Near the small lake in Viridian Forest.
"Conan, Ran, what do you think? Do you want to stay in this world for a year and become a Pokémon Master?"
Yang Tao looked at Conan with a smile, and Ran, who had shrunk into a child and was shyly huddled beside Conan.
The shrunken Ran looked even fairer against her beige shirt, her skin as delicate as a porcelain doll.
In comparison, there was nothing noteworthy about that brat Conan.
Conan looked at the Caterpie on Yang Tao's shoulder and the Growlithe beside him, hesitation showing in his eyes.
"A year? Won't that be too long?"
"Not long. And those inexplicable cases won't happen in your world when you're not there. By then, I'll give you more keys, and you can just come during the day and go back at night!"
Yang Tao continued seriously, "And there's one more thing, your ability..."
Conan's mouth twitched twice as he said helplessly, "Don't talk about my ability anymore."
"What's there to it! Others are envious and can't even get it. I'm telling you, I think your Death's Aura has great potential in this world. Maybe you can even master some kind of Death Power, just like this world's Viridian Power or Aura Power."
The so-called Viridian Power is a special ability obtained in Viridian Forest. It allows one to communicate telepathically with Pokémon and also heal them.
The conditions for obtaining Viridian Power are also very simple: as long as one is born near Viridian Forest, there is a certain probability of receiving the blessing of Viridian Forest, thereby gaining Viridian Power.
Leaving aside other things, just the healing effect alone can save trainers a lot of money.
"A year, Ran still has to attend..."
"Take a year off from school. Besides, you're traveling in this world, not directly hibernating, so what are you afraid of?"
Yang Tao reached out and stroked the Growlithe beside him, smiling, "If you can catch a Growlithe, 80% of the cases in your world won't require you to rack your brains deducing them. Its sense of smell is very, very keen."
Blood, weapons, and even lingering scents in the air can allow Growlithe to pinpoint the culprit immediately.
Of course, the strongest in terms of smell is Inuyasha; he can even smell things drifting over from across worlds.
Conan was tempted.
He used to love reasoning, but after understanding the messy things involved, solving cases became quite boring.
"Then I'll try..."
"For your first Pokémon, you can have Ran help you catch it."
With Ran's strength, dealing with some common Pokémon is not a problem. At least Oddish, Bellsprout, and Caterpie are relatively easy to catch.
Just then, Seraphimon walked over, holding Caterpie, and said, "Yang Tao, please take a look at this Caterpie. It seems to have undergone some changes. I sense some power of time within it."
Upon hearing this, Yang Tao immediately moved closer to Caterpie. If the Archangel hadn't misjudged, then this Caterpie and his tree fruit would truly have a chance to turn things around.
Looking at the Caterpie, which was still voraciously eating the Time Tree's leaves, Yang Tao noticed some changes in its body.
Originally, each segment of its body had a pale golden circular marking, but now the ring closest to its head was continuously cycling between pale gold and dark gold.
"Caterpie, have you felt any changes in your body? Have you learned any new abilities? How about you try using Draco Meteor?"
Caterpie paused its leaf-eating, looked up at Yang Tao, its small eyes filled with shock, as if it couldn't believe Yang Tao could say such a thing.
Draco Meteor?
You must be dreaming!
Looking at Caterpie, Yang Tao felt he was overthinking. Draco Meteor is Rayquaza's move and has nothing to do with time.
However, Pokémon's time-related moves are not many.
"How about... trying Roar of Time?"
The signature move of Dialga, the God of Time. It's very strong, especially in the anime world.
"Future Sight works too!"
Caterpie saw Yang Tao becoming more and more unreliable. The constantly changing rings on its body glowed slightly, and both Growlithe and Caterpie itself flickered.
"Chirp chirp..."
Only then did Yang Tao realize that Caterpie could also make sounds. Although the sound was very faint, it was still clearly audible.
"Accelerate and decelerate?"
Uh... what kind of deceleration and Sticky Web is this?
However, seeing Growlithe moonwalking, Yang Tao thought this move wasn't bad. After all, gaining a new move with just this change was already quite good.
"Good, little fella, eat to your heart's content. Other things might be lacking, but there are plenty of leaves. Later, I'll go into the forest and catch a Pikachu to charge you up, to see if you can awaken the Thunder Web move."
Thunder Web Caterpie, truly, only those who use it know how good it is.
...
"One million??"
At the Pewter City Pokémon Center, Yang Tao stared incredulously at the staff member here, but it wasn't the gentle and beautiful Nurse Joy.
It was an ordinary male staff member. The other party heard Yang Tao's words without the slightest impatience, still saying with a professional smile:
"Yes, sir. If you wish to become an official Pokémon Trainer, you need to pay 1,000,000 League Coins to receive a starter Pokémon from the Kanto region and a dedicated Pokédex."
"If you don't need a starter Pokémon, you can also purchase just the Pokédex for 200,000 League Coins."
(In reality, any new trainer who visits the local Pokémon Professor can receive a Pokédex and six Poké Balls as starting tools. The Pokémon World is quite friendly to trainers, but it's impossible for this to happen in reality, after all, if everyone becomes a trainer, who will do the hard work? For example, shop clerks who sell things, Bug Catchers and Fishermen who act as NPCs.)
Yang Tao nodded upon hearing this.
He had now figured it out: the purchasing power of money in the Pokémon World was similar to that of Yen. In reality, 200,000 was only about 10,000 RMB.
If calculated this way, a Poké Ball costing 100 yuan is indeed not expensive at all.
What's expensive is the subsequent training. If you want to train a Growlithe or a Slowpoke, the food you need to buy each day would cost at least 1,000 to 2,000 League Coins.
However, the League isn't that exploitative. If you find tree fruit in the wild, the Pokémon Center can provide machines for making Energy Cubes. For a usage fee of only 100 League Coins, you can make energy crystals for Pokémon to eat.
He pulled out the exchanged League Coins from his backpack and slapped them on the table.
"Four Pokédexes!"
One for Conan, one for Ran, and he'd keep one for himself and one as a spare.
The office worker politely collected the money and said, "Alright, please wait a moment."
After a short wait, another staff member came over with four Pokédexes and handed them to Yang Tao.
Looking at the four red-colored Pokédexes, he felt emotional about how expensive it truly was for foreign trainers.
He handed the Pokédexes in his hand to Conan and Ran.
"I'll send you back to Masara Town later. You can start your journey from there."
The town of beginnings and endings.
Similar to Loguetown in the One Piece world.