Interlude XIX - Remnant

On Cinnabar Island, a massive stampede of wild pokemon approaches Outpost C17. Ranger Ira, observing from the air on his charizard, realizes something is horribly wrong when the wild pokemon begin transforming into perfect copies of the rangers' defending pokemon, including non-native species and evolved forms like raichu. Recognizing the impossible threat, Ira declares a "Code White" and orders a full retreat to Cinnabar City, realizing that sending strong pokemon against the swarm only gives the shapeshifters stronger forms to mimic.

At the secret Silph lab beneath Cinnabar, security chief Shaw receives orders from Giovanni to investigate anomalous seismic activity tunneling away from the facility. Fearing the escaped experiment may have left something behind, Shaw leads a heavily armed team into the dark, damaged lower floors. In the depths, they discover a horrifying truth: the shapeshifters are nesting among wild sandshrew, breaking down into pinkish-purple goo to consume and replicate them. The team barely escapes a frantic battle as the swarm attacks. Shaw reports to Giovanni, declaring the lab indefensible and demanding they trigger the facility's ultimate failsafe—a massive cache of explosives built into the walls—even though the manual trigger requires him to sacrifice his own life.

In Cinnabar City, Ranger Wendy attends an emergency briefing led by Leader Blaine, Professor Oak, and Ranger General Taira. They reveal the captured pink blob, theorizing that the shapeshifters perfectly copy instincts and abilities but remain physically frail if their new hide is pierced. As the island goes into lockdown, Wendy successfully volunteers to join Ira's perimeter defense.

Back at the mansion, Naoto furiously rejects Shaw's suicidal plan. He volunteers to trigger the explosion himself, pointing out that as a psychic, he can teleport out. The team scrambles to surgically remove Shaw's hand and eye to fool the biometric scanners. Naoto descends alone into the crumbling lab, battling a swarm of mutated sandslash with his tangela. As he inputs the final codes, Naoto looks back and screams in horror as he witnesses one of the shapeshifters transforming into a perfect copy of himself. He triggers the explosion and teleports away just in time, leaving half the plateau to collapse into the earth.