Chapter 54. Return
The next day, a giant Dragonite raced across the sea.
Only this time, Natsume and Meowth were seated on her head, with Gengar in front acting as a windbreak.
"Meowth, look, it's those two Blastoise."
"I told ya, no peeping, meow."
"Hold on, the male looks different.
The male from that day showed up too—now they're fighting!"
"Really?
I gotta see, meow!"
Meowth craned his neck, but because the giant Dragonite was moving too fast, he only caught the rough gist.
"Meowth, do you have enough funds?"
Natsume lowered his head and suddenly looked at Meowth.
"Why're you asking that?
Don't tell me you want to borrow money, meow?"
Meowth went on high alert.
Natsume shook his head and handed Meowth a device with a screen, its casing shaped like a cute cat head.
"This contains the cries of almost every Pokémon.
Help me translate them.
Ten thousand Pokédollars per Pokémon species."
"Really?"
Meowth froze.
A rough estimate flashed through his mind—wouldn't that make him a multimillionaire!
Meowth almost felt glittering coins sprouting on his head.
"I'll take the job, meow!"
"Good."
Natsume gave him a thumbs-up and reminded him:
"All you need to do is match the different cries of each Pokémon and translate them into human language.
The input box is here."
Same order as the Pokédex.
First up was Bulbasaur.
"Bulba~"
"This one means 'All right,' meow."
Meowth said, typing into the input box—"All right."
"Bulba—"
"This one means 'No good,' meow."
Meowth had already launched into a roaring money-making venture.
Sitting on the giant Dragonite's back with time to kill, Natsume decided to scratch open all the scratch-off tickets he'd saved these past few days.
Twenty-three in total—three Great Ball scratch-offs and twenty Poké Ball scratch-offs.
Natsume scratched the three Great Ball tickets.
[Great Ball ×3.]
Natsume blinked.
Great Balls weren't like Master Balls.
These were bottom-of-the-barrel consolation prizes.
Unconvinced, Natsume scratched ten more.
[Poké Ball ×10.]
"Sss—"
Natsume stoked the mood; the air felt heated.
"Gengar, have a stick."
Natsume pulled out a lighter and passed Gengar a stick of spicy incense.
"Gengar!"
Gengar's eyes lit up, happily taking it and skillfully using his hand to shield the wind for Natsume.
In no time, smoke billowed and drifted, like they were in a fairyland.
Resources were limited, so they could only burn one stick.
Time for a good drop!
He scratched the remaining ten tickets.
[Poké Ball ×7, Light Ball ×2, Rare Candy ×1.]
Sure enough—superstition worked.
Seeing the three items newly added to his bag, Natsume's solemn look melted away.
Two Light Balls—perfect.
One for Pikachu and one for center-parted.
He wondered how strong Pikachu—whose two offensive stats had already been enhanced—would get with a Light Ball equipped.
As for the Rare Candy, Natsume didn't overthink it.
Its effect was to raise a Pokémon's level by one.
Unless you had a lot, it wasn't that useful.
Natsume casually tossed the candy to Gengar.
He wanted to see how a game item worked in reality, and Granny Agatha's Gengar just so happened to be high level.
[Gengar, Lv. 86.]
The Pokédex displayed Gengar's current approximate level.
"Gengar!"
Gengar gave Natsume a thumbs-up, as if to say, "Whatever you fed me packs a punch."
Natsume waved it off, inwardly satisfied.
It seemed Rare Candy in reality also granted an unconditional +1 level.
It didn't grant less to a high-level Pokémon or more to a low-level one.
With Gengar acting as a windbreak this time, the giant Dragonite practically went full throttle.
In less than half a day, they reached Bill's Lighthouse again.
"Boom!"
The giant Dragonite stopped short, and the whole coastline heaved with towering waves.
From afar, Natsume could see quite a crowd on the beach.
Ash, Bill, and the others were there, and besides them, Lance, Professor Oak, and Professor Magnolia as well.
"Dragonite, Ice Beam!"
Before Lance's Dragonite could act—
A massive icy-blue beam blasted from the giant Dragonite's mouth, freezing the surging wall of water barreling toward everyone.
In an instant, an ice-spike forest seemed to sprout along the shore, spectacular beyond words.
"What staggering power!"
Lance's expression tightened.
His instincts told him this giant Dragonite was extremely strong.
"Look, it's Natsume!"
Ash's sharp eyes picked out Natsume at a glance, perched atop the giant Dragonite's head.
"Phew—told you, that kid Natsume was definitely going to be fine."
Professor Oak sipped a cup of hot tea.
Beside him, Bill—his hair a bird's nest—let out a long breath, his legs going weak as he flopped onto the ground.
Scared him to death.
He thought he'd gotten Natsume killed.
He hadn't eaten or slept well these past few days.
He hadn't even been this worried at first, but Natsume's tracker suddenly failed halfway through.
He took his Blastoise—and Mr. Lance's Dragonite—to the patch of sea where Natsume had vanished.
There was nothing there.
Only open ocean.
Natsume sat on Gengar's head and drifted gently down.
Meowth slid secretly down the giant Dragonite's tail and slipped away.
"This Gengar is Granny Agatha's, right?"
Lance looked at Natsume in surprise.
That Gengar obeyed Natsume didn't surprise him—after all, it had Granny Agatha's orders.
But judging from the looks of it, the two were on great terms.
More than great—if you didn't know better, you'd think Natsume was Gengar's Trainer.
"Of course.
He was a huge help."
Natsume patted Gengar's head.
"Natsume!"
Honora had just taken a step when Ash dove in first.
She crossed her arms at the side, stomping her foot.
"Thank goodness, Natsume, you're okay!"
Brock and Misty crowded over too, looking him up and down to check if he was missing any parts.
"Ah, good to have you back, good to have you back."
Professor Oak cradled his hot tea, zen as ever.
Over the years, he'd been tempered into having a strong heart by all the wild stunts Natsume pulled.
"Right, Professors.
I reached certain terms with this giant Dragonite.
You can send people along with her to investigate Dynamax."
As he spoke, Natsume handed Professor Magnolia and Professor Oak each a USB drive, which held intel on that little island and some of his hypotheses.
The two Professors tucked them away without a word and glanced toward a nearby palm.
Catching it in his peripheral vision, Natsume could just make out a red chili-pepper-shaped hairstyle peeking through the fronds, and he understood at once.
"Natsume, what happened these past few days?
Tell us!"
Ash stared, excited—he'd already imagined an epic adventure.
"Yeah, Mr. Natsume, please tell us."
Honora looked at him curiously as well.
"What's with your eyes?"
Natsume noticed Honora's eyes were red.
"Her?
She's been crying nonstop since you got taken."
Professor Oak's voice chimed in from the side.
Honora's cheeks flushed red.
"Honora, would you like to come along with us?"
Professor Oak extended an invitation to Honora.
He'd met this student of his student when he arrived the day before.
His first impression—this child was very bright.
His second—there's no way such a promising talent should be left to Natsume.
"No, I want to travel with Mr. Natsume."
Honora shook her head.
"Sigh, very well."
Professor Oak shook his head in disappointment.
"By the way, where's Meowth?"
Misty suddenly asked.
Hearing someone finally ask about Meowth, Jessie and James—perched in a nearby palm—both pricked up their ears.
"Meowth…"
Natsume gazed out at the sea, a trace of sorrow on his face:
"It died.
It went to break up a love triangle between Blastoise, and got beaten to death."
"Huh?"
Everyone felt a sudden pang of grief.
"Darn it, why does Meowth love meddling so much!"
Up in the palm, Jessie and James clutched their heads in agony, fell from the tree, and ran off weeping, ignoring everyone's stares as they went.
"Right, where's center-parted?"
Natsume suddenly realized only Pikachu was on Ash's shoulder.
"Oh, it's over there."
Misty pointed to a stretch of beach.
There, a big mound had been piled up.
A sign was stuck at one end of the mound, and Natsume's hat hung from it.
Draped over the hat was center-parted's little blanket.
Center-parted was hunkered down on the mound like a grave keeper.
Only this grave keeper was sound asleep.
Natsume: "…"
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