The day after that battle, the team had mostly recovered. Krabby and Rhyhorn had only light injuries and were fine to resume morning drills.
Thanks to the calcium tablets, Krabby's freshly molted shell had already hardened.
Poliwhirl still couldn't push it, but jogging was fine—just no strenuous work.
After breakfast, everyone started morning training.
Even if we were going to keep catching Wingull, that would be an afternoon thing; the morning plan didn't change.
Skinny's Pokémon were also working Water Gun accuracy. After several days, Poliwhirl was at 100% on stationary targets and 90% on moving ones.
Breloom and Poliwhirl were progressing about the same. Honestly, both have solid talent—give them a bit of training and they already stand out; keep at it and getting strong is only a matter of time.
Reiji's own average-talent Poliwhirl had ground it out back on the deserted island—when talent's lacking, hard work fills the gap—and that's how it got this far. Sure, there were little "bonuses" like a Water gem, a legendary's favor, and his encouragement, but Poliwhirl's effort is the part you can't ignore. He saw it all.
Morning practice flew by. After Reiji showered and made lunch, they napped, then headed to the beach to keep screening Wingull—call it downtime; Poliwhirl shouldn't be sparring anyway.
The others stayed in their Poké Balls. He only brought Poliwhirl and Spinarak along; too many out at once and you can't watch them all—one might run off.
"Reiji, do you think we can land one today?" Skinny asked on the way, unsure how long this would take.
"No idea. Let fate decide," Reiji said. He had no clear sense of how hard it would be to find a Wingull with good potential potential.
He'd gotten his own Wingull on the island—one throw and in. As for his other high-potential picks: Butterfree was chosen off the "panel," Krabby too. Rhyhorn didn't even need checking—its potential was plainly decent. The rest—
Magikarp and Wishiwashi were panel picks as well.
Spinarak, Slowpoke, and Farfetch'd weren't amazing—mostly stayed because they wanted to. Farfetch'd had resisted at first, but was fine now.
"I can only give you two days for this. If we still don't find a good Wingull today, either you come on your own and I'll advise, or you settle for the one you have right now.'"
"I understand," Skinny said. He knew Reiji couldn't burn all his time; he needed to train his own team.
What he didn't get was why, already so strong, Reiji still worked like something was chasing him, never resting unless injuries forced it. If not for the current lull, the schedule stayed packed—from wake till midnight, always training, always getting stronger.
After really spending time with him, he couldn't help admiring that discipline. A trainer this driven and this good at raising Pokémon wasn't going to remain unknown.
Back at the beach, Reiji, as usual, sat under a palm with a cold drink he'd grabbed. Poliwhirl and Spinarak munched a snack too.
They waited while Skinny caught Wingull; Reiji just had to screen them. And hey—there were beach beauties to look at. Why not enjoy it?
Their arrival drew attention—many tourists had seen them yesterday catching Wingull.
After Officer Jenny's explanation, lots of tourists spotted Skinny catching again and just smiled, moving away—figuring the two boys were being ridiculous. As if you can judge a Pokémon's quality by "just looking."
In truth, that's basic breeder skill—but Reiji had his own way to check and didn't need to explain to strangers.
Even though they weren't mass-catching this time—only a few at a time, since the markings saved them a lot of hassle—Skinny drawing marks on Wingull wings still irked some trainers.
"Hey! Why are you drawing ugly stuff on their white wings…?"
The speaker was a girl in a pale yellow sundress with twin ponytails—cute even with a frown—about twelve or thirteen, with a yellow Psyduck at her side.
Skinny got startled and froze, unsure what to do; he had zero experience dealing with random girls. He glanced toward the shade where Reiji sat, looking for a cue.
"Whose kid is this? Shoo. Don't get in the way," Reiji waved her off—he wasn't about to argue with a hot-house flower while he was trying to, ahem, appreciate the scenery.
"Are you even listening? You can't draw ugly things on Wingull!" the girl snapped. She hated being treated like a little kid; she didn't see herself as one.
"The marks will come off at molt. Don't worry about it," Reiji said, now that the girl had stomped over and literally blocked his view.
If there weren't so many tourists around, he wouldn't be humoring a mouthy brat like this at all.
"That still won't do!"
"Then call the police," Reiji said, waving her aside and turning to look the other way. Skinny should just keep going—no need to mind busybodies.
The word "police" and his blasé attitude made the girl's fists clench. She ground her teeth: "Fine, just you wait!"
She stomped off in a huff.
Skinny shot Reiji a look: keep going? He really didn't want to stir up a scene.
"It's fine. Continue," Reiji said. A little girl's threats? Even if she called Jenny over, it wouldn't matter. The Wingull were wild, and they weren't roasting them over a fire. If Jenny had spare time, she'd be better off checking the black market—that's where the crazy stuff happened.
They hadn't been at it long when the girl returned with a whole gaggle of boys.
Judging from the hearts in their eyes, they were all her admirers. From their chatter, they were middle-schoolers from a trainer academy on a beach outing.
"It's them! They drew ugly marks on Wingull and insulted me," she said, eyes shining with tears—playing the opening card.
To these boys, her pitiful look was devastating. They silently swore to protect her forever.
Reiji wasn't bothered—just kids. (He'd somehow forgotten he was fifteen himself.)
"Hey, you two bullied my little sister?"
"What do you mean, yours? She's my little sister—"
"Back off—she's mine!"
With ten-plus boys all yapping at once about whose "little sis" she was, both Reiji and Skinny got headaches. Even the girl looked exasperated; they were good boys, but when they argued, it never ended.
"Stop it, all of you! Whoever teaches those two a lesson, I'll date for one week!"
Well then. With that, Reiji and Skinny instantly became the red cape, and the boys all turned into bulls—tripping over each other to challenge the pair and prove they were the strongest, since only the strongest deserved a date.
Reiji and Skinny just stared at each other. How did a confession quest land on us?
Seeing that the squabbling wouldn't stop, Reiji cleared his throat. "Everybody quiet. Listen up."
When the boys finally fell silent and looked his way, he continued, "You all want to date her, right?"
Nods all around.
"And you have to beat one of us first, right?"
More nods.
"In that case, what are you fighting over? Let the ones up front wear us down. The ones in back get easy wins."
"...Huh. Why didn't we think of that?"
"Right then—who's first?" Reiji had already figured out the girl's game: she had no intention of dating anyone. She was just playing with the boys, enjoying the "adored by all" feeling. If she agreed to date, she'd lose her biggest bargaining chip and stop being special.
With that logic sunk in, the boys stopped pushing to go first—they started pushing to go last, hoping someone else would soften the targets up. No one wanted to hand an assist to a rival.
"Kiddo, if they challenge, you take it," Reiji said, slinging an arm around him and whispering a few pointers—plus his read on the girl's motives.
"Ohhh, so that's what she's doing." From the sidelines it was obvious how the boys were being played. Skinny swore he wouldn't become that kind of simp—spun in circles by a girl and lacking his own judgment.
And if he truly couldn't find direction, Reiji had told him: 'seeing higher peaks' is a direction. So is Grandpa's motto: profit first.
When you're unsure which path to take, those are good lodestars: choose what benefits you; drop what harms you. Cut losses, don't be greedy—that was another lesson Grandpa had drilled into him two nights ago.
"Reiji, any conditions for this battle?" Now that he understood, Skinny worried: what if he lost?
"Just do your thing. Losing's fine—it'll end the hassle faster," Reiji said. He didn't care about a one-off result. You can always win it back. What matters is never giving up on climbing. Not daring to try, or deciding you don't want to win—that's the real problem.
"And don't look to me for every answer—decide what you want this to be. For me, win or lose, it doesn't matter. A single result won't shake my steps toward the summit."
Hearing that, Skinny's heart settled. He knew Reiji's ambition; a skirmish like this couldn't budge it.
On the sand, the girl saw the boys hesitating again, her "reinforcements" disarmed by that one line. Grinding her teeth, she shouted, "Whoever challenges first—I'll date for a month!"
Banners raised.
"I'll go!"
"Like hell, I go!"
That… also devolved into a fight. Some sharper boys knew they couldn't beat anyone, so they grabbed their Water-types and challenged Reiji—but the one stepping up to fight was Skinny.
Reiji wanted that—time to check how the training had taken. Skinny had been working with him four days; even without combo-tech, the Water Gun accuracy alone should bully these untrained kids.
"I challenge him," a boy said, pointing at Reiji. He figured Reiji looked tougher—Reiji's Poliwhirl was quite a bit bigger than the other boy's.
"You don't qualify to challenge my big bro. Get through me first," Skinny said, stepping in front of Reiji.
"Big talk"
"Let's see if you're worth the time," he snapped, throwing his Poké Ball. "I choose you—Krabby! Beat his Pokémon!"
"Uh… what are you using?" Only after sending Krabby did Kaito think to ask what Skinny would field.
[End of Chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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