“Calling the police was the right choice.
If you encounter something like this again, please trust our Alliance police.”
Outside the Rustboro Police Department, Officer Jenny said this seriously to Nathan Hale and Daigo, who had just finished giving their statements, before turning around and walking back inside.
Nathan Hale and Daigo exchanged a glance.
Neither could help recalling what had happened earlier.
At the time, Camerupt’s Flamethrower had already been fully charged, and judging from the strength it had displayed, it was clearly stronger than Daigo’s Metang.
Combined with the type advantage and the narrowness of the alley, once that attack was unleashed, there would have been almost no way to dodge it.
Fortunately, Officer Jenny had arrived in time and scared the attackers off.
“Thank you, Teacher Nathan Hale.”
Daigo sincerely expressed his gratitude.
At first, he had felt that Nathan Hale’s decision to call the police was somewhat ill-timed.
After all, judging from the situation then, by the time Officer Jenny and the others arrived, the robbers would probably have disappeared without a trace.
But looking back now, Nathan Hale’s decision to call the police had been extremely wise.
Nathan Hale waved his hand thoughtfully.
The two left together.
The neon lights still illuminated the streets, noisily proclaiming Rustboro City’s prosperity.
But if one looked carefully, they would notice that behind the dazzling lights, there were always one or two pitch-black alleys whose ends could not be seen, as though they were quietly whispering about the secrets hidden beneath all that prosperity.
“Teacher, you knew who they were?”
After walking for a while, Daigo couldn’t help asking.
Nathan Hale continued walking, a bag of Energy Cubes he’d bought earlier hanging from his hand.
His eyes swept back and forth across the streets as though he were searching for something.
Instead, he asked, “Aren’t you curious?”
“Hm?” Daigo didn’t understand.
Nathan Hale’s eyes suddenly lit up.
He had finally found what he was looking for.
He crossed the relatively light stream of traffic and arrived at the entrance of an unassuming little restaurant.
Only then did he continue:
“A Dark-type Mightyena, a Fire- and Ground-type Camerupt, and a Zangoose known for its speed…”
“You mean…” Daigo gradually caught on.
Metang was a Steel- and Psychic-type Pokémon.
Its weaknesses were Dark, Fire, and Ground…
And an alley that narrow was absolutely unfavorable for Metang.
It would make an already relatively sluggish Pokémon even more cumbersome.
He might not even have had enough room to summon a second Pokémon.
While Daigo was thinking, Nathan Hale had already lifted the curtain and walked into the restaurant.
Inside, a middle-aged man dressed in a chef’s uniform greeted him with a smile.
“Well, Nathan Hale!
The usual?”
Nathan Hale glanced at Daigo out of the corner of his eye.
“Make it two.”
“Coming right up!”
The two then walked toward the back of the small restaurant, where several little booths were separated by curtains.
They slipped into an empty one.
Only after Nathan Hale sat down did Daigo impatiently ask:
“Those people were actually targeting me?”
Nathan Hale shrugged without answering.
Instead, he said:
“The pork cutlet rice here is pretty good.
The owner’s tempura is excellent too.”
“Ko-gee—”
Gastly floated out from Nathan Hale’s clothes.
The mist forming its hands was holding a fork that Nathan Hale had no idea where it had found.
Its expression was one of absolute anticipation.
Dinner had long since passed.
And after that battle in the alleys, it was starving.
It felt like it could eat an entire Tauros!
“But why?
And what exactly were they after—” Daigo started again.
But the only response was Nathan Hale’s calm gaze.
Like a still pool, tranquil yet faintly rippling beneath the surface.
Daigo’s words abruptly died in his throat.
“Here you go!
Your pork cutlet rice and tempura!”
The owner arrived with steaming food, breaking the brief silence.
There were five full set meals!
The fragrant steam instantly filled the small booth.
“Ko-gee!”
Once the owner left, Gastly’s eyes shone brightly, saliva practically dripping from the corner of its mouth.
With a loud cry, it immediately began sweeping through the food with its fork.
Nathan Hale started eating as well.
After a few bites, he noticed Daigo hadn’t touched his food.
“Not used to it?”
“No, no…”
Daigo snapped back to reality, quickly assuring him that wasn’t the case before picking up his chopsticks.
He hadn’t eaten dinner either.
However, compared with Nathan Hale and Gastly, his table manners were considerably more refined.
By the time Nathan Hale finished one serving, Gastly was already nearly done with its third.
What surprised Nathan Hale was that Daigo had also quickly finished his portion.
And he had eaten every last bit.
There wasn’t even a trace of the usual “heir of Devon Corporation” airs.
After finishing, he even neatly placed his chopsticks across the plate.
“Burp—”
Gastly let out a long, satisfied burp and collapsed onto the cushion, its eyes turning into wavy lines.
It looked utterly content.
“The food really is excellent.”
Daigo seemed to have finally stepped out of the mental dead end he’d been stuck in earlier, and couldn’t help praising the food.
For even him to offer such praise, the restaurant owner’s cooking skills were clearly impressive.
He then looked toward Gastly lying nearby and said seriously:
“And thank you too, Gastly.”
If Gastly hadn’t repeatedly passed through the walls to scout their surroundings, and even knocked several people unconscious, they wouldn’t have gotten through today’s situation so easily.
“Ko…
gee?”
Gastly froze on the cushion.
I…
I got thanked?
This was the first time anyone other than Nathan Hale had thanked it.
It felt…
a little embarrassed.
“Ko-gee, ko-gee!”
Gastly waved its dark mist around.
Whether it was shy or showing off was anyone’s guess.
I, Gastly, am the god of alley battles!
Gastly: :()
The two laughed at the same time.
“Teacher, I’ve analyzed things.”
After laughing, Daigo once again looked at Nathan Hale seriously.
“First, those people were probably targeting me.
But I haven’t really offended anyone recently, so I suspect it was because of the surname ‘Steven Stone’—or perhaps Devon itself.”
“Other than that Camerupt, their Pokémon weren’t particularly strong.
Yet they knew a great deal about my situation.”
Only now did he realize why Nathan Hale hadn’t answered his questions earlier.
He had been leaving Daigo time to think for himself.
And from Daigo’s perspective, Nathan Hale had been dragged into this incident completely unwillingly.
Compared with Nathan Hale, he was the one actually being targeted.
He should know more about the situation and have a better idea of who the enemy was.
In fact, his analysis was quite systematic.
His final conclusion was that the people who had set this up were most likely connected to some conflict with Devon Corporation.
As for exactly who they were, there simply wasn’t enough information to determine that yet.
“Very good.”
Nathan Hale stood up with a smile and patted Daigo on the shoulder.
“Daigo, you have a lot of talent.
You understand Pokémon very well.
You understand people, and you even understand all kinds of stones.
That means that whether as a Trainer, the heir to Devon Corporation, or a collector of stones, you’ll become excellent…”
One hand resting against the doorframe, Nathan Hale lifted the curtain with the other and walked out.
His praise clearly delighted Daigo.
“…But you still don’t understand yourself well enough.”
You haven’t yet realized just how exceptional you can become.
Exceptional enough to perfectly fulfill all three roles—a top-tier Trainer, the heir to Devon Corporation, and a stone collector—instead of making compromises while lost in uncertainty and hesitation.
Nathan Hale didn’t say those words aloud.
For the Daigo of today, they were still too far away.
After Nathan Hale and Gastly left, Daigo sat quietly in the booth for a long while.
“Phew—”
He slowly exhaled the stale air in his chest.
His eyes gradually brightened.
“Not understand myself well enough?”
He vaguely felt that he could learn more about himself by learning from Nathan Hale.
Of course, that was something for the future.
It couldn’t be accomplished overnight.
He left the booth.
But I really should properly thank Teacher Nathan Hale for tonight…
and for what he did for Metang before.
But how should I thank him?
Money?
Daigo immediately shook his head.
No.
He shouldn’t use something as vulgar as money to measure this kind of help.
But soon, another idea occurred to him.
His eyes lit up.
“That…”
At that moment, the restaurant owner called out from behind him.
“Sir, are you ready to pay the bill?”
Daigo: “??”