Not Being a Trainer This Time

Yet when he warped to Porto Marinada Town and charged straight into the Porto Marinada Market riding Koraidon, that feeling of ”I’ve forgotten something” instantly grew even stronger.

Naoki froze on the spot.

Was it just his imagination?

*

Porto Marinada Town, a two‑month‑old Koraidon blinked awake from sleep.

Its mother, a Cyclizar whose face was full of kindness, was gazing at it gently.

Koraidon stared blankly at its mom, as if it still hadn’t fully woken up.

Its Cyclizar mother looked at her child in confusion: ”Gaa‑ow?”

Oh! Her child must have had a nightmare!

The Cyclizar mother understood, then lightly rubbed her child’s head, using this to soothe its emotions.

Koraidon leaned against its mother’s chest and said to her: ”Gaa‑ow...” (I had a very, very long dream...)

In the dream there was a ranch, and there was a person. It was given to that person by its mother’s partner, that human named Mayor Thomas, and lived with him on the ranch, meeting many, many companions.

They lived a happy and joyful life together.

”Gaa‑ow?” Yet the Cyclizar mother couldn’t understand what her child was saying.

She knew nothing about it, and thought the little Cyclizar must have had a very scary nightmare and still hadn’t woken up.

The Cyclizar mother reached out a hand and gently stroked the child’s head, comforting it.

Koraidon couldn’t help thinking, that must have just been a dream, right?

The young Koraidon closed its eyes, resting peacefully in its mother’s arms, ready to go back to sleep.

Time flew by, and Koraidon reached the age of one.

A lot had happened over the past year—like the town building a new town hall, the neighbor next door giving birth to two adorable babies, things like that.

But none of that had anything to do with Koraidon. It stayed by its mother’s side, living and playing together with the other Pokemon adopted by Mayor Thomas, and every day was very happy.

During this time, Koraidon heard Mayor Thomas mention that ranch from its dream.

It lay abandoned all year round, without the big tree from its dream, and without so many companions.

Later still, it was bought by a wealthy tycoon who planned to build a luxury villa full of pastoral charm.

Koraidon secretly went to take a look. It saw that luxurious villa, and the humans inside dressed very high‑class, and thought to itself that it really had just been a dream, huh?

When Koraidon was one and a half, Mayor Thomas gave it to a young Trainer as a partner.

The reason was that while doing field research, Mayor Thomas was unfortunately attacked by wild Pokemon and was saved by a passing Pokemon Trainer.

Mayor Thomas then invited the Trainer to his home.

After learning that the Trainer was from another region and wanted to catch a Pokemon unique to the Paldea Region, Mayor Thomas happily gifted Koraidon to that Trainer.

Koraidon was very happy about this, because it could have a Trainer of its own too!

Thinking of how its mom had said that one day it would meet its own Trainer, and then spend the rest of its time living together with them, Koraidon felt full of anticipation.

Its eyes shining, it walked up to that human and let out a cheerful growl at him: ”Gaa‑ow!”

And that human also crouched down, smiling as he reached a hand out toward it.

”Cyclizar, I’ll be counting on you from now on!”

Looking at that familiar smile on his face, Koraidon suddenly paused, and a terrifying thought surged up in its heart.

No, it shouldn’t be like this!

It seemed to have forgotten someone very, very important, someone it had to find, someone it had to return to!

*

In the forest there grew a very tall, very large tree. This tree towered above all the others, and many Pokemon liked to come here to play on ordinary days.

Pawmi was one of them.

Its favorite thing to do was sleep here.

Basking in the sun while taking a nap—the sunlight could warm the fur on its body until it was toasty, so that when it went to sleep at night it could stay warm all through the night!

Thinking of this, Pawmi lazily squinted its eyes, and soon drifted off into dreamland.

Pawmi had a dream: in the dream, it was locked up in a cave, and when it finally managed to escape, it suddenly began plummeting downward at high speed.

The sudden loss of weight made Pawmi instinctively open its eyes, and it was horrified to discover that a Bombirdier had thrown it, together with a rock, down below!

”Ba‑mor!”

Pawmi let out a cry of sheer terror. It squeezed its eyes shut in fright, waiting for death to arrive.

Yet the pain it imagined never came. With a splash, Pawmi fell into a small river.

Realizing it hadn’t died from the fall, Pawmi felt immensely relieved. Flustered and scrambling, it climbed up onto the bank, water dripping constantly from its fur. Looking up at the blue sky, Pawmi felt all the strength drain from its body.

When its stamina had recovered a little, Pawmi realized it had come to a completely unfamiliar place.

This seemed to be a place where humans had once lived, but for some unknown reason it was now abandoned. Weeds grew all over the ground, everything was in a jumble.

A wild Pokemon passed by, and Pawmi cautiously hid.

It kept hiding until late at night. Having gone a long time without eating, Pawmi felt its stomach rumbling with hunger.