Day 40 since returning to the Orange Archipelago. Clear skies.
For the first time in days, Reiji woke to sunlight instead of rain.
Bright morning light poured through the bedroom windows, warm enough to drag him fully awake before he even got out of bed. He slipped into his sandals and stepped onto the balcony, where the air still carried the cool, damp smell left behind by the storm.
Umbreon stirred at the sound of the door and padded after him. It hopped onto the table, shook out its fur, then began washing its face with slow, meticulous licks. Reiji scratched it between the ears as he passed, earning a brief nudge against his palm before Umbreon went right back to grooming itself.
He would be leaving Mandarin Island North this morning.
Once he returned to Mikan Island and the Pokémon injured during the tournament finished recovering, he intended to set out again. There was no telling when each member of his team would be ready to challenge the Elite Four-tier barrier, and sitting at home waiting for it to happen sounded miserable.
Besides, he had spent surprisingly little time actually seeing the world he had been dropped into. His first major trip had revolved around the tournament. The second had been about helping Zapdos recover. This time, he wanted to travel because he felt like traveling.
The only things tying him down were the eventual Elite Four selection tournament and the hot-spring resort being built near Mikan Gym. Nobody had given him a date for the former, so there was no point arranging his entire life around it, while the latter was already in the hands of the Gym's staff.
That was for the best. Reiji knew how to train Pokémon. Building, decorating, staffing, and running a hot-spring resort were all somebody else's problem.
Once construction finished, he could hire someone who actually knew what they were doing. Cinnabar Island had enough hot springs to make finding an experienced manager easy, and if that failed, he could always bother Blaine for recommendations.
That left one question.
Where did he want to go first?
Reiji rested his arms on the balcony railing and stared across the sea. At first there was no answer, only open water and the faint outline of a small, untouched island in the distance.
Then it clicked.
If he was going somewhere simply because he wanted to, he might as well start where everything had begun.
Not Pallet Town.
That little deserted island out there was where his life in this world had really started.
"Boss, you eating breakfast?"
Naoki's voice came from the stairwell behind him.
Reiji didn't turn around. "You guys go ahead."
He stayed there for another few minutes, looking out over the water, until the villa had properly come alive. By the time he finally went downstairs, a black backpack hung from one shoulder and Umbreon had claimed the other, still half asleep and lazily licking one paw.
Gulzar was warming up in the front yard when he spotted him. "Morning, Rai-nii!"
"Morning." Reiji nodded toward the Pokémon nearby. "Keep training. I'm heading out."
That got everyone's attention.
Naoki was still chewing on a piece of bread when he froze. "Already?"
Shun looked over from behind his mask, while Keith and Miki came closer without quite knowing what to say. Itsuki, A.J., Sou, and Shingo had all stopped what they were doing as well.
Reiji almost laughed. "What's with those faces? I'm going home, not disappearing forever."
That broke some of the tension.
He stopped in front of Keith first and gave the younger Trainer a light pat on the shoulder. "Keep at it. Next time I see you, I want you capable of handling yourself without someone constantly bailing you out."
Keith's eyes immediately turned red.
Reiji stared at him. "That wasn't supposed to make you cry."
Keith wiped his face with his sleeve, which only made Miki laugh under her breath.
Reiji turned to her next. "If something happens, talk to Naoki. Don't try to solve everything by yourself. You've got people around you now."
Miki nodded quietly.
She was still young, but she had already survived the destruction of her family, years of pursuit, and enough trouble to exhaust most adults. Reiji briefly decided that even being buried under a mortgage sounded kinder. At least with debt, you could always give up and pretend the bank had won.
Miki opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something else, but Reiji waved it away with a smile. "Save it for next time."
He looked over the rest of them. Shun, A.J., Itsuki, Gulzar, Sou, Shingo—people who had entered his life from completely different directions and somehow ended up standing together under the same roof.
"All right. Keep working. I expect everyone to be stronger the next time we meet."
"Boss—"
"Don't make this weird, Naoki."
A few people laughed, and Reiji took that as his cue to leave before somebody turned a short trip home into a funeral procession.
Naturally, they followed him outside anyway.
Reiji looked back over his shoulder. "Seriously, stop following me. Go train."
He pulled out a Poké Ball and released Slowking.
"Slowking, take us out."
"Slow."
Reiji placed a hand on its shoulder. Blue light flashed through Slowking's eyes, the air around them warped, and a heartbeat later both of them vanished.
The group stood staring at the empty patch of ground for a moment.
Naoki eventually took another bite of his forgotten bread. "He really left."
That was apparently all the closure anyone needed. Within a few minutes, the villa grounds were noisy again as everyone returned to training. Reiji had told them to get stronger, and most of them were competitive enough to take that personally.
Slowking brought Reiji to the coast.
From there, he released the rest of his Pokémon and finally dealt with the breakfast he had skipped at the villa. They ate together beside the water, and once everyone had finished, he recalled most of the team and kept only Blastoise, Sharpedo, and Umbreon outside.
He settled onto Blastoise's broad shell with Umbreon in his lap.
"Home."
"Blast!"
Blastoise pushed away from shore and started across the open sea.
Sharpedo shot ahead almost immediately, thrilled to finally have enough water to run wild in. Within seconds it had vanished into the distance, only to circle back later and tear past them again in a spray of white foam.
Reiji scratched Umbreon beneath the chin as he estimated the distance. If the weather held and Blastoise maintained this pace, they should reach Mikan Island sometime that afternoon.
His hand drifted toward his backpack.
Then he remembered yesterday.
Reiji slowly pulled his hand back.
Fishing from shore was one thing. Fishing from the middle of the ocean, where an unlucky cast could somehow result in a school of angry Sharpedo or a Gyarados deciding to murder him, was another.
He had strong Pokémon, but strength did not make being surrounded at sea pleasant.
"Yeah, no fishing today."
Umbreon cracked one eye open, apparently approving of this rare moment of common sense.
Without Reiji deliberately inviting trouble onto the hook, the crossing was peaceful.
By afternoon, the distant outline of Mikan Island appeared ahead. Sharpedo returned from another sprint through the waves while Blastoise slowed as they approached shore, visibly tired after carrying Reiji for most of the trip.
"We made it."
Once they reached land, Reiji recalled both Water types and brought Slowking back out.
"Take us to the cabin."
Another Teleport carried them inland.
The familiar lakeside cabin appeared around them—and, naturally, it was raining.
Reiji looked up at the drizzle.
Of course it was.
He had spent forty days dealing with rain around the Orange Archipelago. At this point, coming home beneath a perfectly clear sky might have felt suspicious.
Still, he was home.
Reiji spread his arms and shouted toward the cabin and lake.
"Everyone! I'm back!"
Butterfree was the first to react. It had been resting comfortably in the rocking chair when its antennae snapped upright, and a second later it was airborne and racing through the rain.
Poliwrath had been meditating beneath the eaves. Its eyes opened at once, and it launched itself across the wet grass. Lucario sensed Reiji through Aura almost as quickly; after struggling to settle down without him the previous night, it abandoned meditation entirely and sprinted toward him.
Pelipper circled overhead with excited cries while Pidgeot swept down from a nearby tree. Electivire started pounding its chest like Reiji had just returned from a ten-year expedition instead of a two-day absence, and Ninetales came racing through the rain with all nine tails streaming behind it.
Then everyone else noticed.
Kingler hurried over with its huge claw raised. Scizor skimmed across the grass, Forretress rolled after it, and Accelgor blurred through the wet undergrowth. Gyarados surfaced in the lake with enough force to throw water everywhere, while Dugtrio popped up nearby and Ludicolo came bouncing through the rain as if this were the best possible weather for a reunion.
Swinub tried its best to keep up on tiny legs. Starmie rose from the lake with its core flashing, Tauros thundered across the field, and Tentacruel and Whiscash surfaced behind Gyarados.
Reiji saw the crowd coming.
"Wait. Slow down—"
Too late.
A wall of Pokémon buried him in the wet grass.
Reiji disappeared beneath fur, scales, claws, wings, and at least one enthusiastic tongue.
"Swinub! Stop licking my face!"
Nobody listened.
By the time the excitement finally settled, Reiji was soaked through and sitting in the grass with Umbreon beside him, surrounded by a semicircle of equally wet Pokémon.
He looked up at the miserable gray sky.
"All right. I'm sick of this weather. Who knows Sunny Day?"
Several Pokémon immediately perked up.
"Good. Get rid of those clouds."
Those capable of using Sunny Day fired brilliant columns of light toward the sky. The Pokémon that didn't know Sunny Day apparently decided they could contribute through enthusiasm instead and began launching Hyper Beams into the clouds.
Reiji stared upward.
"That works too, I guess."
The combined barrage tore through the heavy cloud cover. Gaps opened overhead, widened rapidly, and within moments sunlight broke through in broad golden shafts. The drizzle faded, the clouds scattered, and warmth returned to the lakeside.
Much better.
Reiji released the rest of the Pokémon he had kept in their Poké Balls during the trip, and the field quickly turned into chaos again as old teammates reunited. Some chased each other through the grass, others wrestled or rolled around in the sunlight, and Reiji left them to it while he went inside to change out of his soaked clothes.
A few minutes later, he emerged in dry, comfortable clothes with his fishing rod over one shoulder.
Now he could fish.
He settled beside the lake, cast the line, and finally relaxed.
Slowking drifted over first. Seeing Reiji quietly fishing reminded it of the time it had spent learning beside Cissy's grandfather, with Daze floating nearby in meditation. Slowking closed its eyes and settled into the same routine.
Poliwrath joined it soon afterward, sitting cross-legged beside Reiji and turning its attention inward toward the Aura moving through its body.
Lucario approached next.
Something about Reiji's presence made meditation easier. The previous day, with Reiji away, Lucario had been restless no matter how long it tried to sit still. It had even slept badly that night.
Now it settled beside him, slowed its breathing, and slipped into concentration almost immediately.
Ninetales chose a different method.
It curled up against Reiji's leg and simply stayed there.
Apparently meditation worked just as well while using a human as a pillow.
Reiji glanced down at it and smiled. Ninetales had become noticeably more affectionate after hearing Lokoko's story, as though the old tale had given it entirely new ideas about how close a Ninetales and a human could become.
As for Lokoko herself, she had gone back to Pewter Gym.
Which had apparently developed a ghost problem.
Food kept mysteriously disappearing from the kitchen. Even stranger, full meals occasionally appeared by themselves just as Brock finished a tiring Gym battle. Nobody had managed to identify the supernatural menace responsible for leaving hot food ready for an exhausted Gym Leader.
Tragic mystery.
Back at the lake, Reiji's fishing gradually attracted more company.
The quiet suited the Pokémon that enjoyed meditation, and before long Starmie, Toxicroak, Magnezone, Golurk, and Dragonair had joined Slowking, Poliwrath, and Lucario. Some sat on the grass, others hovered nearby, and nobody disturbed the stillness except for the occasional ripple from Reiji's fishing line.
Hours slipped past that way.
The sun gradually sank toward the horizon, staining the lake orange and gold. Reiji remained beside the water with his Pokémon gathered around him, enjoying one of the rare stretches of time when nobody needed anything, nothing was exploding, and he had nowhere else to be.
Then a soft voice drifted across the lake.
"Rai… I came to see you."
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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