What Kind of Dragon Is This?

"See you tomorrow."

Luo Chen struggled to his feet from between the two dragons behind the counter, waved to Cynthia, then turned to the Garchomp beside him.

"Go on. Come back tomorrow, and we can finish talking."

Garchomp nodded reluctantly at that. But since Cynthia was leaving, he obediently went over to her.

Before leaving, however, he turned back to glance at Dragonite, narrowed his eyes, and drew a claw across his own throat.

The meaning of that threat was already quite obvious.

And Dragonite's response to Garchomp's gesture was—

A smug expression, followed by curling his tail around Luo Chen and pulling him closer.

Garchomp was so furious he was about to explode, opening his mouth to lash out, but after thinking it over, he turned and left.

Damn it. He would deal with that guy tomorrow.

If I catch you outside the internet café next time, I'll beat you until you submit!

After Cynthia left, the internet café instantly fell quiet again. Lance rose from his seat, stretched, rolled his shoulders, and rubbed his hands together as he walked over to the computer.

Then, as if remembering something, he turned to Iono beside him.

"How about you play first?"

Lance had tried his best to appear gentlemanly, but Iono shuddered at the sight of him and immediately took half a step back.

"N-No, you go ahead. After all, I... I came later!"

Looking at the little girl frantically shaking her head and waving her hands, Lance rubbed his forehead. He decided to give up on correcting her impression of him anytime soon, then plopped down in front of the computer and launched the game.

The screen lit up, and his character appeared once again in front of the Pokémon Center in Rustboro City.

At the same time, as Lance's stream went live, a large number of viewers began flooding in. After all, he had already built up quite a following.

Unfortunately, the tone of the chat was exactly the same as before.

[King of the skies, welcome back!]

[Streamer, have you decided whether you're catching Fletchinder, Taillow, or Pidgey?]

[I bet fifty cents he'll pick Pidgey. It's the familiar, comfortable option.]

Lance snorted at the comments.

It was fine when you all mocked me for being a Flying-type Champion before, but times had changed. I'm about to get my first Dragon-type Pokémon!

That reminded him—where was his egg?

The instant that thought crossed Lance's mind, the image on the screen froze. An NPC kid wearing a red-and-white cap and shorts ran in from the edge of the screen, stopped in front of Lance's character, and shoved something into his hands.

A prompt popped up in the game.

[Obtained a Mysterious Pokémon Egg!]

[Description: After hatching, it will randomly produce a Dragon-type Pokémon. It is a rare Dragon-type Egg.]

Lance's eyes instantly lit up.

It was finally here!

At the same time, the chat exploded at the sight.

[Huh? Where did that Pokémon Egg come from? Streamer, did you use a cheat code? Cheating isn't fun.]

[Doesn't look like cheating to me. He doesn't even know the Pokémon Emerald story, so how could he use cheats? It's probably altered story content?]

[But that streamer playing Cynthia didn't get this part earlier, did she?]

[That's what makes this mod look interesting. It seems like it randomly generates special events... It's making me really want to play too...]

Lance paid no attention to the argument in chat. His gaze was completely drawn to that Dragon-type Pokémon Egg, and the corners of his mouth kept rising.

But after the excitement faded, he quickly discovered a new problem. How was he supposed to hatch this thing?

He had never hatched an egg before, whether in real life or in a game...

He opened his bag and took a look. After selecting the Pokémon Egg, there were no additional options. He could only view its information.

After a brief moment of thought, he decided to ask the chat.

The chat quickly gave him an answer, though it did not seem to come from a place of kindness:

[Want to hatch an egg? I'll tell you. Go to the PC, turn on the computer, deposit the Pokémon Egg, then click the release button to hatch it.]

[Yep, yep, that's how you hatch it. Damn, you're a genius.]

[It's a game mechanic, okay? Give it a try, streamer.]

Seeing the first few comments, Lance furrowed his brow slightly, suspicion showing on his face.

Release...?

At the same time, more comments began scrolling in.

[Do you really think the streamer is an idiot? Stop messing with him.]

[Seriously, what a bunch of assholes.]

[This is like telling someone to press E to check Cho'Gath's Feast stacks.]

But Lance did not notice the later comments. He hesitated while looking at the screen, then, under the watchful eyes of everyone in the stream, walked straight into the Pokémon Center, opened the PC, deposited the Pokémon Egg into a box, and selected Release.

The whole sequence was so smooth that the chat had not even reacted before the egg disappeared from the PC box.

Lance then looked up at the camera with an utterly serious expression.

"And then? Where do I go to pick up the hatched Pokémon now? Nurse Joy?"

The chat fell silent for two seconds before instantly being drowned in laughter.

[...]

[HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA]

[No way, dude, you actually believed them?!]

After realizing he had been tricked, Lance could only reload his save with a dark expression and retrieve the Pokémon Egg he had released.

Then, under the guidance of the genuinely reliable viewers, he finally learned the correct way to hatch it: walk around with the Pokémon Egg and accumulate steps.

So Lance began controlling his character, sprinting back and forth through the streets of Rustboro City again and again.

The egg did not seem to hatch as quickly as he had imagined. Several minutes passed before his screen finally went black.

The silhouette of the Pokémon Egg appeared on the screen.

[Huh? The egg is...]

As it shook violently again and again, cracks began appearing across the shell.

Lance's eyes immediately lit up, and he leaned forward.

Was it finally happening?!

Come on! Come out!

My Dragon-type Pokémon, my pride, my hard work!

What would it be? Dratini? Axew? Or Bagon?

It did not matter what it was. As long as it was a Dragon-type Pokémon, it would possess incredibly powerful strength and lead me to the top!

The eggshell was just about to shatter completely, and Lance's eyes were brighter than ever.

[Crack!]

At last, the moment the Pokémon Egg shattered, a dazzling white light flared.

A small black silhouette appeared.

Lance held his breath and stared fixedly at the screen.

It had...

Uh, a body like an apple?

And... vacant, adorable eyes?

[Congratulations, the egg hatched into Applin!]

[New Pokémon data has been recorded in the Pokédex!]

Lance: ???