Daylight was fading when Ren left the silhouette of the Pokémon Tower behind him.
This time, he didn't look back.
The dirt road stretched out ahead, lined with low trees and old wooden posts. A crooked sign pointed toward Route 10, though it meant nothing to Ren yet. It was just another road.
He walked without haste.
Gastly floated around him, darting a few meters ahead and then returning, curious, attentive to every sound in the surroundings. Unlike the tower, everything here was alive: insects, Pokémon hidden in the grass, the wind brushing against the leaves.
Ren only felt the exhaustion now.
Not physical.
Mental.
The sky darkened, and before he realized it, the sun was already sinking behind the hills. There were no houses nearby. No Pokémon Center. No lights in sight.
—Well… —he murmured—. Looks like we're camping.
He didn't say it with resignation. He said it like someone who had done it before.
He searched for a spot away from the road, near some large rocks that blocked the wind. He gathered dry branches, cleared the ground with practical, almost automatic movements.
Too automatic for a child.
When the small fire was lit, he sat in front of it. The warmth brought back a measure of calm. Gastly hovered nearby, strangely illuminated by the flames.
Ren watched it in silence.
And then, as if the stillness finally allowed it, the memories came.
Not like a blow.
Like a slow tide.
Images that weren't of the tower. Nor of battles. Nor of ghosts.
Familiar streets. Small rooms. An old smell—dust and dampness.
Ren frowned.
—Ah… —he whispered.
This life.
He remembered sleeping in different places. Borrowed houses. Forgotten corners. Sometimes in makeshift shelters. Sometimes out in the open. No one who asked too many questions. No one who expected anything from him.
An orphan.
There was no great tragedy. No single memory of lost parents. Just… absence. A constant. He had learned to survive because there was no other choice.
Odd jobs. Help in exchange for food. Looks that said, "he's just a kid."
And yet… he had made it through.
—I guess… it didn't change that much —he murmured, staring into the fire.
Gastly let out a soft sound, as if it understood more than it should.
Ren rested his arms on his knees.
—In that life, I trained every day —he continued, not knowing why he was speaking—. In this one… it seems I do too.
A short laugh escaped his throat.
There was no anger.
No deep sadness.
Only acceptance.
—As long as I can keep moving forward… that's enough.
The fire crackled.
For a moment, Ren felt something else. A faint presence, different from those in the tower. It wasn't hostile. It wasn't spiritual.
It was… the world.
As if this place, this region, this road were watching him with curiosity.
Gastly drifted closer, hovering almost against his shoulder.
Ren closed his eyes.
—We keep going tomorrow —he said—. There's a lot to cover.
The night deepened.
Beneath the star-filled sky of Kanto, a boy without an important past and with a future impossible to measure fell asleep beside a Pokémon he never intended to abandon.
And for the first time since he reincarnated, Ren didn't feel lost.