Late at night, the lighthouse was quiet.
The soft hush of waves outside still echoed faintly in their ears.
Curled on her side, Misty's fingers absently traced the damp patch on her pillow.
She had cried.
That "neither alive nor dead" riddle from the Dragonite was like a stone thrown into her heart's still water, stirring ripples that refused to settle.
Hope and uncertainty tangled together into something far denser than pure despair.
But… it was still better, wasn't it?
At least it wasn't the final confirmation of death.
At least it wasn't the worst possible answer.
"Sis…"
She pulled out her phone and started typing a message to her older sister.
This wasn't the kind of thing that had to be kept secret.
A Dragonite that huge, with energy readings that strong, coming here?
Vermilion City absolutely would've noticed.
As for why no one came…
Did they think Bill was some pushover?
This was one of the top scholars in the world.
Not the kind of person you crossed lightly.
—
In the next room, Brock lay on his back, hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling.
In the faint light, he could almost see the reflection of the stars as they'd turned overhead earlier.
For once, his normally steady expression had slipped.
At the corners of his mouth, something like a small, contented smile lingered.
To see a legend so soon after leaving home—
What more could a Pokémon trainer ask for?
"…A vast world… a vast ocean, huh…" he murmured.
And yet, for some reason, the image that flashed through his mind was that of three sisters in swimsuits spinning through the water at Cerulean Gym.
He jerked his head, then buried his face in the pillow.
Thinking about that right now felt… wrong.
He knew a bit more about Misty's situation now.
What the previous Cerulean Gym leaders had done…
He'd heard whispers of it.
Challenging a Sea-King-class Pokémon out in open water—
That was beyond reckless.
The battlefield advantage on the other side was absurd.
Wild Pokémon weren't like city-raised ones.
Once a battle for dominance started, it was life or death.
Like wild animals fighting for the right to be alpha.
The loser got driven off.
Or killed.
Getting even this much of an answer from a legendary was a miracle, honestly.
Brock could only silently thank fate that his dad hadn't gone that far off the deep end.
Losing to the Elite Four was one thing.
At least he hadn't gone insane.
For trainers, early growth came fast—just cashing out the potential their Pokémon already had.
But once that potential was fully realized…
Taking another step forward became incredibly difficult.
At that stage, there were only two real paths left.
Get stronger Pokémon, and gain fresh potential to draw on—like capturing Totem-tier or Legendary Pokémon, or raising "late-bloomers" to full strength.
Turn inward, and seek true breakthroughs in yourself and your partners—like special forms, synced evolutions, or human-Pokémon resonance states.
Neither was "higher" or "lower" than the other.
Because both were nightmares in their own way.
Breaking through a bottleneck was never easy.
—
Ash lay flat on his back.
His hands were folded over his chest.
The day's events flickered through his mind like a movie on fast-forward—the shadow of the giant, the voice in their heads, Misty's tears, Bill's fervor…
He closed his eyes, trying to shake off the swirl of images.
That was when he noticed it.
In the upper left corner of his vision, a faint blue glow came to life—
The [System] interface quietly sliding open.
A new notification popped into view:
[Achievement: First Contact with a Legendary – Completed]
[Reward: Dragon Scale]
[Effect: A hard, gleaming scale that lets certain Pokémon evolve.]
Dragon Scale?
Ash blinked.
The scene earlier had been so intense he'd completely forgotten about the [System] for a moment.
But even without him thinking about it, the [System] still did its thing.
So why didn't I get anything for seeing Ho-Oh?
Too far away? Out of range?
Dragon Scale, huh…
I can't even use this right now!
He knew it was used to evolve Seadra into Kingdra.
Where am I supposed to find a Seadra?
And I already have a Water-type in Gyarados.
Any more, and the balance starts getting weird.
He opened his eyes again, staring up at the dim ceiling.
What he needed was to broaden the range of situations he could handle.
Sea: Gyarados.
Land: Pikachu.
Sky: Pidgeotto.
Now he had to expand those roles further.
Frontline tank.
Healers and support.
Long-range control and artillery.
They were on a journey.
Thankfully, with Brock and Misty covering different roles, Ash didn't have to solve every problem alone.
…Still.
He really wanted a Psychic-type or Ghost-type.
Even if Bill's Gardevoir was male—
Psychic-types were just insanely useful.
"Arghhhhh…"
He scrubbed both hands through his hair in frustration.
I only bragged to Misty about wanting to be a Water-type master, okay?
[System], stop actually shoving nothing but Water stuff at me all the time.
First a Beautiful Scale, now a Dragon Scale—I can't even use these right now!
Can I get, I don't know, a Mega Stone or something?!
As he silently yelled at the air—
"Pika…"
Beside him, Pikachu mumbled in his sleep.
He rolled over, tail flicking lazily against Ash's leg and leaving a faint tingle.
The little guy was exhausted.
He hadn't fought that night.
But just standing in front of that giant Dragonite had been nerve-wracking enough.
He'd been prepared to jump in front and take the hit the second anything went wrong.
Even if it killed him.
—
Downstairs, the lab was still as bright as day.
"Just like that!" Bill's eyes were bloodshot, but he showed no sign of fatigue—only raw excitement.
His machines roared at full power, pumping seawater from the area where Dragonite had appeared, sending it through filters, centrifuges, and extraction units in one endless loop.
Basic skills for a Pokémon Professor.
As for walking up to that ancient giant and asking for a scale or a drop of blood?
He wasn't that crazy.
Not yet.
The ridiculously faint traces in the seawater—shed skin cells, fragments of scale, lingering energy particles—
Those "naturally lost" samples were his treasure now.
"Increase the filtration resolution by an order of magnitude!"
"Spin it harder!"
"Yes!"
"Just like that!"
He stared at the streams of data on the monitor, words tumbling out one after another.
"Even just a sliver of structural information… a hint of energy profile…"
"All of it is priceless!"
"Only shame is, I didn't manage to ask everything I wanted to know."
The giant Dragonite had refused to reveal the identities of its "colleagues".
That was a bit of a disappointment.
But even so, today's haul was more than enough.
Research was about solving mysteries little by little.
The process itself was part of the joy.
There was no need to get everything handed to you at once.
Outside, the sea was calm again.
Moonlight spread across the waves, quietly smoothing over all traces of the terror and wonder from earlier.
Only the low hum of lab equipment—
And the quietly surging thoughts in three different rooms—
Spoke of the storm inside them.
An encounter with a legendary Pokémon—
Was the kind of memory you could spend a lifetime cherishing.
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 60 chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon.com/StrawHatStudios