Chapter 75: Where's My Freaking Big Wallet?

Chapter 75: Where's My Freaking Big Wallet?

The next day, the gentle sunlight woke Rio from his slumber.

"Awooo—" Rio lazily stretched his body. After the sleepiness had completely vanished, he lightly and quietly slid down from the tree, not waking the few Taillow still sound asleep.

"Swish, swish."

Parting the grass, Rio walked to the side of the man-made road. He looked at the streetlights on both sides with a nostalgic expression and couldn't help but go forward and press his paw against a light pole.

Feeling that cold sensation, Rio's heart was filled with excitement.

"Human society, here I come!"

…

Verdant Leaf City is located in the eastern territory of the Middel Region.

The town is not large. Perhaps because it is not close to the central continent's largest volcano—the Fiery Volcano—or perhaps because it is a considerable distance from the northern Borean Sea, the climate here is relatively stable and comfortable. Therefore, in Verdant Leaf City, whether artificially planted or naturally grown, all sorts of green plants grow very lushly, interspersed among various human buildings, filling the entire town with a natural atmosphere.

Thanks to this environment and climate, the largest Pokémon Ecological Reserve in the entire Middel Region is located in this town. Moreover, the person in charge of the ecological reserve, serving as a Gym Leader dispatched by the Pokémon League, also had to set up their Pokémon Gym here. It is precisely because Verdant Leaf City has these two characteristic buildings that many, many tourists and Pokémon Trainers come, drawn by its fame, whether to get a glimpse of the many rare Pokémon in the ecological zone or to challenge the Gym and obtain a badge.

It was morning now, and the weather was clear.

The entrance to the Pokémon Ecological Reserve was already crowded with tourists wanting to go in for a visit. All sorts of noisy sounds injected a dose of vitality into this town.

And at the very edge of the crowd, a long-haired girl wearing a white dress, a white casual hat adorned with a Poké Ball pattern, and sneakers on her feet was currently looking at the seemingly endless queue with a troubled expression.

"Ugh, I knew I shouldn't have slept so late. Great, now look at this queue. Who knows when I'll get to the front..."

The girl's face was crestfallen. She limply waved the map clutched in her hand and muttered complaints to herself.

"!!" A small Poké Ball on her waist shook restlessly.

"What? You're saying you called me to get up, but I was the one who didn't want to?"

"How is that possible..."

"You're also saying I casually threw the ringing alarm clock and broke it?"

"Ah, no wonder that alarm clock was on the floor by the door for no reason. I'm doomed, I spent 50 Yuan on that clock, what a huge loss..."

Thinking of this, the girl looked even more dejected.

Just then, a sneaky figure stealthily walked up to the girl's side.

"Yo, this troubled lady. If I'm not mistaken, you've run into some difficulty, haven't you?"

The girl eyed this sneaky figure in a long coat with suspicion.

Facing the girl's wariness, Coat Bro was not flustered at all and continued in a low voice, "By the looks of it, you're troubled about how to get into the reserve, right? But look at this queue; you probably won't be done even by closing time tonight."

"Luckily you ran into me. I happen to be an internal staff member of this reserve, and I have here a few precious VIP channel passes that only internal staff have. If it weren't for the fact that I don't like to see a lady's disappointed face, I wouldn't necessarily have taken these passes out. How about it, would you like one?"

Coat Bro pulled open his long coat. In the inner lining, a few exquisitely made tickets could be vaguely seen.

"Look, these tickets can let you in through the VIP channel immediately. It saves time, and you don't have to squeeze in line with all these tourists. Isn't that great?"

"...How much is one pass?"

"Not expensive, only 500 Yuan."

Seeing the girl still looking hesitant, Coat Bro persuaded her in what seemed to be a guiding tone, "This price is a bit steep, but think about it. This reserve isn't just for tourists to visit. If you have a fateful encounter with certain Pokémon living inside, you can even capture them as your own."

The girl was somewhat tempted, so Coat Bro struck while the iron was hot. "Looking at your gear, you must be a Pokémon Trainer too, right? For fate's sake, I'll let you in on another piece of information... It's said that in this reserve, there lives a group of quite rare Pokémon—Beldum. Think about it, if you go in earlier, and if by some chance you have a fateful encounter with a Beldum, you could have a pseudo-legendary Pokémon. After all, if you go late and someone else gets there first, you'll have missed your chance to own a pseudo-legendary. Thinking of it that way, doesn't it feel like this money is more than well spent?"

Beldum's final evolution, Metagross, was quite a powerful Pokémon. Even some Elite Four-level Pokémon Trainers would use this Pokémon as their trump card.

Thinking that she had a chance to own such a powerful Pokémon, the girl could no longer hold back. Without another word, she took out her wallet, pulled out 500 Yuan, and handed it to Coat Bro.

The Poké Ball on her waist shook even more violently.

"Alrighty, thank you for your patronage! Here, your pass!"

Coat Bro beamed as he took the banknotes—money in the Pokémon world was collectively known as Pokémon Yuan—and in turn, pulled a pass from his coat and gave it to the girl.

The girl took the pass and looked it over. The pass was printed with exquisite patterns and indeed looked different from the ordinary passes she had glimpsed.

When she looked up, that Coat Bro was already long gone.

The girl scratched her head, didn't think much more of it, and turned to walk towards the counter of the Pokémon Ecological Reserve.

However.

"…"

The service staff at the counter frowned as they inspected the so-called "VIP" pass the girl before them had handed over. Then, they said without mercy, "I'm sorry, this ticket of yours does not seem to be genuine. We cannot let you in."

"HUH??!!"

The girl looked as if she had been struck by lightning and hurriedly said, "Excuse me, could you please take a closer look? I bought this ticket from one of your internal staff members."

The service staff, with great professionalism, checked the pass in their hands again. In the end, the conclusion was the same. "This ticket of yours should be a fake. If, as you say, you bought it from one of those so-called internal staff members, I suggest you report it to the police station in the city center. It's likely a scam conducted by fraudsters forging our passes."

Fake... Scammer...

The girl left the counter of the Pokémon Ecological Reserve, somewhat disheartened and lost.

A few people in a hurry walked past, one of whom accidentally bumped the girl's shoulder lightly.

"Ouch."

"Ah, I'm sorry."

The person who bumped into the girl apologized repeatedly, while the girl waved her hand, indicating she was fine.

Right now, her mind was completely filled with the fact that she had spent a huge sum of 500 Yuan on a fake ticket.

A quarter of an hour later, inside the Verdant Leaf City police station.

"Name?"

"Ming... Ming Rizhao."

"Age?"

"15."

"What are you reporting?"

"…"

After painstakingly narrating the story of being scammed into buying a fake ticket, the girl named "Ming Rizhao" walked out of the police station amidst the officer's admonitions.

Just then, the Poké Ball on her waist, which had been shaking all this time, seemed unable to bear it any longer. With a "pop," a white light flashed, and a small Pokémon with green hair on its head, with two flat red horns protruding from between the hair, one in front and one behind, and looking as if it were wearing an overly long white dress, leaped out.

The Pokémon stood with its hands on its hips, puffed up with anger, and "咿咿呀呀" (yīyīyāyā - squeaking/babbling) at Ming Rizhao about something.

"Boohoo, I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have been greedy and fallen for it."

"Ruru, stop scolding me, stop scolding me. I'm sad enough as it is."

As if understanding what her Pokémon was saying, Ming Rizhao mumbled dejectedly.

The Ralts, whom the girl called "Ruru," was still a little angry and relentlessly patted Ming Rizhao's calf with its small white hands.

"Alright, alright, don't be angry. It's all my fault."

Ming Rizhao showed a fawning smile.

"Let's not go visit the reserve. Let's go buy something delicious to eat, okay?"

"Swish." Ming Rizhao unzipped her yellow crossbody bag, reaching inside with one hand while a look of anticipation appeared on her face.

"I remember the matcha ice cream in Verdant Leaf City is very famous and also very delicious. And there are red bean rice cakes, green leaf steamed glutinous rice balls, and so on... Huh?"

Ming Rizhao's smile froze.

"Huh? Huh? Huh??"

She looked down at her bag in disbelief, both hands rummaging inside.

Then, her expression became like that of a dead fish, and she let out a cry from the depths of her soul.

"WHERE'S MY FREAKING BIG WALLET??????"

…

And so, this young girl, who had just walked out of the police station, once again walked back into the police station in an atmosphere of dejection.