Back in the guest room, Reiji let his Pokémon out one by one for food. The room was cramped, so he couldn't have too many out at once.
After lunch, he called most of them back. He kept only Mudkip and Zapdos out, warmed them up with Moomoo Milk, and nodded when Mudkip started taking Pokéblocks without fuss.
Darkrai wasn't in its Poké Ball either. It wasn't like Gengar—Darkrai had its own standards, and they leaned toward the decent side. Reiji didn't need to hover over it.
Gengar, though, stayed sealed on a ship like this. One wall-walk, one scare, and he'd spend the rest of the day cleaning up a mess. There were plenty of Trainers aboard—he'd seen that much during the battles.
After eating, he played with Mudkip and Zapdos for a bit. Zapdos still couldn't move, so it could only lie there blinking at the world, unable to leave its nest—meaning it couldn't leave Reiji's arms.
When both little ones finally fell asleep, Reiji pulled out his notebook and did the math.
The Elite Four suite on Pummelo Island had cost 100,000. One battle had earned him 100,000. Hotels really did eat money—next time, mooching off the Pokémon Center sounded a lot smarter.
A ticket from Pummelo Island to Kumquat Island was 10,000. The big hotel at the Kumquat Gym was 50,000. The ticket back to Pummelo Island was another 10,000, and changing the ticket to Mikan Island cost an extra 20,000.
Lunches, dinners, and cold drinks over this stretch had eaten up almost another 10,000.
Total: 200,000.
Three battles on the ship had brought in 300,000, so he was still ahead by 100,000.
Remaining balance: 10,056,000 Pokédollars.
He stared at the number for a second, then shut the notebook. Somehow he'd gone from a little over nine million to over ten million while "cutting costs." If he ever ran short, setting up a few battles to earn pocket money wouldn't be hard.
He returned the sleeping Mudkip and Zapdos to their Poké Balls, then let Spinarak out and pointed upward. "Spinarak, I'm going to sleep for a bit. If someone knocks, wake me up."
Spinarak nodded, fired a strand of silk to the ceiling, and hauled itself up into a corner where it could watch the door without being seen.
With that handled, Reiji sank into the soft bed and drifted off, slipping into the dreamscape.
In the dream, the team was already training in pairs. Poliwhirl and Scyther were sparring for real. Croagunk and Gengar were drilling accuracy. Kingler and Rhyhorn were testing strength.
Shelmet and Golbat were brawling in their own awkward way, while Mudkip and Magikarp did target practice under Pelipper's supervision.
Mudkip and Magikarp still couldn't tell this was a dream, which made the target practice feel real enough to matter. The scenery jumped between the villa on Mandarin Island South and the riverbank on Mandarin Island North—both rebuilt by Darkrai. Once the two rookies got the rhythm here, a bit of real-world practice would be enough to make it stick.
Reiji wasn't here to rest, and he wasn't here just to watch. He wanted to see Poliwhirl's ceiling—whether it could beat a same-level Darkrai.
He stopped the main team's drills and had them gather to watch. The support Pokémon could come or not; he didn't care. They weren't training seriously in the dream anyway, and he wasn't going to squeeze them harder than they needed. If they were enjoying themselves, that was fine.
"Poliwhirl, Scyther—everyone, pause and come here," Reiji called, walking out onto the grass.
Poliwhirl stepped forward and stopped in front of him, waiting without a word.
Once the group had gathered, Reiji waved toward the villa. Darkrai came over, and only then did he say it.
"Darkrai, I want Poliwhirl to battle you."
Darkrai hesitated, its face half-hidden behind white hair. "Are you sure?"
It had watched Poliwhirl fight and knew it was strong. But that kind of strength still belonged in the category of normal Pokémon. Darkrai was a Mythical Pokémon, and it couldn't help the quiet certainty that it stood above most of what Reiji owned. It wasn't disdain. It was simply how the world had treated it.
"Darkrai," Reiji said, voice steady, "you're the standard I'm using for them."
There was a reason he'd never wanted to say it out loud. Sooner or later, he would run into that guy with the legendaries.
That guy didn't just have a Darkrai. He had a Latios too. The other four were unknown, but Reiji didn't believe they'd be anything less than pseudo-legendary at minimum.
Back in his old life, people online had joked that the last four were Magikarp. Reiji had never bought it. Nobody sends out Darkrai first, then Latios, and then follows with Magikarp as their third.
More than that, the man could show off legendary power in public without getting targeted by the Sinnoh Champion's investigation. That told Reiji one thing: those Pokémon were legal. The League was allowing it.
Why he entered the Sinnoh tournament was unclear, but the message was obvious. It made the League look foolish, loud and clear—and the League swallowed it anyway.
Ash hadn't won Sinnoh, yet the title went to an unknown Trainer who walked in with legendaries. If someone told Reiji the League had nothing to do with that outcome, he wouldn't believe it for a second. In a real world, the only way something like that happens is with deals nobody wants on record.
That forced Reiji to think about what kind of background could protect a man like that, and what kind of bargain made the League tolerate being humiliated.
He had two guesses.
One: the guy was League-connected—some second- or third-generation Trainer with a powerful family who wanted to "experience" a regional tournament and borrowed the family's legendaries to do it. With that kind of lineup, he had to have backing. A man like that wouldn't be left exposed.
Two: he was tied to old nobility—an old house that had been absorbed into the League system. Sending a descendant to win a regional championship with legendaries would be a show of status and force, and the League's silence would be part of the deal.
Either way, it was ugly politics dressed up as sport. The League's rise hadn't happened cleanly. Old powers switched sides, new powers formed, and the winners wrote the rules. Sorting out who owed what to whom after that kind of history wasn't something you could do in public.
You could still see leftovers of it in the Orange Archipelago. Big local families that held power like they always had. Even the four major Gyms that sided with the League back then had roots in that old world, and now they were fully tied into the League's system.
Families that resisted the League still existed too. Kinnow Island was proof of that—though they'd chosen to back down. The ones who never backed down were probably wiped out long ago.
Reiji even suspected the "black ship" might be survivors from that era. Otherwise, why ally through marriage with local hardliners? It was the kind of move you made when you wanted to trip the League whenever you could.
After what happened last time, Kinnow Island wouldn't have it easy going forward. If they didn't want the League's protection, then the League wouldn't protect them.
And Reiji himself had no roots at all. If he really grew into someone who could become Champion, he'd eventually have to deal with this mess head-on. The thought alone made his temples tighten. The only way through was overwhelming strength.
No wonder Team Rocket could exist. Maybe it was even a jab at a society like this—where power, bloodlines, and backroom deals decided who got to stand tall. Whatever Team Rocket truly represented, it did crack open a path for Trainers at the bottom.
Which brought Reiji back to the real point.
His benchmark for Poliwhirl and the others was that legendary-collector. He intended to beat him with ordinary Pokémon.
Poliwhirl, Scyther, and fast hitters like Shelmet needed to be able to fight Darkrai one-on-one and not fold. At the very least, they needed to be able to trade evenly.
Reiji had a Darkrai right here as a sparring partner. If they could go fifty-fifty with the Nightmare Pokémon, then facing other Mythical Pokémon, Eon Pokémon, or even true legendaries wouldn't be an instant death sentence.
The bar was high, but he believed they could reach it. For a Champion, it wasn't a luxury—it was the minimum. If you couldn't deal with second-tier legendaries, you didn't get to talk about the top.
Against Darkrai in particular, Poliwhirl and the others even had a type edge. They were fast too. The outcome wasn't fixed until they fought.
"I understand," Darkrai said quietly.
It knew it wasn't the only Darkrai in the world. It understood Reiji's fear: if Darkrai ever left, Reiji might face another one without an answer. But Darkrai didn't want to leave this family anyway. If it walked away, where would it go?
"Poliwhirl, you first," Reiji said.
Scyther couldn't beat Poliwhirl, and Shelmet was still too young, so there was no point starting with them.
Poliwhirl clenched both fists and knocked them together. It had wanted this for a long time. Darkrai was strange, and even standing near it put a warning in the back of Poliwhirl's instincts—but Poliwhirl didn't step away. It wanted strength. More. Always more.
"You can attack first," Darkrai said, taking its place across from it.
"Everyone, give them space," Reiji ordered, clapping once. He was going to command this battle himself.
"Poliwhirl," he said, meeting its eyes, "this is your first time facing a legendary-level opponent. There'll be more after this. I'll be right here with you."
Poliwhirl looked back and nodded once, hard and certain. It wasn't afraid. Even if the opponent came out of legend, it would stand in front of Reiji and take the hit—just like it had on that rainy night on the deserted island.
It didn't want to hide behind him anymore. It wanted to stand beside him, no matter how bad the storm got.
"Poliwhirl—Drain Punch!"
Reiji finally used the move he'd been holding back. A Fighting-type hit that could also steal stamina, and more importantly, it could strike Darkrai for double damage.
Poliwhirl surged forward with Waterfall bursting under its feet, driving it into range in a blink.
Darkrai answered with Double Team.
Poliwhirl's Drain Punch cut through empty air. Darkrai split into six, circling Poliwrath from every direction.
Poliwhirl turned in place, eyes snapping from one to the next. It didn't know which one was real, so it tried to force the answer with its fists.
"Poliwhirl—use Water Gun to test them!" Reiji called.
Poliwhirl fired six rapid Water Guns in a tight sweep. One figure reacted a fraction too late—too solid, too real—and Poliwhirl locked on. Waterfall kicked again under its feet as it lunged.
Double Team again. The punch missed again.
This time, the copies didn't just dodge. They struck back together.
All six Darkrai used Dark Void at once. Dark-violet rings formed in their hands and hurled inward at Poliwhirl.
Dark Void forced sleep on contact. If it touched you, you dropped.
Reiji remembered seeing this move used to crush teams. One opponent after another, falling without even getting a clean exchange. That was the kind of fight Poliwhirl had to be ready for.
"Poliwhirl—Waterfall, jump!"
Poliwhirl launched high, letting the rings pass under it.
"Now—Mud Shot! Slow it down!" Reiji snapped.
Still airborne, Poliwhirl spat out Mud Shot in a fast chain—six shots, one after another. One clipped the real Darkrai, and Poliwhirl kept firing, adding three more to press the advantage.
Darkrai took that first hit, then slipped aside and avoided the rest. Its arm lifted again, and another Dark Void rose toward the airborne Poliwhirl.
"Poliwhirl—Water Gun off the tree trunk! Get out of the line!" Reiji barked.
With nothing to push off in midair, Poliwhirl blasted a Water Gun and shoved itself sideways. The angle carried it down into the river instead of into the dark ring.
Poliwhirl climbed out, water streaming down its arms.
Darkrai watched from the bank, eyes fixed on Poliwhirl, and sent a hypnotic pulse straight at it.
"Poliwhirl—close your eyes. Use Moisture sensing."
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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