53: Chapter 53 Atomic Breath, Crimson Lotus Island Changes Surname to Lin

Tyranitar's roar drowned out the volcano.

Cinnabar Island began to tremble from deep beneath the ground.

The wreckage of the port, the ruins of the Gym, the steel frames of the laboratory, and the League artillery batteries in the distance all hummed amidst the tremors.

The Elite Four's combined attack paused for a split second.

A split second was enough.

The red core on Tyranitar's chest shone with a blinding light.

It opened its mouth, and a deep crimson glow began to gather, point by point, from its throat.

Blaine's expression changed drastically.

"Get down!"

Gengar spread out black mist from Lynn's shadow, Porygon-Z adjusted all the remaining screens on the island to emit defensive light, and the surviving Beedrill formed a thin wall of bees in the air.

Blaine threw himself into a rock shelter, dragging two technicians along with him.

Lorelei reacted the fastest.

"Scatter!"

Lapras erected an ice wall, Cloyster closed its shell and stacked up, and Dewgong added a second layer of ice curtain behind them.

Bruno grabbed Machamp and retreated.

Agatha's Old Gengar dived directly into the shadows.

Tyranitar was not aiming at any one person.

It was aiming at the entire battlefield where The Elite Four stood.

Atomic Breath, erupted.

A deep crimson beam of light swept out from the center of the volcano.

The first layer of the ice wall evaporated.

The second layer of the ice curtain exploded into white mist.

The defensive line piled up by Cloyster lasted less than a breath; the edges of its shell were scorched red.

Lapras cried out in pain and was forcibly recalled into its Poké Ball by Lorelei.

Bruno held Machamp in front of him, shielding his own chest.

The beam grazed their side; Machamp's shoulder was charred black, and Bruno was sent flying by the shockwave, crashing through the outer rock wall.

Agatha's Old Gengar hid in the shadows but was still clipped.

A hole was burned into the shadow on the ground, and Old Gengar rolled out from the other side, purple mist spraying from the corners of its mouth like blood.

The volcano was sliced open.

A distant League artillery battery vanished along with the mountain it stood on.

A boiling trench was plowed through the sea.

After the beam swept past, the world was silent for several seconds.

Then, the sonic boom caught up.

Boom—

The glass in half the city shattered simultaneously.

The waves rolled backward.

The League fleet's channel was left with nothing but piercing static.

Lorelei knelt in the shattered ice, blood flowing from the corner of her mouth.

Bruno crawled out from the rock wall, his chest heaving violently.

Agatha leaned on her cane, the wrinkles on her face deepening.

All three Elite Four members were alive.

But they all understood that if Tyranitar had targeted any one of them, that person would have already vanished.

This was beyond a Pokémon battle.

This was a disaster-level suppression.

Lorelei looked up at the obsidian behemoth, her voice very low.

"This thing must be reported to the Indigo Plateau."

Bruno gritted his teeth.

"Should we keep fighting?"

Agatha glanced at Old Gengar.

Old Gengar shook its head in silence.

It still dared to fight to the death, but it knew that if it bit into that shadow again, it would be devoured in return.

Lorelei's ice formation had been burned through.

Bruno's Machamp was heavily injured.

Agatha's ghost net was severed.

They had exhausted every method The Elite Four could muster: freezing the volcano, smashing the outer armor, biting the shadows, and joining forces to suppress the core.

The newborn monster opposite them had swallowed these attacks into its chest and spat them back out as an even more ruthless red light.

Lorelei looked at Lynn.

"Do you know what you've unleashed?"

Lynn stood on the edge of the volcanic crater, his coat hem fluttering in the hot wind.

"I do."

He raised his hand and pointed at the League flag at the highest point.

"That is why this island needs a new owner."

Tyranitar looked up.

It did not spray that red light again, only exhaling a beam of compressed volcanic fire.

The flagpole and half of the tower were blasted to pieces.

The Black Flag was hoisted up by Black Flag Soldiers, unfurling amidst the volcanic ash.

Porygon-Z connected to the island-wide broadcast.

Lynn's voice spread throughout the ports, streets, underground shelters, and every dilapidated outpost.

"From this moment on, Cinnabar Island is no longer under League jurisdiction."

"League garrison, lay down your weapons and register your serial numbers."

"Continue to resist, and you will be executed on the spot."

"Warehouses, docks, experimental zones, and energy pipelines are all to be handed over to Black Flag."

"Residents will be registered by district. Some will receive food, some will receive blades, and some will be sent to the gallows."

"From today on, you will at least know who is ruling you."

The whole island went silent.

In the basements, refugees held their children and shivered.

Behind broken walls, the guns of League soldiers slipped to the ground.

The remnants of Team Rocket looked at each other; none of them could even think of the word 'counterattack'.

Because the three Elite Four members were still standing at the edge of the crater, yet they could no longer take down that Black Flag.

Lorelei closed her eyes.

"Withdraw."

Bruno did not argue.

Agatha stared at Lynn, her voice icy.

"The monster you've fed will bite you one day."

Lynn looked at her.

"Then I will keep feeding it, until it only bites in the direction I point."

The Elite Four led their remnants out of the main battlefield.

Lynn did not pursue.

Letting them go back alive was more useful than leaving behind a few corpses. The Indigo Plateau needed to hear about this defeat, and they needed to know how the Black Flag was raised on Cinnabar Island.

The scene of The Elite Four retreating was forcibly broadcast by Porygon-Z onto every screen that was still functioning.

In the lobby of the Pokémon Center, a doctor covered his mouth as he watched Lorelei recall her Lapras.

Beside the port warehouses, Old League soldiers watched Bruno being helped away by Machamp, their eyes dimming little by little.

In the underground shelter, an old man recognized Agatha's cane. He had heard legends of this Ghost-type Elite Four member when he was young, knowing that this old woman could make a small town suffer nightmares for an entire night. But now, even Agatha was retreating.

This was more ruthless than any declaration.

The people of Cinnabar Island might not understand tactics, might not understand volcanic pipelines, and might not understand what Tyranitar had truly become.

They only understood one thing: the three blades the League had brought in had been dulled.

The Black Flag was still standing.

Capitalizing on this momentum, Lynn immediately issued orders to take control.

"Seal the South Port; register all vessels."

"Open the East District warehouses; check the food first, then the medicine."

"Send rescue teams to the lower levels of the volcano; prioritize the burn victims."

"Keep one Old League radio station to broadcast battle reports."

"Send the footage of The Elite Four's retreat to the Indigo Plateau."

Orders fell one after another. Black Flag Soldiers climbed up from the ruins, dragging wounded legs to take over street corners. The remnants of Team Rocket had originally wanted to loot the warehouses during the chaos, but as soon as they pried the doors open, they were dragged out of the shadows by Gengar and hung from the streetlights.

The residents of Cinnabar saw this and retreated one after another.

They feared Lynn.

But fear, too, is a start to obeying orders.

In the distance, Lorelei turned to look at the Black Flag one last time.

She knew that far more than just an island had been lost today.

Cinnabar Island was a volcanic fortress on the League's map, a supply point in the South Sea, and the bolt between the experimental zones and Kanto proper.

This bolt had been snapped by Lynn, and all the secrets behind it would soon be exposed.

Bruno said in a low voice: "Next time, I will crush it."

Lorelei did not reply.

Agatha only stared at the Tyranitar behind Lynn.

"Next time, bring something capable of killing a calamity."

After the three had left, Lynn finally exhaled a breath tinged with blood.

His mechanical leg was trembling slightly, and the tip of his cane had already sunk into the hot stone. The victory just now had looked overwhelming, but every second he spent holding the line had been burning through his trump cards.

Yet, he stood straight.

Because the Black Flag was still in the wind. Everyone was watching him. If he fell, the courage that had just risen on Cinnabar would immediately shrink back.

The Indigo Plateau soon received the first blurry footage.

In the video, the Cinnabar volcano was sliced open by red light, Lorelei was kneeling on the ground, Bruno was crashing into the rock wall, and Agatha's Old Gengar was rolling out of the shadows. The conference room was terrifyingly quiet.

Someone questioned if the footage had been edited.

The technical officer played another clip from a surviving League ship.

The angle was different, but the result was the same.

That deep crimson breath had swept across the battlefield, the three Elite Four members had retreated simultaneously, and the Black Flag had been raised afterward.

Lance, sitting in the main seat, did not speak for a long time.

After watching it three times, he asked:

"Can it fire a second time?"

No one answered.

As soon as this question was asked, the atmosphere in the conference room changed.

The object of their fear had already surpassed Lynn himself and the rebellion on Cinnabar Island. What was truly weighing on everyone's heart was that black behemoth standing in the volcano.

In the waters off Cinnabar Island, several surviving League ships also received the order to retreat.

One captain had wanted to turn the cannons and fire a round while Tyranitar was weak. Just as the cannons turned halfway, Tyranitar tilted its head and looked over.

The captain's hand froze on the button.

He heard his own heartbeat, terrifyingly fast.

A few seconds later, he slowly let go.

"Withdraw."

The adjutant breathed a sigh of relief.

This time, fear had spared Lynn a naval battle.

On the South District defense line, a League company commander lowered his binoculars.

Behind him, there were only two machine guns, one half-broken armored vehicle, a dozen soldiers still capable of standing, and a Blastoise that couldn't even spray its Hydro Pump straight.

The adjutant's voice trembled.

"Commander, orders?"

The commander looked at the black behemoth at the volcano, slowly placing his gun on the sandbags.

"White flag."

"We will be judged."

The commander smiled bitterly.

"The people who would judge us have already retreated."

The first white flag was raised.

A second, then a third, followed closely from different districts.

The Atomic Breath had pushed back more than just The Elite Four.

It had also broken the resolve of ordinary soldiers to keep believing that the League could win.

Lynn walked to the foot of Tyranitar, raising his hand to press against the scorching black armor.

"Welcome to Cinnabar."

Tyranitar let out a low roar.

The volcano responded.

On this day, Cinnabar Island changed its name to Lynn.