Then two more sports cars swept past, chasing each other.
It was only when the fourth mountain racer arrived that a car slowed to a stop on the rough ground beside the road.
The window rolled down, revealing a Krabby blowing bubbles.
Shen Qi had seen this car before. It had overtaken him on his first trip transporting local produce after he crossed into this world.
"Need a hand?"
The driver's door opened, and a young man in sportswear stepped out. He was on the lean side, around twenty-five or twenty-six.
"Thanks, I'm fine." Shen Qi thanked him. "I transport local produce on Island 6. I really envy you mountain Racing Drivers."
"Don't just envy us. If you have a dream, give it a try. Any car can run these mountain roads."
The man introduced himself as Xia Yang, a swimming instructor at the Luxury Resort on Island 5. He came out to race the mountain roads for fun.
"I'm Shen Qi, a student at Pokémon High School."
"A student?" Xia Yang paused, then looked rather impressed. "Running deliveries while you're still a student... that can't be easy."
"That's life... Oh, there's something I wanted to ask."
"What is it?"
"Among the mountain racers... are there any Pokémon drivers?"
Chapter 7: Chansey
"Pokémon drivers... sure."
Shen Qi had thought the idea would sound unusual, but Xia Yang treated it as perfectly ordinary.
"Look, both of those race cars are driven by Pokémon."
Following the direction Xia Yang pointed, Shen Qi saw the two race cars that had passed earlier coming back, almost neck and neck.
The side window of the car slightly behind rolled down, and the Primeape inside made a provocative gesture.
In the other car, Hitmonchan flew into a rage, suddenly accelerating to cut the other driver off and force a stop.
Both cars stopped. The two Fighting-type Pokémon got out and started mouthing off at each other, neither willing to back down. Shoving one another, they headed into the woods to battle.
"Good grief..." Shen Qi could only say, "Good grief."
Xia Yang explained, "Some Racing Drivers let their Pokémon drive out here on the mountain roads. Driving themselves and using the Skill Slot themselves gives them a deeper feel for racing."
Those Pokémon only had to meet two conditions.
First, they had to be trained in traffic rules and vehicle operation.
Second, they had to be able to drive, whether with their hands and feet or by using Confusion.
Practicing driving on their own helped Racing Drivers and their Pokémon work together more smoothly.
Shen Qi knew perfectly well that Lilligant did not fall into that category. She had no owner, no Racing Driver or Pokémon Trainer behind her.
"Could a Pokémon be a Racing Driver in their own right, racing the mountain roads without a human raising or training them?"
"Uh..." Xia Yang thought for a moment. "Yes. The requirements for registering as a Racing Driver are lower than for becoming a Pokémon Trainer. If a Pokémon can communicate with humans through writing or speech and passes the Racing License Exam, they can become a Racing Driver too."
"Are there any Pokémon like that on our Island 6?"
"No idea."
Take that Primeape and Hitmonchan, for example. People occasionally encountered them while driving the mountain roads, but nobody would ask whether they were ownerless Pokémon or had Pokémon Trainers guiding them.
"Shen Qi, why do you ask?"
"Oh, here's what happened. One night, while I was delivering cargo, I saw a Grass-type Pokémon driving alone, so I got curious."
"What Grass-type Pokémon?"
"Lilligant."
"Hm?" Xia Yang's eyes shifted thoughtfully. "What Pokémon is that? I've never heard of it."
Indeed, Lilligant were almost nonexistent in the wild, and their pre-evolved form, Petilil, was not found in Kanto.
Most students at Pokémon High School only learned that such a Pokémon existed after enrolling and seeing one in person.
"A Grass-type Pokémon from another region. She looks like a little girl wearing a skirt."
"A skirt... a little girl... and from another region..."
Xia Yang murmured the key details. "I've never seen a Lilligant, but there's another Pokémon who fits your description pretty closely."
"Huh?"
Shen Qi was rather puzzled.
How could Island 6... have a second Grass-type Pokémon from another region who looked like a little girl in a skirt?
"Bellossom?"
"Of course not. We have native Oddish here. How could I not recognize a Bellossom?"
Xia Yang pressed a hand to his forehead as he thought. "Hang on. I saw her once, and she introduced herself... What was her name again... something with 'sweet' in it. Four characters too."
"Tsareena?!"
"Right! You really know your Pokémon."
As though he had not heard the compliment, Shen Qi felt as if a bolt of lightning had scorched him crisp on the outside while leaving him tender within.
Tsareena was a Pokémon that had only appeared in Generation VII, found in the distant regions of Alola, Galar, and Paldea.
A Grass-type with long, leafy hair and a mangosteen-style short skirt, she looked like a noble queen.
However, Island 6 most likely had no Tsareena. That was simply what Lilligant claimed to be.
When Lilligant went racing, she took off her large flower crown and changed into a short skirt. She really did match some of Tsareena's defining features, and their heights were similar too, both just over a meter.
Residents of the Sevii Islands who had never seen a Tsareena would be easily fooled.
Even if some of them searched online for Tsareena's Pokédex entry... they still would not realize that the Grass-type girl in a short skirt was a Lilligant.
Lilligant... had concealed her identity.
Shen Qi pondered it carefully. With so little information, he could only guess that Lilligant hid her identity to keep her true personality from being discovered. It might also have something to do with her previous Pokémon Trainer's death.
"When does that Lilli... Tsareena usually race the mountain roads?"
"Hard to say."
Xia Yang took glass bottles of soda from his car, popped the caps off using Krabby's claw, and handed one to Shen Qi.
"We mountain racers are pretty casual about it. Maybe two or three times a week, and we don't always race in the same area. Tsareena does enter some amateur-organized races, though."
Even so, there was no telling which races the various drivers would enter, or when and where.
"I see..."
After their pleasant chat, Shen Qi and Xia Yang exchanged contact details and added each other as friends on social media.
Shen Qi also made a request, hoping Xia Yang would let him know if he saw Tsareena driving.
"No problem. See you around."
"Sure thing."
By the time Shen Qi watched his new friend leave, it was already ten at night. He needed to head home and get ready for bed too.
The night breeze brushed through the grass. Suddenly, Primeape and Hitmonchan burst out of the bushes, their faces bruised and swollen. They scrambled into their respective cars and quickly drove away.
They had clearly gone into the woods to fight, yet now they looked as though someone had caught them doing something naughty.
Shen Qi also noticed that their mouths were stuffed full, as if they had crammed in several huge mouthfuls of something.
A nearly spherical pink Pokémon squeezed out of the disheveled bushes.
She was about as tall as Lilligant, a little over a meter, but given her round body, that meter was not just her height-it was her "diameter."
Chansey!
A Normal-type Pokémon. According to the Pokédex, Chansey were rare and shy, and were said to bring good fortune to anyone who managed to catch them.
This Chansey did not seem shy, however. She was waving by the roadside.
"Do you want to... hitch a ride?"
Shen Qi approached. Chansey still showed no sign of fear and nodded with a naturally goofy smile.
Because her whole body was spherical, the nod set all of her moving. She looked just like a bouncing ball.
Seeing a Chansey up close in real life for the first time, with her smooth, glossy pink skin and adorable shape, made him itch to stroke and squeeze her.
"Hop in."
Shen Qi suppressed those dangerous urges that might get him hauled off by the Security Bureau and opened the passenger door. Chansey shuffled inside.
"Where are you going?"
"Jili~~~~"
Chansey gave the same familiar cry as in the anime, pointing ahead with her two little hot-dog-shaped hands.
He did not know exactly where she wanted to go, but it was the opposite direction from his home.
Considering that most Chansey accompanied medical staff, he ought to give her a lift.
The Little Sheep headed back along the road. Only when they reached the outskirts of Ruins Valley did Chansey gently tug Shen Qi's sleeve with her little hand.
"Jili~"
"You want to get out here?"
After confirming Chansey's request, Shen Qi pulled over.
Chansey rummaged around in the pouch on her belly and took out an enormous egg.
The Pokédex said this Pokémon could lay several eggs a day. Not only were these eggs rich in nutrients, they apparently tasted delicious too. When Chansey saw an injured Pokémon, she would share her nutritious eggs with them.
"For me? Thank you."
"Jili~!"
Before you continue