Day forty of the journey. Sunny.

“No way, no way, no way—Zapdos! Zapdos, aaah—”

Reiji was a mess. A perfectly good Zapdos… why did it turn into a scruffy little black chick?

No wonder it incubated for sixty days. Zapdos eggs were supposed to take eighty. It had come out twenty days early.

What kind of cursed luck was this? Who the hell forced Zapdos out that early? Now it was so weak it didn’t even have a single proper feather—just fluff all over its body. His Zapdos… his Zapdos…!

And this wasn’t even on him. This freshly hatched Zapdos looked almost exactly like a silkie chick from his old life—grey all over. How was he supposed to recognize it as Zapdos?

Worse, hatching twenty days early tanked its potential. It wasn’t even sixty—only fifty-eight. Even his Magikarp had higher potential than this dumb bird.

So yeah, he was losing it. Why did it hatch so early? Couldn’t it have stayed in the egg like a normal legendary?

And it didn’t just fall short on potential. Its moveset was a joke for a legendary, too—there wasn’t even a single Egg Move.

“Mixed-blood bird” really might not have been the wrong call. This Zapdos was probably the offspring of Zapdos and Fearow… or maybe a descendant of the Zapdos on Lightning Island.

If that Zapdos had been fooling around everywhere, and a Fearow laid an egg mid-flight… the egg could’ve dropped into the sea, gotten picked up by a Pokémon hunter, brought to Dapeng Island, and then ended up in his hands.

…Damn. So he’d blamed the hunter for nothing. The guy wasn’t unlucky at all—his luck was downright ridiculous. If anything, that guy shouldn’t have been stealing Pidgeot chicks. He should’ve been out there picking up legendary eggs.

He’d missed it. In the end, he’d still missed it.

Who would’ve guessed a plain, ugly brown egg could hatch into a Zapdos?

Forget the hunter—Reiji hadn’t guessed it either. Zapdos. It was actually Zapdos. He’d hit the jackpot. He’d really hit the jackpot—hahaha…

He’d picked up a random egg and got a legendary out of it. Sure, it was a dumb bird, but it was still a legendary—his legendary.

Darkrai might still leave someday, but Zapdos? Zapdos was sticking with him for life.

…Only, this dumb bird’s potential was low, and the Zapdos bloodline in it was too thin. Otherwise it wouldn’t have hatched early. Otherwise it wouldn’t have zero Egg Moves.

If it hadn’t come out early, maybe its potential could’ve been a little higher. But fate was fate.

Still—no matter how many flaws it had, it was Zapdos. His Zapdos. His Zapdos!

He was so happy he’d gone crazy with it. He’d been grinning since last night, grinning in his sleep, and he’d woken up grinning too. He couldn’t help it. That was Zapdos. A Zapdos he’d hatched himself.

Pseudo-legendary? Who cared. He already had two legendaries. He was starting to feel a little too confident—confident enough that pseudo-legendaries didn’t even look that impressive anymore.

He was genuinely thrilled.

This egg was a bigger surprise than Mudkip.

As for the early hatching?

No Egg Moves?

Potential not even at Elite Four tier?

Grey and ugly?

None of it mattered.

If it hatched early, he’d feed it more. If its potential was low, he’d raise it slowly over time—he knew plenty of treasures from the anime that could boost a Zapdos’s potential.

Moves were even easier. Zapdos could learn things later. Poliwhirl could be trained up—so why couldn’t Zapdos?

Fifty-eight potential wasn’t low at all. It was only low by legendary standards. For an ordinary Pokémon, that was high quality.

And the looks? Right now it was perfect camouflage. Once it grew up, it would turn from an ugly duckling into a swan. Small problem.

Zapdos could become that “swan” because it was Zapdos. Nobody could deny what it was. All it needed was one dramatic takeoff under thunder and lightning.

As long as this dumb bird was truly Zapdos, every problem could be solved.

For Zapdos, if he had the conditions, he’d use them. If he didn’t, he’d make them. He had to raise this Zapdos properly—this was going to be his future signature.

Once he became a Water-type Elite Four, people would instantly think of Zapdos. That was his calling card. He wanted to see who still dared to run Electric-types to sweep his team then.

A Water-type Elite Four whose strongest Pokémon is Zapdos… sounds perfectly reasonable, right?

Just like Drake is a Dragon-type Elite Four, and his strongest Pokémon is a Dragon-type—perfectly reasonable!

Heh. Don’t wake him up. He wanted to laugh a little longer. Last night hadn’t been enough. Even his dreams were bright, and he’d woken up smiling. Right now he was still hiding under the blanket, laughing quietly to himself.

After he’d laughed enough, he finally started thinking about what to do with Zapdos going forward. If it was going to be the face of his Water-type Elite Four lineup, it had to be trained openly—and yet it couldn’t be exposed.

“I’ve got it.” Reiji remembered his first misread and decided to lean into it. He’d call this Zapdos a Spearow and raise it as a shiny Spearow.

The more he thought about it, the more it fit. Spearow already resembled Zapdos. Ignore feather color and just look at the silhouette—Spearow was basically a miniature Zapdos. The head plumage, the wings… way too similar.

And once “Spearow” grew up, it could pass as a Fearow anyway. Same sharp, narrow beak.

Tiny differences?

Minor details. This one was a shiny Spearow. A little weirdness would be normal.

Shelmet can use Electric-type moves—so is it really strange if Spearow can use Electric-type moves?

Both were shiny Pokémon. Some oddities were totally expected. No need to act shocked, hahaha…

The disguise was perfect. Hahaha…

A genius plan like that? Only he could come up with it.

Later, once Zapdos grew up and he grew up—once he became an Elite Four-level trainer—there’d be no need to hide anymore. Zapdos could step into the open and become the true face of his Water-type Elite Four team.

After that, everything was decided. He’d already fed the team breakfast. Zapdos and Mudkip were both drinking Moomoo Milk.

Once he finished up, he packed and headed to the port to catch the earliest ship out. He paid 10,000 Pokédollars for a ticket to Kumquat Island.

He’d also tossed the incubator that burned out last night. If the staff found it, they’d connect it to last night’s blackout.

But the hotel hadn’t done room checks, so they clearly didn’t care. Reiji boarded in high spirits.

Right now, whether he joined a Gym suddenly felt less important. That was the confidence a legendary gave you.

As long as he raised Zapdos properly, someone would invite him into the League. He didn’t need to stress about this nonsense.

Still—since he was already here, he might as well try. What if he could join the Gym?

And honestly, being a Gym apprentice was optional now. Even if they kicked him out, so what? He just wanted a League-recognized trainer identity. That was all.

After boarding, he went to his room and let Mudkip and Zapdos out. He played with Mudkip, then fell asleep holding Zapdos.

It had been ten days since Mudkip hatched. The earliest infant stage was long over, but he still hadn’t arranged any training.

Mostly because he didn’t have a proper place to train Mudkip. He could only put it off until he settled down. Extending the “kid” period by a few days didn’t matter. Let it play a little longer.

As for the sleeping dumb bird—he held it carefully in a soft towel. It was too fragile. Its down hadn’t even started shedding yet. It probably needed more than ten days before it could even walk; even its legs were still soft.

After the down came off, it would still need time to adapt in its early stage. Training was far too soon. At least a month, minimum—especially after hatching twenty days early.

He played with the two little ones for a while. Mudkip’s curiosity eventually ran out, and they all curled up for a nap. When they woke, they were already approaching Kumquat Island.

The distance from Pummelo Island to Kumquat Island was the second-longest side of that triangle route. It wasn’t that far. The ship sailed from morning to evening, then arrived.

After getting off the ship, he didn’t rush to find a hotel. He went straight to the Kumquat Gym to ask about the process for joining.

When he finally reached it, he realized the “Gym” was also a luxury hotel. On the way there he still hadn’t run into Travis and Gulzar. He had no idea where the two kids had gone.

Even if he did run into them, he wouldn’t acknowledge them. The moment he did, everything he’d done so far would be wasted.

At the front desk, he asked the receptionist what the joining process looked like—what trials there were, what they checked, all of it.

She told him he could register at the front desk first, then take the Gym Leader’s assessment tomorrow. Whether he could join would be up to the Gym Leader.

Reiji asked, “So I can’t do it today?”

“Sorry, no. Gym Leader Luana isn’t at the Gym right now. You’ll have to wait until tomorrow…”

That was that. He registered his name with his ID and planned to come back tomorrow for the assessment.

Since the Gym was also a hotel, he booked a room on the spot. It cost 50,000 Pokédollars, and it came with access to hot springs. If there hadn’t been hot springs, he wouldn’t have stayed here at all.

After paying and getting his key card, he took the elevator up, gave the room a quick check, and then let Spinarak out.

“Spinarak, watch the room. If anything feels off, don’t make noise—wait until I’m back,” Reiji said. He also handed it Pokéblocks. “Food for you. Hold the fort until I return.”

With Spinarak staying behind, Reiji grabbed his backpack and headed out to the hot springs. The baths were split into private stalls. He picked an empty one and walked in with his bag.

He undressed and showered first. After that, he finally sank into the hot spring with a long exhale. It was his first time.

Seeing how comfortable he looked, Gengar slipped out of his shadow and soaked too, its body temperature rising a few degrees in the steamy water.

Before, Gengar had stayed in his shadow, and Reiji hadn’t felt the heat much—Gengar had a cooling effect and could keep things several degrees below the surrounding temperature.

Once Gengar came out, Darkrai surfaced as well, resting its hands on the edge as it joined the soak.

Reiji ended up letting most of the team out. He didn’t bring out the dumb fish that couldn’t handle hot water, but he did let Poliwhirl and the others out. One by one they crowded around the edge or eased into the water, enjoying a rare stretch of leisure.

After so much training, Poliwhirl and Scyther finally got to loosen up. With Reiji’s massage on top of that, Poliwhirl even let out little satisfied hums.

Kingler didn’t go in. That would’ve turned into boiled crab. It could only watch from the side.

Pelipper just floated on the surface, half-asleep, looking absurdly content.

Rhyhorn… well, there was nothing to say. Thick hide, tough body. A bit of hot water meant nothing.

Shelmet floated too, its shell slowly opening and closing like it was savoring every second.

Butterfree soaked fully—its wings were waterproof anyway. Once Reiji finished massaging Poliwhirl, it rushed over and insisted Reiji massage its head next.

Slowpoke lay in the shallow area with only its head above water, a towel draped on top. Steam curled off its body as it squinted in lazy comfort.

Farfetch’d wasn’t afraid of water at all. It just drifted with the ripples—wherever the water carried it, it went.

Croagunk didn’t come out. Reiji didn’t even try. Croagunk couldn’t control the toxins on its skin—if it came out, it would contaminate the whole pool. That would be a disaster.

Golbat soaked too, but it kept its fangs tucked away so it wouldn’t accidentally bite anyone.

Mudkip was the liveliest of them all, splashing around nonstop and spitting water everywhere. The others were irritated, but no one wanted to complain—what could you do? It was still a baby.

Ditto, of course, had to mess around. It transformed into a Sharpedo in the water, trying to scare everyone, but nobody took it seriously.

Mudkip, on the other hand, got scared and started crying. It paddled over to Reiji, sniffling and begging to be held. The baby life was hard.

Other than the ones that couldn’t handle heat and the ones that couldn’t safely go in, nearly everyone soaked.

They stayed a long time. They even ate dinner here. The only one suffering was Spinarak, stuck alone in the room on guard duty.

After the hot springs, Reiji recalled everyone and went back to his room to rest. The team needed real sleep—tomorrow was the Gym assessment.

He had no idea what Gym Leader Luana was doing, being out at night instead of at the Gym. All he could do was wait until tomorrow.

…

At that very moment, Gym Leader Luana was taking Travis home to visit the previous Gym Leader—Travis’s grandfather.

After retiring, Travis’s grandfather had gone into quiet seclusion in town. Every day he kept Slowpoke company and fished in the small lake behind the house.

“Grandpa, I got one!” Travis said. He’d been sitting with his grandfather all day, fishing together. His grandfather even claimed this was psychic training—probably copying the way Slowpoke fished.

Travis had sat there so long his butt was about to sprout pimples, and his psychic power hadn’t gotten any stronger. For a kid his age, fishing was unbearably dull. He couldn’t sit still.

“A torn shoe counts as ‘got one,’ does it?” his grandfather said. He lifted a thin bamboo strip and smacked Travis on the head.

A lump popped up instantly.

The kid was good at heart, but he was too jumpy—always fidgeting, never settled.

The family had finally produced a psychic, and if this kept up, the talent would go to waste. He absolutely couldn’t let Travis grow up crooked.

On the other hand, the other boy—Travis’s friend—could endure hardship and worked hard. He’d even followed Travis all the way here. No wonder Reiji hadn’t seen either of them.

Gulzar started training his Pokémon in the morning, trained again in the afternoon, studied Pokémon knowledge, and still trained at night.

It had been a long time since he’d seen a boy that driven. Maybe the girls in the family should try getting to know him. If there was a chance, they could even bring him into the family. Better to keep good water in the same field.

Travis giving that Treecko away had been the right call. Even without any life-saving debt, a kid like that deserved support—especially since he was Travis’s close friend.

Look at him… and then look at Travis. The brat was actually picking at his butt over there.

The old man’s blood pressure spiked. He raised the bamboo strip and smacked Travis on the head again.

You should learn a thing from your friend…

[End of chapter]

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