The next morning.
Kashiwagi woke up under a crushing weight that made it difficult to breathe.
Opening his eyes, he found—as expected—Zweilous sprawled directly on top of him.
"..."
With a body weight of over 130 pounds pressing down on his stomach and chest, it was a miracle he hadn't been flattened.
Calling it "attempted manslaughter" wouldn't have been an exaggeration.
Fortunately, Kashiwagi's physical constitution was far beyond that of an average person.
He tried to pull his hand away... it wouldn't budge.
Both of his hands were firmly clamped in Zweilous's mouths. Previously, he could use his free hand to pinch the dragon's nose to wake it up, but now? He was completely immobilized.
Kashiwagi fell into deep thought for a moment before turning his head toward the bedside. "Help... me..."
"Lucky~"
Chansey woke up, rubbing her eyes to clear the sleep away.
She spotted Kashiwagi pinned beneath the dragon, looking sideways at her with a plea for rescue. A small smile tugged at her lips. "Lucky~"
With a surge of psychic power, Telekinesis gently pried Zweilous's jaws open and lifted the massive dragon into the air.
Kashiwagi grabbed a wet wipe from the nightstand to clean the saliva off his hands, sighing. "The body has changed, but the habits and personality haven't... There's definitely a lot of growing up to do."
To help Zweilous get used to its new body, they had spent half the night training before finally crashing.
However...
The "little" guy—well, big guy now—was actually quite gifted when it came to motor control.
It had already learned how to move its two heads independently, rather than having them mirror each other's every move. It was becoming as natural as using a pair of hands.
Depending on the command, it could perform different actions: one head high, one low; one up, one down; one mouth open, one closed.
During their midnight testing, Kashiwagi had discovered something fascinating.
If he covered the eyes of the left head and showed two Cheri Berries to the right head, and then asked the left head how many berries there were, the dragon could answer perfectly.
To some extent, this proved the creature possessed a single, unified consciousness. Either that, or its brains were perfectly synced via some biological link.
While Kashiwagi pondered this in the bathroom, he woke up Mawile, who was buried in a pile of plushies and cushions on the sofa. She let out a dainty yawn and followed him.
Meanwhile...
"Zwei-lll!" "Zwei-lll!"
Zweilous woke up. Seeing itself floating in mid-air didn't surprise it at all; it simply flapped its tiny wings and let out a chirp.
Chansey immediately set it down.
"Zwei-ll!" "Zwei-ll!"
Zweilous hopped back onto the bed to nuzzle Chansey. As roommates who had always been close, their bond was solid.
Unfortunately, still being clumsy with its new body, its two heads occasionally bumped into each other during the snuggle.
After greeting Chansey, it moved to the head of the bed where Galarian Corsola was floating. Zweilous looked down at her with a condescending gaze.
Initially, the dragon hadn't recognized this "rock" as its annoying teammate, but sight wasn't its only sense. Combining scent and touch, it quickly realized this was indeed the same Slacker.
Zweilous didn't hate the "slacker" of the team, but it wasn't fond of her either—mostly because she was a constant rival for the trainer's hands.
Kashiwagi loved to pick up and rub Corsola when he was idle. Zweilous, seeing this, couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy; it wanted the trainer's hands all to itself.
Of course, even a "dummy" like Zweilous understood that wasn't possible. The trainer belonged to everyone.
Therefore... Zweilous liked to cause a little trouble for Corsola.
Specifically, by dragging her into the sunlight every morning.
"Zwei-lous~" "Zwei-lous~"
One head clamped onto Corsola while the other made a mocking face at the ghost-type, whose eyes glowed crimson in irritation.
Zweilous happily trotted to the balcony, placed her outside, then used one head to push the glass door shut while the other used its teeth to flip the lock.
It had only learned how the lock worked from Kashiwagi last night. To see it put to such "productive" use so soon...
I'm a genius! Zweilous thought, trotting off to find Kashiwagi in the bathroom.
"..."
Galarian Corsola drifted up and effortlessly floated through the glass pane.
She couldn't understand why this guy grew in size but not in IQ. He was likely just spoiled, spending his energy on such meaningless, troublesome pranks.
On her way, she encountered Porygon, who looked like a digital block duck. She locked eyes with its deadpan stare for a second.
Silence. Mutual understanding achieved.
She landed on Porygon's back, finding a perfect spot to settle.
"Pah-ree?"
Porygon turned its head to look at the "dormant" Corsola, confused by her intentions. It decided to waddle toward the bathroom to ask the trainer.
Inside the bathroom... things were getting crowded.
Mawile stood on a small stool, meticulously cleaning her fur and Great Jaw with fresh water. Kashiwagi and Chansey were working together to pin down Zweilous's two heads, prying their mouths open to brush their teeth.
"Pah-ree..."
Porygon took one look at the chaos, realized the trainer was busy, and silently backed out.
As one of the smartest members of the team, Porygon was as considerate as Chansey. It was just currently too weak to be much of a factor in battle, leading to a bit of a low profile.
However, Kashiwagi had told it that it was the core of a "very important strategy," so it was determined to grow as quickly as possible to live up to that trust.
...
...
Breakfast.
After some chaos, the meal was ready.
Gaining sight had given Zweilous an extraordinary burst of energy. It was curious about everything, sniffing and staring at every object as if trying to re-catalog years of missed information.
And the simplest way to memorize something? Biting it.
Piplup, who had just arrived with Dawn, was the unfortunate victim. Zweilous's wandering mouth clamped onto him instantly.
"PIPLUP!"
He was about to scream in pain, but then... it didn't hurt at all.
By the time he realized it, Zweilous had already let go to bite something else. Piplup patted his chest, breathing a sigh of relief.
Then, a cold sweat broke out across his back.
"Piplup?"
He ran to Kashiwagi's feet, tugged on his pant leg, and looked up with a questioning gesture.
Kashiwagi was confused at first, but when Piplup began miming an explosion like a firework and glancing fearfully at the biting dragon, Kashiwagi laughed. "Don't worry, he doesn't know Draco Meteor yet."
"Piplup!"
Piplup's eyes sparkled. He sat down on the floor, his heart finally returning to its normal rhythm.
Kashiwagi couldn't stop laughing. It seemed Piplup was truly traumatized by Ash's Gible and its heat-seeking Draco Meteors.
Getting bitten by a dragon-type had triggered some dark memories.
During breakfast, Dawn inevitably asked about his next move.
"Mauville City," Kashiwagi said softly.
"I want to enter both the Grand Festival and the Pokémon League, so it's the best hub for me."
"And you?"
"Me? I'm planning to head to Littleroot Town to visit Brock, and then over to Rustboro City for the Contest there." She thought for a moment, adding wistfully, "It's a shame we aren't heading the same way."
After a week together, she had been completely won over by Kashiwagi's cooking. More than that, she genuinely enjoyed traveling with companions, so the upcoming split made her feel a bit lonely.
"As long as we're both in Hoenn, we'll run into each other again," Kashiwagi comforted her.
But in truth, even if Dawn had wanted to travel together, he would have found a way to politely decline.
While Ash might think "the more the merrier," Kashiwagi preferred the quiet company of just his Pokémon.