PI Chapter 2 Terraforming  (Patreon)

The journey felt endless. The gentle rocking of the waves beneath Lapras’s shell had almost lulled me into a daze until, finally, I spotted something in the distance, a pale blotch breaking the endless blue.

“Lapras, look!” I pointed weakly ahead. “Land! …Or at least, I think that’s land.”

Lapras let out a curious trill and angled her body toward it, cutting gracefully across the water. As we drew closer, my excitement deflated a little. Calling it “land” was being generous. It was just a patch of sand, no trees, no rocks, no signs of life. Just a lonely speck in the middle of nowhere.

Still, after hours adrift on an endless sea, even a pile of sand felt like salvation.

We slid onto the shallow shore, the sound of water retreating around us. I jumped off Lapras’s back, shoes sinking slightly into the warm, wet sand. My legs wobbled; it felt strange to stand again.

“Okay… ground,” I muttered, staring down at the sand like it was the most beautiful thing in the world. “Not much, but you’ll do.”

Lapras remained half in the water, her elegant head rising and falling with the gentle swell. Her dark eyes watched me patiently as I stumbled about, stretching and shaking out my limbs.

“There’s… absolutely nothing here,” I sighed, hands on my hips as I surveyed the tiny island. “Not even a rock.”

Lapras responded with a soft, melodic hum.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I said with a weak chuckle. “At least I’m not drowning, right?”

The Pokémon tilted her head slightly, almost as if amused.

I plopped down in the sand, the warmth seeping through my soaked jeans. For the first time since waking up in this bizarre world, I allowed myself to breathe. The wind brushed against my face, carrying the salty scent of the sea.

“Alright, step one of survival,” I muttered, tapping the side of my head like I was brainstorming a science project. “Find food. Step two, find water. Step three, find a way to not die before step one or two happen.”

Lapras blinked.

“And step four,” I added, “find civilization. Preferably one with a shower. Or pizza. Or both.”

Lapras made a soft, amused sound that almost sounded like laughter.

“But we’ll have to start looking for a larger island first,” I continued, rubbing my temples. “Problem is, we have no idea where one could be. Unless…” I stared out at the horizon, squinting at the rolling ocean. “I wish one would just suddenly appear.”

The moment the words left my mouth, a faint sound echoed in the still air.

Click.

I froze.

That sound. That same metallic, mechanical click I’d heard before — when Lapras appeared.

Slowly, my eyes drifted down to my hand.

My blood ran cold.

Resting in my palm was another Poké Ball. But not just any Poké Ball — this one was sleek, black and yellow, its top marked with golden accents that glinted in the sunlight.

“An… Ultra Ball?” I whispered. “What the—where did you come from?!”

Just like before. Just like with Lapras. It had simply appeared.

I hadn’t even thought about summoning anything. Or… had I?

My mind replayed what I’d said. ‘I wish one would suddenly appear.’

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered, heart hammering as I held the Ultra Ball at arm’s length like it was a live grenade. “Not again. Not right now.”

The button on the front began to glow, faintly at first, then brighter, pulsing red like a heartbeat.

“Wait, no, no, no! Don’t you dare!” I yelped, shaking it frantically. “Lapras, heads up!”

Before I could even think to throw it, the Ultra Ball burst open in a blinding explosion of crimson light. The blast of energy forced me back, the sand whipping up around me. Lapras flinched, letting out a startled cry as the light grew larger and larger.

When it finally faded, I found myself staring up, way up, at something that defied belief.

It wasn’t just big. It was colossal.

Crimson armor gleamed under the sun, lined with jagged, molten cracks that glowed faintly from within. Its claws dug deep into the sand, each movement sending tremors through the ground. Its eyes, golden and burning with primal fury, locked onto the horizon as if it could challenge the entire ocean itself.

My brain refused to process it. My knees nearly gave out.

“...That’s not real,” I whispered hoarsely. “Nope. No way. That’s not—”

The air trembled with a low rumble. Then the ground moved.

The entire sandbar shook violently, cracks forming beneath my feet. The water around us began to retreat, sucked backward as if the sea itself feared what was coming.

Lapras wailed in panic, backing away as the temperature suddenly skyrocketed. The air shimmered with heat; the once-golden sand turned uncomfortably warm under my shoes.

“What—what the hell—” I stumbled, shielding my face from the dry wind.

The creature, no, the god moved.

The sea boiled where its claws touched the water. Massive plates of rock pushed upward, the sand rising, forming jagged cliffs and ridges. Lava seeped through the cracks, cooling instantly into glistening black obsidian.

Before my stunned eyes, the tiny sandbar transformed into something new — something alive.

A volcanic island.

And standing atop it, like a god claiming its throne, was Groudon.

A deafening roar tore through the air, shaking the heavens themselves. The ocean recoiled in fear, waves crashing outward in violent retreat. The sky twisted into shades of gold and crimson, as if the sun itself bowed to his awakening.

“Okay,” I gasped, clutching my head. “Deep breaths. I summoned Lapras. That was fine. Lapras was nice. But this—THIS is not fine!”

Lapras screamed, her usual calm broken by sheer terror. The water around her surged as she thrashed, trying to turn away from the blazing landmass.

“Go! Go! Go!” I shouted, scrambling onto her back. “We’re getting out of here right now!”

She didn’t need to be told twice. Her fins struck the water with desperate power, propelling us away from the island as fast as possible. Behind us, the sea hissed and steamed, the magma’s heat reaching us even from this distance.

I risked one last glance over my shoulder.

The island was still growing. Fire and smoke rose into the sky, lava pouring down black slopes and hardening into stone. Groudon stood in the center, his massive form silhouetted by the inferno, a living mountain of fury and earth.

Lapras whimpered softly, and I tightened my grip around her neck.

—----------------------------------

Groudon POV

The instant awareness returns, fury follows. The moment I feel the weight of water pressing against me, seeping into the cracks between my scales, my rage ignites hotter than the core of the world itself.

‘Disgusting.’

This wretched, formless liquid dares to smother me, to cage me beneath its choking embrace. Every drop of it burns my pride. Every ripple feels like mockery.

The ocean. My enemy. My eternal rival. The endless, crawling domain of that fat, self-righteous, whale of a god.

‘Kyogre.’ The name itself is venom in my mind. The thought alone makes my blood boil, magma roaring in my veins. The ground around me trembles with my wrath, begging for release.

‘Enough!’

I move. My body, massive, ancient, divine, shifts with earth-shaking force. The ocean trembles, the seafloor quaking beneath me as the very crust obeys my will. The layers of sand and stone above me begin to split, parting like frightened prey.

The land heaves beneath me, groaning as it awakens. Sand and rock convulse, reshaping in obedience. The heat from my blood pours outward, boiling the water that dares touch me. The ocean recoils in hissing pain as molten veins split the earth.

Lava bursts upward like blood from a fresh wound, painting the newborn island in crimson light. The air thickens with heat, shimmering waves distorting the horizon.

And then I roar.

The sound splits the sky. The sea recoils and the world remembers.

My voice is the command of the planet itself. The clouds scatter before me, twisting and burning under the sun I command. The air shivers, the sea withdraws, and land—my land—rises.

The insult of water fades, replaced by the scent of sulfur, stone, and fire. My realm returns to me.

Still, the stench of the ocean lingers at the edges of my senses. I taste it in the air, and the fury in my chest surges anew. My claws carve deep trenches into the volcanic ground, each breath radiating heat that warps the world around me.

‘How dare that fat whale think he could drown me out.’

If that bloated, pitiful, overgrown guppy had any hand in this… I swear I’ll turn his entire domain into glass.

Then—something else.

A sound. A faint cry.

My head jerks toward it, eyes narrowing.

There, far beyond the newborn shores of my island, a ripple disturbs the waves. A creature glides across the surface, a Lapras. A child of the sea.

And clinging to its back, trembling and pitiful, was a human.

I stare. My vision pierces through the steam and heat, locking onto the fragile thing. Their scent is unfamiliar—yet… not. There’s something buried deep in my mind, something half-forgotten. A flicker of recognition that refuses to die.

‘That human… why do I know you?’

For a moment, I am still. The magma in my blood cools just slightly, curiosity interrupting my wrath.

But only for a moment.

The Lapras wails, its song warped by terror as it flees. The human clings tighter, shouting something meaningless into the roaring wind. I cannot understand their tongue, but I understand their fear.

They should be afraid.

The sea trembles beneath my gaze, waves thrashing against the land that now defies it. I lift one claw, molten light dripping from my talons, and the earth responds with another surge of magma.

Good. Let the water fear me. Let it know its place.

This world has slept too long under the ocean’s rule. The balance has rotted. The surface has been drowned in weakness.

No longer. The land will rise again—my land—and I will make sure of it.

For I am Groudon, the god of land and magma. And I have awakened.

Done. Tell me what you think.