Day 35 of the journey. Sunny.
The weather held up, so Reiji was the first one awake—though only after the sun was already well up.
Even then, the other two kids were still out cold. Before Travis showed up, Gulzar couldn't really slack off without getting called on it. Now he'd found someone even lazier, and the two of them finally had an excuse to "sleep in" together.
Reiji made breakfast and didn't bother waking them. If they loved sleeping that much, they could sleep until they woke up on their own.
Better to take it while you can. Once you're grown, sleep turns into a luxury—workplace pressure, constant strings being pulled, overtime that never ends. It's not a life anyone should envy. A quiet, carefree stretch like this was worth holding onto.
After eating, Reiji took Butterfree and a few of the others down to the river to catch Magikarp. The rest of the Pokémon split off to train on their own.
Not long after, Quincy came over with Farfetch'd and Heracross. Reiji had no idea how Quincy had caught them.
Quincy didn't send either of them to train. He came to help watch the Magikarp and swap out their markers as Reiji worked.
They stayed busy for a while before the two kids finally burst out of the tent in a noisy panic, each blaming the other for not waking them up. Which made no sense—if both of you are sleeping in, who exactly is supposed to wake who?
Once they were up and saw there was no breakfast waiting, they had to handle it themselves. After they hurried through a meal, Gulzar wandered over to Reiji, looking a little sheepish.
"Rai-nii… are we going to the forest again today?"
"If you want to catch Pokémon, go to the forest," Reiji said without looking up. He waved him off while his eyes stayed on Magikarp's stats. "Don't ask me. Plan your own time. That's yours, not mine."
Thousands of those dumb fish passed through his hands every day. He refused to believe he couldn't find one he actually liked. At this point, it had become personal.
"Okay. I got it," Gulzar said.
He couldn't quite name what he was feeling. Reiji wasn't restricting him, but the freedom still left a hollow spot in his chest. Even so, Reiji was still helping him check Pokémon—that was enough.
Gulzar called Travis over, and the two headed into the forest together.
Neither of them noticed the Pelipper quietly shadowing them from above.
Once they were deep in the trees, Travis brought up the notebook again.
"Gulzar, that notebook said Magikarp gets stronger if you evolve it with a Dragon Scale. It can even inherit Dragon-type moves. Does your Gyarados have any Dragon-type moves?"
"It does," Gulzar said honestly. "And the Dragon Scale was Rai-nii's. He gave it to me."
He wasn't going to hide something like that from a close friend. He didn't want a stupid secret to wedge itself between them.
Besides, it wasn't even his Dragon Scale. Someone else had given it to him. What was there to conceal? If Travis wanted one, that wasn't up to Gulzar. It wasn't his to hand out.
And Travis's background was strong enough that he probably didn't lack for things like that anyway. That was likely why he hadn't brought it up.
Gulzar wasn't wrong. Reiji needed help himself—what resources did he have to "sponsor" other people? Handing over even one Dragon Scale was already a painful cut. Doing more would just be losing money on purpose, and Reiji wasn't about to make a habit of that.
"Rai-nii really is a good guy," Travis said, openly impressed. "He even gave you a Dragon Scale."
There was a hint of envy, but it didn't go any deeper than that. His mother was the Kumquat Gym Leader, Luana—getting a Dragon Scale wasn't a big deal for him. He simply hadn't thought to mention it.
Gulzar didn't tell Travis the Dragon Scale he used was Elite Four tier. If Travis evolved a Magikarp with a lower-tier one and the results were underwhelming, he'd definitely come asking questions.
Still, with Travis's family, even if he couldn't get an Elite Four–tier Dragon Scale, he could probably get a quasi–Elite Four one. Gulzar just didn't know how big the gap was between the two. Either way, Magikarp's base potential didn't change.
"Yeah," Gulzar said. "I didn't expect him to give me something that valuable."
Back then, everything had been urgent. He'd fed it to Magikarp without thinking twice.
Only afterward did he learn it was Elite Four tier. He still didn't have the right words for what that moment felt like—he'd been genuinely shaken.
"And that notebook," Travis added. "Let me borrow it when we get back. I haven't finished a lot of it."
Travis hadn't gotten a Dragon Scale, but he'd still benefited plenty. Those three Pokémon were already a great haul, and the notebook itself was worth studying.
As for catching wild Pokémon in the forest, it wasn't that he didn't want to. He'd awakened psychic powers, and Reiji had told him last night that he'd have an advantage raising Psychic-type Pokémon.
But there weren't many wild Psychic-types around. Getting a Staryu with decent talent was already lucky. Even Hoothoot had surprisingly solid psychic ability—especially that Magikarp with decent potential.
Once he got home, he could evolve it into a Gyarados. Gulzar had already explained the whole process. If Travis wanted, he could even stage another little performance—recreate the poacher "setup" again.
This time, there was no rush. He could take his time, build a bond with Magikarp properly, then evolve it into Gyarados when the moment was right.
And it wasn't as if Psychic-types were impossible to find. After hearing Gulzar had an Exeggcute, Travis had wanted to catch one too. But this forest didn't have an Exeggcute-and-Exeggutor population, so he had no choice but to give up.
It didn't matter much. Between his family and the Kumquat Gym, there were plenty of Psychic-type Pokémon available through relatives and connections—Abra, Drowzee, Slowpoke, Grumpig, Ralts, Natu, Mime Jr., Exeggutor, Jynx, Medicham, and more.
If he wanted to raise a Psychic-type team, once he returned to Kumquat Island, he could get almost anything he wanted—plus newer Psychic-types discovered in other regions.
Coming out here with Gulzar was mostly to clear his head and have someone his age to talk to.
Back at camp, one person barely spoke and stayed wrapped in mystery. The other was an old guy who cared about nothing except Magikarp.
Gulzar was the only one Travis could really talk to. With everyone else, it was a few lines at meals and that was it. Spending time with people his own age was simply easier.
They pushed deeper into the forest, talking as they walked. When they spotted wild Grass-type Pokémon, they caught them.
But after Gulzar had already caught Oddish, Exeggcute, and Bellsprout, there wasn't much left in the forest that still felt worth catching.
Near the lakeside, they could still find things like Hoppip, Lotad, and Paras.
Once those were taken too, the forest would mostly be Bug-, Poison-, and Flying-types. Travis wasn't sure whether Gulzar would bother catching those.
Travis was leaving tomorrow or the day after. He didn't know if Gulzar would come with him. Staying here offered more chances, more encounters. Going back with Travis mainly meant joining the gym—and getting a Grass-type starter. Those would be ready for Gulzar whenever he chose to take them.
Travis had already asked him once. Gulzar wanted to learn from that mysterious trainer for a while first, then go find Travis later. That could wait.
Travis could tell Gulzar genuinely liked Grass-types. A Grass-type starter would fit him perfectly. Bulbasaur, Chikorita, Treecko…
Any of the three. Gulzar could pick whichever one he wanted.
Travis had even heard other regions had their own starters—Turtwig, Snivy…
He wasn't sure whether he could apply for those, but if he could, Gulzar would have even more options.
And as for that mysterious trainer—someone who refused rewards, still handed out a "meeting gift," and asked only for secrecy—Travis would keep his word.
He didn't want to pry into other people's secrets. As long as they meant no harm, that was enough. Still, he owed them his life. If they didn't want thanks now, then he'd repay it later—if he ever crossed paths with them again.
"Gulzar," Travis said around noon, when they sat by the lake to eat. He pointed toward the sea. "Why are there two black dots in the sky?"
"Probably trainers passing by," Gulzar said, uninterested. Whoever they were, they weren't here for him. The plan was simple: catch wild Pokémon, then head back to camp in the afternoon.
…
Over by camp, Reiji and Quincy were eating lunch too. The trees blocked their view of the sea, so they never saw the dots.
Once they finished eating, they went right back to working on Magikarp.
Before long, the two dots drew close to Rind Island and finally landed on the sandy shore. The newcomers recalled their Flying-type Pokémon.
They'd chosen the same stretch of beach where the poachers' wooden boat had once been moored.
"The signal died right here," one of them said. "Didn't the undercover guy say there was a fishing boat?"
"You heard how terrified he sounded in his last call," the other replied. "That boat probably went down."
"Sharpedo, come out. Go check the seabed—see if there's wreckage."
"Shark," Sharpedo answered, floating at the surface before slipping underwater in the direction its trainer pointed.
Half an hour later, Sharpedo surfaced and nodded. There was wreckage below.
"Sharpedo, take me down. You stay up top and wait."
The trainer stripped down to shorts, put on a dive mask, bit down on a breathing tube, and strapped an air tank onto his back. He waded into the sea, grabbed Sharpedo's fin, and let it pull him down into the shallow waters where the boat had sunk.
They found it quickly.
He searched the burned-out shell for a long time, turning over what he could, but nothing worth taking remained. Finally, he surfaced with Sharpedo and returned to the beach, recalling it into a Poké Ball.
"There's nothing valuable," he said. "The boat's burned down to the hull. Aside from a few safes, everything's gone."
"No bodies?" the other asked. "Then the undercover guy is…"
"There are bones," the diver said. "A lot of them. Most show bite marks—Sharpedo's kind of damage. Looks like they were eaten. The undercover guy was probably among them."
"Whatever. He was just a temporary buy anyway." The other man's tone stayed flat. "What matters is who did it. Whoever it was hit harder than we do—and they didn't leave a trace."
"You think it's that guy?"
They both looked toward the spot on the island where white smoke rose above the trees. On the phone, the poachers' boss had mentioned a powerful trainer on the island.
"If that's true," one of them said, "then Luana's son is probably in his hands."
"The signal cut out yesterday before dawn," the other replied. "It's only been a little over a day. If they haven't moved him, the kid should still be with him."
"This isn't simple. One person wiped out the entire poaching crew." He narrowed his eyes. "We don't walk in there."
"Obviously. In broad daylight? Anyone who does that is insane." The other man gestured. "Send your Golbat. Get eyes on the place. Count how many people are there, what Pokémon they have. Keep it natural. Don't get spotted."
Facing someone who could erase an entire poaching group, they couldn't help being cautious. If that person was quasi–Elite Four tier—or even Elite Four tier—then the two of them walking in would be a death sentence.
Team Rocket might be villains, but they weren't suicidal idiots. You gathered information first, then decided how to move.
"Golbat," the trainer said, "see that smoke? Fly over quietly and take a look. They might be quasi–Elite Four tier. Count the people, check what Pokémon are there. Be careful."
"Go-bat," Golbat answered, beating its wings as it drifted toward the treeline and the smoke beyond.
As it got close, it slipped into the forest and moved even more cautiously.
By the time it reached the waterfall camp, it hung upside down from a branch and sent out ultrasonic pulses to probe the camp.
The echoes gave it a quick read: how many living things were moving inside, and which shapes were human.
Golbat returned to the shore and reported to its trainer.
As it "spoke," Victreebel stretched out its vines and sketched Golbat's report into the sand.
"Two people," the trainer said, reading it. "Seventeen Pokémon."
"That's enough. Victreebel." His voice sharpened. "The two kids aren't there. That makes this the perfect opening."
"Release all our Flying-types. Those kids are in the forest. Find them before they get back."
"Fearow, come out."
"Everyone, spread out," the other man ordered. "Search the forest. The moment you find the two kids, come report."
The plan against Gulzar and Travis kicked into motion fast—and no one noticed.
Golbat's scouting had been too clean. Among all the Pokémon in camp, only Zubat sensed a familiar presence for a moment before it vanished again. It didn't treat it as anything important.
The two people Golbat had detected were Reiji and Quincy. The "seventeen Pokémon" count came from the ones it could actually detect at the time—excluding Pelipper, Gengar, Darkrai, and Mudkip, and including Quincy's two Pokémon.
Gengar could have been hidden in a shadow where the echoes couldn't read it properly. Mudkip was inside a Poké Ball, and Pelipper wasn't at camp at all. Darkrai was resting in the shadows too—every night it went out on its own, otherwise the people at camp would be stuck having nightmares again and again.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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