The next day, a giant Dragonite sped across the sea.
This time, Natsume and Meowth sat atop her head, with Gengar up front blocking the wind.
"Meowth, look—it's those two Blastoise."
"I told you, don't stare, nya."
"Wait, the male Blastoise looks different. That same one from before showed up—they're fighting!"
"Really? I gotta see this, nya!"
Meowth craned his neck, but Dragonite was moving too fast. He only caught a glimpse.
"Meowth, do you guys have enough funds?"
Natsume suddenly looked down at him.
"Why are you asking that? Don't tell me you're trying to borrow money, nya?" Meowth was instantly on guard.
Natsume shook his head and handed him a device with a cat-shaped casing and a small screen.
"This has recordings of nearly every Pokémon's cry. Help me translate them—one species, ten thousand pokedollars."
"Really?" Meowth froze.
Roughly calculating, wouldn't that make him a multimillionaire?
He was as if he could already feel golden coins shining above his head.
"I'll take the job, nya!"
"Good!" Natsume gave him a thumbs-up. "You just need to match each Pokémon's different cries and translate them into human speech. The input box is right here."
Like the Pokédex, the first was Bulbasaur.
*Bulba~*
"That means *Alright*, nya." Meowth typed into the input box: Alright, nya.
*Bulba—*
"That means *Not good*, nya."
And so, Meowth's grand money-making project began.
Sitting on Dragonite's back, Natsume decided to pass the time by scratching off the scratch cards he'd saved up.
He had 23 in total: three Great Ball cards and twenty Pokéball cards.
He scratched the three Great Balls cards.
**Great Ball ×3**
Natsume blinked.
Great Balls weren't nearly as valuable as Master Balls. Getting them as a minimum prize was barely worth anything.
Unconvinced, he scratched ten more.
**Pokéball ×10**
"Tch…" The air around Natsume grew heated.
"Gengar, give me one." Natsume pulled out a lighter and passed a piece of Spicy Sludge to Gengar.
*Gen-ga!* Gengar's eyes lit up as he happily accepted, shielding the flame from the wind with his hand.
Before long, smoke curled and drifted away, creating a surreal atmosphere.
With only limited supplies, one stick of incense-like mud would have to do.
It was time for results.
Natsume scratched the remaining ten cards.
**Pokéball ×7, Light Ball ×2, Rare Candy ×1**
Sure enough, superstition worked.
The solemn look on Natsume's face melted away as he stared at the new items in his pack.
Two Light Balls—perfect, one each for Pikachu and Midchu.
He couldn't help but wonder what kind of power Pikachu, already boosted in both offenses, would reach with a Light Ball.
As for the Rare Candy, he didn't pay much attention.
ITS effect was simply to raise a Pokémon's level by one. Unless he had a large quantity, it wasn't particularly useful.
Natsume casually tossed the candy to Gengar.
He wanted to test what would happen when a game item worked in real life—and Granny Kikuko's Gengar was a high enough level to be a good test subject.
**Gengar, Lv.86**
The Pokédex displayed Gengar's approximate level.
*Gengaa!* Gengar gave Natsume a thumbs-up, meaning, *What did you just feed me? I feel so strong.*
Natsume waved it off, but in his heart he understood.
It seemed that Rare Candies in reality also raised a Pokémon's level unconditionally.
It didn't matter if the Pokémon's level was already high or low—the increase was always the same.
This time, with Gengar blocking the wind, the giant Dragonite traveled at full speed.
In less than half a day, they returned to Bill's Lighthouse.
*Boom!*
Dragonite suddenly stopped, kicking up towering waves along the coastline.
From afar, Natsume could see a large group gathered on the beach.
Ash, Bill, and the others were there, along with Lance, Professor Oak, and Professor Aurea Juniper.
"Dragonite, Ice Beam!" Before Lance's Dragonite could even react, a massive ice-blue beam shot from the giant Dragonite's mouth, freezing the crashing waves in midair.
In an instant, the coastline looked like a forest of icy spires—breathtaking to behold.
"What incredible power!" Lance's expression hardened.
His instincts told him this giant Dragonite was unimaginably strong.
"Look, it's Natsume!" Ash's sharp eyes spotted him right away, sitting atop Dragonite's head.
"See? I told you that boy Natsume would be fine." Professor Oak sipped his hot tea with a smile.
Beside him, Bill, hair a complete mess, let out a huge sigh of relief before collapsing to the ground.
He'd nearly been scared to death, thinking he had gotten Natsume killed. These past days he hadn't eaten or slept properly.
He hadn't been that worried at first, but when Natsume's tracker suddenly stopped working midway, he panicked.
He'd taken his Blastoise and even Lance's Dragonite to search the sea where Natsume had vanished—only to find nothing but endless waves.
Natsume slowly floated down, sitting on Gengar's head.
Meowth, on the other hand, slid quietly down Dragonite's tail to sneak away.
"This Gengar… it's Agatha's, isn't it?" Lance glanced at Natsume with surprise.
That Gengar obeying Natsume didn't shock him—it was natural given Agatha's orders.
But from the look of things, their relationship was much closer than that. To an outsider, it might seem as though Natsume were its actual Trainer.
"Of course. He's been a huge help." Natsume patted Gengar's head.
"Natsume!"
Giselle was about to step forward, but Ash rushed in first, while she crossed her arms and stomped her foot in frustration.
"Thank goodness you're alright!" Brock and Misty came up too, quickly checking him over to see if he was missing any parts.
"Ah, back safe—that's what matters." Professor Oak, still holding his tea, spoke with complete calm.
Years of dealing with Natsume's chaos had trained his heart to be steel-strong.
"By the way, Professors," Natsume said, turning to Oak and Juniper, "I made some arrangements with this giant Dragonite. You can send people along with it to investigate the phenomenon of Dynamax."
He handed each of them a flash drive containing intel about the mysterious island, along with his own speculations.
The two professors accepted them without a word, but their eyes flicked toward a coconut tree nearby.
Out of the corner of his eye, Natsume caught a glimpse of a the rockets hiding behind the leaves. He instantly understood.
"Natsume, what happened these past few days? Tell us!"
Ash's eyes shone, already imagining some epic adventure tale.
"Yeah, Mr. Natsume, please tell us," Giselle added curiously.
"Wait, what's wrong with your eyes?" Natsume noticed Giselle's eyes were red.
"She's been crying since the moment you were taken," Professor Oak said.
Giselle's face flushed red.
"By the way, Giselle, would you like to come with us?" Oak asked warmly.
He had met his protégé's pupil just two days ago.
His first impression—*this child was very intelligent*.
His second impression—*such talent must absolutely not be left in Natsume's hands*.
"No, I want to travel with Mr. Natsume." Giselle shook her head firmly.
"Ah… very well then." Professor Oak sighed, disappointed.
"What about Meowth?" Misty suddenly asked.
At the mention of Meowth, Jessie and James, hiding in a nearby palm tree, perked up their ears.
"Meowth…" Natsume looked out over the sea with a trace of sadness on his face.
"He's dead. He tried to break up a love triangle fight between Blastoise and got beaten to death."
"What?!" Everyone was struck by a wave of grief at the words.
"Damn it, why does Meowth always meddle in other people's business?!"
Up in the tree, Jessie and James clutched their heads in anguish, fell down, and ran off into the distance, crying, ignoring the stares of everyone around them.
"By the way, where's Midchu?" Natsume suddenly noticed that only Pikachu was sitting on Ash's shoulder.
"Oh, over there." Misty pointed toward the beach.
A mound of sand bulged up there, with a sign stuck into it, and Natsume's hat hanging from the sign.
On the hat lay a small blanket, Midchu draped across it.
The Pokémon was curled up on the mound like a gravekeeper.
Only this gravekeeper was sound asleep.
Natsume: "…"
You can read more (around 80+ free chapters) of Natsume's adventure ad-free at [https ://ravenarchives .com/book/pokemon-who-let-him-leave-pallet-town]. Bulk uploads is a mess here, so updates here might be irregular.