"When I was little, I wanted to buy a Ralts of my own for company," Nikozo said, sounding wistful. "Then a Cacnea ran straight into my arms instead."
"Cacnea's cute too," Akiyama offered.
If it doesn't evolve.
He kept that part to himself.
"Ha. I think so too." Nobody in the history of the world has ever modestly denied a compliment aimed at their Pokémon.
"Where are you getting off?" Nikozo asked.
Akiyama saw no reason to be coy. "Frostvale City."
"The auction?"
"And the Gym."
"Then it sounds like we'll be running into each other at the Silver Crown League."
Nikozo had boarded his own family's ship for exactly the same two reasons. Gym. Auction.
"Any idea who this year's mystery Trainer is?" Akiyama asked.
"They haven't announced it. It's only April. It's one of those two, obviously."
He didn't know either.
"If it's him, the look on his face when he sees you is going to be something."
Akiyama pictured it and found it genuinely funny.
"Huh?" Nikozo had no idea what he was talking about.
Akiyama shook his head and let it go.
They ate until they were full, and by then it was getting late, so they went their separate ways to sleep.
Gardevoir barely slept that night. Because of last time.
The next morning she was tired enough that she didn't want Akiyama more than a foot away from her, which meant he had no choice but to go back to sleep too. They finally got up somewhere around noon.
After lunch he took Gengar back out to take on Trainers. Yesterday's reputation had done its work—today's challengers were noticeably stronger.
....
April fifth.
Frostvale City.
If Greenlight City was nature and Twin City was technology, then Frostvale City was a miracle.
The whole city sat on one central island, with waterways running out of it in every direction, connecting who knew how many districts.
Ringing the island were countless ice floes that never melted, not in a hundred years.
Every ship that docked at Frostvale City had to wait for the Dewgong pods to push the ice aside.
And once you stepped onto the island, you didn't feel cold at all. It felt like the peak of summer.
"Strange place, right?" Nikozo said, walking down the gangway beside him.
"It's exactly like the stories." Akiyama was in short sleeves and still felt overdressed.
He looked out at the towers in the distance and had only one thought.
Frostvale City. Finally.
Gardevoir let out a long breath. That crossing had been, mercifully, uneventful.
The only one dragging was Gengar, sprawled across the top of Akiyama's head.
He hadn't stopped battling for days.
The progress bar was down to 3.
Completely drained.
Which had Akiyama wondering what would happen when it hit zero.
Would it refill?
Would it change into something else?
Or was that the end of the cheat code?
If it ran out, it ran out. Gardevoir could carry her own weight now, and the difference would be marginal either way. All the thing had ever really done was compress the time Pokémon needed to grow.
And in just those few days on the ship, Gengar had felt himself climb another step.
They reached the Pokémon Center, checked into rooms, then sat down together to talk.
They'd already agreed to hit tomorrow's auction as a pair.
"Word is there are two Psychic-type Mega Stones on the block this time. Nobody's saying which two." Once Nikozo knew what Akiyama was after, he passed along everything he'd heard.
That got a full-body reaction.
Akiyama could count the Psychic-type Mega Stones he knew of on one hand.
Two of them.
Odds were decent that Alakazamite was in there. And even if it wasn't, he could still buy whatever was.
This world had far more Mega Stones than the anime ever showed, so he couldn't be certain. But the odds were good.
"You look like you're looking forward to tomorrow even more now." Nikozo grinned.
"Of course I am. I promised the kid." Akiyama didn't argue the point. "And the next Frostvale auction wouldn't be until summer, right?"
"Other cities work too. Twin City's the big trade hub—if you strike out here, you can pick one up there," Nikozo said.
"It's just a long wait for him."
Kadabra hadn't evolved yet, sure. But he couldn't just leave the guy hanging indefinitely. That was no better than dangling a carrot.
And who knows when he'll actually evolve.
Which, come to think of it, was a carrot Kadabra was dangling in front of him.
This world wasn't the games. Trade wasn't the only path. Most of the time a Pokémon simply evolved when its own strength got there. Trading was more like forcing the fruit to ripen early.
"Mr. Akiyama, there's a package for you." Nurse Joy rolled her cart up beside their table and set it down by his hand.
"A package?" He blanked.
He didn't remember ordering anything.
"Garde, Garde." Gardevoir nudged at him.
"Right! Reika's gift." He signed for it.
The outer wrapping was a handsome paper box. It weighed almost nothing, which told him nothing.
"Something small, maybe?"
"You're pretty well liked, aren't you," Nikozo said.
Akiyama shook his head. "It's not that. She probably feels like she owes me money and this is her way of paying it back. We met exactly once. 'Liked' doesn't really enter into it."
That brainless-novel plot where a girl meets you twice, you do her one favor, and she's suddenly head over heels—nobody actually behaved like that.
Reika wasn't that kind of kid. She was fiercely self-sufficient.
Do her a kindness and she'd be grateful, sure. She'd think well of you. And then she'd break her back paying it back.
"She sounds like a good one." Nikozo was already inclined to like her, based on that description alone.
Akiyama nodded.
He opened the package with exaggerated care, trying not to damage the box.
It was the first gift anybody had ever mailed him, and he wanted to keep the packaging too.
He folded the outer paper shell neatly and tucked it into his backpack.
Inside was a wooden case—whatever was in there wasn't meant to be dropped.
The case was plain, with a single depression on the lid.
"Somebody put real thought into this," Nikozo said.
Akiyama nodded and pressed the depression.
The lid swung open on its own, and there, sitting quietly inside, was a green Poké Ball. A small gold circle on the front, two red marks running along each side of it.
"That's a brand-new Friend Ball. Beautiful."
"So is it just the ball, or is there something in it?" Akiyama picked it up, curious. Smooth as glass. Never used.
A Friend Ball. Catch a wild Pokémon with one and it bonded to you almost immediately.
As a gift, that carried a certain implication.
He pressed the button.
~~
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