Back Mountain (5k)

To be honest, Cynthia had no idea what a five-stage boost to physical attack meant, but she already had an extremely ominous feeling.

Gritting her teeth, she made her decision.

—Since Grass-type moves were ineffective, she could only switch to Torchic.

That way, she would at least have the type advantage. As long as Torchic could withstand one hit, a counterattack with Ember might just be enough to take down this goat!

Then—

[Skiddo used Razor Leaf!]

[It wasn't very effective.]

The leaves sliced through Torchic, emptying its HP bar at lightning speed.

Cynthia: ...

Where exactly was the "not very effective" part??

That had been a full-health Torchic! Where had its HP bar gone?

The chat had already lost its mind laughing:

[What the hell kind of romhack is this? Sap Sipper Skiddo is here too? This is way too hardcore, isn't it?]

[Not as good as... Cradily and Archen, haha. Still too gentle.]

[Skiddo's attack rose to 18,000 points! Skiddo used Precipice Blades! The wild Torchic fainted!]

Cynthia took a deep breath and sent out her last Pokémon, Shroomish.

But when the move panel appeared, her heart had already gone cold.

Shroomish's current move slots only contained Absorb, Mega Drain, Stun Spore, and... Tackle.

At this point, using a Grass-type move would be the equivalent of buffing the opponent. She could only use Tackle.

Cynthia selected the move.

However, Skiddo gave her no such chance.

[Skiddo used Tackle!]

Its HP bar emptied at lightning speed.

[Shroomish fainted.]

Cynthia: ...

[SHIRONA has no Pokémon left that can battle!]

[SHIRONA blacked out!]

The screen went gray, and her character reappeared at the Pokémon Center in Rustboro City.

Cynthia stared at the screen in silence for a long time.

With her current two-Pokémon lineup, she definitely couldn't win... The opponent's stats and Ability were completely beyond what she could handle.

But she noticed that her team limit was six, while judging from the Poké Ball icons in that battle, the opposing Gym Leader only had three Pokémon.

In other words, the game allowed her to outnumber the opponent to make up for the difference in stats and mechanics, allowing her to defeat the Gym Leader...

Then...

She hesitated for a second before suddenly asking the chat, "Everyone, do you have any Pokémon recommendations?"

The chat instantly came alive.

[Get a Taillow. I like Taillow.]

[Not as good as... Trash Wing.]

[Taillow my ass, Trash Wing my ass! Aren't we fighting a Rock Gym right now?!]

[Streamer, I'm telling you, if you want to fight that lunatic, go to Route 102. There's one in the grass that you absolutely have to catch. People call it the God of Screens!]

[Yeah, once you set up both screens, the opponent will kneel before you.]

[What's its first form called again... Blipbug?]

The chat scrolled so quickly that several messages kept appearing amid a flood of jokes.

Cynthia read through them one by one—and roughly pieced together the full information.

Blipbug appeared near the entrance to Petalburg Woods. It evolved at level ten, then learned Reflect and Light Screen.

Of course she knew those two moves. They were exceptionally powerful advanced moves that could greatly reduce damage from the opponent's physical or special attacks, and they affected all allied Pokémon. They were among the very best defensive moves in the entire system.

In the League's annual Elite Four and Champion team tournament, Psychic-type Trainers were always especially sought after. A large part of the reason was that their Pokémon were likely to know those two moves, providing their team with an absolute guarantee of survival.

Unfortunately, the cost of learning such advanced moves was correspondingly high... Even Psychic-type Pokémon could not all learn both screens.

But... someone was telling her that a level-ten Bug-type Pokémon could learn both screens??

Though confused, Cynthia obediently guided her character toward Petalburg Woods.

Back at the entrance, she wandered through the grass for less than two minutes before a bug jumped out.

It had a dark brown body, a hard shell on its back, and a pair of antennae on its head that trembled faintly without pause.

This was another Pokémon she had never seen before, but Cynthia was no longer surprised—after all, this game was full of things she had never encountered...

After Shroomish lowered its HP a little, she opened her bag, selected a Poké Ball, and threw it at Blipbug.

The ball struck the bug and bounced open, drawing it inside. It landed on the ground and shook—once, twice, three times.

With a ding, the capture succeeded!

As soon as the battle ended, Cynthia opened the Pokédex and began carefully reading Blipbug's description.

Bug type, Ability: Swarm... After evolving, Dottler would gain the Psychic type.

The chat began urging her on again:

[Yes, yes, yes, that's the one!]

[This thing evolves at level 10, and it learns both screens right after evolving.]

[Go grind levels, streamer!]

Cynthia guided her character back the way she had come and began grinding in the grass outside the entrance to Petalburg Woods.

Blipbug's level slowly climbed from level 5. Level 7, level 8, level 9—when it reached level 10, the Blipbug on-screen suddenly stopped.

A beam of white light burst from its body, and Blipbug's form stretched and changed within the glow.

When the light faded, a new Pokémon stood on the screen.

Its surface had split into neatly shaped plates of hardened armor, while a fan-shaped structure ringed the back of its head.

System notifications popped up one after another:

[Congratulations, Blipbug evolved into Dottler!]

[Dottler learned Light Screen!]

[Dottler learned Reflect!]

Cynthia froze for a moment, then opened the information screen to check the descriptions of the two screens:

[Light Screen: For five turns, special damage received by your side is halved.]

[Reflect: For five turns, physical damage received by your side is halved.]

Directly... halved??

Could the effect really be that absurd?

In reality, the two screens at least determined the extent of their damage reduction according to the gap in strength between both sides... Yet in the game, they simply halved damage unconditionally?

Still, five turns was not particularly long...

The chat seemed incredibly excited:

[This is an early-game legendary in Ultimate Emerald Lunatic Mode, anyone get it?]

[See? Didn't I tell you Bug-type Pokémon are awesome?]

[Streamer, go challenge the Gym. You'll definitely clear it this time.]

[Clear my ass. Grind levels first, or you'll get smashed by Rock Tomb before you can even set up the screens.]

Cynthia agreed with that final message as well.

She remained in the grass and continued grinding the levels of her two Pokémon.

Dottler reached level 15 first, with Shroomish following soon after.

Only after confirming that everything was ready did she guide her character around and set off once again toward Rustboro City.

But as she walked, she suddenly stopped.

She opened the Pokédex and turned to Dottler's page, displaying its full pixelated image, detailed stats and information, and comparison images from before and after evolution.

She asked, "How... did you know about a Pokémon like Blipbug?"

The chat paused for a moment before everyone reacted.

[Huh? How did we know? We read walkthroughs, obviously.]

[You definitely run into it while playing. What else could it be? It's not like you can go outside and find one in real life.]

[Stop pretending, streamer. It's not like you're actually a Sinnoh local anyway. doge]

Watching their responses, Cynthia slowly nodded.

So this Pokémon really had been fabricated by the creators—just as she had suspected before.

Come to think of it, how could there possibly be a Bug-type Pokémon in reality that could so easily learn such high-level dual-screen moves at such a low level, with no cost at all?

If a Pokémon like that existed in reality, countless Trainers would probably go mad over it—after all, dual screens held enormous strategic value for a team, and obtaining that kind of protection only required raising a low-level Bug-type Pokémon...

She temporarily set that conclusion aside.

What mattered was the figure she had seen in the opening animation, a figure that completely overlapped with another.

She herself had only learned of that figure for the first time through that stone tablet. No one besides her should have known about it.

Yet he had appeared in that promotional video. It absolutely could not be a coincidence.

At what stage of the game would she be able to see what she wanted to see?

She needed to speed up...

With that thought, Cynthia gathered her thoughts and guided her character toward the Gym.

The instant she pushed open the Gym's doors—

Her screen suddenly went black.

At the same time, the livestream erupted into commotion.

Because the entire stream feed had abruptly cut out without any warning.

Only a single line of text remained.

[The streamer has ended the broadcast. Check out another room!]

The chat paused, then began flooding the screen like mad:

[????]

[Black screen? Did it freeze?]

[Wait, what the hell? She ended the stream??]

[Huh?? She didn't even say goodbye before ending it?]

[Is the streamer seriously a rich woman? She got a Super Rocket and just ran? Brother Red, look at her!!]

[I finally found an interesting streamer, and you just cut me off like this??]

Everyone waited patiently for a while, but the room remained offline, and the streamer's account icon had gone dark as well.

Only then did they realize that today's stream really seemed to be over.

[Ugh, boring. I'll come back tomorrow.]

[What was this streamer called again... Sinnoh Champion Cynthia's Livestream. I took a screenshot.]

[See you tomorrow, brothers. Hopefully this streamer isn't the type who streams for one day and disappears.]

The screen went completely dark. The chat was still refreshing, but the feed had become a static "Streamer Has Ended the Broadcast" page.

The livestream's follower count also began quietly rising, finally stopping at the number "36."

After the screen went black, Cynthia froze for a moment as well. She instinctively moved her mouse twice, but nothing happened.

A translucent blue panel popped up on her computer screen.

[This session has ended.]

[Viewers: 52 New followers: 36 Total gifts: 1]

[Session rating: C+ (Comment: That's outrageous. You even received a Super Rocket?)]

[Tomorrow's session duration has increased to: 2 hours]

[Rewards obtained this session:]

[Internet café points: 3]

[C+-Rank Ability—Archaeology Expert: You can read and understand any text from ancient times.]

Cynthia stared at the final line, slightly stunned.

Archaeology Expert...?

It should be an Ability that took effect in the game, right?

Her gaze lingered on that line as she pondered it.

That meant the game truly contained content related to ancient ruins. Her speculation was probably correct as well...

She withdrew her gaze and looked at the dark screen.

Come to think of it, she had not even started her first Gym battle, yet her session time had already ended...

She stood up and looked toward Luo Chen behind the counter.

"Is this the only way to use the computer?"

Luo Chen shook his head.

"Sorry, those are the shop's rules. You can only trade livestreaming for time."

Cynthia fell silent for several seconds.

"Then I'll... come again tomorrow."

She stood up, and Garchomp rose with her.

When she reached the door and looked out at the vast mountain forest beyond, Cynthia suddenly stopped.

She realized another problem—she had forgotten everything she had done online. This place was deep within Mount Coronet!

It would take two days on foot to reach the nearest town from here. Though she could fly here on Garchomp, she had too many matters to handle. There was no way she could come to such a remote place every day...

Luo Chen seemed to notice the strange look on her face.

"Oh, right. Whenever you want to come, find a door. Say the four words 'Origin Internet Cafe' before entering, and you'll arrive at the internet cafe."

"Of course, if you say them when leaving through the internet cafe's door, you can return to where you came from."

Cynthia looked at him and realized he did not seem to be joking.

...Honestly, that didn't sound very possible.

Forget it. At worst, she would come whenever she had time.

Cynthia nodded.

All right, I'll come again tomorrow.

"Welcome. See you tomorrow."

Cynthia pushed open the door. The rain outside had stopped, and the mountain forest was filled with the damp air after rainfall.

Garchomp followed behind her, lowering its head to squeeze through the doorway.

"Garchomp."

Luo Chen's voice came from behind the counter.

Garchomp paused and turned its head.

Luo Chen looked at it and smiled.

"Take care. You're welcome to come again tomorrow too."

Garchomp froze for a moment, its vertical pupils staring at Luo Chen for a while.

It raised a claw and awkwardly waved it through the air, like someone who was not good at farewells trying hard to wave goodbye.

Standing outside the door, Cynthia looked back, surprise flashing through her eyes.

Garchomp lowered its claw and vanished into the twilight beyond the door after its Trainer.

Just after Cynthia left, a system panel appeared before Luo Chen's eyes alongside a notification chime:

[Novice Mission: First Business Operation—Completed]

[Guest Received: Cynthia (Sinnoh Champion)]

[Computer Use Rating: C+]

[Ding! Novice Mission completed!]

[Mission Reward Obtained: Novice Business Gift Pack (C)—upon opening, obtain materials necessary for operating an internet cafe!]

A ball of light appeared before Luo Chen along with the prompt. He reached out and touched it, and it transformed into specks of light that entered his body.

[You have obtained 10 Building Points and 10 Universal Emotion Points]

Building Points... Universal Emotion Points? What were those?

As he pondered this, another prompt appeared.

[Congratulations, you have obtained a new facility: Berry Drink Cooler!]

He turned to look and found that a machine half the height of a person had appeared directly in the empty space beside the counter.

The front of the machine was a transparent glass panel divided into several layers of compartments, making it look like some sort of vending machine.

A line of small text appeared on the glass panel: [Please fill with Berries!]

At the same time, a line of information began to appear before his eyes:

[Basic Facility: Berry Drink Cooler (C)]

[Effect: Fill with different Berries to produce special cold drinks. Different special effects can be obtained based on the Berries' quality and type. The current daily production limit is 3 cups. Excess drinks can be permanently stored and kept fresh.]

[Today's Production: 0/3]

[After the facility level increases, it can make more drinks and gain stronger additional effects!]

[Special Note: Guests can exchange points earned from internet use for drinks. Drinks sold this way will increase your internet cafe's business rating for the day.]

After scanning the information, Luo Chen turned his gaze outside the internet cafe.

The rain had stopped now... Before it got completely dark, why not go find some Berries and give it a try?

Having made up his mind, he headed around to the backyard. The Murkrow that had somehow returned to the dead tree from before were perched on its branches, all tilting their heads at him in unison.

"Wait a moment, everyone. I'll go find some fruit first, then come back to feed you."

The moment one stepped out of the backyard, it led straight into the mountain forest. Luo Chen had gone out over the past few days, but he had not ventured too far. Besides, he did not have any Pokémon yet, and there might be some unfriendly fellows in the mountains.

Following his memories of his previous trips out, Luo Chen quickly found several Berry trees.

The first was a common Oran Berry tree, with small fruits and orange-yellow skins.

He did not recognize the second one.

The third was a Pecha Berry tree, its bluish-purple fruits hidden beneath the leaves.

The fourth bore red fruits. They had likewise never appeared in the original work, so he could not name them.

He stood on tiptoe and picked several Oran Berries, placing them in his pocket. Then he walked over to the Pecha Berry tree, selecting a few that were richly colored and free of insect bite marks. He plucked them, weighed them in his palm, and nodded in satisfaction.

These should... be enough, right?

After picking the Berries, he started back the way he had come.

However, before he had gone very far, a rustling sound suddenly came from the bushes on his right.

He stopped walking and stood there for a few seconds. Then he took a Pecha Berry from his pocket, walked to the bushes, placed the fruit on a rock, and retreated a considerable distance, as if quietly waiting for something.

After several seconds of silence behind the bushes, a round little head poked out.

A white body, with dark purple flames atop its head gently swaying.

It was a Litwick!

Litwick cautiously examined Luo Chen, then turned to stare at the Pecha Berry on the rock, seemingly a little hesitant.

"It's all right. Go ahead and eat it."

Luo Chen smiled and took two more steps back.

After quite a while, Litwick finally floated slowly out from behind the tree and inched toward the rock. It wrapped up the Pecha Berry, stuffed it into its mouth, devoured it in huge bites, and then scurried away in a flash.

Luo Chen did not chase after it. He merely got up, turned around, and continued walking toward the internet cafe.

Over the past few days, he had discovered that most wild Pokémon in the mountains treated humans this way. They were not particularly hostile, but they were quite wary.

Luo Chen was not in any hurry. After all, his internet cafe was here. He would probably have a long time to spend with them in the future...

However, Luo Chen did not know that—

The instant he left that patch of forest.

Scarlet eyes lit up, and a shadow suddenly condensed out of the air.

Its body radiated an icy black glow, twisting the surrounding space.

It watched the direction in which Luo Chen had gone and silently followed after him.