At the port of One Island, in that same small tavern.
Sitting at the same bar as before, Natsui and Sabrina had plates of the local specialty in front of them. They were eating slowly, occasionally conversing in low voices. With a loud 'bang,' the tavern door was forcefully pushed open. The next second, under the confused gaze of the owner, an enraged Lorelei strode into the tavern, walked straight to Natsui's side, slammed her hand on the table, and sat down heavily.
This scene couldn't help but remind Natsui of when they had first arrived on One Island, but the mindset of the people involved was now completely different!
"Miss Lorelei, what took you so long to get back?" Natsui looked at her with a cheerful smile and picked up a half-full glass of ice water from the side, handing it to her. "You must have been roasted in this hot weather, right? Here, have some ice water to cool down!"
Lorelei snatched the glass and brought it to her lips. However, after just one sip, she tasted the greasy flavor of food! Only then did she realize it was Natsui's used glass. With a 'pfft,' she spat the water back out!
"Are you messing with me!?" Lorelei glared, her eyes wide with fury, looking as if she wanted to tear Natsui in half!
"Ah, sorry, I must have grabbed the wrong one by mistake," Natsui said quickly, picking up a fresh glass of ice water from the table and handing it to her again. "Don't be so angry. By the way, how is the situation at Mt. Ember now?"
Because Mt. Ember was very far from the town, with a river in between, the recent volcanic eruption hadn't actually caused much panic among the island residents.
Only a light layer of volcanic ash had cast a gloomy shadow over the town.
Lorelei said huffily, "I just contacted the police. The lava flow stopped when it reached the foot of the mountain, it only destroyed the forest down there! You could say it was the best-case scenario in a bad situation!"
Hearing this, Natsui also let out a sigh of relief. "It's a good thing no one was hurt!"
"Forget about that for now!" Lorelei waved her hand, changed the subject, and asked eagerly, "Well? Did you manage to catch Moltres?!"
"Shh! Not so loud!"
Natsui held a finger to his lips, quickly signaling her to lower her voice. Seeing that they hadn't attracted anyone's attention, he took out an Ultra Ball from his waist and waved it in front of her eyes.
"Although the situation was quite dangerous, fortunately, at the last moment, I managed to seize the opportunity!"
Lorelei's eyes were fixed on the Ultra Ball.
Is that Moltres inside?
I can't believe he actually caught it!
He's pretty amazing!
Just then, she noticed a slightly crude, flame-bird-shaped symbol on the switch of the Ultra Ball!
"Did you carve this? It's so ugly!"
"Ahem," Natsui shot her a look. "Ugly or not doesn't matter. As long as I can tell the Poké Balls apart and don't grab the wrong one at a critical moment, it's fine!"
In fact, after catching Moltres, Natsui had finally completed the legendary bird trio. Both to commemorate this milestone and to differentiate the three Ultra Balls, he had just used a utility knife to carve a simple symbol on each of them.
"I see." Lorelei looked up, her glasses reflecting two white glints of light. "Since you've already caught Moltres and achieved your goal, let's settle a score now."
"Settle a score?" Hearing this, Natsui was taken aback. "What score!?"
Lorelei counted on her fingers, "Causing the Sevii Islands to lose its Moltres, thus ending a legend; causing Mt. Ember to erupt, resulting in the destruction of a large forest; covering the town in ash; and abandoning a helpless, pitiful girl to run for your life. Shouldn't all of these accounts be settled? Oh, right, and we should add this glass of water just now. You tricked me!"
"Now, wait a minute..." Natsui said, quite speechless. "Weren't you the one who personally led me to that valley to catch Moltres? If you really want to be technical about it, you're an accomplice!"
"And the volcanic eruption clearly had warning signs. I was just the trigger. As for abandoning a helpless girl, who are you even talking about? You're an Elite Four member of Kanto and Johto! How could you possibly be swallowed by lava!"
Lorelei said angrily, "So you can just leave me on the mountainside by myself!?"
"Oh, come on, don't be so petty. Charizard really couldn't carry three people," Natsui said with a smile. "Besides, you made it back safely, didn't you!"
Seeing that she couldn't win the argument, Lorelei stopped joking and said seriously, "Alright, let's talk business. Since you've won the Indigo League championship, it proves that your skills are truly outstanding. And after all these days, I 'suppose' I've come to acknowledge you. What do you say? Do you want to challenge me now?"
As she spoke, Lorelei also secretly made up her mind.
If Natsui really dares to challenge her, she will definitely go all out and pay him back double for all the grievances she's suffered since they met!
Unexpectedly, Natsui shook his head. "Not yet. Let's wait until after the Silver Conference, when my strength has accumulated a bit more, and then I'll challenge you all."
Although disappointed, Lorelei's face didn't show it; she simply nodded.
"Alright then. What are your plans next?"
"There's nothing left for us here. I just discussed it with Sabrina. We'll set off for the Orange Islands after lunch."
"What a coincidence," Lorelei said. "I might be going to the Orange Islands in a few days as well. But given the timing, I suppose we're fated to miss each other."
With that, she stood up and extended her hand to Natsui and Sabrina. "Then I wish you both a safe journey. You're welcome to visit again next time!"
"If we have the chance, we'll definitely come back for a visit," Natsui and Sabrina stood up and shook hands with Lorelei in turn. "We actually really like this kind of island life. If one day we no longer want to travel, we might build a house in some remote place and go there for vacations to relax!"
...
Setting off once again from the Sevii Islands, Natsui and Sabrina rode on Charizard, continuing their journey south.
Looking down at the endless sea below, Natsui could finally quiet his mind and summarize the gains from his trip to the Sevii Islands.
Not only had he befriended Lorelei, but he had also captured a Team Rocket executive, caught Moltres, and obtained the Never-Melt Ice and the "Onix Metal." It could be said that his harvest was plentiful!
And this made him look forward to the upcoming Orange Islands even more!
Although compared to a major tournament like the Indigo Conference, the Orange League was just a second-rate minor league with different rules and not much prestige, for a trainer, it was still a rare and valuable travel experience.
Besides, there were some Pokémon there worth catching that he absolutely could not miss!
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