"So, let's start with fifth place."
Su Bai smiled as he walked over to Murong Nan.
Seeing her instinctively smooth down her hair, he took out the Pokédex.
"Just put your hand on it, same as when you purchased a Pokémon."
"I'm curious to see what kind of Pokémon you'll draw."
Murong Nan gave a faint smile and obediently placed her hand on the Pokédex.
Thinking about it, she really did need to expand her team.
As one of the earliest customers of the Pokémon Center, she only had two Pokémon so far.
The Pokédex began to flicker.
At the same time, the giant screen controlled by Rotom displayed a rapidly shifting silhouette.
Eventually, the silhouette settled on a small figure.
The moment Su Bai saw it, he froze for a moment.
Then he couldn't help but mutter,
"Why did it have to be this one?"
Murong Nan looked at the completely green Pokémon displayed in the Pokédex, then glanced curiously at Su Bai.
"Is there something strange about this Pokémon?"
Su Bai shook his head, his expression somewhat peculiar.
"There's nothing particularly strange about the Pokémon itself."
"I'm just surprised that you were the one who got it…"
As he spoke, Su Bai lightly pointed at the Pokédex.
A streak of green light flew out.
"Bulba~!"
A small, bright-green figure immediately launched itself toward Murong Nan!
She instinctively caught the little creature in her arms.
When she got a good look at it, her eyes immediately lit up.
"Wow! So cute!"
The Pokémon looked somewhat like a frog, except that a huge seed was growing on its back.
It was happily rubbing against her while chirping,
"Bulba! Bulba!"
"Baby Pokémon really are all so adorable…"
Liu Yunlan curiously leaned closer and tentatively reached out to stroke the little creature's head.
"Su Bai, what's this Pokémon called?"
Su Bai rubbed his chin and instinctively blurted out,
"Wandering Loner… Ah, no."
"Bulbasaur."
He had almost let that old joke slip out.
He couldn't help it.
That little fellow had simply left too deep an impression on him back then.
After all, a Pokémon that proudly called itself a "wanderer alone in the world" was just too ridiculous.
But what puzzled him wasn't Bulbasaur's appearance itself.
The Kanto starter trio hadn't appeared during the exploration.
That meant they really were quite rare, so there was nothing strange about one appearing through a draw.
What surprised him was that Murong Nan had gotten it.
He had originally thought that if Murong Nan drew a starter, she would most likely get a Water-type Pokémon like Squirtle.
It seemed the system believed that Trainers at Murong Nan's level were already capable of breaking free from the restrictions of their primary type and exploring more diverse team compositions.
"A wandering what?"
Liu Yunlan gave Su Bai a suspicious look.
She felt that he'd obviously left something out.
However, her curiosity about Bulbasaur quickly overwhelmed everything else.
She immediately abandoned the thought of questioning him further.
"Is this Pokémon very rare?"
"Come to think of it, we never encountered one during the exploration."
Su Bai nodded and cleared his throat.
"It really is quite rare."
"After all, the starter trio can't normally be obtained through ordinary means."
"Unless you earn their recognition inside the Adventure House, you probably won't find them in the wild."
"Starter trio?"
Murong Nan hugged the adorable Bulbasaur and glanced at her Empoleon.
"Like my Empoleon?"
Su Bai nodded.
"Exactly."
"Don't let that adorable, slightly dazed expression fool you."
"This little guy is one of the original three Kanto starters."
"It belongs to the same tier as my Charizard."
As he spoke, he glanced at Charizard, who was resting nearby with its eyes closed and its head tilted to the side.
If Murong Nan raised this Bulbasaur properly, it could become an extremely powerful addition to her team.
"Bulbasaur is an exceptionally powerful Grass-type Pokémon."
"However, unlike Torterra, which focuses more heavily on defense, Bulbasaur has better Special Defense and Special Attack."
"It's also faster than most ordinary Grass-types."
"With proper training, it can become an incredibly versatile Pokémon."
"Once it learns moves such as Sleep Powder and Leech Seed, it becomes especially troublesome in drawn-out battles."
"In short…"
"As long as it's one of the starter trio, it's hard to find a weak one!"
Su Bai looked at the Bulbasaur nestled happily in Murong Nan's arms and smiled.
"This reward…"
"Not bad at all."
Starter Pokémon were incredibly difficult to obtain through normal means.
And if the odds of drawing rare Pokémon were indeed higher through the lottery, completing the original starter trio would certainly be extremely difficult.
Honestly, Su Bai was quite pleased with this result.
After all, if he wanted to complete the Pokédex, he had to rely on these customers getting incredibly lucky!
"My turn! My turn!"
"This is the same tier as Boss Su's Charizard!"
"I'm so jealous!"
Ding Yue's excited voice came from behind them.
According to the rankings, she was next in line.
"Uh… Ding Yue…"
Su Bai looked at the eager Ding Yue and couldn't help shaking his head.
This girl already had three Pokémon: Talonflame, Nidorina, and Ponyta.
None of the three were particularly rare Pokémon.
No wonder she was so excited.
It wasn't that Ding Yue disliked her current Pokémon.
Far from it.
But she had always wanted to obtain a rare Pokémon.
After all, she was loaded.
She could afford to raise however many Pokémon she wanted!
Her obsession with Pokémon had even reached the point where she had stuffed her spatial equipment completely full of Pokémon-related supplies.
Someone like her certainly wasn't afraid of having too many Pokémon.
"Pseudo-legendary… pseudo-legendary… pseudo-legendary…"
Under Su Bai's signal, Ding Yue placed her hand on the Pokédex and began chanting under her breath.
Su Bai helplessly shook his head.
This girl really couldn't let go of her obsession with pseudo-legendary Pokémon.
But since fifth place had gotten Bulbasaur, then someone whose ranking was only slightly behind fifth probably wouldn't get a pseudo-legendary either…
The silhouette on the screen flickered repeatedly as Ding Yue continued her prayer-like muttering.
Eventually, it settled on a familiar-looking shape.
"This Pokémon…"
"I think I've seen it somewhere before?"
Ding Yue stared at the silhouette in confusion for a moment before immediately urging Su Bai,
"Su Bai! Su Bai! Hurry up and release my baby!"
Su Bai looked at the image on the screen and nodded.
Just as he'd expected.
This was another member of the starter trio!
With a wave of his hand, a small turtle appeared in front of everyone.
It shook its head adorably as it looked around.
"Squirtle?"
After looking around for a while, it let out a cute cry and crawled toward Ding Yue.
"It's you, you little water-spraying turtle!"
Ding Yue excitedly scooped up the small blue turtle and pressed it affectionately against her cheek.
This little turtle had quite the background.
Its stone carving was even engraved on the entrance of the Pokémon Center's Adventure House!
And among the carvings, the original Kanto starter trio occupied the most prominent positions.
It wasn't a pseudo-legendary.
But for Ding Yue, who had never managed to obtain a rare Pokémon before, it was more than enough to make her ecstatic!
Su Bai smiled as he watched the scene and patted Charizard beside him.
"The original starter trio is complete…"
"This really is where the dream began."