Ash caught his breath and frowned slightly. I underestimated the drain. Should have activated the seal first.
The black tomoe markings along the back of his neck stirred slowly, spreading outward across his skin until they covered half his body. The moment the Cursed Seal activated, his Chakra reserves began refilling at a pace that made the previous exhaustion feel like a bad memory.
His hands moved through seals quickly.
"Sage Art, Wood Release, World of Trees."
The raw undeveloped land across the expanded island responded immediately. Trees erupted from the earth in rows, each one thick and purposeful, growing with the deliberate intelligence of a living technique rather than simple nature. Within minutes the new territory's forested area had multiplied several times over, the Dream Forest's boundary pushing outward to swallow the fresh land whole.
"Senju Clan techniques," Lugia murmured, watching from a distance.
Ash was already moving to the residential side of the island. Wooden structures rose at his direction, clean and solid, houses taking shape along the new plots faster than any construction crew could have managed. The entire expanded island was developed and livable in under an hour.
What would have taken another island years, Serion thought, watching from below.
"Cough." The continuous back-to-back techniques had burned through Chakra faster than even the Cursed Seal could fully compensate. Ash pressed a fist to his mouth and straightened up.
...
News of the expansion hit every major outlet within the hour. Reporters and curious onlookers who'd gathered offshore were already filing their stories. Serion dispatched staff immediately to begin organizing the new territory.
Fantasy Island opened recruitment again. The waiting lists filled within the day.
Ash found Lugia near the new shoreline and nodded toward the open space stretching to the horizon. "Contact Ho-Oh. Tell him there's room now. This section here is yours, all of it."
Lugia looked out across the land and was quiet for a moment. "This will do. More than do."
"Good." Ash lowered himself to the ground and let the Cursed Seal recede, the markings pulling back slowly. "Once Ho-Oh arrives, this island is going to be impossible to keep quiet."
Lugia almost smiled. "It already isn't."
...
Sabrina helped Ash back to his room without making a production of it. He was moving fine, just tired, and she knew better than to fuss.
By the next morning his Chakra had fully recovered. Two days from now he and Sabrina would head to Johto, specifically to a place called Alto Mare, an isolated island off the southwest coast. It sat outside the Johto League's jurisdiction, similar to the Whirl Islands in that regard.
The reason he wanted to go was something James had mentioned in passing. Two Legendary Pokémon were said to guard the island. Ash had filed it away and forgotten about it until recently.
...
"Master," Serion said, stepping into the room with a folded report in hand, "intelligence from James."
Ash took it and read through it quietly.
Alto Mare, also called the Water City. Most of its streets ran along narrow canals, the whole island built around waterways in every direction. The report carried a local legend that James had gathered on the ground.
Four hundred years ago, a powerful and dangerous trainer had seized control of the island. A Latios arrived to oppose him, bringing two young Pokémon with him. The battle was long, and ultimately Latios won. But the defeated trainer's power didn't simply vanish. The rivers turned black. Massive waves began battering the coastline at irregular intervals, threatening to swallow the city entirely.
Latios couldn't leave them like that. He sacrificed himself, his soul transforming into a crystalline water droplet that purified the blackened sea and gradually calmed the surrounding waters. The two young Pokémon he had brought with him vanished after that, though the legend held they remained somewhere on the island, continuing their father's watch.
The Soul Dew. That was what Latios had become.
Ash set the report down slowly, expression thoughtful.
Two things in the report had caught his attention. First, the ancient trainer had gone blow for blow with a Legendary Pokémon. Ash had never encountered a human capable of that outside of himself. The power involved didn't match anything in recorded history. Second, even after the trainer's defeat, his influence had persisted strongly enough to drive Latios to sacrifice himself completely. Whatever technique or ability the man had used, it hadn't simply ended with him.
He needed to see it for himself. And James was already there with his group, which made the timing convenient.
"I'm heading to Johto this afternoon," Ash said, handing the report back to Serion. "Sabrina's coming with me. I won't be back until after the conference."
Serion nodded once. "I'll have everything here handled."
Ash's rest was over.