March 25, Wednesday.
The spring morning sunlight was especially pleasant, and already by early morning, a line had ford at the door of the café.
Now one of the most well-known cafés in Kanaz City—perhaps even all of Hoenn—"A Ray of Sunshine" had gained renown not only due to Johan's reputation but also for serving the region's best coffee and desserts.
Sunlight stread through the windows, and a group of Eevee curled up napping in a corner drew smiles from the custors. Instinctively, everyone slowed their steps and hushed their voices.
Penny, carrying an Eevee-thed backpack, sat to the side brushing Sylveon's fur. Her cheeks flushed slightly under the attention but, for once, she wasn't wearing her usual hat. Though a bit shy, she accepted the envious glances with quiet grace.
Since arriving in Hoenn and joining the Pokémon Academy in Kanaz, Penny had been experiencing a very different environnt from the Orange Academy.
Especially at Johan's café, she constantly encountered kindness from strangers.
Whenever people noticed Umbreon and Leafeon dozing, they'd naturally lower their voices and tread lightly. That sort of unconscious thoughtfulness made her feel incredibly at ease.
Tap tap tap—
Footsteps echoed from the staircase.
The Eevee all perked up their ears.
Yawning and ruffling his hair, Johan ca down from upstairs. Spotting the Eevee gang and Penny, he smiled softly and slowed his steps.
"Morning, Mr. Johan!"
"Good morning, sir!"
"Hi, teacher!"
...
The custors were clearly used to Johan's presence, greeting him cheerfully.
"Morning," Johan responded with a warm smile.
"Gallade, a coffee please," he called.
"Eeye~!"
The older Gallade sister quickly set down a prepared cup of coffee at the counter, then returned to serving guests.
Johan took the cup and made his way over to Penny.
These days, Penny often ca to hang out at the café. Bit by bit, she had even grown familiar with so regulars, occasionally exchanging a few words.
This, of course, was Johan's plan—to slowly help her open up and ease her shy nature.
So far, it was working.
"M-morning, teacher..." Penny greeted softly as Johan sat beside her.
"Morning," Johan nodded, then waved his hand.
"King Flareon" bounded into his lap, happily nuzzling against him.
Ever since Penny had let Johan feed her Eevee a few batches of Pokéblocks, they had all gotten quite cozy with him.
Johan slid his fingers into Flareon's fluffy fur, gently scratching beneath its chin. Flareon squinted blissfully, purring louder as it sprawled on his lap.
While most folks raised one Eevee at most, Penny was lucky enough to have a whole squad. At this point, the café might as well be an Eevee lounge.
In truth, in the Pokémon world, many people adored Eevee. Johan recalled one League Champion who fought using an entire team of them.
Penny pursed her lips and pulled out a laptop from her Eevee backpack, opening it and placing it in front of Johan.
"Huh? That fast?" Johan raised an eyebrow.
"Mmhm," Penny nodded.
On the screen was a report—on the pirate captain "Ghost."
Gengar could've easily taken control of the submarine alone. The only reason they brought Rotom was to give Penny access to hack its systems and investigate Ghost's identity.
Ghost, full na Ghost Droob, originally from Unova, had worked in Galar, and even served at Macro Cosmos Freight.
Of course.
Macro Cosmos Group.
And its president, Rose... was Penny's uncle.
Even better, Penny had dug through the submarine's navigation logs and flagged several regularly visited coordinates—likely Ghost's secret bases, maybe full of loot.
However, they were scattered across distant ocean locations.
Johan pondered, then dialed Drake.
"Hello? Johan? Up this early, kid?" Drake's booming voice ca through imdiately.
Before Johan could say a word, Drake continued:
"The sub's value is still being appraised. Don't worry, you'll get your share—"
"Different matter," Johan cut in. Smiling, he said, "Old man, I've located several potential hideouts for Ghost. How about—?"
"Oh?"
Drake sounded intrigued.
Even the League hadn't moved this fast, bogged down by bureaucratic steps.
But he knew Johan's style, so he didn't waste ti: "Seventy-thirty!"
Johan smirked. He knew what Drake ant—70% for himself. But he played dumb.
"Sure, I'll take 70, you take 30."
Drake's voice bood with mock outrage. "You rascal! I ant I get 70!"
"Then no deal," Johan shot back.
"If you wait for the League to find them, you'll get nothing," Johan added.
Drake fell silent.
This punk...
"Sixty-forty! Final offer!" Drake grumbled.
Johan remained unmoved. "Sixty-forty sounds fair—to ."
"Fine, fifty-fifty!" Drake relented. "I'm still an Elite Four, got mouths to feed, minions to manage, and you've got running errands..."
Johan chuckled, satisfied. "Deal. Fair's fair."
After all, he wouldn't need to travel himself, and the coordinates were all at sea—Drake was already cruising the ocean anyway.
Plus, not every site would necessarily have loot.
"Send the coordinates, you brat!" Drake barked before hanging up.
Johan turned to see Penny staring at him, wide-eyed.
"Cough, cough." He ruffled her hair. "We're just helping the League, after all. And Drake is the League, right?"
And if they happened to find treasure while sailing...
"Okay," Penny nodded.
She sent the coordinates as instructed, but while typing, she mumbled softly:
"Teacher... you didn't need to go through all that."
"Huh?"
"If you needed money, I could've just transferred so directly from the League's accounts."
Johan: "..."
He forgot how dangerous Penny's hacking skills were.
"Ahem," Johan cleared his throat. "Let's rember one thing, Penny—'There's honor among thieves.'"
"Honor among thieves..." Penny echoed thoughtfully.
"Also, help look into soone."
"Who?"
"I only have a na. Might be fake. But try. No pressure."
He passed her a slip of paper with two characters—"Sa-Chi."
Saki: one of the Rocket Team's Beast Trio.
In the Special manga, after Giovanni vanished in search of Celebi to heal his illness, the Rocket Trio mber Chakra tried to seize power but was quickly shut down by the Rocket Generals.
Saki, however, remained mysterious.
She had appeared with Team Rocket, Team Magma, Team Aqua, and Team Galactic.
Reportedly, she was sent by Cyrus of Team Galactic to infiltrate Team Rocket.
She instigated a fight between Maxie and Archie, giving one of them the "Armor of Eternity" and "Sword of the Mont"—turning Archie into the "Armored Man."
She also kidnapped [Cynthia's Young Lady] and revealed Team Galactic's secrets to her later.
She turned Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, and Silver to stone—with Darkrai, her partner. But Darkrai shouldn't have had petrification powers.
In the Pokémon world, another who used "petrification tech" was Hunter J.
Add in Hunter J's black Poké Balls, and her cryptic words when Johan caught her...
Johan suspected J's equipnt may not have co from the Marauder, but from this infiltrator—Saki of the Rocket Beast Trio!
Too suspicious. Too elusive.
Even after Team Galactic failed, she vanished completely.
Regardless of the angle, Johan felt he needed to investigate her.
"Understood," Penny nodded.
Johan then debated whether he should warn Giovanni.
But thinking it over...
Back when Giovanni was around, even scheming agents like Chakra and Saki behaved.
Only when he disappeared did they act up.
Knowing Giovanni, he probably knew Saki's true identity all along—he just believed in his power to keep her in line.
Even the dumb Marauder waited until after obtaining Celebi to challenge the boss.
As Johan mulled it over, Flareon hopped off his lap, and he stood with coffee in hand—
"w~~"
A soft, familiar whisper tickled his ears.
Huh?
Johan blinked, looking around—no pink creature in sight.
"w~~"
Playful, teasing. Like hide and seek.
Once might've been a dream, but twice? It was definitely that little one.
w!
"w~ w~~"
The voice felt right next to him, but there was no trace in his line of sight.
Johan chuckled and activated his aura.
Vwoom—
Through the wave of aura, he saw a giggling pink figure floating nearby.
Who else but w?
Except... it looked...
Chonkier.
Oh no.
Johan's first thought: I've turned w into a chubby cat.
Second thought: What's wtwo going to say when he sees this?!
Vwoom—
In a shimring light, a chubby "Eevee" appeared in his arms.
"Bui~~"
It leapt into his chest with affection.
"Eevee?" Penny blinked.
She tilted her head, curious how it had appeared out of nowhere.
Then muttered, "What a chubby Eevee."
Johan winced.
"Bui! (▼皿▼)" w bared its tiny fangs at her.
Excuse ?!
Who're you calling fat?!
I'm... buff!
Penny just smiled gently.
She didn't fear Eevee—it looked way too adorable all fluffed up.
So this was the Eevee Mr. Leon talked about?
Before coming to Hoenn, her dad Peony had asked Leon about Johan.
From Leon's account, Johan owned a terrifyingly powerful Eevee—skills off the charts.
Peony had been puzzled. How could an Eevee be so strong?
Then he learned about events in Twinleaf Town and started to understand.
This "Eevee," and likely Darkrai, were Johan's true aces.
Which was why, whenever soone asked Peony about Johan, he always ntioned that fearso "Eevee."
And strong it was.
"Yoji?"
"Bui?"
Out in the garden, Larvitar stared at the chonky "Eevee," puffing its cheeks.
Whoa. This one's bigger than !
w's annoyance lted the mont it heard the word "buff." It bead and patted Larvitar's head.
Larvitar didn't know who w was, but Gengar and the others sure did.
They sward around it.
Gengar even tried morphing into an Eevee.
Image
Honestly?
Now that w was fluffier, Gengar's mimicry looked even more convincing. Like two Pokémon cut from the sa mold.
"Bui~~"
w smirked, eyes twinkling with mischief, and morphed into Sylveon.
"Yo...Yoji! (Д)σ"
Larvitar was stunned.
It evolved?! WHAT?!
"Ka-kaah~"
Gengar chuckled, shifting into a supersized Sylveon.
"Bui~~"
w morphed into Leafeon. Gengar followed.
Larvitar rubbed its eyes. No way.
It bit into Garganacl's arm to check.
"Ow?!"
Garganacl yelped.
"Yoji... (So it's not a dream...)"
"Ow! o(TヘTo)"
(Whether it's a dream or not, why bite ?!)
"Yoji~~ (I'm not biting myself! I'm not like Little Lugia!)"
Garganacl: "..."
anwhile, w kept transforming. Umbreon. Espeon. Glaceon...
Gengar copied them all.
True Multi-form Gengar!
Eventually, w morphed into itself again, tilting its head at Gengar—who mimicked it perfectly.
w: Oh no. I've been replaced?!
From the sidelines, Johan and the rest watched the whole "transformation battle" while laughing.
Seriously—how did Gengar get this versatile?
"Alright, alright, break ti," Johan called.
"ew~~"
At the ntion of food, both w and Gengar zipped over instantly.
"Let introduce you," Johan said. "This is w."
He explained to the Pokémon who hadn't t w yet.
"Yoji..."
So that's w?
Wait, what is w?
"w~~"
With a swirl of its tail, w summoned a cluster of twigs from thin air.
Johan smiled. Looks like w rembered—those twigs were offcuts from the Tree of Beginning.
Considering its size, those twigs weren't even prunings.
As a strange combination of tree and stone, the Tree of Beginning produced branches perfect for expanding Larvitar's diet—and maybe boosting Grass resistance, too.
And Larvitar loved it.
"Yoji~~"
The little guy was already happily gnawing on one.
To an outsider, it might look like poor Larvitar had to chew on sticks to survive.
"Ceruledge."
So of the branches were also for Ceruledge.
As charcoal from the Tree of Beginning, they could uniquely power up Solar Blade and Solar Beam.
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Powerstones?
For 20 advance Chapters: /michaeltranslates
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