1. Ash's Story (Part 10: Galar)

Chapter 25: Sunlit Shore

The road out of Grenomy looked completely different without the town's neon fog wrapped around it. The mist thinned behind us, and the Wild Area opened under harsh sunlight so bright that every puddle flashed like polished glass. My Rotom Phone floated ahead, its screen dimmed against the glare.

"Current Wild Area weather: intense sun," Rotom announced. "Hydration and shade breaks recommended. Fire-type activity may increase. Water-type Pokémon may gather near lakes and streams."

Gloria shielded her eyes. "Yesterday the world was fog. Today the sun is trying to battle us, and it is winning the opening round by a lot right now too."

Hop laughed, still carrying the glow of his Psychic Badge. "That is Galar for you. It changes the field before you even send out a Pokémon."

The map showed several ways toward the Motostoke side, but Hop wanted to cut across the lake path before we angled back toward Hulbury and Galar Mine No. 2. It was not the shortest line on the screen. It was the route with water, bridges, shade posts, and enough open space to avoid being trapped between sun-hot cliffs.

Alice adjusted Eevee in her arms and glanced toward the distant shimmer of North Lake Miloch. "Then we move carefully. Heat can make Pokémon impatient too."

The sun had changed the sound of the route. Grasshoppers clicked louder, water hissed against warm stones, and even the wind seemed thinner. It was the kind of weather that made small irritations feel personal if we let them.

That word fit the moment too well. Chewtle had already left its Poké Ball, waddling beside the path with its jaw low and its eyes fixed on the lake water. Every ripple pulled at it. Every reed that moved in the wind made its head snap toward the shore.

Drizzile walked farther back, close to the thin shadows cast by the marker posts. It watched Chewtle's restless lunges without judging them, which made sense. It knew better than anyone in our group how hard it was to carry a feeling that had grown bigger than your body.

Pikachu rode on my shoulder, ears twitching toward the water, "The little biter hears every ripple as a challenge."

"I noticed," I said, watching carefully.

Chewtle snapped at a reed and missed by enough that it nearly tipped face-first into the mud. It shook itself, embarrassed and angry, then snapped again at the reed like the plant had insulted it.

Helen sighed from behind me. "That is going to become someone's problem."

Elena looked at the lake. "It already has."

A group of wild Tympole scattered from a shallow pool before Chewtle reached them. Chewtle stopped at the empty pool and snapped at the mud, as if the missed chance itself had a tail. The sound cracked through the heat, and Drednaw-like bite marks appeared in my imagination before the evolution had even happened.

"Chewtle has always been bold," Alice said, "but this is different."

"It is not only boldness," I said. "It is trying to answer everything before it knows what the question is."

Drizzile's eyes moved toward me, then away again. I had not meant the words for it, but sometimes a lesson landed beside the Pokémon it was aimed at.

North Lake Miloch spread wide beside the Wedgehurst-side water path, its surface bright under the intense sun. The bridges and shore stones threw short, sharp shadows, and heat shimmered above the water. We were not traveling toward Hulbury for the first time anymore, but this side of the Wild Area still felt like a crossing point between towns, lakes, and all the choices Galar kept giving us.

Chewtle pushed ahead of my feet. It snapped at a ripple, then at a floating seed, then at the shadow of a stronger Water-type moving just beneath the surface. The shadow slid away with calm superiority. Chewtle lunged after it anyway and splashed into the shallows.