"Catch rate? HP status?" Roy mulled it over. "Sounds like there's quite a bit to this thing."
After saying goodbye to May, Roy rushed out of the lab, heading straight for the grass patches outside town.
Besides his starter Pokémon, he was going to catch his very first wild Pokémon!
He'd barely taken a few steps into the grass when the familiar battle trigger sound effect rang out!
"Oh! Here we go!" Roy perked up instantly.
On screen, a creature he'd never seen before appeared. It looked like a small dog, brownish in color and kind of fierce looking.
[A wild Zigzagoon appeared!]
"Zigzagoon? That name... actually fits pretty well." Roy looked at the little creature with its bared teeth and tail sticking straight up. "Torchic! Get ready to battle!"
"Tor~Chic!" A flash of red light, and Torchic appeared on screen, full of fighting spirit.
"Use Growl first!" Roy remembered from the tutorial earlier that Growl could lower the opponent's attack.
Torchic immediately puffed out its chest and let out a young but powerful cry.
Zigzagoon seemed startled. Its aggressive momentum clearly weakened, and a notification appeared showing its attack had dropped.
"Good! Now use Quick Attack!" Roy commanded.
Torchic transformed into a streak of red light and slammed into Zigzagoon with a "bang." Zigzagoon stumbled, its HP bar dropping by a huge chunk.
"Now's my chance!" Roy saw his opening and immediately opened his bag, selected a Poké Ball. "Go!"
A red and white ball flew out, hitting Zigzagoon squarely and pulling it inside in a beam of red light. The ball hit the ground and began shaking violently, its red light flashing.
Once... twice... three times!
"Ding!" With a crisp notification sound, the Poké Ball stopped shaking, and the button in the center lit up white.
[Successfully caught Zigzagoon!]
"Yes! Got it!"
Roy couldn't help pumping his fist. This felt way more exciting than getting his first Pokémon in the real world.
"This is amazing! What a rush!"
He eagerly opened his Pokémon list to check out his newly caught Zigzagoon.
[Zigzagoon (Normal type) Level: 3 Ability: Pickup...]
A dense stream of information immediately appeared.
"Pickup? Ability?"
Roy scratched his head.
These were terms he'd never heard before. Naturally, he didn't understand them.
"Whatever, doesn't matter. I caught it anyway!"
He continued exploring the grass with Torchic and Zigzagoon, and soon encountered a Poochyena, which he also successfully caught after wearing it down with Torchic.
Just as he was about to head back to Littleroot Town to see what the next quest was, he noticed an NPC standing by a retro-looking machine near the town entrance.
"What's that thing called again? Oh right, a bicycle?"
Roy's eyes lit up. In the real world, these human-powered transportation devices had been phased out after the Great Cataclysm. He'd only seen them in some historical documentaries.
If he hadn't happened to watch that film, he probably wouldn't even know what this was.
This immediately grabbed his attention. He ran over and pressed the interact button to talk to the NPC.
NPC: "Oh, you're a new trainer, right? Want to try the bicycle? This one's on loan. You can ride it anywhere outdoors. It's really fast!"
[Obtained Mach Bike (on loan)!]
Roy immediately selected the bicycle and clicked to use it.
The on-screen character smoothly mounted the bike, and the view instantly switched to something like an overhead racing perspective.
The character rode the bicycle down a flat road at high speed, with a real sense of velocity. The wind blew through the character's hair and clothes.
"Wow! I can move like this! So cool!"
Roy had a blast, riding several laps on the cycling road outside Littleroot Town, experiencing this long-lost, pure sense of speed.
Movement within cities was done by riding electric trains on fixed tracks. The speed wasn't actually slow, but compared to the feeling of riding a bike, something seemed to be missing.
After playing around in the game for a good while, Roy finally remembered something important.
The huge mystery from the start of the game still hadn't been solved. Why did the game character have the same name as him?
And why was he called the "Champion of the Hoenn region"? Plus there was that "trapped in a nightmare" opening background...
Whatever. He'd find out what was going on if he kept playing.
He controlled his character to go to Professor Birch's lab, wanting to see if he could trigger more story content.
In the lab, Professor Birch was discussing something with Colress. When he saw Roy come in, Professor Birch showed a warm but worried smile.
"Oh, it's Roy. Have you already gotten the Pokédex and Poké Balls? Looks like you're ready to begin your journey."
Colress also pushed up his signature blue glasses, his sharp gaze sizing up Roy.
"Roy... you've finally come." At the same time, a special notification suddenly appeared.
[You seem to have heard something unusual. Do you want to respond?]
Roy's heart skipped a beat. Here it comes!
He quickly selected a dialogue option: [Colress, do you know me?]
Colress suddenly smiled, and the time around them seemed to freeze in that moment.
"You, like Champion May, have fallen victim to that strange 'Nightmare Freeze' incident.
Your soul seems frozen in darkness, impossible to awaken... We've tried many methods, including searching for the legendary Cresselia, but nothing has worked."
He pointed toward the depths of the lab. "You saw that machine earlier, right? That's our last hope.
By guiding you through the strongest fragments deep in your own memories, we're trying to awaken your soul.
Your starting point, or rather Champion Roy's starting point, is set on the day you first came to the Hoenn region."
He continued, "Child, I know this is hard to believe, but since you've chosen to embark on this path, perhaps... fate works in mysterious ways?
I hope you can find your own answers on your journey, and maybe... bring back some clues to help with the awakening?"
Roy looked at Colress's complex expression on screen, and an indescribable feeling welled up inside him.
So right now, he was basically playing through the past of that character in the game?
And this professor... had also gone back to the past along with his "consciousness"?
Tsk. This kind of setup was really novel and compelling.
At the same time, the chat in his livestream was going absolutely crazy, showing explosive growth.
"I will," Roy responded in the game, his tone carrying a seriousness he himself hadn't noticed.
"I'll explore this world properly and see if I can meet your expectations... uh, wake myself up."
Meanwhile, at Levincia Gym.
In the livestream.
After returning to the game, Iono used a Special Attack booster item on her Raichu.
The game notification showed Raichu's Special Attack had increased, but in actual battle, there wasn't much of a noticeable change.
This piqued her curiosity.
If the effect was so mediocre in the game, what about in real life?
At this moment, in front of the camera, she looked at the vial of liquid shimmering with starry blue light in her hand, feeling a bit hesitant.
Whatever. She'd already used the Rare Candy, what was there to be afraid of with this?
She grabbed the potion and her selfie stick, then walked out of her streaming room with Bellibolt and headed to the gym's battle arena.
"Bellibolt, come on, try using Thunderbolt! Aim at that target!" She first had Bellibolt use a move on the insulated target in the corner of the training field.
A bright flash of electricity left a clear scorch mark on the target. This was the standard you'd expect from a Gym Leader-level Pokémon's technique.
Iono took a deep breath, trying to keep her voice its usual upbeat tone, and unscrewed the cap on the Special Attack booster.
A faint, berry-like fragrance wafted out. She crouched down and carefully fed the liquid to Bellibolt.
Bellibolt smacked its lips, seeming to think it tasted pretty good.
After a few seconds of quiet, though, its round body began glowing faintly blue, as if electric current inside was accelerating.
Seeing this, Iono immediately ordered:
"Good! Bellibolt, use Thunderbolt again! Full power!"
This time, the instant the electricity burst forth, even Iono herself froze!
What appeared was no longer the bright electric flash from before, but a terrifying current nearly twice as thick and blazing white in color. Accompanied by crackling explosive sounds, it slammed violently into the target!
"BANG!"
The insulated target was blown to smithereens, fragments scattering everywhere. The air filled with an acrid burning smell.
The entire livestream fell into momentary silence, then the comments and donation effects erupted like a tsunami, completely drowning the screen.
[Holy crap!!! It straight-up exploded?!]
[That power more than doubled, right?!]
[This is insane! Actually insane!]
[Why does it barely do anything in-game but become this broken in real life??]
Right now even Iono herself was stunned. Looking at the debris all over the floor, then at Bellibolt who also seemed surprised by its own power, she took a deep breath.
Is... is this right?
Items that were godlike in the game could directly boost a Pokémon's strength massively in reality, that was one thing.
But how come something basically useless in the game was this broken in real life too??
She was about to say something to her livestream viewers when, at this peak moment of hype, someone knocked on the streaming room door. The knocking was urgent and forceful, completely different from little Yu's usual sound.
Iono's gaze immediately sharpened. Obviously, this should be someone from the League.
She showed an apologetic smile to the camera. "Everyone, looks like we have visitors at the gym. Stream's pausing for just a sec, be right back!"
She decisively turned off the stream, took a deep breath, and patted her cheeks to calm herself down.
Yuina was already running to open the door, her face pale. Standing outside were two people in Paldea League uniforms. One was a tall man with a stern expression.
"Gym Leader Iono, we're from the Paldea League's Special Investigation Division.
Regarding the anomalous phenomena occurring in your livestream, we need you to cooperate with our investigation."
He spoke while showing a gold-embossed credential.
"Of course, please come in."
Iono appeared very calm, stepping aside. The PR team leader she'd hired earlier also appeared at just the right time, politely guiding the two investigators to sit down.
The investigation process went more smoothly than Iono had expected. She stuck firmly to her story that she was just a lucky player who knew nothing about how the game distributed rewards.
"That red box just appeared directly. It actually scared me at the time."
"I just played according to the game prompts, and then the rewards came. As for the principle... you'd probably have to ask that 'Wind Studio,' right?"
She repeatedly emphasized that all the rewards she'd received had been tested and seemed to only benefit Pokémon without any harmful effects.
"You both saw it. Bellibolt's condition is excellent, and its strength got a real, tangible boost.
I think this might be a new path for trainers to get stronger, don't you?"
As she spoke, Iono subtly steered the conversation in another direction.
The investigators carefully examined the remaining Beast Balls and the empty booster vial, asked about specific details of how the rewards appeared, and took extensive notes.
They were indeed very professional and serious, but faced with this phenomenon that completely defied common sense and couldn't be explained by existing science, they were clearly at a loss as well.
Finally, after repeatedly instructing Iono that she must immediately report any new discoveries, they stood up and left.
After seeing the investigators out, Iono closed the door and let out a long breath, her gaze sharpening.
Since she'd managed to brush them off...
Time to get back to the game!
At almost the same time Iono was dealing with the investigators, an extremely high-level emergency video conference was being held at Pokémon League Headquarters.
The attendees' portraits appeared one by one on the large screen, all major figures from various regions: Kanto's Champion Lance, Hoenn's Champion Steven, Sinnoh's Champion Cynthia... along with several highly respected professors, like Kanto's Professor Oak and Paldea's Professor Sada.
The meeting atmosphere was unusually tense.
The moderator briefly outlined the situation: a game called Pokémon: Emerald could deliver precious items including Mega Evolution stones and Rare Candies into the real world, and had already caused a massive sensation globally.
"This is a serious challenge to the existing Pokémon training system, battle rules, and even social order!"
In the League conference room, one League elder spoke first, his tone severe.
"This power from an unknown source must be strictly controlled! I recommend immediately banning this game worldwide and going all out to track down this so-called 'Wind Studio'!"
"Bron, ban the game? Easier said than done!" A younger official countered. "The news has already spread completely.
Countless trainers are flocking to it. Forcing a ban will only cause greater chaos and resistance.
I believe this is an unprecedented opportunity! We should dig deep into it, figure out exactly what this game is about.
If we can master this level of technology, the League's capabilities will make a quantum leap!"
"Opportunity? Look at that Paldea streamer! A Gym Leader's Pokémon reached that level of power after using the rewards! What if this power gets exploited by criminals?
What if next time the reward isn't enhancement items but something destructive? Who's going to be responsible for ordinary citizens' safety?"
The elder's beard practically bristled as he slammed the table and demanded loudly.
For a moment, both sides held their ground, arguing endlessly.
Just as the conference room descended into chaos, one voice brought the entire meeting to silence.
The speaker was none other than Professor Oak.
"Everyone, allow me to say something."
"From an academic perspective, this technology that materializes virtual data completely overturns our understanding.
Its principles and safety are all unknowns. Blindly promoting it or simply suppressing it are both inadvisable. The urgent priority is to gain deeper understanding."
In a nearby video frame, an elderly professor also nodded in agreement. "We need more samples and data.
Perhaps we should have more in-depth exchanges with those players who've already obtained rewards, such as Champion Cynthia and Champion Lance?"
She directed the topic toward Cynthia and Lance, who had remained silent this whole time!