Chapter 571 - 571: 571. Starlight City Bug Gym

Jacob had never intended to write the speech himself. A task that brain-racking was better left to someone with an actual gift for words.

That someone turned out to be Amelia. After the winter break ended, she had come back to Starlight City to work part-time at the Starlight City Bug-type Gym.

Amelia's diligence and down-to-earth nature had won her a place in Rory's good graces. He was genuinely fond of the girl. Whenever the holidays came around, she made a point of returning to Starlight City to visit, and she never showed up empty-handed—always some small gift for the family, nothing expensive, but thoughtful all the same.

Jacob, by contrast, was the little rascal who vanished for half a year at a stretch. Aside from the occasional phone call proving he was still alive, there was hardly any contact at all. No one knew what kept him so busy.

By now, Rory had made peace with it. Starlight City was too small to hold his youngest son; the boy's stage was out under a far wider sky. So instead, Rory had turned his attention to grooming Amelia as the Gym's eventual successor.

She hadn't disappointed him. Her strength had grown by leaps and bounds. Her aces, Orbeetle and Frosmoth, had both climbed to Gym Leader-level strength, and the Tyrantrum she'd caught in the Wilderness Area had reached Quasi-Heavenly King-level—a Pokémon not to be taken lightly.

When Jacob tracked her down, she was in the middle of the Gym, tending to Pokémon while doubling as an elder sister of sorts, walking the younger apprentices through their training. She was explaining, patiently and in careful detail, how to properly care for Bug-type Pokémon—what they liked to eat, how many energy cubes to feed them.

Jacob's arrival caused an immediate stir.

He might not have had much of a following elsewhere, but in Starlight City his name meant something. Nearly every household owned a piece of his Gym merchandise. It made sense—he was the first-ever High School Cup Champion the city had produced, the kind of thing that, in another age, would have earned him a line in the local records.

"Jacob!"

"It's Jacob!"

"Jacob!"

…

Amelia saw at once that there was no salvaging the lesson, so she called an early end to class and let the apprentices go train their Pokémon on their own.

A knot of students, none older than ten, swarmed him so thick he couldn't take a step. Some wanted autographs. Others wanted photos.

Jacob smiled and worked his way through their requests one by one. His father was the Gym Leader, after all—he could hardly embarrass him.

"Brother Jacob, I love your Noibat!"

"His Noibat already evolved into Noivern, you fake fan."

"I know that. I just still like Noibat better."

"Well, I like Noivern."

…

The mention of Noivern brought his own to mind—the one he'd left behind at the Dragon Spiral Tower. Barely two weeks had passed since they parted ways, yet it already felt like a small eternity. He wondered how it was doing.

"Brother Jacob! Can I see your Charizard? It's my favorite!" The boy asking couldn't have been more than eight or nine, dressed in a black Charizard-print outfit and cradling a Charmander in his arms, gazing up at Jacob with open admiration.

"I want to see Sceptile! My Treecko's still tiny, but someday it'll be just as big!"

"Show us Dragapult! Dragapult's the coolest!"

Surrounded on all sides, Jacob laughed, pulled three Poké Balls from his belt, and told the crowd, "Noivern's not with me today. But I've got Sceptile, Charizard, and Dragapult."

He released them.

Children's excitement deserved to be honored, so Jacob did his best to give them what they wanted.

"Whoa!"

Cheers broke out all around.

The black-scaled Charizard, the towering Sceptile, and the gleaming golden Dragapult materialized on the training field. Every eye snapped toward them, and the whole group swarmed in.

"Charizard!"

"Sceptile!"

"Dragapult!"

With the three Pokémon finally drawing the children's attention away from him, Jacob got a moment to breathe. Amelia poured a paper cup of warm water and handed it over, asking coolly, "Here. Drink up. What brings you to the Gym today?"

"Thanks." He took the cup, sank onto the bench behind him, and looked at her, a little sheepish. "Amelia, I actually need a favor."

"Oh? Go on." She sat down beside him—close enough that he caught a faint trace of her perfume, whether by accident or not he couldn't say.

He glanced at the children nearby and dropped his voice. "You know I'm giving a speech at the Gym the day after tomorrow. About that—could you help me put it together?"

For a moment he was back in school, copying homework off her. She'd been the campus belle back then, and there wasn't a boy alive who didn't remember her in her uniform as one of high school's finer memories.

Amelia's face lit up. "Sure, I'll help. By the way—are you coming to the class reunion tomorrow?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?" he said, smiling.

Kyle had hounded him about it more times than he could count, going on about returning home in glory—otherwise what was the point of glory at all, if no one saw it.

"Good. I'll bring you a first draft at the reunion tomorrow. You'll still want to look it over and tweak it yourself," Amelia said.

"I owe you one, then. Let me take you out to eat sometime." Jacob smiled gratefully. "When Kyle's free, the three of us should go together."

"What about today?" Amelia glanced down at the grass, thinking that if she let today slip by, there was no telling when Jacob would next have the time. "Wu… Yaozu got back yesterday. He even brought his girlfriend along."

"Oh—all right, then. Tonight works." Jacob blinked, caught off guard, then smiled and agreed. "I'll book somewhere."

"Mm." Amelia said quietly, "I'll call you. What's your number these days?"

"You don't already have it?" Jacob asked, turning to her. He was fairly sure he hadn't given her his new number since he'd switched phones.

"I do, actually. Your dad gave it to me," she said with a smile.

"Fair enough." Jacob let it go and turned his gaze back to the three Pokémon in the distance.

They were, without question, a hit with the children—Sceptile especially. Watching it, Jacob was reminded that he'd need to bring Sceptile back to the secret realm before too long.