Pokémon: The Path of Ascension

More than half an hour later.

"Hah..." Toshi took a deep breath. "I didn't expect Mr. Satou Kenji's house to be so far away. It's really hard to find, don't you think, Butterfree?"

"Butterfree..." Butterfree nodded.

At first, Toshi thought it would only take half an hour to get there, but after getting off the train, he discovered that Satou Kenji's house was still about five miles away from the train station. That wasn't even the main issue; the key problem was that his house was built in a mountainous forest, making it particularly troublesome to find.

…

"Finally here." Toshi wiped the sweat from his forehead and quickly walked toward the two-story wooden house in front of him.

"Knock, knock, knock."

"Mr. Satou Kenji, are you home? I am Toshi, the one who contacted you earlier."

He heard slow footsteps behind the door. "Just a moment, I'll be right down."

After waiting for a while, the door finally opened.

"Hello, Trainer. Please come in and have a seat."

From the phone call, Toshi could tell that Mr. Satou Kenji was an older man, but when he actually saw him, Toshi was still a bit surprised. The elderly man looked haggard, unenergetic, hunched over, and walked with weak steps, giving off a sense of being near the end of his life.

Toshi quickly stepped forward and supported Satou Kenji's arm. "Grandpa Satou Kenji, let me help you."

Satou Kenji looked at Toshi supporting him and then at Toshi's gentle expression. For a moment, it seemed he remembered something; he smiled and said nothing as Toshi helped him, slowly walking toward the living room.

"Grandpa Satou Kenji, take your time."

Toshi carefully assisted Satou Kenji in sitting down on the sofa.

"Trainer..."

Toshi waved his hand. "Grandpa Satou Kenji, you can just call me Toshi."

"Alright," Satou Kenji said slowly in a murky voice. "Toshi, I'm honestly glad you accepted my commission. To be honest, I can't offer much in compensation."

Toshi shook his head. "It's not a difficult task. There's no need for such a high compensation. The attitude of treating each commission should be to do as much work as you earn."

"Heh, I didn't expect you to have such insight at such a young age," Satou Kenji chuckled. "That's rare."

"You flatter me," Toshi scratched his head. "Let's get back to the main topic."

"Okay, let me explain the details. It's like this..."

About twenty minutes later, Toshi had a good understanding of the details of the commission.

Basically, Satou Kenji had been hearing strange noises outside during the night, but every time he went out to investigate, he found nothing.

At first, he thought it might be a ghost-type Pokémon playing tricks on him, so he wanted to find a Trainer to drive it away.

The initial commission he made was just like that, but after the Trainer came and stayed for a long time, they didn't find any sign of a ghost-type Pokémon.

Satou Kenji initially didn't think much of it, assuming that the Pokémon had left, so he paid the compensation and let them go.

Who would have thought that the next night, Satou Kenji heard the noises again? In desperation, he could only issue another commission, but over the years, five Trainers had come and all failed to find any trace of the Pokémon.

Gradually, this incident spread among Trainers, and it was said that Satou Kenji was just playing tricks, and with the compensation not being high, no one wanted to take his commission anymore.

Until Toshi accepted the task.

After listening, Toshi pondered for a moment. The task was simple to say but difficult in reality, as many people had come before and still hadn't resolved the issue.

"Toshi, you're not thinking of leaving right after hearing Grandpa, are you?" Satou Kenji asked softly, opening his murky eyes.

Toshi looked at Satou Kenji's expression, feeling a pang in his heart.

"Grandpa Satou Kenji, may I ask, where are your children? Why don't you get your children to help with this matter?"

"Children?" Satou Kenji slowly shook his head. "My children are no longer here..."

"How could that be?" Toshi's eyes widened.

Satou Kenji's eyes were filled with memories and sadness. "I remember it was a bright morning. That day, Hiro told me he was going to explore some ruins and said he would come back to share his adventure with me, telling me to wait for him at home."

"So, I waited and waited..."

"But in the end, what I received was a notification letter informing me of Hiro's death! It was sent by one of his companions after confirming that Hiro had met with misfortune. They also said that due to a collapse in the ruins, no one knew what happened below, and no one who went down came back, not even Hiro's body..."

As he spoke, tears began to flow uncontrollably from Satou Kenji's eyes.

Toshi stepped forward and gently stroked Satou Kenji's frail back.

"I'm sorry, Grandpa Satou Kenji, I didn't know..."

Satou Kenji wiped his tears and calmed himself. "It's alright. So many years have passed, and I've come to terms with it."

Seeing Satou Kenji's lonely figure, Toshi felt a pang in his heart and couldn't help but say, "How about this? I'll come and keep you company every day, Grandpa Satou Kenji. Would that be okay?"

Satou Kenji paused for a moment and then slowly turned his head. What he saw was Toshi's sincere and warm smile. Once again, his eyes moistened, but this time it was not sadness; it was tears of joy.

"You dear child, I'm so glad you can come and see Grandpa."

"However..."

Toshi knew what Satou Kenji was going to say, but he couldn't bear the thought of such a lonely old man spending his last moments in this world all by himself.

"Grandpa Satou Kenji, don't worry. I attend the Ranger Academy nearby, which is not far from here. Even if I come every day, it won't disrupt anything."

"That's good, that's good. Toshi, you're such a kind child!" Satou Kenji patted Toshi's hand, his face filled with a look of happiness.

"Alright, Grandpa, I see that it's getting dark. I should go check the surroundings first and resolve the issue for you; how does that sound?"

After all, Toshi was here to complete a task, so he wanted to finish it first.

"Okay," Satou Kenji smiled. "Just be careful, Toshi. If you find that Pokémon, try to drive it away."

"Alright, Grandpa, you can count on me."

…

Toshi walked around Satou Kenji's house a few times and had Butterfree use Supersonic to scout many areas. However, not only did he not see a ghost-type Pokémon, but he didn't see a single living thing.

"Well, let's wait a bit longer. Grandpa Satou Kenji mentioned that most disturbances happen at night. Maybe only then will we find a trace."

He called out to Butterfree, who was still searching in the sky, "Butterfree, come down and have something to eat. We have more work to do tonight."