Sunyshore City, north of the Sunyshore Market.
After filling his stomach, Silas was forcibly dragged into accompanying Diantha for a stroll. The two walked side by side, her left shoulder leaning against his right, their hands tucked into their pockets as they held onto each other.
"So we are just here to buy seals?"
Looking up at the building in front of him, Silas let out a helpless sigh. "We might as well go to the Pokémon Center and have a battle to warm up, right Litten?"
Perched on Silas's right shoulder, Litten let out a soft "meow" in agreement.
"We are already here, so let's go inside and take a look." Diantha pulled him along decisively. "This is the largest seal market, with Pokémon seals from all over the world."
As they stepped into the building, a wave of noise rushed toward them.
There were quite a lot of people, most of them trainers and coordinators accompanied by cute Pokémon. With the regional League tournaments approaching, contestants who had qualified were practically living in training grounds, desperate to improve their strength every day.
"Let's go over there first."
Diantha led Silas to a shop that specialized in attribute themed seals.
"They are all so cute, right Silas?"
"Yeah." Silas nodded absentmindedly as he picked up a flame seal. "Do you like this, Litten?"
"Meow."
Litten rubbed itself against Silas's neck, its body soft as it leaned into him, a gentle purring sound coming from its throat.
After spending so much time together, Silas knew this was Litten's shy way of expressing happiness.
He scratched its chin and pinched its fluffy cheeks. "We will stick this onto your Poké Ball later."
Since they were here, they could not leave empty handed.
Silas planned to pick a seal for every Pokémon at the ranch. However, it seemed he had completely ignored Diantha beside him.
Seeing this, Diantha felt a slight pang of jealousy.
Only after Silas finished choosing everything did she finally speak, her voice filled with obvious resentment. "Someone did not even want to come in just now, but the moment it is about picking things for Pokémon, you get all excited. What about me? Am I not as important as them?"
Silas tightened his grip on her hand and smiled. "You are just as important. And I picked seals for you too."
When Diantha saw the seals he had chosen, each matching one of her Pokémon perfectly, the jealousy in her heart faded considerably.
He had not forgotten her even while choosing for his Pokémon. For a moment, Diantha felt touched.
Her efforts had not been in vain. She had finally managed to move this block of wood.
Taking a step forward, she leaned close to Silas's ear, her face flushed as she whispered something softly as a small reward.
"Really? What a pity I did not see it last time."
She quickly stepped back, her cheeks as red as a ripe Pecha Berry, even her ears tinged with pink. She brushed a strand of hair from her forehead and changed the subject. "Let's go. We should head to the Sinnoh League."
"No rush. With Dragonite it will only take about ten minutes. So when are you going to show me the swimsuit?"
Diantha ignored him and quickened her pace.
Silas, however, could not let it go and kept talking beside her.
Diantha in a swimsuit. Absolutely top tier.
The quietest route from Sunyshore City to the Sinnoh League was Route 223.
Every so often, ferries traveled back and forth from the harbor.
Diantha refused his suggestion to ride Dragonite. She wanted to experience all kinds of interesting things with Silas.
Taking a ferry together was one of them. Though it would have been even better if Silas had not been constantly teasing the cat beside him.
Especially since that cat would not let her pet it. That was the most frustrating part. From time to time, Diantha shot them resentful glances.
Litten: Human, you want to compete with a cat for Silas? Are you as cute as me? Meow.
…
The Sinnoh League was located on an island called Lily of the Valley Island off the eastern coast of the Sinnoh region.
What filled Silas with curiosity and a desire to explore the island was a legend related to Shaymin.
It was said that somewhere on the island, there was a hidden path called the Seabreak Path, a trail covered in flowers. It led directly to the mysterious Flower Paradise, an island where blossoms bloomed everywhere, one of the habitats of the mythical Pokémon Shaymin.
Silas wanted to try and see if he could find the Flower Paradise and invite a Shaymin back to his ranch as a guest.
Of course, if it could stay long term, that would be even better.
Then his garden would never lack its most important Pokémon.
The Sinnoh League headquarters was a massive structure resembling a castle. In front of it was a battle plaza where trainers could spar with each other, and nearby stood a Pokémon Center.
"Silas, did you not want to battle? There are lots of trainers over there." Diantha pointed toward a battlefield crowded with people.
"Sure. You go book a room for us to rest. I will go take a look."
He tossed his trainer card to Diantha and walked toward the crowd, leaving her standing there along with a quietly laughing Gardevoir.
Holding Litten in his arms, Silas squeezed his way to the front.
His gaze was immediately drawn to the two Pokémon battling on the field.
They were both Ghost type Pokémon.
One was Misdreavus, known for scaring children at night with cries that sounded like human wailing, a mischievous troublemaker.
Its opponent was a late bloomer Pokémon, the Ghost / Dragon type Dreepy.
The latter was extremely rare, especially in Sinnoh.
There were no known habitats for it here, though it might be encountered somewhere in the deep sea.
Dreepy looked like a small dragon, with a wide and flat head that gave it incredible speed.
This unique body structure allowed its evolution, Dragapult, to reach astonishing speeds, even approaching the speed of sound.
A battle between Ghost types.
A hint of curiosity appeared in Silas's eyes.
Under the command of a temporary referee, the battle began. Both Ghost type Pokémon moved quickly under their trainers' instructions.
It was clear that Misdreavus had a slight edge in attack speed.
Two eerie red glowing orbs were launched first. The move Confuse Ray disrupted Dreepy, throwing it into a confused state.
In the following battle, there was a chance it would attack itself.
Dreepy shook its head forcefully, dispelling the illusions, and then darted forward like a streak of light at lightning speed toward Misdreavus.
Quick Attack.
Dreepy was quite a peculiar Pokémon. Perhaps because it was a reborn Ghost type, something had not been fully cleansed by Arceus, and it was born knowing four moves.
These moves were Bite, Quick Attack, Astonish, and Infestation.
However, it could not learn additional moves by leveling up unless it evolved into Drakloak.
Of course, egg moves were another matter. Dreepy could inherit up to six egg moves, including Curse, and possibly Dragon Tail and Sucker Punch.
Back to the battle.
Dreepy closed the gap with Quick Attack, eliminating the small difference in speed.
It gave Misdreavus no time to react. Astonish caused it to flinch, followed immediately by Bite.
Dark type energy formed sharp fangs that struck fiercely. Already flinching and weak to the attack, Misdreavus dropped like a deflated balloon and lost its ability to battle.
The entire fight lasted just over ten seconds.
Dreepy's body dimmed slightly as it returned to its trainer's side.
At the same time, lively discussions broke out among the crowd.
"That is fifteen consecutive wins. That Dreepy is really strong."
"The trainer is not weak either. I heard he is from the distant Galar region. Look at that Charizard beside him, its aura is incredible."
"Exactly. There are even videos online of him battling Elite Four Flint."
As the crowd buzzed with excitement, Silas shifted his position slightly and finally got a clear look at Dreepy's trainer.
"Huh? Isn't that a younger version of Hop?"
(End of Chapter)