“Stop dreaming. Don’t you know how fierce monkey monsters look?” someone immediately mocked below.

“I don’t like what I’m hearing. If you’ve got the guts, wait until my monkey monster hatches and then let’s PK.”

“Fine, my little Poliwag isn’t afraid of your monkey monster anyway…”

What a bunch of jokers… Chatting in the group really makes you all happy.

Ryan Ford lurked for a while longer, until a bunch of people @-ed him and he had no choice but to show up.

“Alright, I know my Ethan is adorable, no need to be so jealous. When school starts, I can let you all hold Ethan, but only the girls.”

Typed, sent!

The next moment, the group went silent.

Then the screen was flooded with “shameless” and “so brazen.”

But there were other comments too.

James Clark: “Really? It’s a deal.”

Olivia Miller: “Awesome.”

David Bolton: “Nice one.”

Mark Thompson: “Kind of looking forward to it.”

Olivia Miller: “Come on, Mark Thompson, what are you, a guy, looking forward to?”

The group chatted about little Ethan for about an hour before moving on to other topics.

Suddenly, Class Leader said, “Has everyone downloaded the Pokédex app?”

“My phone keeps freezing, stupid XX.”

The Pokédex app is a mobile software. By using the phone’s camera to scan a Pokémon, you can get some information about it. It’s an essential cheat for rookie trainers.

Hmm…

If Class Leader hadn’t mentioned it, Ryan Ford would have almost forgotten about it, though he figured he might not need it.

“You’re so quick to blame your phone instead of the app. Looks like you’ve been unhappy with it for a while…” Ryan Ford typed, then added, “Once Ethan wakes up, I’ll take it to the Pokémon Center to activate my trainer ID. I think the app only lets you log in after your trainer ID is activated, right?”

“Yeah… whoa, never mind, my phone’s burning hot. I’m off to look at new phones.”

Ryan Ford: “……”

“Go ahead.” Ryan Ford replied speechlessly.

Suddenly…

At that moment, Ryan Ford seemed to hear a strange sound. Following the noise, Ryan Ford turned his head and saw that the little Ethan lying on the bed was about to wake up.

It had already opened its eyes in a daze, but didn’t seem fully awake yet, just rolling around on the bed. In the process, it completely unraveled its silk scarf.

“Bui…”

Little Ethan still didn’t seem to understand what was going on. It wasn’t until it felt like something was missing from its body that it suddenly snapped awake, then looked around in confusion: Σ(°△°|||)︴

Click…

Ryan Ford quickly snapped a photo of the scene.

“Bui!”

The sound of the phone camera was a reminder for Ethan, helping it locate Ryan Ford precisely. As soon as it saw Ryan Ford, little Ethan happily ran over and jumped into Ryan Ford’s arms without hesitation.

“How did you sleep?” Ryan Ford tapped little Ethan’s forehead with his finger.

My silly, adorable little Ethan…

“Bui bui~” Ethan nodded energetically.

Then…

Its stomach growled.

Ryan Ford laughed. As expected of a newly hatched Pokémon, it digests food really fast. After all, he was still full for a long time after drinking a whole bottle of Moomoo Milk.

“Climb up here.” Ryan Ford pointed to his shoulder. “I’ll go get you some milk. After you finish drinking, I’ll take you out for a walk.”

Little Ethan was very obedient, climbing onto Ryan Ford’s shoulder just like that. Its pose was pretty much the same as Ash and Pikachu in the anime.

Feeling the warmth on his neck, Ryan Ford let out a soft hum.

It was actually pretty comfortable…

Not as tiring as he’d imagined.

So, Ryan Ford decided that unless it was absolutely necessary, he’d let Ethan stay by his side instead of putting it in a Poké Ball.

“Ah, I almost forgot… After activating my trainer ID, I still need to buy a Poké Ball for Ethan.”

Ryan Ford suddenly remembered that after activating his trainer ID, he could legally buy Poké Balls. After buying one, he’d also need to go to the Pokémon Center to bind the Poké Ball’s information to Ethan.

Binding it to Ryan Ford’s trainer ID and to the Poké Ball’s information was basically like little Ethan’s ID card.

Chapter 10 Poké Ball

Outside the Pokémon Center—

Ryan Ford and Ethan walked out.

After all that fuss, it was finally done.

At this moment, Ryan Ford was still holding a red and white Poké Ball in his hand.

This was what Ryan Ford bought after activating his trainer ID. Like Pokémon, the purchase of Poké Balls is also regulated. Although they’re not expensive, there’s a limit to how many each trainer can buy.

Just like there’s a limit to how many Pokémon each person can own.

Of course, where there’s light, there’s shadow. Black markets and smuggling exist too, but those are illegal and always get cracked down on as soon as they’re discovered.

The information for this Poké Ball had already been bound to Ethan, so it could be considered little Ethan’s “new home.” In the future, during security checks at subways or airports, security staff could just scan the Poké Ball to connect to the Pokémon Center network and check if any criminals were trying to get in.

Although the important stuff was done, Ryan Ford was feeling a bit down.