The emergency lights of the Weather Institute cast a rhythmic, blood-red glow over Shelly’s face. She didn’t look like the cool, collected Admin who had charmed her way through Devon Corp’s security anymore. Her signature black hair was matted with rain, and her blue goggles were cracked, hanging lopsided around her neck.

"It’s not supposed to be like this," she hissed, her voice trembling as she stared at the monitor. The Primal Kyogre data she had spent months decrypting was flashing a single, chilling warning: EXTINCTION EVENT IMMINENT.

She slumped against the cold metal of the server rack, her breathing shallow. Outside, the sound of the ocean wasn't a peaceful tide—it was a predatory roar, a wall of water rising high enough to swallow the Hoenn she claimed she wanted to "save". Her Poké Ball felt like a lead weight at her hip; even her Sharpedo seemed to sense the wrongness of the water. 

Shelly looked up at the door, her eyes wide with a desperate, uncharacteristic vulnerability. "Archie won't listen... he thinks he can control a god with a pebble," she whispered to the empty room, her fingers digging into the yellow chain at her waist. "If someone doesn't kill the signal now, there won't be a world left to lead."