Day 35 since returning to the Orange Archipelago. Clear skies.
Today was the final day of the Orange League tournament, with Drake and Danny set to decide the championship.
The family had another reason to celebrate as well.
Senta had finally woken up.
Nurse Joy examined him immediately after he regained consciousness and found surprisingly little wrong beyond some malnutrition and the effects of spending so long in bed. If Cissy's mother had not insisted on keeping him under observation for one more night, Senta would have gone out for a huge meal the moment he woke up.
He was finally discharged that morning, just in time to attend the final.
Cissy's father had returned as well. His official explanation was that an old friend's family had suffered a death and the funeral had been far away, delaying his return until yesterday afternoon.
Aside from Reiji and Cissy's grandfather, everyone accepted the story readily enough. Nobody cared much about the details now that he was safely home and the family was together again.
Senta had a harder time accepting how much he had missed.
The moment he learned he had been unconscious for more than a week, he nearly broke down. His own tournament run was gone, Cissy had already been eliminated, and even Reiji's matches were over before he had woken up.
"Don't worry about it," Reiji told him. "The Orange League will still be here next year. Spend the rest of this year training properly and come back stronger."
"Rai-nii, you finished in the top eight." Senta latched onto his leg and refused to let go. "Be my coach."
Reiji laughed. "We'll talk about it when we get home."
He had no intention of agreeing immediately. Cissy's father was a much stronger Trainer than Senta seemed willing to admit; the brat simply knew exactly what his father's idea of training looked like and wanted an easier instructor.
If Senta wanted to learn Poliwrath's explosive use of Waterfall, that was different. Poliwrath could show him the basics in a few days, but actually developing the technique would still require constant practice.
"Come on, Rai-nii. Teach me."
Senta tightened his grip and shamelessly tried using his recent hospitalization to win sympathy.
Cissy grabbed him by the ear.
"Stop bothering him and ask properly."
"Ow!"
Their mother watched the two siblings start bickering again and smiled instead of separating them immediately. After the silence of the past week, even hearing them fight felt comforting.
"All right, you two. Enough. Eat your breakfast before the final starts."
Once everyone finished eating, the five of them headed for Pummelo Stadium. Between Reiji, Cissy, and Senta all having competed in the tournament, they had more than enough participant passes to bring the family inside.
The commentator's voice was already booming across the stadium when they arrived.
"We've finally reached the last battle of this year's Orange League! Drake, the Orange League's chief Trainer, will face Danny of Navel Gym for the championship!"
"Now, welcome our finalists!"
"Drake! Drake! Drake!"
"Danny! Danny! Danny!"
The stands shook with cheers.
Rather than squeeze Senta into the packed crowd immediately after his discharge, the family headed for the competitors' family lounge. It was quieter, far more spacious, and its balcony still offered an excellent view of the battlefield.
Several families from the Orange Archipelago's major Gyms were already there. The moment Cissy's father appeared, old acquaintances surrounded him and began asking where he had disappeared to.
He went off to deal with them while Reiji, Cissy, Senta, and their grandfather found seats beneath a sunshade on the balcony.
The final began soon afterward.
"And Drake's opening Pokémon is his ace, Dragonite!" the commentator shouted. "He's starting with his veteran pseudo-Legendary!"
Danny could only smile helplessly from the opposite platform.
"Going straight for Dragonite? You really think highly of me, Drake."
Dragonite had already shown what it could do yesterday. Simply sending it out against Sabrina had been enough to turn that semifinal around, and now Danny was being asked to face the same veteran Elite Four-tier pseudo-Legendary from the opening exchange.
He sent out Scyther.
The difference in strength quickly became apparent.
Dragonite tore through three of Danny's Elite Four-tier Pokémon in succession before his fourth, Golem, finally managed to bring it down. By then, however, Danny had already lost half his team.
Anyone watching could see where the final was heading.
Drake had held the top position in the Orange Archipelago for years for a reason. Whatever else people said about him, he was a genuine Elite Four-tier Trainer with the team to prove it.
The rest of the match only confirmed the obvious.
Eventually, the final call came.
"It's over! This year's Orange League Champion is Drake!"
The crowd erupted again as Drake's name filled the stadium screens.
"And there's more news! With reforms coming to the Orange League, Drake will step down from his current position and enter the upcoming Elite Four selection competition! Who will claim the new Elite Four seats? Stay tuned!"
The commentator continued with the schedule for the afternoon.
"The closing ceremony will begin later today! Every Trainer who participated is invited to the awards ceremony, and even those who finished outside the top three will receive commemorative prizes. There will also be a fan event afterward, so don't go anywhere!"
The tournament was not quite finished yet.
Danny had secured second place, but third still needed to be decided between Sabrina and Rudy, who had both lost in yesterday's semifinals.
Rudy solved that problem by forfeiting as soon as he entered the field.
Nobody seemed particularly surprised.
Sabrina's telepathic command style was a difficult matchup for him, and fourth place was already enough to qualify him for the upcoming Elite Four selection competition. There was little reason to put his team through another brutal match merely for the bronze medal.
The third-place prize was supposedly a high-grade Evolution Stone.
Rudy was not exactly the sort of Trainer who struggled to obtain Evolution Stones.
With that, the competitive portion of the Orange League officially ended.
Reiji left the stadium with Cissy's family for lunch. Senta had spent more than a week surviving on hospital treatment, so everyone agreed that a proper restaurant meal was overdue.
After that, all Reiji needed to do was return for the closing ceremony, collect his commemorative prize, and head back to Mikan Gym.
Then the real work would begin.
The Elite Four selection competition had completely different requirements from the tournament he had just finished. Each candidate needed to choose a type specialty and field a full team of six Pokémon sharing that type. Whoever claimed an Elite Four seat would then carry the corresponding title.
Reiji had already made his choice.
Water.
It was barely a choice at all. Water was the only type for which he could comfortably assemble six serious Pokémon, and most of his strongest partners already belonged to it.
Whether he could actually become one of the Elite Four was another question. Even earning a place among the reserves would be useful; it would not carry the same authority or public profile, but it would still give him a foothold in the League's upper ranks.
Preparing six Water types for that competition was easily his most important training goal.
Unfortunately, it was far from the only thing waiting for him.
There were still survivors connected to the murdered noble family. When he had time, Reiji needed Tai to put together a proper list so he knew who remained.
Then there was Tai's younger sister, Komai.
Reiji had already sent instructions through Gengar for A.J. to move tonight. The idea was simple: A.J. would pose as some kind of gang member and create enough trouble around Komai that Blaine would have reason to take her under his protection and bring her back to Cinnabar Gym.
Once Komai was somewhere genuinely safe, Tai would have one less thing hanging over his head.
Reiji was not particularly worried about Team Rocket noticing the change. Tai had already become too deeply entangled with them for his sister to matter as leverage anymore.
If everything he had done became public, the League would never simply welcome him back. A Trainer in Tai's position would either end up imprisoned or spend the rest of his life hiding in the narrow space between the legal and criminal worlds.
Removing Komai from the equation would not free him from Team Rocket.
It would at least make his situation less miserable.
Reiji mentally went through the rest of his growing list and felt tired just thinking about it.
The highest priority was still getting more of his Pokémon into Elite Four tier, especially the six Water types he intended to use in the selection competition.
After that, he wanted something far less serious.
A clear day.
A calm sea.
Blastoise beneath him while he spent a few hours fishing somewhere far from tournaments, politics, police stations, and Team Rocket.
He had wanted to do that for ages.
His old partner deserved some sunlight too.
Then there were the rumors.
Being taken into the police station and walking back out again had killed most of the more serious accusations, but some people were still determined to spread them. Reiji had no trouble guessing who was helping those stories survive.
He also had no intention of wasting much energy on them.
He was becoming famous enough that criticism was inevitable. The stronger his reputation became, the more people would admire him—and the more others would search for reasons to tear him down.
That was simply the price of being noticed.
Fame and influence could protect him, open doors, and give him power he had never possessed before.
They could also put a target on his back.
Like most useful things, fame was a double-edged sword.
[End of chapter]
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