Pokémon: The Reemployment of the Retired Champion of Paldea

Porto Marinada—a coastal town by the sea. To its west lies the South Paldea Sea, adjacent to the region's largest desert, the Asado Desert, as well as the primary destination of Lucas's journey: Casseroya Lake.

In addition to its seaside town architecture, Porto Marinada is most famous for its central Market.

Porto Marinada Market gathers merchants and vendors from all over Paldea, selling an incredible variety of goods.

But the market's most distinctive feature is its unique small-scale auctions.

To hold an auction, one must apply in advance to the Porto Marinada Market's management committee, who then arrange an appropriate venue.

This process can be troublesome for most, but for Lucas, it's a breeze.

He just happens to know someone in the Porto Marinada Market management committee.

On his travels, he once rescued a man from severe dehydration in the Asado Desert—a clear case of someone lost, exhausted, and out of resources.

That survivor is now the middle-aged man smiling at Lucas.

The man's name is Terry. He wears understated gold-rimmed glasses and looks every bit the cultured gentleman.

Terry takes off his glasses, picks up a magnifying glass, and carefully examines the cotton Lucas brought. With gloved hands, he gently strokes it, admiration on his face. "This truly is the cotton from Galar's unique Pokémon, Eldegoss. Just this cloud-like softness and whiteness show how beautiful and lustrous the threads spun from it must be."

After a moment, Terry looks up. "Mr. Lucas, regarding how to auction off this cotton, I have a proposal."

He writes several large characters on a sheet of white paper and hands it over.

Lucas reads aloud, "Auctioned in four stages?"

Terry nods. "Eldegoss cotton is rare in Paldea. Many merchants and wealthy buyers will be interested."

"You have exactly ten kilos. I suggest auctioning it in lots of one, one, three, and five. That way, we can build hype and drive up the price."

"The opening bid for the first two lots is 4000 League Coins, then 5000 for three, and 6000 for five. What do you think?"

Terry looks at Lucas with some apprehension, worried he might be displeased.

To him, Lucas is a lifesaver—he wouldn't miss any chance to repay him.

With a few shills, the final price could easily exceed 6000 League Coins per kilo.

Lucas nods casually. To him, even selling all at 6000 per kilo is fine; if the auction raises more, that's great. As long as it sells, he's happy.

Either way, he can't lose.

Seeing Terry's relieved and satisfied smile, Lucas suddenly asks, "Wait a moment."

Since he's entrusted the auction to the committee, shouldn't there be a commission fee—some percentage of the transaction?

Lucas looks at Terry. "Don't you take a cut?"

"Of course not!" Terry waves his hands. "You're my savior. Helping you is reward enough. How could I do something so heartless as take a cut?"

Terry's attitude is so firm, as if he'd jump from the second floor if Lucas insisted, that Lucas can only accept his kindness.

Even if it is just the second floor.

After making arrangements with Terry and confirming the cotton would be auctioned the next day, Lucas politely declines his invitation. Rather than touring Porto Marinada or the coast, he has more important things to do.

He isn't worried about Terry pocketing the money and doesn't plan to stay for the auction's end.

Not that Terry is that kind of person, but even if he tried, Lucas and his Pokémon would have something to say about it.

He's capable of handling any tricks thrown his way.

With daylight still early, Lucas heads to the town's outskirts and calls out Dragonite, flying straight toward Casseroya Lake.

From Porto Marinada, it takes about forty minutes at Dragonite's speed to see the lake's outline.

Petting the clearly excited Dragonite, Lucas smiles. "It's been a while since we've visited Casseroya Lake. I wonder how the Dragonair are doing."

"Drago~"

Dragonite replies eagerly, its flight even faster than usual.

Lucas remembers that day vividly. Not long after saving Terry, he finished training in the Asado Desert and headed to Casseroya Lake in search of his team's final Pokémon. It was there, at the lake, that he met Dragonite, or rather, its Pokémon Egg.

Though the games depict the lake as teeming with Dratini and Dragonair, in reality, they are rare and hard to find here.

Dragonite's egg was guarded by three Dragonair. As the child of the Dragonair leader, the egg was precious, but the leader had disappeared one day and never returned.

Originally, Lucas's target was the most eye-catching of the three Dragonair—a pink one whose color stood out in the lake and caught Lucas's eye as he searched for a partner.

Though a pink Dragonair would evolve into a green Dragonite, Lucas wasn't about to pass up such a rare Pokémon over its looks.

With Swampert, he challenged the pink Dragonair to a capture battle. Wild Pokémon generally have a few responses to a trainer's challenge: those open to being caught will fight, those who aren't may flee, and some might attack to drive the trainer away.

The pink Dragonair was a fourth kind. Sensing Swampert's strength, it sought help from Lucas and Swampert.

That's when Lucas realized why the Dragonair, who could live underwater, were so exposed on the surface.

Some Gyarados had targeted the island where the Dragonair were guarding the egg—waters that were originally the Dragonite leader's territory.

But with the leader gone, the young-adult Gyarados claimed the area.

Though Dragonair are late bloomers, they're not skilled fighters and try to avoid conflict, relying on the Dragonite leader when they can't.

With the Dragonair's plea, Lucas learned that the Gyarados were about to attack the other two Dragonair and the egg on the island.

After some thought, Lucas agreed to help drive the Gyarados away from the island.

After all, if the Dragonair saw how strong he was, maybe they'd want to join him—wouldn't that be wonderful?

In the end, realizing they couldn't protect the Dragonite leader's child themselves, the Dragonair entrusted the egg to Lucas.

Lucas never hid the Dragonair's existence from Dragonite, so Dragonite has always looked forward to meeting the three Dragonair who cared for it.

Soon, the outline of Casseroya Lake appeared before Lucas and Dragonite.

As Paldea's largest lake, Casseroya Lake is vast.

Surrounded by mountains, it looks like a giant cauldron from above—hence the name. Scattered on its surface are islands, the largest of which has its own forest and hill.

From the northeast, one can see a great waterfall cascading from the region's largest snow-capped range, Glaseado Mountain—the Casseroya Falls, one of Paldea's top ten scenic spots.

If lucky, one might see the legendary Magikarp leaping the Dragon Gate at the falls.

The currents near the falls are treacherous; ordinary Water-types risk danger, so the wild Pokémon nearby tend to be much stronger.

The lake's west and north connect to the Paldea Sea, and sometimes sea Pokémon stray in—even dolphin-shaped ones can be spotted.

Riding Dragonite, Lucas scans below, looking for the island from his memories.

It's been a while, and searching for a small island in such a vast lake is tricky.

From above, he often sees fast-moving white streaks on the surface—those are Veluza, dashing about, disturbing the mist that floats like clouds over the water.

He knows trainers hunting for shinies here often end up tangled with those Pokémon.

Lowering Dragonite's altitude, Lucas soon notices something new.

On the calm lake, he spots small, weak, fish-like Pokémon—Dondozo and Tatsugiri—Water/Dragon types that mimic sushi to help their giant shadow below hunt, a rare example of interspecies cooperation.