CHAPTER 1

  Snow crunched underneath my hiking boots as I took bigger and bigger strides. The evening sky was dyed with beautiful colors, but my neck was craned forward in concentration. Our destination was in sight.

  “Last one there’s a rotten Exeggcute!” I suddenly yelled.

  An assortment of buzzes, clicks, hisses, and roars answered me, all with an energetic tone. Uncontrollable laughter erupted from my chest as I watched my Pokemon race ahead, but not for long.

  I started running after them. It was incredibly dangerous considering the fact that I was ascending the slope of a very tall, snowy mountain, but my senses were sharper than a normal human’s. I was confident I wouldn’t slip.

  That, and I knew one of my Pokemon would catch me if I fell.

  Small clouds of mist formed in the wake of my breaths as I ran. I almost couldn’t see my Pokemon anymore. Most had crested the top of the slope already.

  Ten seconds later, I finally joined them at the top of the mountain we’d spent the better half of the week scaling. My breath was stolen away in an instant.

  “Whoa…”

  Paldea’s Highest Peak truly lived up to its name.

  The view was breathtaking. It wasn’t an understatement to say I felt like I could see the entire region from here. I slowly swiveled my head, eyes tracing the curves of distant valleys, rivers snaking between plains of grass, cliffs, fields, cities and towns… It was now that I could finally appreciate the fast darkening sky, too. A sea of molten amber mixed with wisps of purple and red filled my gaze.

  I felt so small, yet not in a bad way. Once again, I was reminded of how vast the world was and the countless things I had yet to see and experience. It only made me more excited about the future.

  I admit I had cheated by flying on Rune and Flygon part of the way up Glaseado Mountain, but my team and I weren’t fans of the cold. In the end, we had all agreed to expedite the process. (Frosmoth was the only disappointed one.)

  And with this, my Pokemon and I had officially checked off the last of Paldea’s Ten Sights from our sightseeing list. It had been fun trekking up and down the country, but all things had to end. No melancholy washed over me, though, only a sense of accomplishment.

  Together, my Pokemon and I appreciated the view in silence… for one minute.

  Then Golisopod pounded his armored plating with a fist and screeched.

  His proud proclamation echoed across space, ringing in our ears. We were here, he had said.

  I was the quickest to react.

  “WE WERE HERE!” I shouted, throwing a fist up into the air with an almost crazed grin.

  My words had hardly begun to resound when the rest of my Pokemon followed suit. Over a dozen enthusiastic voices overlapped and echoed to the ends of the mountain. The idea that the local wild Pokemon might get pissed off was a mere afterthought; I was too busy savoring the moment.

  We were here. We didn’t plan on leaving any physical traces that would stand the test of time, but this was enough. This moment would exist in our memories and souls.

  Well… some mementos were nice, too.

  “Almost forgot,” I muttered to myself. I shrugged off the backpack I was wearing and placed it on the sparkling snow.

  My Pokemon already knew the routine. They assembled themselves into a chaotic yet somehow cohesive group as I pulled out my phone. After I opened the camera app, Ribombee pulled it out of my hand with Psychic. I slid into the center of the group as she levitated the phone further away from us for a good shot.

  We smiled widely, each of us adopting a favored pose.

  “Say Combee!”

  Vespiquen and a few of my other Pokemon chortled — or screeched, really — once we were satisfied with how the pictures came out. Every now and then I switched up the picture-taking phrase we used.

  While I rummaged around in my backpack for the portable photo printer, everyone else dispersed. I found the logs before I found the printer and tossed them over my shoulder.

  Galvantula spat out silk to grab the flying logs, but Yanmega beat her to it. The dragonfly dropped off said wood in an appropriate spot before darting back into the sky. Rune, Flygon, Beedrill, and Frosmoth were already flying loops up there. Being this high up the mountain meant the air was really fresh and pleasant, albeit cold, and they were enjoying themselves.

  Scolipede and Centiskorch were busy butting heads as usual, but they stopped bickering long enough for the latter to scuttle over and light the wood aflame. A huge fire instantly blazed forth. Centiskorch and Rune had been actively radiating waves of heat to keep the rest of us warm until now, but this extra source of fire would help out a lot.

  They went right back to arguing afterward.

  Heracross, Armaldo, and Scizor were messing around with clumps of snow, each with minimal success. Either they used too much strength and crushed the heads of the poor snowmen they were making, or they were too clumsy with their claws and couldn’t pack the snow together to begin with.

  At least they were having fun.

  Vespiquen and Araquanid were doing a quick search of the perimeter to ensure our safety. I didn’t think anything up here would be able to threaten us to begin with, but you never knew. The rest of my Pokemon — Kricketune, Ribombee, Galvantula, and Golisopod — had huddled together near the fire to chat.

  A giant shape dropped from the sky. With its arrival, warmth bloomed in the air as I finally pulled out the portable photo printer. I didn’t need to look to know the cause was Rune. The massive Volcarona peered over my shoulder as I tapped away at my phone screen.

  Half a minute later, we had three brand new photos fresh off the printing press. I let them sit still for a bit before picking them up.

  Rune snorted when he saw the borders I’d chosen. Each picture was framed with an olive green background and the corny phrase BUGS 4EVER.

  “Damn, we look good,” I whistled, flashing the photos at him.

  He rolled his eyes but didn’t fly back into the sky, choosing instead to remain with me. I appreciated the extra heat and company as I started getting dinner ready.

  Out came a variety of sandwich ingredients from my backpack. Now that we had seen most of what we’d wanted in Paldea, it would soon be time for us to move on. Where to, exactly, I had no idea yet, but that was a discussion best saved for tomorrow with the team.

  I figured having Paldea-style sandwiches one last time would be a great way to end our most recent trip, though.

  I got some help from the other Pokemon once they saw what I was up to. Before long, we’d put together dozens of sandwiches, everything from vegetable to fried fillet to potato salad and more. I let my Pokemon choose the sandwich picks they wanted to top their meals with.

  We settled around the campfire to eat. Rune and Centiskorch were considerate of me and sat on either side to keep me warm. Thanks to them carefully regulating their own body temperatures and flames, I felt quite toasty.

  Dinner was fast. There was nothing to clean up, so everyone started getting cozy for our usual Music Night. Rune trudged behind me and curled his wings, letting some of them drape over me like a blanket as I leaned against him.

  On the other side of the campfire, Kricketune stood with a smile and bowed. Then long arms were brought together, and a melodious tune filled the night air from the ensuing vibrations. Some sort of folk song tonight it seemed. It sounded vaguely Sinnohan.

  Flygon lay nearby with half-closed eyes, but he never missed Music Night. I gazed at the sea of emerging night stars while he gave a gentle flap of his wings.

  They sang.

  The vibrations his wings produced came together as an otherworldly voice. Something ethereal I would never be able to pin down, but I didn’t want to. I was content to listen to his duet with Kricketune.

  An unknown amount of time passed with us simply laying there under the stars.

  At some point, the music attracted a variety of wild Ice types like Cubchoo or Snom. They were intimidated by what they knew were very strong Pokemon, but with a little encouragement on my part, they eventually joined our campsite. Ribombee in particular did her best to make them feel welcome.

  Flygon eventually took a break to doze off, but that didn’t stop Kricketune. He continued playing with boundless energy. Meanwhile, my Pokemon began to engage in quiet conversations. I scrolled through my phone for lack of something better to do.

  Spam, promotions and newsletters for services I was subscribed to… ooh, and some battle requests from the International Battle Club.

  The IBC was a massive organization with members from all over the world. It basically functioned like a regional League of its own but catered more to serious trainers.

  And by serious, I meant people who were truly hardcore about Pokemon training and battling. These included not just regular Conference goers and people who attempted annual League Circuits, but also veteran trainers who quite literally battled for a living… the ones who participated in professional tournaments.

  They had a global ranking system where you won or lost points depending on official battles between members, but that was just for prestige. I didn’t really care about any of that.

  I simply liked battling.

  I didn’t like League Circuits very much anymore because of the waiting game. They lasted almost all year and meant I had to wait that long to beat people up in the championship before I could challenge the Elite Four and Champion. The IBC, on the other hand, was a fast way for me to find strong — or at the very least interesting — opponents. It helped that I’d built a reputation for myself, so I always had people wanting to challenge me.

  Back to the emails.

  Normally I’d be grinning like a madman and sending positive responses to all of them, but not tonight.

  It was weird. I hadn’t been feeling that spark recently. There was a creeping sense of… something I couldn’t get rid of, and I didn’t like it. I’d been feeling it more and more as of late.

  Maybe something was wrong with me.

  I ignored the emails for now and started scrolling idly through my Chatter feed instead.

  Surprise, surprise. Most of my timeline was filled with trending posts about ongoing League Circuits or Conferences. In fact, the Johto League Circuit was just about wrapping up. I clicked on a random Chat about the Cherrygrove Gym. The following clip that played showed a pink-haired guy using a Dedenne to demolish a trainer’s Salazzle.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Gym Leader Arin Watanuki. I remembered that guy. He’d crushed me in the Kalos League Circuit early on in my trainer career. To this day, he was one of the few people I’d ever lost against. When the Kinjoh Area finally opened its borders a few years ago, I’d immediately gone to explore the new regions and even tried to request a match at the Cherrygrove Gym.

  No such luck. The Gym had been booked solid for the next half year. I’d try again another time if I was in the area.

  Anyway, poor challenger. It had been a match for his eighth gym badge. There was no way he was getting to the Conference now—

  Whoosh.

  I didn’t blink when a draconic Pokemon landed by the campfire. None of my Pokemon were surprised to see it either, but our wild Pokemon guests were a different story. They shrunk back as the Dragonite lumbered towards me with a friendly smile. It dug a clawed hand into the comically large messenger bag it wore and pulled out an envelope, presenting it to me with a flourish. I stood up as slowly as possible.

  This wasn’t my first encounter with this particular Dragonite. Far from it.

  Don’t shoot the messenger was what I had to remind myself as I accepted the object.

  “Thanks… again,” I said in a polite voice that bordered on sarcastic. The Dragonite smiled awkwardly at me before turning. With one flap of its tiny wings, it shot back into the air and disappeared.

  Now that it was gone, I let my facial features twist themselves into a full-on scowl.

  They never learned, did they? Annoyance and incredulity filled me in equal parts. How on earth was the Dragonite able to find me year after year?

  I glared daggers at the letter in my hand as if it held the answer.

  I didn’t want to read it. I didn’t have to because I had the whole thing memorized by heart anyway. It was the same old shit they always sent. Two letters every year over the course of five.

  This marked the tenth letter.

  I’d tried rejecting the letter from my bi-annual Dragonite mailman, telling the Pokemon to relay a negative response back to the senders, and even penning a coldly-worded letter of my own with my signature as proof, but they didn’t seem to care.

  They kept sending reminders.

  Stupid Unova League. Stupid government.

  Silence had befallen the clearing ever since the Dragonite left. Kricketune wasn’t playing music anymore but watching me in silent concern. The rest of my Pokemon had stopped talking.

  They were all waiting for me to make a move.

  I wanted to just throw the letter away, but the detail-oriented part of me insisted that I read it anyway on the incredibly small chance that there was something different.

  I was still scowling as I tore the letter open. The campfire shed a warm light over its contents.

  NOTICE FROM THE UNOVA LEAGUE

  In Testimony of Truth and Ideals

  Dear Mr. Kayden Sterling,

  The Unova League would like to inform you that under new legislation, your due rights as a Unovan citizen will be protected more than ever. We would like to invite you to return to the country.

  In good faith, we grant you a full and unconditional—

  Okay, I regretted ever opening the letter. There was no point reading the rest; I was tired of this garbage.

  I crumpled the paper, envelope and all, and slung my arm back to hurl the whole thing like a baseball. That was before I realized it wasn’t good to litter. So, I threw the trash up in the air instead. A well-timed fireball from Rune turned it into miniscule ashes.

  A smattering of applause came from my team.

  “Ugh,” I complained out loud, plopping back down on the ground. I held my phone with a death grip. “I am so sick of these letters. Why can’t they take no for an answer—”

  My phone chose that moment to ring insistently. I paused mid-rant to glance at the screen. It was dad.

  We usually checked in on each other at least once every two weeks or so. It was mostly to assuage dad’s anxiety since I traveled far distances fairly often. I contemplated letting it go to voicemail and pretending like I was asleep, but I could never say no to my dad.

  Not after everything I’d put him through and what he’d sacrificed for me.

  I took a breath before picking up the video call. A man’s face filled the screen. From the cedar brown hair to the shape of his eyes and the way he scrunched his nose, it was obvious we were related. The only difference was that I had gold-colored eyes instead of green.

  Dad opened his mouth to say something, but then he paused.

  “Oops! Sorry, son,” he apologized. One hand reached up to scratch his head. Behind him, I could see the clear blue skies of Alola. “Didn’t realize it was so late over there. Hope I didn’t wake you up.”

  “Nah,” I said, quick to shake my head. “It’s only… 10 PM over here I think?”

  Dad breathed a sigh of relief. “Whew. I’m never gonna understand time zones.”

  I chuckled. I felt the tension from earlier leave my shoulders as I made small talk with dad. It was nice seeing his face, and I was glad to hear he was doing great. Apparently he’d picked up gardening as a new hobby.

  I was halfway through talking about my latest adventures in Paldea when dad interrupted.

  “Okay, I was waiting for you to bring it up first, but since you haven’t…” Dad trailed off, giving me ‘the look.’ “What’s wrong, Kayden?”

  Sometimes, I wondered if it was the other way around and dad was the one who was the Bug Specialist. I thought I was good at reading people, but dad showed an almost uncanny ability for it sometimes.

  Or maybe it was just a dad thing.

  I didn’t want to make him more worried, so I was honest about it. I told him about the letter.

  “Every year,” I complained. Dad had listened to me go on and on without interrupting a single time. “Every. Single. Year! I wish they’d stop sending them already.”

  “Well, you have to praise their tenacity, I suppose?” Dad offered weakly. “Just like Bugs?”

  I scoffed out loud.

  “Just like Bugs,” I begrudgingly admitted. “Anyway, I could care less about Unova. I’d rather keep traveling.”

  We were silent. Some of my Pokemon approached me from behind and smooshed their faces into the frame, wanting to say hi to dad during the lull in conversation.

  He laughed, waving energetically at them. As soon as that laugh died, though, he looked at me with a serious expression.

  “Kayden. You know…” he began. He stopped, clearly searching for the right words to say. I waited patiently. “Are you happy with your current lifestyle?”

  That question caught me completely off guard.

  “Of course I am,” I replied almost instantly, ‘almost’ being the key word. There’d been a brief pause. “My team and I have so much fun traveling and winning fights. I’ve picked up so many new skills and pieces of knowledge, too.”

  It was true. I’d spent years traveling around the world in search of new experiences and adventures, whatever kept me and my Pokemon busy and happy.

  “Right, right… The International Battle Club, right?”

  “That’s the one, but let’s go back to your initial question. What does any of this have to do with our conversation?”

  I didn’t have to wait long.

  “Doesn’t it ever get tiring?” Dad asked not in a condescending manner, but a gentle one. “Doing so many things at once? I’m worried, Kayden. Sometimes I feel like you’re running yourself ragged.”

  “That’s…” I fell silent.

  That feeling from before had come back, and it was like an itch I couldn’t quite scratch. I felt unsettled.

  “I just do my best to live life to the fullest,” I finally said, voice unusually somber. Memories flashed in my mind. So did certain Pokemon. “Life is precious. I like experiencing everything I can.”

  “I know, son,” came dad’s equally quiet reply. I think he knew what I was thinking about. “I know you do. It’s a good mindset to have, and I’ll always support whatever you do. Just… sometimes it’s okay to take a break, you know? A real one.”

  Uh oh, I didn’t like where this was going—

  “How does a trip back to Unova sound?”

  Great. I knew it. I knew dad was gonna somehow lead into that.

  “After everything I— no, we went through?” I said in an incredulous voice.

  “After everything we went through,” Dad repeated with a sage nod of his head. He smiled gently at me. “Come on, you can’t tell me you don’t miss Castelia even a little, do you?”

  “No,” I said hotly, but dad gave me his famous look again.

  “That’s a lie, and you and I both know it,” he chided with a good-natured smile. If only I was a kid again, then I would have outright sulked right there and then.

  “Fine. I do miss it a little,” I admitted.

  Behind me, Rune nudged my elbow comfortingly with his head. I gave him an idle pat with my free hand. He knew I got antsy whenever Unova came up.

  “I know how you feel about the Unova League and government, but you shouldn’t let those feelings mar your feelings towards our homeland,” Dad said softly. “At least, I hope you won’t. Even after everything that happened, I know I still have pleasant memories of where we used to live.”

  I gave a non-committed hum of agreement in response.

  “It could be fun to see how much has stayed the same or changed in two decades, you know? You could also see for yourself if the Unova League truly changed for the better,” Dad continued. “Use the trip as a chance to really kick back and relax.”

  That… didn’t sound so terrible.

  “Maybe,” I finally said out loud.

  Dad smiled as if he’d already won.

  “…I’m sorry again about everything,” I suddenly muttered, and I wasn’t talking about the present. All this talk about Unova was digging up unpleasant memories.

  Dad understood. He shot me a reprimanding look.

  “I thought we’d buried this hatchet a long time ago. Don’t ever apologize again, Kayden. It was never your fault. Anyway, I want to stay and chat more, but I gotta go to work soon. You don’t have to take my suggestion, but at least think about it. Talk to you later?”

  “Okay,” I said in as cheerful a voice as I could manage. “Talk to you later. Say hi to Kanani and Kale for me?”

  “I will. Good night, Kayden.”

  The call ended, and I was left with a wide mix of emotions.

  When I announced I was going to sleep early, none of my Pokemon called me out on it. I felt their concerned gazes on me as I slumped against Rune’s side and closed my eyes.

  My feelings toward Unova were… complicated. Very complicated, yet dad had a point.

  I was mostly mad at the government, not at the country itself. And… I did miss the place where I had been born and raised. I guess homesickness never really went away, did it?

  Did I want to visit Unova again or not? I thought maybe a good night’s sleep would help me mull over things.

  It did, but at the cost of me turning and tossing, turning, tossing, and doing it all over again.

  It was a wonder Rune didn’t get annoyed and burn me to a crisp for bumping into him so many times.

  Sighing, I snapped my eyes open from troubled sleep and sprang to my feet. The rest of the gang was still awake even at this late hour.

  “Sorry, I know I usually ask you guys where we want to go next after our current trip ends, but…” I sucked in a breath, jerking a thumb behind me in the direction of what lay beyond. “Wanna visit Unova? Like now?”

  Maybe there was a part of me that hoped someone would disagree, but my Pokemon gave resounding yeses. There was a certain look in their eyes, and Rune had the most knowing expression of all.

  I heaved a sigh.

  Great. We were going to Unova.

  I put out the fire first and cleaned up our campsite. Then I bid the wild Pokemon goodbye and returned everyone minus Flygon to their Pokeballs.

  “Alright, bud, let’s get moving,” I said, and I threw myself onto the dragon’s back.

  He gave an excited screech before shooting off into the skies. After I explained which direction to go, I closed my eyes to get some much needed shuteye. I felt Flygon accelerating with every flap of his wings.

  This was going to be a short trip, I swore to myself right then and there. I would try to think of it as a vacation like dad suggested and go into things with an open mind.

  Hours later, I woke up to much different scenery. We weren’t in Paldea anymore but somewhere above the seas south of Unova. We were getting real close, though.

  I realized I’d forgotten to book a hotel and other crap before setting off, so I went and did that to keep myself busy. Some time later, we finally approached Unova’s southern border. I directed Flygon to land at a border checkpoint — a small fortress built on an artificial island — down below on the open waters. If I hadn’t, someone would have gone out to greet us anyway, so I spared them the trouble.

  I didn’t particularly want to make trouble in Unova anyway. Border security was no joke.

  The moment Flygon alighted on a designated landing pad, two uniformed guards on standby came up to us. I didn’t bother dismounting from Flygon’s back as I handed them my trainer card and flying license.

  One of them went through the database on a tablet he was holding while the other gave me a polite yet scrutinizing stare.

  I was honestly surprised when the guard holding my identification gave them back without so much as blinking an eye. I thought there’d be something about me in the government’s database, maybe something like ‘beware of this guy’ in fat red letters.

  “Long time since you were last in Unova, huh?” the guard said conversationally. He smiled, gesturing to the sky. “Well, welcome back!”

  “Uh… thanks.”

  My expression was stuck somewhere between confusion and relief as Flygon took off once more, this time for my hometown.

  I still found it weird that they hadn’t stopped me from entering the country. Why?

  Unofficially, I was a criminal. Sort of.