On the sixth day of their journey, the sky was clear.
They had watched TV until late the previous night, so when they finally woke up, it was already eleven.
Shun, desperate to see his idol, scrambled out of bed, then ran down to the front desk to extend their stay for one more night. They would only check out tomorrow.
Reiji stayed in the room, calmly preparing lunch for the team. Only after the Pokémon had eaten did he and Shun head out.
Each of them brought Poliwhirl at their side for obvious protection, while Ditto handled things from the shadows.
Leaving the hotel, they went straight to Lorelei's lecture venue. It was a hall big enough to seat over ten thousand people, and after ticket checks they stepped into the arena.
They found the seats printed on their tickets, then just had to wait for Lorelei to appear. While everyone waited, the battlefield in the center stayed open: any trainer who wanted to could sign up through the competitors' tunnel and battle in front of the crowd.
Shun even went up for a match, but unfortunately lost. When he came back to his seat, he looked a little deflated; it had been his first time battling in front of so many people.
After he cooled off a bit, Shun tried to talk Reiji into going up for a match too. In his opinion, with Reiji's strength, he could definitely win.
Reiji turned him down. Battles like this were meaningless. If all you wanted was to catch Lorelei's eye, then the best way was to defeat her outright—that was the kind of impression that stuck.
But right now he was nowhere close. His strongest pokemon is Poliwhirl right now. That wasn't enough even to properly compete in a regional conference.
To win a conference, you needed at least a full team of Pokémon over level fifty.
And that was assuming you didn't run into the shameless types—the veterans who had attended conferences for years without ever taking the title, and loved nothing more than stomping first-timers.
If you wanted to become champion, you had to get past those old sharks first. A rookie entering for the first time could hardly be their match.
After refusing Shun, Reiji sat and watched the matches below.
When the hour hand finally reached one, Lorelei, the Elite Four member the crowd had been waiting for, stepped onto the stage at last.
Her outfit was exactly the same as on the poster, but as she walked into the venue she seemed like a different person. The soft warmth from the printed image was gone. The Lorelei in front of them was composed and analytical, an ice-cold beauty who looked like she could see straight through any opponent.
"Tch, fighting someone like that would be terrifying," Reiji muttered from the stands. It felt like Lorelei had two faces: one water-soft, one ice-hard—flowing one moment, frozen the next.
The people around him did not share his calm. The instant Lorelei appeared, the audience exploded. The atmosphere spiked to its peak, and no one heard his little click of the tongue; every eye was locked on the battlefield.
Lorelei battled while explaining her decisions, turning each match into a live tactical lesson. Reiji watched, fully absorbed.
She sent out her Dewgong, Cloyster, Slowbro, and Jynx in turn, and with simple, precise movements smashed opponent after opponent. Every switch, every order was crisp and clean. She looked utterly in control.
Whenever Lorelei casually flicked back a strand of red hair by her ear, a whole contingent of fanboys in the stands shrieked in response. The wave of screams even made Reiji jump. These nerds sounded like they'd lost their minds.
All this for one pretty big-sister trainer?
…Fine. He admitted it. Their enthusiasm was contagious, and his own heartbeat had picked up without him noticing.
Even so, he kept his voice down. That kind of screaming frenzy just wasn't his style. He hadn't followed idols in his previous life, and nothing had changed here.
He could reach Lorelei's height someday. There was no reason to worship her. And he sure as hell wasn't going to act like a lovesick dog; those were the people he'd always despised most.
He could control himself. Shun absolutely could not. The kid was yelling along with the crowd like he couldn't help it, and even after the demonstration battle wrapped up and they left the venue in the late afternoon, Shun still looked dazed.
"Snap out of it. It's over," Reiji said, shaking his head. Shun's mental fortitude was way too flimsy; that wasn't something Reiji could fix for him. Everyone had the right to chase idols.
"Reiji-nii, you really weren't excited at all? You looked so calm," Shun finally settled down a little, but in the hall he'd noticed how differently Reiji had reacted. How could anyone see Lorelei and not be fired up?
"Shun, if you can't flip into battle state as fast as Lorelei can, then you need to stay calm instead. That's a required skill if you want to get strong," Reiji said, waving a hand as he turned toward the hotel.
"Reiji-nii, let me treat you to dinner," Shun hurried after him. He knew Reiji was teaching him how to fight, even if he couldn't completely control those excited feelings yet—but he'd keep it in mind.
"Dinner?" Reiji glanced at the setting sun. It was already past five when they left the venue.
"I'm boarding tomorrow. I want to buy you a proper meal, Reiji-nii," Shun said. Tonight was their real farewell, and he wanted to thank Reiji for looking after him all this time.
"Any restaurant's fine," Reiji said. He took Shun to a seaside place, ordered some seafood at random, and they ate and talked. Every so often he would remind Shun about small things to pay attention to once he was on the ship.
It would be Shun's first real voyage, but Reiji had his previous life's experience. First rule: never touch other people's food or water. Anything that left your sight, don't drink it. Just eat what you brought.
On top of that, don't go poking your nose into weird business, and don't play hero unless you absolutely have no way out. Out at sea, staying alive came first.
Over dinner, Reiji talked a lot. Shun wrote everything down line by line. By the time they finished the meal, the day was almost over; they still needed to get back to the hotel and cook for the Pokémon.
As for Lorelei?
Obviously she'd gone home to her villa. It wasn't like someone out there seriously thought she'd invite them over as guests, right?
Get real. Who did they think they were?
If Ash and his friends got invited to Lorelei's villa, that was because they were the animation team's darlings. Reiji and Shun didn't have that kind of plot armor.
Lorelei had no reason to pay attention to them. To her, they were just more fans in the crowd. She probably had millions of fans like that, judging from the way the venue had been packed and the event broadcasted.
Back at the hotel, Reiji lay flat on the bed to digest for a while before letting everyone out for dinner. He only gave them simple Pokéblocks this time.
Once the team had eaten and gone back into their Poké Balls, he left Slowpoke out, leaning against the headboard as he stared at the night view outside the window and thought back to the hall that afternoon.
If he wanted people like that to notice him, he had to beat them. And before he could beat them, he had to at least reach Elite Four level himself.
His rain team members all had the potential to reach that level. He didn't think that future was far away.
"Reiji-nii, I can't sleep," Shun said. He was also sitting up against the headboard, looking at the maze of lights outside. Tomorrow they would part ways.
"You'll sleep just fine once you get home and see your grandpa," Reiji said. He didn't really know how to comfort him. Was he supposed to lecture him that everyone had to learn to live with loneliness?
In his previous life he'd already decided on no marriage, no kids. He'd been ready to spend fifty years alone, fishing, walking a dog, and quietly living out the rest of his life.
He'd never expected the universe to play a joke on him and toss him into the Pokémon world. Even so, his basic idea hadn't changed. He still wanted to roam this world a bit, then find a place to lie flat.
He'd worked himself half to death in his old life. In this one, he was determined to enjoy it. Otherwise, what was the point of getting isekai'd?
"Reiji-nii… if I run into something I really want to help with in the future, am I really not allowed to step in?" Shun remembered the warnings over dinner, but he didn't want to become the kind of person who watched others die without lifting a hand.
"Don't ask me that. Just do what you believe is right," Reiji said, spreading his hands. He could already see Shun didn't have the same ultra-cautious personality he did. All he could do was remind him. Those warnings were there; whether Shun listened or not was his own choice.
"What counts as 'right,' Reiji-nii?" Shun pressed.
"Look at the world with your own heart. You'll figure it out," Reiji said. He wasn't going to hand him a list of 'right' actions. Perspective could twist right and wrong easily—call a deer a horse long enough, and people would start believing it.
Most people didn't stay calm when death stared them in the face. Only when you were close enough to really feel your life slipping away did the meaning of living slam into you.
Even so, he didn't intend to say nothing.
"Until you're strong, watch your mouth and watch your hands," he added. "Only move when you're sure. If you can ambush, don't charge head-on. Staying alive means you can keep doing things later."
"I get it, Reiji-nii," Shun said seriously. He turned on the bedside lamp and wrote everything down. He'd been keeping this kind of notebook for a long time and flipped through it whenever he had time.
"Oh, right. We left in a hurry. When you get back, tell Bunta that his Krabby needs to learn Agility, Iron Defense, Amnesia, and Swords Dance. Once he can use those four moves smoothly, Krabby will get way stronger…"
"Haha, you still remember Bunta, Reiji-nii," Shun laughed. He hadn't expected Reiji to still think about that.
"I promised I'd teach him," Reiji said with a small sigh. He'd originally planned to give the kid the whole high-attack, high-speed, high-defense playbook, but the kid had been too lazy, skipping training all the time.
Then Ren had forced them off the island, and all Reiji could do now was have Shun pass the message along as compensation for that robbery.
"Reiji-nii, we tested my Breloom. It's got Poison Heal. How do I raise its poison resistance?" Shun wrote down the training plan for Krabby, then suddenly remembered his own Breloom.
"Feed it Poison-type Pokéblocks," Reiji said. "Those have toxins mixed in. If you give Breloom small amounts over a long time, its resistance will slowly go up…"
He didn't tell Shun to feed it concentrated poison sacs directly. Those were raw material for Poison-type Pokéblocks; taken straight, they could kill you. Diluted, processed Pokéblocks were a lot gentler.
"Shun, battle tactics all come from a Pokémon's typing, Ability, moves, and held item. You need to figure them out yourself—build your own raising method for each partner," he continued.
"I know, Reiji-nii. Poliwhirl's Waterfall burst stays as my finisher. I want Breloom to learn more disruption moves and wear opponents down with its sustain. Then there's Elekid…"
Shun kept going, laying out his ideas one by one. Reiji quietly listened. This was exactly what he wanted: a student who could think for himself.
Once Shun had finally run out of things to say, Reiji tossed something across the gap between the beds.
"Catch."
"Huh?" Shun raised his hands on reflex and caught a little plastic keychain—a Poliwhirl mascot. "It's the same kind of keychain Nana has!"
"A little present before you go," Reiji said. All he had left now was the Pelipper one; he'd already given away the Butterfree and Poliwhirl keychains.
"I'll treasure it," Shun said, turning the tiny Poliwhirl over in his fingers. It was the first present Reiji had ever given him.
"It's just a cheap toy," Reiji said. It didn't feel like a big deal to him, but Shun clearly thought otherwise.
"Reiji-nii… how should I test Keiko?" Shun clipped the keychain to his backpack, then remembered the mess waiting for him back home and decided to ask while he could.
"First, if Keiko disappears, that means she knew what was going on," Reiji said. "Second, just show up in front of her. Read her face, and you'll know your next move. Third, tail her and see if she does anything suspicious…"
He hadn't expected Shun to bring up Keiko tonight. He'd thought the kid would keep hesitating or be unable to go through with it. In truth, Keiko was someone he'd deliberately left to Shun as practice.
Of course, that only applied if she'd actually been involved. If not, that was a different story.
"What if Keiko really knew nothing?" Shun asked, wanting to hear how Reiji would handle her in that case.
"Then we drop it," Reiji said, waving a hand.
"What about Ren?" Shun continued.
"Missing person. Already fish food," Reiji said flatly. "Tons of people die on the black market every day. You planning to go find every corpse?"
"Phew… I think I know what to do now," Shun exhaled. He'd finally sorted out his next steps. He understood that he had to test Keiko, one way or another.
He was going back to Kinnow Island. When Keiko saw him again, it would end one of two ways: either he took revenge on her, or she tried to take revenge on him.
He just hoped things went the way Ren claimed—that Keiko really knew nothing. That was the only way to spare her life.
"Get some sleep," Reiji said, switching off the lamp. He pulled Slowpoke into his arms and shut his eyes. Tomorrow he had work to do.
Because Gastly had woken up.
[Gastly]
[Type: Ghost + Poison]
[Gender: Male]
[Potential: 29.60%]
[Level: 17.43%]
[Ability: Levitate / 7.92%]
[Moves: (Confuse Ray / 8.57%) (Lick / 10.55%) (Hypnosis / 9.41%) (Mean Look / 7.48%) (Curse / 6.15%) (Hex / 5.23%) (Will-O-Wisp / 8.45%) (Toxic / 11.84%) (Shadow Ball / 4.82%) (Dream Eater / 9.12%) (Destiny Bond / 2.63%) (Payback / 4.26%) (Dark Pulse / 3.41%)]
Gastly had been drunk for three days. It had finally digested Croagunk's venom, and its potential had gone up by two percent, its level by three.
The rest of its moves hadn't changed much. Only Toxic—a Poison-type move—had jumped eight percent in proficiency.
Tomorrow was going to be busy. Reiji needed to buy a stock of Life-type Pokéblocks and various poisons for Gastly; both could raise its potential.
He also had to start planning the evolution experiment. That meant he couldn't let Gastly drink raw poison again—if it got drunk one more time, he'd just have to wait around for it to sober up again.
He'd also need a sealed space for the evolution. The last thing he wanted was Gastly's evolution light drawing unwanted attention.
(End of Chapter)
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