A love ball is a type of special Apricorn Ball that can more quickly increase the intimacy between a Pokémon and its Trainer.
In this world, from ordinary Trainers to top-tier Elite Four Trainers, everyone uses red and white Poké Balls or Great Balls; only the privileged and aristocratic classes use special Apricorn Balls, which, to put it plainly, are a symbol of status, and also a graduation gift Yi Shu had given to Zhang Heng before, as he was about to enter high school.
Zhang Heng said, "I'll use the love ball, Doctor."
But in his heart, he thought, "Actually, the pink love ball really matches the pink skin of the Shiny Mudkip."
The Doctor nodded, took the love ball, and pulled out his personal Pokédex.
Zhang Heng curiously examined the Pokédex, finding that it was similar to what he had seen in anime in his previous world, but with more functions and a higher sense of technology.
The Doctor, after a series of operations, assisted in activating the love ball's scanning function.
The love ball opened, and a red light emerged from its body, beginning to scan the Pokémon egg that was in Zhang Heng's arms.
After the love ball comprehensively scanned the Pokémon egg from top to bottom, the love ball slowly closed, and a certain intersecting connection was formed between the Poké Ball and the egg.
As long as the Pokémon hatches from the egg, it can be directly contained within the ball, without the need for battle capture.
This is the real world, and this method also solves some loopholes not explicitly stated in the anime.
If a Pokémon egg you've cared for a long time hatches and is captured by someone else's Poké Ball, who would you even complain to?
The Doctor put away his Pokédex, handed the love ball back to Zhang Heng, and said, "In Huaguo, as long as you own a Pokémon, you can apply to the Alliance to become a Trainer.
To prevent poaching, any Pokémon captured in the Wilderness Area must be reported to the Alliance; I have already transmitted your information back to the Alliance."
Zhang Heng asked, "If poachers directly capture and take them away with their own Poké Balls, we wouldn't be able to know, would we?"
The Doctor slowly said, "If poachers capture species unique to our region, such as the Pancham population, the starter Pokémon, and the General Pokémon in the Central China region, once discovered by Huaguo's intelligence network, the two Champions of Central China and South China will directly kill them worldwide, regardless of national borders."
Zhang Heng nodded slightly, a look of understanding on his face, then took the love ball and said, "Thank you, Doctor."
After taking the Poké Ball, a system prompt appeared in his mind.
"Ding ~ Detected that the host has captured a Mudkip, Water-type, which meets the requirements for the targeted attribute team building quest.
Rewards will be distributed after statistics.
Current team progress is 33.3% complete.
Please continue to work hard, host."
After listening to the system broadcast, Zhang Heng breathed a slight sigh of relief.
This trip to the Wilderness Area was quite fruitful; he had obtained a future Rainy Day attacker, and he tightened his grip on the Pokémon egg in his arms.
"Ding ~ Reward statistics complete, rewards are being distributed."
"Congratulations, host, you have received TM 050 - Rain Dance (repeatable use)."
"Congratulations, host, your Water-type affinity has been upgraded to Hydro."
"Congratulations, host, you have received a one-time opportunity to search for high-tier Water-type items."
Zhang Heng's heart leaped, and he began to slowly process the contents of this reward, then communicated with the system: "System, what kind of improvements does Hydro provide?"
"Ding ~ Hydro allows the host to have a higher affinity with Water-type Pokémon, communicate with Water-type Pokémon through touch, and detect Water-type energy fluctuations."
"Oh? Isn't that similar to Unova Champion Iris's Dragon Force, just changed from Dragon-type to Water-type?"
"Ding ~ That's one way to understand it."
"What does the third reward, the item search, mean?"
"Ding ~ It can search for the highest quality, ownerless Water-type exclusive item within a 100-kilometer radius."
Zhang Heng was considering whether to use the third reward.
Using this item search reward in this Water-type Wilderness Area should have a high probability of finding high-quality Water-type items.
He made up his mind and said, "System, activate the third reward; start searching for items."
"Ding ~ The system is detecting the highest quality item within a 100-kilometer radius, centered on the host."
About ten minutes later, the system's mechanical voice sounded again: "Ding ~ An S-tier Water-type item, the water scroll, has been detected approximately 45 kilometers Southwest of the host."
Zhang Heng: "water scroll?! Is that true?!"
System: "Ding, absolutely true."
Towards Lake Heart Island ~
Flying-type Elite Zou Yi, riding a Swanna, arrived at the outskirts of Lake Heart Island in the early morning after a night of flying.
He did not venture deep into Lake Heart Island but rested in place to conserve his strength.
Now, in the early morning, Zou Yi prepared to continue exploring deeper into Lake Heart Island to find out why the Water Blade Gang coveted the Wilderness Area.
Zou Yi looked at the dense forest with an unknown situation before him and decisively took out a red and white Poké Ball: "Come out, Swoobat."
A Pokémon appeared, its neck covered in light blue fur.
From the fur also extended a pair of black forelimbs and a pair of black bat wings.
Its nose was heart-shaped, located below its nose, and two sharp fangs extended from its lower jaw.
At the end of Swoobat's lower body, there were two pink tails spiraling and intertwining.
Zou Yi spoke: "You'll have to work hard again, old partner."
When Zou Yi was young, he was filled with infinite love and passion for outdoor activities, especially obsessed with wingsuit flying and outdoor exploration of secret realms.
Every journey challenging limits and exploring the unknown was full of danger and excitement, but fortunately, he could always turn danger into safety at critical moments, and Swoobat played an indispensable role in this.
Because Swoobat can emit sound waves of various wavelengths from its nostrils to explore the terrain.
Moreover, its Psychic and Flying-type combination also makes it suitable for reconnaissance work behind enemy lines.
The Swoobat, like a well-trained agent, swiftly and skillfully began its reconnaissance mission.
It gently flapped its wings and headed towards the dense jungle deep within Lake Heart Island.
During the reconnaissance, Swoobat not only fully utilized its innate sonar abilities as a bat but also ingeniously employed the perception abilities that Psychic-type Pokémon are naturally adept at.
Relying on this extraordinary dual perception ability, Swoobat could keenly detect subtle changes in the surrounding environment; neither a rustle in the grass nor potential dangers could escape its "all-seeing eye."
Even deeply hidden enemies or traps had nowhere to hide before Swoobat.
Thus, with the aid of dual perception, Zou Yi recalled Swanna and followed Swoobat on foot, easily traversing various obstacles and dangers, steadily advancing towards his goal...