Interlude IX - Thunder

A flashback to the Unova-Inuvik war reveals Lieutenant David Matis (Surge) piloting an experimental military helicopter for an assassination strike. The mission utilizes "Hunters"—renegades and their lethal pokemon conscripted into the army. During the extraction, Surge's wingman, Smat (Jack Riley), is shot down by an enemy hydreigon. To buy time for Smat to escape, Surge engages the pursuer with his braviary and eelektross, using a Thunderbolt to intentionally paralyze and down the enemy rider. Surge rescues Smat, but the trauma of the lethal encounter and the horrific casualties of the war cement his militaristic worldview.

In the present, Surge has spent years subtly reforming Vermilion City’s infrastructure to withstand legendary attacks and future wars. Blue arrives at the Vermilion Gym to challenge for his third badge, provocatively wearing the "Objections" of his peers on his shirt. Rather than submitting to a traditional battle, Blue critiques the Gym's focus on single-combat Challenges when its actual curriculum emphasizes teamwork. Intrigued, Surge forces Blue to back up his words by improvising a new format on the spot: challenging for Membership using a two-on-one battle against Surge’s eelektross. Blue utilizes a pidgeotto’s Sand Attack to blind the eelektross, then poisons it with his rhyhorn’s horn.

Before the match can conclude, Zapdos is confirmed to be arriving in Vermilion within the hour. Surge immediately halts the battle, grants Blue his membership, and rallies the gathered trainers. He bluntly warns the crowd that no plan survives a Stormbringer and gives anyone too terrified to fight permission to flee, knowing panicked trainers become liabilities. He then assigns the remaining volunteers to prioritize defending the city's shelters and hospitals, explicitly commanding them not to waste lives attempting to save scattered individuals.