Day 37 since returning to the Orange Archipelago. Light rain.
A fine drizzle hung over the mountains around the lakeside cabin, turning the forest and lake into layers of gray-green shadow behind the mist.
Reiji had returned to Mikan Island the previous afternoon. After so many consecutive days of tournament battles, he had been exhausted enough to skip dinner at the Gym and come straight home.
When he woke the next morning, the world outside his window had disappeared behind fog. Raindrops tapped softly against the glass, and when he opened the window, cool damp air rolled into the room with a spray of mist.
He got up early and prepared breakfast for the entire team, including the cloned Pokémon he had not seen in quite a while.
Of the original Charizard, Venusaur, and Blastoise trio, Blastoise had eventually joined Reiji on his travels. That left Charizard and Venusaur in charge of keeping an eye on the lakeside cabin while he was gone.
They had done surprisingly well.
Both the house and the Pokémon shelters were still standing, which meant Charizard and Venusaur had at least managed not to burn the place down while fooling around.
Once everyone had their food, Reiji took his own breakfast outside and settled beneath the roof. Mist drifted across the lake while rain whispered through the trees, and after weeks of crowded stadiums, constant battles, and political trouble, the quiet mountain scenery felt almost unreal.
Umbreon finished eating first and hopped lightly onto his lap. After grooming its fur, it stretched out, curled against him, and closed its eyes.
Rainy mornings were made for sleeping.
Butterfree soon fluttered down onto Reiji's shoulder and brushed its antennae affectionately against his cheek while watching the rain with him.
Poliwrath had something much less relaxing in mind.
It was already heading toward the rain when Reiji stopped it.
"Absolutely not. Your arm still isn't healed. Nurse Joy said one week of rest, remember?"
Poliwrath reluctantly stopped.
Reiji gave the same warning to several other Water types that had started looking toward the lake. They might enjoy the rain, but after the tournament he was not interested in making another trip to the Pokémon Center because somebody decided cold weather was the perfect time for training.
Not everyone listened.
Gengar rose from Reiji's shadow and floated happily into the drizzle. The lakeside cabin was one of the few places where it could relax without constantly watching its surroundings.
Swampert was already running through the rain, delighted to have open space again after being cooped up during the tournament.
Sharpedo was enjoying itself even more. A little rain meant nothing to a Pokémon built for the ocean, and every so often it burst out of the lake before crashing back into the water hard enough to send spray across the shore.
Golbat and Spinarak had chosen the opposite approach. Both were hanging beneath the eaves, curled up and sleeping without a care in the world. There was no need to stand guard here, so for once they could rest properly.
Golurk stood nearby staring into the rain, motionless as ever. Reiji had no idea what it found so interesting.
Weezing had been banished to one of the Pokémon shelters.
Ever since it started consuming Gengar's toxins, the black smoke leaking from its body had become far more poisonous. Most of the team refused to go anywhere near it, and even the other Poison types found the smell unbearable.
Reiji hoped that would improve once Weezing reached Elite Four tier and learned to contain its toxins properly. Right now, it leaked the stench without meaning to.
When that breakthrough would happen was anyone's guess.
Magnezone had settled comfortably into its usual role as the cabin's living power supply. With it around, Reiji had never needed to worry about an outage.
Toxicroak occupied a quiet corner under the roof, croaking steadily to itself. The red poison sac at its throat expanded and contracted with every call, repeatedly concentrating the toxins stored inside.
That was the path Reiji expected it to use for its own breakthrough.
Toxicroak's poison sac had mutated from birth, and the safest way forward was to keep refining the poison it already possessed until the accumulated power forced its body to adapt. Feeding it stronger toxins before it could even fully control its own would be closer to suicide than training.
Weezing had the easier route. Its gaseous body could tolerate Gengar's stronger poison far better, allowing it to absorb higher-grade toxic energy directly and slowly use that pressure to push toward Elite Four tier.
Reiji let his gaze wander across the rest of the team until it landed on Lucario.
His expression changed.
Lucario looked terrible.
Dark circles had formed beneath its eyes, and the fatigue in its face had grown impossible to ignore. The problem had started after it inherited Medicham's mental power and Aura. At first, the effects had been mild, but lately Lucario had been sleeping worse and worse.
Reiji had been studying its condition for several days and thought he finally understood why.
"Lucario. You couldn't sleep again?"
Lucario nodded and walked over, its movements noticeably heavier than usual.
Even the smallest noise could wake it now. It would drift into shallow sleep, sense some tiny disturbance through Aura, and immediately snap awake again.
"I think the mental power you inherited has become too strong for the way you're using Aura," Reiji said. "Your senses are picking up too much at once, and you're fighting the new power instead of letting it settle."
Lucario looked up at him, listening carefully.
"The mental power itself isn't the problem. Stop treating it like something foreign that needs to be suppressed. You need to make it yours and use it to support your Aura."
That seemed to make sense to Lucario, but only partly. Understanding what was wrong did not tell it how to fix the problem.
Reiji had expected that.
"Slowking, come here."
Slowking drifted over through the air instead of walking. Ever since becoming comfortable with its psychic power, it had grown increasingly lazy about using its legs.
Reiji pointed toward Lucario.
"Take its hand and show it what your mind feels like when you meditate. Let it follow you into that state."
Several Pokémon immediately gathered around to watch.
Slowking raised one hand and used telepathy to guide Lucario into doing the same. Lucario placed its paw against Slowking's palm, and once the connection was steady, Slowking closed its eyes.
A faint blue glow spread around its body.
A moment later, the same light appeared around Lucario.
Both Pokémon slowly lifted from the floor.
Reiji waved the curious spectators back. "Give them room. Don't interrupt."
The meditation lasted only a few minutes.
When Slowking opened its eyes again, the blue glow faded and both Pokémon began descending. Lucario, however, did not wake.
Slowking caught it gently with psychic power before it could reach the floor.
"Put it on the couch."
Slowking carried Lucario inside and lowered it onto the cushions.
"And give it a blanket."
A blanket floated across the room and settled neatly over Lucario.
Within seconds, it was sleeping more deeply than Reiji had seen in days.
That was promising.
If Lucario could learn to use meditation as a substitute for ordinary sleep when its senses became overwhelming, at least it would finally be able to rest. More importantly, learning to organize the enormous mental power it had inherited might eventually strengthen its Aura rather than interfere with it.
If it ever received another inheritance like Medicham's, that foundation might even give it a path toward breaking into Elite Four tier through its mental and Aura development first, then letting its body catch up afterward.
The thought reminded Reiji of two other Pokémon.
"Poliwrath. Ninetales. Come here."
Poliwrath carefully hopped over with its injured arm still secured in a sling. Ninetales followed and settled gracefully nearby.
"You can't train normally right now," Reiji told Poliwrath, "so use the time for something else. Try meditating and focus on the smallest Aura signals you can pick up."
Then he turned to Ninetales.
"Lokoko taught you how to meditate, didn't she? Keep practicing it. You don't need to do anything complicated—just work on strengthening your mental power."
Ninetales nodded and curled up beside Reiji's chair. Its nine tails settled around its body as it closed its eyes and gradually slowed its breathing.
Poliwrath copied the posture as best it could with one arm immobilized.
The rain gave it plenty to listen to.
Drops struck the lake and sent tiny ripples across the surface. Water slid from leaves, fell from branches, and tapped against the earth. Each impact created a faint disturbance, and when Poliwrath stopped relying on its ears alone, those disturbances began to appear inside its Aura sense.
Reiji watched its concentration deepen.
"Your Aura talent isn't as good as Lucario's, but that doesn't mean you should ignore it. If you keep developing it, it'll eventually be more useful than relying on moisture sensing alone. Learn from Lucario whenever you can."
Poliwrath gave a quiet acknowledgment without opening its eyes.
Reiji smiled and leaned back.
With everyone finally settling down, the cabin had gone quiet again.
"I think I'll sleep too."
He pulled a blanket over himself in the rocking chair. Ninetales lay near his feet, while Charizard rested close enough that the flame on its tail kept the damp chill away.
Reiji lifted the drowsy Umbreon into his arms and settled it against his chest.
Between the rain, the warmth from Charizard, and the soft weight of Umbreon curled against him, he fell asleep almost immediately.
...
While Reiji slept peacefully beside the lake, Shingo was having a very different day.
The rain followed him too.
But there was nothing peaceful about it.
Night had already swallowed the forest, and the downpour falling through the dense canopy turned every slope into mud. Shingo had been running for hours, his clothes soaked through and blood mixing with rainwater wherever his injuries reopened.
Behind him, the pursuit had not stopped.
"Tai, he can't have much left!"
A masked man's excited voice crackled through Tai's earpiece.
"His Elite Four-tier Scizor was badly damaged in the tournament, and the rest of his team is hurt too. He's carrying the Crimson Streak training legacy. We take him down, bring that back to Team Rocket, and the points alone could get us a pseudo-Legendary!"
Tai gave a quiet laugh.
"Yeah. Sounds good."
His partner heard enthusiasm.
Tai felt mostly disgust.
The two of them had worked together on Mandarin Island North and had entered the Orange League under legitimate identities as part of their cover. After the tournament, Team Rocket assigned both of them to recruit promising Trainers from among the competitors.
Shingo had been one of their targets.
At first, the job had been exactly what Team Rocket asked for. They approached him because he owned an Elite Four-tier Scizor and clearly had the potential to become far stronger, but Shingo refused.
That should have been the end of it.
Instead, Tai's partner became interested in what Shingo possessed.
The Crimson Streak had left a strong impression during the tournament, and once the man realized Shingo carried the methods behind that Scizor tradition, recruitment quickly turned into robbery.
Shingo had no intention of handing anything over.
The chase began there.
His Scizor still had fractures in its armor from the fight with Reiji and could not handle another prolonged battle. Most of his other Pokémon had tournament injuries as well, leaving Shingo no choice but to fight only long enough to create openings and keep running.
They pursued him from one island to another, through daylight, darkness, and finally into the rain.
Tai had not wanted to take things this far.
Then his partner mentioned the reward.
Shingo had an Elite Four-tier Scizor and the Crimson Streak legacy. Turning both over to Team Rocket could earn enough credit for a pseudo-Legendary.
Tai immediately thought of Metang.
His own path to Metagross still required another Beldum, and acquiring four Beldum had already cost him an absurd amount of resources. If this job could close that gap, walking away suddenly became much harder.
So he kept following.
By late night, the pursuit had reached the wild interior of Sunburst Island. Heavy rain hammered the jungle, washing blood into the mud beneath their feet while trees and undergrowth swallowed almost every trace of light.
Then Tai's earpiece crackled again.
"I found him!"
His partner was barely containing his excitement.
"There's a cliff behind him. He's trapped. Get over here!"
"On my way."
Tai checked the red marker on the tracker strapped to his wrist and broke into a run.
Water splashed beneath every step as he cut through the forest. The signal was close now, and within minutes he burst through the tree line.
Two figures stood near the edge of a cliff.
The masked man had finally cornered Shingo.
Wind tore across the exposed ground, driving rain into their faces hard enough to blur the world around them. Behind Shingo was nothing but the drop.
He had nowhere left to run.
Even so, when Tai saw his face through the rain, there was no panic in it.
Shingo stood his ground.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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