"Mr. Akiyama, you have mail."
Nurse Joy caught them just as Akiyama and Nanami were heading out of the Pokémon Center.
Mail?
Who on earth would be emailing him?
He went over to the holo-terminal and logged into his account. One unread message.
He opened it and read carefully.
"Mr. Akiyama—it's Reika. I've made it to Magma City. You've probably never heard of it, but you'll know the Fire-type Gym there, even if it isn't one of the eight majors.
There are several big volcanoes ringing the city and Larvesta absolutely loves it here. The Gym Leader is a good man. He's taught Larvesta a lot.
I'm thinking of heading to Viridian City next. They say the Ground-type Gym Leader, Giovanni, is an incredibly strong Trainer. Apparently he has a real feel for Pikachu, and he's very approachable—he gives pointers to rookie Trainers passing through.
Oh, and I figured out how I'm going to pay you back. Look forward to your present!
You can't have reached Frostvale City yet, right? I'll have it finished and shipped before you get there.
—Reika"
The instant he hit the words Giovanni and Viridian City, Akiyama's pupils contracted, and he started typing.
"Stay away from Giovanni. I'm serious. Do not go anywhere near Viridian City—pick a different city entirely."
Then, and only then, he filled her in on the last few days.
At the bottom:
"And forget the present. What I did was nothing."
He hit send.
"What'd Giovanni ever do to you?" Nanami asked.
"You're too young to get it, kid."
"You want to fight about it?"
"You gonna do something?"
Faced with an outright challenge, Akiyama deployed his signature technique: refusing to engage with the actual question.
Outside the Pokémon Center, Scyther were everywhere, blades flashing through overnight growth.
"So much for humanity living in harmony with nature," Akiyama said.
"Develop too much and nature disappears. Grow too much and it's the same problem from the other direction," Nanami said.
"Huh. That's almost profound. Didn't think you had it in you."
He'd had her filed under the type who opens negotiations with Hyper Beam.
"Kosei told me that."
Oh. Never mind, then.
She looked like she'd said more than she meant to, so Akiyama didn't ask who Kosei was.
He took Gardevoir's hand and walked the road the Scyther had opened for them.
Not long after, the three of them were on a bus out of Greenlight City. Gardevoir watched the wood-grain highway slide past outside the window, and whatever had been buzzing in her settled. She sank back into the seat and let her head rest on Akiyama's shoulder.
Nanami sat behind them with her arms crossed, saying nothing, entirely unbothered by the noise around her. Her only movement was her thumb, working slowly over a Poké Ball.
The bus reached the end of the line, where the plank road simply stopped.
"This is us." Akiyama shouldered his pack and stepped off with Gardevoir.
Nanami followed, blinking the sleep out of her eyes.
A whole night of nightmares. Foul mood, no rest.
Lying rumor. Not one true word in the whole damn thing.
They peeled away from the crowd and headed east, and somewhere along the way they crossed out of Greenlight City's territory entirely.
Once the city was behind them, Nanami let Gyarados out.
"RAAAGH!"
Apparently he'd been cooped up too long. He threw his head back and roared at the sky, and a handful of Pidgey exploded out of a distant thicket.
"All right, that's enough." She put a hand on his side.
Gyarados looked faintly embarrassed and lowered himself without being asked, laying his head down beside her so she could climb up.
She settled cross-legged on top of him and looked down at Akiyama with a smile.
"Don't tell me somebody's planning to walk."
Akiyama looked up at the enormous serpent and nodded approvingly.
"You should get him higher. Really give the Mega Heracross a clean shot when it shows up."
"Gyarados. Hyper Beam." Nanami 's face went dead serious as she patted his forehead.
Gyarados began to charge.
An instant later a beam of dead white light tore out of him—and Gardevoir, already moving to intercept, realized it was going past them.
"Whoever's skulking around out there—come out!" Nanami 's voice went flat and cold as she looked at the crater the Hyper Beam had punched into the ground.
A second ago she'd felt eyes on her. Eyes with intent behind them.
"Kadabra. See what you can find." Akiyama tossed his ball.
Kadabra appeared and swept Confusion outward in a wide ring.
A moment later he pulled it back and shook his head.
Nothing at all.
"You sure you didn't imagine it?"
"No idea. Better to be safe." Nanami patted Gyarados's head. "Hurricane. Push it wide, don't bother with the power."
Gyarados nodded. Flying-type energy gathered, and a hard wind whipped up around them and spread out through the trees. Only when the trunks at the edge of the clearing started to shake did she call him off.
"Maybe I did imagine it."
"You could dial it back a little. Ah— achoo!" Akiyama rubbed his arms hard.
Short sleeves. He'd forgotten to change before they left Greenlight City. The wind hadn't hurt anything, but it was cold.
"Better safe than sorry." Nanami tucked her shaking hands behind her back.
She was in short sleeves too, and she'd been sitting in the exact center of it, which made her the coldest person in the forest.
She was also very, very good at pretending. She scratched her nose casually and strangled a sneeze on the way out.
Okay. Maybe I did imagine it.
Not that she was going to say so out loud.
"Let's move. We're still close enough to Greenlight City that this'll all grow back in a couple hours. Try that in any other city and they'd bill you."
He couldn't seem to help himself. Maybe because his Pokémon couldn't touch hers yet, so at least his mouth could get a win in.
Patience. One of these days I'll come back with a much stronger Gardevoir and wipe the floor with that Gyarados.
"Tch." Nanami went quiet and sat where she was, and Gyarados fell in behind Akiyama.
Kadabra wanted to go back to sleep, so Akiyama recalled him.
Gardevoir stayed where Gardevoir always stayed—right beside him.
They picked their way around the craters Gyarados had left and headed deeper into the forest.
None of them noticed the small black dot that appeared in one of those craters after they'd gone.
The dot widened into a hole, and out of it came a pair of purple claws. Then a pair of red-shot eyes and a flat, round body.
He watched their backs recede into the trees and showed a mouthful of white teeth.
Kehehehehehe…
On a tree nearby the bark rippled, and a sign came into view.
MALICIOUS SPIRITS AHEAD. TRAVEL WITH CARE.
And much farther in, deep in the forest, the shape of an old two-story house came and went in the mist.
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