“Reiji, you were right,” Shun said in the cab. He’d been thinking for a long time and didn’t feel bad about selling his points—he’d just made 1.5 million.

“What?” Reiji didn’t know which comment Shun meant. That line came out of nowhere.

“Reiji, I fought six matches there. I didn’t even eat lunch. Every match is only worth one point. To hit 100 points in two or three days, you basically have to buy them. Otherwise it’s impossible.”

“Nobody doing ten-point stakes per match?” Reiji was still thinking: if someone took ten-point stakes, you’d only need nine wins to reach a hundred.

“No one. A single point is worth fifty, sixty thousand. Nobody’s dumb—everyone knows how precious points are. Ten points is like a 500,000 wager. Of course nobody accepts ten-point matches.”

“Got it. Let’s make dinner. We still have training tonight,” Reiji said with a helpless smile. He patted Shun’s shoulder and headed for the kitchen. Shun followed to help.

As for Kinnow City’s Fighting Tournament, the Club League, and the Youth Trainer Cup—his attitude toward all of them was the same: show up, sure, but if you take it too seriously, you’ve already lost.

Once dinner was ready, they prepped food for the Pokémon too. Shun pulled out the assorted-type energy cubes Grandpa bought yesterday and portioned out meals. Reiji did the same, adding the premium Psychic-type cubes for Butterfree, Slowpoke, and Staryu.

Five hundred boxes of Psychic cubes meant five thousand cubes total. If three Psychic-users ate two a day, that was six per day—over eight hundred days of supply. Not bad.

They sat to eat and flipped on the TV for local news or any good tourney broadcasts—maybe they’d pick up a practical battle trick or two.

The screen showed Officer Jenny searching the casino. Looked like Grandpa’s report had reached her, and no Team Rocket mole in the city had blocked the raid.

That suggested City Hall either didn’t have Team Rocket moles, or their rank was too low to influence a police search.

Either way, the casino problem got a sweep. Even if a casino pops back up later, Team Rocket would need to plant new sleepers. And right now, they’re not going to reopen the day Jenny leaves—that’d be asking to get nailed.

By the time Team Rocket tries again, Reiji won’t even be here. Once the tournaments wrap, he’s heading north to try the Navel Gym and Kumquat Gym—see if he can become a gym apprentice. That’s his next goal.

He wasn’t choosing the Team Rocket route; he’d walk with the League. Whether that road is smooth, he’d find out.

“Reiji, do you even know what the Youth Trainer Cup prizes are?” Shun asked.

Reiji had been chewing and thinking about leaving; the question caught him off guard. He’d never checked the prizes—he hadn’t planned to compete.

“No idea. You know?”

“This time the champion prize is a Water-type starter. I heard it’s assigned from Professor Elm’s lab. Shame it’s not an Infernape…”

“You want an Infernape?” Reiji thought of the black-market chatter he’d heard. “An egg’s gone up to fifty million on the black market.”

Fifty million for an Infernape. Ridiculous—just because it’s part Fighting.

Same for Lucario—it’s over a hundred million.

A Ralts egg that evolves to a Psychic/Fairy line (and Gallade for Fighting/Psychic) also ran about 60+ million. Trainers had lost their minds. It’s just a blue dog and a lovely Gardevoir—he wanted them too, sure.

If he had a hundred million, he’d buy both a Lucario and a Ralts egg in a heartbeat. But he didn’t. He had just over fifty million—enough for one Chimchar or two mid-potential starters off the black market. Then that’d be it.

“Yeah… fifty-plus million. I’ve only got a bit over ten million. Infernape’s out of reach,” Shun said, poking rice with his chopsticks. He could only look up at that price tag.

“Eat up. Raise your Elekid right and it’s not necessarily worse than an Infernape,” Reiji said. (He didn’t add that Ash’s Infernape once beat Paul’s Electivire. Plot armor or not, an Electivire built right holds its own—especially in the Orange Islands.)

“I know,” Shun said, and ate honestly. He could dream about Infernape later—maybe the price will dip someday.

“When the tournaments end, I’m leaving Kinnow City. We’ve got about a week left. If there’s anything you don’t understand, ask me now. After I go, I don’t know when we’ll meet again…”

“Where are you going?” Shun froze, chopsticks and jaw both stopping.

“I’m going to join a gym as an apprentice. It’s the only way I can become a League-certified trainer. Your grandpa’s the one who laid it out for me.”

Reiji didn’t hide it; there was nothing to hide. Wanting to join a gym was one thing. Whether a Gym Leader would take him was another.

“A gym, huh? I—” Shun was about to say he’d go too, but Reiji cut him off.

“Shun, you’re not me. You still have your grandpa. You don’t need to join a gym. You rely on me too much. You’ve got to think for yourself and try things on your own if you want to stand alone as a truly strong trainer.

“I don’t want people’s deepest impression of you to be ‘the kid always following Reiji.’ I want them to remember your name—Shun—the strong trainer. Not someone’s tagalong.”

“I understand, Reiji.” He knew he depended on Reiji too much and lacked initiative—and that wouldn’t let him really grow up. But the moment he thought about Reiji leaving, his eyes stung. He held it in, then couldn’t. Giant tears spilled, and he kept sniffing.

“Don’t cry. It’s not like we’ll never meet again. When you’re strong enough to stand on the world’s stage—when you beat everyone and lift a trophy—that’s when I’ll ‘find’ you.

“And same here—when I lift a trophy, that’s when you’ll see me. Maybe we’ll even be rivals then.”

“I know, Reiji. I know…” Shun’s tears wouldn’t stop. He didn’t want Reiji to leave, but he also knew this was how it had to be. Reiji was chasing higher peaks. He couldn’t just follow forever. He had his own mountain to climb. A chick hiding under an eagle’s wing never grows up—Reiji was pushing him to soar and become a trainer who could stand on his own.

“I’m done eating. Wash the bowls when you’re finished,” Reiji said. He ruffled Shun’s hair, then went out to the yard, lay back on the folding cot, and watched the sunset.

Shun was only eleven. Reiji couldn’t ask too much. He just hoped Shun would grow up safely—and remember the kindness.

If Reiji ever needed to make waves instead of lying flat as a chill ‘Champion-class fisherman,’ Shun would be usable Champion-tier combat power—someone who could hold a big city or guard a cruise liner.

That kind of person is rare. Team Rocket only had a few. The League’s reserve Elites were numerous, but they were the League’s people—not his.

The Island Pokémon corps was one pillar. Shun was another. There would be more pillars later.

Even if he didn’t “make waves,” in case he ever had to, he could raise a trainer-and-Pokémon army at a moment’s notice.

He rested, thinking of the future, until the sun dropped. Then he went to pick up Kingler, fed it its cubes, and started evening training.

“Poliwhirl, over here.” Reiji waved the dripping Pokémon out of the pool. Time to strap on weights.

“Poli!” Poliwhirl hopped out, soaked, and waited for orders.

“These ankle rings total a hundred kilos—fifty each. Try running with them.” Reiji buckled them on.

Poliwhirl couldn’t run at all. Every step was a grind.

Looked like the shop owner was right: a pair of fifties hit the sweet spot. Reiji still wasn’t picking 25-kilo rings. For Poliwhirl, a hundred kilos was “just right.” It just wasn’t used to them yet. If you can’t run, then walk.

“Poliwhirl, take your time and get used to the load.” He patted its shoulder.

“Poli.” It nodded and started trudging away, step by heavy step.

Then Reiji thought of pairing it with Kingler to co-train Protect. Poliwhirl got ankle weights; Kingler could get wrist weights.

“Krk… krk…” Kingler struggled with the cuffs. Its claws were heavy already; add a hundred kilos and it could barely lift them, never mind cast Protect.

“Don’t rush. Think of your claw-raising drills back on the island. Just consider this a reset.” Reiji patted its wide back, calm and gentle.

“Krk.” Kingler nodded seriously. If it could lift back then, there was no way it couldn’t lift fifty kilos now. If the little claw couldn’t, fine—but if the big claw couldn’t, that’d be embarrassing.

He glanced at Pelipper and Rhyhorn. Then he shook his head. Rhyhorn didn’t need Protect. With a skull that hard, it would refuse to learn it until its head finally hurt.

“Pelipper, stop Drizzle for now. Go learn Protect with Poliwhirl.”

“And Butterfree, Slowpoke, Staryu, Ditto, Spinarak—everyone work on Protect tonight.”

“Briip.” Pelipper dropped from the wall, cut the rain, and went to Poliwhirl. After last night’s ambush, it knew how important Protect was—one move that could block a hit might save Reiji, itself, or a teammate.

“Brii,” Butterfree remembered the ambush too. It could slack off sometimes, but not on Protect.

“Yadon.” Slowpoke figured it was basically a body pillow anyway. Protecting the meal ticket at night was fine.

“Yito.” Spinarak was Reiji’s last line of defense. It had to learn Protect.

“Hyah.” Staryu just went with the flow. It wasn’t yet fully bonded, but everyone seemed nice.

“Bam bam.” Ditto leapt from the water, splashed up as Poliwhirl, and started working. After Reiji’s last warning, it’d been extra careful around him—Spinarak had even “mentor-coached” it on getting along. Obey orders, don’t mess up, and there’d be no punishment. Training wasn’t heavy for non-combat roles. Meals and housing were covered. As long as it didn’t cause trouble, life here was good.

Spinarak had also warned Ditto: don’t provoke the fight-happy Poliwhirl, Kingler, Rhyhorn—and definitely don’t cross big-sister Butterfree, the earliest veteran.

Whatever Spinarak had whispered, Ditto really was more obedient lately—and put more work into face-morph practice, too.

Poliwhirl, Kingler, Rhyhorn, Pelipper—those four carried double loads compared to the others. Spinarak only drilled aim; Staryu worked gravity; Ditto focused on disguise. Slowpoke and Butterfree trained Confusion. Wishiwashi and Magikarp were basically free-range—train if you want, play if you want. Reiji didn’t expect them to battle anyway(for now).

That left Farfetch’d, sitting alone under the eaves, staring at the stars. Who knew what it was thinking.

Reiji worried it was depressed. It used to grind every day; now it just zoned out alone.

“Farfetch’d, go learn Protect with the others, okay?” Reiji rubbed its head, hoping the group’s warmth would reach it.

“Gah!” Farfetch’d hated head-pats from humans and swatted his hand away.

He didn’t get mad—just nudged its tailfeathers toward Poliwhirl. Slowpoke tugged it along, and Farfetch’d got folded into the Protect class.

On the other side, Shun was handling his problem child—Mankey. It was much calmer than when it joined; nobody looked at it like a freak here.

Shun told it, “Don’t you want to punch those sneers off their faces?”

Of course it did. It just couldn’t win. That’s why it had given up.

“Then get stronger and do it with me. You’re my Pokémon, and I’m your trainer. Anyone who laughs at you laughs at me. I want to punch them back too. We’ll do it together—knock their front teeth out so even their smiles are crooked.”

“Mank… mank!” Tears welled as it hugged Shun. Since it went lame, nobody had cared like this. It swore to stick with Shun—becoming his strongest enforcer.

Seeing the words finally land, Shun exhaled in relief. It had taken a while.

“Bip bip.” Elekid snorted at Mankey’s sappy face. As a squad “old-timer,” it had zero patience for a new guy who wouldn’t listen.

“Mank!” The jab got under Mankey’s thin skin; it stormed at Elekid.

Crackle—zap! Mankey immediately got zapped into submission. It couldn’t touch Elekid.

Shun didn’t stop the clash. He wanted Elekid to teach Mankey the lesson—if you don’t get stronger, it won’t just be Elekid bullying you; anyone can.

“Mank…” Beaten, it crawled back into Shun’s arms to complain.

“It’s okay. If you don’t grow, it won’t just be Elekid. You’ll be easy prey for anyone. Get strong enough that nobody dares mess with you—so you decide who gets pushed around.”

Then Shun stood, solemn now. “Right now I can protect you. If there’s a day I can’t—and someone bullies me—then I’ll need you to protect me.”

“Mank!” Tears again. It clung to him with all four limbs and clenched its fists—time to grind double.

Shun hadn’t expected a Mankey this emotional, but he pulled it into evening drills.

…

Reiji had his own headache: Croagunk. He didn’t even notice what Shun was doing—the night was busy enough.

To keep Croagunk’s poison in check, he had it drain the sacs first, then start an easy beach jog. Ten minutes, rest. Reiji stuck close, worried it might poison itself mid-run.

Thankfully, the night passed without incident. Post-drain, Croagunk wouldn’t get overrun by poison just from exertion. Reiji kept antidotes handy anyway—better to never need them.

After three hours of jog-rest cycles, he took Croagunk back and prepped post-training snacks.

Everyone ate, and he peeked at the incubator. Still no movement—so no dumb birds hatching tonight. Bedtime.

For the next few days, nothing special happened. Morning, noon, night—it was all training. They didn’t go watch the Fighting Tournament, the Club League, or the Youth Cup.

They’d check the early knockout matches later. Semis and finals? Whatever. It’s just a small island city. He’d watched regional conference finals on TV more than once. What he lacked wasn’t watching a podium—it was standing on one.

Before leaving: Kingler needed Swords Dance; Butterfree needed Double Team; Poliwhirl needed Drain Punch; and they had to teach Bulk Up off Mankey…

Once the new moves were in, once he got bounced from the Club League, and after he watched two knockout rounds—then he’d leave Kinnow City.

…

Day 19 on Kinnow Island: light rain.

Day 20: sunny.

Day 21: overcast, thunderstorms at night.

Day 22: sunny.

Today: Round 2 of the Club League prelims…

Also today: the Kinnow City Youth Trainer Cup—Round of 64 knockouts begin…

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