"Easy. Don't do anything you'll regret."
Akiyama's eyes had already gone to the person sitting cross-legged on top of the Gyarados—specifically to the belt at her waist, where five brand-new Dive Balls hung in a row.
He got both arms around Gardevoir's waist and held on.
We can't take her. Not yet. When we can, we flatten her.
Gardevoir had Ice Punch burning cold in her left hand and Thunder Punch crackling in her right, and every muscle in her was straining toward the Gyarados coiled at the foot of the Mother Tree.
"Hm?"
The young woman on Gyarados's head opened her eyes at the noise behind her. She patted the top of his skull twice, and Gyarados turned around.
"Do I know you?" She looked down at the seething Gardevoir, honestly puzzled.
"Your Gyarados attacked us on that ship," Akiyama said, since Gardevoir couldn't. "We almost drowned."
Gardevoir stayed where she was, held back. She didn't dare struggle—she might hurt him—so she just glared at Gyarados hard enough to leave marks.
The woman hopped down off Gyarados's head and walked over.
Up close, Akiyama finally got a good look at her. Plain white clothes, hair cropped to the neck and cut ragged at the ends like a wolf's tail, a few strands bleached gold. He'd assumed she was a guy. Her voice didn't clear it up much either. And she was flat as a board—she could have passed for one of the guys without trying.
"Nanami" she said, holding out a hand. "And I'm sorry. He's usually the most obedient Pokémon I've got. Something got into him out there, and I still don't know what."
"Nanami, huh." Akiyama kept one arm around Gardevoir and did not take the hand. "Akiyama. Miki Akiyama."
Reiji's ability or not, her Gyarados was half the reason Gardevoir had nearly drowned. If the current heir to the entire Nanami family had been standing there, Akiyama still wouldn't have cracked a smile.
And this was some nobody he'd never even heard of.
Nanami didn't seem bothered. Her gaze dropped to the broken heart shape on Gardevoir's chest, and something clicked.
"I know who you are. You're the Miki Group's young master."
"Since when does the Nanami family have someone like you in it?" His tone had an edge on it now.
The Nanami name was built on Milotic—on getting Feebas to evolve, reliably, at scale. If they could produce more of them, they might have been able to go head to head with the Miki Group.
"There are a lot more of us than there are of you," Nanami said. Her expression stiffened. "And our family isn't exactly known for its morals. I'm one of the unlucky ones that came out of that."
The Miki family had its own peculiar traditions. Few of them ever married a human being, and their birth rate was accordingly dismal.
The Nanami family had gone the other direction entirely. Illegitimate children were practically a rounding error.
Akiyama didn't answer. He kept rubbing slow circles on Gardevoir's back.
"Look—my old friend behaves. What happened out there was Reiji's ability. I think you already know that." Nanami sighed.
Behind her, Gyarados lowered his enormous head. There was something almost wounded in those vicious eyes. He rumbled softly, low in his throat, and it sounded a lot like an apology on his Trainer's behalf.
Akiyama gave him one flat look, then turned away and went back to Gardevoir.
"I didn't find out Reiji could do that until afterward," Nanami went on. "And Gyarados didn't mean any of it—"
Then her voice hardened.
"I'll promise you this much. One day I'm going to catch that man, and I'm going to make him pay."
"Not with a Water-type Gyarados, you're not," Akiyama said.
"Which is why we're training here. At night the Mother Tree grows fruit that strengthens the bond between a Pokémon and a Trainer. If our hearts are in sync, Reiji can't get his hooks in."
She said it with total confidence.
"You're sure about that?" Akiyama was actually curious.
"Positive. And I've got this."
Nanami pushed up her sleeve to show the gold band on her wrist, a rainbow-colored stone set in the middle of it.
A Key Stone.
Behind her, Gyarados tipped his head to reveal the Mega Stone tucked beneath his lower jaw. Getting it had cost her—she'd had to call in favors from home she'd probably rather have saved.
Both stones threw color in the last of the sunset.
Mega Evolution wasn't rare in this world. Wild Mega Stones just happened to be scarce in the Seichu region. Over in the Prisma region next door, the whole culture was built around it.
Kadabra's eyes came open and locked onto the two stones. He could feel it—something in those small pieces of rock held bonds pushed to their absolute limit.
"No wonder you're so sure of yourself." Akiyama let the question of control drop. "I hope you get to keep that promise."
He took Gardevoir's hand and started walking.
Any longer and she was going to put a fist through the woman.
Kadabra followed a few steps behind, looking at Gardevoir's still-clenched hands, thinking about something he didn't share.
They didn't leave the area, though. Akiyama wanted to see the fruit for himself.
He'd heard the story.
When night falls, stand beneath the tree with your Pokémon. The Mother Tree will grow fruit according to the bond between you. Eat it together, and you'll dream beautifully until morning.
The part about the bond growing stronger—he'd never heard that anywhere.
Back by the trunk, Nanami watched him go, then swung up onto Gyarados's head. Gyarados rose and drifted forward until he was directly beneath the canopy, and she sat cross-legged, eyes shut, Calm Mind settling over her like she was listening to the world breathe.
Akiyama. What was that? Kadabra's voice arrived in his chest.
"You mean the Mega Stone?"
Kadabra nodded.
"Some Pokémon have another form past their final evolution. Mega Evolution. Your evolved form can do it, actually."
"As long as there's a real bond between the Trainer and the Pokémon, a Key Stone and a Mega Stone can push them past their limit."
A bond. Kadabra was quiet a moment. Where does one get those stones?
If I had one, I'd know for certain whether Akiyama and I have a bond at all.
In the two weeks it had taken them to reach Greenlight City, he hadn't felt anything change. He still didn't understand what a bond was supposed to be.
If anything he was more confused than when he'd started.
What he hadn't noticed was that somewhere along the way he'd stopped saying thank you for every single thing, and he'd stopped calling the boy anything but Akiyama.
He'd been folded into this small household without ever agreeing to it.
"You want one?" Akiyama asked.
The question landed badly. Kadabra had no idea how to answer it.
There was a great deal he didn't understand yet, but he understood valuable.
And a Mega Stone had to be very valuable.
In the end he said nothing at all and looked up at the Mother Tree.
Green light began to seep out through the leaves. People were gathering all around them now, dozens and then hundreds. Night had arrived in earnest.
In the space of a breath the green points of light became an ocean, floating loose in the air. There were a lot of travelers here for exactly this, and they stood with their faces turned up, murmuring.
"Those stones don't usually hit the open market," Akiyama said, "but they turn up at auction. Don't worry about the money. I've got money."
He recognized the look Kadabra was wearing. He'd worn it himself, in another life, as a kid—wanting something badly and refusing to ask, because asking meant becoming a burden.
All that brainpower and he's still a little kid. Akiyama smiled to himself and looked back up at the sky.