Before Cynthia could react, her opponent moved first.
Dark-purple energy gathered around Poochyena’s jaws before it lunged straight at Torchic.
[Poochyena used Crunch!]
A yellow damage number burst above Torchic’s HP bar.
[A critical hit!]
Its health vanished instantly.
Torchic toppled over with spirals in its eyes, and the screen faded to gray.
[You have no more Pokémon that can battle!]
[You blacked out!]
Cynthia’s hand remained suspended over the mouse, still halfway toward selecting a move.
The chat, on the other hand, was having the time of its life.
[RareCandyDealer: HOLY CRAP, ONE-SHOT!]
[BattleFrontierPTSD: Welcome to Insane Mode HAHAHAHA.]
[ShortsKidFan: Youngster: “I heard you’re a Champion?”]
[CritEnjoyer: That crit was BEAUTIFUL.
Anyone else feel that in their soul?]
[GarchompEnjoyer: Why did she stop moving?
Emotional damage already?]
A few viewers at least tried to offer genuine advice.
[OldGenPurist: Streamer, maybe switch back to Normal.
Insane Mode genuinely isn’t made for sane people.]
[HoennEnjoyer: Yeah, you’re completely new.
There’s no shame in not playing the hidden difficulty.]
…
Cynthia remained silent for a moment before straightening in her chair.
Again.
She reloaded the game and entered the battle once more.
This time, there was no critical hit, but Crunch still dealt absurd damage.
A single attack wiped out more than half of Torchic’s HP.
Torchic retaliated with Ember.
Poochyena lost only about a third of its health.
The outcome was obvious.
A second Crunch finished Torchic off, and Cynthia was sent back to the Pokémon Center yet again.
By now, some of the viewers had stopped laughing long enough to explain what was happening.
[BattleFrontierPTSD: You’re not winning this as-is.
It’s three levels above you, and its EVs are maxed.
The stat difference is way too big.]
[PixelProfessor: Early Insane Mode basically expects you to grind first.
You literally can’t leave the first town area otherwise.]
[MudkipMain: Go level up in the grass!
Please stop trying to brute-force it!]
Cynthia had already noticed the problem herself.
Ever since she changed the difficulty, the gap between her Pokémon’s stats and the enemy’s had increased dramatically.
She opened the party screen and carefully examined Torchic’s stats and information, her brow furrowing in thought.
So the increase in difficulty was largely reflected through stronger numbers?
Earlier, she had dismissed the game as having little practical battle value because the player could not issue detailed commands.
But if the harsher stats were intended to force players into thinking about team composition, Pokémon matchups, and tactical planning, that changed things considerably.
There were very few opportunities in real life to experiment freely with entirely different team structures and strategies without consequences.
Of course, she had no idea whether that was actually what the developers intended.
If the entire difficulty system boiled down to nothing more than inflated numbers, it would become boring very quickly.
Cynthia closed the menu and guided her character into the nearby grass to start training.
A Taillow jumped out.
Torchic defeated it with Ember, and the experience bar crept upward.
The next encounter was a Wurmple, which was even frailer and went down just as easily.
…
Cynthia continued pacing through the grass, battling one wild Pokémon after another.
Torchic’s level steadily climbed until it finally reached Level 12.
That seemed sufficient.
She stopped grinding and returned to the Pokémon Center in Oldale Town to heal—something the tutorial had already taught her how to do.
“This should be enough…”
After a moment’s assessment, Cynthia guided her character back toward the dirt road.
The battle began again.
This time, Torchic moved first.
Ember struck Poochyena and immediately took away half its HP.
Poochyena retaliated with Crunch, knocking Torchic down to around half health as well.
A second Ember landed.
Poochyena fainted.
[You won!]
[Youngster: Darn it!]
The boy in shorts disappeared from the screen, and the game returned to the overworld.
The chat immediately came alive again.
[CritEnjoyer: Where’s my friendship mechanic?!
Why didn’t Torchic survive on 1 HP because it loves her?!]
[OldGenPurist: Someone please give me my “Torchic toughed it out so you wouldn’t feel sad” message.]
[BattleFrontierPTSD: Yep, that’s basically how you have to play it.
Without a level advantage, early Insane Mode is rough.]
[Ninjachu: The early NPCs are still easy.
Grind a little and you’ll be fine.
Later on, though…]
[MudkipMain: Shhh.
No spoilers.]
[RocketWatcher: By the way, who said they’d send a Rocket if she picked Insane Mode?
Where’d you go?]
The moment that message appeared, a loud notification rang out.
A huge rocket icon suddenly shot across the top of Cynthia’s screen, trailing bright red flames as it climbed through the livestream.
[VIP RedPikachu sent ×1 Super Rocket!]
The chat exploded.
[WingullWiFi: ?]
[GarchompEnjoyer: BRO, YOU ACTUALLY SENT IT?!]
[LoanSharkMagikarp: Must be nice having money.
I’d donate too, so streamer, how about you send me 500.000 first and I’ll send ten Rockets right back?]
[RareCandyDealer: A Super Rocket is only two thousand.
You’re asking for half a million and only promising ten?
Streamer, send me 100k instead.
I offer better rates.]
…
Cynthia had naturally noticed the elaborate rocket animation as well.
She blinked.
Two thousand Pokédollars…
Someone had simply given that to her?
After thinking for a moment, she spoke with complete sincerity.
“Thank you for the gift.
I really appreciate it, and I’ll remember the gesture.”
She paused before adding, “But everyone, you really don’t need to send me gifts.
I…
don’t particularly need the money.”
That was the truth.
If anything, Cynthia was understating it.
As the Sinnoh Champion, money was little more than a number to her.
The viewers clearly did not interpret her words that way.
[PikaPikaChu: ???
What do you mean you “don’t particularly need money”?
Is that something normal humans say?]
[RareCandyDealer: Sounds fake.
Send me 50 and prove it.]
[OldGenPurist: You can stop staying in character for this part.
Don’t you need to make a living?]
[RocketWatcher: Refusing Rockets?
Is the streamer secretly loaded?]
[RealSimp: I mean…
someone that pretty being rich wouldn’t exactly shock me.
Maybe she streams purely for fun.]
[GarchompEnjoyer: Honestly, even her whole vibe is exactly like Cynthia’s.
She looks rich just sitting there.]
…
Cynthia read through the messages with a complicated expression.
As Champion, she had heard more compliments than she could count.
Yet seeing strangers praise her through a wall of scrolling comments somehow felt completely different.
And a little strange.
She shook her head and turned her attention back to the game.
After defeating the Youngster, Cynthia returned to the Pokémon Center one more time to heal before heading west.
She had barely taken a few steps when her character abruptly stopped.
A crimson Pokémon had appeared on the screen.
It stood upright on two legs, its entire body covered in grotesquely exaggerated muscles, while its long pointed mouth resembled a needle.
Even though it was only rendered in pixel art, Cynthia’s instincts immediately screamed danger.
Her hand actually moved toward Garchomp’s Poké Ball at her waist before she caught herself.
‘It’s only a game.’
She lowered her hand.
Two young men stood before the red creature.
One wore a red cap pulled low enough to obscure much of his face, while the other had blond hair and carried himself with obvious confidence.
A dialogue box appeared.
[Confident Blond Young Man: “Red, confirmation complete.
Target identified as UB-02 Absorption!
There have been severe fluctuations from nearby Ultra Wormholes.
Be careful—don’t let it escape!”]
[Silent Young Man: “…”]
The crimson creature roared.
With a single sweep of its arm, it smashed the surrounding trees apart, scattering broken trunks and debris across the ground.
Then it charged straight toward the blond young man.
He barely managed to throw himself aside.
Before either Trainer could recover, the creature tore into the deeper forest at incredible speed and vanished within seconds.
The blond man remained on the ground, breathing heavily.
[“Red, forget about me!
Go after UB-02!”]
The red-capped Trainer nodded and immediately ran after it alone.
The chat began scrolling furiously.
[KantoVeteran: HERE HE IS!
The man of ten words, destroyer of Mewtwo, god of Mt.
Silver, absolute master of the ellipsis—RED HAS ARRIVED!]
[MuscleMonFan: Buzzwole!
Finally, some premium muscle content.]
[MachampGymBro: Correct.
This is exactly what I came for.
I want to wrestle him.]
[WingullWiFi: ?]
[RareCandyDealer: Dude, what is WRONG with you?]
…
Cynthia glanced over the chat, hoping someone would offer useful information about the strange red Pokémon.
Instead, she ended up looking even more confused.
‘…I still have no idea what these people are talking about.’
At least they seemed to have mentioned the Pokémon’s name.
Buzzwole?
Looking at its absurd physique, the name somehow suited it.
Back in the game, the blond young man got to his feet and approached Cynthia’s character.
[“Ow…
that thing hits ridiculously hard.”]
[“Did that strange Pokémon scare you?
Don’t worry.
We’ll take care of these problems.”]
[“That’s Professor Birch’s newest Pokédex in your hands, isn’t it?
Looks like you’re a junior Trainer following the same path Red and I did.
I almost forgot to introduce myself—I’m Blue.
The guy who just ran off is Red.
We’re both from Kanto.”]
Blue delivered the entire introduction in a rapid stream of dialogue while Cynthia quietly processed what she had just learned.
Red.
Blue.
Kanto…
She had never heard of either of them.
Anyone capable of pursuing a Pokémon that dangerous should be at least Champion-caliber.
Trainers at that level could not possibly remain completely unknown.
‘So they must be fictional characters created for the game.’
While Cynthia was considering that possibility, Blue continued.
[“There have been a lot of strange spatial disturbances across Hoenn lately.
Ultra Wormholes have started appearing in certain places.
They have dark centers surrounded by light that looks almost like a galaxy, and according to what we know, they can connect to other worlds.”]
[“The strange creatures that come through them are called Ultra Beasts.
They can be extremely dangerous, so if you ever encounter one, be careful.
That thing just now was one of them.”]
Cynthia’s eyebrow rose slightly as she read.
Ultra Wormholes.
Ultra Beasts.
[“All right, I need to get moving.
I’m sure we’ll meet again.”]
With that, Blue ran off.
Once the event ended, Cynthia wrote the terms Ultra Beast and Ultra Wormhole into her notebook before continuing onward.
It did not take long before a forest appeared toward the upper-right side of the route.
She entered.
Under the swaying green canopy, her character suddenly stopped again.
Standing on the left side of the screen was…
A Chansey?
Curious, Cynthia walked over and pressed the interaction button.
A dialogue box appeared.
Or rather, Chansey began talking entirely on its own.
[???: “I caught ninety Hatenna and not ONE had Magic Bounce.
Mirror, mirror, tell me true—who has the worst luck in the whole damn world?”]
[???: “Then I found out you can’t encounter Pokémon with Hidden Abilities normally in the wild.
Apparently, if you want one with its Hidden Ability, you need some kind of special Poké Ball?”]
Cynthia blinked.
Every Pokémon possessing an Ability was common knowledge.
However, Ability research remained one of the more difficult fields in Pokémon biology.
Some researchers devoted their entire careers to studying Abilities, and even then there were still countless Pokémon whose full capabilities had yet to be thoroughly understood.
When she had first opened Torchic’s status screen and seen its Ability listed, Cynthia had already wondered whether the game intended to assign and document an Ability for every single Pokémon species.
Apparently it did.
And now it was introducing something called a Hidden Ability?
Cynthia frowned.
‘That seems a little too convenient.’
Research into Pokémon Abilities was far too complex for such a comprehensive classification system to exist.
Then again, this was the same game that had just introduced fictional concepts like Ultra Wormholes and Ultra Beasts.
There was little point holding a video game to the standards of an academic paper.
After finishing the conversation, Cynthia continued deeper into the forest.
The higher difficulty had noticeably increased the levels of wild Pokémon as well.
She encountered plenty of Bug- and Grass-types along the way, most of them hovering around Level 14.
Fortunately, Torchic possessed an overwhelming type advantage against almost everything in the area, so none of the battles presented much trouble.
The stronger opponents also provided considerably more experience.
Before long, Torchic reached Level 15.
…
[Wurmple fainted!]
[Torchic gained 120 Exp.
Points!]
After yet another battle, Torchic’s experience bar filled almost completely.
It looked ready to level up again.
This time, however, the bar stopped at the very end and refused to move any farther.
A message appeared.
[Torchic wants to continue gaining levels, but you do not have enough Badges.]
[Obtain a new Gym Badge to raise the current level cap!]
The chat immediately reacted.
[LevelCapVictim: Oh, this version still has level caps?
They’re deliberately blocking evolution.
Streamer is in for a treat.]
[HoennEnjoyer: If you want to keep leveling, head to Rustboro City and challenge the first Gym.
Beat it and the cap goes up.
It’s not hard.]
[RareCandyDealer: Yep, yep.
First Gym is super easy.
Just walk in and fight everyone.
No need to prepare at all.
Don’t even bother buying items.]
[OldGenPurist: You people were born without consciences, weren’t you?]
[BattleFrontierPTSD: And people say there’s no such thing as the perfect crime.]
Cynthia still did not understand what the last two comments were implying, but she had learned something useful.
The game did not allow players to simply overlevel their way through every obstacle.
That suggested the designers really did intend for players to rely on team composition and tactics rather than pure stat advantages.
Gyms and Badges, on the other hand, were concepts Cynthia obviously understood.
So the ultimate goal of this game was probably to collect all the Hoenn Gym Badges, challenge the Pokémon League, and eventually become Champion.
As the Champion of Sinnoh herself, playing through a game where she had to work her way up from the beginning and become Hoenn Champion…
‘That actually sounds kind of fun.’
With that thought, Cynthia continued deeper into the forest.
…
Several minutes later, she finally reached its deepest section.
She had expected the path to lead into the next area, only to discover what appeared to be a dead end.
That was not what made her stop.
The space ahead looked as though something had torn a hole straight through reality.
An enormous opening floated in midair, its edges glowing with warped blue-white light.
Even the surrounding scenery seemed to bend inward toward it, as though the entire area were slowly collapsing into the rupture.
At its center lay an abyss of bottomless darkness.
Yet within that darkness, faint points of light drifted like a distant nebula.
Cynthia immediately remembered Blue’s description.
‘So this is…
an Ultra Wormhole?’
Without hesitation, she pulled out her notebook, turned to a fresh page, and began sketching.
Her pencil moved rapidly across the paper as she recorded the shape of the opening, noted the blue-white coloration around its edges, and tried to capture the peculiar distortion in the surrounding space.
The chat began scrolling again.
[GarchompEnjoyer: Oh my god, she’s doing it again.]
[RareCandyDealer: Boss, stop drawing and GO LOOK AT IT.]
[NewViewer404: Just got here.
Why is the streamer sketching the screen?]
[PixelProfessor: She’s drawing the Ultra Wormhole…
and wow, that’s actually really accurate.]
Cynthia paid no attention to the chat.
Her focus was entirely on the strange phenomenon before her.
Then, just as she lowered her head to add another line to the sketch—
BZZZZT!
The entire screen shook violently.
Trees throughout the forest whipped back and forth beneath a sudden blast of pressure.
A split second later, something shot out of the twisted darkness like a bolt of black lightning and hurtled straight toward Cynthia’s character!