The next day, a giant Dragonite sped across the sea.
This ti, Natsu and owth sat atop her head, with Gengar up front blocking the wind.
"owth, look—it's those two Blastoise."
"I told you, don't stare, nya."
"Wait, the male Blastoise looks different. That sa one from before showed up—they're fighting!"
"Really? I gotta see this, nya!"
owth craned his neck, but Dragonite was moving too fast. He only caught a glimpse.
"owth, do you guys have enough funds?"
Natsu suddenly looked down at him.
"Why are you asking that? Don't tell you're trying to borrow money, nya?" owth was instantly on guard.
Natsu shook his head and handed him a device with a cat-shaped casing and a small screen.
"This has recordings of nearly every Pokémon's cry. Help translate them—one species, ten thousand pokedollars."
"Really?" owth froze.
Roughly calculating, wouldn't that make him a multimillionaire?
He was as if he could already feel golden coins shining above his head.
"I'll take the job, nya!"
"Good!" Natsu gave him a thumbs-up. "You just need to match each Pokémon's different cries and translate them into human speech. The input box is right here."
Like the Pokédex, the first was Bulbasaur.
*Bulba~*
"That ans *Alright*, nya." owth typed into the input box: Alright, nya.
*Bulba—*
"That ans *Not good*, nya."
And so, owth's grand money-making project began.
Sitting on Dragonite's back, Natsu decided to pass the ti by scratching off the scratch cards he'd saved up.
He had 23 in total: three Great Ball cards and twenty Pokéball cards.
He scratched the three Great Balls cards.
**Great Ball ×3**
Natsu blinked.
Great Balls weren't nearly as valuable as Master Balls. Getting them as a minimum prize was barely worth anything.
Unconvinced, he scratched ten more.
**Pokéball ×10**
"Tch…" The air around Natsu grew heated.
"Gengar, give one." Natsu pulled out a lighter and passed a piece of Spicy Sludge to Gengar.
*Gen-ga!* Gengar's eyes lit up as he happily accepted, shielding the fla from the wind with his hand.
Before long, smoke curled and drifted away, creating a surreal atmosphere.
With only limited supplies, one stick of incense-like mud would have to do.
It was ti for results.
Natsu scratched the remaining ten cards.
**Pokéball ×7, Light Ball ×2, Rare Candy ×1**
Sure enough, superstition worked.
The solemn look on Natsu's face lted away as he stared at the new items in his pack.
Two Light Balls—perfect, one each for Pikachu and Midchu.
He couldn't help but wonder what kind of power Pikachu, already boosted in both offenses, would reach with a Light Ball.
As for the Rare Candy, he didn't pay much attention.
ITS effect was simply to raise a Pokémon's level by one. Unless he had a large quantity, it wasn't particularly useful.
Natsu casually tossed the candy to Gengar.
He wanted to test what would happen when a ga item worked in real life—and Granny Kikuko's Gengar was a high enough level to be a good test subject.
**Gengar, Lv.86**
The Pokédex displayed Gengar's approximate level.
*Gengaa!* Gengar gave Natsu a thumbs-up, aning, *What did you just feed ? I feel so strong.*
Natsu waved it off, but in his heart he understood.
It seed that Rare Candies in reality also raised a Pokémon's level unconditionally.
It didn't matter if the Pokémon's level was already high or low—the increase was always the sa.
This ti, with Gengar blocking the wind, the giant Dragonite traveled at full speed.
In less than half a day, they returned to Bill's Lighthouse.
*Boom!*
Dragonite suddenly stopped, kicking up towering waves along the coastline.
From afar, Natsu could see a large group gathered on the beach.
Ash, Bill, and the others were there, along with Lance, Professor Oak, and Professor Aurea Juniper.
"Dragonite, Ice Beam!" Before Lance's Dragonite could even react, a massive ice-blue beam shot from the giant Dragonite's mouth, freezing the crashing waves in midair.
In an instant, the coastline looked like a forest of icy spires—breathtaking to behold.
"What incredible power!" Lance's expression hardened.
His instincts told him this giant Dragonite was unimaginably strong.
"Look, it's Natsu!" Ash's sharp eyes spotted him right away, sitting atop Dragonite's head.
"See? I told you that boy Natsu would be fine." Professor Oak sipped his hot tea with a smile.
Beside him, Bill, hair a complete ss, let out a huge sigh of relief before collapsing to the ground.
He'd nearly been scared to death, thinking he had gotten Natsu killed. These past days he hadn't eaten or slept properly.
He hadn't been that worried at first, but when Natsu's tracker suddenly stopped working midway, he panicked.
He'd taken his Blastoise and even Lance's Dragonite to search the sea where Natsu had vanished—only to find nothing but endless waves.
Natsu slowly floated down, sitting on Gengar's head.
owth, on the other hand, slid quietly down Dragonite's tail to sneak away.
"This Gengar… it's Agatha's, isn't it?" Lance glanced at Natsu with surprise.
That Gengar obeying Natsu didn't shock him—it was natural given Agatha's orders.
But from the look of things, their relationship was much closer than that. To an outsider, it might seem as though Natsu were its actual Trainer.
"Of course. He's been a huge help." Natsu patted Gengar's head.
"Natsu!"
Giselle was about to step forward, but Ash rushed in first, while she crossed her arms and stomped her foot in frustration.
"Thank goodness you're alright!" Brock and Misty ca up too, quickly checking him over to see if he was missing any parts.
"Ah, back safe—that's what matters." Professor Oak, still holding his tea, spoke with complete calm.
Years of dealing with Natsu's chaos had trained his heart to be steel-strong.
"By the way, Professors," Natsu said, turning to Oak and Juniper, "I made so arrangents with this giant Dragonite. You can send people along with it to investigate the phenonon of Dynamax."
He handed each of them a flash drive containing intel about the mysterious island, along with his own speculations.
The two professors accepted them without a word, but their eyes flicked toward a coconut tree nearby.
Out of the corner of his eye, Natsu caught a glimpse of a the rockets hiding behind the leaves. He instantly understood.
"Natsu, what happened these past few days? Tell us!"
Ash's eyes shone, already imagining so epic adventure tale.
"Yeah, Mr. Natsu, please tell us," Giselle added curiously.
"Wait, what's wrong with your eyes?" Natsu noticed Giselle's eyes were red.
"She's been crying since the mont you were taken," Professor Oak said.
Giselle's face flushed red.
"By the way, Giselle, would you like to co with us?" Oak asked warmly.
He had t his protégé's pupil just two days ago.
His first impression—*this child was very intelligent*.
His second impression—*such talent must absolutely not be left in Natsu's hands*.
"No, I want to travel with Mr. Natsu." Giselle shook her head firmly.
"Ah… very well then." Professor Oak sighed, disappointed.
"What about owth?" Misty suddenly asked.
At the ntion of owth, Jessie and Jas, hiding in a nearby palm tree, perked up their ears.
"owth…" Natsu looked out over the sea with a trace of sadness on his face.
"He's dead. He tried to break up a love triangle fight between Blastoise and got beaten to death."
"What?!" Everyone was struck by a wave of grief at the words.
"Damn it, why does owth always ddle in other people's business?!"
Up in the tree, Jessie and Jas clutched their heads in anguish, fell down, and ran off into the distance, crying, ignoring the stares of everyone around them.
"By the way, where's Midchu?" Natsu suddenly noticed that only Pikachu was sitting on Ash's shoulder.
"Oh, over there." Misty pointed toward the beach.
A mound of sand bulged up there, with a sign stuck into it, and Natsu's hat hanging from the sign.
On the hat lay a small blanket, Midchu draped across it.
The Pokémon was curled up on the mound like a gravekeeper.
Only this gravekeeper was sound asleep.
Natsu: "…"
You can read more (around 80 free chapters) of Natsu's adventure ad-free here[sravenarchives/book/pokemon-who-let-him-leave-pallet-town]. Bulk uploads is a ss here, so updates here might be irregular.
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