"Dad? What's the occasion?" Nikozo watched his father's face fill the phone screen.
"I go a couple weeks without calling and now you're complaining?"
The man in the video was built like a shipping crate, dressed in loose clothes, brows drawn together.
"Not complaining. Just curious." Nikozo laughed a little sheepishly.
"I've been recovering in Greenlight City the last few days. Come by if you get the chance. It's nice out here," Nikotan said.
Nikozo nodded obediently. Then something occurred to him. "So. I spent a little money recently."
"Oh? How much?" Nikotan's tone gave away nothing.
"Thirty million."
"My son, spending money? Since when?"
The instant he heard the figure, Nikotan brightened considerably.
The boy was perfect in every other respect—sharp, capable, easy to be proud of. The problem was that he was a miser.
"It wasn't for me. I spent it on someone else," Nikozo admitted, a bit embarrassed.
"Ohhh." Nikotan drew the syllable out. "Man or woman?"
"A guy—"
"Where are you right now? Don't move. I'm coming to you." Nikotan was already standing up.
"He's the Miki family's eldest son. He's a good guy, Dad, really," Nikozo said quickly.
"Oh." Nikotan sat back down.
"Akiyama. Right, I've met him before. He is a good kid."
He lifted his head and looked over at Hikaze, who was steeping tea.
Then he flipped the camera around to point at him. "Here. Say hello to your Uncle Hikaze."
"Hello, Uncle Hikaze!" Nikozo said at once.
"Nikozo's gotten so big." Hikaze smiled. Between his fingers he held a photograph. "Come visit your uncle sometime."
It was a picture of Nikozo.
"I will, Uncle Hikaze!"
"All right, that's enough." Nikotan turned the camera back on himself. "Head home soon. Growlithe should be over the worst of it in a day or two."
At the mention of Growlithe, Nikozo nodded fast. "I'll come home tomorrow."
Nikotan seemed to have complete faith in his son. He didn't lecture. He just hung up.
Nikozo changed into swim trunks, walked over to Akiyama's lounge chair, and shook him awake by the shoulder.
"Come here, come here—you have got to see this Slowpoke. It goes wah. I'm serious, it goes wah."
Akiyama was practically tripping over himself to introduce his discovery.
Nikozo was interested despite himself.
The Slowpoke hadn't moved an inch. It lay right where it had been, watching Akiyama dig a Berry out of his bag.
"Wah-wah-wah?"
It swallowed the Berry and kept staring at the bag.
"Okay, it really does." Nikozo laughed out loud.
Then he said, "I'm heading home tomorrow night. Growlithe's almost through it."
Akiyama nodded. There was more reluctance in it than he expected.
Since he'd left home, Nikozo was easily the person he'd gotten closest to.
"Swim?"
"Can't. You'll have to teach me."
"Teaching is what I'm best at."
Akiyama let Kadabra out and told him to keep an eye on the sleeping Gardevoir, then followed Nikozo down into the surf.
By afternoon they'd worn themselves out in the water, and Akiyama had to endure being carried back to the chairs in Gardevoir's arms, deeply embarrassed the entire way.
Oh dear. How mortifying.
Gardevoir was smug about it for the rest of the walk.
They had a great time. They did not see a single Staryu or Dewgong.
It was like the entire species had agreed to avoid him personally.
Which was strange, because both were extremely common along that stretch of coast.
The only thing left in that spot was the Slowpoke, still lying there, still staring at the patch of sand where Akiyama's bag had been.
The next day, same beach, same spot.
"Huh. You're still here." Akiyama looked down at the Slowpoke.
The Slowpoke looked up at him.
Same clear, guileless stare.
Akiyama set his bag down in the same place and pulled out a fresh Berry.
"All right. Do the wah-wah thing for me."
"Wah-wah-wah!"
The Slowpoke swallowed the Berry whole.
"You know, right now you're kind of acting like a typical rich kid," Nikozo said from the next chair, grinning.
"Are the rest of them like this?"
"Not all. But sometimes when I go to banquets with my dad, you run into the arrogant type."
"They don't try it with me, obviously."
Nikozo said it like he was recalling something pleasant.
"Who'd have the nerve?" Akiyama joked.
The oceans in this world were enormous, and just about any ship that could actually run belonged to Nick.
The uncrowned kings of the sea.
"You would," Nikozo said, matter-of-fact.
Akiyama laughed and patted him on the chest.
Just messing around.
"Swim?"
"You go. Us Mikis are glass cannons—all offense, no defense. Another hour in that water and my eardrums rupture."
Akiyama turned him down and stretched out on the chair like a corpse.
"Then I'll skip it too. Lying down sounds better."
They lay side by side.
"If you strike out on a new Pokémon today, are you just going to keep coming back and rolling the dice?" Nikozo asked.
Akiyama shook his head. "This is the second day I've tried for a Staryu. If it doesn't happen, I'll have two shipped out from home."
Then, in case Gardevoir got the wrong idea, he added, "Just to hit the number. My own Pokémon will be the ones actually battling. I'll send them back after."
The sun was warm, and somewhere in there they both fell asleep.
Gardevoir too—sunbathing, breathing in the faint fragrance a sound-asleep Comfey gave off.
"Somebody robbed my bag?!"
Gardevoir woke up an unknown amount of time later to Akiyama shouting.
She rubbed her eyes and looked over at the sand. The contents of the bag were strewn everywhere.
There was a Poké Ball lying among them.
She hurried over to help him gather it all up and take inventory.
Nothing was missing. Except several Berries.
"That doesn't make any sense," Akiyama muttered.
That wasn't a thief. That was a small glutton.
Which was when he looked at the Poké Ball on the ground again.
And then at the spot where the Slowpoke had been.
He got a bad feeling.
No way.
Akiyama picked up the ball and pressed the button.
"Wah-wah?"
The Slowpoke materialized on the sand and produced its signature sound.
Akiyama and Gardevoir turned to stone.
"Wah-wah-wah-wah-wah?"
"Wah-wah?"
The Slowpoke seemed a little lost too.
It had no idea what was happening.
"Do not wah-wah at me!" Akiyama shouted.
That woke Nikozo up.
He came over. "What's going on?"
"This wah-wah-ing Slowpoke waited until I was asleep, opened my backpack by itself, and caught itself."
Akiyama took a long breath and got most of the way back to calm.
"You can do that? Aren't you supposed to battle it and earn its respect first?" Nikozo looked as thrown as he did.
Battle, then capture. That was how it worked.
Neither of them had ever heard of one walking in and doing the paperwork itself.
"Wah-wah-wah?" The Slowpoke scratched its head, at a loss.
"Would you stop wah-wah-ing at—"
He didn't get to finish. A Shellder came bouncing across the sand and clamped down on the Slowpoke.
~~
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