The weather held. Reiji rose early, woke the late-returning Shun, and went to the Pokémon Center first to hand Scyther to Nurse Joy for treatment.
Yesterday he'd only done a quick fix, then let Scyther rest—and forgot to check the frostbite properly. Today he asked Nurse Joy for a full workup; treat anything that needs it, then they could leave Murcott Island.
While Scyther was in care, Shun packed up and came down. "Reiji-nii, when do we head out?"
"Scyther's still in treatment. We'll wait a bit." They sat in the lounge and ate the breakfasts they'd brought.
Half an hour later, Nurse Joy called him up. Scyther was fine—most of the damage had already healed overnight. He paid the 3,000 fee, took the Poké Ball, and the two of them left the Pokemon Center.
Outside, Reiji glanced along the street. No familiar silhouette. He paused at the door a heartbeat, then led Shun out of town.
The hesitation was only a few seconds. Shun didn't notice.
At the shore, Reiji released Scyther. "We're about to leave Murcott Island. Anything you still want to do?"
"Shaa." Scyther lifted its gaze to the deep forest. It had challenged the clan's elder before and lost. That was why it had roamed, picking fights with passing trainers—until Poliwhirl beat it, and Reiji captured it.
If there was a lingering wish, it was simple: defeat the clan elder and lead the swarm.
Right now it still couldn't win. Going back today would only mean another loss. But one day it would return and beat that old leader.
"Shaa." Scyther lowered its scythes and tapped the Poké Ball's button. A red beam took it inside—its own choice. Reiji clipped the ball to his belt. The capture felt complete.
"Reiji-nii, look." Shun pointed up. A large flock of Flying types—Farfetch'd.
"Farfetch'd?" Reiji watched them angle out to sea. If memory served, the unnamed island ahead was a Farfetch'd habitat. Migration.
"Enough watching. Let's move." He released Pelipper, mounted up, and took off along the same line as the flock.
He'd already set the bearing last night. The migration path matched the route to the unnamed island. The distance wasn't far; at Pelipper's pace, a morning's flight would put them there by early afternoon.
"Wait up, Reiji-nii!" Shun launched his own Pelipper and caught up.
At that moment, Saya drew the castle's balcony curtains into the morning light. She looked up and saw two figures riding Pelipper—recognized Reiji at a glance. Reiji turned once toward the red-topped castle, caught the blur at the window, said nothing, did nothing extra, and faced forward again.
The girl watched him dwindle and recalled her grandmother's words. She'd open the hotel first; if they met again, he'd be surprised by how much she'd changed. She already looked forward to it.
"Right, Misdreavus…"
"Muma? Muma?" Misdreavus blinked, lost. Whatever the girl was muttering, it didn't follow.
"Misdreavus, time to work. Let's do our best." Saya stroked its head and went back inside, calling out the Pokémon that could help clean.
The castle had been empty for a long time. Cleaning wasn't enough; furniture, carpets, and décor all needed placing by her and the Pokémon. It would be a long stretch of busy days.
…
Out over the sea, Reiji gave the figure at the window a final look. That was his goodbye.
They flew through the morning. A little after one in the afternoon, they reached the Farfetch'd habitat—the unnamed island—just as planned.
The island was about a third the size of Murcott. No residents. Its hallmarks: rich fruit and a large number of migrating Farfetch'd.
They landed and found the resources were as good as they'd heard. On the shore, Reiji released Poliwhirl, Kingler, Butterfree, and Spinarak. The others stayed in their balls—too many to manage, too easy to lose track.
With four well-behaved Pokémon out, he gave Pelipper water and some Pokéblocks, recalled it to rest, and started pitching tents. Shun released only Poliwhirl and Breloom; after feeding his Pelipper, he also recalled it.
Shun took over tent duty. Reiji started on lunch. He sent his Pokemon to pick Berries in the forest—dessert later.
By the time he'd finished lunch for sixteen Pokémon and Shun had prepped meals for ten, the foraging team came back with armfuls of Berries.
When Shun left Kinnow Island he had seven Pokémon. He'd added three on Murcott: one Heracross and two more from the trade fair.
Those two were Slowpoke and Farfetch'd.
Reiji had paused when he saw them. He hadn't expected Shun to trade for those.
"Shun, those two?" He meant the Slowpoke and Farfetch'd that matched his own.
"I got them at the trade fair. You had them, so I swapped for them." Shun rubbed his nose, a bit sheepish. The truth: the pink Slowpoke fur felt nice to the touch, so he took it. The Farfetch'd? He didn't know what else to choose at the end—one was there, so he traded for it.
"Yaa-dong?" Reiji's Slowpoke spotted its kind and waddled over.
"Yaa-dong?" Shun's Slowpoke gave a delighted cry and hugged back.
"Gaa-ga." Shun's Farfetch'd called to Reiji's.
"Gaa." Reiji's Farfetch'd glanced once, then turned away to stare into space.
The spacing out had gone on a long time. Reiji knew why. On a Farfetch'd island, he could finally address it. If Farfetch'd wanted to rejoin its kin, he wouldn't stop it. He could only take it this far—and not turning it into soup was already merciful; expecting more pampering was off the table.
After lunch, he kept out the four earlier Pokémon plus Ditto at his collar and Farfetch'd. The rest he recalled. Shun also left out Farfetch'd and Ditto. They sat in the shade and enjoyed the lull.
Then a large pack of Farfetch'd stepped out of the trees beyond the beach. They'd noticed the two domesticated kin.
"Gaa-ga-ga." Wild calls to the pair on the sand.
"Gaa-ga." Shun's Farfetch'd answered warmly.
"Gaa." Reiji's Farfetch'd lifted its head, looked once, and lowered it again.
"They're calling you. Go on—play with them," Reiji said, waving the two along.
He'd already decided: if Farfetch'd liked this rich, empty island, he'd release it here.
"Reiji-nii, you're…?"
"My Farfetch'd has a mental knot. If it wants to stay, I'll let it go."
"Eh? I just caught mine," Shun muttered. He knew Reiji's Farfetch'd had issues, but not that Reiji was willing to release it.
"It's just a Farfetch'd. Keep yours if you want." Reiji didn't explain more. There were at least a hundred Farfetch'd here; if he wanted one, he could capture a near-Elite prospect easily enough.
"Alright then. Farfetch'd, go play." Shun waved his own on.
With permission, Shun's Farfetch'd grabbed Reiji's by the wing and tugged it into the trees, merging with the flock. Reiji's still dragged its feet.
He watched them disappear and let the matter go. He took out Gastly's ball—still drunk, which was why it'd skipped lunch. Nothing to do but let it sleep it off; it needed to metabolize Croagunk's toxin first.
He called out Croagunk next. "Detox run." The Poison-type jogged laps under the trees; rest when tired; come back for food to refuel.
Then he released Scyther again. Its fighting spirit burned hot. This was a battler that grew by battling—pure fight junkie. Monotone drills would bore it fast.
But arranging live combat wasn't simple. Of the seven he'd left out—Poliwhirl, Kingler, Butterfree, Spinarak, Ditto, Croagunk, Farfetch'd—Poliwhirl, Kingler, and Ditto were following their afternoon plans already. Poliwhirl trained moisture sensing; Ditto worked on Protect. That made the attackers Butterfree and Spinarak, taking turns to help the two drill.
As for Kingler?
[Kingler]
[Type: Water]
[Gender: Male]
[Potential: 71%]
[Level: 34.56%]
[Abilities: Hyper Cutter / 28.22%][Hidden Ability: Sheer Force / 8.53%]
[Known Moves: (Hammer Arm / 15.22%) (Water Gun / 25.35%) (Metal Claw / 16.34%) (Dig / 22.54%) (Mud Shot / 21.24%) (Rain Dance / 4.04%) (Agility / 30.15%) (Crabhammer / 11.55%) (Protect / 19.44%) (Iron Defense / 7.64%) (Amnesia / 4.18%) (Swords Dance / 3.25%)]
He hadn't checked Kingler's panel in half a month. Level 34 now—up five percent. Hyper Cutter climbed six points. Not bad. Sheer Force barely moved.
The move gains were the real shift:
Hammer Arm +9%.
Water Gun +7%.
Harden +9%.
Metal Claw +11%—it can trigger Sheer Force, pity it's Steel-type.
Dig +9%.
Mud Shot +15%, built on the Water Gun base.
Rain Dance +2%—not a focus.
Agility +21%—this cycle's priority and the biggest jump.
Crabhammer +10%—its strongest same-type attack.
New moves learned on Kinnow Island:
Protect hit 19%—nightly reps add up.
Iron Defense was decent thanks to the Harden base. The two do overlap; Harden boosts Defense once, Iron Defense boosts twice. Obvious which wins. In a live battle, no one hands Kingler six setup turns. One or two if you're lucky.
So grab the window—two or three Iron Defense and be ready for the next exchange.
[End of Chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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