As everyone knew, Gardevoir might be beautiful, but the species had an even male-to-female ratio.
In other words, out of every ten Gardevoir, five could be male.
That was...
Chen Shi's expression immediately turned constipated.
No way, right?
It was rare enough for him to take a liking to someone at first sight.
Could fate please not mess with him like this?
Chen Shi took a deep breath and immediately used the system to scan the Ralts's information.
Pokémon: Ralts (Shiny)
Level: 15
Potential: Gym
Ability: Telepathy
Gender: Female
Moves: Growl, Double Team, Confusion, Hypnosis, Teleport, Psybeam
The moment he saw that she was female, Chen Shi let out a huge sigh of relief.
It seemed heaven still treated him fairly.
This Ralts wasn't carrying a Big Root after all.
Just as Chen Shi was about to say something, Ralts patted her little belly and glanced up at Metagross.
"Ralts~"
(Alright, I'm full now. You can eat me.)
Chen Shi fell silent.
"..."
Metagross also fell silent.
"..."
Metagross immediately turned and walked away.
It had only stayed nearby because it was worried the little one might escape.
It had no intention of gaining a reputation for eating other Pokémon.
In this life, Metagross loved only Pokéblocks and minerals.
Chen Shi didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Little one, who said we were going to eat you?"
"Ralts?"
(Huh? You can understand me?)
Ralts curiously examined the strange human in front of her.
The people in the nearby tribe had clearly been unable to understand her speech.
Whenever she wanted to communicate with them, she had needed to use telepathy.
But just now, she hadn't used telepathy at all.
"Is it really that strange that I can understand you?" Chen Shi asked helplessly.
As far as he was concerned, the greatest benefit of this so-called Power of the Heart was probably his ability to understand Pokémon.
"Ralts?"
(You're not going to eat me?)
"No, I'm not."
"My companions won't eat you either."
"But you still can't leave yet."
The moment Ralts heard that, she simply lay flat on the ground with a completely resigned expression.
"Ralts~"
(Whatever. Do whatever you want.)
Chen Shi grinned and immediately took out a Poké Ball, placing it in front of her.
"As long as you press the button in the middle and don't resist afterward, I'll forgive you for stealing the food."
"And from now on, I'll give you lots of delicious things to eat."
Hearing that, the surrounding Pokémon immediately became interested and gathered around.
Only Togekiss looked at Chen Shi with undisguised contempt.
If he wanted to catch her, why didn't he just say so?
Why pretend this was all about sympathy?
Shameless.
After hearing Chen Shi's proposal, Ralts's first instinct was to refuse.
She didn't know what this human intended to do or what his true purpose was.
But then she thought about it.
She wasn't even afraid of dying.
Why should she be afraid of this?
Besides, he had promised her delicious food in the future.
Remembering the wonderful taste of the Pokéblocks, Ralts steeled herself and slapped the button in the center of the ball.
The next instant, she transformed into a beam of red light and was drawn inside.
The Poké Ball shook three times.
A yellow star flashed.
Capture successful.
Chen Shi picked up the Poké Ball, grinning like an idiot.
Good lord.
A Shiny Ralts.
And he had tricked her into entering the Poké Ball just like that.
Was there anything more wonderful in the world?
Chen Shi released Ralts again and said happily,
"Ralts, from now on, you're one of my companions."
"Welcome to the team."
Ralts stared at him blankly.
How had she suddenly become his companion?
And what did he mean by joining his team?
Hadn't he said that pressing the button would settle the matter of her stealing the food?
And that he would give her more food afterward?
Chen Shi coughed awkwardly.
He knew that Ralts had merely been fooled into entering the Poké Ball.
Pokémon in this era also had no idea what entering one meant.
She didn't even realize that she had been caught.
Chen Shi immediately changed the subject.
"Were you living alone in the forest before this?"
Ralts's eyes dimmed briefly before she nodded.
It wasn't that she had never belonged to a group.
It was just that...
Those so-called companions had always disliked her.
They treated her as an outsider.
"Then come with me."
"I have plenty of delicious food."
"I promise you'll never go hungry again."
Chen Shi seemed to understand the situation and offered her a smile.
Shiny Pokémon might be highly sought after by Trainers.
But among their own kind, they often weren't treated very well.
Being ostracized was common.
The unidentified green liquid tangled in the little one's hair had probably been applied by Ralts herself.
She likely wanted to make herself look like an ordinary member of her species.
"Ralts~"
(Alright.)
Ralts agreed immediately.
That surprised Chen Shi.
"You agreed that easily?"
"Aren't you afraid I might do something to you?"
Ralts's expression clearly said that she didn't care what he did, as long as he fed her.
Chen Shi shook his head helplessly and called toward Florges.
"Could you help clean this little one up?"
"Florges~"
Florges gently agreed.
She walked over, picked Ralts up, and went to find Swampert, asking it to provide some water.
Swampert scratched its head, dug a hole in the ground, and filled it with the weakest possible Water Gun.
Florges immediately began washing Ralts.
At first, Ralts was unwilling to cooperate.
But after Florges released a faint trace of her aura, Ralts instantly behaved and obediently allowed herself to be cleaned.
Dragapult floated over beside Chen Shi.
"Draga?"
(So she's the final companion Jirachi mentioned?)
Chen Shi froze.
After thinking carefully for a moment, he finally understood what Dragapult meant.
When Jirachi had first awakened, it seemed to have mentioned that he still had another companion.
But afterward, Chen Shi had caught little Rayquaza and Froakie, and Jirachi had shown no reaction to either of them.
He had eventually forgotten about the matter altogether.
Now that Dragapult had mentioned it, Chen Shi couldn't help frowning.
In the present era, he had not yet met Jirachi.
Yet he had already caught Ralts.
In that case, the other companion Jirachi had spoken of was probably this Ralts.
However, Jirachi had clearly told him that it couldn't reveal the identity of his final companion.
Apparently, if it did, he would never encounter that companion.
Chen Shi now desperately wanted to know—
What difference would telling him have made?
How would knowing prevent him from meeting her?
The more he thought about it, the more annoyed he became.
Wasn't that just deceiving him?
Wait!
Deceiving him?
A possibility suddenly occurred to Chen Shi.
Could it be that his past self had deliberately wanted to mess with his future self?
Had he specifically told Jirachi not to reveal the final companion's identity just to make his future self keep guessing?
"Holy crap!"
Chen Shi immediately swore aloud.
That was far too much.
He had even tricked himself?
Fine.
So that was how he wanted to play it?
Once he met Jirachi in this era, he would also tell it not to reveal the identity of his future self's final companion!
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