Kurusaki Sō got off the ship while supporting his weak body.
Raven stepped forward and said, "Sō? What happened this time!? If you hadn't come any later, I would have starved to death on this deserted island!"
Sō felt another wave of dizziness and nearly fainted, and Raven quickly supported him. The grunts behind him were not in much better condition either.
"What is going on, Sō? Why are all the boys so weak?" Raven asked.
"I-I'm not sure either… Th… this time, our group suffered from seasickness as if it were some kind of contagious disease. Now everyone's bodies are this weak. Otherwise, we wouldn't have arrived so late…
Ugh… the supplies are on the ship. Find someone to move them. First prepare a place for us to rest. We… we really can't endure it anymore."
After Sō finished speaking, Raven had his subordinates take these people to the camp to rest.
Immediately after, the supplies they had long been waiting for were transported one after another into the warehouse. Then, all the Poké Balls collected by the Shadow Team over the past half year were transported onto the ship. These were basically Pokémon that these people had not been able to exchange back and Pokémon captured for the purpose of exchanging for supplies.
The value of these Pokémon was enough to be a hundred times that of these supplies!
After the goods were unloaded, Raven announced that the competition would begin in three days, and that supply exchanges could now proceed normally.
The battles were also postponed because everyone was starving and in poor condition, and because Sō's group was collectively in a half-dead state.
After receiving this news, almost everyone rushed into the forest to catch Pokémon to exchange for food. Tetsuya naturally did not need to. He still had four Houndour registered, so he directly exchanged them for Pokéfood, milk, his own food, and Potions.
Now Tetsuya's backpack was filled again, and he finally did not need to worry about food anymore.
What Tetsuya had been thinking about all along was the condition of Sō's group. Although seasickness could be contagious in a sense, mainly because when one person vomits it causes others to feel nauseous as well, these people were all experienced sailors and could be considered fierce in the water. How could such a situation of collective seasickness occur?
'Could it be…?'
---◓---
After thinking for an entire day, he still did not get an answer.
Because of the Cherrygrove team, Tetsuya also obtained a tent, which should have belonged to the two people who had died.
Tetsuya's tent was located in a corner far from the Shadow Team camp. What he needed was peace and quiet, and he also had to feed Ditto and throw milk bottles every day. These actions naturally required discretion.
On the way back to his tent, Tetsuya discovered that the entire grassland had actually become empty in just one afternoon. They must have all gone to nearby areas to catch Pokémon. Now that the supplies had arrived, no one had extra Pokémon on hand, so in order to eat, they could only go out to catch more.
He returned to the tent alone, preparing to sleep. It could be said that his mind was the most at ease now. He did not need to worry about food, nor did he need to worry about being eliminated.
Tetsuya also exercised every day, so he did not have any leisure time and went to sleep relatively early at night.
He had already fallen asleep a little after nine o'clock.
Back when he was on Earth, he used to be someone who stayed up late reading, but now his body was too exhausted and could not compare with the comfortable life on Earth.
Late at night…
He suddenly heard eerie wind howling outside the tent, and Tetsuya was awakened. Just as he was about to secure the tent again, he saw outside the tent, ghostly figures overlapping everywhere, extremely frightening. Even he could not help but shiver.
Suddenly!!!!
A piece of black cloth floated in through the gap under the tent. Tetsuya subconsciously grabbed the Poké Balls of Piloswine and Beedrill.
But when he looked at this piece of black cloth, it felt very… familiar?
'This...
This this...'
Isn't this the torn piece of his pant leg?
'Could it be-!'
Tetsuya's emotions were hard to calm, he even did not dare to believe it.
Was this a miracle, or his obsession with it.
'Haunter…'
It must be Haunter!
Haunter that had crossed the sea, could it really find this place just by relying on the two pieces of cloth he left behind?
This had been half a year.
A trace of hesitation appeared in Tetsuya's heart. He wanted to call out Haunter's name, but he still did not dare to speak.
Fear!
What he feared was that the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.
"Ha…"
Several times, the words reached his lips and were swallowed again…
Until that piece of pant leg fell down, Tetsuya finally called out, "…Haunter, is that you?"
No response.
Tetsuya did not want to call out a second time. He slightly closed his eyes, his gaze filled with disappointment, and softly said, "Haunter… I hope we can meet again…"
Steadying himself, Tetsuya opened his eyes.
He was suddenly startled!
Haunter.
It was Haunter!
A Haunter that had been stained dark gray by poison.
"Ha-Haun...ter." At this moment, Tetsuya actually stuttered and could not speak clearly.
"Haunhaunahunhaun~"
Slurp~
Haunter stretched out its tongue and lightly licked Tetsuya's face.
There was no sense of eeriness, instead a cool sensation spread throughout his whole body.
"Haunter…! Did you really find this place just by relying on the two pieces of cloth I left behind?!!"
Haunter nodded, its previously comical smile now gone, replaced with an extremely serious expression at this moment.
"Haunter, I…"
Tetsuya had many questions he wanted to ask, wishing he could ask them all at once.
"When something happened to me back then, you were the only one by my side. At that time… did you never think that I was already dead?"
Whoosh~ Whoosh~
Haunter shook its head vigorously.
Tetsuya smiled slightly, a very sincere, and rare, smile!
'Hehh…' He himself did not know how long it had been since he had such a smile, but at this moment, he was truly moved…
"Ah! The people on the ship became so weak because you drained their vitality, right?"
At this point, Tetsuya could almost be certain of it.
Haunter nodded. After all, it also needed to eat~
"Haunter! Now return to my shadow. We must hurry and grow stronger! When you become a powerful Gengar, we will form the [Shadow Contract]. At that time, you will be my shadow.
Our thoughts and mind will be connected. We will truly become one and will never be separated again no matter what!"
This was Tetsuya's greatest promise to Haunter. Having such a Haunter, forming the [Shadow Contract] would bring him tremendous benefits. As for the so-called drawbacks… 'Hn.' They were easy to solve, as long as he could find sources of vitality for Haunter to absorb.
Tetsuya's shadow was also Haunter's best "destination".
It was just that over these half a year, whether Haunter's training had fallen too far behind. After this elimination round ended, this was the first thing he needed to do.
Because Tetsuya was too excited, he chatted with Haunter about everything that had happened over the past half year, and only then did he learn that before Haunter set out to sea with the ship, aside from the time spent searching for him, it had been doing the special training he had previously instructed.
It seemed that Haunter's training time had been even longer than that of Piloswine and Golett.
Before he knew it, it was already dawn. Only then did Tetsuya and Haunter begin to sleep.