Charmeleon puffed out its chest and pounded it, even striking a confident pose as if to say, 'Leave it to me!'
When Natsui returned to the table, Haunter floated over and asked curiously, "Why did you entrust this matter to Charmeleon? After all, compared to a Pokémon, wouldn't it be better and more efficient for you to take care of it yourself?"
"I'll be assisting from the sidelines, of course," Natsui smiled. "But their names both have 'dragon' in them. Compared to the other Pokémon, it will surely be easier for them to communicate!"
Seeing Haunter still looked puzzled, Natsui continued, "Alright, it's actually because of Charmeleon's careless personality. Even if I specifically instructed it, I'm afraid it wouldn't be able to notice the subtle changes in Dratini's emotions. But the more rough-around-the-edges it is, the more it can subtly influence and change Dratini's personality!"
"For example, I once met a person with the surname Uzumaki. With his relentless effort and a personality that wasn't afraid of getting the cold shoulder, he eventually became good friends with another Uchiha kid who wasn't in a very good place mentally."
"So I firmly believe that if anyone can successfully turn Dratini around, it has to be Charmeleon!"
...
Leaving Fuchsia City, Natsui continued south. After camping in the wild for a night, he arrived at the southern coast of the Kanto mainland.
He continued along the coastline and soon found an unnamed seaside town.
Seeing a few fishermen who had returned from the sea unloading their boats at the pier, he walked over and asked, "Excuse me for bothering you, but do you know where the Seafoam Islands are?"
"The Seafoam Islands?" The weather-beaten old fisherman took a few puffs from his pipe and eyed him skeptically. "They're on a waterway to Cinnabar Island, a very long way from here. But let me ask you one thing, young man, what are you going there for?"
Natsui cast his gaze towards the distant sea surface and smiled, "I heard there's a rare Pokémon there. I want to go and catch it."
"A rare Pokémon? You mean Articuno, right?" The old fisherman blew out a large smoke ring and kindly advised, "That's just a rumor. At least, I've been fishing in these waters for so many years, and I've never seen any Articuno on that island! On the other hand, many people go there every year because of the fame, but after all the trouble, don't they just come back empty-handed in the end!"
"Yes, yes... I'm just going to try my luck. It doesn't matter if I don't see Articuno..."
Perhaps because he was old, he liked to ramble on for a bit whenever he met someone, whether he knew them or not. Natsui listened patiently for a long time before finally getting the general location of the Seafoam Islands from the old fisherman.
After marking the location on his phone's map, he thanked the man, then left the town and rode Gyarados towards the deep sea.
Just then, as the phone signal was about to disappear, he suddenly received a message in his chat app.
The sender of the message was a beautiful young girl with long, curly, dark-golden hair. From her profile picture, you could see she was holding a man's arm with both hands. Although her expression was slightly shy, she still smiled very happily at the camera.
Staring at the girl's profile picture, a thousand thoughts flooded Natsui's mind. But after hesitating for a long time, his finger seemed to freeze on the screen, and he did not open the message.
"Who is this cute girl?"
A voice suddenly sounding next to his ear startled Natsui, and the phone in his hand almost fell into the sea.
"Hey, Haunter! Don't just suddenly speak and scare people like that!"
"What do you mean, 'suddenly speak'!?" Haunter's eyes widened as it looked at him in disbelief. "I've been calling you for a long time! You were the one spacing out like a block of wood! Your soul had completely flown away!"
"How is that possible?" Natsui cleared his throat and quickly denied it. "I was just a bit dazed for a moment. It's not as exaggerated as you say!"
"Oh? Is that so?" Haunter said with a teasing look and a playful tone, "Then who is this girl? That arm she's holding onto, it's yours, right?"
"Her..." Natsui was clearly reluctant to talk about it, saying vaguely, "She was just a girl next door when I lived in the Kalos region. We just had a good relationship because we often played together."
"Just that? Is that really all there is to it? Then why don't you dare to open her message!"
"Well..." Natsui hesitated for a moment. "It's just that some things happened in the past that make me a little afraid to face her now."
Some things!? Afraid to face her!?
Instantly, Haunter's mind was filled with wild fantasies. But after hearing the embarrassment in Natsui's tone, although it was extremely curious, it was considerate enough not to press further and changed the subject.
"By the way, how did you become a trainer in the first place? Why have I never heard you talk about things before you came to Kanto? And even when I asked Kirlia, it was tight-lipped and wouldn't reveal a single thing!"
Natsui shook his head, "This matter is actually very complicated. It can't be explained in just a few words. Let's wait until there's a chance in the future, and I'll tell you then!"
By now, Gyarados had already swum a long way. Seeing no one around, Natsui once again mounted Zapdos.
Above the clouds, Zapdos spread its wings and soared, riding the wind westward. Two hours later, they had arrived at the target area.
But next, finding two islands in the vast sea was an extremely eye-straining task.
Patting Zapdos's neck feathers, Natsui asked, "Hey, as one of the three legendary birds, you've loved and fought each other for so many years. Do you Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres have some kind of ability to sense each other? To help us pinpoint that Articuno?"
Zapdos completely ignored this meaningless nonsense, but it did turn its head and, with its sharp, eagle-like eyes, helped him find the Seafoam Islands.
The Seafoam Islands, as the name implies, were so-called because both islands had a tall, barren mountain in the center and were very similar in shape, like a pair of twins.
And because there were no other islands nearby, they appeared exceptionally prominent in the middle of the sea.
After flying a few circles around the islands, Natsui didn't find anything suspicious. After a moment of thought, he finally chose to have Zapdos land on the larger of the two islands.
A strong sea breeze whistled through the mountains, and even the rocks underfoot seemed to emit a chill.
Being far from human habitation, both islands were usually very quiet.
But for some reason, although these two islands were also covered with green plants, they were rather sparse. Most of the terrain was exposed rock, making the place look very desolate.
And what was even more troublesome was that, perhaps because they were often disturbed, or perhaps because their territorial awareness was extremely strong, from the moment Natsui set foot on the island, every wild Pokémon he encountered attacked him without a word!
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