Morning training flew by. At lunch, Reiji ate with Sou and the others. The seafood was brought by Sou, and the kitchen auntie was the one who cooked it.
It was a good meal. All it lacked was a drink on the side. The six of them ate until they were satisfied, and Sou in particular tore through an entire fish by himself.
After lunch, the afternoon training and lessons started up again.
Reiji didn't work out in the afternoon. After a quick shower, he sat under the Gym's eaves with the sea breeze on his face, pulled a messy stack of Pokémon trivia books out of his bag, and flipped through them at random, hoping something useful would jump out.
Life was easy right now. It was also his last stretch of true downtime. Once Poliwhirl and the others picked up their new moves, he'd have to set off again, so he might as well relax while he could.
He'd already completed two of the requirements to advance. Once he got back from the regional tournament and turned in the one-million-reward job, he could convert it into one hundred thousand points.
The remaining conditions were simple too: collect ten badges, and place in the top eight at a regional tournament. He wasn't aiming for anything less than the title, so those hurdles didn't scare him.
Honestly, Gym challenges weren't meant to be impossible. Gyms were the League's way of selecting and testing new trainers. If they made them brutally hard, they wouldn't be testing rookies anymore.
Even so, when he went badge-hunting, he planned to avoid any Gyms rumored to have Team Rocket moles. If Team Rocket latched onto him again during a challenge, it would be a headache he didn't need.
As long as he secured the minimum number of badges required to enter, he could leave the risky Gyms for last. If he still came up short, then—and only then—would he consider stepping into one of those places.
Thinking about the road ahead, Reiji lost interest in reading. He leaned lightly against the wall and watched the sea glitter under the sun.
When his eyes got tired, he went back to the books. The afternoon slipped away faster than he expected. At the end of the workday, he recalled Poliwhirl and the others, said goodbye to Sou's group, and then waved farewell to Senta.
He grabbed his dinner from the back kitchen and left the Gym.
As Reiji rode off on Pelipper, the young man's cousin watched from behind the door. These days had been easy, so he hadn't bothered reporting anything, because there was nothing to report.
He hadn't seen Reiji get close to Cissy even once. That meant he didn't have to watch so tightly anymore, especially since he was stationed at her side anyway.
In his eyes, Reiji had some sense. He knew his place. He wasn't trying to compete with the cousin's older brother over a woman, which made things simpler. And with Reiji about to leave the Gym to travel, he'd have even less reason to go anywhere near her.
The cousin still couldn't understand why his older brother cared about someone like that. A nobody from the countryside, an orphan from some backwater island—was that really worth guarding against? If there was a problem, just confront him. Keeping someone here to monitor him felt like pure overkill.
…
Reiji returned to the lakeside cabin. Mudkip was the first to come sprinting over, slamming into his arms like a cannonball. Mudkip had missed him all day, but Butterfree quickly stole its attention.
After the first separation, the second time was easier. Mudkip would get used to it slowly. It was simply too eye-catching to keep out in public, so for now, Mudkip would have to put up with being hidden.
Reiji sat on the swing and soothed Mudkip for a while. Then he set it down on the seat and got ready to make dinner for the team.
He had twenty-three Pokémon now. Just preparing dinner took an hour, and it was all manual work.
Once the food was ready, he was about to eat with them when Darkrai, hiding inside his shadow, warned him that someone was coming.
"Who?" Reiji asked, genuinely curious. He didn't have many acquaintances on Mikan Island. It couldn't be Cissy, could it? That woman looked like she wanted to tear him apart.
"There are four," Darkrai said. "Two adults, two children. One of them was in the back kitchen earlier."
"The kitchen auntie?" Reiji frowned. "What would they want?"
He immediately recalled the Pokémon that weren't suitable to show, then cleared away the bowls. A car rolled out of the forest and into view.
When Reiji stepped outside, two men and two women climbed out, all familiar faces. One pair was the kitchen auntie and her son. The other was the citrus-farmer auntie and her son.
"Auntie, what brings you here?" Reiji asked. He watched the two women pull a pile of gifts from the trunk, surprised they'd brought anything at all.
"Rai, I wanted to tell you earlier," the kitchen auntie said with a laugh. "But you ran off so fast you were gone in a blink."
"I talked it over with the auntie next door," the citrus-farmer auntie added. "We wanted to invite you to eat at our place, but you're always busy. So we decided to come after work today. We wanted to thank you for the Pokémon you brought to our families."
"So it's about that," Reiji said, finally understanding. "It was nothing, really. You didn't have to come all the way here."
"We showed up without asking," the kitchen auntie said, smiling as if she were testing him. "You're not mad, are you?"
Before he could answer, she pulled her son forward. "Rai, this is my silly kid."
"I'm not mad," Reiji said quickly. "Not at all. He's already grown—he's practically a little man."
He was caught off guard by the sudden visit, but he wasn't flustered. He'd hosted enough people to know what to do.
"Come in," he said. "I was just about to eat. Let's have dinner together."
He led them into the cabin's living area. On the table sat a single dish—tomatoes and scrambled eggs.
"Rai, I brought canned citrus and some fresh fruit," one auntie said, glancing around as if searching for where to put it.
"Anywhere is fine," Reiji said, taking the bags from their hands. It wasn't expensive stuff, but it was still their sincerity.
The kitchen auntie looked at the lonely dish on the table and immediately stepped in. "How about I cook a few more dishes? I'm good at this."
"I'll help," the citrus-farmer auntie said at once. "I know this place. I used to come clean for the owner."
The cabin's kitchen and dining area were connected. They only had to turn around to reach it.
Reiji didn't argue. One plate of tomatoes and eggs was a sad way to treat guests, and the ingredients were already in the fridge.
"Auntie," he said as they started cooking, "I'll be leaving the Gym in a few days. After that, cleaning once a month should be enough."
He liked the cabin and the lake. He planned to renew the rental for another half year, and he didn't want the place to gather dust while he was gone.
"Don't worry," the citrus-farmer auntie said with confidence. "Leave it to me. I'll keep it spotless."
Besides picking citrus, she also did housework jobs on the side. When Reiji rented the place, he'd already arranged for her to handle the cleaning.
"Good," Reiji said, his shoulders loosening. "That takes a load off."
He still needed her help to pass the rent money to the agent anyway, but that could wait until after dinner.
"Rai-nii, are these all your Pokémon?" Kouta asked, pointing at the Pokémon in the living room. His wide eyes darted around nonstop.
"Yes," Reiji said, nodding.
He wasn't close with these two kids yet. Once they warmed up, they'd start causing trouble, because kids never sat still.
"Wow," the kitchen auntie's son blurted out, staring at Reiji's Pokémon. He started naming them with excitement. "Pelipper, Poliwhirl, Kingler, Slowpoke, Staryu, Magikarp… I love Water-types!"
"Scyther, Butterfree…" Kouta added, looking like he was seeing stars. "Those are my favourite Bug-types!"
Compared to the steady, honest Heracross, he clearly liked the cool factor of Scyther more.
"Come out, Krabby. Come out, Staryu," the kitchen auntie's son said, releasing the two Water-types Reiji had helped him catch. "Rai-nii caught these for me!"
"Come out, Heracross," Kouta said, releasing his own Pokémon—the one Reiji had caught for him too.
The two boys exchanged a look, grinned, and immediately tried to pull Reiji outside to battle on the grass.
"What are you doing?" the kitchen auntie snapped, hurrying over to smack her son on the backside. "Rai's exhausted from work. When would he have time to play Pokémon battles with you?"
"It's fine," Reiji said, waving it off. "I'm not doing anything right now. I'll play with them for a bit."
He followed the two kids out, planning to use Shelmet, Slowpoke, and Farfetch'd to humour them.
Kids like this didn't understand real training. Even if they went to a Pokémon school in town, they'd spend the whole day waiting for PE so they could battle. Theory lessons never stood a chance.
Once the battle started, Reiji held back over and over, making sure the kids could trade back and forth and feel like they were in it.
In the end, he even had his Pokémon play faint and "lose" on purpose. The boys puffed up right away, convinced Reiji's Pokémon weren't all that.
Reiji just smiled and let them enjoy themselves. The two boys immediately started battling each other instead.
They both knew each other's habits and patterns. It was the kind of sparring that only happens when two regular opponents have been trading wins for ages.
Dinner was ready before they could fully wear themselves out. Reiji went back inside with them and froze at the sight of the table.
It was packed with delicious food. Calling it "home cooking" barely felt fair. A trained breeder really was built different.
"Pretty good, right?" the kitchen auntie said, grinning proudly.
"Seriously impressive," Reiji said, giving her a thumbs-up. The dishes looked and smelled perfect, and they were on a completely different level from his tomatoes and eggs.
"And this," she added, lifting a bowl, "is wild mushroom egg soup. You'd pay hotel money to get something this tender. Back in the day, I even cooked as a head chef in a big hotel."
"You've had an interesting life," Reiji said, feeding her ego just enough. Then he picked up his chopsticks and started eating.
During the meal, the two aunties talked nonstop. Most of it was thanks, along with repeated reminders for Reiji, the acting Gym leader, to keep looking after them in the future.
They also didn't hold back about their kids. If these brats came to challenge the Gym one day, Reiji should hit them when he needed to and scold them when they deserved it. They were the kind who stayed out battling until it was dark and only came home after their parents went looking with a stick.
Parents really were the same everywhere. Reiji couldn't exactly argue, so he just nodded along and smiled politely.
He was only sixteen. What was he supposed to discuss with two older women? After talking for ages, they got even more animated, bouncing from one bit of gossip to the next.
Reiji didn't interrupt. He set his bowl down, said he needed the bathroom, and quietly slipped out.
He didn't go back into the kitchen. Only when the aunties finally noticed the guest of honour was gone did they step outside and find him.
"Ah, Rai," one of them said, embarrassed. "Sorry, we really bothered you today. It's late—we should head back."
They cleared the table, then dragged their sons over to say goodbye.
"You're leaving already?" Reiji asked, standing up. "Why not sit a little longer?"
"We have work tomorrow," the kitchen auntie said quickly. "We shouldn't keep you from resting."
"All right," Reiji said. He fetched four boxes of premium Pokéblocks—two Bug-type and two Water-type—and handed them to the aunties. "Take these. They're a small gift for the kids."
"We can't take that," both women said at once, waving their hands. "We came to thank you, and now we ate your food and you're giving us gifts too?"
"It's nothing," Reiji said. "I've been eating at the Gym, and I've benefited from your care there. This is just something small that'll help their Pokémon."
The boys' eyes were glued to the boxes anyway. Their longing wasn't exactly subtle.
One box of premium Pokéblocks cost about half a day's wages for a normal person. The aunties probably wouldn't buy something like this for themselves.
"Well… that's really too kind," the kitchen auntie said, half-refusing and half-accepting. In the end, she took them.
Reiji turned to the citrus-farmer auntie next. "And please take this too. One million Pokédollars. I want to renew the cabin rental for another five months. Can you pass the rent to the agent for me?"
"Of course," she said without hesitation.
With that settled, Reiji watched their car disappear into the darkening night.
Once they were gone, he released Gengar and the others again so they could eat. When his hand touched Golbat's Poké Ball, he didn't release it right away.
Most of his core team plans were already set. Golbat was the one remaining piece.
He checked Golbat's status. It had been more than ten days since he last looked.
[Golbat]
[Type: Poison/Flying][Gender: Male][Potential: 65%][Level: 25.13%][Ability: Inner Focus/13.53%][Hidden Ability: Infiltrator/12.13%][Moves: (Quick Attack/19.11%)(Hypnosis/12.14%)(Mean Look/11.64%)(Protect/17.88%)(Air Cutter/18.54%)(Air Slash/17.32%)(Sludge Bomb/25.64%)(Poison Fang/26.45%)(Venoshock/25.74%)(Toxic/30.82%)]
Golbat's potential hadn't dropped despite the poison eating at it. That meant its life was safe for now.
The abilities hadn't changed either. Inner Focus prevented flinching, and Infiltrator let it ignore things like Light Screen when attacking.
Both were annoying to train. To raise Inner Focus proficiency, he needed to find moves that caused flinching and have Golbat push through it. For Infiltrator, he needed a Pokémon that could set up Light Screen so Golbat could grind against it.
Air Slash would help with that. Plenty of Pokémon could learn it. Once he arranged a stretch of sparring sessions, the ability proficiency would rise.
Golbat's move growth hadn't changed much overall. Only the non-Poison moves had increased noticeably, while the Poison moves barely moved, which meant its physical condition was finally catching up.
His plan for Golbat was simple. It was the same three-pronged approach he used with Croagunk: regular detoxing, keep antidotes on hand, and keep building its body.
Only after Golbat's physique reached a balance with the toxins inside it would he consider anything else. That poison was like a hidden illness—most of the time you couldn't see it, but the moment Golbat weakened, it would pounce without mercy.
Golbat and Croagunk were the same in one way: he hadn't even trained Poison-type moves or tried to increase their toxicity, and they were already terrifyingly toxic. If anything, he thought the poison was too strong.
With a quiet sigh, Reiji released Golbat and let it join the others for dinner.
Later, he sat on the swing again with Mudkip in his arms. The Pokémon gathered close—some lying down, some sitting upright—and together they watched the moon's reflection on the lake while the cool forest wind drifted past.
Then they went inside to sleep.
He still had work in the morning. It had also been a long time since he last fished, so while things were calm, it was time to let the old rod come out and see the sun again.
…
Eighth day since joining the Gym…
Ninth day since joining the Gym…
Tenth day since joining the Gym…
Eleventh day since joining the Gym…
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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