Chapter 825: Natsume-sensei’s Ranking-Up Journey(Two-in-One)

The next morning.

Natsume and Cynthia were having breakfast at the hotel’s second-floor buffet.

Sonia had the good sense not to bother the two and asked Indeedee to bring her breakfast to her room, where she sat reading.

Cynthia held her knife and fork with poise and elegance, her eyes hesitating over the flawless white china.

“Not to your taste?” Natsume crunched a fried chip.

Cynthia rested her chin on one hand, glancing lazily at the row of silver trays. “There’s only fish and... more chips.”

As everyone knows, Galar without fish and chips is like Magikarp without Splash.

It’s their soul.

“Well, it is the Galar Region,” Natsume nodded. “Makes sense.”

Cynthia propped her face in her hand, gazing at Natsume with interest. “So, you were in a Dynamax battle last night?”

“Yeah, against Marnie from Spikemuth. I even gave her some tips on Grimmsnarl’s strategy.”

Natsume didn’t notice a thing until he saw the gentle, sparkling smile in Cynthia’s gray eyes. Then, he realized—maybe a late-night Pokémon battle with the Moe-Moe! Marnie wasn’t the best idea.

If it had been any Trainer Cynthia already knew... maybe it wouldn’t sound so weird.

“My bad,” Natsume said sincerely. “Next time I practice Dynamax battles, I’ll give Steven or Leon a call.”

“Hmm...” Cynthia mused. “I always felt like you and Steven had some kind of history.”

“A manly history between bros.”

Like saving the Tree of Beginning together, storming Cameran Palace, facing the Hoenn twin gods, heading out to Allearth Forest...

There’s not much closer than comrades who’ve risked their lives together.

“Or,” Natsume joked, “maybe I’ll invite Flint, Volkner, and the others to Galar for some ranked battles!”

Cynthia was surprised, then nodded. “They did sign up for the World Tournament... I’ll pass along your invite.”

Flint and Volkner always craved strong opponents. Back in the Champion League, Flint would battle me and Garchomp all the time.

Natsume... should definitely meet their definition of “worthy opponent.”

“Gengar~”

Gengar swaggered down the second-floor restaurant corridor, past the marble balcony, then stopped to look outside.

It heard rustling in the bushes below. In the little garden under the balcony, a black-haired girl in a black jacket was practicing alone.

Marnie pressed two fingers to the corner of her mouth, tugging it upwards, slowly practicing how to smile. After a while, she let out a breath, glancing up toward the balcony.

“Gengar~(￣▽￣)／” Gengar gave a grand wave.

Alola! Good morning!

Marnie startled, her cheeks visibly reddening, then mechanically turned and hurried away.

The classic Sword & Shield scene: Miss Marnie practicing her smile!

After that, Natsume and Cynthia checked out of Budew Hotel and followed Sonia to Turffield to study the murals.

Turffield is famous for its rows of Giant Stones—the so-called Giant Stone Array. Murals were discovered carved on these stones. On the western hill, there’s also a gigantic earthwork—locals claim it was drawn by aliens, but really the first settlers created it as a tourist trap to boost the local economy.

The weather was bright, blue skies dotted with soaring Corviknight. The green of the Wilderness Zone rolled on forever, Wooloo grazing in the field. The scent of grass filled the air; this was Turffield—home of Grass-type Leader Milo.

“Up ahead—that’s Turffield’s Stonjourner!”

They stood on a high hill outside town. Sonia, dressed in a brown coat with a bag on her arm, pointed to the white stones.

“They look a lot like Pokémon ‘Stonjourner ’.” Sonia grinned. “And, actually, we’ve found real Pokémon of that species around these stones.”

At that moment, Sonia’s Yamper dashed off, corgi legs a blur as it zipped down the hill into the small town.

“Wait up, Yamper!” Sonia called, running after it.

The soft breeze carried the smell of earth and grass. Natsume took in the Galar countryside.

Industrial Motostoke couldn’t have been more different—smokestacks side-by-side with open meadows, past and future colliding.

Looking off to the Wilderness, Natsume saw campers pitching tents, cooking curry over small fires, white smoke curling up.

And wild Pokémon everywhere: cottony fluffs blown by the wind—flocks of snowy Wooloo—and a prehistoric-looking Cramorant soaring above the lake.

“I’m glad I get to live among all these Pokémon,” Natsume suddenly said, “Each one of them could join some Trainer on their journey and grow stronger—maybe even become a Champion someday.”

“Just like Gengar met you,” Cynthia smiled softly, arms crossed. Her imposing Garchomp stood tall behind her, a living shadow.

Natsume glanced back at the purple blob floating beside him. “Gengar?”

“Just like Gengar met me,” Natsume echoed, smiling.

“Hey!”

Sonia had already hurried down the hill. She stood with her back to the town and waved.

“You two, hurry up!”

“We’re coming!”

Natsume tossed out a Luxury Ball, leaping lightly onto the broad back of a flaxen-maned Arcanine. He stretched a hand out.

“Would you do me the honor of sharing this journey with me, Champion Cynthia?”

Cynthia’s deep gray eyes sparkled as she smiled; the black lace by her wrist dancing in the breeze as she reached for his hand.

Rustle—her arms wrapped around his waist. Soft warmth pressed against his back, her golden hair brushing his shoulder. That small weight tipped the scale in his heart, making it fall for good.

She whispered, “I wish this journey could go on forever.”

“As you wish,” he replied.

“You—two!”

Sonia, blushing as if she had bitten into a tart Nomel Berry, cried, “It’s only a 200 meter walk! Is riding Arcanine really necessary!?”

Natsume, still on Arcanine, explained as they strolled down the hill, “It’s to save HP for today’s research.”

Cynthia leaned out from behind his shoulder, totally serious: “That’s right.”

Sonia: “……”

Not even Gengar would buy that!

Speaking of which... where was Gengar? Sonia looked around.

Out in the grass, Gengar had a cowboy hat on, spinning a rope over its head, trying to lasso a Wooloo.

“Baa~” Wooloo dodged, rolled into a ball, and started Rollouting away.

Gengar dropped the rope and hat, leapt, and started running on Wooloo’s back, flailing: “Gengar! ┌(。Д。)┐”

Uh-oh, I’m gonna fall!

Sonia: “……”

Gengar, up to no good as always.

The mural investigation finally managed to get back on track.

Natsume and Cynthia entered “work mode,” focused and organized.

He was in charge of tracking historical references for the mural; she handled translating archaic script on-site.

Sonia snapped photos of everything, saying, “By the way, have you two heard of the legend of Galar’s king?”

“Calyrex?” Natsume jotted down notes, replying offhand.

Sonia: “!?”

Sonia: “Wha—how did you find that?!”

I spent six months with my grandmother scouring ancient texts; I’ve not even announced Calyrex’s name to the Pokémon world yet! How does Natsume know?

(From the Crown Tundra DLC, but you can’t say that...)

Natsume: “Happened to be on this inscription right here—want me to read it aloud?”

Sonia leaned in skeptically.

Natsume pointed at the Unown letters in the inscription and “translated” line by line:

“The king of Galar—who rode the Horse of Night and the Horse of Blizzard—was called ‘Crown’.”

Sonia: “…But there are only two lines of inscription, you just read three.”

Natsume: “It’s called grammatical contraction—pretty common in ancient languages.”

Sonia: “Oh… I sort of get it.”

Natsume: “Just kidding, actually I saw it in the Canalave City Library.”

Sonia: “???”

Canalave Library’s stacks are endless, and with Natsume-sensei’s playful dodges, Sonia gave up scrutinizing the details.

“Back on the topic of ‘Galar’s King’.”

Sonia cleared her throat, pretending to be serious: “Based on my and my grandmother’s research, Calyrex doesn’t have a strong connection to the Darkest Day. It was actually the Sword and Shield kings who faced down the Darkest Day directly.”

“So, if the Darkest Day came back, as long as we could revive the Sword and Shield kings, we could save the region again!”

“Why are you so sure the Darkest Day will return?” Cynthia asked.

Sonia: “Because…”

Before she could finish, a dark mist rose behind Natsume; a figure of Darkrai emerged and calmly said,

“Because Natsume is here.”

Natsume, Cynthia, Sonia: “……”

Darkrai, having made itself known, disappeared back into the shadows.

Natsume coughed, “Just ignore that and go on.”

Sonia blinked, then cleared her throat. “Because lately, unusual Dynamax phenomena have been happening all over Galar. Tons of wild Pokémon have gone Dynamax without any Trainer’s command, causing major damage in a lot of areas.”

“I never saw anything about it on TV,” Natsume said.

“Chairman Rose suppressed the news.” Sonia gave a bitter smile. “But Leon and I both know the source must be found. That’s why I’m so desperate to investigate the real ‘Sword and Shield Kings’!”

Cynthia frowned. “But... I still don’t really understand—what exactly is the Darkest Day?”

Sonia smacked her forehead, dug through her bag, and pulled out a thick folder, flipping through notebooks and sketches.

“The ‘Darkest Day’ refers to a legendary Pokémon from space—the source of all Dynamax energy. Whenever it appears, darkness covers the land. That’s why it’s called the ‘Darkest Day’.”

Sonia took a deep breath. “And that legendary Pokémon, Professor Magnolia named it—Eternatus!”

Cynthia listened closely, eyes glinting with insight. She flashed a glance at Natsume.

The cosmic energy of Eternatus… Maybe it could awaken Jirachi!

Natsume’s mind raced.

In the game, Eternatus was hidden beneath Hammerlocke in a secret energy research facility, providing power for Galar thanks to Chairman Rose.

But here, with Rose missing his right-hand Oleana and busy running Macro Cosmos, he had no time to meddle with Eternatus—which probably saved him from ending up behind bars.

Eternatus hitching a ride on a meteorite and landing in Galar… not impossible either.

But with Leon, Zacian, Zamazenta at the front lines, I just need to focus on training for Worlds.

Darkest Day breaks out, Leon will be the first on scene… I may not even make it in time...

The morning’s sun glittered. The research work wrapped up early.

Natsume set up a terrace and whipped up some signature Galar-style curry. With practiced hands, he made a top-level "Charizard Grade" curry rice.

Sonia tugged on Cynthia’s sleeve, eyes wide:

“Did you see that, Miss Cynthia? That curry rice—there was a super Gigantamax Charizard shadow over it!”

Cynthia smiled. “Sometimes, it’s even a Primal Groudon shadow.”

Sonia: “???”

During lunch hour, Natsume and Cynthia spent time chatting with the group online.

In the chat group:

Cynthia: “@Flint, I remember you’re heading to Galar to challenge Ultra Ball tier, right?”

Flint scratched his fiery red afro. “Yeah, but Ultra Ball is hard to get matches for—you usually have to arrange them... You got anyone to recommend, Sylveon-sister?”

“Mm.” Cynthia gave a faint smile. “Also Ultra Ball tier.”

Flint’s gaze sharpened. “All the better. I’ll preemptively accept on my opponent’s behalf!”

As Sinnoh’s Fire-type Elite Four, Flint even had the confidence to challenge Raihan, one of the Eight Masters.

Recklessness is Fire Trainer’s hallmark. It’s that spirit that lets Fire Trainers burn so bright!

Cynthia continued, “You can challenge Natsume—he’s currently ranked 94.”

Natsume-sensei: [Gengar big-laugh-gif]

Flint: “???”

Flint’s flaming passion instantly froze—like an ice cube in winter.

Battle Natsume? My ranking’s as good as gone!

Aaron: “Hhhh, don’t back out, Flint, you already said yes.”

Flint was ranked just above Bug-type Elite Four Aaron, so if his score dropped, Aaron’s would go up.

Suddenly, it felt just like the days of Pokémon: Battle—

Whoever matched with Natsume-sensei in ranked matches was going to get dunked, and everyone else got to laugh.

Some things never change.

“Exactly,” Lucian egged him on. “If you’re in the World Tournament, you have to be ready for anything.”

All those times Flint quietly farmed points while I was working overtime—no way! This time he gets what’s coming.

Lucian calmly pushed up his glasses, his eyes two dead pixels.

If Flint fought Natsume-sensei, those points better drop!

“Uh…” Flint hesitated, tugging his red afro.

“Or,” Blue Oak said, “I’m ranked 13. You’re welcome to challenge me.”

Iris was stunned: “Wha—already? Σ(っ °Д °;)っ Senior Blue Oak, didn’t you just sign up?!”

Blue Oak: “Won a few matches, the rest worked itself out.”

Lance: “…Total bottom-feeder tactics!”

Natsume said seriously, “Nope, this is World Tournament. Ultra Ball group.”

Flint grimaced, but steeled himself. “Fine, I’ll come to Galar tomorrow!”

It’s just a match with Natsume, right? As long as I don’t get swept, it’s fine. I even put Sylveon-sister down a few times in Champ League!

Let’s go, boys!

The next big Ultra Ball match: Natsume-sensei vs. Flint.

Flint was currently 33rd—winning would give Natsume-sensei a massive boost.

Time to go hunting for points.

Elsewhere in the chat, Ash was busy challenging for Alola’s Champion seat, and Iris was on her way to Galar, already Great Ball tier.

“Oh, by the way,” Iris chimed in, “I saw a Pokémon from the plane window coming to Galar—looked like a dragon type I’ve never seen before... Anyone recognize it?”

Iris: [video]

In the video, storm clouds churned as a massive, machine-like purple-red Pokémon cut through the sky—then vanished just as quickly.

Gold, sporting a bandage on his forehead, studied it, eyes lighting up like a lightbulb:

“@Lance.”

A minute later.

Gold: “Uh, aren’t you supposed to explain this kind of thing now? @Lance.”

Lance blushed furiously: “I don’t know! Stop tagging me!”

Clair mused, “It really does look like a dragon type, but I’ve never seen any Dragon Pokémon like it.”

Natsume watched Iris’s video and froze, jaw dropping.

You’ve GOT to be kidding me.

Eternatus is already here!?