Chapter 15: The Bewildered Azalea and Cynthia's New Pokémon (4k, Please Keep Reading!)

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Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, in the Hoenn region, stood Rustboro City.

In front of one of the city’s buildings, a girl with her hair tied in a bun sat on a chair, dressed in a black short skirt and deep crimson stockings.

She cradled a Geodude in her arms. Its eyes were narrowed in contentment as the girl carefully wiped the dust from its body with a damp cloth.

The girl possessed an unmistakable air of distinction, and her deep crimson eyes revealed both confidence and resolve.

Anyone passing by would have recognized her at a glance. She was Roxanne, Gym Leader of the Rustboro Gym, known far and wide as the “Genius Rock Girl”!

Having finished cleaning Geodude, Roxanne placed it on the chair beside her and stretched lazily.

“Phew… Days without challengers really are wonderful. What a leisurely life.”

As the Gym Leader of Rustboro, Roxanne had noticed that fewer and fewer Trainers had been coming to challenge the Gym over the past year.

Perhaps it was because the number of Gyms officially recognized by the Hoenn League had begun to increase rapidly. With its relatively high level of difficulty, the Rustboro Gym naturally would not be the first choice for most Trainers.

Roxanne was perfectly happy with that. On the one hand, it could be considered recognition of her strength.

On the other hand, she was actually someone who enjoyed taking things easy… or, more accurately, someone who enjoyed slacking off.

—Why work every single day when there are fish to be touched? Wouldn’t that be madness?

“Pika, pika~”

Just as Roxanne was reclining in her chair and sighing contentedly over how easy her life had become, the phone at her waist suddenly rang.

“Hm?”

Somewhat surprised, Roxanne picked it up and found an unfamiliar number displayed on the screen.

She did not think much of it and answered the call.

“Hello? This is Roxanne. May I ask who’s calling?”

A girl’s voice came from the other end.

“Hello, my name is Iono…”

Roxanne froze for a moment. The name sounded oddly familiar.

“Ah, hello. Is there something you needed to speak with me about?”

She continued almost instinctively.

There was a brief silence on the other end before the girl spoke again, her voice tinged with tears.

“Um… may I ask whether you have an Archen and a Lileep?”

“If you do, could you please tell me what they’re afraid of? I really can’t beat them!”

Roxanne: “...?”

What in the world?

At that moment, the Rustboro Gym Leader and genius Rock Girl, Roxanne, was completely dumbfounded.

…

Over on Iono’s side, after being utterly crushed by a devastating Rock Slide from an Archen empowered by a base physical Attack of 112, she had broken down and called Roxanne for help.

At the same time, Cynthia was also thinking hard in front of her screen.

There was no denying that Iono’s chosen method of battle did have a certain logic to it.

—If a status effect only worked probabilistically, and one had countless opportunities to try, then as long as one tried enough times, there would eventually be a successful attempt.

But Cynthia did not want to imitate her completely, for two reasons.

For one, relying purely on luck was simply too torturous!

For another, she felt that with the challenge difficulty set so high, repeatedly gambling on probability could not have been the game creator’s true intention.

She had already seen through the game’s design. Its creator clearly wanted players to build well-rounded teams in order to make up for their weaknesses.

And the Lileep in the first Gym was essentially the player’s first real test!

In the real world, assembling a reasonable and well-balanced team was a compulsory lesson for Elite Four members and Champions such as themselves.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that when two Trainers of the same Elite Four level faced off, the difference between them often did not lie in their individual Pokémon, but in the composition of their teams as a whole.

Even upon reaching the level of a Champion, this remained true. It was merely somewhat diminished by the terrifying strength of the individual Pokémon involved.

But without question, if a Champion who focused solely on strengthening each individual Pokémon while neglecting team composition faced one who had given at least some thought to team synergy, the latter would unquestionably be the one to win.

Speaking of which, the fact that the game could incorporate a test like this made Cynthia even more certain that its creator was not only a professional researcher, but also an exceptionally powerful Trainer.

Otherwise, they could never have achieved such profound insight into the matter.

If Cynthia had previously been curious about the creator merely because Rayquaza appeared on the game’s cover, she was now genuinely interested in the creator as a person…

Returning to the game.

Lileep was a Grass- and Rock-type Pokémon, and the types super effective against it were Bug, Steel, Ice, and Fighting.

After roughly reviewing the Pokémon she had encountered along the way, Cynthia found that Normal-, Bug-, Flying-, and Grass-type Pokémon were the most common.

Of those types, only Bug was super effective against Cradily.

But Bug-type Pokémon had one major problem: before evolving, their overall combat power was generally extremely low.

Iono’s Joltik was a perfect example. Even with a type advantage against Cradily, its Bug Bite had inflicted less than one-third of the target’s HP in damage.

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If there were a Bug-type Pokémon capable of evolving into its final form before Level 15, that would certainly be a good choice.

But Cynthia could not be sure whether any of these Bug-type Pokémon were capable of completing their evolutions at that level.

After all, there was no such concept as “levels” in the real world.

She herself had not had much experience with Bug-type Pokémon, either…

So, should she give it a try?

Standing in Petalburg Woods, where Bug-type Pokémon were everywhere, Cynthia hesitated.

Then, in the very next moment, a new idea inexplicably occurred to her.

Cynthia guided her character through Petalburg Woods. After battling several Trainers on and around the bridges, she successfully arrived in Rustboro City.

By then, the two Pokémon in her party had both reached the current level cap: Level 15.

As Cynthia’s character drew closer and closer to the Gym, the chat began to flood with excited messages.

[It’s happening!]

[Hahahahahaha, I’m already starting to laugh.]

[Come on, Nana! Show this little Gym Leader from Hoenn what a Champion can really do!]

[Let me post this in advance: “The Sinnoh Champion is being chased around and beaten by an unknown Gym Leader from the Hoenn region.” Why am I dreaming something like this?]

Clearly, after witnessing the difficulty of the game and watching Iono challenge the Gym on her own livestream, the viewers did not believe Cynthia could win.

However…

The very next moment, something completely outside their expectations happened.

Cynthia’s character arrived beside the Rustboro Gym, but instead of entering, she walked straight past the building and headed north of Rustboro City.

The instant they saw this, the chat erupted with amusement.

[???]

[Nana, why are you running away?]

[This is bad! Our army is certain to lose! Retreat at once!]

Amid the laughter filling the livestream, Cynthia spoke.

“I just realized something. Since each area contains Pokémon with its own distinctive types and species, there should be other Pokémon around Rustboro City as well.”

“Given the way the creator designed the game, they should have placed some Pokémon nearby that can counter Lileep.”

As soon as she finished speaking, an entirely new route and patch of tall grass appeared before her.

She smiled faintly.

“So… this should be the place.”

…

Cynthia was now guiding her character through the grass, searching for wild Pokémon, and the viewers in the livestream were stunned by her maneuver.

[666! As expected of a veteran Champion. She really understands the game—she even guessed the creator’s design!]

[There were people blocking the way into the previous areas, so I thought we’d have to beat the Gym before we could continue. I never expected the game to be designed like this.]

[This creator really has thought of everything…]

“Do you think there’ll be a Pokémon here that can deal with that Lileep?”

[I doubt it. That thing is ridiculously overpowered. What could possibly counter it?]

[…]

As the chat continued discussing the matter, Cynthia’s game screen suddenly flickered, signaling that she had encountered a wild Pokémon.

When the encounter screen slid apart, a pink Pokémon shaped rather like a small bear appeared before her.

The moment she saw it, Cynthia could not help but freeze slightly.

—It was this one?

She naturally recognized the Pokémon. Stufful was the pre-evolved form of Bewear, a Pokémon from the Alola region.

Although the little creature was adorable now, resembling a stuffed toy, its final evolution, Bewear, possessed astonishing physical strength, as well as tremendous stamina and endurance.

Even in the Alola region, it was considered a fairly well-known Pokémon.

It was not particularly rare, however. In fact, it was quite common.

The reason it was so famous was that it possessed far too much strength and loved hugging people. If one was not careful, it could crush a Trainer’s bones simply by embracing them.

Without that unfortunate flaw, the number of Trainers willing to raise Bewear would probably have increased at least tenfold…

At that thought, Cynthia shook her head slightly.

Stufful was a Normal- and Fighting-type Pokémon.

The Fighting typing was precisely what she needed to counter Cradily.

Furthermore, unlike Bug-type Pokémon, Fighting-type Pokémon generally had their abilities concentrated in physical Attack, while their defensive capabilities were comparatively weak.

After all, the greatest characteristic of Fighting-type Pokémon was their ability to unleash fierce, explosive attacks. They were like indestructible spears—and that was the very essence of the Fighting type.

And a spear like that was exactly the best weapon against a shield like Lileep.

Or, considering the sheer durability of that Lileep, perhaps it would be more accurate to call it a battle between a siege engine and a fortress wall…

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As Cynthia pondered, Treecko used Pound twice in succession, easily reducing Stufful’s HP until it began flashing red. She immediately threw a Poké Ball.

However, the capture did not go smoothly this time. The first several Poké Balls all failed to catch it.

Meanwhile, after enduring several fierce attacks from Stufful, Treecko’s HP had also begun flashing red.

There was only one Poké Ball left in Cynthia’s bag.

At that critical moment, a dramatic scene unfolded.

On the screen, Treecko turned around and cast Cynthia a resentful glance.

Its tiny eyes were filled with silent reproach.

Before Cynthia could react, a line of text suddenly appeared at the bottom of the screen.

[Treecko seems to be losing its patience.]

[Treecko snatched the last Poké Ball from your hand!]

[Treecko threw the Poké Ball!]

The red-and-white ball traced a perfect arc through the air before landing precisely against Stufful’s body, transforming it into a beam of white light and drawing it inside.

The Poké Ball rocked once, twice, three times…

With a sharp click and a burst of stirring music, a message appeared.

[Congratulations! Stufful was successfully caught!]

[New Pokémon data has been recorded in the Pokédex!]

Cynthia: “…?”

The viewers in the livestream naturally lost their minds over what had just happened.

[Hahahahahaha! Even Treecko couldn’t stand watching her anymore! It finally snapped!]

[Nana, your Poké Ball-throwing skills need some work. You’re not even as good as little Treecko.]

[Her own Pokémon couldn’t take it anymore and had to help her catch the thing! I’m dying!]

…

Cynthia looked at Treecko, which had given her an exasperated side-eye before returning to its Poké Ball to rest. Then she glanced at the Poké Ball containing Stufful in her character’s hand.

For a moment, her expression was rather complicated.

Well… at least the ending was a good one, wasn’t it?

…

This Stufful was Level 11, four levels below the current cap.

After successfully catching it, Cynthia immediately took it into the nearby grass and began battling other wild Pokémon to raise its level.

This also gave her an opportunity to examine the distribution of wild Pokémon in the area.

Fifteen minutes later, Stufful had successfully reached Level 15.

Only then did Cynthia open her bag and inspect the Pokémon’s information.

[Stufful]

[Level: 15 — Level cap reached]

[Nature: Adamant]

[Type: Normal/Fighting]

[Moves: Brutal Swing (Dark) / Force Palm (Fighting) / Leer (Normal) / Payback (Dark)]

[Special Attack: 16 | Physical Attack: 38 | Defense: 21 | Special Defense: 21 | Speed: 21]

…

When Cynthia saw Stufful’s move screen clearly, her expression brightened.

A physical Attack stat of 38 was remarkably high. It was even more than ten points higher than Treecko’s Special Attack, the highest stat in her party!

And it knew Force Palm.

The Fighting-type move Force Palm possessed respectable power and also had a thirty percent chance of paralyzing the opponent.

It was practically the perfect move for dealing with that Cradily. It could inflict heavy damage while also producing a status effect capable of interrupting Cradily’s Recover.

She should have no trouble dealing with Cradily now!

Just as Cynthia was preparing to set off and challenge the Gym, she suddenly remembered something else.

Right. If she remembered correctly, contact with Stufful and Bewear was genuinely rather dangerous…

That was why their abilities had not yet been discovered by the scientific community.

So what ability would they have in the game?

At that thought, Cynthia immediately opened the ability screen. A line of text soon appeared before her eyes.

And this time, it was an ability she had seen before.

[Ability: Fluffy]

[Pokémon with this ability take half damage from direct attacks, but take double damage when struck by Fire-type moves!]

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