[Ding—Task Completed]
“???”
Before Mishiro could even regain his senses from the chaotic situation, a system chime rang abruptly in his mind, causing him to freeze.
What task had been completed?
Bewildered, he looked down at the unconscious Squishy in his arms as new lines of text appeared on the system interface before his eyes.
[Legend Archive: Ground Dragon Hater]
[Archive Task: Defeat an Excadrill using a “Ground Dragon” to prove who the real Ground Dragon is.
(Completed)]
[Rewards Received: All system functions activated, Novice Breeder Talent unlocked, Legend Points × 100]
“???”
Mishiro’s mind was in utter turmoil.
Where was there a Ground Dragon?
Wait—
A sudden realization struck him, and his eyes snapped wide open.
He had fallen into a blind spot!
From the very beginning, the task had only asked him to defeat an Excadrill using a Ground Dragon; it had never specified that it had to be a Garchomp.
That meant any Pokémon fitting the Ground/Dragon typing fulfilled the criteria!
And besides the Garchomp and Flygon families, the only other Ground/Dragon-type was…
Zygarde!
Mishiro stared down at the soft, squishy creature in his arms, rendered speechless for a long moment.
When enlightenment finally dawned, he sent the system the most heartfelt greeting a true Ground Dragon fan could muster:
*You’re the biggest Ground Dragon hater here, aren’t you?!*
[Dumbass, is Zygarde’s typing Ground/Dragon or not?]
“You…”
Mishiro was left completely speechless by the system’s retort.
In the end, he could only let out a helpless sigh, quietly adding this grudge to his mental tally before turning his focus back to Squishy.
Just then, a fresh stream of information materialized before his eyes—a direct benefit of fully unlocking the system’s functions.
[Pokémon: Zygarde (Core / Shiny)]
[Type: Dragon / Ground]
[Ability: Power Construct (When in a pinch, absorbs nearby cells to strengthen itself)]
[Moves: None]
[Affection: 99 (You are the first human to discover it.
It loves your cooking~ especially sweet food)]
[Status: Asleep (Overexerted from invoking Power Construct due to lack of mastery over its Core abilities)]
[Basic Info: A Shiny Core mutated from a Zygarde Cell under the influence of extradimensional energy.
Because it was born recently, its mind remains immature.]
“A Pokédex function?
I knew it…”
Mishiro finally understood Squishy’s origin—it had actually mutated from an ordinary Zygarde Cell.
But what exactly was this “extradimensional energy”?
“System, can you create an Extradimensional Archive?”
[Insufficient information available.
Unable to create archive.]
“Insufficient information?”
Mishiro frowned slightly.
This response differed from Squishy’s initial situation, implying that an archive *could* be created for this “extradimensional” force—he simply lacked the requisite data at the moment.
Pondering it briefly, he decided to shelve the question for now and glanced toward the fainted Excadrill lying not far away.
It was a pity that Squishy had shielded him earlier, so he hadn’t seen how the creature fell.
To pull off a one-shot knockout meant that despite being newly born, Squishy’s strength truly befitted a Legendary Pokémon.
Mastering that power, however, would take time…
Best to wait until Squishy woke up before discussing it further.
Right on cue, a new window popped up in front of him.
[Pokémon: Excadrill]
[Type: Ground / Steel]
[Ability: Mold Breaker (Attacks can be executed regardless of the opponent’s Ability)]
[Moves: Rapid Spin, Swords Dance, Slash, Drill Run, Dig, Earth Power, Crush Claw, Sandstorm, Metal Claw, Rock Slide]
[Affection: 0 (Right now, it just wants to drill you hard)]
[Status: Fainted (Defeated by Zygarde’s super-effective Thousand Arrows; nose re-injured)]
[Basic Info: A wild Pokémon attracted into the city by energy emitted from Anjou.
Extremely vengeful and driven by a pursuit of power, but dislikes actively picking on the weak.]
“It’s knocked out cold and it *still* wants to drill me?!”
Mishiro took a startled step back, barely keeping his composure.
Still, he had at least figured out why such a dangerous wild Excadrill had appeared inside the city.
If he remembered correctly, in *Pokémon Legends: Z-A*, the Prism Tower—also known as Anjou—emitted “Mega Energy” capable of inducing Mega Evolution in Pokémon.
This unique radiation acted like an irresistible lure for wild Pokémon.
Once fully exposed, they would either go on a rampage or be forced into uncontrollable Mega Evolutions.
In the game, Anjou’s defensive protocols were only supposed to trigger passively after the Ultimate Weapon was activated.
Yet, having lived in Lumiose City for so long, Mishiro had never heard of any regional catastrophe occurring.
It seemed reality differed from the games after all.
After lingering in thought, he still couldn’t figure out the underlying cause.
“Let’s check out the other functions first.”
He redirected his attention to the remaining system modules:
[Daily Intel]
[Path of Breeding]
[Gym Management]
Daily Intel was self-explanatory: every day, a piece of news would refresh.
It might be trivial daily gossip or critical information that directly unlocked a Legend Archive.
Furthermore, he could manually refresh it by spending 10 Legend Points.
The replaced intel wouldn’t disappear either; it would be archived in a dedicated folder for easy reference anytime.
“Why do I get the feeling this feature might be a massive pitfall?”
Mishiro had a sudden, unexplainable hunch, but he didn’t dwell on it and moved on to the next function.
Path of Breeding was equally straightforward—a module tailored specifically for raising Pokémon.
By spending 100 Legend Points, he could safely dispatch a Pokémon to various wild locations for automated training and growth.
Finally, his eyes landed on Gym Management.
This module was clearly custom-tailored for him, allowing him to review the Gym’s operational status at a glance, including revenue, territorial conditions, and the status of Gym Pokémon.
Currently, the Gym’s status read: [Temporarily Closed].
“Why does all of this…
feel kind of average?”
Mishiro scratched his head, unable to resist complaining.
“It requires way too much manual effort.
Isn’t there something easier to use and more overpowered?
Since all functions are unlocked, couldn’t you drop some game-breaking rewards?
Look at other people’s systems—gifting divine starter packs right off the bat for instant invincibility.
Meanwhile, my lower half almost got drilled into outer space.”
[…]
The system remained silent, as if frozen.
Mishiro didn’t bother teasing it any further.
Just then, the wail of sirens echoed from the distance.
Officer Jenny had finally arrived on the scene after receiving a report from a bystander.
Unaware that a passerby NPC had called the police, the sound of the sirens snapped Mishiro back to reality.
Glancing at the unconscious Excadrill lying on the pavement, he hurriedly pulled out an empty Poké Ball and threw it at the Pokémon’s stomach.
The Excadrill’s body converted into a beam of red light and was sucked into the ball.
After a few slight wobbles, the catch was confirmed with a click.
“Done!”
Mishiro let out a long breath of relief.
He recalled that wild Pokémon caught causing chaos in urban areas were typically subjected to forced rehabilitation before being exiled into the wilderness.
Since this Excadrill was technically his “attending physician,” he didn’t want the poor thing getting netted up and discarded in some barren wasteland.
Besides, he wanted to resolve the conflict between them.
The whole mess had started because he had been dumb enough during his memory loss to go digging up Ground Dragons.
At the very least, he owed it to the Excadrill to heal its injuries.
Without another thought, he threw himself onto the ground, playing injured.
When Officer Jenny came to take his statement, he would just invent a story to gloss over the Excadrill…
Wait, no, he actually *was* injured.
“Oh right, almost forgot.
Refresh today’s intel for me.”
[Ding—Intel Refreshed]
[Today’s Intel: The Mythical Pokémon Darkrai and the Legendary Pokémon Latios were sent out simultaneously by Trainer Tobias during the morning semifinals of the Sinnoh League’s Lily of the Valley Conference.
However, both were completely defeated by Trainer Ash from Pallet Town in the Kanto region.]
“Hold on, the Super Palletian actually exists in this world?!”
Mishiro was stunned.
He had never expected to roll intel like this.
If memory served, in *Pokémon Diamond & Pearl*, Ash had lost the Lily of the Valley Conference semifinals to Tobias—a pure deus ex machina moment that had made childhood Mishiro want to snap his anime DVD in half.
So, setting-wise, was his current timeline right around the end of Ash’s journey in the Sinnoh region?
No, he couldn’t completely equate the two.
In this world, the Champion of the Kanto region was Red.
A new Champion rising in a region was massive news that even a shut-in would know about.
This was simply a world where Ash existed alongside the game universe.
In that case, Mishiro actually looked forward to meeting this “stranger” he knew all too well.
He wondered if, when Ash eventually traveled to Kalos, he would drop by his Gym for a challenge…