Seventh day at the Gym. Overcast.
Just after seven, Reiji was already awake. Naoki and Gai, who were sleeping in the guest room, had gotten up too.
To Reiji's surprise, Gai behaved himself last night. He even let all his Pokémon out—except the Golduck. The guy was clearly a Water-type Trainer as well.
Reiji had checked Gai's team potential before bed. It wasn't pretty. Every one of his Pokémon had already hit the ceiling, and they were all evolved. Elite Four tier was out of reach.
In theory, you could still grind it out—pour Gems into them for years, inch by inch, until you finally forced a breakthrough. But without a proficiency panel to prove you're making progress, who wastes ten or twenty years and billions on a future that might never arrive? Most people would take that money and buy a pseudo-legendary instead.
If Reiji didn't have the panel—if he couldn't actually see potential creeping upward—he wouldn't be throwing absurd amounts of money at his own team either.
Even with the panel, those "0.99" bottlenecks had nearly driven him up the wall. He'd sunk tens of millions into upgrades that did nothing. For other Trainers, it would feel like burning money and hoping the smoke spelled out an answer.
Either you save up enough to break through in one jump, or you keep feeding resources and wait it out. One way or another, you push forward.
After breakfast, Naoki was heading out. He was taking Gai with him to Mandarin Island North to look for work.
Gai had a Pelipper, so travel wasn't a problem. He could keep up with Naoki easily.
Over the meal, Gai brought up that meditation manual again. Reiji told him to keep the original for himself. If Naoki wanted a copy, Reiji would just duplicate it.
"Boss… this manual?" Naoki took the photocopy, skimmed the content, and looked up in surprise. He hadn't expected Reiji to have something like this.
"Team Rocket's," Reiji said casually.
Naoki and Gai both went stiff. They stared at him like he'd just tossed a bomb onto the table. Neither of them dared speak.
They'd heard the name. Naoki had even been chased around by Team Rocket before. They knew exactly what kind of people they were, and how dangerous it was to take anything from them.
"Well, now you've got a share too." Reiji smiled. "So don't pretend you're uninvolved."
"Ha… right." Naoki laughed awkwardly. He'd been on Reiji's side from the start.
Gai cleared his throat with his fist over his mouth, trying to hide how uncomfortable he suddenly felt. This "boss" had dragged him in deeper than he'd expected, and there was no clean way back out now.
"I've got work. Do whatever you need to do." Reiji didn't bother pointing out what they were thinking. He cleaned up after breakfast, washed the dishes, and headed out.
When he stepped outside, Naoki and Gai were already on the lawn. They released their Flying-type Pokémon, said their goodbyes, and prepared to leave.
"Boss, we're off!" Naoki sat on Flygon's back and waved.
"Go on, go on." Reiji sat on the bench and waved back, watching them rise into the sky until they vanished.
Once they were gone, he checked his watch. Only 8:30. He still had time, so he pulled out his little notebook and wrote down everything he'd gained last night.
Before joining the Gym, he'd had a little over ten million in cash. Now he'd made another big chunk on top of that.
He hadn't been living for free, though. Food on the ship cost 5,000. After arriving on Mikan Island, a night at the Pokémon Center was another 5,000. Poliwhirl and the others had cost 30,000 in checkups and treatment. Renting the lakeside cabin was 200,000, and daily supplies and food added another 50,000.
He still wasn't counting move-learning fees. He'd tally that after the Pokémon actually learned the moves.
Total spending over this stretch: 290,000.
On the last day of the cruise, he'd fought three battles and made a quick 100,000. The orchard brought in another 20,000. Acting Gym Leader work paid 100,000. Total: 220,000.
Then there was last night's 18,000,000, plus what he'd already had.
Previous balance: 10,056,000 (a little over ten million)Cash balance remaining: 27,986,000 (just under twenty-eight million)And the poachers' boss still had a bank card with 130,000,000 on it. He was rich, and still one mistake away from falling back to nothing.
Besides cash, he had a whole case of calcium tablets—enough for Kingler and the others to eat for a long time. He'd also caught a Karrablast with pretty decent potential last night.
Karrablast had been starving and tried to pick a fight with Shelmet for food. Shelmet promptly taught it a lesson. The poor thing got shocked so badly it could barely move afterward. A baby Karrablast was never beating Shelmet.
And the haul didn't stop there. He'd also picked up the one-million reward mission tied to reaching Elite Trainer—100,000 points—plus the mid-grade Water Stone and the Elite-tier item Silver Powder the young man had gifted him, worth a few hundred thousand on their own.
Which just proved the obvious: the Gym's "stable" paycheck was a joke. You couldn't raise Pokémon properly on that alone. Side money was where the real cash came from.
Satisfied, Reiji put the notebook away. He released the Pokémon he'd left behind, set out their food for the day, then climbed onto Pelipper and headed to work.
Mudkip stayed behind again, same as always. It was a convenient excuse to make that lazy Butterfree babysit. Hanhan stayed too—around the Gym, he didn't want a Rhyhorn getting any ideas about headbutting trees.
It was almost nine. Reiji and Pelipper landed at the Gym right on time. Cissy, Senta, and the young man's cousin were already inside training their Pokémon.
Reiji greeted Senta and her brother, then immediately headed for the back kitchen. He moved fast on purpose—he didn't give Cissy a chance to start talking.
If she wanted to dock his pay, she could. The monthly wage was 280,000. Plenty of people would work themselves ragged for that.
But if it were only a couple thousand a month? Then you'd be crazy to act like it was life-or-death.
With breakfast in hand, Reiji went to the training room. The five instructors were already waiting. He released his five Pokemon and had them follow the instructors to learn new moves.
Once the other Pokémon left with their assigned Trainers, the Trainer responsible for Kingler stayed behind. He stared at Reiji's Kingler—now noticeably larger—and blurted out in amazement.
"Rai, your Kingler got huge. It used to be the same size as mine, but now it's a whole size up."
Standing side by side, the difference was obvious.
Most Kingler were around 1.3 meters tall. The instructor's Kingler was 1.37 meters, already considered well-developed. Reiji's Kingler had measured 1.4 on Kinnow Island, but after molting it was now 1.45—and even its claws had grown with it. Up close, those pincers looked genuinely intimidating.
"Feed it better stuff," Reiji said with an awkward laugh. "When Kingler molts, it can grow."
He'd suspected it for a while—his Kingler might be a special individual. Otherwise it wouldn't keep outgrowing others of the same species.
Other Kingler could molt too, of course. Whether they actually got bigger afterward was another matter. Either way, that oversized claw always stayed ridiculous, nearly as large as the rest of the body.
After a few more words, the Trainer took his Kingler to a corner to start practice. Reiji turned and saw Sou still lingering nearby, clearly waiting to ask something.
"Rai… I wanted to ask you something." Sou fidgeted, eyes darting around like he was afraid someone would overhear.
"Ask," Reiji said. He couldn't imagine what this straightforward kid was about to say.
"When you buy things… are you supposed to bargain?" Sou glanced around again. When he realized nobody was paying attention, he finally let out a quiet breath.
"If it's a small shop, you can try," Reiji said. "But supermarkets and places with fixed price tags? No bargaining there."
"Then I got ripped off." Sou's face tightened. He'd finally gotten 50,000 Pokédollars he could spend freely, bought some basic things without knowing the normal prices, and got overcharged multiple times.
Reiji chuckled. "It's not a big deal. That's how you learn. Next time, be bolder and haggle."
"If you don't know how, go watch the old folks at the produce stalls. You'll learn fast."
Sou rubbed the back of his head. "Got it. Thanks, Rai."
"No need to thank me." Reiji glanced at him. "You're from the coast, right? If you want to be a Trainer, one Pokémon won't be enough. Catch a few more Water-types. A Trainer can carry six. And I'm basically a Breeder—I can help you check how your Pokémon are developing."
Sou's eyes widened. "Really? Thanks, Rai!"
Before he'd found a direction, Sou hadn't wanted a second or third Pokémon. It felt unnecessary, feeding them was a hassle, and money was always tight.
Now that he'd decided he wanted to be a Trainer, he'd been thinking seriously about what kind of Pokémon he should add next.
Sou looked honest, but he wasn't stupid. He'd grown up listening to adults talk. He'd heard his father sigh about life often enough to understand how things really worked.
Sometimes, when Pokémon battles came on TV, his father and the other fishermen would drink and brag—where they'd traveled when they were young, what legendary Pokémon they'd "seen," all the usual tales.
Then the conversation would drift to starter Pokémon, to the dreams they'd once had. And finally to the same ending: none of them had ever gotten a truly talented Pokémon, so the dream died, and they went back to ordinary life.
In their village, the elders always said the practical path was simple—fish, marry, have kids, live steadily. Competing in a regional tournament sounded like a child's fantasy to them.
That was when Sou learned something early: not all Pokémon were the same. Otherwise his father wouldn't have kept bringing up starter Pokémon like they were some dividing line.
Even Sou's Pelipper hadn't been a random catch.
And the truth was, how he got it had always been his secret.
He'd told his parents. He'd told his friends. Nobody believed him. After that, he stopped talking about it.
It wasn't some impossible mystery. It was just the kind of story people laughed at, so he kept it to himself.
Sou grew up by the sea and had seen strange things before. One night, half-asleep, he wandered down to the shore to relieve himself and saw a flash of white light—bright, sudden, then gone.
When he hurried over, he found a white egg lying on the sand. Next to it was a single white feather. He couldn't find anyone nearby, couldn't figure out who would leave a Pokémon egg on the beach, so he carried it home.
Fishermen knew Wingull and Pelipper nested on cliffs. They didn't lay eggs on open sand.
Later, the egg hatched into a Wingull. Sou kept that feather tucked under his pillow. Sometimes he would take it out at night and stare at the moon, absentmindedly turning it between his fingers.
He still didn't know what Pokémon the feather belonged to. But Pelipper loved it—it would cling to that feather in its sleep, hugging it close with Sou.
For years, Sou had suspected his Pelipper might be unusual. But no matter how much he searched and read, everything pointed to the same answer: it looked like an ordinary Pelipper.
If Rai really was a Breeder, maybe he could spot what Sou couldn't. Maybe he could even tell whether that feather mattered.
"Rai… can you look at my Pelipper?" Sou asked. He didn't even know what he wanted Rai to see. He just wanted a clear answer.
"Your Pelipper looks healthy," Reiji said. He studied it anyway. Nothing obvious stood out. If anything, it looked sturdier than Reiji's own—probably from a lifetime of seafood.
"I mean… is there anything special about it?" Sou asked again, still keeping the feather to himself. He didn't trust easily, and he'd seen too many people turn ugly over small gains.
"Return it and hand me the ball," Reiji said. "I'll check."
"Here." Sou recalled Pelipper and placed the Poké Ball into Reiji's hand without hesitation.
Reiji opened the proficiency panel and finally understood why Sou kept pressing.
This Pelipper really was special.
Its potential was high—69—and it had two abilities. Even more surprising, it carried a trace of Dragon-type ancestry and had an inherited Dragon-type move: Twister. Its talent was better than Reiji's own Pelipper, and its move pool was much deeper too.
So that was it. No wonder Sou kept asking. No wonder his Pelipper could throw around so many heavy moves.
The kid had gotten absurdly lucky.
"Your Pelipper is excellent," Reiji said as he handed the ball back. "Take good care of it."
He could tell Sou was hiding something, but he wasn't going to pry. Sou looked simple and honest, yet he hadn't blurted out his secret—and that alone meant he wasn't naïve.
Sou took the ball back, expression complicated. "Got it… I'll go train it."
Once Sou left, Reiji sat in thought for a moment, then let it go.
Even if Sou's Pelipper had amazing talent, it wasn't Reiji's. Thinking about it wouldn't change a thing.
He released Zapdos and Magikarp and trained with them while building familiarity.
In less than half a month, he'd be setting out on his journey. By then, Magikarp would evolve—and without any bond, he wouldn't be able to keep a newly evolved Gyarados in line.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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