Day 24 of the journey, sunny.

Early in the morning, Reiji and Naoki packed up their things and headed outside the inn. They grabbed a simple breakfast, then left the town on Sunburst Island.

Reiji mounted his Pelipper, while Naoki rode his Flygon. The two of them took off on their Flying-type Pokémon together, leaving Sunburst Island behind and heading for Mandarin Island North.

Mandarin Island North wasn’t far—just north of Sunburst Island. It was a major metropolis, one of the Orange Archipelago’s most developed commercial hubs, nothing like a small town such as Sunburst Island’s where there wasn’t even a Pokémon Center.

After a little over two hours in the air, they spotted Mandarin Island North’s outline. Following Naoki’s directions, they landed on the city’s outskirts.

Naoki had a villa here—an arranged safehouse, and one of his exit routes if things ever went bad.

Once they arrived, Reiji moved straight into the villa. He planned to keep pushing Gastly’s potential here, but he needed a huge amount of Poison Gems and Ghost Gems.

Not one or two. Not a dozen.

Hundreds—maybe even over a thousand.

Buying that many Gems meant serious cash on hand, so he had to start moving illicit goods.

He sat with Naoki in the living room and, right in front of him, had Gengar spit out every backpack it had stored.

From more than a dozen backpacks, he picked through everything, pulling out all the gold, silver, and jewelry from the forty-plus bags they’d looted, plus all the precious metals taken from Riku.

“Naoki, send out your Flygon. Melt all this down separately. Sell it at metal value.”

“Got it, boss,” Naoki said. He took part of the jewelry outside, released Flygon in the yard, and had it use Flamethrower on the two piles of gold and silver.

Only when both heaps were scorched and unrecognizable did he cool them with water, pack the metal ingots into a bag, then return to the living room to wait for Reiji’s next instructions.

Naoki had barely stepped in when Reiji, without even looking up, tossed him a few more backpacks. “Pokémon food. Get all of it handled.”

“There’s also some self-heating meals. And these—Berries, Potions, that sort of thing. Handle everything.”

“This bag has forty-six items. They’re all Beginner-tier items, except for two Elite-tier Poison Barbs. Handle those too.”

“This bag has sixteen Evolution Stones. Low-grade ones, except a single mid-quality Water Stone. Handle that too.”

“For now, just move these. Convert every Pokédollar from the sales into Poison Gems and Ghost Gems. Poison Gems can’t go over 400,000 each. Ghost Gems can’t go over 600,000 each.”

“Buy as many as you can. And bring back a phone.”

“Understood, boss. I’ll take the metals first and test the waters with someone I know here,” Naoki said. With the bag of gold and silver on him, he turned and left the villa.

The other stuff was one thing, but forty-plus items and over a dozen Evolution Stones were far too valuable. He wasn’t confident he could even get in touch with the right contact, and hauling everything at once would draw too much attention.

Better to try the gold and silver first, then come back for the rest on a second run. If something went wrong, at least he wouldn’t lose everything in one shot.

Reiji watched Naoki go, then immediately stepped on his own shadow—sending Darkrai hidden inside it after him. He didn’t distrust Naoki. He distrusted Naoki’s “contacts.”

People had all kinds of faces. Warm one day, ice the next.

Back when Naoki was at his peak, a rising star on the verge of breaking into quasi–Elite Four tier, people swarmed him. They flattered him, clung to him, buttered him up. Even those who didn’t try to curry favor still wouldn’t dare offend a future Elite Four–level trainer.

But now, Naoki had only a Flygon and whatever savings he’d managed to keep. Everything else was gone. A fallen man, stripped down to the bone.

If those old “friends” heard he’d crashed, plenty would pretend not to see him. That was normal. Some might even seize the chance to mock him, or refuse to let him through the door at all.

And some would go further—kicking him while he was down, putting their boot on his neck just to make sure he understood exactly how cold people could be.

If one of them stabbed him in the back, it would only make the fall worse. That was when you learned what the world really looked like.

It was the same in any world. Reiji had lived through it in his previous life, and it was why he’d become so detached—caring about nothing, lying flat, spending his days quietly fishing.

Naoki would learn it too. Only then would he understand: when you’re hungry, some people will split their bun with you. Others will try to snatch yours away. The ones who actually reach out a hand are rare.

Once Naoki and Darkrai were gone, Reiji released all of his Pokémon.

To this day, Naoki still didn’t know what Pokémon Reiji had, or how many.

The only ones Reiji had ever shown him were Spinarak, Darkrai, and Gengar.

After feeding everyone breakfast, he let them play in the yard while he went for a light jog outside. It had been a long time since he’d run like this.

He hadn’t been jogging long when Darkrai returned. That meant Naoki couldn’t be too far away from the villa.

Reiji quickly recalled Poliwhirl and the others into their Poké Balls, leaving only Spinarak outside, then asked Darkrai what had happened after they left.

“Darkrai, did Naoki make it through?”

“He did,” Darkrai replied. “The humans who attacked weren’t strong. He could handle it himself.”

The first “contact” Naoki met had tried to kill him and swallow his wealth whole.

Darkrai noticed the setup and caused a disturbance, ruining the ambush. That gave Naoki time to react—and he turned the tables and killed the man instead.

Even with only Flygon, Naoki wasn’t someone you could bully. He’d been obedient around Reiji, but that was only because Darkrai stood behind Reiji like a blade at his throat.

Naoki had once been a gang leader. Men who climbed from nothing to that seat weren’t harmless. Any trainer who could hold the “boss” position had to be vicious.

Naoki saw Reiji the same way—then, with Darkrai’s overwhelming pressure added on top, he kept his head down.

And besides Flygon, Naoki still had the newly caught Spinarak, Krabby, Bellsprout, Pinsir, Geodude…

In Naoki’s hands, those Pokémon still had enough bite to fight. Any trainer below Advanced tier would have a hard time taking him down.

“He got attacked?” Reiji’s voice stayed calm, but he wasn’t surprised.

A tiger with its fangs pulled still looked like a tiger—and Naoki had once been quasi–Elite Four tier. Anyone who knew about that chaos, and then saw a fallen Naoki carrying a fortune, would struggle to keep their greed in check.

“Several humans attacked him,” Darkrai continued. “After that, he stayed much more cautious. Eventually he found one human willing to take the goods.”

Darkrai heard footsteps and slowly sank back into the shadows. Its voice echoed directly in Reiji’s mind as it explained what happened.

At the same time, a backpack was left on the ground at the edge of the shadow. Darkrai also explained where it came from.

“I took this from their homes,” it said. “Hidden cash. Naoki didn’t take it. It’s all here.”

Reiji bent down and picked up the bag. “So you’re picking up bad habits too, Darkrai.”

He didn’t open it. Naoki was already back.

“Boss! Mission accomplished!” Naoki shouted the moment he arrived, acting like nothing had happened, not mentioning the ambush even once. “I found someone I know who’s willing to take the batch!”

Reiji saw he’d returned safely and didn’t bring up the attack. If he did, it would expose Darkrai tailing him.

But Naoki’s clothes were torn up. Reiji couldn’t ignore it without making things even more suspicious.

“Naoki,” Reiji asked, “what happened to your clothes?”

Naoki’s excitement faded. He sighed softly, knowing he couldn’t dodge it. “Boss… I went to meet a contact and got set up. They tried to rob me.”

“As long as you’re fine,” Reiji said. “You took everything with you, right? You know what those things are worth.”

“Don’t worry, boss! I’ll get top price,” Naoki said, forcing energy back into his voice. “And those shameless bastards? I dealt with them. I also picked up some good stuff. I’ll handle it while I’m moving the goods.”

“Just keep it reasonable,” Reiji said. He didn’t lock him into exact numbers. As long as the price cleared Reiji’s baseline, it was fine.

Naoki left at once. On the way to the harbor, he replayed what had happened.

He finally understood: the people who’d acted like brothers were just drinking buddies. The moment he fell, the ones willing to help were few. Most of them were waiting to kick him down harder.

He had so many “contacts” on Mandarin Island North, yet only one was willing to help. The rest were looting him like vultures. He’d been too generous before—thinking anyone could be a friend.

Some favors were better left small. Give someone a bowl and they thank you; give them a sack and they resent you.

Compared to that, a boss who would still pull him up in a dead-end situation—and even help him rebuild his strength—was rare.

The more Naoki thought about it, the more his nose stung. He nearly teared up again. The boss helped him without asking for anything back. If running errands counted as repayment, then Naoki would run errands for life.

In just a few days, he’d already effectively taken at least 30 million Pokédollars in value from Reiji—three Pokémon with “shop treasure” talent, each with quasi–Elite Four potential, caught on Sunburst Island.

Any one of them could sell for over ten million on the black market. Reiji had handed them to him and only asked him to do legwork. Naoki couldn’t ignore that kind of treatment.

This next sale had to be clean and perfect. If he botched it, it would only prove how useless he was.

He’d once been quasi–Elite Four tier. If he couldn’t even handle this, he didn’t deserve the boss’s investment.

Without Reiji even knowing it, Naoki talked himself into absolute loyalty all over again. Carrying what Reiji gave him, he rode Flygon straight to the harbor on Mandarin Island North.

Reiji didn’t send Darkrai again. A sudden ambush the first time was normal. Now that terms were set, the risk should be much lower.

Naoki had already been betrayed several times and still chose to trust that one person. If he had the strength to crush any unexpected change, then Reiji only needed to trust Naoki.

It was only a few tens of millions in goods anyway. No one could really take it from him. Even if it vanished, it wasn’t worth losing sleep over.

This time, Naoki returned quickly with the Gems. Flygon dropped straight into the courtyard from above. He didn’t shout this time—Reiji was asleep by the pool.

Hearing movement, Reiji got up from his folding chair and looked over at Naoki as he climbed down from Flygon.

“How’d it go? Smooth?”

“Boss, very smooth,” Naoki said quietly. “The jewelry sold for 13 million. The Pokémon food, self-heating meals, Berries, Potions, and the rest sold for 6 million. The forty-six items sold for 38 million. The Evolution Stones sold for 24 million…”

“Not bad.” Reiji ran the numbers in his head. He could accept it—81 million total.

He’d estimated the forty-six items at around 35 million, and the sixteen Evolution Stones at around 22 million. This cleared his floor by a few million.

That extra margin was Naoki’s skill—and it saved Reiji trouble. This new partner was competent.

“Boss, and the Gems,” Naoki added. “I got 150 Poison Gems at 380,000 each—57 million total. And 140 Ghost Gems at 550,000 each—77 million total…”

“Good.” Reiji couldn’t hide it; his expression gave him away.

The prices were acceptable, though Ghost Gems probably still had some padding. Even blind-box Gems from the black ship could hit 500,000 each, which said plenty. Still, if the quality was solid, an extra 50,000 wasn’t a dealbreaker.

Two hundred ninety Gems in total.

That came to 134 million Pokédollars.

But what he sold only totaled 81 million.

That wasn’t even enough to cover the bill.

“So you fronted the difference?” Reiji asked directly.

“Boss, it’s just a little money,” Naoki said with a grin. “Compared to what you’ve done for me, it’s nothing. And I still need your help catching more Pokémon, so… consider it my thanks.”

“Naoki,” Reiji said, shaking his head, “we’re not in a master-servant relationship.”

He pulled 53 million Pokédollars in cash from his bag and tossed it over.

Better not to take that kind of “small favor.”

They were partners. A partnership that benefited Reiji now—and would benefit him even more later. He wasn’t about to let petty gains poison what came next.

Besides, trying to buy a future Elite Four’s goodwill, with a few tens of millions…

If someone wanted that bargain, they’d better bring a lot more.

[End of chapter]

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