Shen Qi started the Little Sheep and gave Chansey a dejected look.
The "Crazy Quack" emotional scenario was at 30% completion.
It really was a difficult scenario. Unless he met the conditions, his completion percentage wouldn't budge.
Frustrating as it was, it didn't actually matter much. Shen Qi and Chansey already shared a solid bond. If he took out a Poké Ball now and asked her to get inside, the odds of success would be quite high.
The courtship game's benefits were icing on the cake. Reaching completion milestones earned rewards, and proficiency cards could only be used on Pokémon whose scenarios were fully completed.
Just as Shen Qi had felt at the beginning, the game provided extra perks and a higher ceiling, but the player remained at its core.
The Little Sheep started up and crossed the bridge between the islands.
A gentle sea breeze blew past. Chansey, who had been staring into space, finally seemed to come back to herself. She turned toward the window, a touch of openness and joy joining her innocent smile.
Her years of dedication had finally been acknowledged, and Chansey had only just finished processing all those overflowing emotions.
"Actually, while I was in the hospital, I asked the medical staff about you."
"Jili?"
"You worked at the Pokémon Center and the Luxury Resort. I have a rough idea of what happened."
Chansey simply nodded in silence. She had always been steadfast and wouldn't lose scenario progress just because they discussed her past setbacks. Now that she had received recognition, she felt even more at ease, remaining comfortably seated as she waited for Shen Qi to continue.
"I really admire your persistence, but... where exactly did you learn those techniques and that style?"
The information extracted by the [Memory Image] already stretched back many years. For Lilligant, the turning point in her life had happened within those few years.
Chansey's setbacks in her pursuit of the so-called Martial Arts medical path had all occurred during the years after she crossed the ocean to the Sevii Islands.
Who had planted those ideas in Chansey's head before that, and who had taught her all those physical attack moves, remained unknown.
Presumably, those wouldn't count as Chansey's memories, but memories from before she evolved, when she was still a Happiny.
[When I was still a Happiny...]
After a brief silence, Chansey began recounting her past.
Her family had indeed lived on an offshore island. Once, her Chansey mother took little Happiny on a Wailord to visit a nearby island.
Wailord was a massive aquatic Pokémon over fourteen meters long. Despite that enormous size, a typical Wailord weighed only three to four hundred kilograms, showing just how buoyant they were. Wild Pokémon often hitched rides on them.
When they reached their destination, Happiny's careless mother lost track of her. Fortunately, a Jigglypuff took Happiny to the island's amusement park.
"Offshore... island... amusement park..."
Shen Qi muttered the key words, deducing that it was the Battle Frontier.
In the third- and fourth-generation Pokémon games, players could visit the Battle Frontier after clearing the main story, experiencing Pokémon battles that broke from the usual rigid format through a variety of entertaining games.
Later versions had battle facilities too, such as the Battle Tower and the Battle Tree, but most didn't require a boat trip to a separate offshore area.
[That amusement park only charged 20 Pokémon dollars for admission. Wild Pokémon could play for free.]
"Huh?"
Shen Qi had never heard of the Battle Frontier charging admission. Perhaps that was a difference between reality and the games. Battle facilities needed maintenance and staff, after all, though a fee of 20b was certainly cheap.
With help from some Pokémon at the amusement park, Happiny found her mother. Once she knew the way, she occasionally rode a Wailord there to play on her own.
At first, the amusement park had been small, with only a few attractions. It gradually expanded, and Happiny met her master there.
"What kind of Pokémon?"
[My master... a Mienshao.]
"A master in name too, huh."
Mienshao was a Fighting-type Pokémon with impressive Attack, Special Attack, and Speed, but somewhat lacking defenses-a high-attack, high-speed, low-defense type.
Of Chansey's many damage-dealing physical moves, she had learned Double-Edge on her own, but Mienshao could use all the others, including Mega Kick and Brick Break.
Work Up was also a Buff Skill Mienshao could learn.
That explained where Chansey's bizarre moveset had come from.
[My master taught me... martial arts weren't just skills for defeating enemies. They could also save lives and heal the wounded.]
[That was when I understood. I discovered a path of medicine different from my mother's.]
From then on, Happiny rarely played on the attractions anymore. Whenever she had time, she stuck close to Mienshao and trained under him.
Mienshao could see she wasn't cut out for it. With good intentions, he reminded Happiny that her evolved form was better suited to supporting others, as well as work at places like Pokémon Centers.
[My master thought this path was too difficult, so he warned me. He was so kind.]
[I won't let him down. I'll reach the very pinnacle!]
Shen Qi sucked in a breath.
He could feel his palms sweating against the steering wheel.
Had this Chansey... or rather, that Happiny back then, misunderstood what Mienshao meant?
He'd said martial arts could defeat enemies and save people.
He hadn't told her to give people massages with Mega Kick!
"Um... how many years ago did you study under Mienshao?"
[Over five years ago, I think. I only came to the Sevii Islands in the last two years.]
The corners of Shen Qi's mouth twitched. After so many years, there was little point explaining a possible misunderstanding.
After all, Chansey truly had forged a path that belonged to her alone...
Chapter 35: Photography by the water
Back at the farmhouse, Chansey rested in a reclining chair, her arms and legs still a little weak.
[Aren't you going to rest for a few days?]
Shen Qi had changed his shoes and was heading outside. "I feel pretty good. Besides... I'm sturdier than before."
After waking up at the Pokémon Center, Shen Qi's exhaustion had faded quickly. While showering, he'd also noticed that his body was no longer as scrawny as it used to be. He finally had a little flesh on his bones.
Improved perception of energy wouldn't add flesh to his body. It could only mean that his nutrition had improved.
Thinking about it, that made sense. At least one meal a day included Chansey's egg. Its bizarre smell left him dizzy every time, but its rich nutritional value matched the scientific research.
An expensive ingredient costing over three hundred b apiece had once been beyond Shen Qi's means. Now, he could cook it in all sorts of ways, experiencing its complex, bizarre flavor in different forms.
On the stretch of road through Pattern Bush, a pink car sat by the roadside.
"Lilligant, I'm here."
After a week, Shen Qi had finally arranged to meet Lilligant again.
Pokémon High School's Pokémon Photography activity lasted one month. A quarter of that time had passed in a flash, and Shen Qi hadn't pressed the shutter even once. Of course he was anxious.
The window rolled down, revealing a very nervous Lilligant.
[H-hurry and get in.]
"Coming!"
Lilligant was so nervous because of her identity.
She didn't want anyone else to discover that she was a Racing Driver. Usually, she drove in her "Tsareena" guise.
To help with Shen Qi's photos, she had to appear as her original Lilligant self, which meant no one could see her driving.
The race car started up, and Lilligant muttered.
[Honestly... I agreed to help with your photos, and it's taken all this fuss.]
She sounded as though she was complaining, but Lilligant kept glancing out of the corner of her eye, looking Shen Qi up and down.
[Narration: Seeing that the boy not only had no obvious injuries but had even put on a little weight, Lilligant finally felt reassured.]
"Let's drive toward Island 5."
[Do you want to take pictures by the sea?]
"That's the plan. We can look for interesting spots along the way too."
Island 6 had no shortage of sea views, but the vast majority of Pokémon High School's students hadn't formed bonds with Pokémon and couldn't take them off campus. As a result, a large proportion of the photos submitted for the Pokémon Photography activity would undoubtedly be shot at school.
A flood of repetitive entries would cause aesthetic fatigue, pulling down scores for similar photos. Shen Qi needed to avoid those same elements and gain an early advantage with his scenery.
He had a unique advantage when it came to his Pokémon too.
"Hehehe, nobody else can arrange a shoot with Lilligant."
[Hmph, don't get carried away.]
"Oh? But I know all about Tsareena..."
[Ahhh! You're threatening me!]
"Not at all. I just mentioned a name."
[Hmph, hmph!!!]
Despite all her grumbling, Lilligant was actually very cooperative.
As a Grass-type Pokémon, she had a much clearer sense of forests and wilderness than Shen Qi did.
The car stopped on a relatively level patch of grass. Lilligant pointed toward a small grove off to one side, indicating that there was a pretty little pool inside. She occasionally went there to rest when she drove past.
"Let me take a look."
Shen Qi followed Lilligant into the grove. A nearby bush rustled gently, and a Pokémon resembling an extremely plump flying squirrel propped itself up with an exaggeratedly large tail to inspect its surroundings.
Sentret was a Normal-type Pokémon commonly found close to home. Its large tail resembled a raccoon's, only even more exaggerated.
Standing less than half a meter tall, Sentret had a limited field of view when it heard unusual sounds nearby. Propping itself up on its tail gave it a vantage point nearly a meter high.
Sentret barely reacted to Lilligant, but when it saw a human, it let out little rodent-like squeaks, warning its nearby companions to flee.
"What a shame. No petting for me."
Many wild Pokémon were still afraid of humans. Shen Qi had only petted the Sentret at Pokémon High School, whose fur was soft and smooth.
Their tails were very important to them, so they only let people they were close to touch them.
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