Agreeing.
Hailey's lips curved into the faintest, tired smile. "Then you've already taken the first step."
The lantern flickered, shadows bending across the walls. Outside, the storm cracked one last bolt of lightning over the sea, the glow staining the clouds pale white. But inside, in the warmth of the outpost, surrounded by my aunt, Caesar, and Livia, my family I felt something different rising.
Resolve.
We had survived. That was enough for tonight.
But tomorrow… tomorrow would be different.
END OF ARC 1