Snow crunched softly beneath Jun’s boots as he made his way through Dappled Grove.
He kept his phone in one hand with the map open, checking his direction every so often while heading toward Wedgehurst.
The previous Jun had rented a place there, though there wasn’t much waiting for him besides a few belongings.
What mattered was the Pokémon Research Lab.
If there was any chance of getting a Pokédex—or better yet, a Dynamax Band—it was worth the trip.
Dynamax was limited by where it could be used, unlike Mega Evolution or Z-Moves, but in Galar that hardly made it irrelevant.
Jun wasn’t about to turn down access to one of the region’s strongest battle mechanics just because it came with restrictions.
Ralts sat comfortably on his shoulder, legs swinging with every step.
She looked relaxed, but her amber eyes kept sweeping across the surrounding trees.
After everything that had happened since they met, she’d apparently decided that traveling through the forest meant staying alert.
That caution paid off.
A sharp cry cut through the trees, and a small blue bird dropped onto a branch ahead of them.
Yellow feathers covered its belly while a black mask framed a pair of fierce red eyes.
Its claws dug firmly into the bark, and even from a distance Jun could tell from the condition of its feathers and the confidence in its posture that this wasn’t some helpless fledgling.
A Rookidee.
The branch bounced once under its weight, shaking loose a dusting of snow.
Rookidee barely seemed to notice.
It calmly preened one wing while keeping its attention fixed on Ralts.
Jun recognized the behavior almost immediately.
Rookidee weren’t especially vicious, but they were notoriously fearless and more than willing to challenge stronger opponents simply for the experience.
This one wanted a fight.
“Rrr…” Ralts leaned forward on Jun’s shoulder, answering the challenge without any sign of backing down.
Her Trace had already copied Rookidee’s Keen Eye, but Jun had no intention of waiting around to see which of them made the first mistake.
Rookidee moved before he could say anything.
It launched from the branch without a warning cry, wings snapping open as it shot past Jun in a blur.
Instead of attacking head-on, it swept around behind him and curved sharply back toward Ralts, its black beak flashing with the telltale glow of Peck.
Fast, and smart enough to use that speed properly.
Jun reacted on instinct.
“Disarming Voice!” Ralts’s cry burst outward with Fairy-type power before Rookidee could reach her.
At that distance there was nowhere for the little bird to escape the sound, and its charge faltered hard enough to send several feathers spinning through the air.
A thin layer of psychic force muffled the worst of the attack around Jun’s ears.
He turned with Ralts at the same time and raised one arm.
“Pull it in, then Fire Punch!” “Ra-ru!” Blue light caught Rookidee before it could recover.
Confusion dragged it off course and toward them, fighting every beat of its wings while psychic pressure made the struggle even harder.
Ralts sprang from Jun’s arm.
Flames burst around her fist as she twisted in midair and brought Fire Punch down across Rookidee’s back.
The impact drove the bird straight into the snow with enough force to scatter powder across the clearing.
“Confusion.
Hold it there.” Ralts’s eyes flashed blue again.
The snow around Rookidee compressed beneath the sudden pressure, pinning it in the hollow it had created on impact.
The bird struggled once, then went still.
Jun caught Ralts when she dropped back down and found her sitting proudly in his arms, chin raised like she’d just won a championship match.
She had every reason to be pleased.
On her own, the Rookidee’s speed would’ve been troublesome.
With Jun calling the timing and creating openings, the fight had never given it a chance to build momentum.
That, more than anything, was why Trainers mattered.
Jun handed Ralts a Pokéblock while he walked over to check their opponent.
Rookidee was unconscious but breathing normally, and after a quick inspection Jun stood again without reaching for a Poké Ball.
Corviknight was undeniably cool, and this Rookidee had shown enough ability to make the idea tempting, but Jun barely had the money to raise Ralts properly.
Adding another Pokémon now would only stretch those resources thinner.
Catching it to sell wasn’t an option either.
Galar kept an extremely tight grip on Pokémon trading, and legitimate breeding facilities were regulated by the League.
Anything outside that system meant dealing with the black market, which Jun had already seen enough of for one lifetime.
He walked away.
A few steps later, he stopped.
Ralts watched as Jun sighed, turned around, and picked the unconscious Rookidee up again.
He found a hollow in a nearby tree, placed it safely inside, left several pieces of Pokémon food beside it, and loosely covered the entrance with snow to keep it hidden.
Leaving a wild Pokémon alone after losing a normal battle was one thing.
Leaving one he’d personally knocked unconscious in the middle of a forest full of predators felt different.
Jun dusted the snow from his gloves and resumed walking.
From his shoulder, Ralts glanced back at the hidden tree hollow before facing forward again, her legs swinging just a little more happily than before.
Some time later, Rookidee jolted awake.
Pain shot through its back when it moved, forcing it to stay still for a moment.
Once the dizziness passed, it pecked through the thin layer of snow covering the entrance and found sunlight waiting outside.
Then it noticed the food.
Rookidee stared at the small pile before poking its head out of the hollow.
Jun’s footprints were still visible below, though fresh snow had already begun filling them in.
“Krii…” It withdrew into the tree, looked at the food again, and hesitated only a few seconds before devouring everything.
Still sore from the fight, it forced its wings open and flew after the fading trail.
Elsewhere in Dappled Grove, Nickit had spent the entire night digging.
“Kii!
Kii!” Its front paws were nearly numb from the snow, but it kept tearing through the drift until its claws finally caught on fabric.
Nickit clamped its teeth around the sleeve and pulled with everything it had, eventually dragging its Trainer free.
The poacher was covered in ice and snow, but somehow still alive.
Nickit carefully tugged the mask away from his face and began licking his cheek until the warmth finally drew a reaction.
The man stirred, coughed violently, and sat up gasping.
“…Nickit?” “Kii!” Nickit circled him excitedly.
The man’s eyes eventually drifted toward its tail.
“The ribbon…
it’s gone?” Nickit’s ears drooped.
He stared at the bare tail for a moment, then simply reached over and rubbed its head.
There wasn’t much either of them could do about it now.
Once he’d recovered enough to move, the man pulled water and Pokémon food from his pack and shared a meal with Nickit in the snow.
The failed hunt, the avalanche, and a night spent buried under it had made the decision for him.
“We’re going home.” Nickit gave a quiet chirp and stayed close as he gathered what remained of their equipment.
Jun and Ralts, meanwhile, spent the next two days working their way toward the edge of Dappled Grove.
They didn’t rush.
Jun used the trip to give Ralts as much real battle experience as he safely could, mixing short training sessions with encounters against wild Pokémon before moving on.
By the time signs of civilization finally appeared, both of them were more than ready to leave the forest behind.
A sign stood beside the road leading into a small town.
Frostleaf Town Jun gave the name a puzzled look.
“Frostleaf?
Dappled Grove doesn’t even get snow all year.” He shrugged and kept walking.
Galar was far larger than the handful of cities and towns he’d known from the games, so finding places he’d never heard of wasn’t surprising.
Wedgehurst was still roughly three days away, and their food supplies had finally run out.
For now, Frostleaf was exactly what they needed.
[End of chapter]