Chansey sensed Shen Qi's feelings and turned into a streak of light, entering the ball.
This was...
Shen Qi's first Pokémon since he had traveled to another world.
Holding the Poké Ball, he could sense Chansey inside even with his eyes closed. Still, wherever she went to train would surely be beyond the Poké Ball's sensing range.
"Take care of yourself."
Shen Qi took out another bag of Pokémon Rations, which he had also bought with his own money.
"Don't go hungry between meals while you're training. Be good to yourself."
[Just how much stuff did you buy behind my back?]
Chansey accepted the Pokémon Rations without standing on ceremony.
[Probably a little over ten days. I'll come back.]
"About when? I'll come pick you up."
[No need. I'm not sure exactly when. It might be earlier, or a little later.]
"By then, I'll have taken first place in the Pokémon Photography activity, so we'll have more food and Poké Balls."
[Then you'd better bring Lilligant home too.]
"She... isn't quite so easy to persuade."
The hot-girl heiress who had been her Pokémon Trainer had died horribly in a competition, never fulfilling her dream of competing in a T2 Race. That had left Lilligant with a heavy emotional burden.
By comparison, Chansey could already enter a ball with only forty percent romance progress.
The game didn't force players to reach 100% romance progress before they could catch a Pokémon. Once their bond was strong enough, they could work out the rest themselves.
The romance game mostly offered support, such as items obtained during the wooing process and a way to communicate with Pokémon.
Like lovers reluctant to part, Shen Qi and Chansey kept offering each other reminders, seemingly without end.
In the end, Chansey was the one who decisively turned away and disappeared into the forest.
This was also her first time heading into the mountains with supplies.
After Chansey vanished from sight, Shen Qi stood rooted to the spot for a long time.
"Wait... I... I'm a Pokémon Trainer now?!"
He couldn't compare to a registered professional Pokémon Trainer, but owning a Pokémon made him a Pokémon Trainer in the ordinary sense.
It felt... nothing like the heart-pounding, life-or-death struggle he had imagined. Instead, it was a peaceful yet richly layered emotion.
["Crazy Quack," Romance Scenario progress: 51%]
"Ah, finally budged."
Without eating eggs, giving massages, or fighting side by side, he had increased his romance progress through words and simple actions alone.
That sort of thing had only ever happened in the "Speedy Hot Girl" scenario. It had never happened in "Crazy Quack."
Today, he had finally found an opening.
Actually, he couldn't really call it an opening. Confirming his bond with Chansey was a once-in-a-lifetime event, and even something that significant had only earned him a 5% increase in romance progress.
It was too hard. How could a script be this difficult?
[Romance progress has reached 50%. Awarding third-stage romance rewards.]
Shen Qi didn't even need to open it for a closer look. He could guess what they were.
Sure enough, it was [Inspection Card] + [Skill Proficiency Card 1] + [Memory Image].
He had no use for these things at the moment, but once he needed them in the future, he would be desperately short of them.
Skill Proficiency Cards in particular each increased skill proficiency by 10%. He now had six, enough for a 60% increase.
That really wasn't much...
Unlike in the games, real Pokémon weren't limited to four moves. Assuming they learned a dozen or so moves over their lifetime and focused on practicing five or six core moves, that wasn't a lot, was it?
His current Proficiency Cards could only give a little extra boost to one or two moves whose proficiency was difficult to raise.
The same went for [Inspection Cards]. Each showed one Pokémon's detailed stats. If he ever needed to scout enemies or something, using any number of them in a single day would be perfectly normal.
He still needed to do a lot more wooing.
Shen Qi also had a [Script Detector] on hand.
The game reliably gave him this item at 10% romance progress, ensuring players wouldn't run out of options.
After some consideration, Shen Qi decided not to use it yet.
He would wait until next week.
Next week, Chansey would return, and the Pokémon Photography activity would be over. He would get his rewards first, then decide.
Lilligant's romance progress was at 66%, and the Pokémon Photography activity could give it another boost. Maybe by then, she would enter a ball too.
Anything was possible in dreams. With a few silly chuckles, Shen Qi started up his Little Sheep and headed home.
Chapter 48: Rope Bridge
"That's a good pose... Lilligant, come a little closer."
"Yes, loosen up your expression a little more. Don't hold your body so stiffly."
"Here, follow my hand movements..."
[Ah-it's swaying! This is scary!]
"It's fine. It's perfectly sturdy."
Island 3, the Rope Bridge.
Situated between Island 3's main island area and the Berry Forest, it was the sort of wooden suspension bridge commonly seen in adventure anime or films. It swayed from side to side when the wind picked up.
Films and anime often featured scenes where enemies cut through one end of a rope bridge to trap the protagonist, sending the entire ribbon of a bridge swinging downward.
The Berry Forest did enough business to have opened a small port as its main transport route. The Rope Bridge was only a secondary route and couldn't accommodate vehicles.
When Shen Qi and Chansey had transported Berries together a few days earlier, they had also parked outside and used a handcart to carry the Berries across the bridge.
They had already taken the local produce elsewhere to unload it by then. The remaining goods weighed a little over two hundred jin, and even with the handcart, Shen Qi, and Chansey added on, the Rope Bridge had only swayed normally. Its structure was very solid.
Taking advantage of the final weekend before the Pokémon Photography activity ended, Shen Qi had brought Lilligant to Island 3 for photos.
The journey, plus visits to the Rope Bridge and the Berry Forest, would be enough to fill the day's schedule.
Lilligant was a pure Grass-type Pokémon, with no Flying typing or anything of the sort. She was a little afraid of heights and kept trembling on the Rope Bridge, making it difficult to get usable shots.
Hehehe...
This is perfect.
Looking at a photo on his phone of Lilligant half-collapsed into a sitting position, Shen Qi couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from rising.
He certainly couldn't submit this photo to the contest, but he could keep it in his private collection. It was artistic appreciation, after all.
"Thanks for all your hard work, Lilligant. Let's take a break."
[It's finally over. We'd be better off taking photos in the Berry Forest.]
Lilligant edged closer and hugged Shen Qi's arm tightly to steady her nerves.
Since she was only a meter tall, hugging his arm effectively meant dangling her entire body from his side. Only after they had left the Rope Bridge did she run off, blushing.
"I'm going to pee."
[Don't just say it out loud-!]
Entering the undergrowth alone, Shen Qi found a deserted spot and opened his phone.
In front of Lilligant earlier, he hadn't been able to let his expression get too wild, or she would have noticed something was off.
Now he could indulge in a good look first.
This one!
The sea lay on both sides of the Rope Bridge, and when the sea breeze blew upward...
And this one... wow, this... There was no need to elaborate. He had to save his readers some data.
Shen Qi's grin grew increasingly unrestrained, and the laughter he deliberately suppressed came out thin and eerie.
In the bushes, Bellsprout and Oddish huddled together, trembling.
When he emerged from the undergrowth, Shen Qi was the very picture of upright dignity, neatly dressed and graceful, looking natural and easygoing.
Actually, the photo of Lilligant crouching to touch the water in the secluded, flower-filled meadow at Pokémon High School the previous weekend had already been excellent.
Coming to Island 3 today, Shen Qi didn't think he could produce a shot better than that one.
He still had to come. Perhaps he really would make a breakthrough, and more importantly, inviting Lilligant on a trip was a good opportunity to build romance progress.
Once they arrived on Island 3, Lilligant was noticeably more natural and relaxed whenever she wasn't on the Rope Bridge.
They were over a hundred kilometers from Island 6 as the crow flew, definitely a trip to another city. Hardly anyone here knew Lilligant or Shen Qi.
Even if outsiders saw this rare Pokémon, they wouldn't think of Pokémon High School.
"Lilligant, this is for you."
Shen Qi pulled out a puffed-up brown bag of snacks.
They were Pewter Rice Crackers, a specialty of Pewter City in the Kanto region.
In the games, one cost 500 Pokédollars and cured status conditions, allowing it to be used as medicine.
Shen Qi had looked into it. In reality, Pewter Rice Crackers really did come in two versions: a grade that cured status conditions and an ordinary snack grade.
The ordinary snack version of Pewter Rice Crackers cost 50b a bag. Outside Pewter City, the price rose to 60b, not counting the special prices charged at tourist attractions and hotels.
[Honestly, don't buy such expensive things.]
[You could buy lots of other tasty snacks for the same price!]
"I already bought them. Go ahead and eat."
Before you continue