Night fell quietly, yet the lights in Logan's room were still on.
The Champion's cloak hung neatly on the coat rack by the door. The bedroom itself wasn't large, and the furnishings were simple, but though small, it was fully equipped. Shelves were packed tightly with books of all kinds, and scattered among them were little decorations and trinkets Logan had collected from across Kanto. Together, they gave the room a warm, unmistakably human sense of life.
This was Logan's residence within Professor Oak's laboratory.
Since escaping from Team Rocket's experimental base nearly three years ago, Logan had lived here continuously. Over those three years of coming and going, he had gradually come to regard Oak's lab as his home, and this bedroom had become his alone.
Professor Oak's laboratory was enormous, yet aside from Oak himself, there was only one assistant—his granddaughter, Daisy Oak . As a result, many of the mundane tasks were handled by Pokémon instead: cleaning, patrol, and security.
Most of the time, Logan was away on journeys, and the room sat empty. Even so, whenever he returned, it was always spotless. Miss Daisy made a point of cleaning it regularly.
"Mm…"
Logan stretched lazily and yawned, picking up an energy drink from the desk and taking a sip to keep his mind from growing dull.
His Poké Balls were arranged neatly on the tabletop, the Pokémon inside already resting. Eevee lay curled up on the bed like a small dog, sleeping soundly. Only the occasional twitch of its ears betrayed the fact that even in sleep, it was still on guard.
No matter how fast one was, releasing a Pokémon from a Poké Ball took at least half a second. For an expert, half a second was more than enough time to decide life or death. Because of that, Logan always let the small-bodied Eevee stay outside its Poké Ball. In a sudden emergency, Eevee could immediately evolve into whatever form was needed to respond.
[Logan, you're still not sleeping?]
"You should rest first, Mewtwo. It may look like we have plenty of time, but in reality, we're racing against it. I can't afford to waste a single minute—I need reliable information."
Mewtwo's voice echoed in Logan's mind. Logan smiled faintly, waved dismissively, and walked over to the window, pushing it open.
The cool night breeze drifted in, carrying a refreshing chill that cleared his slightly foggy thoughts. Pallet Town's air quality was exceptional. There was once a joke that "foreign air is sweet," and here, that saying felt almost literal. Taking a deep breath filled the lungs with a cool, clean freshness that was hard to let go of.
Sitting on the windowsill, Logan looked up at the sky. Endless stars dotted the vast canopy above. Though he had never studied astronomy, he recognized several common constellations. Gazing at the countless stars, Logan was pleasantly surprised to find that this sky looked remarkably similar to the one from his previous world. Perhaps there truly was some inevitable connection between the two worlds.
[I could go a full month without sleeping and it wouldn't matter to me. So? Any results?]
Mewtwo refused to rest, continuing the conversation casually.
"The results are very good. Some of the specific data still needs verification, but the overall conclusion is almost certainly correct. Cynthia wouldn't have given me this particular set of findings otherwise—it shows she's highly confident in it."
Logan glanced at the torn pages spread across the desk. Though the notes were messy, he had already extracted everything he needed.
He had reorganized the ancient stone reliefs and inscriptions Cynthia had obtained from unknown ruins, recording the information meticulously in his own notebook. This notebook contained everything Logan had ever gathered on Legendary Pokémon. On this page—based on Cynthia's materials—he had written a bold title at the top:
Guardians of the Water Capital!
After stopping Lance and temporarily defeating him in Vermilion City, Logan was met with overwhelming gratitude from the city's officials and citizens.
Lance's sudden assault had resulted in over a thousand casualties, but because the attack was brief, the overall damage was far less severe than the devastation SaffronCity had once suffered. At the very least, the city center remained intact. The worst damage was concentrated along the coastline. The docks, in particular, were heavily affected—many ocean-based industries had been forced to suspend operations while repairs were carried out at full speed.
In recent days, television news and online reports had been saturated with coverage of the attack—officially classified as terrorism—and Logan's actions as the hero who saved Vermilion City.
A year and a half ago, he had saved SaffronCity. Now, he had saved Vermilion City as well. The name of the Kanto Champion once again resounded throughout the entire region. Logan's prestige reached unprecedented heights, and his admirers were as numerous as fish crossing a river.
Yet Logan cared nothing for fame.
Whether people called him a "hero" or a "savior" meant little to him. After giving a few interviews and offering words of encouragement to Vermilion's residents, he returned directly to Pallet Town and began focused research on Latios and Latias.
Logan deliberately avoided revealing that the attacker had been Lance, the Commander of the Kanto Elite Four. He merely claimed the weather had been terrible and that he couldn't see the attacker clearly. His emotional intelligence was more than sufficient—revealing the truth would have plunged the entire region into panic and despair.
Though Logan felt little loyalty to the League, this act had nonetheless helped stabilize it.
"The Southern Islands in the southern seas of Hoenn… Among those uninhabited islands, there's a human settlement known as Alto Mare—the 'Water Capital.' If I remember correctly, it's also a tourist destination."
Much like Kanto's Sevii Islands, the Southern Islands lay on the outskirts of Hoenn. They were remote, outside the region's cultural mainstream, and economically underdeveloped. However, their unique traditions made them culturally fascinating. Aside from local specialties, tourism was their primary source of income.
This was the legend Cynthia had uncovered regarding Latios and Latias. By comparing ancient stone tablet maps with modern charts, she had concluded that the myth took place in Alto Mare.
Still, Logan didn't rush to head there immediately.
Alto Mare wasn't a wilderness—it was a populated tourist city. Over the years, there had been no reports of Latios or Latias emerging there. Logan didn't believe simply showing up would be enough to find them.
He needed more clues.
Compared to other Legendary Pokémon, narrowing the search area down to the Southern Islands was already an extraordinary achievement.
Rayquaza, for example, had ancient records placing it at the Sky Pillar. Yet League investigators and scholars had searched that place thoroughly without finding a trace of it. That alone proved that Legendary Pokémon had no fixed habitats—or that encountering them required specific conditions.
Even Team Rocket had spent years trying to locate the Legendary Birds.
The fact that Lance and Team Rocket both measured their searches in years spoke volumes about how elusive Legendary Pokémon truly were.
"Tomorrow, I'll go to Kanto League Headquarters and see if I can obtain more detailed intelligence there."
Having made his decision, Logan turned off the light, gently patted Eevee's head, and climbed into bed, quickly falling asleep.
--------------------
T/N:
Check out my Patreon
[email protected]/FictionalRealms784 - (Replace '@' with 'a')
for 5 Advanced Chapters absolutely FREE—or unlock 35 Advanced Chapters
--------------------