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With the blue-and-white striped beach umbrella set up in the sand, Michi and her husband spread out a set of fluffy beach towels in the shade and made themselves comfortable. 

"Look at this," Mickey said, his back turned to her. He turned, offering a handful of sand. "There's quite a distinctive pink color-- there must be a population of calcium-carbonate-rich corals nearby. I wonder if it could be Corsola fragments..."

"That is a lot of Corsola!" Michi exclaimed, dismayed. The white sands glistened with pale pink, and the number of cute coral Pokemon required to tint it would have been enormous.

"You're probably right," Mickey said thoughtfully, twisting his mustache. "Marine Biology isn't really my field."

"Neither is Geology!" Michi chided. She covered her giggle with a hand. "...But I still enjoy. Always I am learning new things."

They gazed into each others' eyes, interrupted only by a large waterspout from the sea as a Wailmer breached the surface. "Aaaaaa!" Michi cried, leaping up and seizing her beach bag as if the Wailmer was going to roll out of the shallows and steal her sunscreen. 

"I thought you liked Wailmer!" Mickey protested, laughing. The spray of seawater didn't bother him-- he seemed to find it refreshing. 

Michi was fretting, clutching her bag to her chest. "I like Wailmer the character," she emphasized, "Wailmer in real life is too big! It is round and cute, but it is not convenient. It would not even fit in grandmother's koi pond!"

Mickey was quiet for a moment before reaching for the beach bag. "Can I try to catch it?" he said unexpectedly. Michi let out an ehhh? of surprise. The man laughed. "We're doing an exhibit on local Hoenn Pokemon at the university. It might be useful to have around."

"Well... okay," Michi relented, fumbling out one of the complimentary Safari Balls they'd been given and passing it over. Mickey tossed it towards the Wailmer with a baseball pitcher's arm, sending the Safari Ball skipping like a stone over the waves towards the little whale. 

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The Wailmer vanished into the ball, and Michi pictured it flashing three times before it settled. She let out her breath, relieved her husband had been so successful on his first try, and hugged him supportively. "Hooray! You did it!"

"I sure did," Mickey said, bemused, and craned his head to see the ball still bobbing out in the waves. "Maybe I overdid it, though. I suppose the tide will bring it in eventually..."

"Oh! I can send Meriru to fetch it," Michi said. She pulled out the Marill's Pokeball and immediately felt self-conscious. Was she showing off? But Mickey didn't look jealous, just grateful and still mildly concerned about the Safari Ball out in the ocea. Making up her mind, Michi released the aqua mouse and sent it out into the water.

Meriru was basically a living buoy-- her thick fat kept her head above the waves at all times, and it was no trouble making her way out to where the Wailmer had been captured. A Wimpod scooted away from her in alarm, its little legs fanning desperately in the water. Meriru paid it no mind-- she grasped the Wailmer's ball in her stubby limbs and curled up around it, letting the tide push her back to shore.

"You did it!" Michi exclaimed gratefully, collecting the safari ball from her Pokemon. Meriru rolled in the shallows, closing her eyes. She was tired from all the swimming, and the sun was warm, so it seemed time to doze off. Michi presented Wailmer's ball to her husband, happy he'd caught something that made him happy. "Here you are!"

"Thanks, sweetie. They'll love this over in Biology," Mickey said back, pocketing the Pokeball. "I might keep it once the exhibit's over. You never know when you might need to displace a large volume of water!" 

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Michi began to feel curious about the event at the university. "Is it a Pokemon battle?" she asked. She looked out at the sea, searching for more Wailmer she could help Mickey catch. "What is the exhibit?" 

They'd wandered a little ways up the beach away from their towels and beach umbrella, following the path of firm, darkened sand left behind by the ocean waves. Michi had left her crocs behind and was now barefoot, leaving a trail of tiny footprints in her wake.

"Battling is part of it," Mickey answered, "But also the different unique physiology of the Pokemon of this region. With all the new species moving in, sometimes it's hard to remember the original Pokemon native to Hoenn. They were really specialized and adapted for life here, and sadly, they're now often outcompeted by invasive species."

Michi was quiet. "I like the new Pokemon," she confessed after a moment, almost defensively. "They are beautiful, and interesting."

Mickey laughed, squeezing her hand. "I know you do, sweetie."

As if her show of support had reassured the local immigrants, a Dratini suddenly popped out of a hole in the sand. Grains of sand rolled off of its round white nose as the little dragon-type looked up at them with shiny black eyes. Michi let out a little scream of delight, letting go of her husband's hand. "Ah! Ah! Doratini!"

"It looks pretty big to me," Mickey joked, but Michi was already wrestling out a Safari Ball. "Not teeni, Doratini. Doratini, please be my friend," she entreated, advancing barefoot on the alarmed-looking dragon. It popped out of its hole and began to wiggle away down the beach. Michi chased it earnestly. "Nooo!"

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Perhaps her heartfelt request came through to Dratini, since it stopped wiggling away long enough to let her catch it in a Safari Ball. Delighted, Michi returned to her husband to show him her prize. "I have always wanted Doratini!" she said passionately, a little out of breath. 

"You know, I can't believe we went all these years and I never knew how much you wanted Pokemon of your own," Mickey said warmly. His mustache seemed to turn down at the corners and he turned away slightly, shoulders falling. "I really never knew."

"Ah, maybe not always," Michi hurried to amend her mistake, "These days, I am collecting Pokemon Characters, but it is only recent because I did not know how easy it is to catch."

When she was a child, her mother Etsuko had told her only brave and valiant warriors could hope to take down a wild Pokemon and capture it for their own. Perhaps it was a bedtime story more than a reflection of Hoenn seventy years ago, but despite being surrounded by Hoenn Pokemon like Wailmer all her life, Pokemon from other regions had barely seemed real-- they were more like tourist items, things you saw on vacation but never got to bring home from the airport.

"I caught this Inkay while you were chasing that Dratini," Mickey said, pulling out a jellyfish with round, blinking eyes from behind his back. "Oh!" Michi cried, touched, and carefully retrieved the floating squid. "It is cute! Ah, it is the first time you catch me a Pokemon..."

She felt herself tearing up and hugged Inkay gently to her chest (fortunately, it was amenable). "When you are in Galar, I will let it sleep in my room so every time I see its lights, I will think of you..."

"Actually, love," Mickey said, "I have to tell you something."

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Her husband’s tone caught her off-guard and Michi tipped her head to the side, bewildered.

“Something to... tell me?” she echoed uncertainly.

Subconsciously, the pressure on the Inkay in her arms increased. The squid Pokemon bulged slightly in response. 

“Yes,” Mickey said, coming closer. He wrapped his hands gently around hers, prying them away from the rapidly compressing Inkay. “It’s about Galar. We finished the excavation— I’m coming home.”

Michi let that sink in. “You are... then, the sabbatical is finished?”

Mickey laughed, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. “Seems that way! It’s been almost a year— they’re going to want me back on the regular payroll at the University sooner or later.”

Many emotions warred within Michi. She had been an independent woman for almost a year now. Her children, studying abroad. Her husband, uncovering ancient artifacts across the ocean. Her mother, stuck in the past.

For almost one year, Michi had been left on her own to reconcile that conflict, to find balance between the way things were and the way she wanted them to become. She had captured many new Pokemon, met many new friends, and learned to integrate those things into the life in Petalburg she’d always had.

But no matter what trouble she got herself into—escaping legendary Pokemon at the top of an improvised tower, scrapping together fossils at a gym competition—one person had been there to support her. 

When she heard her husband was coming home, Michiko wept for joy.

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"Let's do something," he said after he kissed her. Michi's eyes grew wide and Mickey laughed, holding her close. "Not like that. I mean, something to celebrate."

Michi hesitated. "Well..."

There was something she'd been thinking about for the last few months. Her worldview had shifted so much ever since she'd started collecting Pokemon. Spending her days working the front desk at the hotel didn't seem like it fit her new lifestyle anymore.

"Well, I recently go to job interview at City Hall," she piped up after a moment, nervous to admit the truth. "I am thinking of a new job."

Mickey's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Don't tell me it's because you found that Dunsparce," he joked, "You were so excited to find it that night on the video call. They didn't really make you the mayor, did they? I thought that was an old wives' tale."

"Ah!" Michi's face colored and she covered her mouth. "That is why I went! But there is no reward for the tsuchinoko in Petalburg, I must go to Fiorre. But I don't want to!" she said quickly. "I want to stay in Petalburg. And they tell me, there is an opening..."

"Oh my god," Mickey said, putting the dots together. "You're going to be Gym Leader, aren't you?"

Michi let out a faint cry. "Aah! You are good at guessing!"

"Well, ever since the great Zac Ramsay took up the post in his hometown, it's seemed possible for you. I know you've been wanting to restore the old gym in Petalburg." Mickey's enthusiasm seemed to be building. "Sweetheart, this is wonderful. You should take the job!"

"But I am not so good at battling," Michi admitted, "I am always losing to Rayquaza et cetera..."

Mickey actually snorted. "Gym Leaders are educators above all else. Battling's only a part of it. Oops, gotta get this little guy," he said, pointing out a Clobbopus that Michi definitely would have been upset if they'd missed. "He's pretty cute, right?"

"Yes!" Michi quickly caught the Clobbopus in her last Safari Ball. As it disappeared into the light, she made up her mind. 

"I will do it," she said, winding her fingers with her husband's. "If you are OK to help me, I will do this thing. Because, I love Petalburg."

"Petalburg loves you, Michi," Mickey said, "And so do I. We'll both be there to support you." He picked her up off the sand and swung her around, startling a bubbly laugh out of the older woman. She clung to him as he lowered her again, breathless and exuberant. "Let's make a fine gym together."

"Okay!" she breathed, looking up at him. Having her husband back made her feel like she had the strength to do anything. "Let's... do it!"