Three Choices

"...Oh." Heiduo sighed helplessly, walked back, and picked up Eevee.

How had she survived with such a timid nature?

When he reached the back seat and stretched out his hand to grab a can of normal-type Pokémon food, Eevee cried out.

"I don't want to eat that! It's too dry! It tastes awful! I want chips! I want that fruit bread! And those cream puffs!"

The little thing was ordering food like she was at a restaurant, constantly picking snacks to eat.

Heiduo could not help saying, "Are you sure you're hungry and not just craving food?"

Pokémon food was the best way for Pokémon to replenish energy. It was also the most filling and longest-lasting kind of food. Humans could eat it too. Heiduo often sampled the food he made, though he could not eat too much of it, since some ingredients were harmful to humans.

"I don't want it! Would you eat dog food if someone gave it to you?" Eevee argued. She still thought of herself as human and refused to eat Pokémon food that looked like oversized kibble.

...Fair enough.

Heiduo unwrapped a piece of bread for Eevee.

They were all snacks, with little nutritional value. She would be hungry again soon after eating them.

But seeing Eevee wolf it down, Heiduo could not help wondering whether it was really that delicious.

Two minutes later, Eevee raised her head, pushed the bread crumbs aside, and used her front paws to clean the food bits from around her mouth.

She even scratched her ear with a hind leg.

"I'm satisfied, I'm satisfied!" Eevee jumped into Heiduo's arms and tugged on his sleeve with her mouth, wanting him to hold her.

What was this? Had she latched onto him?

Heiduo frowned. Eevee was cute, but before he knew what gender she had been in her past life, he could not help feeling that there was some burly, foot-scratching old man inside that little body—and that old man was acting cute.

No. Just thinking about it... blegh!

"You're more or less done eating. Tell me, what's your situation?" Heiduo pulled his hand back and stared coldly at Eevee.

Eevee grew somewhat frightened under his gaze. Shrinking her neck, she said, "What situation? I got transported here, and this is Pokémon. Who hasn't seen it before? It was so common in the twenty-first century..."

Under Heiduo's increasingly chilly expression, Eevee finally gave in. "Fine! I'll tell you, okay?!"

Eevee knew this world was nothing like the peaceful Pokémon world in the anime, where all Pokémon and humans lived together in harmony. Just from the people who had gone to such trouble to tie her up and sell her, she knew this world held both death and filth.

Honestly, she had had enough of the precarious life in the wild.

In the anime, berries in the forest seemed endless, ripe for Pokémon to pick whenever they liked. But what was reality like? Every berry-bearing tree stood within the territory of some powerful Pokémon.

Try stealing from them, and they'd beat the crap out of you!

And then there were the Trainers. Whenever any of them saw her, the first thing they did was attack her and hurt her! All in the name of catching her.

This world that looked beautiful but was actually cold and twisted was not some ideal land or utopia. It was an even more realistic, naked jungle society!

For a shut-in older woman like her, who had barely left home before being transported here, she was terribly unsuited to this world!

If Heaven had not taken pity on her and given her a cheat, she had no idea how many times she would have died already!

And in the midst of this despairing situation, she had actually encountered a handsome fellow countryman! And he seemed incredibly capable and powerful.

A thigh! A golden thigh! If she held on tight, she would never have to worry about food or drink again!

To hell with freedom! When your life was not even guaranteed, freedom meant nothing!

"I was transported here last year. I was born from a Pokémon Egg in that National Park place. You have no idea what I've been through these days, boohoohoohoo! It was bad enough not being able to eat my fill, but sometimes I couldn't even get Water type to drink!" As she spoke, Eevee actually began to cry, tears spilling from her huge Water type-filled eyes.

Heiduo crossed his arms and remained unmoved. "What about before you were transported here?"

"Before I was transported? Uh... I was in college... Okay, okay, I worked from home. I was a freelance illustrator and graphic designer, and sometimes I made videos..." Eevee lowered her head. Heiduo's gaze seemed capable of seeing through her lies, making her afraid to say anything false.

A homebody, and an artist? He wondered which was more comfortable, that life or his own 996 grind.

Heiduo said slowly, "Name, gender, home address."

"...Are you taking a census?!" Eevee bared her teeth. She found this relentless probing deeply unpleasant.

"I'm not taking a census. I just want to determine whether you're a Pokémon... I can trust." Heiduo explained his reasons for asking as objectively as he could.

Eevee paused. "...Fine. Then let's establish mutual trust. My name is Zou Xue. I'm female, from Balqiao, Tongzhou, Tianjing City. I have a second-tier bachelor's degree. My family got three apartments from the demolition of our old home, so I decided to coast through life..."

Holy shit, a demolition heiress!

No comparison. No comparison at all.

Heiduo sighed inwardly. What was the hottest kind of nouveau riche in 2019? Not the second generation of the rich, nor any other kind of second generation—it was the demolition second generation.

These wealthy people, who could live out the rest of their lives without struggling just by relying on demolition compensation, were often synonymous with all sorts of scandals.

There was no other reason. They simply had too much money and nowhere to spend it.

As for people like Heiduo, who had waited ten thousand years without his hometown ever being demolished, they could only stare at the demolition second generation with envy and jealousy while their time and health were ground away by 996 workdays.

Eevee gave a rather vague account of her circumstances. Heiduo found it difficult to judge how much was true, so he believed about half of it and reserved judgment on the suspicious parts.

After finishing, Eevee looked at Heiduo expectantly, as if waiting for something.

Heiduo knew she was waiting for him to reveal his own background, so he said, "My original name was Heiduo, and my current name is Heiduo. I was male in both my past and present lives. I used to live in Jincheng, Zhejiang Province, and worked in e-commerce operations..."

Since he did not trust Eevee, there was no way he would stupidly reveal all his information...

Hm? No, wait. Eevee was a Pokémon now, not a human!

Heiduo suddenly spotted a blind spot. Since Eevee... Zou Xue was now a Pokémon, he could catch her with a Poké Ball!

He did not know how it worked, but the Poké Balls here were unlike those in the anime, where Pokémon could escape by themselves. As long as the Pokémon inside had no chance to touch the switch, it could not possibly get out!

With that thought, Heiduo's gaze toward Eevee became malicious.

Across from him, Eevee was still mulling over Heiduo's information when her Ability, Danger Avoidance, suddenly activated. Her heart began pounding rapidly. She looked up and saw Heiduo staring at her with a strange expression.

"Uh... you..."

"I roughly understand your situation. We're both adults, so let's be direct—I have two options for you." Ignoring Eevee's timid gaze, Heiduo said, "First, you follow me from now on. I'll provide food, drink, and lodging, while you protect and assist me. But for safety's sake, I'll need to catch you, because if I don't and someone else catches you, your fate will be miserable. Of course, I won't exploit you. If I were that kind of person, I wouldn't have risked myself to save you."

That was true. Heiduo was essentially Eevee's savior now. Without him, she would definitely have been dragged away to fight—or perhaps subjected to some biological experiment.

Heiduo thought of Red's Abu, the Espeon from the special manga. Team Rocket had used him for experiments, eventually turning him into a Pokémon that could evolve at will, but whose genes were extremely unstable, leaving him in frequent pain.

"..." Eevee said nothing. Her expression was dazed, clearly not expecting Heiduo to say something so practical.

According to the plots of those anime and novels, shouldn't Heiduo fall into danger, then she would save his life, and afterward the two of them would join forces as an unstoppable duo and live happily ever after?

Screenwriter! You wrote the script wrong! The plot is moving way too fast!

Heiduo completely failed to notice the frantic little drama playing out in Eevee's mind. He continued, "Second, when the police arrive, you go with them. I won't need anything in return, as long as you promise not to expose my identity as someone from another world. But if you choose that, I can't guarantee you'll receive any especially good treatment in the future.

"After all, Eevee aren't rare Pokémon in this world. If you don't reveal that you know a language from another world, the best possible outcome would be living without worries as a pet that coasts through life—but the chances of that are small. There are too many Trainers in this world, and they love Pokémon battles. They'll force you to fight."

At this point, Heiduo paused. His throat was a little dry, so he took a sip of Water type to moisten it before saying, "You can also choose neither. We can part ways here. You can leave now; I won't stop you, and I certainly won't illegally detain you. I don't have that much time to waste... So choose."

He spread his hands, signaling for Eevee to make her choice: freedom, coasting through life, or staying with him.

Heiduo did not particularly desire Eevee herself. Even if she had a cheat, she was ultimately optional to him. Having Eevee would not suddenly let him defeat Lorelei.

He still had to take things one bite at a time.

Eevee's expression was deeply conflicted. Whether in her past life or this one, she had always drifted with the current. Rarely had she faced a choice concerning her prospects and future like this.

It was like when she had just graduated from college. Her classmates had all worried about finding jobs, while she had a house and a large demolition payout. She could live perfectly well even without working.

The future was a very unfamiliar word to her.

Until now, when someone stood before her and demanded that she make a choice—one important enough to determine the rest of her life.

Eevee could not help glancing at the Pokémon standing behind Heiduo.

To Eevee, they were not cute at all, nor could they be called cool. They even seemed a little strange.

But when they looked at Heiduo, there was not the slightest trace of resistance or defiance in their eyes. They even made threatening faces at her because they were worried about Heiduo's safety.

Especially that "shark." Its eyes were practically popping out of its head.