Cynthia had no real sense yet of just how much a five-stage Attack boost meant in this game, but the enormous red [Attack +5] beside Skiddo’s HP bar was already giving her a very bad feeling.
She gritted her teeth and made a decision.
Grass-type moves were useless against it, which left her with only one sensible option: switch to Torchic.
At the very least, Torchic held the type advantage.
If it could survive a single attack, one Ember might be enough to take Skiddo down.
That was the plan.
Then—
[Skiddo used Razor Leaf!]
[It’s not very effective…]
A flurry of leaves swept across the battlefield.
Torchic’s HP bar vanished so quickly that Cynthia barely saw it move.
Cynthia stared at the screen.
“…”
‘What part of that was “not very effective”?!’
Torchic had been at full health.
Where had its entire HP bar gone?
The chat had already dissolved into hysterics.
[LateNightGrinder: WHAT KIND OF MOD IS THIS?!
SAP SIPPER SKIDDO?!
That’s absolutely filthy.]
[GlassCanon: Honestly, they could’ve been meaner.
Could’ve thrown Cradily or Archen at her too.
This is mercy.]
[CardGameBoomer: SKIDDO’S ATTACK ROSE TO 18,000!
SKIDDO USED PRECIPICE BLADES!
WILD TORCHIC WAS DESTROYED!]
Cynthia took a slow breath and sent out her last Pokémon, Shroomish.
The moment its move list appeared, however, half her remaining confidence disappeared.
Shroomish currently knew Absorb, Mega Drain, Stun Spore…
And Tackle.
With things as they were, using another Grass-type move would basically amount to buffing the opponent for free.
So Tackle it was.
Cynthia selected the move.
Skiddo did not even give her the chance.
[Skiddo used Tackle!]
Shroomish’s HP bar disappeared just as quickly as Torchic’s had.
[Shroomish fainted!]
Cynthia said nothing.
[CYNTHIA has no Pokémon left that can battle!]
[CYNTHIA blacked out!]
The screen faded to gray, and her character reappeared inside the Rustboro City Pokémon Center.
Cynthia remained motionless for quite a while, staring at the screen as she reconsidered the battle.
With her current two-Pokémon lineup, there was no realistic way to win.
Roxanne’s Pokémon had both better numbers and mechanics that her team simply had no answer for.
Still, she had noticed something important.
Her own party could hold up to six Pokémon, while the Poké Ball icons displayed during the Gym battle showed that Roxanne only had three.
In other words, the game was willing to let her fight with a numerical advantage.
That was probably one of the tools it expected players to use to overcome the Gym Leader’s superior stats and specialized strategies.
If that was the case…
Cynthia hesitated for a moment before speaking to the viewers.
“Everyone, are there any Pokémon you would recommend catching?”
The chat immediately came alive.
[CasualBirder: Get a Taillow.
I like Taillow.]
[MemeAccount47: Counterpoint: fried chicken with wings.]
[ActualStrategyGuy: Forget Taillow!
You’re fighting a ROCK GYM right now!]
[SpreadsheetMage: Streamer, go back toward Route 102.
There’s one Pokémon in the grass around that area you absolutely want for Insane Mode.
People call it the Screen God.]
[MinMaxEnjoyer: Yep.
Get both screens up and half the enemy team suddenly hits like wet cardboard.]
[BrainLagged: What was its first form called again…
Blipbug?]
…
The messages flew by too quickly to follow individually, but the same pieces of information appeared often enough that Cynthia gradually assembled them into something coherent.
Blipbug.
It could be found around the entrance to Petalburg Woods.
It evolved at Level 10, and once it evolved, it could learn Reflect and Light Screen.
Cynthia naturally knew both moves.
They were extremely powerful defensive techniques capable of substantially reducing the damage dealt by either physical or special attacks while benefiting every allied Pokémon on the field.
Among defensive support moves, both were considered exceptionally valuable.
During the League’s annual Elite Four and Champion team exhibitions, Trainers who specialized in Psychic-types were always in high demand, and one major reason was that their Pokémon had a relatively good chance of knowing Reflect or Light Screen.
Setting up both barriers could provide an enormous layer of protection for an entire team.
The drawback was that techniques of that level were difficult and expensive to teach.
Even among Psychic-type Pokémon, not all of them were capable of mastering both screens.
And yet the chat was now telling her that some Level 10 Bug-type Pokémon could learn both?
It sounded ridiculous.
Even so, Cynthia obediently guided her character back toward Petalburg Woods.
She returned to the entrance and spent less than two minutes wandering through the grass before a small bug appeared.
Its body was dark brown, with a hardened shell covering its back and a pair of antennae atop its head that constantly twitched as though sensing its surroundings.
It was another Pokémon Cynthia had never seen before.
By now, however, that barely surprised her anymore.
This game seemed determined to fill every other patch of grass with something she had never encountered in her life.
Cynthia used Shroomish to carefully lower its health, opened her Bag, selected a Poké Ball, and threw it.
The ball struck Blipbug and pulled it inside before dropping into the grass.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Click.
[Gotcha!
Blipbug was caught!]
As soon as the battle ended, Cynthia opened the Pokédex and carefully read through Blipbug’s entry.
Bug-type.
Ability: Swarm.
Its evolved form, Dottler, would gain the Psychic type.
The chat immediately began urging her onward.
[SpreadsheetMage: Yep, that’s the one!]
[MinMaxEnjoyer: It evolves at Level 10 and learns both screens right afterward.]
[LateNightGrinder: Time to grind!]
Cynthia retraced her steps and returned to the grass just outside Petalburg Woods.
Blipbug started at Level 5 and slowly climbed upward.
Level 7.
Level 8.
Level 9.
The moment it reached Level 10, Blipbug suddenly stopped moving.
White light erupted around its body.
Its small form stretched and changed within the glow, reshaping itself until the light finally faded and a completely different Pokémon appeared on the screen.
Its body was now enclosed in neat sections of hard shell, while a broad fan-like structure curved around the back of its head.
Several notifications appeared in rapid succession.
[Congratulations!
Your Blipbug evolved into Dottler!]
[Dottler learned Light Screen!]
[Dottler learned Reflect!]
Cynthia blinked.
She immediately opened Dottler’s summary and examined the descriptions of the two moves.
[Light Screen: For five turns, damage from special moves received by your side is reduced by half.]
[Reflect: For five turns, damage from physical moves received by your side is reduced by half.]
Cynthia stared at the wording.
Half?
Just…
half?
The effect was really that strong?
In reality, the defensive strength of Light Screen and Reflect depended on the Pokémon using them as well as the difference in power between both sides.
Yet the game simply reduced the relevant damage by fifty percent unconditionally?
That was absurdly powerful.
Granted, five turns was not especially long…
The chat was delighted.
[MetaSlave: Dottler is basically a legendary Pokémon during early-game Insane Mode.
Anyone who’s played this knows.]
[BugTypePropaganda: SEE?!
I keep telling people Bug-types are cracked.]
[SpeedrunnerWannabe: Go back to the Gym.
You’re clearing it this time.]
[ActuallyReadTheGuide: Clearing it with a Level 10 Dottler?
Calm down.
Level it first or it’ll get flattened before it even puts a screen up lol.]
…
Cynthia agreed with the last comment.
She remained in the grass and continued training both of her lower-level Pokémon.
Dottler reached Level 15 first, with Shroomish following shortly afterward.
Only after confirming that everything was ready did Cynthia turn around and begin making her way back toward Rustboro City.
Partway there, however, she suddenly stopped.
She opened the Pokédex and turned to Dottler’s page.
Its complete pixel model appeared alongside detailed typing and biological information, as well as a comparison showing both its pre-evolved and evolved forms.
Cynthia studied it for a moment before asking, “How did all of you know about Pokémon like Blipbug?”
The chat seemed to stall for a second before everyone started responding.
[GuideReader: Huh?
How do we know?
From guides, obviously.]
[WeekendGamer: We ran into it while playing the game.
How else would we know?
You think we walked outside and found one in the bushes?]
[TrollFace87: Streamer, you can drop the act.
It’s not like you’re actually from Sinnoh lol.]
…
Cynthia slowly nodded as she read their answers.
So Blipbug really was fictional.
Exactly as she had assumed.
It made sense.
There was no way a Bug-type Pokémon that weak and inexperienced could learn two techniques as advanced as Reflect and Light Screen so effortlessly in the real world.
If such a Pokémon actually existed, Trainers everywhere would probably scramble to obtain one.
The strategic value of dual screens was enormous, and if all it took to secure that level of team protection was raising an ordinary low-level Bug-type Pokémon…
It would completely change how many Trainers built their teams.
Cynthia set that conclusion aside for the time being.
The important thing remained the silhouette she had seen in the opening trailer—the figure that matched the carving on her stone tablet exactly.
She had only discovered that mysterious Pokémon because of the tablet.
As far as she knew, no one else should even have been aware of its existence.
Yet somehow, it had appeared in the game’s promotional trailer.
That could not simply be coincidence.
The only question was how far she needed to progress before the game finally revealed what she was looking for.
‘I need to move faster.’
With that thought, Cynthia closed the Pokédex and guided her character toward the Gym.
The instant she pushed open the Gym doors—
Her screen went black.
…
At the same time, the livestream descended into confusion.
The entire video feed had abruptly cut out without warning.
Only a single message remained on the screen.
[The streamer has ended the broadcast.
Check out another channel while you’re here!]
The chat froze for a beat before exploding.
[NightOwl99: ?????]
[LagDetector: Black screen?
Did the stream crash?]
[KeyboardWarrior: Wait, what the hell?
SHE ENDED STREAM?!]
[CoffeeAt2AM: HUH?!
Not even a goodbye?!]
[RentIsDue: Is she actually rich?
She gets one Super Rocket and immediately clocks out.
RedPikachu, LOOK WHAT YOUR MONEY DID!]
[BoredAtWork: I finally find an entertaining streamer and she just disappears on me?!]
…
The viewers waited for a while, expecting the broadcast to return.
It did not.
The channel remained offline, and even the streamer’s account indicator had gone dark.
Only then did everyone finally accept that Cynthia’s first livestream really was over.
[WeekendGamer: Welp.
There goes my evening.
I’ll check again tomorrow.]
[ScreenshotGuy: What was the channel called again…?
“Sinnoh Champion Cynthia.” Got it.
Took a screenshot.]
[NightOwl99: See you tomorrow, boys.
Hopefully she isn’t one of those streamers who broadcasts once and vanishes forever.]
The video remained completely dark.
Messages were still appearing, but the stream itself had been replaced by the static [Streamer Offline] page.
Meanwhile, the channel’s follower count quietly continued rising before finally stopping at thirty-six.
…
Back inside the internet café, Cynthia had also frozen when the screen suddenly went dark.
She moved the mouse a couple of times, but nothing happened.
Instead, a translucent blue interface appeared on her monitor.
[This session has ended.]
[Total Viewers: 52]
[New Followers: 36]
[Total Gifts Received: 1]
[Session Rating: C+]
[Evaluation: Well, look at you.
You even managed to get a Super Rocket.]
[Tomorrow’s available session time has increased to: 2 hours.]
[Rewards obtained this session:]
[Internet Café Points ×3]
[C+ Ability — Archaeological Expert: You can read and understand any written language originating from ancient civilizations.]
Cynthia’s eyes stopped on the final line.
Archaeological Expert?
Was that supposed to be an ability that only functioned inside the game?
She stared at the description thoughtfully.
If the game was handing out an ability specifically related to ancient languages, that seemed to confirm that ancient ruins would play a meaningful role later in the story.
Perhaps her earlier theory really was correct.
Eventually, she looked away from the system window and back at the darkened game screen.
Her first real Gym battle had not even begun, and she had already run out of time.
Cynthia stood and turned toward Felix behind the counter.
“Is this the only way to use the computers?”
Felix shook his head apologetically.
“Sorry.
Those are the rules here.
Livestreaming is the only way to earn playtime.”
Cynthia was silent for several seconds.
“Then…
I’ll come back tomorrow.”
She rose from her seat, and Garchomp stood with her.
Cynthia made it all the way to the front door before looking out at the vast mountain wilderness beyond it and abruptly stopping.
She had gotten so absorbed in the game that she had almost forgotten where she was.
This place was deep inside Mount Coronet.
Reaching the nearest town on foot would take around two days.
She could certainly fly here with Garchomp, but as Sinnoh Champion, she had far too many responsibilities to waste that much time traveling to such a remote location every single day.
Felix seemed to notice her strange expression.
“Oh, right.
I almost forgot.”
Cynthia looked back at him.
“When you want to come here, just find any door, say ‘Origin Internet Café,’ and walk through it.
You’ll arrive here.”
Felix added casually, “The same thing works when you leave.
Say it before you go through the café door, and you’ll return to wherever you came from.”
Cynthia stared at him.
His expression suggested that he was completely serious.
‘That…
doesn’t sound remotely possible.’
Then again, the existence of this café already made very little sense.
She decided not to argue about it.
Worst case, she could simply visit whenever she happened to have enough free time.
Cynthia nodded.
“All right.
I’ll come back tomorrow.”
“You’re always welcome.
See you tomorrow.”
She opened the door.
The rain had stopped, leaving the mountain forest heavy with the cool, damp scent of wet earth and leaves.
Garchomp followed behind her, lowering its head as it prepared to squeeze through the doorway.
“Garchomp.”
Felix’s voice came from behind the counter.
Garchomp paused and looked back.
Felix smiled.
“Take care.
You’re welcome to come back tomorrow too.”
For a moment, Garchomp simply stared at him with its narrow eyes.
Then it slowly raised one claw.
The large Dragon-type awkwardly moved it from side to side, looking remarkably like someone who had never quite learned how to wave goodbye but was giving it an earnest attempt anyway.
Cynthia, already standing outside, glanced back with visible surprise.
Garchomp lowered its claw and followed its Trainer into the fading evening light.
…
The moment Cynthia left, Felix heard a familiar notification chime.
A system interface appeared in front of him.
[Beginner Mission: First Customer — Complete!]
[Customer Served: Cynthia — Sinnoh Champion]
[Session Rating: C+]
[Ding!
Beginner Mission completed!]
[Mission Reward: Beginner Business Gift Pack (C)]
[Contains essential materials and resources for operating the internet café.]
A glowing sphere appeared in front of Felix.
He reached out and touched it.
The sphere dissolved into countless specks of light and flowed into his body.
[Construction Points ×10 obtained.]
[Universal Emotion Points ×10 obtained.]
Felix blinked.
‘Construction Points?
Universal Emotion Points?’
What were those supposed to do?
Before he could investigate further, another notification appeared.
[Congratulations!
New Facility Unlocked: Berry Drink Dispenser!]
Felix turned his head.
The empty space beside the counter was no longer empty.
A machine roughly half his height had appeared there without warning.
Its front consisted of a transparent glass panel divided into several compartments, making it look somewhat like a compact vending machine.
A small message glowed across the glass.
[Please insert Berries!]
More information appeared before him.
[Basic Facility: Berry Drink Dispenser (C)]
[Effect: Insert different types of Berries to produce special chilled drinks.
The resulting beverage and its effects will vary according to the type and quality of the Berries used.]
[Current daily production limit: 3 drinks.]
[Unused drinks can be stored indefinitely while remaining fresh.]
[Today’s Production: 0/3]
[Upgrading this facility will increase its production capacity and allow it to create beverages with stronger additional effects.]
[Special Note: Customers may exchange Internet Café Points earned through their sessions for drinks.
Beverages purchased in this manner will improve the café’s daily business rating.]
Felix quickly read through the description before turning toward the windows.
The rain had already stopped.
There was still some daylight left.
‘Might as well go find a few Berries and test it out.’
Having made up his mind, Felix headed around to the backyard.
The Murkrow that had disappeared before the storm had apparently returned at some point.
Several of them were perched together on the dead tree, tilting their heads in perfect unison as they watched him.
“Give me a minute, guys.
I’m going to find some fruit.
I’ll feed you when I get back.”
A path from the backyard led directly into the surrounding forest.
Felix had explored outside a few times during the past several days, though he had never gone particularly far.
He still did not have a Pokémon of his own, and there was no guarantee that every wild Pokémon living on Mount Coronet would be friendly.
Following the route he remembered from his previous trips, Felix soon found several Berry trees.
The first was an ordinary Oran Berry tree, its small orange-yellow fruits growing in clusters.
He did not recognize the second tree.
The third bore Rawst Berries, their blue-purple fruits partially hidden beneath the leaves.
The fourth had bright red fruit growing from its branches, but Felix did not recognize that variety either.
Apparently, not every Berry in this world was something he remembered from the games.
He stood on his toes and picked several Oran Berries, stuffing them into his pockets.
Then he moved to the Rawst Berry tree and carefully selected a few plump fruits whose skins were clean and free of insect damage.
Felix weighed them in his palm before giving a satisfied nod.
‘That should be enough.’
With his Berries collected, he started back toward the café.
He had not gone far when the bushes to his right suddenly rustled.
Felix stopped.
He remained still for several seconds, listening.
Then he reached into his pocket, took out a Rawst Berry, and walked toward the edge of the bushes.
He placed the Berry on a nearby rock before retreating a considerable distance and quietly waiting.
Nothing happened at first.
Several seconds passed.
Then a small, round head cautiously poked out from behind the leaves.
A tiny white body floated into view, while a dark-purple flame flickered gently above its head.
A Litwick.
The little Ghost-type studied Felix warily, then turned toward the Rawst Berry sitting on the rock.
It clearly wanted the food, but it did not seem convinced that approaching was safe.
“It’s okay.
You can have it.”
Felix smiled and took another two steps backward.
Only after a long wait did Litwick slowly float out from behind the tree.
It approached the rock little by little, snatched up the Rawst Berry, and stuffed it into its mouth.
After hurriedly eating the entire thing, it immediately turned and fled deeper into the forest.
Felix did not chase after it.
He merely stood, brushed himself off, and continued walking toward the café.
Over the past few days, he had discovered that most of the wild Pokémon living on the mountain behaved much the same way around humans.
They were not openly hostile, but they were cautious and reluctant to come too close.
Felix was in no hurry.
His café was here to stay, after all.
He would probably have plenty of time to get acquainted with his new neighbors.
…
What Felix did not know was that the moment he disappeared from that stretch of forest, a pair of crimson eyes opened in the shadows.
A dark figure silently took shape out of thin air.
Cold black energy clung to its body, distorting the surrounding space as though the air itself were bending around it.
It stared in the direction Felix had gone.
Then, without making a sound, it began to follow him.
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