Although the phrase "picking up trash" made Yancy blush a bit,
Upon careful thought, what she felt more was lingering fear.
She and Squirtle exchanged glances, seeing deep terror in each other's eyes.
So that purple mist really could corrode Pokémon!
If it weren't for this mysterious stall keeper intervening... Yancy didn't dare think further.
She hurriedly controlled Larvesta to bow deeply toward the cloaked figure.
"Th...thank you so much!"
And it was at this moment that Yancy suddenly remembered that regarding this purple mist, this stall keeper seemed to understand it extremely well, even possessing the ability to extract it casually. They clearly knew more about this matter than Squirtle did.
Earlier she had been wondering how to inquire about this, and now wasn't the opportunity right here?
Yancy immediately wanted to urgently ask more, controlling Larvesta to move closer.
"May I ask what exactly that purple mist is? How can we..."
However, before she could finish speaking, the scene before her eyes left her stunned.
Because that mysterious cloaked figure, along with the crude stall behind it, became transparent and thin like smoke scattered by a sudden wind.
In the last instant before completely disappearing, Yancy seemed to see a corner of that worn cloak flash, then it thoroughly merged into the air, as if it had never appeared.
In the noisy market corner, only Larvesta, Squirtle, and Yancy's still wildly beating heart remained.
Gone? Just like that?
Yancy looked at the now-empty corner, still somewhat unable to process what happened.
She instinctively looked at her backpack interface.
That jar she had just obtained, with its ghostly blue glowing flame icon, was quietly lying in one of the slots.
Well, at least this thing proved that everything just now wasn't a hallucination.
Wait! A terrifying question suddenly surfaced in Yancy's mind.
Although she had indeed obtained this thing through exchange, but... but this thing... wouldn't this also require appraisal to know its effects?!
The painful experience of just being scammed out of 15 silver coins by the nonsense tree, appraising a pile of junk and one piece of pure garbage, instantly resurfaced before her eyes.
Thinking of the pitiful 6 silver coins remaining in her backpack, and then thinking that if this jar of flames that looked very high-grade also needed appraisal, and the appraisal fee might be astronomical...
Yancy had just felt that getting this flame was an incredible profit, but now suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable.
She sighed slightly and spoke to the livestream viewers:
"I'm thinking if this thing also requires appraisal to use, then is the streamer done for?"
As Yancy expected, the comments were instantly flooded with gleeful "hahaha":
[Hahaha here it comes! Late-stage appraisal PTSD patient!]
[Streamer go quickly! See if 6 silver coins is enough to touch the appraisal table!]
[Sitting here waiting for the streamer to lose big again! Maximum entertainment value!]
[Prediction: what if after appraisal it turns out to be an E-grade lighter or something?]
Yancy in front of the screen took a deep breath.
Whatever, already bought it.
She controlled Larvesta, focusing her mind on that ghostly blue flame icon, and selected to view it.
Buzz!
A brand new system notification box popped up.
This time the border that appeared was still not the previous white or blue, but rather an orange-yellow color. Though not as noble as the previous gold, it was clearly quite extraordinary.
[Obtained A+ grade item 'Ghost Fire Seed (Special Item/Bound)']
[Effect (Passive):]
[First Effect: "Heat Wave" - Increases the fire energy intensity of the carrier, greatly enhancing the power of fire-type moves.]
[Note: Contains a trace of mysterious flame essence, has strong resistance against cold/corrosive energy (such as 'Miasma')]
[??? (Not fully unlocked), requires reaching level 10]
[??? (Not fully unlocked), requires reaching level 30.]
[Value: Special (Cannot be traded)]
No appraisal needed!
And the effects... seem pretty powerful?!
Fire-type power increased by half, and even has resistance against that mist, that so-called miasma...
There are even mysterious effects yet to be unlocked!
Boom!
The moment the notification box disappeared, the Larvesta on screen suddenly burst with intense light, completely enveloping its body in a sheet of red.
Immediately after, two system notifications popped up almost simultaneously, occupying the center of the screen:
[Larvesta leveled up to Lv.7!]
[Larvesta leveled up to Lv.8!]
Just by equipping this item, her level jumped two levels?
Before Yancy could digest this joy, another notification box popped up right after:
[Larvesta learned a new move: Ember!]
Ember!
Yancy's gaze locked firmly on these two words, feeling like she was about to cry.
She had been playing this game for almost two hours now, and until just now her only move had been String Shot.
Finally... finally she had an attack move!!
Although it was just Ember, it was already pretty good, okay??
Finally she wouldn't have to just watch from the sidelines during battles.
On screen, Larvesta also seemed to feel the brand new power surging within, its two antennae atop its head swaying excitedly, appearing somewhat brighter.
Squirtle also seemed to sense Yancy's change, eyes widening slightly.
"This seems like a really powerful fire-type item! Congratulations! You're so lucky!"
"But that cloaked figure just now... what exactly was going on..."
"And what were those things we saw?"
Squirtle appeared somewhat confused.
Yancy didn't answer right away, eagerly opening the detailed description of the [Ember] move.
[Fire-type move: Ember]
[Proficiency: 0]
[Power: 30]
[Description: Shoots flames at the opponent. Has a small chance of inflicting burn status on the opponent, and perhaps some other uses?]
[Cost: 1pp]
Looking at this move's description, Yancy was already thinking that this game was quite open regarding the effects produced after using moves.
It looked like just an ordinary Ember move, but once inside the dungeon it could probably be used in many places, like igniting the surrounding environment or burning something through, etc.
Right, there was also that Space Bag!
Only then did she remember that B-grade treasure.
She opened the Space Fiber Bag interface, and the spacious ten slots made her happiness soar again.
You have to know this game had limited backpack slots - each time entering a dungeon you could only bring out 12 items, and the character's backpack only had 20 slots.
With these extra 10 slots, finally she wouldn't have to agonize over whether to discard other junk when picking something up!
She immediately controlled Larvesta, stuffing all that pile of trash appraised earlier - the weirdly colored Paralyze Spore Mushroom, the Decayed Bone Shard that looked ready to fall apart, the Faded Rainbow Shell that seemed like it would crumble at a touch, and that glaring Dull Glass Bead - all into the bottom corner of the space bag.
This trash was out of sight, out of mind.
"Ugh, forget about that weird fake! Let's go!"
Yancy was feeling great now.
This time, she must earn back the lost silver coins with interest!
Also... she looked toward the F1 area, a trace of lingering fear in her eyes.
"As for that strange place, we'd better be careful and not go there for now..."
Meanwhile, in Cynthia's livestream.
The stream's popularity had surged to a new high again, comments cascading down like a waterfall, almost drowning the entire screen.
And in the center of the screen, the expression on Cynthia's face could be described as quite complex, as if somewhat speechless yet also somewhat amused.
In the dungeon, she controlled her character - that Chikorita who looked purely adorable - carefully avoiding the sharp rocks on the ground.
Beside her, her partner followed closely, making the same movements.
It was a... Totodile.
To be precise, a Totodile wearing small black sunglasses...
Its walking posture looked quite clumsy, tail dragging behind, occasionally falling behind a few steps because it was looking at the scenery or spacing out, then slowly trotting to catch up.
When Chikorita stopped, cautiously observing a suspicious patch of grass ahead, this Totodile seemed to finally remember they were currently in a dungeon, and slowly moved to the edge of the grass, looking around.
"If I remember correctly..."
A simple and honest voice sounded, sounding like a young boy.
"Diglett are social creatures, they sense prey through vibrations. We can go around, or..."
It paused, as if searching its knowledge database, adjusting its sunglasses, stopping for a full ten seconds before speaking.
"Or we could create a bigger noise to attract their attention, then pass through quickly, um... how about we throw a rock over there first?"
Cynthia watched its slow but methodical manner, her mouth twitching involuntarily.
This reaction speed was indeed half a beat slow, but it really knew quite a lot.
"Good idea, let's create noise then." Cynthia spoke into the microphone, controlling Chikorita to use Vine Whip to roll up a small rock and throw it toward the distant clearing.
The rock landed, making a dull sound.
The ground ahead indeed transmitted a trace of subtle commotion, several raised earth tracks quickly moving toward the sound source.
"Quick, go!"
Cynthia immediately controlled Chikorita to pass through this area, but Totodile was still frozen in place, not quite reacting yet.
Cynthia had no choice but to use Vine Whip to directly grab Totodile into the air, forcibly bringing it along, only then avoiding danger.
Seeing this scene, the comments were already laughing themselves silly:
[Hahahaha, Sister Cynthia's partner is really interesting]
[Knowledge reserve 100 points, action power 0 points, exam results fail!]
[At first when I saw him wearing sunglasses, I thought he was trying to look cool. Now it seems he's probably nearsighted from reading too much.]
[Kairos is too good at this! This partner's personality is quite interesting too]
Cynthia couldn't help but smile helplessly at the camera:
"Indeed... not quite the partner type I expected. However, it knows a lot."
"By the way, your partners... how are they?"
Comments immediately responded, excitedly chatting about this.
[Streamer! Everyone's partners have completely different personalities!]
[Mine is a super hot-blooded Pikachu, always charging in to its death... bit of a headache honestly...]
[My Magnemite is kind of socially anxious, feels like it talks even less than me.]
[My Treecko is purely tsundere, clearly wants to help but has to be stubborn about it]
[Huh? Seems like there haven't been any duplicate types so far?]
Watching these comments, Cynthia's movements controlling Chikorita paused slightly.
Each player's partner was unique, with completely different personalities and reactions?
This had far exceeded the scope of ordinary game NPCs.
Although she knew it was the effect of advanced AI, still... it really was like communicating with living, thinking Pokémon and going on adventures with them.
The technical capabilities of this game... or rather, the power behind it, once again refreshed her understanding.
In that case, rather than calling this a game, it would be better to say this was an entirely new life experience.
A life experience as a Pokémon in another world.
Just then, the corner of her eye swept to the lower right corner of the screen, in that chat window belonging to "Wind," quietly lying there was that message:
[I need you to appear on camera and promote this game. As for how to attract ordinary people who aren't trainers to play, it depends on what you want to tell them.]
Looking at this message, then looking at the Totodile on screen wearing sunglasses and slowly catching up, as well as the bizarre and incredibly vivid partners described in the comments, Cynthia took a deep breath.
At this moment, she finally understood how she should conduct the promotion going forward.
—This Rescue Team was not some trainer's Pokémon battle journey.
But rather a brand new... life experience.
A kind of marvelous journey where you put down your identity, put down your preconceptions, take on an entirely new form, meet unique companions, and experience a completely different life.
This was the most attractive aspect for those ordinary people who day after day toiled for their livelihood!
Almost at the same time, discussions related to the game had already exploded online.
[Wind's new work is invincible, my partner Bulbasaur is like a warm guy, I feel like I'm in love]
[Help! What do I do if I'm lost in the forest? My partner Charmander only knows how to eat berries, currently have 0 silver coins, edible items have all been eaten.]
[Did you guys watch Yancy's stream? Deputy Captain Pikachu is so cool! Cold but definitely has a story!]
[Saw it, what's up with that Dragonair? The black mist on it is so eerie!]
[Hahaha, she started with Larvesta + Squirtle, so poor she can't even afford food!]
[So what exactly are the leaderboard rewards for this game? Really want to know!]
Various guides, discussion threads, help threads, and plot analysis threads emerged endlessly, popularity rising steadily.
Clearly Rescue Team's performance as a game was quite good, because in this game, players seemed to truly transform into Pokémon, struggling to survive and exploring adventures in this world full of unknowns.
Just as this wave of enthusiasm was about to reach its peak, a bombshell news like a boulder thrown into a lake stirred up towering waves—Sinnoh Champion Cynthia's official channel directly released a brand new video!
The title was long—
[Game Recommendation: Even if you're not a trainer, you can still meet another version of yourself in "Rescue Team of Time."]