The Orange Islands were compact by regional standards, nothing close to Kanto's sprawl. Navel Island to Trovita Island was a short crossing. On Blastoise's back, taking the scenic route and letting the pace match the ocean view, the trip took less than thirty minutes. At full speed, ten minutes would have been generous.
The weather shifted during the crossing. What had been a mild sixteen degrees on Navel Island climbed with every passing minute. Jackets came off before Trovita was in sight.
By the time Blastoise nosed into the shallows, the sun was blazing overhead and the air carried the thick, heavy warmth of a tropical island that didn't believe in winter.
Over three hundred days of scorching sun per year. The reputation was earned.
Ash and Misty changed before doing anything else. Ash pulled on his standard outfit: blue jacket, black undershirt. Misty switched to lighter clothes suited for the heat. If the afternoon went well, they might hit the beach later.
They found the Pokémon Centre and located Nurse Joy. Mewtwo's psychic cloak was still active, masking both their appearances to everyone except the one person they needed to talk to. Passers-by who glanced their way saw strangers. Nothing memorable.
For Nurse Joy alone, Mewtwo lifted the veil.
"Nurse Joy, I'm Ash from Pallet Town. I'm looking for information about Lugia. Has there been any sign of it in the Orange Islands?"
"The God of the Sea?" Joy's response was automatic, the polished deflection of someone who'd fielded this question before. "Why would you ask about... wait." She looked up. Looked again. Her expression shifted from rote dismissal to genuine surprise. "You're the Indigo Plateau Conference Champion. What brings you here?"
"League commission. I need to locate Lugia for an important matter. Whatever you can tell me would help."
Joy considered him for a moment, then nodded. If it was Ash, the information was in safe hands.
"The strongest lead points to Shamouti Island. That's where sightings have been rumoured. But I need to be clear: it's unconfirmed. No hard evidence. And even if Lugia is there, finding a Legendary that doesn't want to be found is..." She trailed off. "You know how it is. Ho-Oh hasn't shown itself to humans in centuries. Lugia could be the same."
Ash absorbed this. He'd studied the Orange Islands' geography before leaving Pallet Town. Shamouti Island was an anomaly in the archipelago.
While the rest of the islands enjoyed perpetual sunshine and calm waters, Shamouti sat in a zone of year-round hostile weather. Thunder, rain, snow, blistering heat, sometimes cycling through all four in a single day.
No tourist attractions. No Orange League challenge sites. No reason for any sane traveller to visit. The waters around it were treacherous enough to flip a boat in fair conditions and lethal during storms.
Which made it the perfect hiding place for a god that preferred solitude.
Getting there wouldn't be a problem for Ash. Mewtwo's psychic power could manage weather patterns and stabilise the surrounding sea. Not on the scale of Kyogre's dominion over the ocean, but enough to carve a safe corridor through the worst of the conditions.
While Ash was mapping the route in his head, Joy glanced around the Pokémon Centre. The morning crowd was thick with trainers eating the complimentary breakfast, chatting over their plans for the day. Not one of them had recognised Ash.
"They don't know who you are?" Joy's curiosity won out. "Your face has been on every broadcast in Kanto for weeks. How is nobody reacting?"
"Psychic camouflage. My appearance is masked for everyone except you."
"There's a technique like that?" Joy's eyes lit up with genuine interest. "How does it work?"
"It requires a Psychic-type Pokémon with exceptional power. Not something most trainers can access."
"That's a shame." A wistful note crept into her voice. "If I could change my face, I might get through a shift without someone asking for my number."
Of course, if Joy did mask her appearance, it would backfire spectacularly. Every Nurse Joy in the world looked identical. If one of them suddenly had a different face, she wouldn't blend in. She'd become the most talked-about Joy in history. The disguise would achieve the exact opposite of its purpose.
With the information secured, Ash and Misty didn't rush to Shamouti Island. The morning was theirs. The beach was right there. And after weeks of nonstop travel, tournament pressure, and Dragon Island, an hour of doing nothing felt like a radical act.
They kicked off their shoes and walked barefoot along the shoreline. The sand was hot from the tropical sun, almost too hot, but every few seconds the tide surged up and swallowed their ankles in cool seawater before retreating. Hot, cold, hot, cold. The rhythm was hypnotic.
The sea breeze pushed against their faces. The sun turned the ocean into a sheet of hammered silver. Everything about this morning felt like the opposite of last night's quiet moonlit walk on Navel Island. Bright where that had been dim. Loud where that had been still.
They were mid-conversation about nothing important when the shouting started.
"Hey! Move it! What's wrong with you? You're supposed to be a rare Pokémon! Why are you so pathetic?"
"They say the Ice Elite's ace is a Lapras. You're a disgrace to the whole species! Get up and fight!"
"If you don't get up, you're never going back to the ocean!"
Ash and Misty locked eyes. The lazy morning evaporated. They ran.
Three thugs stood in a loose circle around a Lapras collapsed on the sand. The Pokémon looked terrible. Thin, trembling, its skin dull and cracked from dehydration. Pain was written across its face, but it had no strength to resist.
The three weren't even using Pokémon to torment it. They were prodding it with their hands and feet, because the Lapras was too weak for them to need anything more.
Ash's blood heated. He opened his mouth to shout.
"Hey, you..."
"Stop right there!!"
A voice cut in before he could finish.
Ash and Misty pulled up short. A girl was running toward the scene from the opposite direction, ponytail bouncing behind her. She skidded to a stop between the thugs and the Lapras, planting herself like a wall.
"Treating a Pokémon like this is horrible! Get away from it right now!"
"Who the hell are you? This Lapras yours?"
"It... it doesn't matter if it's mine! What you're doing is wrong!" Her voice wavered on the first word, but she didn't retreat. The thugs' faces were meant to intimidate, and they were working, but she held her ground anyway.
Reasoning with delinquents was like reasoning with a wall, except walls didn't get angrier when you talked to them.
"You think you can tell the Delinquent Trio what to do? We're not just any punks. We're powerful punks!"
"Let's show this girl what that means!"
"Come out."
Three Poké Balls cracked open. Fearow spread its wings on the sand. Beedrill hovered at eye level, stingers gleaming. Hitmonchan bounced on its feet, red gloves up and ready. Three against one, aimed at a girl who'd been a trainer for what looked like weeks at most.
Serena took a step back. The Fearow's wingspan alone was taller than she was. Then she looked over her shoulder at the Lapras, still gasping on the sand, eyes glazed with pain.
She took a step forward.
"I don't care what kind of delinquents you are. Bullying Pokémon is wrong!" She grabbed her Poké Ball. "Go, Fennekin!"
Light flashed, and a small red fox materialised on the beach. Bright-eyed, alert, flame-tipped tail raised. Tiny.
"What the heck is that?"
"Never seen one before. Looks like a stuffed toy."
"It's so small it probably faints if you sneeze on it."
From the sideline, Ash watched the fox and felt the data surface in his mind. Fennekin. Fire-type. The starter Pokémon of the Kalos region.
This girl is from Kalos?
"Don't underestimate my Fennekin!" Serena's voice carried more conviction than her position warranted. "She's strong! Fennekin, Ember!"
Fennekin puffed its cheeks and spat a small burst of flame toward the three opponents. It flew true, but the size of it told the whole story.
"That couldn't light a wet match. Hitmonchan, swat it."
Hitmonchan punched the air once. The displaced wind alone shredded the Ember into sparks that died before they reached anyone.
Serena's face fell, but she pushed through. "Don't give up! Fennekin, Tackle!"
"Little girl, go home and practice. Beedrill, Twineedle."
Fennekin threw itself forward with everything its small body had. Beedrill met the charge head-on, twin stingers driving into the fox and launching it backward across the sand.
Fennekin hit the ground, skidded, and lay still for a moment before struggling back to its feet. The damage was severe. The level gap between Fennekin and these three Pokémon was a chasm.
Sweat beaded on Serena's forehead. Her hands were clenched so tight the knuckles had gone white. She'd left home to follow in that person's footsteps. To walk the path he'd walked. To become someone worthy of standing beside him someday.
And here she was, her first real encounter as a trainer, being crushed by roadside bullies. She couldn't save the Lapras. She couldn't even protect her own partner.
I'm useless.
"Give it the final blow! Fearow, Hurricane!"
Fearow climbed. Its wings spread wide, whipping sand into spirals as wind gathered around it. The attack would finish Fennekin in one hit.
"Pikachu, Quick Attack."
A golden streak tore across the beach.
The thug who'd given the order didn't see it happen. Nobody did. One instant Fearow was building Hurricane, wings loaded with compressed air. The next, a bolt of gold slammed into its body and launched it into a seaside boulder hard enough to crack the rock and leave the bird embedded in the stone.
The beach went dead silent.
What just happened?!