"What are you scared of? These people deserved it." Seeing Travis frozen in place, Gulzar rushed over, grabbed his hand, and shouted until Travis snapped back.
"Are we really doing the right thing…?" Travis muttered. It didn't sound like a question for Gulzar so much as one he was asking himself.
"That's enough. Some people were always going to end up dead—and they needed to. The ones who didn't… aren't these." Gulzar's voice stayed tight as he forced the words out.
Reiji let out a quiet sigh. Back then, the kid only had one thought—swing the blade. Why he swung it, even he probably couldn't explain. Still, Reiji could guess.
"Even if you two hadn't done anything, those traffickers wouldn't have lived. I would've dealt with them," Reiji said, keeping his tone steady. He wanted Travis to drop the guilt. Next time they ran into people like that, they could treat it as a death sentence and move on.
And the shock had hit Travis hard enough to force something out of him—psychic power, of all things. Reiji had never seen someone awaken like that before.
He wasn't talking about imagination or hype. It was a real psychic fluctuation leaking from Travis, faint but unmistakable. Travis himself didn't seem to notice.
The instant it burst, Darkrai reacted first. It had sensed the psychic power on the boy immediately.
Which meant Travis had become a psychic—right here, pushed over the edge into awakening.
Was it the blood? The need to protect something? The desperation to become strong enough to hold onto what mattered? Reiji didn't know. He only knew the answer had come.
Honestly, Travis awakening psychic power didn't surprise him.
First, Travis resembled Ash in more ways than one. Ash had Aura—so Travis awakening psychic power wasn't exactly impossible.
Second, Travis's mother—Gym Leader Luana—used a Psychic-type Alakazam.
Alakazam was the kind of Pokémon people called a "super brain," smart enough to make most humans look slow.
And if you wanted to catch an Abra, you had to earn Abra's approval. The simplest way to do that was psychic power.
Sure, you could still catch an Abra without being a psychic, but Abra chose its Trainer. If it didn't acknowledge you, you wouldn't catch it—Abra would just use Teleport and vanish.
Compared to all that, Reiji leaned toward one explanation: somewhere up Travis's family line, someone had awakened psychic power before.
Travis awakening now meant his family had once been something big, and that bloodline gave him the chance.
Reiji didn't have that luxury. He wasn't born into this world—his "ancestors" were just ordinary people. Unless some Legendary Pokémon decided to gift him power, psychic abilities weren't happening in this lifetime.
Then again, fine. If he couldn't be a psychic, he'd be a Legendary Pokémon Trainer instead. Between the two, Legendary Pokémon were the real temptation.
"Spinarak. Finish the rest," Reiji said with a small wave, telling it to clean up what was left so they could get off the fishing boat.
Spinarak bared its venomous fangs. Not a single piece of trash walked away. Even if the boys' stabs hadn't hit anything vital, Spinarak made sure the job ended properly.
When the flames finally rose, Pelipper took the two boys back to the campsite first. It dropped them by the river, so they could wash up before going back.
By the time Pelipper returned for Reiji, the nearshore wooden boat was already burning like a torch. Gengar's Will-O-Wisp had lit the hold, the fire spreading from inside the cabin out.
Once the wooden boat sank, nothing would remain. The sea would take the bodies, the salt and current grinding them down until there was nothing left to find. No one would ever know a poaching ring had been buried here.
He even saw sharks—drawn in by the blood—circling the boat. In their jaws, nothing would be left.
Before the fire reached his feet, Reiji recalled his Pokémon into their Poké Balls, climbed onto Pelipper, and flew off. From a distance, he watched the burning boat sink little by little, and finally disappear beneath the waves. That was the end of it.
He just hoped nothing else happened tonight. All he wanted was to quietly catch a Magikarp—so why did trouble keep crawling out of nowhere to bite him? He was seriously done with it.
Back at the campsite, he had Gengar return to the tent first and spit out all the backpacks they'd taken. He could sort the haul tomorrow. It was already two or three in the morning—anything urgent could wait.
The two boys who'd returned earlier were sitting by the fire, warming themselves and eating the food Quincy had prepared. To wash the blood off, they'd gone down to the river.
As for clothes, Reiji grabbed two spare sets. short sleeves and shorts, and tossed them over.
"The poaching ring's done," Reiji said. "Tonight, the three of you share one tent. Tomorrow, once the old river man goes back to the cabin, you two can split up—one tent each. It won't be so cramped."
Watching Travis shovel food down like he hadn't eaten in weeks, Reiji didn't bother waiting for a reply. The kid clearly didn't have time to talk, but he could hear just fine.
"Travis, stay here for two days. I'll find someone to take you to Mandarin Island North. Go to the Pokémon Center and call home—tell your family to meet you on Mandarin Island North."
"Thank you," Travis said with a small nod. Gulzar had already told him: Gulzar had used Travis's identity to beg for help. This wasn't charity. Reiji would want repayment.
"No need," Reiji said, shaking his head. "Thank Gulzar. If he hadn't risked his life to escape, I couldn't have saved you."
It wasn't that Reiji wanted to refuse payment forever. He just didn't want to take it right now.
A future Gym Leader owing him a favor was worth more than spending that favor today. And with Travis's growth, that favor could turn into something on an Elite Four level one day—especially now that he'd awakened psychic power.
Even without Reiji, Travis's future would be bright. In a family like his, he'd be a priority successor. Psychic powers or not, he still had a mother who was a Gym Leader.
"All right," Travis said, turning to Gulzar. "Thanks for getting me out. Whatever you need—anything my family can afford—I'll ask Mom for it. I won't shortchange you."
"Hey, what's with the 'thanks'?" Gulzar laughed and slapped Travis on the back. "I promised I'd save you. How could I break my word?"
The slap hit too hard. Travis choked mid-bite, and the instant noodles in his mouth almost came right back out.
"Cough—cough, cough!" Travis spluttered, even spraying snot in the chaos.
Gulzar panicked and started apologizing at once. "Sorry, sorry—my bad!"
"It's fine," Travis said after he finally got his breath back. And when he looked at Gulzar, he saw it—that optimistic, smiling Gulzar he knew. That familiar feeling hit him hard.
This was good. He hadn't lost his friend. The friend who could still laugh was back.
They could battle Pokémon again. They could eat good food together. They could eat until they were full—like they'd promised each other on one of those nights on the ship.
Gulzar watched Travis put his bowl down to drink water and grinned. "Look at you, eating like it's the best thing you've ever had. Give me some."
"Keep dreaming," Travis shot back, snatching the bowl and chopsticks away faster. "You escaped first—no way you haven't been eating better than me. And you still want to steal food from someone who's been starving? You've got no shame."
Gulzar just laughed. He knew Travis wasn't going anywhere. As for the "thank-you," he couldn't rush it.
He could accept benefits, sure—but he couldn't ask for them. If Travis wanted to repay him, Travis had to offer it himself.
Compared to scraps of reward, surviving disaster together was the real prize. Gulzar understood that perfectly, and he valued it.
If Gulzar had an Advanced-tier Trainer in the family, he wouldn't have needed the old village chief as a guarantor. But he didn't.
As long as he held onto this "best friend" bond with Travis—a second-generation Trainer from a Gym family—the returns would be far greater. At minimum, it beat relying on a village chief to back him. Gulzar knew exactly what he was choosing.
He wasn't the naive kid he used to be. After everything he'd lived through, he weighed every choice, counted every gain and loss, and picked the option that paid off the most.
He had to. He was a kid from an ordinary family—an ordinary Trainer. He couldn't afford mistakes. The cost of choosing wrong was more than he could carry now.
Back on the ship, when Travis had tried to stop him, Gulzar had already realized they weren't the same kind of person. His plan then had been simple: save Travis, take a little benefit, then leave.
They could still be friends, but only as ordinary friends. Following Reiji promised far more. And if Gulzar kept doing dirty work, he and Travis could even end up on opposite sides.
But in that moment, Travis had chosen him.
Which meant Gulzar didn't have to throw Travis away.
He could follow Reiji and still have Travis as a close, trusted friend. If he could take both, he absolutely would.
"You've got a lot of nerve talking," Travis said, grinning. "You'd steal a bun and still break it in half first. One bite and it was gone."
Gulzar scratched his head with an awkward laugh. "I was hungry too. We never got full. If I stole too much, they'd beat me to death."
He lifted his own noodles and started talking with Travis about the miserable days on the ship, keeping the conversation going.
He wanted their bond to deepen—pushed past "we survived together" and into "brothers who could tell each other anything."
"So… do you want anything?" Travis asked again after a while. "Once I'm home, I can get it for you."
If they were real friends, then saving someone's life deserved repayment. Travis wasn't the kind of person who'd pretend he couldn't offer anything, and he wasn't about to let this sour their relationship.
"I don't know," Gulzar said, shaking his head. He wanted plenty. But he couldn't say it—because if he named it, the promise might be cashed once, and the favor would be gone.
Travis thought for him. "You wanted to be a Grass-type Pokémon master, right? When I get back, I'll get you a Grass-type starter Pokémon."
"A starter?" Gulzar's heart kicked, but he kept his face calm and waved his hands fast. "Those are rare. I heard only Trainers who've made big contributions to the League can even apply for one. It's too valuable."
"It's just a starter," Travis said, as if it were nothing. He draped an arm over Gulzar's shoulder, then started bragging about the rare Pokémon he'd seen, talking like starters were the little kids' table.
He even claimed he didn't bring a starter because starters were ugly, and Pikachu was way cuter.
A fire-breathing lizard. A turtle with vines and weird "garlic" on its back. A water-spraying turtle. How could any of those compare to Pikachu?
"Right—my Pikachu," Travis blurted, and the boast died on his tongue. He immediately thought of the Pikachu whose fate he still didn't know. It should be with that Trainer who called himself Rai.
"Rai-nii's asleep," Gulzar said, glancing around and not seeing Reiji anywhere. "Pikachu should be fine. Talk about it tomorrow."
"…Yeah," Travis said, forcing out a breath. There was no point panicking. He'd been separated from Pikachu for over half a month. Of course he wanted it to still be alive, but if Pikachu… he cut the thought off before it could go any further.
He patted his round belly and leaned back. He was full—properly full—for the first time since the poachers had grabbed him.
"Oh, and you still wanted to join a Gym, didn't you?" Travis said, pushing the topic away from Pikachu. "You told me you went to my mom's Gym, but she didn't agree…"
"It wasn't that she didn't agree," Gulzar said, even more awkward now. "I failed the test. Luana rejected me because I was too weak."
"Relax. Leave it to me," Travis said, thumping his chest like a hero. "You come find me, and I'll get you into the Kumquat Gym. If Mom says no, I'll beg her. If that still doesn't work, I'll go beg Dad."
He said it like there was no such thing as an impossible problem—only people who didn't know the right person, or relationships that weren't strong enough.
Gulzar laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "If I become a Gym apprentice without passing, people will say I got in through the back door."
That idea wasn't exactly new to him. With Travis behind him, who would dare look down on him? Travis would back him up and make sure he didn't lose face.
But if Travis stuck his neck out, Gulzar had to prove his worth with results. Only strength could shut people up.
"Small stuff," Travis said, waving it away. Then his voice dropped. "But tell me about that Trainer. He's… hard to read. Do you know who he is?"
Travis couldn't figure Reiji out. Even knowing Travis was a Gym Leader's son hadn't changed anything. Travis tried to thank him, and Reiji pushed everything onto Gulzar instead.
Travis knew the truth: without Reiji, Gulzar never could've saved him. The two of them were both hopeless when they got captured. They couldn't even beat the sailor grunts.
And the boss of that ring? Not a chance.
Those trash sailors had bragged that their boss was an Advanced-tier Trainer, nearly at quasi–Elite Four tier. In other words: someone far beyond two rookies like them.
"How could he not be mysterious?" Gulzar said, keeping his tone casual. "My Gyarados? He helped me catch it."
He didn't tell Travis the rest—that Reiji had casually tossed him a Dragon Scale like it was nothing. A guy like that was worth holding onto. If Gulzar kept close, the rewards wouldn't stop.
"Gyarados…!" Travis lit up like a kid. "I've wanted one forever. It's so cool!"
Seeing Travis that excited, Gulzar could only scratch his head. "Seriously…?"
Starters were "ugly," but Gyarados was "cool." Their tastes were definitely not on the same frequency.
"Can you ask Rai-nii to help me catch a Gyarados too?" Travis asked, still buzzing. "I want one."
"I'll ask tomorrow," Gulzar said, nodding. "I mean… he treats a Magikarp with Elite Four-level talent like trash. If he throws out 'trash' again, we'll just pick it up."
While the two of them kept whispering about Reiji, they had no idea he hadn't slept at all. These two brats were unbearable—late at night, not sleeping, and every so often one of them would gasp or shout in surprise, loud enough to keep everyone awake.
They also didn't realize how ridiculous the scene was.
A League-certified rookie Trainer, and the son of a Gym Leader, sitting here talking about how strong Reiji was—how he'd crushed the poachers chasing Gulzar, how he'd done it so cleanly.
Back then it had happened in a blink. Poliwhirl and the others had dropped four or five of the poachers in an instant, and Gulzar was still describing how terrifyingly strong they were.
What they didn't know was this: because Reiji was an orphan, he couldn't even pass the rookie Trainer certification. He wasn't League-certified at all.
He was still worrying about how to enter the League without raising suspicion, without getting targeted. All he wanted was to stay invisible and grow in peace.
Travis was safe now, sure. But if someone like Gulzar tried to slip into the Kumquat Gym through the back door, there'd be endless gossip—and worse, Luana's suspicion. That was what came with being an orphan.
If it were Gulzar, he wouldn't have that problem. He was born here. He had parents in the Orange Archipelago. His life could be checked and traced.
And Reiji?
Forget it. The more he thought about it, the worse it got.
He was an orphan.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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