After going to the station to pick up Hop's brother Champion Leon, Leon decided to give the protagonist and his brother each a Pokémon.
Kaito knew this. He'd read many people online mention it. Pokémon games always started with players choosing one of three starter Pokémon.
These three Pokémon were commonly called the starter trio.
The most famous were definitely the first-generation starters: Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur.
Ash had all three.
Sword and Shield were the eighth generation. The starters were a fire rabbit, a grass monkey, and a water lizard. They looked like the Powerpuff Girls.
Or so Kaito had heard. However, when he entered the starter selection, the Switch screen suddenly filled with a mosaic, like an old disc skipping.
After some grating static noise, a line of text appeared on screen.
Please associate starter Pokémon.
Below this text appeared something like a QR code scan screen.
Huh? Kaito froze, then quickly understood.
Cheat system! This was definitely a cheat system!
The Switch had no camera. How could a scan screen appear?
Normal games definitely didn't work like this. The Switch must have mutated after transmigration.
Associate starter Pokémon? How to associate? Kaito instinctively looked at the Bounsweet beside him.
The little creature had bounced back after being tossed out, now quietly dozing against Kaito.
Could he associate her? Kaito had no other choice.
Pokémon in this world were extremely expensive. Coincidentally obtaining a wild Pokémon was already very lucky. He couldn't be picky.
He tried aiming the Switch at Bounsweet. When the scan interface fully encompassed her small body, the Switch vibrated.
The screen changed: Wild Pokémon detected. Please confirm no resistance from the other party; otherwise association will fail.
Kaito quickly petted Bounsweet: Fragrant, be good, don't resist later.
Stee~ Bounsweet woke up but wasn't angry, instead affectionately nuzzling his palm.
He didn't know if she understood his words.
Soon, Kaito got his answer. The Switch displayed a prompt: Association successful.
The mosaic on the Switch completely disappeared. The game screen reappeared.
Wait... something was wrong.
The game character should be in Hop's backyard, standing beside Leon and Hop's brothers, with three Pokémon.
But what Kaito saw now was the game character sitting on a bed in a room, with a Bounsweet lying beside her.
Though the graphics became anime-style, he looked around.
No doubt!
The game screen actually matched his real room with high consistency!
This was the cheat system? It directly changed the map!
Love it, love it.
But how to play this game now?
Kaito tried controlling the character to move. No problem.
After the character stood up, the Bounsweet beside her also moved.
He immediately looked at the real-world Fragrant. She was still sleeping against him.
Since that was the case, Kaito controlled the character to start exploring the map.
Leaving the room, the hallway was identical to his home.
Down the stairs, the first floor was also identical to his home.
Then outside.
The outdoor scene was also the same as the village. He could even see Granny Yuki's roof in the distance.
Kaito explored the village along the road. He could enter every house. But there were no people. Objects were all fixed. So though this place resembled reality, it wasn't synchronized.
Maybe the game captured a frame the moment I opened it as the game map. I wonder if restarting will change it.
Finding no people, Kaito simply walked out of the village.
Since transmigrating, he himself hadn't left the village yet. He didn't know what the outside was like.
Following a narrow path outward, just passing a large tree, suddenly rustling sounds came from above.
Kaito immediately moved the character closer. An interface popped up.
This is a tree with fruit. Try shaking it? You might knock down some fruit.
Yes/No.
Kaito, of course, chose Yes.
After shaking for a while, something fell from the tree. The game prompted he obtained an Oran Berry.
Continue?
Kaito still chose Yes, but he noticed the controller kept vibrating.
What does this mean? He hadn't played before, didn't understand the mechanics, but something felt wrong.
Just then, suddenly, a black shadow leaped from the tree.
Then the game entered the battle screen.
A wild Pidgey appeared.
It was actually a Pidgey! He had just encountered one outside!
Kaito immediately got excited. In reality, he couldn't beat you, but in the game, he could try.
So he pressed the battle option.
One move appeared: Splash.
Kaito looked. Seemed like there was no other choice. So he chose to use Splash.
He didn't know how much damage it would deal.
Neither side's HP was displayed. He didn't know what would happen.
But he also noticed something.
The Bounsweet in the game wasn't called Bounsweet. The ID displayed Fragrant.
The game character's ID wasn't "Yui," which he entered, but "Kaito."
What the hell! How did it put my name on a female character? Are you stupid!? Kaito suddenly felt that his cheat system wasn't very intelligent.
Meanwhile, the battle began in-game.
Fragrant used Splash. It didn't seem to have any effect.
Pidgey used Tackle.
Slap!
Fragrant's HP bar immediately dropped by a third.
What the! Kaito quickly checked Splash's detailed information.
This thing... seemed to have no attack power.
He had always heard people joke about Splash. He didn't understand then. Now he roughly got it.
How to fight? Can't even attack!
Thinking this, he decisively chose to flee.
Escape successful.
He quickly controlled the character back to the village, not daring to randomly go out again.
Only being a punching bag when encountering monsters was too frustrating.
He researched for a while, pressed X to open the status interface, and finally saw Fragrant's specific stats.
Fragrant (Bounsweet)
Gender: Female
Type: Grass
Category: Fruit Pokémon
Ability: Oblivious
Nature: Lonely
Level: 1
Moves: Splash
The sweat it exudes when threatened is very sweet and delicious. That aroma attracts more enemies' attention.
These stats were truly trash, completely unable to fight. The legendary, most useless Magikarp was probably like this.
He should have known better than to associate with her. Now, Kaito's exploration of the cheat system was stalled because of this.
With a Pokémon that can't fight, how was he supposed to explore the wild area?