Chapter 55. Vermilion City
The cooperation with the giant Dragonite was fully taken over by Professor Oak's team.
Now, Professor Magnolia was in charge of Mt. Moon, and Professor Oak was responsible for the mysterious islet.
Communications at Bill's Lighthouse had been restored, and that very night, Natsume got in touch with Agatha.
"Oh—so you mean Gengar. Leave it with you for now. I heard it Dynamaxed."
On the other side of the screen, an austere, old-fashioned-looking elderly woman paused, then continued:
"Professor Oak said you're entering the League Conference, correct? I'm the Elite Four member maintaining order this time, so just bring the child to me then."
With that, Agatha hung up.
"Mm."
Natsume more or less figured it out.
She wanted Gengar to experience Gigantamax a few more times in advance while it stayed with him.
If, earlier, pushing Dynamax across Kanto had sounded nebulous and far-off—
Now, with the giant Dragonite joining in, the chances of rolling out Dynamax had become very real.
Agatha must have heard the news, too.
"Genga!"
A chubby little hand reached out to Natsume.
Understanding, Natsume passed over a stick of spicy sludge, and Gengar started puffing away.
"…"
Natsume was speechless.
This stuff was attractive to Poison-type Pokémon, sure, but was it really this enticing?
Letting Agatha discover that later didn't sound like a bad thing either.
The next day, Natsume and the others said goodbye to everyone and continued toward Vermilion City.
This time, the journey was smooth.
Two days later, the group arrived at the Vermilion City Pokémon Center without incident.
"Getting to Vermilion City wasn't easy. If only we could go on that luxury ocean liner once!"
Slumped at a sagging cafeteria table, Misty's eyes sparkled as she stared at the S.S. Anne poster on the wall.
"We've got to challenge the Gym first."
Ash talked through a mouthful of food.
"But those tickets are pricey. We can't afford them."
Brock snapped Misty out of her daydream.
Not far away, Honora carried a tray over to Natsume with his meal.
Hearing their conversation, she turned, a thoughtful look in her eyes.
"Natsume, your lunch."
Honora set the food down and looked at Natsume curiously.
Right now, Natsume was holding a complex schematic.
It was his concept design for a Mecha Rotom.
Most sections were only simple lines—the designer clearly had no firm idea yet.
The only part completed was the head.
It was unmistakably in the form of a Master Ball Rotom.
A long road lay ahead.
Setting aside materials and funding, he'd need at least five exceptional Rotom.
Of course, before that, he needed to build a transformable Rotom Bike to verify some of his ideas.
"What is this, Natsume?"
Honora stared at him, eyes bright.
She'd always felt Natsume was desireless, but when he looked at this design, he seemed genuinely eager.
"It's nothing."
Natsume yawned and glanced at the Pokémon feasting nearby.
Center-parted, Squirtle, Charmander—and unlike before, a big lug had joined today's lunch.
"Hmph!"
Blood-red heat vented from Dragonite's nostrils, tinged with a metallic tang.
Red sweat kept seeping from its body, and streaks of blood trickled through the craggy furrows of its fierce face.
It looked downright vicious.
Especially that mismatched pair of wings—one large, one small—whose lack of proportion made the Pokémon around it even more afraid.
Everyone stayed far away, terrified it would suddenly lash out.
Even Pikachu regarded it with wary respect.
For one simple reason: it was the giant Dragonite's child.
Its talent might be poor, but its level was high—[Dragonite, Lv. 60].
That savage expression plus the blood-sweat made the other Trainers eating nearby unconsciously scoot their seats farther away.
Except for the reckless center-parted.
It lay on Dragonite's head, hugging the pointy crest and snoring away.
"Wooo~"
Feeling a bit lonely, Dragonite walked toward Natsume.
"Hngh!"
Lifting a leg, Dragonite stepped onto the table in front of Natsume.
It sat on the table, held up its big bowl, stared at Natsume, and started eating.
As if Natsume were some kind of side dish that made the meal go down better.
"Creak—thud!"
The table groaned under the weight and collapsed.
"Natsume, that's the third set already."
Nurse Joy walked over with a ledger and added another line to Natsume's tab.
Natsume didn't tell Dragonite to get down.
If telling it worked, Nurse Joy wouldn't have reached the third set.
Natsume looked at the Dragonite before him with a complicated expression.
Good news: he had captured a Dragonite, and it was high level.
Bad news: its talent was one-in-ten-thousand—all zeros.
Worse news: its brain hadn't fully developed and was stuck at a toddler's stage.
It seemed all the Gigantamax energy in its body had gone into growing muscle.
A massive body plus ultra-low intelligence.
Natsume had a headache.
"Uu-uu~"
Seeing Natsume a bit upset, Dragonite reached out and patted him.
"Crack—"
The chair under Natsume shattered, and Nurse Joy added another line.
"…"
Still, the child was kind.
"Pika—"
Center-parted woke up, patted Dragonite on the head, and said something.
Dragonite scooted its rear and climbed down from the broken table.
Watching Dragonite sit off to the side and quietly eat its boxed lunch, Natsume looked thoughtfully at center-parted.
Over the past few days, he had noticed that the other Pokémon were terrified of his Dragonite.
Its strength was simply too great and hard to control.
Even when it meant well, it often caused no small amount of harm to others.
This left Dragonite with almost no Pokémon willing to accept it from the outset.
Even the usually friendly Pikachu had backed down and grown wary of it.
Dragonite was dejected, too.
Days had gone by, and it still didn't have a single friend.
That lasted until yesterday, when center-parted discovered that feng shui treasure of a sleeping spot—Dragonite's head.
Now, Dragonite took center-parted's words seriously.
As for Natsume, its Trainer?
The language center of its brain probably hadn't developed much either, because it simply couldn't understand the "birdspeech" coming out of Natsume's mouth.
Staring at center-parted tucking the little blanket over Dragonite's head, Natsume fell into thought.
Apparently, this was one of center-parted's ways of repurposing "junk."
"Alright, now that we're fed and watered, let's go challenge the Gym!"
After finishing, Ash announced in a loud voice.
Seeing that, Natsume recalled the Dragonite that had been sitting blankly to the side.
Up above, the sleeping center-parted toppled to the floor.
It got up in a daze, looked around, flopped back down, and pulled the blanket over itself to sleep again.
"Hey, center-parted, time to go!"
"Pika!"
Ash deftly hoisted center-parted, while Pikachu urged him on.
"Wait!"
Natsume stopped Ash.
"What is it, Natsume?"
Ash halted.
"Have them take these two things."
Natsume pulled out two golden-yellow beads that, on closer look, seemed to roil with inner lightning.
"These are Light Balls. When held by Pikachu, they raise Attack and Special Attack."
Natsume tossed the two Light Balls to Ash as he spoke.
"How do we wear them?"
Ash turned the smooth beads over in his hands, a bit confused.
Should he have a necklace made for the Pikachu now, then string one on?
"The common way is to swallow them. Otherwise—"
Natsume's eyes shifted to Pikachu's butt.
"Pi!"
Pikachu clenched up, hurriedly shook its head, grabbed a Light Ball, and gulped it down.
"Center-parted, you too."
Ash fed the other Light Ball to center-parted.
"Alright, good luck with the Gym challenge!"
Natsume clapped his hands and stayed where he was.
"Huh? You're not coming, Natsume?"
Brock was puzzled.
"Ash, take my place for the challenge. Honora needs to see me about something."
Natsume waved to Ash and the others.
"What? You can challenge on someone else's behalf?"
Misty was too drained to complain properly.
"No problem. Leave it to me, Natsume!"
"You actually agreed!?"
"Huh? Center-parted is Natsume's Pokémon anyway. Why not?"
Bickering, the group went off into the distance.
Natsume turned to Honora.
"So, you're saying your family's here? Your dad wants to see me?"
"Ah—um."
Honora suddenly blushed, heat practically wafting off her head.
Her gaze flitted far away.
"Yes. My home is right nearby."
Seeing this, Natsume narrowed his eyes.
He'd learned a bit about his assistant by now.
Most of her stress responses triggered only when she was embarrassed—or when she was lying.
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