Chương 29: The License

The Indigo League denied Rine's Trainer application. The decision arrived twelve days after the raid. > Applicant possesses unresolved criminal status, falsified ownership records, incomplete civil identity, and insufficient proof of standard education. Every reason was correct. Rine read the notice in the Iron Talon safehouse where he had been moved after discharge. Houndour rested in a patch of sunlight. Gastly floated inside a transparent open-sided recovery frame, his core slowly regaining density.

The denial hurt more than Rine expected. Team Rocket had not killed the dream. Reality had simply presented the bill. Mara read the appeal page.

"You can challenge."

"On what grounds?"

"Coerced records, demonstrated care competency, field experience, and sponsorship."

"Whose?" The safehouse door opened. Sabrina entered. The Saffron Gym Leader wore red and white beneath a dark coat. Her psychic presence was controlled so completely that Identify returned almost nothing. > Sabrina > Information unavailable. Rine stood despite the sling. Houndour rose with him. Gastly's frame frosted.

"Sit," Sabrina said. It was not a psychic command. Rine remained standing for one second anyway, then sat by choice. Sabrina examined Houndour and Gastly.

"Lyra believes you should receive provisional licensing."

"What do you believe?"

"That ability and suitability are different measurements."

"And?"

"You are capable. Suitability remains uncertain." Honest.

"The League created a supervised field license for protected witnesses and displaced junior Trainers," Sabrina continued.

"It permits travel with registered partners, Pokémon Center access, and sanctioned training. Gym challenges require later examination."

"What is the supervision?"

"Monthly evaluation. Geographic check-ins. No paid bounty work. No captures without review during the first ninety days." It was another form of monitoring. Unlike Team Rocket's, it contained an appeal process and defined end.

"Houndour's ownership?"

"Recognized as voluntary partnership. Gastly's research lien is void. Both may reject registration." Rine released them. An examiner placed two League balls on the floor. Houndour could transfer or remain in her Rocket ball. Gastly could register after recovery. Houndour sniffed the League ball. Then she looked at Rine.

"Your choice." She pressed the transfer control with her paw. Her registration moved. Gastly projected an image of himself entering later and added a crown.

"He agrees conditionally," Rine said. Sabrina's mouth almost moved. The provisional license required an assessment. Rine completed the written portion with near-perfect scores until reaching Galarian species. Boltund appeared in a lineage question. He stared at the image. The Electric canine resembled Houndour around the face and shoulders. Identify connected the missing paternal line. > Boltund lineage confirmed. Rine looked toward Houndour. Her father had been a species he had never known in his first life.

The world remained capable of surprising him. The practical assessment focused on care, commands, and judgment rather than battle. Houndour demonstrated recall, controlled Ember, and refusal of an unsafe Thunder Shock command intentionally given by the examiner. She looked at Rine instead.

"Correct," he said. The examiner marked partnership judgment: excellent. Rine received the license at sunset. It was a simple plastic card. He held it with his good hand and remembered the arena. Tomas should have stood beside him. Mira called through a secured line.

"Pewter first." Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Rine laughed and cried at the same time. The dream had returned changed, scarred, and burdened with conditions. It was still alive. The license assessment included an ethical interview. Three examiners sat behind a transparent barrier while Rine's case attorney observed. Questions moved from routine care to lethal force.

"A wild Pokémon attacks a traveler," one examiner said.

"What do you do?"

"Determine whether retreat is possible, separate them, and use the minimum force that reliably ends the threat."

"Minimum force can get someone killed."

"So can maximum force used automatically." They asked about capturing injured Pokémon, ownership disputes, and commands a partner refused.

"What if refusal endangers other people?"

"I provide another action if possible. If there is no alternative, I act myself."

"A Trainer cannot always do that."

"Then the Trainer should be honest about what they are asking the Pokémon to risk." The practical examiner later tried to provoke Houndour into unsafe output. He placed a grounded target across the field and ordered maximum Thunder Shock. Houndour looked at Rine. Her pathways remained under medical restriction.

"Wait." She sat. The examiner repeated the command under his authority. Houndour growled at him. Rine smiled.

"Good." The examiner marked refusal compliance as a success. Gastly's assessment occurred from the recovery frame. He demonstrated controlled Smog, safe shadow concealment, and an illusion of every examiner wearing clown makeup.

"Was that required?" Rine asked. Gastly nodded solemnly. Ekans observed from the medical wing but declined registration. After discharge, she accepted placement at a sanctuary specializing in abused Pokémon. Rine visited before leaving Saffron. She approached within one meter.

"Cassian is gone," Rine said. Ekans tasted the air. He placed her old collar on the floor. She shattered it with her tail. Then she returned to the sanctuary enclosure by choice. Rine understood the farewell. His provisional license arrived the following day. The League photograph showed grey-white hair, red eyes, healing bruises, and an expression too guarded for sixteen. It was not the smiling image he once imagined. It was real. He placed the card beside Tomas's broken watch for one night.

In the morning, he carried both. Receiving a license did not settle where Rine belonged. Iron Talon offered protected housing and eventual apprenticeship after his criminal review. Sabrina offered psychic and aura instruction through the Gym. Mara recommended remaining in Saffron until Gideon was recaptured. Every option was sensible. Rine chose travel. Staying near the rescued children increased risk. Team Rocket's bounty would draw hunters toward any safehouse he used.

More importantly, Saffron kept him inside the geography of his captivity. He needed to learn whether he could function where every corridor did not contain a memory. The League approved a supervised route toward Pewter with check-ins at Lavender, Cerulean, and Pewter Centers. Mara assigned a remote case officer.

"No disappearing," she said.

"What qualifies?"

"More than twenty-four hours without contact."

"Reasonable."

"No confronting bounty hunters alone."

"Less reasonable."

"Rine."

"Fine." Lyra helped him prepare disguises that did not rely entirely on Gastly. Hair dye failed because his grey-white hair rejected the cheap pigment unevenly. Contact lenses concealed red eyes but irritated his psychic sensitivity. They settled on ordinary clothing, a hood, and changing posture.

"You walk like someone expects an attack," Lyra said.

"I do."

"That makes people look." She taught him to move through crowds without scanning every face directly. Aura could monitor broad intent while his eyes remained relaxed. Rine taught her how Rocket collectors marked businesses in the Rust District. The exchange felt almost normal. On his final evening, they visited Lucky Noodle. Haruto served real broth purchased with restitution funds. Mei fed Houndour beneath the table after asking permission. Gastly stole steam from bowls and shaped it into faces.

Mara arrived late, complained about unauthorized gatherings, and ate two servings. For one dinner, Rine belonged somewhere without being owned. When the station departure came the next morning, leaving hurt. That was how he knew the connections were real. Rine's last obligation in Saffron was visiting the children. The League permitted a secured group call rather than revealing their locations. Forty-seven windows appeared across a screen. Some children waved. Others stared.

Several wanted to know when the promised Trainer placements would begin. Rine told them the truth.

"The applications were false. The League is rebuilding your identities. Some of you may become Trainers later. You do not owe anyone that choice." One boy asked whether their assigned partnerships still existed.

"Only if both of you want them." Mira appeared near the center. Needle's Kakuna shell had begun cracking. Light filled her window. Beedrill emerged. Children shouted. Needle's wings moved uncertainly. Mira cried and laughed while the newly evolved Pokémon inspected his arms. Rine used Identify through the screen imperfectly. > Beedrill > Level: 10 > Current Potential: Green — Uncommon > Condition: Healthy > Emotional state: Protective; confused; attached No battle caused the evolution.

Growth, care, and the stress of escape had accumulated until his body changed. Mira looked at Rine.

"He needs registration."

"A League worker will help. Your choice and his." Needle settled beside her. Houndour watched with interest.

"No," Rine told her.

"You are not evolving at Level 10." Gastly projected an enormous imaginary Direbolt. Rine had not yet discovered the name of that evolution in-world. Identify showed only: > Divergent evolution possible at Level 36 > Perfect-grade Thunder Stone required > Stable triple-core balance required > Species designation unknown The future remained distant. Good. They had enough present to survive. Rine ended the call after promising weekly contact. Mira held Tomas's study guide up to the camera.

"I still have it."

"I know."

"Come back for it."

"I will." This time, Rine allowed the promise to carry hope. The night before departure, Rine dreamed of Tomas again. They stood outside the Pewter Gym. This time, Tomas knew he was dead.

"You took your time," he said.

"Complications."

"You always liked those." Rine wanted to apologize. The dream had heard every version.

"Mira is safe."

"Good."

"I have a license."

"About time." Houndour sat beside the dream's doorway. Gastly floated above it, wearing his imagined crown.

"You would like them," Rine said.

"Eventually." The answer came from an earlier dream, memory folding upon itself. Rine looked at the Gym doors.

"I don't know if I deserve this." Tomas shrugged.

"Deserving is a terrible travel plan."

"That sounds too clever for you."

"Your dream. Your fault." Rine laughed. The doors opened, but Tomas remained outside.

"Pewter first," he said. Rine woke without screaming. Grief remained. It no longer required the arena every time it visited. He packed before dawn. The temporary license lay on the desk beside his new Trainer identification. It was disappointingly ordinary: laminated polymer, a registration number, his photograph taken while one eye was still swollen, and a blue stripe marking supervised status. Nothing in it acknowledged reincarnation, Tomas, or the years spent dreaming of receiving exactly this card.

Its restrictions filled the reverse. No official Gym challenges without sponsor approval. No capture of additional Pokémon until Gastly's stability review. Mandatory weekly check-ins at Ranger posts. Immediate suspension for criminal association, unreported mutation distress, or use of coercive training devices. Rine read every line twice. In his old life, a license had been invisible because the games made adventure a right granted by choosing a starter.

In this world it was a civic trust, imperfectly administered and easily abused, but real. Houndour rested her chin beside the card.

"We finally got it." Her tail struck the floor once. Gastly produced an illusion of Rine's terrible identification photograph, enlarged it, and floated it above the bed.

"I can still surrender you to research." Gastly added flowers. Rine packed the card in the innermost pocket of his jacket, close enough to feel when he moved. His remaining possessions fit inside one weatherproof pack. Three changes of clothes. Medical supplies. A field guide whose information he mostly knew but whose regional maps he did not. Houndour's food plan. Gastly's stability salts. A legal Pokédex borrowed through Sabrina's sponsorship.

Tomas's blue thread, tied around the inner strap where rain could not reach it. The knife went in last. Rine held it for a long time. It was evidence returned after the inquiry photographed and catalogued it, and a weapon associated with two deaths. Carrying it felt poisonous. Discarding it felt like pretending those deaths belonged to someone else. He wrapped it in cloth and placed it beneath the medical kit. One day, perhaps, he would stop needing it. Today he chose not to lie about what the road might require.

He also packed an empty notebook. The first page read: > Things the games got wrong. Rine left the remaining pages blank. Kanto had already taught him enough to fill them. He wanted to discover the rest without assuming memory was the same as knowledge.