Reiji didn't interrupt their reunion.
He simply lifted Amber's cap off her head and let her bright blue hair show again. Then he gave her a thumbs-up—quiet encouragement to be brave.
"Grandpa Blaine, don't cry," Amber said, patting his shoulder awkwardly. "I'm fine. I'm right here."
Blaine wiped his face with the back of his hand and tried to steady his breathing. "Alright. Grandpa's not crying."
Then he leaned back and examined her like he had to confirm she was real. "Let me look at you. Have you gotten thin?"
Amber reached up and wiped the tears from Blaine's cheeks too. In her memory, he still looked like he did years ago. Now he looked older, worn down by time.
Blaine turned to Reiji, the emotion still shaking in his voice. "Who saved her? How did you do it?"
Amber answered for him. "Rai-nii took me to Ho-Oh. Ho-Oh gave me this too."
She dug into her backpack and pulled out the Rainbow Wing.
Blaine went still the moment he saw it.
He'd heard the stories about the Legendary beasts. If Ho-Oh could restore them, then restoring a human wasn't unthinkable—at least not in a world that allowed "unthinkable" to happen.
But stealing Amber away from Team Rocket's guarded facility on New Island, reaching Ho-Oh, and convincing it to act…
None of that was something Blaine could casually describe.
"Grandpa," Amber said, looking around eagerly, "is the big dog still here? I haven't played with him in so long."
Blaine's eyes softened. "He's here. He's still here."
A Poké Ball popped open, and Arcanine appeared.
Arcanine took one look at Blaine's tear-streaked face, then turned—and froze when it saw Amber.
Its body stiffened. Confusion flickered across its eyes.
It remembered the funeral. It remembered the grief that followed. It remembered how long it went without eating.
So why was she standing here?
Arcanine lowered its head and sniffed, trying to confirm the scent.
Amber reached for it. "It's me. Big dog. I'm Amber."
Arcanine's instinct kicked in the wrong direction. It bared its teeth.
Smack.
Blaine slapped Arcanine across the muzzle without hesitation. "Enough. That's Amber. Don't you dare act like you don't know her."
Arcanine immediately lowered its head, whining softly like a scolded child.
Reiji spoke before the moment could twist further. "Gym Leader Blaine—Amber was brought back by merging her soul into a clone body. That's why her scent isn't the same. But she didn't lose her memory. Her soul still remembers all of you."
Blaine stared at the Rainbow Wing again, then finally let the last of his doubt crack.
"I've seen the real thing," he said quietly. "This is it."
He looked at Reiji with a new weight in his eyes. "You really did it. You really found Ho-Oh."
Reiji scratched his cheek, uncomfortable. "It was luck."
Blaine snorted. "Luck."
He didn't buy it for a second.
Then Reiji's expression hardened slightly. "Gym Leader Blaine, you understand what this means, right? If Team Rocket finds out Amber is alive…"
He didn't finish. He didn't need to.
Blaine's answer came like a vow. "This time, nobody touches her. Not even a hair."
Amber immediately turned and hugged Reiji's neck, protective despite being the child. "Grandpa Blaine, don't be mean to Rai-nii! He's the one who saved me. He brought me out of that dark place."
Reiji patted her head gently. "Amber, Grandpa Blaine did it for you. You listen to him, alright?"
Amber nodded hard. "I know. Team Rocket can't see me."
Blaine watched them and said her name under his breath, softer now. "Amber…"
Amber clung to Reiji like he was the anchor keeping her from drifting away again.
Blaine didn't like how much she depended on a boy he still didn't truly know.
Reiji had saved her. That mattered.
But Blaine needed to understand who Reiji really was before he decided what came next.
He didn't bother hiding the question. "Kid. Where's your Pokédex?"
Reiji handed it over without arguing. "Here."
Blaine studied him for a long moment. "You and Amber will stay here for now. I'll be back."
Reiji cut in immediately. "Clear your lodge staff out first. Don't let anyone see her. Honestly, she's safer walking down the street than staying in a building full of unknown eyes."
Blaine grimaced, then nodded. "You're annoyingly careful."
He opened the hot spring's resting room and gestured them inside. "Stay here and rest. Arcanine and Magmar will guard the door. Nobody gets in."
"Go," Reiji said, checking the time. "It's almost lunch."
Blaine nodded once. "When I'm back, I'll have lunch ready for Amber."
Then he left.
Reiji turned to Amber. "Go ahead. You can let Squirtle and the others out. Play with them in here."
"Really?" Amber asked, already reaching for the Poké Balls.
Squirtle, Charmander, and Bulbasaur popped out and looked around curiously. The room wasn't that exciting, but it was safe.
After a few minutes of boredom, they started playing hide-and-seek with Amber.
...
Blaine returned before lunch, right on time.
Reiji looked up as the wooden door slid open. "Well?"
Blaine sat down and stared at him like he was still trying to solve an equation that refused to balance. "You're a Trainer from the Orange League. Assigned to Mikan Gym."
Reiji nodded calmly. "That's right. I came to challenge the Indigo Plateau Conference too. It's a 'Gym assignment.' If I don't win, the Gym Leader kicks me out."
Blaine barked a laugh that didn't carry much humor. "You're unbelievable."
He'd checked Reiji's record. Clean. Orphan background. No disciplinary history. No black marks. He wasn't just "registered"—he was a Gym Trainer, a League-backed one. There was nothing to poke holes in.
And that was exactly the problem.
A clean, ordinary Mikan Gym Trainer shouldn't know anything about Team Rocket's Mewtwo research, shouldn't know New Island got destroyed, shouldn't know the project's real purpose, and definitely shouldn't be able to steal clone bodies and walk up to Ho-Oh and leave alive.
If Blaine hadn't seen Amber with his own eyes, he would've called it nonsense.
Now he was stuck with reality.
"Listen," Blaine said at last, voice steadying. "I don't know what you're hiding, and I don't care. I believe you won't hurt Amber."
Reiji scoffed. "After everything I risked, you think I did it to mess with you? I'm not that bored."
Blaine sighed and gave a small nod. "Yeah. Yeah. I misjudged you."
Then he squinted. "One more thing. You're fifteen. Why are you only becoming a Trainer now?"
Reiji stared at him like he'd asked the dumbest question on the island. "I'm an orphan."
Blaine coughed, suddenly awkward. "Right. Fine."
He leaned back, half annoyed, half impressed.
Reiji followed League rules long enough to get registered properly, despite starting late. Then he turned around and picked a fight with Team Rocket anyway, like a calf that didn't know what a tiger was.
Blaine didn't know whether to call that reckless, brave, or simply insane.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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