"Store Manager, please help me take a look at this Pokémon..."
Huh?
Okay, Lady Keqing, just keep quiet and proceed to use Tartaglia's face to wipe the floor, right?
Hiroshi raised his head and looked at the Pokédex Keqing held up and the picture displayed on it.
[Ralts] (The Feeling Pokémon)
Oh, haha.
Why did you show up so quickly, Ralts?!
I announce that after today, Lady Keqing, the Queen of Speed, will return to the mainstream meta of Teyvat!
"Miss Keqing, you are really lucky. Ralts is a Fairy-type and Psychic-type Pokémon. It comes with the inherent ability of Telepathy right from the moment it hatches. You can directly have barrier-free mental communication with your initial Pokémon."
"And after it evolves, it becomes Gardevoir, which is beautiful, elegant, and incredibly powerful. It can predict the future, teleport instantly, and can even activate its most powerful Psychic energy to create a small black hole to protect its Trainer..."
Hiroshi couldn't help but tell the story of Diantha, the Champion of the Kalos Region, and her Mega Gardevoir partner.
"More importantly, the Fairy type is the absolute nemesis of the Dragon type."
"Plus Psychic powers..."
"I'm afraid that in the future, Trainers such as Hu Tao, who main Dragon-types, will have to walk around you to avoid a beating."
The System's quotation was the same as that of the "Royal Three" Starter Pokémon.
Moreover, there was the vicious example of Tartaglia, whose draws were getting progressively worse the more he gambled.
In addition, Keqing has a pragmatic, down-to-earth character, so she nodded decisively.
"Ten Million Mora? I want it."
Hiroshi returned to the breeding room and brought the Pokémon out for Keqing.
"Ralts is here."
Keqing's eyes were full of expectation.
Suddenly, her eyes sparkled.
Different from the way he held the other babies before, this time Hiroshi was holding Ralts with both hands, very delicately.
Ralts was originally small. Even fully cultivated, it is only about half a meter tall. It was now in the cub stage that had just broken out of the eggshell and was as small as ten or twenty centimeters.
It had a pure white body, very much like a small humanoid. It had green hair that looked like a bowl cut, with green bangs that were too long, covering most of its face so the eyes could not be seen clearly.
Hiroshi held it in his hands.
It was like a little princess wearing a white dress dancing on his palms.
Hiroshi brought Ralts to Keqing.
"Ralts, listen to your Trainer carefully from now on."
This Ralts was timid and shy. It covered its face with its slender white hands.
But Ralts did not resist Keqing.
When Hiroshi handed it to Keqing, she realized that she had replaced his hands with her own pair of soft, gloved palms.
While standing there, Ralts covered its face with its hands and quietly opened a gap between its fingers.
In the gap, a clear and beautiful red eye appeared, looking shyly and curiously at its future owner.
Coincidentally, Keqing also leaned in close to its face, observing Ralts at a very close distance.
The eyes of the master and the Pokémon baby suddenly met.
Ralts panicked instantly. Its white face flushed red, and it was so frightened that its whole head shrank between its hands.
"Ralts~~!"
Ralts's cry fell onto the ears of Andrei and Tartaglia as simple, unintelligible noises.
But it fell on Keqing's ears differently.
She instantly "understood" Ralts's meaning in her mind.
"Master~~!"
Ralts's timid and sweet loli-like voice immediately made Keqing's amethyst eyes overflow with surprise.
"Is this 'Telepathy'?"
"I can actually communicate with such a small Pokémon!"
Now, Keqing had no doubts about Hiroshi's previous story of the Kalos Champion Diantha and her Gardevoir.
Maybe I can train her to that level!
Yuheng of the Liyue Qixing.
In the hearts of the people of Liyue Harbor, she always looked serious, strong, and unsmiling—a workaholic who challenged the gods.
But now...
Keqing's happy and joyful smile hung on her face, melting the ice.
Anyone could see her sincerity at this moment. At the same time, Ralts, who was affected by the emotion via its red horn, took the initiative to lie close to Keqing in her arms. Its little face was also filled with joy similar to that of its master.
Grass!
It's so sour (jealousy-inducing).
Witnessing the scene of harmonious coexistence between person and Pokémon...
That hateful thing about Tartaglia...
Why did I set the flag? Why did I only choose the Pseudo-Legendary + Dragon type?
The "Fennekin" Starter just now was very good and worth cultivating.
Then he looked back fiercely at Andrei, the manager of Northland Bank beside him.
Andrei, who followed him, lowered his head and carefully coaxed the awakened Trapinch in his arms. Hearing the "snap-gnaw" cry of the Trapinch, he couldn't help but wonder to himself:
"Trapinch, are you hungry? But you just finished a bottle of Moomoo Milk."
Seeing that all his subordinates (and rivals) had gotten the Pokémon they liked, and the scene was so warm...
Tartaglia's mentality completely collapsed.
"Store Manager Hiroshi! Can you go back and choose the 'Fennekin' from the beginning?"
"Please!"
As expected, it was Tartaglia, a joyful person who did nothing by the book.
When he saw the "Childe"—the Eleventh of the Fatui Harbingers—solemnly put his palms together and face him as if he were about to worship Buddha...
Hiroshi was afraid of losing his life (or just finding it awkward), so he stepped back politely.
"I'm sorry."
"I advised you earlier."
Tartaglia's whole person turned to stone. "Ha..."
"In fact, if you only aim at the Pseudo-Legendary or Dragon type, you can wait until the times are refreshed next week before trying again."
"But in this case, you will lose a week of nurturing and training time."
"Now is the time for the first batch of Trainers to catch up with each other."
"The stronger you are, the further you can go and the richer rewards you can get in the upcoming Liyue Region Trainer's Sword Trial Conference."
Trainer Sword Trial Conference!
Pokémon League!
Tartaglia, who loves fighting and is a martial arts fanatic, was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot.
"Then... then... that's it!"
Tartaglia almost gritted his teeth and raised his Pokédex again, pointing to the fifth drawn "Alolan Vulpix" on it.
"How much? I want it."
"Two Million Mora."
Before Hiroshi went to pick up the Pokémon, he patted Tartaglia on the shoulder comfortingly.
"The fighting power of Alolan Vulpix and Alolan Ninetales is not weak at all. Maybe, if you get a Pokémon with a good personality, train hard, have high understanding, level up quickly, and learn many skills..."
"Maybe it can reach the intensity of a King or Champion level?"
After handing the Alolan Vulpix to Tartaglia, and settling the account with Keqing and Andrei...
Hiroshi opened the SR Purple Card that the Store Manager had harvested from the ten-pull earlier.
Among them, one of the upgrade module cards read as follows:
[Professor Oak's Generation II Pokédex Upgrade Technology – Smartphone Integration and Function Expansion]
Hiroshi used this upgrade module card mentally.
Beep!
Including all collected Pokédexes currently in the hands of customers, the upgrade was completed instantly via the network.
"By the way, everyone, the Pokédex function has been updated. I am about to create a customer group chat."
"Let me add you all in..."