Inside the Saffron City Pokémon Center.
Natsui was eating dinner while on the phone with Looker.
On the call, Looker praised him, "You're truly amazing! I just asked you to check out the situation, and I never expected you'd go ahead and solve the whole thing!"
"It's not like I solved it…" Natsui took a big gulp of juice. "Their leader left early, and without a head, they not only resisted for a long time and almost succeeded, but they also made a very wise decision to retreat at the last moment, not even leaving a single injured person behind."
"Alright, don't worry too much about the details." Looker's tone was still upbeat. "If it were anyone else, they wouldn't have been able to complete the mission like you did. So, what do you say? Ever consider joining us in the International Police? I see a lot of potential in you."
"No, thanks. My goal is to win the League Conference. I don't want to deal with these bad guys every day." Natsui directly refused, then leaned back in his chair and asked, "How are things on your end? Have you found Team Rocket's base yet?"
"Nope," Looker said bluntly. "Celadon City is so big, I have no idea where to even start looking. We found a lead earlier, but it quickly went cold. By the way, that's your next destination, right? When you get here, I'll treat you to a meal as a thank you."
"Sure, I'll contact you when I get there."
Although he said that, Natsui was thinking about another problem.
Team Rocket's base, huh?
He hesitated, wanting to say more, but decided against it.
Having foreknowledge wasn't always a good thing. The more you say, the more you might slip up, and a single sentence could arouse suspicion and misunderstanding.
...
After resting for a night in Saffron City, the next day, Natsui continued on his way to the next Gym.
According to the map, the closest Gym city was Celadon City. Since he hadn't contacted Misty, he didn't know if Ash had successfully obtained his fifth badge.
The distance between the two cities wasn't too far, yet even so, by noon, he had only covered about half the journey.
Along the way, he passed through plains and forests.
A gentle breeze was blowing, and flocks of Butterfree flew across the sky, like a dance of a thousand butterflies.
After taking a picture of this rare sight, just as Natsui was looking for a place to rest his feet, a red convertible sports car whizzed past from behind, only to quickly reverse back.
When the dust kicked up by the car settled, Natsui turned to look and saw five people in the car. Aside from a handsome, reddish-brown-haired boy in the passenger seat, everyone else, including the driver, was a beautiful young lady!
The boy was wearing large sunglasses. He turned his head to size up Natsui and said, "I remember you. I saw you from a distance when you came to Professor Oak's lab to deliver something for my grandpa."
This boy was, of course, Professor Oak's grandson, and also Ash's first major rival—Gary.
"You must be Gary, right?" Natsui asked, pretending not to know. "A few days ago, when I was chatting with Ash, he mentioned you. He said you're not only his friend since childhood but also a rival he truly respects."
"Is that so?" Gary didn't seem to care much about that. "That Ash, he can be quite the smooth-talker sometimes. By the way, judging from the Pokémon next to you, you must be the one who told that Samurai boy in Viridian Forest to teach a lesson to the trainer from Pallet Town, right?"
Remembering that experience, Natsui smiled, "That was me, why? Did he give you a hard time?"
"Thanks to you, I was attacked by him without any warning as soon as I entered the forest." Gary pouted. "And he also said you were an extremely skilled trainer. I wonder if that's true?"
"That depends on who you compare me to." Natsui didn't deny it. "At least on my journey so far, I've never lost."
"What's that supposed to mean? I've never lost either!" Hearing Natsui's answer, Gary couldn't tell if he was genuinely skilled or just boasting. So, after thinking for a moment, he asked, "How many badges have you gotten so far?"
"Four badges." Natsui said, then pointed ahead. "But I'm on my way to the Celadon Gym to challenge the Gym Leader there. I'll have my fifth badge soon."
"What? Only four badges? You're pretty slow. Looks like you and Ash are on the same level." Gary's tone was quite arrogant. "I've already collected seven badges, you know. And now I'm on my way to Viridian City to get my next one."
So he judges a trainer's skill by the number of badges they have…
It had to be said, this kid's attitude was pretty arrogant!
But it made sense. Gary was just starting out, his ambitions were high, and he believed that as Professor Oak's grandson, he had an advantage over others from the start. Having not yet suffered a crushing defeat in two conferences, it was natural he wouldn't take others seriously.
Thinking of this, Natsui took out a Poké Ball, enlarged it, and started spinning it on his finger.
"In that case, what do you say? Care for a battle?"
"A battle?" Gary shrugged. "Sorry, I don't have time to waste here. If you really want to battle me, then I wish you luck getting into the Indigo League and facing me there!"
With that, Gary waved his hand, the car started up again, accelerated, and left the area.
"Ghehehe." Gastly floated up from Natsui's shadow at that moment, mocking itself, "Looks like we've been underestimated."
Watching his departing back, Natsui shook his head.
So young, and he already has a sports car and so many female companions. It's enough to make anyone envious.
Shaking off the thought, he set down his backpack and had Kirlia gather some firewood to prepare a meal, while also letting out all his other Pokémon except for Zapdos and Magikarp.
By now, these Pokémon had spent so much time with him that they knew what to do without Natsui having to give any orders.
Squirtle took the canteen to the river to get water, Charmander lit the firewood, and as for Ivysaur, it led the other Pokémon into the nearby forest to gather berries.
Everything proceeded in an orderly fashion.
After everyone had eaten their fill, Natsui took out the Poké Ball containing Magikarp. He thought for a moment, then walked over to the river and released it.
With a flash of blue light, Magikarp appeared in the river, swimming around happily.
Actually, after observing it closely, Natsui realized that the Magikarp salesman had tricked him back then.
This was clearly a male Magikarp, how could it possibly lay eggs!?
But counting the days, it had been a long time since Natsui had gotten this Pokémon. Logically, it should have evolved by now, but after all this time, there was still no sign of it evolving.
Could it be that it was missing that final push from James, which was why it was taking so long to evolve?
"Hey, Gastly," Natsui turned back to look at Gastly and asked, "In a situation like this, is there any way to make it evolve quickly?"
"Evolve?" Gastly let out its signature cackle. "What's the matter? Is a simple little evolution really such a difficult thing?
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