Day 5 back in the Orange Archipelago. Clear.
"Holy crap, that's heavy… who is that?"
Reiji opened his eyes in a daze. He could barely turn over, and for one awful second he thought he was having sleep paralysis.
Then he saw a long blue body wrapped around him.
He jolted awake and started struggling on the bed.
In his previous life, when something was this long, there was only one thing it could be: a snake. And snakes were exactly the kind of thing people feared just by hearing the word.
After wriggling for a bit, though, he realized he still could not move. The "snake" had him wrapped too tightly. Only when he looked more carefully and saw the small wing-like fins on its head did he finally remember where he was.
This was the Pokémon world.
Not a giant snake.
Probably.
"Dragonair? Did you evolve last night?" Reiji stared at it properly this time, and the fear drained away. "You're beautiful."
Now that he knew what it was, the body coiled around him no longer felt terrifying. It felt like looking at a piece of art. Cool blue-white scales, smooth and bright, really were something else.
Dragonair was a long, serpentine Pokémon, its slender body covered in scales. Its belly was a clear, bright white.
It had glossy black eyes, a small white horn on its forehead, and two little wing-like fins on either side of its head.
Three crystal-like blue orbs decorated its body: one beneath its neck, and two near the end of its tail.
Dragonair and Umbreon were both still half-asleep, blinking slowly. While they were coming around, Reiji reached for Dragonair's Poké Ball and opened its panel first.
[Dragonair]
[Type: Dragon]
[Gender: Male]
[Potential: 69.99%]
[Level: 41.12%]
[Ability: Shed Skin/35.23%][Hidden Ability: Marvel Scale/9.33%]
[Moves]
Dragon-type: [Moves mastered: (Twister/7.82%) (Dragon Tail/9.45%) (Dragon Rage/8.35%) (Outrage/5.88%) (Dragon Rush/4.95%) (Dragon Dance/4.24%) (Dragon Pulse/2.83%)]
Normal-type: [(Extreme Speed/24.88%) (Wrap/16.95%) (Leer/7.24%) (Protect/16.83%) (Sleep Talk/16.11%) (Safeguard/1.31%) (Slam/3.33%)]
Psychic-type: [(Rest/23.68%) (Agility/24.24%)]
Water-type: [(Rain Dance/6.64%) (Surf/3.65%) (Aqua Tail/2.15%)]
Other: [(Thunder Wave/7.73%)]
"So it really is Dragonair. And 69 potential. Pretty close to what happened with Scyther." Reiji could accept that result. Dragonair had climbed here step by step, and Scyther had also relied on Elite Four-tier evolution materials to reach a similar point.
He looked at Dratini's gem nest next.
The scale was gone. The Dragon Fang was still there, but its grade had dropped. Many of the Gems had turned clear, which meant the nest would need to be rebuilt. The Dragon Fang, though, could stay and continue being absorbed by Dragonair.
Dragonair's level had shot straight past Advanced tier. Now came the slow part again.
Its ability was still Shed Skin, so maybe it could use this evolution's shedding cycle to push its potential past 70.
Once it evolved again, Shed Skin would be gone, replaced by Inner Focus. At that point, it would no longer have such an easy way to grind potential through shedding.
As for moves, the Elite Four-tier Dragon Scale had clearly strengthened Dragonair's Dragon-type talent. At the very least, it had learned Outrage. It had also picked up several Dragon-type moves: Dragon Rush, Dragon Dance, Dragon Pulse…
It had learned Sleep Talk too, a Normal-type move. Apparently sleeping in all the time had paid off.
Then there was Surf, a Water-type move it had learned while playing in the water at the lake with the crystal.
Overall, the panel looked good.
By the time Reiji closed it, Dragonair and Umbreon had both woken up properly. They immediately climbed onto him and started licking his face, which was how Pokémon liked to show affection.
"Ruu," Umbreon cried from the left.
"Mrru," Dragonair answered from the right.
"Ruu?" Umbreon glanced at Dragonair and did not register it at first.
Then it lifted its head sharply and looked again. Only then did it realize Dragonair had grown much bigger and even had little wing-like fins now.
"Mrru? Me?" Dragonair knew what evolution was. It quickly slithered over to the large mirror and began studying its long, elegant body.
Reiji took the opportunity to escape. He went into the bathroom and washed his face.
As a human, he really was not fond of this licking-as-affection habit. His face was covered in saliva.
After washing up, he came back out and picked up the tape measure from the bedside table. He had Dragonair stretch out straight so he could measure its length.
The result was just over four meters by three centimeters.
That meant it still had room to grow. Reiji was pretty happy about that. Dragonair could keep shedding. He put the Everstone back around its neck.
A normal Dragonair was about four meters long. His Dragonair was three centimeters longer. Before evolving, Dratini had been eighteen centimeters longer than normal. That meant both Dratini and Dragonair still had room left in their bodies to grow.
Now he had to wait again. Once Dragonair reached its shedding limit, it could evolve into Dragonite. After that, it could start real training and recover everything it had lost before.
Technically, Dragonair could already do some light training now. Nothing too intense, and definitely no gravity training. This was when it was supposed to be growing. If gravity compressed its body and stunted its growth, that would be a joke.
Light training was fine, though. He would arrange that later.
For now, he fed Umbreon and Dragonair breakfast first, then released the rest of his Pokémon for their meals. Once everyone had eaten, he recalled them all.
Dragonair's evolution was a small surprise, but the day still had to continue.
Tonight, Reiji planned to return to Mikan Island. Tai's 100 million could wait. They would all be entering the Orange League tournament anyway. As for Magnezone, he could talk to Naoki once it was sold. There was no rush.
He packed up the things in the room, including Dratini's little nest. Once he returned, he would make a larger one that could fit Dragonair's four-meter body. Just as he finished, someone knocked on the door and called him down for breakfast.
Reiji brought Umbreon to the first-floor hall.
Everyone was already sitting properly at the dining table. No one had started eating. They were obviously waiting for him.
Reiji sat at the head of the table and said, "Eat. Don't wait for me. I'll be going back to Mikan Island later, so everyone can do whatever they need to do."
"Rai-nii, can we enter the Orange League tournament too?" Sou scratched his head. He had never competed in an official tournament before, and just thinking about it made him a little nervous.
"Of course you can. The League isn't after any of you." Reiji smiled and waved it off, then glanced at Naoki, signaling for him to explain.
"Right. Here's how it works," Naoki said, taking the cue and repeating what they had talked about the night before. "Anyone with League citizenship and no bad record can enter. That's the minimum requirement. If you want to go, you can sign up on your own."
"I'll probably enter as Mikan Gym's representative," Reiji added. "Gulzar should be representing his Gym too. We might even face each other, so if we meet there, act like we don't know each other. Got it?"
Reiji looked at A.J. specifically. He and A.J. knew each other publicly, so exchanging a few words would not be a problem.
"Boss, I've improved a lot lately. Don't lose to me." A.J. looked at the Poké Ball on the table in front of him.
Inside was his first Elite Four-tier Pokémon, his starter, Sandslash.
"Haha. If I lose, you can be the boss." Reiji laughed and teased them.
Everyone laughed stiffly and quickly made it clear that was not happening.
The breakfast gathering ended there.
The weather was decent today. Reiji did not take Naoki's car to the pier. Instead, he planned to fly.
After saying a simple goodbye to everyone in the villa courtyard, he mounted Pelipper and flew toward Mikan Island.
The two islands were close. Even flying slowly, he should reach Mikan Island by noon.
He just wondered whether they would be home.
Maybe he could even make it in time for lunch.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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