Roy's call was to Officer Jenny of the reserve, intending to inform her about the situation regarding Kaiser, the manager of the Wild Area.
After all, that old geezer's heart and soul were all on Dratini; now that the dragon had been captured by him, the old man no longer had the heart to stay there.
This Wild Area was, after all, Dratini's home, and the scenery was quite nice; once he achieved success and fame in the future, he would still bring it back to revisit its old haunts.
So, he couldn't just let Kaiser's muddled state lead to the place being ruined again like it had been in the past.
After all, this Wild Area manager position was considered a League public office; if you didn't want to do it, there were plenty of people fighting for the chance.
...
"It's me, Roy."
After Roy replied, the voice on the other end changed instantly, shifting from a capable professional woman to a little woman with a hint of coquettishness.
"Roy? How did you think of calling me?"
"I missed you," Roy chuckled. "Of course, there's also some serious business."
"What serious business?"
"The Wild Area manager, Kaiser—you know him, right?"
"I do, a strange old man. Why?"
Roy briefly recounted the events at the Lake in the Mountain, omitting the parts about Dragonair and Dratini, only saying that Kaiser's mental state wasn't quite right and might affect the normal management of the Wild Area.
After listening, Jenny fell silent for two seconds and then gave a huff.
"That old man—the League has warned him many times not to use firearms against passing Trainers at will!"
"I knew something would happen sooner or later. He's always muttering to himself, talking about guarding some treasure, but he won't tell anyone who asks. Alright, leave this to me. I'll report it to the higher-ups tomorrow and have an inspection team sent over."
"Thanks."
"No need for thanks." Jenny's voice suddenly softened, carrying a hint of playful reproach. "By the way, did you see the private selfies I sent you?"
Roy smiled, reminiscing about Jenny's suggestive photos: "I saw them. I saw them and I..."
Jenny covered her mouth and giggled on the other end: "Is it really that exaggerated? It's okay, next time I'll wear that one for you..."
After a period of flirtatious banter, they hung up the phone.
...
Subsequently, Roy, Delia, and Misty found a spot with lush aquatic plants to set up their tent, and then began the final capture work.
Roy went out to wander, while Misty and Delia were primarily responsible for taking care of the two newly captured dragons.
They found a cool and comfortable spot by the water and released both Dragonair and Dratini.
Sunlight spilled onto the water's surface through the gaps in the leaves, creating a shimmering effect. Dragonair had half its body submerged in the water, head poking out, eyes squinted comfortably.
Dratini swam around it, its tail splashing water, incredibly lively.
Misty squatted by the water and released her Water-type Pokemon one by one.
Seadra, Starmie, Staryu, Psyduck, and Goldeen.
As soon as Psyduck came out, it tilted its head, looking around blankly. Then it saw the dragons on the water and let out a couple of quacks; no one knew what it was thinking at that moment.
"Listen up, everyone!" Misty said loudly, hands on her hips. "This is Big Sister Dragonair, and this little one is Little Sister Dratini. They'll be the Dragon-type representatives of our team from now on! Everyone, come and say hello!"
The little Water-type fellows looked at each other and then cried out toward Dragonair in unison.
Surrounded by the group of Water-type Pokemon, Dragonair lowered its head to look at them, a hint of bashfulness in its eyes. It let out a cry as a greeting.
Dratini, on the other hand, was quite outgoing; it zipped over to Psyduck and nudged Psyduck's belly with its small head.
Psyduck blinked its eyes and quacked twice more, its meaning still unclear.
Misty's heart melted at the sight. She lunged forward to hug Dratini, rubbing her face against it.
"So cute! You're just too cute! Dratini!"
Delia also released her Gloom.
When Gloom came out, it first shook its head, then froze for a moment when it saw the two Dragon-type Pokemon in the water.
But soon, it walked forward and let out a few friendly cries.
Dragonair looked down at Gloom, then at Delia, and let out a cry in response.
Delia squatted nearby, watching the little ones get to know each other and nuzzle one another; the smile on her face never faded.
She took out the feed she had researched from her bag and distributed it for everyone to eat.
When Dragonair tasted the feed, its eyes visibly brightened.
It lowered its head to sniff the brown granules in Delia's palm, then gently extended its tongue to curl them into its mouth one by one. It chewed slowly, eyes narrowing into slits, its tail swaying gently in the water.
"Is it good?" Delia asked, her voice carrying a hint of nervousness.
Dragonair opened its eyes, looked at her, then nodded vigorously and let out a cry before starting to feast wildly.
The Dratini on the side even came over to whisper a reminder: Mom, there are so many new friends here, you... you should be a bit more dignified!
However, Dragonair didn't care and just kept feasting.
Dignity? Can dignity be eaten as food?
The atmosphere by the water was one of complete harmony.
The sun was just right, the breeze was gentle, the water shimmered, and the cries of the Pokemon rose and fell, mixing with the sound of the wind and water like a natural song.
Compared to the gentle scene by the water, Roy's side was much wilder.
He took Pikachu into the large groups of Pokemon, using his Psychic powers to weave back and forth, capturing high-level individuals as much as possible.
It could only be said that it was lucky he had Psychic powers; otherwise, with these wild Pokemon groups, he and Pikachu wouldn't know how many times they would have been sent flying.
After a busy afternoon, all thirty Wild Area balls were finally used up.
Besides Dratini, he had also captured Tauros, Dugtrio, Nidorina, Raticate, and Rhyhorn.
Most of these were Tauros and Rhyhorn.
The reason was simple.
Among wild Pokemon above Level 30, the small-bodied ones were exceptionally good at hiding, using their agility to lurk in various corners, making them hard to find and even harder to catch.
Large-bodied ones were different; they displayed the advantage of strength, neither hiding nor lurking, facing challenges head-on. Thus, the high-level individuals that could be caught were basically these big fellows.
Tauros and Rhyhorn combined accounted for more than half of his total captures.
Summary information appeared on the system panel.
[Wild Capture! Complete]
[Obtained: rare candy (Basic) *12, rare candy (Intermediate) *18]
[Top-grade Dragon Scale *2]
[Candy Balance: rare candy (Basic) 16, rare candy (Intermediate) 25, rare candy (Advanced) *3]
When Roy saw the reward details, his eyebrows shot up.
Two top-grade Dragon Scales?
He had originally thought there would only be one.
Then, he suddenly remembered the moment by the Lake in the Mountain when he held Delia's hand to help her capture Dragonair.
Did that count too?
Roy couldn't help but chuckle.
"System, good buddy, you're quite loyal."
He muttered to himself, thinking that next time the system gave him some bizarre task, he wouldn't complain.
He continued reading and saw another task reward.
Delia's emotional line task was complete.
At the Lake in the Mountain, he had been too busy educating Kaiser and had forgotten to collect this task.
[Emotional Line Task Triggered: Help Delia capture three desired Pokemon. All completed. Captured individuals: Butterfree (Pink), Oddish, Dragonair!]
[Task Reward: Sun Stone *2 — Evolution items for special Pokemon, placed in the system inventory!]
[Aura Power upgraded to Intermediate — Range expanded, communicable auras increased, initial skill aura amplification with Pokemon produced!]
Roy's finger paused on the line for "Aura Power."
Basic Aura Power was already very useful, allowing him to sense the presence and location of nearby Pokemon and communicate simply. Now that it was upgraded to Intermediate, the functions would surely be even better.
He closed his eyes, calmed his mind, and sensed for a moment.
The sensing range had clearly expanded significantly.
Before, he could only vaguely sense Pokemon within a radius of dozens of meters; now the range had directly doubled, and the precision was much higher.
Previously, with those Diglett hidden deep underground, he could only vaguely feel that "there's something underground"; now he could precisely sense the specific location of each Diglett, and even sense its orientation and movements.
And then there was that "skill aura amplification" function.
To put it simply, he could use aura to directly transmit more complex commands to Pokemon without needing to speak or even use gestures—direct mental communication.
Roy opened his eyes, the corners of his mouth curling up.
Good stuff.
He turned to look at Pikachu, who was sunbathing on a rock.
"Pikachu, come over and try out a new ability."
Pikachu's ears twitched; it jumped off the rock, pitter-pattered over, and looked up at him.
Roy didn't speak; he only mentally recited a command.
Discharge. Over there. Control the power, don't be too harsh.
Pikachu tilted its head and glanced at Roy. It didn't know specifically where its master was pointing, but a strange sensation directly flooded its mind—not language, but something more direct, like instinct, like intuition.
It knew.
Under that bush over there, there was a burrow.
Inside the burrow was a Diglett.
Shock it, but don't be too harsh.
Pikachu turned around, faced that bush, its cheek pouches crackling, and then a golden current of electricity shot out.
The electric light accurately plunged into the bush and into the burrow, and then...
"Chiu?"
A short, startled cry came from underground. A Diglett poked its head out of the hole, its body crackling with tiny electric sparks, looking around with a face full of confusion.
It saw nothing.
What was the situation?
Why did a bolt of electricity suddenly fall from the sky?
The Diglett's small eyes darted around, but it found nothing, so it silently retreated back into the hole, probably thinking it had bad luck today.
"Beautiful!" Roy couldn't help but praise.
With just a simple electric shock, it could hit so accurately without any line of sight; this Intermediate Aura Power was truly fantastic.
In future battles, he could directly transmit tactical intentions through aura without needing to shout them out for the opponent to hear. Moreover, the precision was higher, the delay was lower, and the reaction was faster.
This was simply a qualitative change.
In a great mood, Roy went over to look at that Diglett.
It was a Ground-type, so electric shocks didn't do much damage to it to begin with; plus, since Pikachu had controlled the power, it was mostly just startled and didn't actually suffer any major harm.
It was just a bit dazed.
Very dazed.
Roy squatted down and tapped the ground.
"Sorry about that, just doing an experiment. I startled you."
Diglett poked half its head out of the hole, looking at him warily.
Roy fished a berry out of his bag and placed it at the entrance of the hole, then headed back toward the camp with Pikachu.
...
Returning to the vicinity of the camp, Roy saw curls of cooking smoke by the water from a distance.
Delia was already busy; a fragrant scent drifted over with the wind, mixed with the smell of aquatic plants and earth.
Misty was squatted by the water, surrounded by a circle of Water-type Pokemon; she was feeding them one by one, her mouth chattering about something.
"Seadra, you eat more. Look how thin you are."
"Psyduck, don't steal Goldeen's! You get sleepy easily if you eat too much!!"
Psyduck tilted its head and quacked, seemingly not understanding at all, and continued to reach out to steal.
Misty slapped her own forehead and gave up.
As Roy walked over, Seadra was spinning in the water, its blue scales shimmering faintly in the light. Gloom sat on the bank, shaking its head, the flower bud on its head swaying as if keeping time.
Roy rubbed his chin, pondering for a moment.
He opened the system inventory.
Top-grade Dragon Scale, two pieces.
Sun Stone, two pieces.
If he took these things to sell, the price wouldn't be low.
Top-grade Dragon Scales were rare to begin with, and the color was special; if he encountered a buyer who knew their stuff, selling one for several hundred thousand wouldn't be a problem.
Sun Stones were also a hard currency, a key evolution item for many grass-type Pokemon, and they were always in short supply on the market.
But he wasn't short on money right now.
With a net worth of several million, it was enough to spend, at least until the end of the Indigo Plateau Conference.
And...
Roy glanced at Misty by the water and then at Delia, who was cooking.
Both women had a deep relationship with him.
Misty went without saying; she had followed him all the way from the Cerulean Gym. Though she acted boisterous, her heart was entirely on him.
Delia was even more so—gentle and considerate, always thinking of him first.
Since he was developing, his women couldn't be left behind either.
These two types of items happened to have extras, and Delia's and Misty's Pokemon could just happen to use them.
Roy took the items out of the system inventory and walked toward the camp.
Delia was the first to see him.
"You're back?" Delia looked up, a gentle smile appearing on her face. There were some fine beads of sweat on her forehead, made to sparkle by the firelight. "The food will be ready in a moment, Roy. Today I made your favorite flavors."
As she spoke, her hand was still stirring the contents of the pot. Her tone was plain, but it was just comfortable to hear.
Roy nodded and walked to the water's edge.
When Misty saw him, she immediately put down the feed in her hand and came hopping over.
"Roy!"
She moved close to him, her two hands naturally resting on his shoulders, and began to massage them.
"Are you tired? What else did you catch?" Misty asked as she pressed, leaning her head in and blinking curiously.
Roy felt the just-right pressure on his shoulders. Misty's finger strength was getting better and better; as she pressed on his aching muscles, it was so comfortable he almost let out a groan.
"Still those same few kinds—mostly Tauros and Rhyhorn, plus a few Dugtrio and Nidorina."
"Oh~" Misty nodded, pressed a few more times, then suddenly leaned into his ear and whispered with a giggle, "It's fine. Anyway, your trump card is me, right?"
Roy turned his head to look at her. Misty's face was right there, her eyes sparkling and the corners of her mouth curled in a slightly smug, mischievous smile.
"You certainly have a lot of confidence."
"Of course," Misty huffed, adding a bit more pressure with her hands. "I am the third sister of the Cerulean Gym, a training expert of Water-type Pokemon!"
Roy chuckled and didn't respond, turning instead to look at Delia.
"Delia, keep the food warm for a bit and come over here for a second."
Delia looked up at him, then at the pot that was almost ready. She hesitated for a second, then nodded, moved the pot away from the fire to keep it warm, wiped her hands, and walked over.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm giving each of you a gift."