In a villa on the outskirts of Cerulean City, Kairos had just finished stretching and yawning when he spotted Gengar floating in the corner of the living room.
The ghost was gesturing at a tablet hovering in midair with his chubby paws, muttering to himself with an expression so serious you'd think he was cramming for finals.
Wait, this guy actually figured out how to use that thing?
"How's the work coming along?" Kairos asked as he walked over, casually grabbing an energy cube from the table to feed the Magikarp in the nearby fish tank.
He'd just bought the decorative tank and caught a Magikarp from the river to go with it.
The Magikarp leapt joyfully from the water, splashing droplets everywhere.
At the sound of Kairos's voice, Gengar immediately hid the tablet behind his back, his face instantly morphing into a fawning smile, his big white teeth gleaming under the lights.
He patted his chest, signaling that everything was running smoothly and would definitely be finished on time.
Kairos was pretty satisfied with that.
Ever since he'd first recruited this guy to help make games, Gengar seemed to have really gotten into it.
Sure, he was always a bit sneaky, but he completed his tasks well enough and was starting to act like a proper employee.
What Kairos didn't know was that Gengar's heart was pounding with anxiety, desperately hoping his boss wouldn't suddenly decide to drag him off on another adventure to some bizarre world.
Last time had been traumatic enough to haunt him for the rest of his ghostly existence. He'd much rather stick to safe data work and figure out how to use this tablet. Yeah, safety first!
Just then, a ghostly red flame silently glided across the ceiling before landing on the armrest of the sofa next to Kairos.
The flame receded, revealing Chandelure's elegant form, its candlelight flickering gently.
"Where have you been wandering off to? Haven't seen much of you these past few days," Kairos glanced at him. This guy had been way too elusive lately, barely showing up.
Chandelure's flame flickered almost imperceptibly.
Just went out to have some fun.
Kairos looked at him but didn't push it, just gave a reminder.
"Have your fun, just don't go scaring people or other Pokémon."
Chandelure's flame flickered briefly, though he felt a bit smug inside. As if he'd been out messing around!
He'd actually been going deep into the mountains and forests to spar with powerful wild Pokémon.
But this kind of secret training was better left unmentioned to Kairos.
As for scaring people?
Yeah, right. He wouldn't stoop to frightening weak Pokémon and humans.
Kairos walked over to his desk and sat down, his mind focusing as he pulled up the system interface that only he could see.
A pale blue screen materialized before his eyes, clearly displaying various statistics since Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time had gone live.
Right now, the sales numbers were climbing steadily.
Kairos looked at the figure approaching 800,000 and felt pretty pleased.
The game had been on sale for less than a day, and this pace far exceeded his initial expectations.
Looked like people in the Pokémon world had a pretty high acceptance rate for this kind of new experience.
But when he looked at another data category, his brow furrowed slightly.
"Non-trainer player count... only just over 50,000?"
That ratio was way too low.
Out of nearly 800,000 total sales, non-trainer players made up less than one-tenth?
This was a huge gap from the system mission requirement of "one million non-trainer players."
If things continued at this rate, even if total sales hit ten million, non-trainer players would barely reach 500,000, still a full half short of the target.
This result caught Kairos off guard.
He'd figured that the non-trainer demographic might have less access to games for various reasons, but he hadn't expected the gap to be this massive.
Leaning back in his chair and thinking it over, though, it actually made sense.
In this world, where trainers were the mainstream and Pokémon battles and breeding formed the core of society, people who hadn't chosen to become trainers mostly worked regular jobs that kept society running.
Farm workers, factory workers, service staff, delivery people... their lives usually revolved around making a living. Work was hard, time was tight. Entertainment like this might be a luxury for them.
Even if clearing the game gave real-world rewards, even items that could boost a Pokémon's strength... while these things were treasures to trainers, for non-trainers who either had no Pokémon partners or whose Pokémon partners were work companions rather than battle partners, the appeal was way lower.
They probably figured that even if they got rewards, they'd have no chance to use them, or they simply couldn't compete with trainer players who had plenty of time and resources.
No wonder this player segment was so small.
So how could he get this demographic into the game?
Kairos fell into thought.
From this angle, simple rewards seemed to have limited effectiveness.
So did the rewards need to better meet their needs? Or did he need some more influential figures to get this group on board?
Just as a few vague ideas were forming in his mind, the communication module on his system panel, in an extremely inconspicuous corner, suddenly flashed a tiny golden light, accompanied by an extremely faint notification sound.
Kairos's gaze immediately locked onto it.
[New message: Friend request from "Cynthia."]
Seeing the notification, his eyebrow arched.
Hm?
Talk about perfect timing.
---
Sinnoh Region, Mt. Coronet villa, Cynthia's study.
Cynthia felt her palm, gripping the mouse, getting slightly sweaty.
She stared at the chat window on screen, so minimalist it was almost crude. At the top was just one word: "Wind," along with a gray avatar.
Several minutes had passed since she'd sent the friend request. To Cynthia, those minutes felt like an eternity.
She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, but her heart stubbornly continued its rapid beating.
Moonlight spilled across the floor through the window. The room held only the low hum of the computer fan and her own slightly quickened breathing.
She couldn't help recalling certain moments from the past, when she'd stumbled across that game's cover art and played through Pokémon Emerald, purely to get information about Rayquaza.
At the time, she'd thought he might just be someone who had access to certain ancient secrets or special intelligence channels. Someone... worth making contact with.
However, as she'd progressed through the game, received rewards, completed it, and that Rayquaza detector had actually materialized in reality... everything had changed.
This wasn't something any so-called information broker could pull off.
The abilities he'd demonstrated, whether creating that near-realistic game world or directly manifesting in-game items and rewards into the real world, completely exceeded Cynthia's understanding.
Such power was mysterious, powerful, unfathomable. Someone operating at that level was probably far beyond what she could reach. Even for her, facing such an existence, staying calm was impossible.
Just then, the chat window's status bar suddenly changed.
["Developer: Wind" has accepted your friend request.]
Cynthia's heart skipped a beat, her body straightening in her chair.
She stared at that blank input box, fingers hovering over the keyboard.
The Sinnoh Champion, who usually ignored everyone's stares when voicing her opinions at League meetings and remained calm even facing powerful opponents, now found herself at a loss for words.
What should she say? Ask directly about Rayquaza? Express gratitude? Or...
She hesitated for a full ten seconds before her fingertips finally descended, typing out the two most ordinary yet safest words:
[Hello.]
Send.
She held her breath, waiting.
The other party seemed to be right at their screen; the reply came quickly.
[Wind: Hello, Sinnoh Champion. Congratulations on being the first to clear the game.]
Seeing her name and champion title on screen, Cynthia wasn't surprised he knew her identity.
She steadied herself and typed a response:
[StrawberryIceCream: Thank you. Your game... was truly amazing.]
[Wind: I'm glad it brought you enjoyment and rewards.]
A brief silence.
Cynthia knew his time was valuable; she had to seize this opportunity. Carefully choosing her words, she asked one of the core questions that had been weighing on her mind:
[StrawberryIceCream: May I ask... everything in the game, those experiences, those legends, those Pokémon... are they all real?]
This question seemed to make him pause to think. The reply gradually appeared:
[Wind: Yes and no. They do exist, exist in the river of time, exist at the far end of space, exist in the trajectory of another world's operation. What you experienced are fragments of what has happened or might happen in that world.]
This answer carried a certain ambiguity, both confirming reality while not stating it outright.
Cynthia felt her worldview getting gently pried open once again.
She'd originally wanted to press further about how he'd created such a game and how he achieved the reward distribution, but after typing the question, she deleted it.
Because these questions were pointless.
The abilities he'd demonstrated already explained everything. Asking about the underlying mechanics would be like trying to get a Magikarp to understand why Rayquaza could fly.
She changed direction, asking another key question:
[StrawberryIceCream: The leaderboard rewards... will the variety and quality of rewards increase as more people clear the game?]
This question related to her future path for growing stronger, and it was something she'd pieced together from the current situation.
[Wind: Yes. The more people clear it, the fiercer the leaderboard competition, and naturally, the rewards will become richer. It will continue this way going forward.]
Cynthia's mind settled.
Good. First clear rewards only came once, but the path to continuous growth afterward was now open, and rewards would only get better.
She was about to continue typing when another message from him popped up:
[Wind: You have one final question.]
One final question!
Cynthia's fingers froze as she fell into thought.
Countless thoughts raced through her mind, but ultimately, that goal that had defined her entire trainer career, that conviction driving her to grow ever stronger, overwhelmed everything else.
She took a deep breath, as if gathering all her strength, and typed that name on the keyboard:
[StrawberryIceCream: Rayquaza. The detector given as a game reward... the coordinates it locked onto... is it really there? Does it truly exist at that location?]
Send.
This time, the wait seemed especially long.
Cynthia's gaze locked tightly on the screen; she could almost hear her own breathing. Finally, the reply appeared. Just a simple word, yet it struck like a thunderbolt in her mind:
[Wind: Yes.]
An indescribable emotion surged through Cynthia.
It was real!
Rayquaza truly existed in that legendary forbidden zone!
The detector hadn't been wrong! The game's guidance was accurate!
Her long pursuit finally had an answer that was incredibly clear yet impossibly distant.
In that moment, her next goal became crystal clear. She needed power. Power strong enough to break through that forbidden zone of life!
Her eyes sharpened instantly, filled with unprecedented determination.
Just as Cynthia's mind was completely consumed by thoughts of Rayquaza and she was preparing to express thanks and end the conversation, another message from him arrived:
[Wind: So, you've asked quite a few questions. Now it's my turn. Miss Cynthia, could you do me a favor?]
Cynthia froze.
A favor?
An existence with such incredible power, capable of changing the world and manifesting legends in games, actually needed help from a "mere mortal" Champion like her?
This situation left her momentarily unsure how to respond.
She instinctively typed a question mark.
[StrawberryIceCream: ?]
[Wind: I need to promote the game to more non-trainer demographics.
As the Sinnoh Region's Champion, you have extremely high reputation and influence. I believe you're an ideal candidate for promotion.]
Promote the game? To non-trainers?
Cynthia looked at those words, somewhat surprised by the specific request.
This didn't sound difficult at all. In fact, it was something well within her capacity.
But why this?
Before she could think further, his next message followed immediately:
[Wind: As compensation, I can tell you more about Rayquaza.]
Cynthia's pupils contracted sharply!
More information about Rayquaza! Perhaps even the key to approaching it!
The weight of this compensation didn't need explaining.
With almost no hesitation, Cynthia's fingers were already typing her response:
[StrawberryIceCream: I accept.]
---
Several days later.
Cynthia's livestream, dark for days, suddenly came to life without warning.
Instantly, a tsunami of comments flooded the screen!
[Holy crap! She's alive! The streamer's back from the dead!]
[Champion Cynthia!! Missing person has returned!]
[Ahhh, honey, you're finally back! I missed you so much!]
[Girl, where have you been training these past few days? Please stream some battles!]
[Guys, check the Emerald leaderboard! The streamer's been first place since yesterday!!]
[It's true, the streamer already cleared it on the down-low?! The game's only been out a few days! So strong!]
[Terrifying! Is this a Champion's power? Does she not sleep?]
[Streamer secretly playing games behind our backs, you should've let us watch!]