Want to read ahead. You know where
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Over time, more and more Pokémon came pouring out of Viridian Forest.
Not just fleeing, raging.
Consumed by nothing but a primal urge to destroy.
They tore through everything in their path.
Pewter City and Viridian City suffered heavy damage in quick succession.
Streets were wrecked, buildings cracked open like eggshells, and people fled in panic as Pokémon fought like wild beasts.
The news didn't take long to reach the Kanto Pokémon League.
A Pokémon attacking cities, this wasn't just another wild outbreak. It was serious.
The Kanto Elite Four were dispatched without delay, accompanied by top investigators to assess and contain the chaos.
Meanwhile, high above the trees, Sam flew swiftly in the opposite direction, toward the source of the madness.
He rode on Silver, his wings cutting through the sky with effortless grace.
Behind him, Lucario moved with practiced precision, easily taking down a charging Rhydon with a single blow before catching up again.
Flying just behind them was Darkrai, gliding in a smooth, ghost-like levitation.
The dark-type didn't need wings to fly.
Terrain meant nothing to it.
Sam glanced down at the forest below and muttered under his breath, "Would be nice if Luca could fly too…"
He gave a small sigh, brushing his fingers against Lucario's Poké Ball at his belt.
The deeper they went into the Viridian Forest, the worse it got.
The howls and cries of battle echoed through the thick canopy.
"Roooar!!!"
"Aaawwwrrr!!!"
"Gaaaaaah!!!"
The forest itself felt like it was thrashing in pain.
Pokémon were locked in brutal battles, instincts overriding reason.
Sam caught sight of a Pidgeot and a Fearow, both at an elite level, tearing into each other mid-air.
They weren't fighting with tactics, no aerial dodging or use of special moves.
Just mindless biting and clawing, blood streaking the sky as feathers flew.
He saw a Nidoqueen, radiating strength at the peak of elite level, pinning down a battered Nidoking.
She slammed him into the dirt repeatedly, then bit into his shoulder with savage force.
None of them was thinking clearly.
Friend or foe didn't matter anymore.
The entire forest had descended into madness.
As he passed over a clearing, Sam noticed something strange.
A tower.
It stood tall and unnaturally rigid in the middle of the forest, like a broken tooth sticking up from the earth.
It didn't belong; anyone could tell it was manmade.
On top of the spire sat a large, jagged horn, almost like a speaker.
Sound waves, distorted and harsh, pulsed through the air from that direction.
This had to be the source.
The surrounding Pokémon, even in their rage, kept an unconscious distance from the tower.
As if something in them still registered the threat it posed.
But when Sam approached, that fragile boundary shattered.
A pack of frenzied Pokémon immediately sensed him, and more importantly, sensed that he and his team didn't belong here.
They turned as one.
Eyes gleaming with madness. Snarling.
They abandoned their current targets and rushed at him like a tidal wave of fur, claws, and rage.
Sam didn't flinch.
"Luca. Darkrai." His voice was calm, controlled.
"Handle them."
"Be careful. Don't get hurt."
"Luka~!" Lucario nodded sharply, then leapt into action without hesitation.
"Hissss…" Darkrai's low growl sent chills down the air as it vanished into the shadows, ready to strike.
They took point, intercepting the raging Pokémon head-on.
Sam turned his attention skyward.
"Silver, get me to that tower!"
"Lili~!" Silver chirped, flapping his wings harder.
He banked left, weaving between two swooping Fearow, then rose sharply toward the top of the tower.
Pidgeot and Fearow gave chase, screeching in fury.
Silver twisted mid-air, evading them with elegant maneuvers, before flaring her wings and bringing Sam directly to the tower's rooftop.
"Thanks," Sam muttered, then jumped off.
"Go help the others."
Lugia gave a short cry and dove into battle, engaging the angry bird Pokémon mid-flight.
Sam turned toward the door at the tower's summit.
He kicked it open.
The door slammed back against the wall with a loud crack.
Inside was a makeshift laboratory, lit by flickering panels and humming with cold mechanical energy.
Wires snaked across the floor like vines, all connected to a single massive machine.
The machine's core was connected to the giant horn-like loudspeaker outside.
Sam stepped forward, eyes narrowed.
His footsteps echoed in the empty room.
"This is it," he murmured, scanning the controls.
"This thing's what's driving the Pokémon insane."
The design was crude, too crude for something with such a powerful effect.
But it worked.
And that made it dangerous.
The machine in front of Sam was the source.
It pulsed faintly, emitting low, distorted hums, inaudible to human ears, but felt in the bones.
Outside, the massive speakers mounted on the tower's exterior acted as diffusers, projecting these sonic waves deep into the heart of Viridian Forest.
That's how it spread, this madness.
If he shut it down, the waves would stop.
The Pokémon would stop going berserk.
Simple, right?
Sam took a step forward, raising his hand, ready to unleash an aura-powered wave to destroy the device.
But then, he hesitated.
A memory flickered to life, Darkrai.
Back when he had subdued Darkrai, he had been in a similar state, overwhelmed by rage, consumed by a berserk condition triggered by artificial means.
And even after Sam defeated and captured him, the madness didn't vanish instantly.
Force alone hadn't worked.
What finally calmed Darkrai… was his Viridian force.
The pure, grounding energy from him had helped dispel the frenzy clouding Darkrai's mind.
Sam lowered his hand slowly.
"So even if I destroy the machine… all it'll do is stop producing new sound waves," he muttered to himself.
"It won't be enough to help the ones already affected."
He turned toward the window, watching as the chaos still raged below.
His thoughts snapped back to his own Pokémon.
They hadn't been affected by the sonic madness at all.
"Must be the power of Viridian in me," Sam murmured.
"It's protecting them… shielding them from the influence."
A new idea formed in his mind.
"…Maybe I can use this machine instead."
He paused.
"Not to spread more rage, but to broadcast Viridian force… and calm them."
The thought felt right.
He took a steadying breath and got to work.
Quickly, he disassembled the inner workings of the sound wave device, ripping out the parts that emitted corrupting signals and tossing them aside—the room filled with sparks and the sharp smell of metal and burnt circuits.
Once the core was clear, he placed his hands directly on the base of the energy diffuser.
"Let's try this…"
He drew deep within himself.
Viridian force responded immediately.
It surged through his arms, into the machine, and up toward the tower's speaker system.
The air around Sam shifted. Invisible currents formed, strong enough to blow his bangs back from his forehead.
Then, with a flash of light, it launched.
A pulse of green-tinged energy blasted outward like a shockwave, rippling across the forest in a wide spiral, Sam at the center.
The very air hummed with life.
The forest seemed to exhale for the first time in hours.
The wave hit the outer perimeter first.
Pidgeot and Fearow stopped mid-clash, flapping hard as they reeled back in confusion.
The madness faded from their eyes.
Nidoqueen slowly released her grip on Nidoking.
He slumped to the ground, breathing hard but no longer snarling.
One by one, every Pokémon touched by the wave of Viridian energy blinked… looked around… and came back to themselves.
Farther out, in the heart of Pewter City, the chaos came to an abrupt halt.
Bruno and Lorelei arrived with a squad of League investigators, expecting the worst.
What they saw instead stunned them.
The rampaging Pokémon were… retreating.
Calmly.
As if a switch had been flipped.
The destruction had stopped as quickly as it began.
Bruno frowned, scratching his chin.
"Did my aura scare them off or something?"
Lorelei gave him a flat look.
"Seriously?"
"Maybe it's my presence. Intimidation factor, y'know?"
She rolled her eyes.
"Right. Your presence. Must be terrifying."
Elsewhere, Lance, the Dragon Master and Champion of the Indigo Plateau, stood at the edge of Viridian Forest, having just arrived in Viridian City with his team.
But his focus wasn't on the retreating Pokémon.
It was the sensation that gripped him.
He froze.
He could feel it, radiating from deep within the forest.
A vast, ancient force, dense and powerful.
Like the forest itself was alive, pulsing with energy.
His eyes narrowed.
"That's… the Viridian force," he whispered.
As someone who also carried the bloodline tied to that ancient force, he could sense it more clearly than anyone else.
But this wasn't his.
It was stronger. Wilder. Deeper.
"Someone else is using it," Lance murmured.
He stared into the depths of the forest.
"Someone… powerful."