Qingliu froze when he saw all the information that popped up on the panel.
I wasn't hit by Hypnosis, and the creature in front of me isn't a transformed Ditto or Zoroark. It's a genuine Agumon?!
But what the hell is this "Reptile Pokémon" classification?
Isn't it a Digimon?
Did coming to a different place automatically give it a different identity?
Has the idea of automatically adapting your nationality caught on that fast...?
All sorts of thoughts flashed through Qingliu's mind as his gaze moved past the panel and settled on Agumon.
Both its movements and its expressions were perfectly natural. Coupled with the information displayed on the panel, they gradually persuaded Qingliu to accept this seemingly absurd revelation.
After all, he had already traveled to another world and acquired a panel. A Digimon appearing in the Pokémon world... didn't seem like that big a problem.
Besides, Pokémon and Digimon did share plenty of similarities in their settings. Someone unfamiliar with the two kinds of creatures might not even be able to tell them apart.
But none of that was the point.
Qingliu scanned the panel up and down, finally stopping at the section listing Agumon's base stats.
After a moment of silence, he murmured, "A fast mixed attacker with decent resistances. Both the base stat total and the distribution are pretty good."
Whether they were the starter Pokémon of each region or pseudo-legendary Pokémon with enormous potential and base stats comparable to legendary Pokémon, their base stat totals were only around 300 in their initial forms.
Yet Agumon's total was already several dozen points higher. More importantly, those extra points were distributed very sensibly. What did that mean?
The higher a Pokémon's base stats, the higher the limits its six stats-HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed-could reach.
Under equal conditions, a Pokémon with higher base stats had an absolute innate advantage over one with lower base stats, in both potential and fighting strength.
Agumon currently held that advantage.
And beneath its feet were the initial forms of starter Pokémon and pseudo-legendary Pokémon, renowned for being exceptionally worthwhile to raise.
No, probably not just their initial forms...
More likely, it'll completely outclass them at every stage.
As everyone knew, there was only one way to increase base stats and turn the tables-evolution!
After most Pokémon evolved, whether by reaching a certain level, experiencing a powerful external stimulus, or some other trigger, their base stats underwent a dramatic change. Those changes were directly reflected in their six stats.
Apart from some that stayed the same or decreased, most Pokémon's stats rose considerably. Some Pokémon even experienced changes in temperament and personality.
But as living creatures, they naturally had limits to their evolution.
Every Pokémon could only undergo normal evolution a limited number of times. Some could not evolve at all, while others could evolve once or, at most, twice.
Only certain special Pokémon could break through their limits after completing their normal evolutions and evolve one more time through the resonance between a Key Stone and a Mega Stone. This was known as Mega Evolution.
As Professor Rowan had said, each evolution was a transformation that brought a Pokémon closer to "perfection."
These Mega Pokémon, which had broken through their own limits and gradually approached perfection, gained extraordinarily powerful strength.
That strength allowed their base stats, which had become fixed after their normal evolutions ended, to rise again. Their fighting strength surged as well, allowing them to easily crush opponents who had been evenly matched with them before Mega Evolution.
The best among them could even take on the legendary Pokémon that stood at the very pinnacle of a region.
These Pokémon that "gradually approached perfection" could evolve a maximum of three times in total.
Agumon could also evolve three times-and those were three more evolutions after it had already evolved.
Currently at the Rookie level, it still had three forms ahead of it: Champion, Ultimate, and Mega.
Each time a Digimon evolved to a new level, its strength increased exponentially.
The Mega form in particular stood out. Qingliu personally felt that Agumon in that form would be so powerful that even those mighty pseudo-legendary Pokémon capable of Mega Evolution would be no match for it.
After all, if it overwhelmed them in its initial form, would three equally potent evolutions really allow them to overtake it?
Qingliu thought that was impossible.
Besides, beyond Mega WarGreymon lay even stronger forms, and those... represented Agumon's true limit!
If it really managed to reach that point someday, only a handful of Pokémon with extraordinary natural gifts, along with those legendary Pokémon, would likely be able to rival it.
And if he aimed even higher...
"When you look at it that way, a Pokémon-brand Agumon doesn't seem so hard to accept. You could even say... I've struck gold!"
Qingliu's gaze grew increasingly eager as he looked at Agumon.
Standing opposite him, Agumon noticed his gaze and scratched its head, puzzled and a little embarrassed. Finally, it could no longer hold back and spoke first. "Excuse me, why do you keep staring at me like that? Have we met?"
"No."
"Then... have you heard about me?"
"Yes. Just the way you look tells a whole story."
Agumon frowned at that, its large green eyes shifting back and forth as though it were trying hard to remember something. In the end, it gave up and raised a claw to point at the spot where the passage had appeared earlier.
"Even if you say that, I still don't remember. But since you know me, please tell me where in the Digimon world this is. I have something urgent to do, and I want to get back to File Island as soon as possible."
"This isn't the Digimon world."
"Huh?"
Qingliu's words were clearly beyond Agumon's understanding. It stared at him for quite a while before slowly saying, "Now that you mention it, I just noticed that you look different from every Digimon I've ever met. Could you be... a human?"
Are you a human...?
The uncertainty mingled with curiosity in that question made Qingliu suspect that this Agumon might never have seen a human before.
After all, humans had such obvious distinguishing features that even Agumon could easily recognize one if it had seen one before. Yet it had asked him that question.
In that case, it most likely had never met Taichi Yagami either.
In other words, the Agumon before him was not the one from the anime.
An unusual feeling stirred inside Qingliu.
I wonder what a brand-new, untapped, firsthand Pokémon-brand Digimon will become after I train it.
After asking a few more questions, Qingliu began getting to know Agumon in greater depth.
Before you continue