"Go, Jason!"
On the sidelines, Gast was hyped like she'd chugged rocket fuel.
On the field, two Tinkatuff were squaring off—one of them, of course, was Jason transformed. The other swung her hammer with veteran confidence, steel singing through the air.
But Jason? He's a Ditto built for battle.
He didn't flinch or dodge. He timed it and met her swing head-on.
Clang!
Sparks burst. A heartbeat later, her hammer went flying in a graceful arc and crashed to the ground.
Match over.
"You're amazing, Jason!" Gast was the first to sprint over, plastering herself to him, giddy as a 200-pound kid.
Jason smiled calmly, shouldered his big hammer, sauntered over to Cynthia—who'd been watching from the side—and slipped back into his floppy Ditto form.
"Done. Goodbyes said. We can go."
Cynthia's mouth twitched. "You Pokémon have a weird way of saying goodbye. And did it have to take that long?"
Jason grimaced. It had been a day and two nights since he'd said he needed to "say goodbye." It was now the third morning since Cynthia arrived.
Truth was, he wanted to max out the Tinkatink Dex. Once he blitzed that, he realized the Tinkatuff line was also going fast—then he got carried away.
He'd been sparring with that Tinkatuff nonstop. It paid off—sort of. By the time she was getting impatient, he'd maxed the Tinkatuff entry too.
Cynthia eyed him, curious. In two days, she'd confirmed he wasn't like ordinary Pokémon. Forget the strange Transform; his growth speed was absurd. Without leaning on type advantage or setup or dirty tricks, he'd gone from losing spar after spar to, now in Tinkatuff form, beating her outright.
In this little time.
Her curiosity only deepened.
The next second, Cynthia didn't bother asking. She grabbed the floppy Ditto and kneaded him like dough—pull long, flatten, roll round. One fluid combo. Clearly, this had been building.
Jason kept quiet, letting her vent. He was in the wrong—he'd said they'd leave, then stalled for two nights, making the goddess camp in the wild. Even as a Ditto, he felt guilty.
Finally, Cynthia exhaled a long breath, smiling. "Okay. Feels good. I'll let you off—this time. Let's go."
"Mm-hmm," he chimed in—and blurted, "I'll just say one last goodbye."
Air froze.
Cynthia's smile vanished. Her brows knit into a dangerous angle. Her voice squeezed through gritted teeth: "Oh? And how many more day–night cycles will this goodbye take?"
"Super fast! Really this time!" Jason's survival instincts flared. "Just a sentence!"
She stared three full seconds before her brows eased and her hand moved away from the Poké Ball at her hip. She'd been this close to calling Garchomp to pound him.
With that handled, Jason finally relaxed. He slithered toward Tinkatuff.
She'd already clocked him coming. At five meters out, the big sis jumped back like a startled rabbit, eyes sharp with caution.
"Stop!"
He opened his mouth—and she beat him to it. Like a hot potato, she clanged her hammer to the ground. The metallic crash froze every Tinkatink mid "ding-ding," all eyes turning in unison.
"No more. Not today. I surrender—I give up—you're the strongest around here, okay?!"
A few tiny bubbles blooped up on Jason's surface. Yeah… he might've overdone it these past two days.
At first, when she'd heard he wanted to spar, she'd been thrilled. In this dead, rusty wasteland, the only fun was body-tempering and honing technique. A worthy opponent showing up? A gift from the skies.
But as he got stronger and she started losing… well, that wasn't fun. After that, the "friendly spar" joy evaporated; all that was left was lopsided trauma.
"Uh… I'm not here to fight," he said, voice a little thin. "I came to say goodbye. I'm leaving—going traveling."
Silence for a beat.
The disdain and wariness in Tinkatuff's face softened visibly. Arms uncrossed; in those eyes that always burned with battle fire, a sliver of reluctant warmth appeared.
"Leaving?" she echoed, as if to confirm.
For all the beatdowns at the end, they had fought side by side. The bond of battle—and that fleeting camaraderie—was real.
After a pause, she flashed a bright grin, sweeping away the gloom. "Travel… lucky you!"
She glanced back at the Tinkatink, hammering away again, pride and responsibility softening her gaze. Then she turned back, eyes alight, a flame rekindled.
"Just you wait!" She pointed off into the distance with the discarded hammer, voice ringing. "When I evolve again—when I'm stronger—and when these little ones can stand on their own—I'm going traveling too!"
Jason nodded lightly. "Good. I'll look forward to meeting you again on the road."
He turned to go.
"I'll beat you then!" she shouted after him.
He didn't look back—but he did wiggle a little faster.
A few steps in, he glanced aside. Behind a huge scrapped engine, a Gastly peeked out—Gast. Moments ago she'd been cheering him on; now she hid, hesitating, unable to approach.
He stopped and called softly toward her, "Gast, I'm leaving."
She trembled and he went on, "I hope next time I see you, you'll be a fine Gengar. As for big sis… well, she's hot-headed, but not bad at heart. If anyone bullies you here, I think she'll help."
He waited a moment. Gast stayed hidden, silent.
A little ache pressed at him. They hadn't known each other long, but that quirky, scatterbrained little ghost had left a deep impression: appearing silently behind him for a cold lick and a sprinted getaway; pulling ridiculous faces midfight to throw enemies off. Outside of battle, she'd been rare fun.
No formal goodbye, then. Maybe that's how it should be for a timid Gastly.
He sighed inwardly, gave the shadow one last look, and turned to ooze back toward Cynthia, who was idly kicking pebbles.
One step, two, three—
Just as he thought it would end in silence, Gast's voice rang out behind him.
"Jason…"
He froze.
"I… I want to go traveling with you!"
~~~
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