Although Squirtle and Bulbasaur were only now being obtained by Trainers for the first time, the two Pokémon had somehow become ridiculously popular throughout Sea City.
After all, among the lifelike and exquisitely carved reliefs decorating the Pokémon Adventure House, the most eye-catching ones were the first-generation starter Pokémon in their basic forms.
And then there was Su Bai himself, the owner of the Pokémon Center, who had a Charizard—one of the original three starters.
So even before anyone had actually seen the other two in person, their popularity had remained sky-high.
Some people had even quietly begun using various tools to make little figurines of the original three starters for their children to play with.
Su Bai knew nothing about any of this.
And even if he did, he wouldn't have bothered making a fuss over something as trivial as copyright.
In short, the original three starters were incredibly popular in Haicheng City.
Now that people were finally seeing real ones, the citizens were practically ecstatic.
Almost every child was staring at the adorable Squirtle and Bulbasaur, their eyes glued to the two Pokémon and utterly unable to look away.
Seeing the excitement spreading through the crowd, Su Bai stroked his chin with a smile and walked toward the third-place winner, Liu Yunlan.
At the very last moment, Wang Tao had successfully overtaken Liu Yunlan and pushed her down from second place.
Naturally, Liu Yunlan had been somewhat dissatisfied at first.
But now, all that remained was pure anticipation.
"If fourth and fifth place both get starter Pokémon…"
"Then third place should at least get something on the level of an Arcanine, right?"
"Could it be… a pseudo-legendary?!"
As Su Bai drew closer, Liu Yunlan inexplicably grew nervous and patted her Arcanine.
Su Bai couldn't help laughing.
"What? You already have a starter and a pseudo-legendary Pokémon, and that's still not enough? Now you want a pseudo-legendary too?"
"Come to think of it, aside from Zhang Qun, your Pokémon are probably the rarest among everyone here."
"But since the prizes ahead of you were starter Pokémon, you really might get lucky enough to pull a pseudo-legendary."
He held the Pokédex out in front of her.
Su Bai's casual words only made Liu Yunlan even more nervous.
Yes, starters and Arcanine were incredibly rare.
But who would ever complain about having too many good things?
Especially when it came to powerful Pokémon!
"Phew…"
Liu Yunlan took a deep breath. Closing her eyes, she stretched out her hand as if she were walking bravely to her execution and placed it on the Pokédex.
After a moment, Su Bai's voice rang out beside her, filled with genuine surprise.
"A Paradox Pokémon?!"
The next instant, Liu Yunlan felt something furry rubbing against her leg.
The surrounding citizens of Haiching City erupted in astonishment, and among their voices was even the startled cry of her sharp-tongued older sister.
Liu Yunlan hated to admit it, but she knew her sister, Liu Yunshuang, was quite the schemer.
Her other defining trait, however, was her composure.
That much had been obvious when the dead beasts attacked the city. Liu Yunshuang had immediately made the decision to pull Ji Wei away from the battlefield.
It was completely different from Pei Jingguo's dead-fish-eyed calmness.
This was the composure of someone who had weathered countless storms.
Liu Yunlan actually admired her sister quite a lot.
But even she had cried out in surprise just now.
A Paradox Pokémon?
What was that supposed to mean?
Liu Yunlan cautiously cracked open one eye.
The next moment, both eyes flew wide open.
"Jiggly… Jigglypuff?!"
Liu Yunlan stared dumbfoundedly at the enormous pink fluffball clinging tightly to her.
Then she looked toward Liu Yunshuang, who stood nearby with a Wigglytuff staring curiously at the strange pink creature.
Why did this thing look exactly like Jigglypuff?!
Jigglypuff was pretty cute too, but…
Wasn't this still inferior to a starter Pokémon?
"No… wait. There are some differences…"
The longer Liu Yunlan stared, the more she noticed something was off.
Jigglypuff was entirely pink, with blue eyes and a little tuft of soft, curly hair on its head.
But the Pokémon in front of her had an enormous mass of silky, flowing hair instead.
The tips, fading from pink to reddish-pink, had even been curled into a playful hairstyle.
Beneath its large yellow eyes were two little patches of blush.
And beneath the two triangular ears that looked almost identical to Jigglypuff's were two little tufts of fur sticking out like eyelashes.
It was just as adorable.
But this was definitely not Jigglypuff!
Liu Yunlan instinctively looked toward Su Bai.
Su Bai stared at the Pokémon for a moment before sucking in a sharp breath.
He knew the system was generous.
But he honestly hadn't expected it to be this generous.
The Pokémon in front of him was hardly inferior to a pseudo-legendary!
"It really is this Pokémon…"
"Your Pokémon is called Scream Tail."
He looked at Scream Tail, which was clinging to Liu Yunlan's leg while making adorable little cries and shamelessly acting cute.
"It's an Ancient Paradox Pokémon."
"In a certain sense, this little thing is every bit as formidable as a pseudo-legendary!"
Scream Tail was a Pokémon introduced in the latest generation, Scarlet and Violet.
Although it hadn't existed for very long, its popularity had skyrocketed almost immediately.
There was really only one explanation.
A Pokémon that looked like Jigglypuff was simply too effective at hitting people's adorable little soft spot.
Especially when Scream Tail was also incredibly powerful.
"But don't let its adorable appearance fool you," Su Bai continued.
"Its temper is completely different from Jigglypuff's."
"Its affectionate behavior… is probably only directed toward you, its Trainer."
"Even if it's me…"
Su Bai cautiously reached a hand toward the Pokémon.
Scream Tail turned its head.
It gave him an unhappy look before baring two tiny fangs.
The sight was undeniably cute.
But there was no mistaking it.
It was also undeniably fierce.
Su Bai withdrew his hand with a helpless expression.
"You see? This little one's temper is quite explosive."
Liu Yunlan crouched down and scooped Scream Tail into her arms.
"Ancient Paradox Pokémon… what does that mean?"
Su Bai waved his hand.
"Pokémon have evolutionary histories too. The term 'Ancient Paradox Pokémon' means that Scream Tail's existence contradicts that of its futuristic counterpart, resulting in major differences in appearance and form."
"But it's still too early to talk about all that."
"What's important is that Scream Tail is an extremely special Pokémon."
"Although it looks quite similar to Jigglypuff, its underlying potential is far greater."
"Its base stats alone reach 570."
"That's only thirty points short of the 600 total associated with pseudo-legendaries."
"And with its impressive movepool, excellent defenses, and high Speed, this little one makes for an exceptionally capable support Pokémon."
"Of course, if you need Scream Tail to deal damage, it won't disappoint you either."
"Its ultimate move, Boomburst, can unleash terrifying destructive power through sound. It's a wide-area attack with a massive base power of 140."
"And it can even learn a terrifying extermination move like Perish Song…"
As he spoke, Su Bai glanced at his own Meloetta.
Back when they had faced Malene, it had been Meloetta's Perish Song that had plunged Malene into absolute despair.
The move might have been somewhat underwhelming in the game, with numerous conditions that had to be met before it became useful.
But in the real world, with proper protection and the right circumstances…
It could absolutely become a nightmare for Sub-beasts and Death Beasts alike.
There was no question about it.
Scream Tail was powerful.
This was a Pokémon that wasn't merely exceptional in appearance. Its combat potential was equally extraordinary.
The system really was being incredibly generous.