Eddie thought he had misheard the notification, so he carefully rechecked the message list.
To his surprise, he'd heard correctly.
He turned to Misty with a bewildered expression and noticed her face was quite animated—flushed cheeks, rapid breathing, and eyes that looked at him with unmistakable joy. When she realized Eddie was watching her, she immediately lowered her head as if trying to hide her feelings.
"What is this girl thinking?" Eddie silently wondered as he fell into deep thought.
This "more than friends, less than lovers" relationship status was something he had never encountered in the game before. Of course, Eddie understood what it meant in real life, but he'd never seen such a relationship classification in Pokemon Generations.
In his previous life, his relationship with the female NPCs had reached, at most, "trust" level. No one on the game forums had ever mentioned reaching this kind of ambiguous relationship status, and this was his first time witnessing it.
Could it be that no other player had ever achieved this level of relationship with the game's inhabitants? Otherwise, why would there be no information about it?
Eddie could only draw this conclusion, but he remained confused about how this had happened. He hadn't said anything romantic or flirtatious. He had merely completed a hidden mission, which had somehow caused Misty's favorability to increase to this ambiguous level.
How was that possible? If relationships could progress this easily, surely when countless players in his previous life completed tasks for female characters, such relationship statuses would have been widely reported on the game forums.
"Misty must have misunderstood something and created an entire narrative in her head," Eddie concluded, coming close to the actual truth.
In any case, this wasn't necessarily a bad development—just perplexing in its origin. But he wasn't going to bother explaining; after all, he couldn't possibly tell Misty, "I was just completing a mission for rewards, don't read too much into it." No emotionally intelligent person would say such a thing.
It was getting late anyway. His day had been packed—heading to Mt. Moon in the morning, defeating various Trainers, leveling up his Pokemon, and capturing a Riolu. At noon, he'd met Misty at the Pokemon Center and received her hidden task. Then, without pause, he'd gone searching for Team Rocket, followed by intense battles until now.
The sun was already setting. Although Misty's injuries weren't severe, she was covered in dirt and clearly uncomfortable.
"Ahem, Misty, you mentioned you're from Cerulean City, right? Why don't you lead the way there? We should get you to the city quickly. Even though your injuries aren't serious, they still need treatment," Eddie said to Misty, emphasizing the part about her injuries.
Misty suddenly remembered that she had been knocked unconscious and had sustained various scrapes. She quickly pulled a small mirror from her pocket and examined herself. There weren't many wounds, but she was covered in mud, making her look disheveled.
Given that she'd been hit by rushing water, slammed against a wall, and dragged out of a cave, it would have been surprising if she weren't dirty.
Seeing her mud-covered state—a condition that would be unacceptable even to Eddie as a man, let alone to Misty as a woman—she instantly snapped out of her previous daze.
Without saying a word, not even bothering to acknowledge Eddie verbally, she simply signaled with her eyes for him to follow and then sprinted toward Cerulean City without hesitation.
"Heh, typical," Eddie remarked expressionlessly as he watched Misty racing toward Cerulean City.
Despite the weariness from their journey and the approaching dusk, Misty rushed all the way to Cerulean City, eager to clean herself up. Their destination was naturally her home.
Eddie followed behind. As the Cerulean City Gym Leader, Misty's family was not just well-off but exceptionally wealthy.
Soon, he found himself following her to her residence—a magnificent villa situated in the middle of a lake, resembling a palace on water. It was impressively large, elegant, and noble in appearance.
Eddie was quite taken aback when he saw the villa. Although he knew Misty was wealthy and had seen pictures of her home on forums in his previous life, seeing it up close made him realize those images had only captured a fraction of its grandeur.
Eddie had never visited this place in his previous life. Back then, he wasn't acquainted with Misty and had departed hastily after their Gym battle. It would have been strange for Misty to invite a stranger to her home.
Misty, of course, didn't think anything of it. Having lived there since childhood, who would be surprised by the sight of their own home?
"Ahem, we're here, Morning Sun. This is my home," Misty said, stopping at the entrance where a group of servants awaited them. "I contacted the staff on our way here, so everything's prepared. Let's go inside quickly."
"Welcome back, Miss Misty, and welcome to you, Mr. Morning Sun," a group of maids greeted in unison, lined up in two rows at the door, hands folded before them as they bowed to Eddie and Misty.
"I've asked the servants to prepare hot baths in advance. I'm going to wash up first," Misty explained as she led Eddie into the villa. "The staff will show you to the guest room. We can talk after dinner."
Without further delay, Misty hurried to her room, unable to tolerate her disheveled appearance any longer. Meanwhile, two maids approached Eddie and escorted him to his prepared guest room, where a hot bath also awaited.
Pokemon Generations was a holographic virtual reality game where players experienced everything with remarkable realism. They could taste food and feel satiated, experience pain when injured, and become immobilized when paralyzed. Everything felt 100% authentic, leading countless people to marvel at this technological miracle that seemed to transcend time itself.
Of course, Eddie knew the truth—Pokemon Generations wasn't just a game but an actual parallel world. Entering the game was equivalent to entering another reality, which explained why everything felt so genuine.
After his extended battle in the cave, Eddie's body, while not as dirty as Misty's, still felt uncomfortable. So, after being shown to the guest room, he too enjoyed a refreshing hot bath in the spacious tub.