"What is this?!"
Inside the Pokémon Home pet store, Lily stared at the image in the Pokédex—a black, rocky creature with arms—and immediately felt her mood sour.
"An Alolan Geodude," Ren said calmly after a glance. "Rock- and Electric-type."
"Why is it always like this?" Lily wailed. "Where's my dragon?!"
"I've said it plenty of times already," Ren replied innocently. "Dragon-type Pokémon aren't something you can just pull out whenever you want."
If Dragon-types were really that easy to come by, then Lily wouldn't still be chasing them with such tragic persistence.
Somewhere far away, a certain Flying-type Dragon trainer who refused to be named silently expressed his approval.
"There are way too many weird ones," Lily complained, scrunching up her face. "And way too many bugs. Look at what I got before—Caterpie, Zubat, Ekans, Grimer… none of them are normal!"
"With all due respect," Ren said, blinking, "Zubat and Alolan Geodude actually have very good potential."
Zubat's final evolution, Crobat, was no weakling at all. Even though Zubat and Golbat were often treated as standard-issue grunts' Pokémon in games, Crobat's real combat strength was nothing to scoff at.
As for Geodude and its evolutions, they were solid powerhouses among heavyweight Pokémon. Aside from a crippling weakness to Ground-type moves, they didn't have many major flaws.
After all, this was the real world—not a turn-based game system. In games, slow Pokémon often struggled to even get a turn, leaving little room for Pokémon like Golem to shine. But in reality, heavyweight Pokémon had their own combat styles and advantages.
Not to mention, Alolan Geodude's Rock/Electric typing was actually quite strong—though it did suffer a quadruple weakness to Ground-types.
"No," Lily declared firmly. "I'm drawing a Dragon-type. I've decided—I'm going to be a Dragon trainer!"
Her little face tightened with determination. Even so, after staring at Alolan Geodude's image for a long moment, she still reluctantly looked away.
A person had to have dreams. If you were going to dream, you might as well dream big!
"Since you've already made up your mind, there's nothing more I can say," Ren shrugged.
"But you've already drawn five times today. You can't draw anymore."
"Ugh—fine! If I can't draw, I won't!"
Lily understood immediately. Pouting, she handed the Pokédex back to Ren.
Each person was limited to five draws per day—one of the system's rules. Perhaps the system had also taken certain cash-burning maniacs into consideration.
Five hundred per draw wasn't much to people like Lily, Emma, or Lucas. If five draws weren't enough, they'd happily go for ten. If ten failed, then a hundred.
Especially for someone like Lily, who was obsessed with Dragon-types and had a literal money pit at home. If a hundred wasn't enough? Then a thousand.
Even if the odds of pulling a pseudo-legendary Pokémon were tiny, sheer volume would eventually win.
Ren would have been more than happy to see that happen—but the system clearly wasn't.
"Seriously stingy," Lily muttered, curling her lips. She didn't even feel like paying anymore. This boss was really something.
"Ren, can I borrow your space for a bit?" Lucas asked.
"Of course," Ren nodded. "You want to battle?"
"Yeah. My cousin wants to spar with me," Jason said, pushing up his glasses. "And I also want to see how that sixty-million Larvitar performs."
Jason looked curiously at the Larvitar playing with Fennekin. A pseudo-legendary Pokémon's larval form—he really wanted to see what made it special.
"Now that you're a trainer, you should get used to Pokémon battles," Lucas said with a smile.
"Alright then. Diancie, time to work."
Ren called out, and Diancie—who had been sitting at the front desk watching anime on the computer—immediately responded. She grabbed the camera beside her and hopped over the counter.
With no other employees around, she had no choice but to multitask.
Everyone moved to the backyard.
"The battle will be a one-on-one," Ren announced. "When one Pokémon loses the ability—or the will—to fight, the other side wins."
"The battle begins."
Ren stepped back from the field.
Lucas carefully reviewed Larvitar's current moves in the Pokédex, then looked up with a smile.
"Jason, I'll say this first—I won't be holding back."
"There's no need," Jason replied confidently. "Even if it's Larvitar, I'm still a veteran."
"Please," Lucas said casually. "Someone like you couldn't beat me even if I let you use two Pokémon."
Instant trash talk.
"Tch—anyone can talk big!" Jason snapped. "Fennekin, let's go!"
"Fwoo~"
Fennekin dashed forward, eyes burning with fighting spirit.
"Larvitar."
Larvitar waddled to Lucas's side, short legs planted firmly as it took a battle stance.
"Between a Rock/Ground-type Larvitar and a Fire-type Fennekin," Lily asked curiously, "who do you think will win?"
"You'll find out soon enough," Ren replied, raising an eyebrow.
Who would win?
Someone should probably tell Jason first… how badly he was about to lose.