Chapter 86: The Un-recordable Riolu
In a room on the second floor of the Verdant Leaf City hotel.
Rio had already drunk 5 cups of tea, tasted all the complimentary pastries in the room, eaten 3 more Berries, and taken a short nap, before finally waiting for the completely drained Ming Rizhao to wake up.
"Aaaah, I slept so well."
Ming Rizhao stretched out with a big yawn, then greeted her Pokémon with high spirits.
"Good morning, Doggy! Good morning, Ruru!"
"...Morning, my foot! It's already the afternoon! Also, call me Rio, not Doggy."
Looking at the afternoon sky outside the window, Rio complained irritably.
"Okay, Doggy."
"…"
Rio could only roll his eyes furiously.
"Ah, it's already the afternoon? No wonder I'm so hungry..."
Ming Rizhao exclaimed, then looked at Rio with pitiful eyes.
"…"
I feel like I didn't get a trainer, but picked up a "daughter" instead.
Rio was speechless. In the end, he helplessly ran down to the first-floor lobby, gestured wildly at the menu, and signaled for the hotel staff to send some food to their room.
"Creak." Rio, having returned from ordering food, pushed open the room door only to see Ming Rizhao holding a hair tie, snickering as she was about to play a prank on the sleeping Ralts.
However, as their four eyes met, an awkward atmosphere spread.
"Ahaha, um, that's right, Rio! I still haven't registered you in the Pokédex! Wait a moment."
Ming Rizhao sheepishly put away the thing in her hand, then slapped her forehead as if just remembering, and began to rummage through her crossbody bag.
"Pokédex?!"
Hearing this familiar term, Rio's ears perked up with excitement.
Unlike the inexplicable system's [Pokédex] on his own body, in the games and anime he was familiar with, every protagonist possessed a Pokémon Pokédex gifted by the regional Professor. The Pokédex generally had a red casing, shaped like a small handheld laptop, and could display and record detailed information of encountered Pokémon.
To put it this way, the Pokédex and the Poké Ball could be called the two most iconic items of the Pokémon world.
Under Rio's expectant gaze, Ming Rizhao rummaged and rummaged, and finally pulled out... uh, a smartphone?
"Why is it a phone?!"
Rio instantly felt a strong sense of disappointment. Where's the little red machine I was promised? What's the deal with this thing that looks like a fruit-brand phone from my previous life?
Ming Rizhao was startled by Rio's loud exclamation. She waved the phone in her hand with some confusion, the charm on the phone strap jingling. "Yeah, it's a phone. What's wrong?"
Seemingly not understanding why her new companion was so jumpy, Ming Rizhao still decided to register him in the Pokédex first.
"…" Rio was somewhat speechless but still moved closer, wanting to see this world's so-called "Pokédex."
Ming Rizhao swiped on the phone screen for a bit, then found an app shaped like a Poké Ball. She tapped to open it, and the interface and functions inside the app were almost identical to the Pokédex in Rio's understanding.
"Here, stand still."
Ming Rizhao directed Rio to stand in front of her, then "click," a flash went off, and she took a photo of Rio.
"Hmm, not bad, so handsome!" Ming Rizhao happily edited the photo a bit, then tapped the "Upload" button in the Pokédex app, attempting to upload it.
However, the subsequent error tone left Ming Rizhao a bit baffled.
"Eh, eh, eh? Why is it prompting 'Error: Unable to search for this Pokémon, upload failed'? Is there a problem with the picture? No way, let's try again."
Unconvinced, Ming Rizhao pulled Rio to take another photo and upload it again, but the same error message appeared.
"Boohoohoo, my first self-caught Pokémon can't even be registered."
Ming Rizhao was a little dejected.
Rio, on the side, although he speculated this was probably related to his own special nature, still couldn't help but ask, "This Pokédex, what does it do?"
Ming Rizhao, still unwilling to give up, kept tapping on the app and casually answered Rio's question.
"This Pokémon Pokédex app is a new application developed by the Pokémon League in recent years. It can help trainers register the Pokémon they've encountered or captured."
"If you're recording an encountered Pokémon, you just need to take a photo of the Pokémon and upload it to the app to supplement your own Pokédex. Moreover, if it's a Pokémon that someone else has already uploaded, the Pokédex app will retrieve the Pokémon's information stored on the Pokémon League's central server, such as its name, basic information, species, level, type, etc. This information can help trainers quickly understand the corresponding Pokémon."
"If it's a brand-new, undiscovered Pokémon, trainers can use the app's scanning program to record various information about this Pokémon in detail and then transmit it to the League's server to provide information for other trainers."
Ming Rizhao explained eloquently. She remembered these basic facts from her classes at the Pokémon Academy very clearly.
"When a trainer captures a Pokémon, they can upload a photo of the captured Pokémon and the Poké Ball's serial number to register it in their own trainer record. Moreover, trainers can use the Poké Ball's internal scanning device to obtain more detailed information about their captured Pokémon, such as its ability, attribute values, and most importantly, the list of moves the Pokémon currently possesses. This information provides great convenience for trainers when commanding their Pokémon in battle."
"It's worth mentioning that to encourage trainers to explore more Pokémon, there are point rewards for uploading new or captured Pokémon. The points can be used to exchange for prizes, some of which are rare items that usually can't be bought with money."
The thought of those items on the point reward list, so rare they couldn't be valued with money, made Ming Rizhao's mouth water with heartache.
"Still, my own system is better."
Listening to Ming Rizhao's description, Rio secretly compared his own system with this world's Pokémon Pokédex.
His own system, upon a single encounter, could know the opposing Pokémon's level, ability, type, moves, etc. It really provided too much assistance for his battles. After all, as the saying goes, "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win every battle."
Speaking of his own system, Rio had the idea to take stock of it.
"No need to look at [Status]. The ones I fought before were all small fry, didn't get much experience, so the panel should still be at lv20..."
"No need to look at [Quests] either, still the same..."
"[Pokédex], since it's only Ralts now, it only shows Ralts's information... Hmm? The encounter progress is at 61, so I've already passed the third tier?"
"It's probably the result of encountering a whole bunch of new Pokémon that night."
"Then let me see what new stuff I got..."
Rio excitedly tapped the [Backpack] icon with his mind, and a list of various items appeared on the light screen.
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[Backpack]
Normal Items: None
Recovery Medicine: Potion x3
Berry Pouch: Oran Berry x1, Pecha Berry x2, Normal Berry x12
TMs: None
Battle Items: None
Special Items: Flower Nectar x2, Black Belt x1, Clear Bell x1, Armor (Damaged) x1, Soothe Bell x1,
————————————
There were still not many items in the [Backpack]. Two Potions were used during the battle with Pidgeot, and various Berries had been mostly eaten. What was noteworthy were the few conspicuous items in the Special Items section.
"The description for the Clear Bell: The bell can emit a calming and serene tone, seems to contain other secrets... I remember the Clear Bell seems to be related to the Legendary Beasts or Ho-Oh?"
"The armor is damaged. How to repair it is a real headache, and it's also related to a quest."
"As for this Soothe Bell, it really came at the perfect time."
It should be known that what Riolu needed most to evolve into Lucario was intimacy with its trainer. As long as their minds were one, Riolu itself would burst forth with powerful strength and evolve into its stronger form in one fell swoop. Now that he had the tool-person trainer, with the help of the intimacy-boosting Soothe Bell, he believed Riolu would be able to evolve very soon.
A smile appeared on Rio's lips, but vaguely, he had a latent feeling that things might not be that simple.
"Ah, I have an idea!"
Ming Rizhao's joyful shout couldn't help but divert Rio's attention.
However, before Rio could understand what Ming Rizhao had discovered, he was fiercely hugged by the happy girl, who then continuously nuzzled his furry fur.
"Hey, hey, watch your image, will you?"
Rio, rolling his eyes for the umpteenth time, said helplessly. As an unevolved Pokémon, his 0.8-meter height made him look like a stuffed toy in front of this 15-year-old girl. And he had also discovered a habit of Ming Rizhao's: whenever she got excited, she liked to hug her Pokémon.
(Author: Damn it, I also want to hug a beautiful girl (crying).)
Ming Rizhao happily showed her phone to Rio.
"Look, although I can't officially upload you to the app, I can still save your information locally on my phone. Even if only I can see it, that's still very good."
"Let me see, Pokémon species: Riolu, Level: lv20, Ability... Moves... Wow, you know so many moves! And some of them are so strong!"
Ming Rizhao's exclamation made Rio feel a little proud. The constant hard training in Newmoon Forest before had paid off. At least at lv20, whether it was the moves he knew or their levels, he was a standout among Pokémon.
"But what is this Aura Sphere?"
Somewhat puzzled, Ming Rizhao remembered that she hadn't seen this move described much in books.
"[Aura Sphere] is an energy ball formed by gathering Aura energy. Every living being has Aura, and our kind of Pokémon can use Aura to achieve all sorts of magical things. Just like the telepathic communication we're having now... Huh? Wait, it seems we've been communicating with language all along. How can you understand Pokémon language?!!"
Only then did Rio react. At the very beginning, he and Ming Rizhao had indeed established a bridge of mental communication using his Aura. But as they chatted later, he had unconsciously started speaking in Pokémon language. Because before, whether in the forest or with Takuma, he had the help of a language translator, which made him accustomed to speaking out loud.
But now the translator was gone, yet Ming Rizhao could communicate with him normally?
Come to think of it, Rio also remembered that in the cake shop earlier, Ming Rizhao and Ralts had also communicated so "normally" that bystanders didn't feel anything strange at all.
Sensing Rio's shock, Ming Rizhao touched her head with some embarrassment. "This is an ability I've had since I was little. I can naturally communicate with Pokémon, and Pokémon can also understand what I say. To be honest, I don't know where this ability comes from either."
The trainer I casually chose is actually this amazing?
Rio almost suspected if this was Arceus's arrangement.
But having a trainer he could communicate with normally was a good thing after all. And a beautiful girl at that. Oh, God, thank you. Rio silently gave the Creator God a thumbs-up.