Everyone Else Awakened, But I Just Opened a Pokémon Pet Shop

Wearing a face swollen like a pig's head, Wang Tao strutted forward proudly and picked up the Poké Ball.

"No way I'm leaving empty-handed!"

After all he had been through—stabbed by stingers, electrocuted, chased through the woods, and forced to use an expensive Speed Serum—if he didn't walk away with something to show for it, it would've been a complete loss.

While everyone was still stunned, Wang Tao had already made his move—he successfully captured Electrode!

He happened to need a main attacker too. With that explosive power? If trained well, it might not be a bad addition to his team…

"Uhh... not sure if this is a good thing…"

Su Bai watched as Wang Tao retrieved the Poké Ball, visibly hesitant.

Even Ash Ketchum had headaches dealing with Electrode. And Wang Tao? He actually dared to capture one?

Wasn't that like carrying a ticking time bomb around?

Just as Su Bai was about to throw in a sarcastic jab, a louder, more menacing buzzing sound reached everyone's ears.

Louder. Deeper. All-encompassing.

Su Bai tilted his head slightly—and his jaw dropped.

Behind thick tree trunks, within tangled bushes, among dense canopies…

Every inch of this jungle was humming with motion.

One after another, Beedrill began pouring out from unexpected places.

"Fifty… no… eighty… no, forget it—there's way too many!"

Liu Yunlan counted in midair, then gave up entirely.

There had to be hundreds, at least!

Each and every one raised its gleaming stingers, darting toward them with murderous speed.

She glanced at the dazed Beedrill that had been knocked out earlier, still littering the forest floor.

And in that moment, she fully understood what Su Bai meant when he said Bug-types were not to be messed with…

As everyone stood frozen in place, watching the sky swarm darken with wings—

Su Bai's irritated voice rang out:

"Why are you all still standing around?! RUN!"

There was no reasoning with a horde this big.

Su Bai's shout snapped them back to reality.

They scattered in every direction.

Su Bai let out a hearty laugh, grabbing the still-stunned Liu Qiaoqiao by the waist, and with a loud snort from Charizard, took off into the sky.

The sun had dipped low on the horizon.

In the dappled red light of sunset, a group of young Trainers sprinted through the woods, chased by a storm of furious Beedrill.

Su Bai lay lazily on Charizard's back, a small grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.

It looked scary, sure—but this swarm? It wasn't really worse than a Death Beast tide.

With Wang Tao and the others' teamwork and training level—and Su Bai's support—they could totally hold their own.

But no one wanted to fight.

Because these were Pokémon—not Death Beasts.

They kept running for quite some time before the Beedrill finally gave up and turned back.

Liu Yunlan, Zhou Xiaofei, and Su Bai were still fine.

They had rideable Pokémon.

But the others? Looked exhausted.

After a few shared glances—and a look at Wang Tao's still-swollen pig-face—everyone suddenly burst into laughter.

This… this was the wild.

Ever since Death Beasts took over the world, no one had imagined a day like this would come.

The day they could run freely through the wilds.

—

To organize field operations, the Pokémon outposts had been numbered. The one nearest them was Station No. 1, and after their chaotic sprint, they finally arrived.

"We… we made it… finally made it…"

Liu Yunlan collapsed on the clearing in front of the station, gasping for air, not caring about appearances at all.

They weren't the first ones to arrive either.

Other Trainers were already at the station, restocking and tending to their teams.

Wang Tao wheezed heavily.

"Hahh… huff… finally… I can heal my Electrode…"

Though he caught it, his Electrode was in critical condition from its earlier explosion.

Sure, he could use potions, but those weren't cheap. A full recovery service was far more efficient.

Everyone watched as Wang Tao walked over to Nurse Joy with three Poké Balls in hand.

"Miss Joy, can you please heal my Pokémon?"

He politely placed all three balls on the counter.

This station's Nurse Joy stood beside a Blissey.

But at the sight of Wang Tao's swollen, bruised face, the Blissey squealed and quickly hid behind her.

"Uhh… my face…"

Wang Tao touched his cheeks. There was no mirror, but he knew he looked terrible.

While the Beedrill's venom had been neutralized with Antidotes…

The swelling? Not so simple.

The toxins were gone, but the inflammation was stubborn.

At the moment, Wang Tao's face still looked like a literal pig's head.

He was about to say something, but Nurse Joy only smiled kindly.

"You must've been attacked by a swarm of Beedrill, right?"

She gently patted the frightened Blissey, then took the Poké Balls and placed them in the healing machine.

Then she bent down behind the counter.

A moment later, the healing machine chimed with that familiar jingle:

🎵 Den-den… den-den-den! 🎵

As the melody played, Nurse Joy straightened up, now holding a small vial of medicine.

With a warm smile, she handed the Poké Balls back to Wang Tao.

"This outpost provides paid treatment for humans as well. Would you like to give it a try, Trainer?"

"Wait… it can heal people too?"

Everyone looked at each other in disbelief.

Even Su Bai, who had set up the outpost system himself, was surprised.

After all, in the games, players never take damage.

But when you think about it…

It made sense.

In the wild, if a Pokémon Center could only heal Pokémon, it would be severely limited in use.

And Nurse Joy's profession?

She was a nurse, after all.

So healing people shouldn't be that shocking.

With a pig-head face itching and stinging like mad, Wang Tao wasn't about to say no.

He nodded eagerly.

Joy gently opened the vial, dipped her fingers in, and carefully applied it to Wang Tao's face.

The effect was instant.

The swelling receded almost like melting shadows under sunlight, fading rapidly with each stroke of the medicine.

And then, as if that wasn't enough, Nurse Joy even took out a towel to gently wipe the residue off his face.

"That'll be 500 Federation Credits~"

Joy neatly packed up the supplies and gave Wang Tao a sweet bow.

"S-s-so gentle~~~"

Wang Tao fumbled to pay, his mind already halfway lost to love.

Up close like this… Nurse Joy really was stunning…

"Ahem…"

Su Bai coughed twice, trying to snap his best friend out of his daze.

He better not fall for a Nurse Joy...

Because if he went down Brock's path—

Bro, you'd literally be in love with someone from another world.

Literally.

"Alright, alright. Anyway, we've officially reached the first outpost."

"Let's see…"

Su Bai glanced at the progress bar in the corner of his vision.

As he expected, despite everything that happened—capturing Electrode, dealing with the Beedrill swarm—the exploration progress barely moved.

Which confirmed it.

The system wasn't lying—any action Su Bai took was marked as "invalid exploration."

Just like during the siege defense against the Death Beasts.

"From here on, I'm not going to babysit you all anymore."

Su Bai looked at the group and shrugged.

"So what's the plan now?"

"You sticking together… or going solo?"