Chapter 253: Destination: Snowpoint City, Two New Members
They boarded the ship leaving Four Island once again.
Unlike the previous trips, which were short hops by speedboat, this journey would take more than a day, requiring an overnight stay on the sea. So, they took a cruise ship.
"Where are we going? It doesn't look like we're heading to Johto."
Will turned to Lorelei. He had assumed their next stop would be Johto. They had already toured Kanto once, so Lorelei probably wouldn't want to go back so soon. The only nearby options were Johto and Alola. But Alola was a small place without a Pokémon League, so there were no tournaments for her to challenge.
So Will thought Lorelei's goal would be Johto.
"Heehee, the extreme north!" Lorelei grinned mysteriously.
"...Snowpoint City?" Will raised an eyebrow, making a guess.
First, he was certain Lorelei was heading to the Sinnoh region. The ship was indeed heading toward Sinnoh.
Although Sinnoh was in the northern part of the world, not all of it could be called the "extreme north." Only the pure white tundra in the north of Sinnoh deserved that title. And in that tundra, there was only one human city: Snowpoint City, a place Will and Meowscarada had visited in their past life.
"How did you know?!" Lorelei's eyes went wide. She looked at Will in disbelief. How could a little penguin know about the northernmost human city in Sinnoh?
"...I saw it on TV. Mom said that's where I and Lucario are from, so I paid attention."
"Oh, I see." Lorelei nodded.
For the past two and a half years, Will had spent most of his time with Lorelei's mom. Especially during the day when Lorelei was at school, she had no idea what Will and her mom got up to. So, Will's explanation didn't arouse any suspicion; instead, it seemed very reasonable.
Of course, another reason was that Lorelei simply didn't overthink things. Although she had grown taller, her personality hadn't changed much. She had learned to think and analyze at the academy, but in trivial matters, she was still straightforward and lazy, just like before.
"Hometown?"
Lucario, standing nearby, looked at Will. He had been born in Cameran Palace and had never heard of any other hometown.
"Mm. Lucario originated from the pure white tundra of the Sinnoh region, which is where we're going now," Will nodded, pursing his lips as he looked north. "Maybe you can find your own kind there."
"Have you been there?" Lucario asked telepathically, noticing the nostalgic look in Will's eyes.
"Mm. I have a friend there."
Will glanced behind him subconsciously. Unfortunately, the bag he always carried was long gone, along with Regice'sNever-Melt Ice plate. They had all disappeared with Meowscarada.
"Are they still alive?"
Lucario's question seemed a bit rude, but he knew the context. Will was talking about events from over a hundred years ago. Lucario wouldn't dare claim he could live that long.
"Of course. Living for thousands of years is easy for them." Will nodded.
You could doubt a "god's" strength, but you couldn't doubt their lifespan. Especially a being like Regice, made entirely of ice. For a block of ice that never melts... does the concept of a lifespan even exist?
"Piplup! The Pokédex says the elimination rounds for the current tournaments are 6v6! That means I can have six Pokémon without waiting until I'm an adult! And our team is still missing three partners!"
Lorelei held up three fingers, her eyes sparkling.
After three years... she could finally find three more Pokémon partners!
"Go ahead. The tundra is full of Ice-type Pokémon," Will shrugged, unconcerned.
The only thing he worried about was that the three new Pokémon would undoubtedly be dead weight in the next Sinnoh Conference.
There were only seven months left until the 180 Sinnoh Conference began. In these seven months, Lorelei had to catch three Pokémon and earn eight badges. And while training three new Pokémon, she couldn't neglect the training of Lapras and Cloyster.
The speed of progress... well, it went without saying. Raising Pokémon in reality wasn't as simple as in the anime, where Ash could travel around for a bit and have a whole team ready to compete for the championship.
But... if she couldn't compete for the championship, she couldn't. Will wasn't the one obsessed with that. Lorelei was still young; she had plenty of time to achieve her goals and dreams.
"I'm going to catch three Pokémon right now!"
Lorelei didn't know what Will was thinking. She rushed to the fishing deck on the cruise ship, cast her rod with the Piplup lure, and started fishing.
Will shook his head. Honestly, there was no need to rush these couple of days. Catching something now would just get her Kanto Water-types. In two days, she could catch Sinnoh Ice-types.
"Snowpoint Gym... the future Gym Leader is Candice, but it definitely won't be her now," Will thought. Candice would probably be a teenager when she became Gym Leader; right now, she wasn't even born. In fact, the current Snowpoint Gym might not even be an Ice-type gym.
"Are Gyms hard to challenge?" Lucario asked.
"Not hard. Very easy. The Gym Leaders will adjust the strength of their Pokémon based on the challenger's Pokémon."
Will shook his head, watching Lorelei leave. "It depends on who Lorelei sends out. If she sends out her new catches, it'll be smart. If she sends us out... the Gym Leader might go all out."
Will glanced at his stats.
After two and a half years, he had only gained 9 levels. His talent was a limit he couldn't overcome. But even at Lv. 56, he had surpassed Lapras and Cloyster.
Lapras and Cloyster were now Lv. 55 and Lv. 47, respectively. They had gained 5 and 9 levels.
This was because for the past two and a half years, Lorelei had spent her days at school. She had learned about types, abilities, moves, making Pokéblocks, identifying berries, battle items, Pokémon distribution... basically everything. And this was just the "General Basic Knowledge" of the elementary division.
The academy also had departments for battling, contests, breeding, rangers, archaeology, and more. That was why Will had told Lucario not to underestimate human Pokémon academies. They taught things even Will didn't know.
But because of this, Lorelei had very little time to train Lapras and Cloyster. Their self-training efficiency dropped significantly.
So Will had caught up and become the true "Big Brother" of the team.
Given the strength of their three main Pokémon, if the Snowpoint Gym Leader had heard of Lorelei's reputation, there was a high probability they would bring out their main Pokémon to counter them. Those would be Lv. 60+ monsters. Definitely not easy to deal with.
Letting Lorelei's newly caught Pokémon challenge the Gym was undoubtedly the best choice. The Gym Leader would send out Pokémon of a similar level, and since their bond with those Pokémon wouldn't be as strong as with their main team, the difficulty would drop significantly.
But that was Lorelei's business. Will wouldn't interfere. She could use whoever she wanted. Seven months to challenge eight Gyms was plenty of time.
That night, in their room.
Will and Lucario noticed Lorelei hadn't returned yet and planned to check on her. They confirmed she was at the fishing deck. From their position, she was within their sensory range.
Just as they stood up, they sensed Lorelei heading back. So they sat down again.
A moment later, Lorelei strutted in, looking incredibly smug. She looked expectantly at Will, then at Lucario.
However, both of them just sat there silently, completely ignoring her.
"Why aren't you asking me?!" Lorelei put her hands on her hips, angry.
"Ask you what?"
"You know what!"
"Oh. Did you catch a Pokémon?"
"You knew that's what I wanted you to ask!" Lorelei grabbed Will by the shoulders and shook him.
"So, what did you catch?" Will asked again.
Honestly, he was curious about what she caught. He had just conspired with Lucario to tease her.
"Heehee... Ta-da!"
Lorelei held a Poké Ball in each hand, presenting them to him.
"Two?"
"Yup! Come on out, Seel, Slowpoke!" Lorelei threw the two Poké Balls.
"Arr-arr~"
A white Seel bounced out, flopping on the bed. It blinked its small, round eyes, looking blankly at Will and wagging its tail. Despite looking like a baby, the Seel was 1.1 meters long, easily capable of crushing Will.
On the other side, a pink Slowpoke lay quietly on the bed, staring into space, its mind a mystery. Its Aura was completely flat, as if it were just spacing out. This one was also a heavyweight, 1.2 meters long.
Will looked at the white and pink Pokémon lying on either side of him and sighed.
What kind of genius could be caught by Lorelei's "lure" fishing?
But... four of Lorelei's five main team members were now assembled.
"Is this fate?"
Will thought for a moment.
Then the remaining one... barring any accidents... would be Jynx.
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