"Where did you even learn that?" Akiyama asked, catching up to Gardevoir.
"Garde."
From TV, apparently.
Gengar scratched his head, not really following, then drifted up in front of Akiyama's face and blew a puff of air at him.
Akiyama: ...
"Brush your teeth after you eat next time."
That did it. Gardevoir lost her composure completely and laughed out loud.
Gengar stared blankly for a second, then went straight for Akiyama's hair with both hands.
"Quit it—quit it! Ha ha ha ha!"
They vanished up the forest trail like that, laughing, and the sun climbed and fell until it was night.
They stopped beside a small lake and set up the tent.
Akiyama let Kadabra out. "Go take a look around and see if there's anything dangerous nearby. We're camping here tonight."
Kadabra spared Gengar the briefest glance—too quick to catch—then spread his Confusion and floated off into the trees.
Akiyama got the pot set up.
"Gardevoir. Fire Punch, right here." He pointed at the kindling under the pot.
She nodded and reached out. Flame bloomed around her hand, and a moment later the campfire caught.
He'd replaced the auto-ignition rig in his backpack after getting off the ship. He'd used it too long; the fuel reservoir was finished. The Pokémon Center up the coast didn't stock replacements, so he'd bought a pot instead.
Good thing he had Gardevoir. That skipped the whole starting-a-fire problem.
Gardevoir pulled her hand back, snuffed the flame on her fingers, and helped him get the ingredients in.
Gengar had no interest in waiting quietly. He dove headfirst into the lake and held his breath the way he'd seen people do on TV, letting strings of bubbles trail out of his mouth.
A few Magikarp were drifting along nearby.
Gengar kicked his little legs over to them, matched their posture, and swam along at their side.
One Magikarp caught sight of him, panicked, and shot straight up out of the water using Splash.
Akiyama heard the commotion and turned from the pot in time to see a very stupid fish launch itself skyward—followed immediately by Gengar, who broke the surface and snatched it out of the air.
He flew over and held the Magikarp up for inspection.
"Yeah, yeah. You're the best." Akiyama gave him the automatic praise you give a kid who won't stop showing you rocks.
Gengar was thrilled. He carried the Magikarp back and chucked it into the lake.
The Magikarp burst out of the water, furious, aiming to slam into him.
Gengar swatted it back down.
The Magikarp came up again. Gengar swatted it down again.
Neither one of them got tired of this. It turned into a game of ping-pong.
Akiyama glanced over during a lull. "That Magikarp's got some real potential."
Gardevoir looked, then nodded.
Your average Magikarp had about as much going on upstairs as a Slowpoke on a slow day. This one was sharp.
That spark, that refusal to lose—that was what set an individual apart. People usually called it talent. A Magikarp like that could go further than the rest of its species.
Might even evolve into a Gyarados if it kept at it, honestly—
"Gen-gar?"
Evolutionary light flared around the Magikarp at the top of its arc.
Akiyama set down his spoon.
"You're actually evolving?"
"RAAAAH!"
The light faded and Gyarados roared, and the sound wave hit Gengar hard enough to shove his face sideways.
"Gen-gar?"
You're roaring at me?
Here. Let me show you something.
He drifted closer, rolling a Shadow Ball between his palms.
Boom.
Gyarados had evolved.
Gyarados was unable to battle.
The progress bar ticked down from 100 to 99.
It had bottomed out completely during the jellyfish mess, then filled itself back up by the next morning.
Gengar looked at the Gyarados floating belly-up on the surface, planted himself on top of him, and smacked him on the eyelid.
Who exactly did you think you were roaring at?
Akiyama laughed and went back to cooking.
A freshly evolved Magikarp wasn't going to make waves against Gengar. It wasn't like this was Nanami's Gyarados.
Dinner wasn't finished before Gyarados came to.
Evolution had done nothing for his temper.
The progress bar in Akiyama's vision dropped to 98, which told him everything he needed to know.
"Buddy. Why."
Gyarados turned out to be genuinely single-minded about it. He didn't stay down for good until well past midnight, and by then the bar read 92.
"Dinner!" Akiyama called to Gengar, who was having the time of his life.
Gengar peeled himself off the water's surface with obvious reluctance.
Below him, two eyes surfaced and watched him go, radiating pure resentment.
Kadabra got back just in time, right at the edge of dinner.
Mostly baby Pokémon in the area. There's a colony of Beedrill, but they're a fair distance off. This spot is safe.
Akiyama nodded. "Thanks. That couldn't have been fun."
Kadabra shook his head, said nothing, and took a bowl.
Gardevoir woke the Comfey around her neck, and Akiyama let Slowbro out.
"Wa-woo, wa-woo, wa-woo..."
Slowbro blinked at them with those big, perfectly empty eyes.
Akiyama put a hand over his face and decided not to comment.
After dinner they sat out on the grass looking at the sky. Comfey went back to sleep. Slowbro touched his own Poké Ball and returned himself so he could sleep too.
At the specific skill of putting himself away, that Slowbro had genuinely reached the summit of the art.
"Garde!"
Gardevoir suddenly pointed up at the river of stars, excited.
Meteors.
Akiyama followed her hand.
Several of them cut long tails across that curtain of stars and were gone without a trace.
A while later, a series of deep booms rolled in from somewhere far off.
"That didn't land near us, did it?" Something in Akiyama's chest dropped.
"Garde?"
She didn't get it.
Gengar and Kadabra were even more lost.
So Akiyama explained what meteors were and where they came from.
Both of them made noises of understanding.
So we could find the meteorite where it hit? Kadabra asked.
"There might be fragments. Maybe even Pokémon."
Clefable and its family, for instance. Or Lunatone and Solrock.
"Gen... gar!"
Gengar wanted to go look.
"Tomorrow. I'm not moving tonight." Akiyama burped.
Gengar drooped.
At that moment Gyarados, still worked up from all the noise, surfaced with a roar.
Gengar's eyes flashed red, and a Shadow Ball went sailing.
"He does not learn."
Akiyama watched the progress bar drop, slapped his own forehead, and lay back in the grass.
When the wind turned cold they went into the tent to sleep.
Gengar wasn't done playing. He went back to the water and dragged Gyarados out by force.
Gyarados, apparently a genuine idiot, started roaring at him again.
"Make him shut up, I'm dying out here!"
Akiyama yelled it out the tent flap on behalf of a very rudely awakened Gardevoir.
Gengar hurriedly whipped up a Shadow Ball and stuffed it into Gyarados's mouth.
"...glub."
Gyarados sank.
Once the quiet settled, Akiyama coaxed Gardevoir back to sleep in a low voice.
Gengar hung around outside with nothing to do, looking off toward where the meteor had come down, then back at the tent, and finally crawled inside.
~~
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