Bro, Are You Wholesaleing Plates?

As everything before his eyes fell into darkness, Luo Chen found himself back in the internet café.

His gaze fell upon the slate. Its golden patterns were exactly the same as those he had seen in the vision, and their meaning entered his mind as well.

[At the beginning of creation... Heaven and earth were divided in two, countless vast powers surged forth. Its meaning was soul, and thus came the wandering spirit...]

The text ended there abruptly.

Luo Chen took a deep breath.

Things had already come this far. Anyone who had played Pokémon should know what this was.

—Arceus's Plate!

And it seemed to be a Ghost-type one.

More precisely, it should have been a fragment of Arceus's Ghost-type Plate, because it was less than one-fifth the size of what he had seen in the illusion.

But even if it was only a fragment, Luo Chen still had trouble reacting to something of this level suddenly appearing before him.

He could not help turning to look at Gengar.

"Where did you get this?"

"Geh heh, geh heh..."

Gengar still looked utterly earnest as he began explaining.

[Deep, deep inside this mountain... there is a strange cave. I found this after going inside.]

[There were also lots of strange... powers around it, stopping me and not letting me go any farther...]

[I spent a lot of effort getting in... and bringing this out.]

As he spoke, he looked up at Luo Chen, anticipation gleaming in his eyes.

"Geh heh! Geh heh!"

[This thing... is very good. Carrying it... makes me feel comfortable.]

[Now, to thank you... I will give this to you.]

Luo Chen looked at Gengar's expectant face, then lowered his gaze to the fragment of slate on the table.

After a brief silence, he pushed the fragment back in front of Gengar.

"I understand the thought, but I can't accept this. Keep it and use it yourself."

"Geh heh?!"

Gengar clearly had not expected Luo Chen to react like that. He reached out and pushed the slate back toward Luo Chen.

[This... is really good!]

"No, it isn't that it's bad. It's too good."

Luo Chen smiled.

"One thing is one thing. I only helped you out in passing."

He shook his head, thought for a moment, and added,

"If you really want to repay me, how about coming to work at the internet café?"

"Geh... heh?"

[Internet café?]

Now it was Gengar's turn to be stunned. He obviously did not understand what an internet café was.

Luo Chen realized that as well and changed his wording.

"Simply put, this is a shop, and there will often be customers coming here in the future."

"You just need to stay in the shop. Sometimes you may need to help out with a few things, but it won't be much."

As Luo Chen spoke, he pointed at the white can in front of Gengar.

"In exchange, I'll provide you with this kind of drink every day, along with some other food."

Gengar seemed confused by everything Luo Chen had said before that, but the instant he heard the word "drink," his eyes lit up and he nodded repeatedly.

"Geh heh! Geh heh!"

[Okay! Okay! I like... drinks!]

Seeing Gengar's reaction, Luo Chen held out one hand.

"Then it's a deal."

"Starting today, we're friends."

Gengar froze again. This time, he stayed dazed even longer than before.

After quite a while, he finally came back to himself, stretched out a claw to grasp Luo Chen's hand, and shook it up and down.

"Geh heh! Geh heh!"

[Friends!]

At the same time, an excited thought rang out.

[I have... a friend!]

"Geh heh!"

[Wait for me!]

After shaking Luo Chen's hand, Gengar seemed to remember something. He turned and ran out of the shop, quickly vanishing into thin air.

Meanwhile, Luo Chen stared thoughtfully at the fragment of slate left on the table.

A fragment of the Creator God's Ghost-type Plate—there was no way he did not want something like this.

But when he thought about it carefully, even if it ended up in his hands, all he could do was find a way to let one of his Ghost-type Pokémon use it...

If he could make Gengar his companion, then it did not matter whether this fragment was his or not.

After all, it was meant for Gengar to use in the first place.

It was just...

Luo Chen looked in the direction Gengar had gone and shook his head.

This kid... wasn't he a little too innocent?

He had never seen such an honest ghost in his life.

No, more accurately... he had never seen a ghost to begin with.

Five minutes later, Gengar reappeared at the entrance of the internet café.

This time, he was dragging a huge box behind him. The suitcase was even larger than his body, its surface worn and battered, clearly having been around for many years.

Gengar dragged the box straight in front of Luo Chen and opened it.

The sight before him made Luo Chen raise an eyebrow.

The box was packed with all sorts of miscellaneous items.

Luo Chen spotted several Evolution Stones—Water, Fire, and Leaf Stones—and even a Moon Stone.

There were also some special items that looked like rare objects such as Curse Tags and Toxic Orbs.

Of course, the box was not filled entirely with useful things. There were a few pretty glass marbles, several emerald-green stones, and some ordinary stones in all kinds of shapes.

There were even bottle caps, old newspapers, and a little red hat.

In short, the box seemed to contain just about everything.

"Are these... your collection?"

After thinking for a moment, Luo Chen asked Gengar.

Gengar answered with a series of nods.

"Geh heh!"

[That's right! These are all my favorite things...]

"Geh heh, geh heh."

[Is there anything you want? Pick whatever you like!]

He began rummaging through the box, picking up item after item to show Luo Chen.

As he searched, Gengar suddenly seemed to remember something and began digging through a large pile of bottles and jars on the left.

Very soon, he pulled something out from among them.

It was a roughly rectangular stone with irregular edges.

Perhaps because it had been stored in the box, it was much cleaner, with no thick layer of dust covering its surface.

At a glance, Luo Chen saw a pattern carved into the stone that was extremely familiar to him.

Only this time, the pattern was golden.

At that instant, Luo Chen seemed to realize something.

The next moment, his vision went black.

When his sight returned, the familiar sea of stars was once again before him.

Not far away, Arceus was raising a forehoof toward an entirely new Plate.

Luo Chen: ...?

No, bro.

Are your Creator Plates wholesale goods???

Why is there another one?!