While Misty, May, and Chloe were walking around Cerise Park, Natsui had already gone into the building.
He knew the way inside very well. He did not need anyone to guide him and walked through the halls until he reached the work area.
At that moment, Professor Cerise, Chrysa, and Ren were standing together in front of several machines, talking about something. Maybe they were too focused on the discussion, because none of them noticed Natsui arriving.
Natsui stood there and looked around.
The equipment had changed a lot since his last visit. The machines were arranged differently now, and there were many more of them. It looked like the Cerise Laboratory was much more complete than before. Seeing that made him feel a little emotional.
He had not been gone that long, but it felt as if a very long time had passed.
Natsui did not interrupt them because the three of them were in the middle of a serious discussion. He simply stood there and waited for a while.
By chance, Chrysa looked over first. The moment she saw him, her eyes lit up.
"Oh? Isn't that Natsui? When did you get back?"
As expected, she was the most observant one. The moment they heard her voice, Professor Cerise and Ren stopped talking. They both turned around quickly, and pleasant surprise appeared on their faces when they saw Natsui.
"Natsui?"
"So, the Champion is back!"
The three of them were clearly very happy to see him. They immediately stopped working and came over.
"Professor, Chrysa, Ren, it's been a long time." As he spoke, Natsui quickly handed them the gifts he had bought. "These are just small gifts to show my thanks. Please take them."
He did not care that he was now the champion of three conferences. That title had not made him arrogant. He still treated people the same way he always had. He did not let fame change his personality the way many others would have.
Because of that, the three of them still felt that he was the same friend they knew. Even after such a long time apart, there was no sense of distance between them.
The person who had come back was still the same Natsui.
"I watched your whole tournament," Ren said with a smile as he set the gift down. "You were as strong as ever. Just like at the Silver Conference and the Indigo Plateau, those people couldn't beat you at all!"
As he spoke, he pointed at his desk. Natsui followed his finger and saw a little action figure of himself sitting there.
Oh no...
Were they already selling merchandise like that?
It seemed Ren was not just a friend. He was a genuine fan of Natsui's battles.
Out of the three of them, Ren was the only one who really loved Pokémon battles, and he had followed all of Natsui's matches. He had watched nearly every battle online. Since he already knew how strong Natsui was, he had never once worried that Natsui might lose.
That was exactly the kind of thing fans loved to see most.
It was satisfying to watch.
"That's right," Chrysa said jokingly. "On the day of your final, Ren even stopped working just to watch you. And after it ended, all he said was, 'That's it?' He was obviously disappointed that your opponent lost so easily."
With Professor Cerise standing right there, Ren admitted it without hesitation.
"I wasn't wrong!" he said with a laugh. "I really wasn't. Compared to the Silver Conference and the Indigo Plateau, the opponents this time were much weaker. It didn't even feel like a final. It felt more like a Top 16 match!"
Natsui felt there was a reason it had felt like a Top 16 battle.
He had already defeated the strongest opponent early on, and even Ash had taken a mental blow afterward, so Ash never got the chance to fully show what he could do.
Still, to be fair, even if the top competitors were not quite on the same level, the overall average strength at the Ever Grande Conference had been higher than at the Silver Conference or the Indigo Plateau.
Beside them, Professor Cerise kept smiling. His expression only shifted slightly when he heard that Ren had stopped working, but he did not say anything.
After the small talk ended, Professor Cerise turned to Natsui and asked, "Did you come back for a reason this time, or are you just visiting?"
"Not exactly. I have a goal this time."
As he spoke, Natsui told them about his plan to challenge the Battle Frontier.
"The Battle Frontier?" Professor Cerise touched his chin and spoke slowly. "I've heard of that place. And if I remember correctly... one of the facilities is near Vermilion City..."
Professor Cerise walked over to a computer and pressed a few buttons. Soon, a map of Kanto with several marked locations appeared on the large screen.
Natsui looked up. Just as Professor Cerise had said, one of the facilities was located between Vermilion City and Saffron City. The map showed several facilities, while the final one remained hidden, but the others were clearly marked.
"This map helps a lot." Natsui took out his phone, snapped a picture of the screen, and thanked Professor Cerise. "With this, I won't have to worry about going the wrong way."
When Natsui came back out of the building and returned to Cerise Park, he found the three girls resting on the grass.
Beside them, his own Pokémon were playing around. Misty's and May's Pokémon were also having fun together.
The moment they saw him coming, all three girls stood up.
Misty immediately asked, "Are we leaving now?"
She did not want to go home early. She just felt a strange sense of pressure whenever she was around Chloe. Every time Chloe casually mentioned something about Natsui that Misty did not know, it irritated her.
But Natsui shook his head.
"I'm afraid we can't leave until tomorrow. Professor Cerise invited us to have dinner at his house tonight, and he specifically asked me to bring all of you. It was a very kind invitation, so we have to stay here one more day."
The three girls reacted very differently.
Misty looked a little disappointed, May did not seem to care much either way, and Chloe looked extremely happy.
Natsui glanced at them, shook his head, and ignored their expressions. He walked deeper into the park.
First, he let out all the Pokémon he had with him so they could stretch and move around. Then he went to see the Pokémon already staying there.
He had seen most of them recently, except for the giant Red Gyarados and the Crystal Steelix. So he only spent a short time with the others and stayed longer with those two.
Clouds drifted past overhead, and sunlight filtered down through the glass dome, casting long shadows across the trees.
Natsui lay down on the grass and looked up at the sky.
Honestly, he had not enjoyed a peaceful moment like this in a long time.
He did not have to think about Gym battles or traveling. He could just lie there quietly with his Pokémon and listen to the girls chatting nearby. Even if it was only for a short while, he felt completely relaxed.
This is what life should be like...
But it was still only morning. There was still a long time before evening, and he could not just keep lying there and waste the whole day.
Then he remembered Misha, Masha, and the others. They were still near Vermilion City. Courtney and Shelly had also been here for nearly a month since coming from Hoenn.
He wondered how they were doing.
In the end, he decided to go check on them.
He stood up, brushed the dirt off his clothes, and called Misty and the others over. Then he got ready to leave Cerise Park.
Unexpectedly, Misty stood up at the same time.
"I'm going too," Misty said. "It's boring to stay here. I'll come with you to see them. It's been a long time since I saw Shelly and Courtney. I want to check on them too."
Natsui knew Misty was lying.
She did not really care that much about seeing Shelly and Courtney. They had met before, but they were not close. She was only saying that because she did not want to stay in the park any longer.
As soon as Misty finished, both May and Chloe stood up as well.
"I want to go too."
"Me too."
He had originally planned to go alone so the girls could spend more time together. But now it had turned into another group outing, and Chloe was coming too.
Natsui left most of his Pokémon there. He only recalled Gardevoir into her Poké Ball and had Gengar slip back into his shadow. Then, together with the three girls, he left Cerise Park and headed toward the edge of Vermilion City.
They had not gone very far when Natsui spotted a dark-skinned boy walking toward them with one hand in his pocket.
Natsui recognized him immediately.
It was Chloe's childhood friend, Goh.
Natsui did not hate Goh, but he could not help wondering why he always seemed to run into this guy every time he came back.
At that moment, Goh had a strange smile on his face as he headed toward Cerise Park. But the moment he saw Natsui, the smile disappeared.
He had just seen the person he wanted to see least.
And just like Natsui, Goh could not understand why he always ran into this man whenever he came to find Chloe.
In truth, he did not even want to see Natsui's Pokémon. He still had terrible memories of that annoying Gengar and that frightening giant Red Gyarados.
He wanted to pretend he had not seen them and walk right past. But Chloe was there, so he could not ignore them.
"Ch-Chloe, what a coincidence..." Goh said stiffly, trying his best to sound natural.
"Goh?" Chloe looked surprised too. "What are you doing here?"
"I... I was just walking nearby. Anyway, I won't stay. See you when school starts. I'm leaving, bye~"
Natsui watched Goh. The boy kept glancing at him now and then. Then, as if he were afraid, Goh hurried away.
Natsui stopped paying attention to him.
Goh did not want to talk to him, and Natsui felt the same way.
No matter how many times they met, they were still basically strangers. Their personalities and ways of thinking did not match at all. Even if Ash traveled with him in the future, Natsui still would not become his friend.
That encounter with Goh was just a small interruption. Once they moved on, Natsui quickly forgot about it.
They passed through the busy part of the city and eventually found the bikers' base at the edge of Vermilion City.
Calling it a base might have been a bit of an exaggeration. It was really just a motorcycle repair shop with a bar attached.
Natsui had given them money to start a business, and the bikers had learned how to work together. They had not been very successful before, but now they had become much more professional. Business was getting better and better.
There were motorcycles parked outside the bar and inside the repair shop. That alone showed they had finally become a real motorcycle gang instead of a bicycle gang.
Several gang members were fixing things in the shop. The moment they saw Natsui, their faces lit up, and they all gathered around him at once.
"Boss!"
"Boss!!"
Natsui had never personally called himself their boss, but they had already decided that he was. By now, Natsui was used to it.
One of them ran into the bar to tell the others. The rest surrounded Natsui like he was some famous celebrity and led him inside.
Misha and Masha heard the news and rushed out from the back rooms with a large group behind them. In their excitement, they nearly pushed Misty and the other girls aside.
"Boss!!"
Misha looked at him with admiration and said, "You finally had time to come see us. When did you get back to Kanto?"
"Don't ask about that first!" Masha shoved her brother aside with her hip, then turned to Natsui with excitement shining in her eyes. "Boss, we watched your final on TV. You were way too amazing!!"
The siblings and the other bikers all started talking at once. The whole bar became loud and chaotic.
Natsui only needed a few words to calm them down.
"Quiet, quiet. Don't scare my friends."
He called Misty and the others over. Once the crowd backed off a little, Natsui looked around the inside of the bar.
It looked like one of those country bars he had seen on TV. There were bottles lined up behind the counter, a dartboard on the wall, and a pool table in the corner. The only strange part was that the walls were covered with posters of him.
It felt very weird.
Normally, a place like this would have posters of women. But this one was covered in posters of him instead. A whole group of men stared at those posters every day. If someone did not know the reason, they might get very strange ideas.
Besides the bikers, a few ordinary customers were also inside the bar. They looked at him with obvious curiosity.
Natsui knew this was not a good place to talk. He glanced at Masha, and she understood right away. She quickly sent the others off and led Natsui, Misty, and the others into a meeting room.
As soon as the door closed, the whole world suddenly became quiet.
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