It made sense, honestly. Samuel Oak was a Champion in his prime; it was perfectly logical for a retired legend to pick up a controller and relive his glory days.
But one thing bothered Cliff: the points.
Between Iono, Cynthia, and Oak, he had only harvested 230 Emotional Points today. Cynthia's first stream alone had netted nearly that much. A golden notification flickered to explain the deficit:
[Ding! Host, please note: Emotional resonance from the same individual decreases over time. Minimum yield can drop to 25% of the original value.]
Cliff's brow twitched. So I can't just keep milking the same three whales.
To unlock the Mid-Tier modules, which cost upwards of 2,000 points each, he needed a massive influx of new players. He needed a marketing blitz. But a solo dev in a rented room didn't exactly have a PR department.
I need a way to reach the 'unreached,' Cliff mused. But how?
He wasn't the only one asking that question.
Jubilife City, Sinnoh. Dream Factory HQ.
On the top floor of a gleaming glass spire, a man in a sharp brown suit burst into the executive office, nearly tripping over his own loafers. He was clutching a tablet, his breathing ragged.
"Boss! We have a situation!"
Behind a massive mahogany desk sat a middle-aged man with a center-parted hairstyle and eyes that had seen a thousand corporate wars. This was Vance, the CEO of Dream Factory, the undisputed king of the global gaming market.
Vance didn't look up from his papers. "I've told you before: knock. Now, what 'minor' disaster has ruined your composure?"
"Boss, three days ago, a game called Pokémon: Emerald was added to the New Indie Fest. In seventy-two hours, it's climbed from the bottom of the rankings to the Top 20. Its trajectory is... vertical."
"Emerald?"
Vance took the tablet. It was a recording of Cynthia's first stream. He watched for several minutes, his expression shifting from boredom to cold calculation. He wasn't a developer, but he knew quality when he saw it. The environmental detail, the lighting, the sheer density of the world... it was terrifyingly sophisticated for a pixel game.
"Who made this?" he asked, his voice low.
"The records say it's a solo dev named 'Cliff,' but that's impossible. My guess? It's a shell company. Maybe Piplup Soft or Charmander Studios trying to sneak into the market under a fake name."
Vance set the tablet down and lit a cigar. He exhaled a thick cloud of smoke. "No one is a threat to Dream Factory. It doesn't matter who they are; what matters is that we stop this momentum."
"Tell the Development Department. Emergency meeting at 8:00 PM. No absences. If they're on vacation, they join via Holo-call."
The assistant blinked. "Boss... are we going to...?"
Vance offered a predatory smile. "We're going to do what we always do. We 'adapt' it."
"Pixel games are cheap to produce. With our manpower, we can replicate the logic in days. Take their battle system, change the sprites, tweak the region, and add some 'Dream Factory' polish. We'll lower the difficulty, drop the price to $49, and release it as our own 'standard' edition. They were stupid to make it so hard and so expensive. We'll suffocate them with accessibility."
The assistant grinned, giving a thumbs up. "Brilliant as always, Boss! I'll notify the team!"
As the door closed, Vance turned to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at Jubilife City with a scowl. "Emerald? I won't allow a single pebble to trip up this empire."
Viridian City. Cliff's Apartment.
Cliff was blissfully unaware of the corporate hit being put out on him. He was currently watching his Shiny Litwick inhale a tin of premium Ghost-type food.
"I swear, whoever invented the concept of Pokémon was a genius," Cliff whispered, a motherly smile on his face. "You're way too cute."
He reached out to pat the little candle. "Eat slow, buddy. I bought enough for a month."
"Mobb, " Litwick sighed happily, its navy flame flickering with contentment.
"By the way," Cliff asked, a thought striking him. "How did you end up in my room? You aren't exactly a Kanto native."
The Litwick stopped eating, its emerald eyes clouding with a distant, painful memory. "Chamo... cha."
Thanks to the translator module, the story unfolded in Cliff's mind. Litwick hadn't come from the outskirts of the city. It had been living in a "Special Space", a place where the sky was wrong, the air was cold, and everything was hungry.
"A special space?" Cliff frowned. "Like... Ultra Space? Or the Distortion World?"
Litwick nodded frantically. "Mobb... mo. Scary things there. Dark... so dark and hungry. I hated it."
Cliff stroked its head. "It's okay now. You're with me. I'll make sure you reach the peak of the 'Litwick Life,' alright?"
Litwick didn't quite understand "peak," but it understood "food." It nudged Cliff's hand with a soft bleat.
With his partner settled, Cliff turned back to his point balance. 620 Points.
At this rate, it would take weeks to afford a Mid-Tier module. Most of his points came from the "Big Three," and the common players were only providing a trickle of data. He needed a way to manually trigger emotional spikes in a large crowd.
[Ding!][System: Detection of Host's 'Greed' for Emotional Points!][Mission System Unlocked!]
[Side Quest: The Side-Gig Activity]
Difficulty: CGoal: Register as a Streamer on any platform. Reach a peak viewership of 1,000.Reward: 1x Random Basic Module, 200 Emotional Points.Hint:If the benefactor is tired of playing his own games, this old monk knows a few 'dirty tricks' in the code!
Cliff stared at the screen. A slow, wicked grin spread across his face.
He didn't need to play Emerald. He was a master producer. He knew exactly what made people scream, cry, and throw their phones across the room. If he went live, he wouldn't just be a streamer. He'd be a nightmare.
In the corner, the eating Litwick suddenly froze. It looked at its master, whose laughter was currently echoing through the thin walls of the apartment.
Σ(°△°|||)
That laugh... the Litwick thought. Am I... am I back in the scary place?