Chapter 14 – The Way Back
The first day back on Route 204 was easier than the way there. the route felt familiar now. He knew where the river bent. He knew where the ground dipped and got muddy near the tree line. He knew the flat rock where he'd sat and caught a Piplup by accident.
He let Deino out at the same bend as before.
Deino appeared, did his circle, fell into step. Same as always.
Piplup he left in the ball for the first stretch the morning was cold enough that he didn't want to push it. But after an hour he released it too and it appeared on the path beside him, looked around at the route like it was conducting an inspection, and started walking without being asked.
Small things. Still small things but they were adding up.
He'd slept better in Jubilife than he'd expected. The city noise had been strange at first too much after Sandgem's quiet but somewhere around midnight it had become background and he'd gone under properly for the first time in days. Woke up before the alarm, packed up, collected the delivery confirmation from the guesthouse desk, and was on the route before eight.
Henrika was going to be happy. Probably. She'd seemed like someone who expressed happiness through efficiency rather than warmth but the slips were signed and that was what mattered.
4,500 on return. Plus whatever was left of Rowan's starting balance. Enough for another few weeks if he was careful.
Rowan had said come back. We need to talk about what comes next.
He'd been turning that over since Jubilife. What came next was gyms eventually but gyms were months away league season didn't start until spring and spring was still a long way off. Between now and then there was training, routes, figuring out what Piplup could do and what Deino still needed to learn.
There was a lot still to figure out.
Piplup made a quiet sound beside him. Not directed at anything, just there. Like it was thinking too.
"Yeah," Ryan said. "Me too."
Piplup glanced up at him. Looked away again. But it didn't move further from him than it had been.
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They stopped for lunch at the same flat rock.
He ate, fed them both, sat with his back against a tree and looked at the river. Different light today flatter, greyer, the water darker under the heavy sky. Snow coming maybe. The air had that particular stillness that happened before weather moved in.
He should probably pick up the pace after lunch.
Deino had settled beside him, closer than usual, chin not quite on his knee but near it. He'd been like that since this morning a little closer than normal, a little more present. Like he could sense something Ryan couldn't.
Probably nothing.
He packed up and they kept moving.
The afternoon was quiet. A few Bidoof near the water, a Staravia that circled overhead twice and decided they weren't interesting. The river ran alongside them, slow and dark. His boots were starting to feel the cold through the soles in a way they hadn't on the way out.
Need better boots. Add it to the list.
An hour out from Sandgem the route curved slightly east, following the river. He knew this part recognized the shape of the tree line, the way the path widened slightly before the last stretch into town. Almost there.
Deino stopped.
Just stopped, mid-step, one foot still raised. His head came up and he went completely still in the way he only went still when something had his full attention.
Ryan stopped too.
"What is it?"
Deino didn't move. His nostrils worked slowly. The fur along his back had risen slightly not much, just enough to notice if you were looking.
Ryan looked at the tree line to the left.
Nothing. Just trees, bare branches, the grey sky beyond them.
He looked at the path ahead. Empty. The river to the right, quiet, dark patches of ice at the edges.
Nothing.
But Deino hadn't moved.
"Come on," Ryan said quietly. "We're almost there."
Deino lowered his foot slowly and started walking again. But he stayed closer to Ryan's leg than he had all day, and he didn't relax that slight rise along his back stayed there, and his head kept making small movements, tracking something Ryan couldn't see or hear or smell.
Ryan kept his pace steady and didn't look at the tree line again.
But he felt it now too.
That feeling from the forest the one he'd learned to pay attention to. Not the warm pull that had been Deino. Something else. Something that sat differently in his chest.
Sandgem was an hour away.
He kept walking.