Day 24 since setting out for Kanto. Overcast.
The sirens had screamed all night, and Reiji barely slept.
His hotel was on the edge of the city, and so was the factory. The police cars had been only a couple of streets away, so the wailing sirens had gone back and forth all night. He had no idea how much of Officer Jenny's force had been mobilized.
The next morning, after feeding his Pokémon breakfast, he prepared to leave Gringey City.
He had ended up leaving Tai without a word, but that was probably for the best. Their identities were both too sensitive. The less contact they had, the safer it was.
Once the Pokémon had eaten, he recalled all of them except Poliwhirl.
He recalled Riolu too. He could not go back to the Pokémon Center anymore, but Riolu had mostly recovered. What it needed now was food, rest, and time to get its strength back. Its mood had settled too. It was no longer as hostile toward them as it had been at first, which was at least a good sign.
After leaving the hotel, Reiji pulled out his map and headed out of the city toward Fuchsia City. As he passed the power plant, he glanced over and saw that Officer Jenny's blockade was already gone. The black market was finished for good, which let him leave the city with an easier mind.
By the time he reached the outskirts on foot, he still had not fully left Gringey City's range. The sky overhead was still dark and heavy, but farther off he could already see brighter clouds. That alone was a welcome change.
Once he was outside the city, he had no intention of walking any farther. He recalled Poliwhirl, released Pelipper, and prepared to fly the rest of the way.
If he went to Fuchsia City on foot from where he was now, it would take at least a week. By ship, two days. Flying there, he could make it by tonight.
He had no interest in ships anymore. The sight of one made his stomach turn. Flying was faster anyway, and Fuchsia City had the Safari Zone nearby.
Back when he had watched the anime in his previous life, there had been a Dragonair and a Dratini there. It might be worth taking a look.
Not that he was set on catching anything. The Safari Zone warden had such a rotten temper that just hearing the word Dratini was enough to make him blow up.
Besides, that Dratini had grown up by now and even hatched a baby of its own. If anyone tried to catch it, the Dragonair would fight to the death. He would see when he got there, though chances were he would never find them in the first place.
He climbed onto Pelipper's back and flew along the coastline to avoid getting lost. Fuchsia City sat by the sea, after all. As long as he reached the strait by the Seafoam Islands, he would be able to find it.
Too bad he had never gotten the location of Blastoise Island. He could always ask Blaine again when the Indigo Plateau tournament came around. For now, getting out of Gringey City came first.
Once he flew beyond the city's range, the sky gradually cleared. The air smelled much better too. The burnt, bitter stench was finally gone, replaced by the fresh scent of grass and trees.
After flying all morning, he had to stop and let Pelipper rest. He found a river, set up camp, and decided to eat lunch before continuing on.
At lunchtime, he released all of his Pokémon, including Toxicroak and the others, and Riolu too. Everyone ate together by the river.
While they were eating, though, Marshtomp—who had been playing by the water—seemed to spot something and started calling out urgently.
Marshtomp kept croaking and pointing at the riverbank, which drew Reiji and the others over.
"A person? In work clothes? And a safety helmet?"
Reiji spotted a man sprawled at the edge of the river. He dragged him out of the shallows, recalled Toxicroak and the others, and left only Poliwhirl and a few of the team out beside him.
Then he lightly checked the man's breathing. Once he confirmed the man was still alive, he gave him a shake and woke him up.
The worker groaned, squinted a few times, and slowly opened his eyes. When he saw Reiji—a total stranger—he asked in confusion, "Who are you? Where am I?"
"I'm just a Trainer passing through. What happened to you? Why were you in the river?"
"The river?" The worker froze, then suddenly understood. "The vehicle I was riding got flipped over by Diglett, and I fell into the water. I blacked out. I guess I drifted all the way here..."
"Diglett attacked people?" Reiji muttered. He was half asking the man, half asking himself. Unless a Pokémon was unusually violent, they usually did not attack humans for no reason.
"Yes. We're building a reservoir in the mountains, but there's a whole group of Diglett up there causing trouble. The project's been delayed because of them. Are you a Trainer? Our foreman's hiring Trainers right now to drive those Diglett away..."
"I am a Trainer," Reiji said, though the reservoir project itself and the construction trouble barely interested him. What caught his attention was the Diglett.
Diglett was one of the Pokémon lines he had already considered for combination evolution. He needed three of them. If there really were Diglett here, then it was worth taking a look.
"That's great. Please help us drive them off," the worker said, scrambling to his feet and bowing desperately.
"I can go take a look," Reiji replied, but he did not agree outright. Most wild Pokémon did not attack humans without a reason, and Diglett were not exactly known for being violent. Aside from loving to dig, they were fairly mild Pokémon.
Unless these workers had damaged the Digletts' home or wrecked the surrounding forest while building the reservoir, mild little Diglett would not have started attacking people on their own. They were not reckless bruisers like Ursaring.
"All right, please wait a moment. I need to make a call."
The worker pulled a phone from his pocket. Thankfully it was waterproof, or this would have gone nowhere.
A few minutes later, after the call ended, the two of them waited in the forest by the river for over an hour. Eventually, someone came crashing through the trees and found the worker.
"Thank god, you're all right," the newcomer said, pulling the worker into a quick hug. They were probably coworkers.
"I'm fine. This Trainer here saved me," the worker said, nodding toward Reiji. Then he called out, "Hey, kid, the car's here. Come with us."
"Sure."
Reiji recalled Poliwhirl and the others, followed the worker through the forest, and came out onto an asphalt road where a small car was waiting. He got in with them and let them take him to the reservoir site.
After more than two hours on the road, they finally reached the place the worker had been talking about.
"Trainer, I'll take you to the foreman."
The moment they got out, the worker hurried Reiji over. Near the construction site, Reiji saw a whole crowd of Trainers gathered in little groups, chatting among themselves. They had probably all been invited by the foreman.
"Boss, I found another Trainer—"
"Mm, got it. Have him wait. I'll explain everything to everyone at once later."
The foreman gave Reiji a quick nod, then turned away to deal with something else. With so many Trainers gathered here, he clearly did not have time to handle each one personally.
The worker gave Reiji an awkward smile. "Sorry, Trainer. The boss is busy, so you might have to wait a bit..."
"It's fine," Reiji said with a small wave.
He truly did not care. His attention was already on someone else.
Someone familiar.
After saying goodbye to the worker, he saw a small group heading his way.
"Over here! Rai-nii! Over here!"
When Reiji turned, three familiar figures were coming toward him.
"Ash? What are you doing here?" Reiji asked.
Only then did it click for him where this place was.
This reservoir had shown up in the anime. Otherwise, there was no way Ash would just happen to appear here.
"Rai-nii, we were invited here. Don't tell me you were too?" Ash asked, grinning from ear to ear. It had been over two weeks since they had last met, and he had talked about Reiji to his companions more than once—the Trainer from the Orange Archipelago.
"Yeah," Reiji said, then looked at the other two. "And these two are?"
Of course, he recognized Brock, the tan-skinned, squinty-eyed Gym Leader, and Misty with her side ponytail. After being here this long, he had finally run into the main boy and girl from the original series.
Which meant the lovely, troublesome villains—Jessie, James, and that talking Meowth—were probably lurking somewhere nearby too.
The thought made him glance toward the woods. Dense grass and brush covered the area, and for all he knew, Team Rocket's trio really was hiding in there.
"This is Brock from Pewter Gym, and she's Misty from Cerulean Gym. They're traveling with me," Ash said before turning to them and adding, "And this is the guy I'm always telling you about—the Trainer from the Orange Archipelago. Rai-nii."
"The Orange Archipelago..." Brock murmured under his breath, still smiling. "That's the chain of tropical islands south of mainland Kanto. Pretty far away." Then he held out a hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Brock."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Rai," Reiji said, shaking his hand.
This one was nothing like Ash. He was a Gym Leader, after all.
As long as no pretty older girl was around, Brock's brain worked just fine.
"Hi, I'm Misty," Misty said too. It was enough for a first greeting. He was Ash's acquaintance, not hers, and they did not know each other yet.
"Nice to meet you," Reiji replied with a nod.
"So, Ash," Reiji said, "it's been a while. How many badges have you got now?"
Ash showing up here probably meant he was on his way to Fuchsia City too, which made them fellow travelers for now. Since Fuchsia City was close, running into him here really was a coincidence.
"I've got four badges now, Rai-nii," Ash said, rubbing his nose. Four badges in a little over two weeks was honestly pretty good.
"Ash, quit bragging," Misty cut in immediately. "Three of those four were basically handed to you."
"Misty, come on," Ash shot back, clenching his fists. "I still fought those Gym battles, didn't I?"
Reiji saw the argument coming and quickly stepped in. "Ash has a point. If people are willing to hand you badges, that's a kind of skill too."
He had asked Blaine for a free badge before and gotten nowhere. If Ash could get people to give him badges, that meant the kid had some serious social luck.
"See that, Misty?" Ash said at once, puffing up like a rooster that had won a fight. "Rai-nii agrees with me."
Stupid Ash. Misty clenched her little fist at the smug look on his face and ended up adding Reiji to her grudge list too.
"All right, all right," Brock said quickly, calming her down before things escalated in front of so many people.
"Oh, right! Rai-nii, how many badges do you have?" Ash asked, still secretly delighted that Misty had lost that round.
"Just two," Reiji said with an awkward smile. "The Volcano Badge and the Ghost Badge."
"Huh? Only two?" Ash blinked. "But Rai-nii, you're so strong."
He knew how strong Reiji's Pokémon were. Even Gary could not beat him. In Ash's mind, that already put Reiji in the very strong category.
At least when it came to Ash and Gary's rivalry, Ash usually came out on the losing end. So if Reiji could beat Gary, that was proof enough.
"Hmph. I thought he'd be stronger, the way you go on about him all day," Misty said. "And he only has two badges."
"Only two, sure," Brock said, lowering his voice, "but those two came from Blaine on Cinnabar Island and that girl in Lavender Town. Didn't you see how badly Ash got crushed before?"
That made Misty pause.
She remembered Lavender Town all too well. They had gotten trapped in that foggy forest for an entire day, and afterward Ash had been demolished so badly by Tania's Gengar that he nearly broke down on the spot.
Tania had then looked at how weak he was, refused him a second Gym battle, told him to come back after he had six badges, and thrown them out.
"Right," Misty said at last. "That girl was insanely strong. Especially that Gengar. Ash lost to it three times and couldn't do a thing."
So if the Trainer in front of them had earned the Ghost Badge, then at the very least he had beaten Tania.
That made him anything but ordinary.
Reiji had no idea what Brock and Misty were whispering about. He only smiled at Ash and waved a hand. "I wouldn't say I'm that strong. I've still got a long way to go. What about you? Have you caught any new partners lately?"
"I have!" Ash lit up immediately. "I already caught Pikachu. Rai-nii, battle me. I want to challenge you and make up for the match we never had last time."
He had regretted that missed battle for ages. Back then he had not even caught Pikachu yet, so they had never fought.
This time, he was sure he could beat Reiji.
"Sure," Reiji said.
He looked around, found an empty patch of ground, and walked over with Ash.
Brock and Misty followed right behind them.
When the people nearby noticed a battle was about to happen, several Trainers who had been standing around chatting turned their heads to watch. Their interest was obvious. A Trainer battle was a Trainer battle.
Reiji and Ash took their places on opposite sides of the clearing.
Then Reiji flicked out a Poké Ball first.
"Come on out, Kingler."
Against the Ash of right now, there was no point bullying him. Kingler was enough. If he sent out Gyarados, he might scare the kid half to death.
"Whoa, Kingler?" Ash stared, recognizing it at once as Krabby's evolved form, and immediately whipped out his Pokédex to scan it.
[Kingler, the Pincer Pokémon. The evolved form of Krabby...]
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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