After last night's inexplicable string of question marks, Reiji still couldn't make sense of what they meant. What were they supposed to represent? Had Gengar actually broken through its potential limit?
Did the question marks mean the panel had hit its cap? Or that the Pokémon itself had? Or was it that the panel simply couldn't display the Pokémon's true limit?
If it was the last one, then Legendary Pokémon would probably look the same. After all, their strength was already Champion tier—if they were too strong, maybe the panel couldn't show their potential or level either.
Back before he transmigrated, the games he played capped levels at 100. Anything above that was "maxed out."
But this was reality. There was no such thing as a hard cap. So the panel showing question marks was at least understandable—Gengar had likely gone beyond what the panel could measure, so it defaulted to this.
The problem was, now that it had turned into question marks across the board, he had nothing to work with. He didn't know what to do next. If the potential stopped showing changes, he couldn't keep pouring effort in forever. The only thing he could track was the level.
A lot of Trainers were like that. If their Pokémon improved too slowly, they dumped them. But growth wasn't a video game—real progress took time.
They didn't see the change because it came too slowly, so small it was almost invisible. That was why the impatient ones chose to abandon their Pokémon.
If Reiji didn't have the panel—if he couldn't see Gengar's potential tick up by 0.1—he'd probably end up just like them, going numb and giving up. A change that tiny was brutal.
He could worry about that later. Today he was catching Magikarp. Magikarp was the priority. Gengar's potential could be studied slowly—there was no rush right now.
After breakfast, he headed to the river to catch fish. The Pokémon each went off to train. Before long, Quincy arrived too. The two of them were already used to the routine; they didn't need to talk it through. They got to work immediately.
Today, Reiji kept scanning in a near-trance. One Magikarp Poké Ball after another—like a machine built for checking potential. He only looked at the first digit. If it was a five, he'd bother checking the last digit.
If it wasn't a five, there was no point.
The more he checked, the more "50+ potential" Magikarp showed up. Back when he first started seeing that five, he'd get excited for ages. It felt close. Closer and closer.
But after ten days of this, it was always the same. 50. 51. Up to 57 and 58. He'd seen every "almost" under the sun—except the one he wanted. Not a single 59. He was losing his mind.
He'd even seen three with 58 potential. The third one showed up yesterday, and he'd tossed it to Quincy. Let it be a bodyguard—might as well.
Today. Tomorrow. The day after. He refused to believe not one single 59 existed. After ten days of waiting, the miracle finally happened.
He saw another potential starting with five. He didn't even hope for the last digit anymore. It was probably another eight or lower. He was used to it now. Numb, even.
Then he saw it.
A nine.
No—wait. That wasn't just a 9. It was 59.98.
The Magikarp he'd been hunting was finally here.
[Magikarp]
[Type: Water][Gender: Male][Potential: 59.98%][Level: 4.67%][Ability: Swift Swim / 2.53%] [Hidden Ability: Rattled / 0.13%][Moves: (Splash / 3.21%) (Tackle / 2.31%) (Outrage / 1.11%)]
"Finally… you actually showed up," Reiji stared at the panel and nearly teared up. This had been miserable.
If this stupid fish still hadn't appeared, he really might've snapped. He'd been that close.
"You got it?" Quincy watched Reiji fight down a laugh and fight down tears at the same time. He looked like someone who'd finally gotten a breakthrough in research. Quincy understood that expression.
"Yeah. I finally got it." Reiji nodded lightly. This Magikarp had potential so close to Elite Four tier, and it even inherited a big Dragon-type move—Outrage. Whatever Dragon bloodline it had, it wasn't weak. He'd finally rolled the one he wanted.
"Freee…" Butterfree heard him say it and almost cried too. These past few days had exhausted it—using psychic power to manipulate tens of thousands of Poké Balls every day left its head aching from overuse.
"Yaaawn…" Slowpoke quietly let out a breath as well. More than ten days of psychic training was finally over. Its head hurt too. Lately it had been sleeping like a rock at night—especially when Reiji held it. That part was comfortable.
"Heh-cha!" Staryu spun up out of the river when it heard the news. It hadn't used as much psychic power, but its Surf had improved a lot.
"Old Quincy, I've got the Magikarp. I'm getting ready to head out," Reiji put the Magikarp away. He didn't plan to evolve it here. He wasn't in a hurry—he needed time to build rapport with it first, then let it evolve later.
"So soon? I thought you'd leave tomorrow," Quincy sounded surprised. He figured Reiji would rest a day or two before setting off again.
"No." Reiji shook his head. "The wild is nice, but I've been camping for over ten days. I want to walk around a human city again."
Camping was fun at first. Once the novelty wore off, he missed hotel beds.
A big bed beat a sleeping bag by a mile. And he still wanted to join a Gym—he couldn't stay out here forever.
He hadn't been physically exhausted these past days, but chasing this stupid fish had left his nerves frayed. He needed to get into town, sleep properly, and let his brain unclench.
"Old Quincy, I'll go back and make lunch. After we eat, I'll head out. Let's have a couple drinks at noon," Reiji grinned, called Butterfree and the others, and headed back to camp.
When he got there, he glanced at the Magikarp in the inflatable tub. Time to let this one go.
"Magikarp. You've been watching for days. Your kind are climbing the waterfall, heading up to the lake above to evolve. I'm letting you go today. Go give the waterfall a try. We part on good terms."
Reiji carried the Magikarp down to the river. It didn't struggle at first—just stared blankly at the human it had been around for so long, not understanding what was happening. The moment it understood he was releasing it, it started thrashing.
Besides Reiji, Butterfree and the others came over. Kingler came too. Even Poliwhirl training in the forest showed up at the river to see it off.
"Karuu… karuu…" Magikarp looked toward the river, where its kind were throwing themselves at the waterfall again and again. Then it looked back at the partners on shore. It didn't want to leave these friendly, talkative companions—but it also wanted to try that waterfall.
There wasn't no way to have both.
It cried out twice at the friends on shore, as if saying it didn't want to leave, then turned and swam straight for the waterfall anyway. Copying the others, it fought its way upward.
Watching it go, Reiji thought it had accepted being released. But the other Pokémon clearly understood what it said. They all went down to the base of the waterfall and started cheering it on.
Reiji still didn't quite get what they were doing. Maybe this was how Pokémon said goodbye to each other.
He let them be, then took Farfetch'd back to camp. Together they made lunch. By noon, Quincy returned to eat.
"Rai, this lunch is seriously generous," Quincy stared at the spread, surprised by how lavish a "farewell meal" it was.
"If we can't finish, we pack it up." Reiji smiled. "I've still got plenty of instant noodles too—you can take those back as well."
Magikarp season still had a long way to go. Quincy would probably be staying on Rind Island for quite a while.
"Haha. Then I won't hold back," Quincy said with a grin. After drinking together for so many days, he'd gotten a feel for Rai—easygoing, and fond of his booze.
"Alright, sit. I also set aside some Pokémon food and a few cans of healing spray. Take it all," Reiji said, pushing it over.
As for what Quincy would do later? Figure it out later. Pokémon could hunt. They could eat Berries in the forest. Nobody was starving out here.
"Fine, fine. This old man will drink a couple with you," Quincy laughed and raised his cup. This time it was low-proof fruit wine. You could drink a lot without getting drunk—and that went double for an old soak like him.
Reiji raised his cup too and clinked with him.
Then, right in the middle of lunch, a Magikarp suddenly flopped out of the river.
"Karuu! Karuu!" It wriggled onto the grass, then bounced straight back into the inflatable tub, calling at Reiji.
"Magikarp? Why are you back?" Reiji stared at it. Only the one he'd released would pull something like this.
"Karuu! Karuu!" It kept yelping, clearly refusing to leave. It wanted to follow Reiji.
A voice translated in Reiji's mind—Darkrai.
"It says it went up to the lake. It saw lots of its kind evolving up there, but it didn't evolve. So it came back. It wants to travel with us."
So that was what happened this afternoon.
"…Alright." Reiji didn't make a big deal out of it. "Do what you want. If you want to follow, then follow."
Worst case, he was feeding one more fish. He could afford it.
And that waterfall wasn't exactly impossible for this Magikarp anyway. It had eaten well, played well, and lived comfortably with him for days—bigger and tougher than the others. That step-like waterfall's "leap the falls" was something it could manage.
As for why it didn't evolve, Reiji could think of two reasons.
First: evolving might've always been a coin flip. If it failed, that was normal.
Second: it might've been because of him. He was Magikarp's Trainer. The fish completed the climb, but the Trainer wasn't there. Maybe it had no desire to evolve—who was it evolving for?
If its base chance was fifty percent, then him not being present might've halved it again. Or worse.
After a proper lunch and a proper drink with Quincy, Reiji started packing up to leave Rind Island.
He had the Magikarp he wanted. Staying here longer didn't do much. Better to head for Kumquat Gym and see if he could join.
If Kumquat Gym didn't take him, he'd need another plan. That meant trying other Gyms.
While he packed, the Pokémon were still training. The Magikarp he'd just caught stayed in the inflatable tub for now, getting used to the other Magikarp inside.
A couple hours later, he had the camp cleaned up. Quincy packed away the food Reiji left him in his space backpack. Reiji didn't forget anything.
As for Pokémon… he was up to twenty now.
His open main team was Pelipper, Poliwhirl, Kingler, Rhyhorn, Scyther, Shelmet…
His open support was Butterfree, Slowpoke, Wishiwashi, Staryu, Farfetch'd…
Under the spider persona, his main team was Croagunk, Gengar, Darkrai, Golbat, Mudkip, Magikarp—the one with 59 potential…
Under the spider persona, the support was Ditto, Spinarak, and that Magikarp that refused to leave. Reiji didn't know what to do with it, so he could only keep feeding it for now.
The main Pokémon he could actually rely on were still the same ten. The rest were young and needed time.
For battles—especially formal matches, and especially real wild fights where you could die—it was still the Poliwhirl group carrying. The others weren't there yet. Some hadn't even fought at all.
After recalling everyone, Reiji shouldered his backpack and went back to the river to say goodbye to Quincy.
"Old Quincy, I left you a few bottles too. Don't go overboard tonight," Reiji said. He knew Quincy was a boozehound—otherwise they wouldn't have ended up drinking together so often. He'd left extra wine for the old man to sip slowly.
"This old man knows his limits." Quincy didn't even turn around, still focused on handling his Magikarp. "I'm on Rind Island all the time. If you've got time, come by and drink."
"I will." Reiji swung up onto Pelipper's back, and Pelipper climbed into the sky, heading toward Pummelo Island along the direction he'd already calibrated.
"Take care, kid Rai," Quincy finally stood up after Reiji started to fly off. He raised a hand and waved. You could see the reluctance in his eyes too. Drinking buddies weren't easy to come by.
"Pelipper, we should reach Pummelo Island this afternoon. No need to rush," Reiji said, glancing back. He waved once more as Quincy kept waving, and Rind Island quickly shrank behind them.
He was heading to Pummelo Island—the Orange League's headquarters—instead of going straight to Kumquat Island because the distances between the three islands formed a scalene triangle.
Rind Island to Pummelo Island was the shortest side. They could arrive by evening.
Rind Island to Kumquat Island was the longest side. They'd probably have to fly until tomorrow morning—and most of that would be night flight. Poor visibility, too many variables. Not worth it.
He planned to rest one night on Pummelo Island, then take a boat from there to Kumquat Gym and see if he could join.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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