Chapter 181: Reunited with a Friend
Leaving Jubilife City again, there were no special farewells. As long as they were still alive, they would surely meet again. However, the pile of things Shigeru had bought for them was a bit of a headache. He wasn't as meticulous as Celestia. He hadn't thought about what two Pokémon would actually need on a journey, so he had just bought a whole bunch of random stuff. After sorting through it, there was just enough useful material to fill two backpacks.
After leaving Jubilife, they headed north. Two months passed, and the season had turned to early summer of League Year 25. It had been the fifth year since Will and Meowscarada had come into this world. They had arrived at the northernmost coast of the Sinnoh region.
Standing on the shore, they stared blankly at the endless ice ocean before them. The sea in northern Sinnoh was a lighter color, looking cleaner. You could see ice floes drifting on the surface, and in the distance, a white mist shrouded the horizon.
"Meow?" Meowscarada looked at Will, confused.
"I don't know," Will shook his head. He also didn't know how two Grass-type Pokémon were supposed to cross this icy expanse.
In his vision, Liz's phantom had boarded a reasonably fast ship with the help of the Hisui people and had already disappeared into the white mist.
"Meow?" Meowscarada suggested they go to Snowpoint City to see if they could get some help.
"Hmm, I guess that's the only way," Will mused.
Snowpoint City wasn't far; it was only a two or three-hour journey. And so, they turned, preparing to head back. But just then, a melodious and familiar song came from the white mist in the distance.
"Meow?!" Meowscarada's ears perked up, and she spun around. She recognized that voice! It was Lapras!
"Well, what a coincidence. Has the weather warmed up enough for the Lapras clan to start migrating north?" Will also recognized the voice. It had changed a little, but it was still her.
"Meow-meow~" Meowscarada ran to the shore and began to shout towards the mist.
The singing stopped. Then, an excited response came back. The sound of splashing waves grew closer and closer, and gradually, a herd of Lapras emerged from the white mist.
At the very front was the same little Lapras they had met before. She wasn't so little anymore, now 2.3 meters tall.
"Meow!" The moment Meowscarada saw her, she excitedly climbed onto Will's shoulder, waving and calling out. The Lapras was also overcome with joy. She thrashed her fins wildly, trying to speed up, but in her excitement, she lost her rhythm and just floated in place, which only made her more anxious, tears welling up in her eyes.
Her mother, with a helpless sigh, had to nudge her from behind with her head.
"Haha, still such a crybaby," Will couldn't help but grin.
"Meow-meow~" Meowscarada shook her head and threw up her paws.
As a Sprigatito, she had been just as much of a crybaby. But she had grown out of it. The Lapras, however, had not.
As the distance closed, Meowscarada leaped from Will's shoulder. Lapras swam over and perfectly caught her.
"Meow~" Meowscarada wrapped her arms around Lapras's large head.
"Praas~" Lapras nuzzled her affectionately. It was her very familiar scent.
"Long time no see, Lapras. You've grown up," Will said, waving his arm.
He looked over the herd. In the nearly five years that had passed, its size had expanded from seven or eight to fourteen or fifteen. It seemed they had merged with another herd along the way.
"Meow?" Lapras asked what they were doing here. This place shouldn't be very friendly to Grass-types.
"Meow," Meowscarada shrugged and pointed north.
"Praas-praas," Lapras smiled and offered to help.
"We're planning to go all the way north, to the next region. That's at least a ten-thousand-kilometer journey. It would be too tiring for you to carry me," Will shook his head, refusing her kind offer.
Ten thousand kilometers... that was a quarter of the way around the planet. The Lapras herd's speed wasn't very fast; the journey would take them two or three months on their own. If they had to carry a behemoth like him... the time would at least double. Among all of them, only the patriarch was strong enough to carry him.
"Praas-praas!" The little Lapras was very insistent. She really wanted to help them. This wasn't just to repay them for their help in the past; it was also so she could travel with them again.
Just then, the patriarch spoke. He actually had a solution. He motioned for a few of the others to follow him and swam away.
While they were gone, Meowscarada and Lapras chatted, telling each other stories of what had happened in the years since they had last met.
Ten minutes later, the patriarch returned, pushing a small, rusty iron boat. It looked like it had been drifting in these waters for some years. It had certainly lost its ability to move on its own, but it was perfectly capable of floating.
The patriarch nodded, signaling for Will and Meowscarada to get on.
"I see," Will immediately understood his intention. They were going to pull the boat. That way, it wouldn't just be the patriarch doing all the work; everyone could pull together.
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