Chapter 9: Versus Team Rocket? Iono’s Predicted Team!

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Viridian City.

Inside a rented apartment.

Ling Feng stared at the mass of newly added data on the screen before him, deep in thought.

While adding the Gym storyline yesterday, he had suddenly considered another issue.

The original Radical Ruby and Pokémon Emerald offered a surprisingly wide range of starter choices. Players could choose starters from every generation without a problem.

After fulfilling certain hidden conditions, they could even choose two!

Since his current game was even more difficult than the original, it was only natural that he should be more generous when it came to choosing a starter Pokémon.

Taking advantage of the voice system that had just gone online, he had simply designed a hidden feature. When choosing a Pokémon, if the player told Professor Birch that they wanted a starter Pokémon of another type, the feature would activate, allowing them to randomly obtain a Pokémon of that type from Professor Birch—provided it was neither a pseudo-legendary nor a legendary Pokémon.

Moreover, that Pokémon’s base stat total would be no lower than 500. In a sense, this was a good thing for players. They would be free to choose the type they wanted for the beginning of their journey, rather than being forced to pick between Water, Fire, and Grass.

Naturally, to maintain balance, activating the hidden feature would come at a price.

Certain battles against the rival would be replaced by battles against the Team Rocket trio!

That was right: Meowth, James, and Jessie!

And the strength Ling Feng had given Team Rocket was not meant to make them mere comic relief.

When players set out for Petalburg City, they would encounter the trio for the first time. Their Pokémon would be the same level as the player’s: one Koffing and one Ekans.

And both would have perfect individual values, maxed-out effort values, and properly selected held items!

Without a doubt, the difficulty of this battle would be even more terrifying than that of a rival battle!

As the game progressed, the trio would become stronger every time the player encountered them.

Ling Feng had included them because he had always felt that the trio should have been this powerful.

After all, with their abilities, if they had not been obsessed with stealing Ash’s Pikachu, they would have succeeded at almost anything long ago.

They could probably even have stolen Arceus’s plates.

Besides, they were among his favorite characters in the original series. He might as well indulge himself a little.

As for whether the Team Rocket trio truly existed in this world...

Well, that was another matter entirely.

...

Meanwhile, inside Iono’s livestream, the chat was engaged in a heated discussion about Team Rocket. In the game, Jessie and James stepped forward, triggering the battle animation.

“Hand over the Pokémon you’ve got, twerp!”

【The ordinary Team Rocket trio challenges you!】

Amid an energetic drumbeat, white light flashed, and a Koffing appeared!

Its level was the same as Iono’s Mareep: Level 11!

“Same level, but two Pokémon? This looks a little tough.”

“But they’re NPC Pokémon, right? It shouldn’t be too difficult.”

Iono glanced at the prompt in the upper-right corner of the screen and muttered to herself before ordering Mareep to use Thunder Shock.

Lightning crashed down, and the health bar above Koffing’s head instantly dropped by half!

Before she could celebrate, however, a mass of poison suddenly erupted from Koffing’s mouth!

【Koffing used Venoshock!】

【A critical hit!】

The health bar above Mareep’s head was instantly emptied!

Iono: ???

Seriously, what kind of damage was that?

Even with a critical hit, it shouldn’t have been that ridiculous, should it?

Since when was Koffing this powerful?

While she was still bewildered, Jessie and James appeared on the game screen once more.

“Heh heh, you and your partner are far too weak! The boss definitely won’t want a Pokémon like that.”

“See you around, twerp!”

The screen immediately went dark.

【Iono has no Pokémon left that can battle.】

【Everything before you fades into darkness.】

Several seconds later, when Iono’s character reappeared inside the Pokémon Center in Littleroot Town, the chat exploded.

【No way, this is supposed to be a Team Rocket grunt? Are you sure?】

【Since when was Koffing this strong?!】

【The streamer got rejected by the villainous organization for being too weak. They didn’t even want to steal her Pokémon. I’m dying.】

...

Iono gradually recovered from her daze. At that moment, she realized that the warning in the game’s introduction—that its difficulty was exceptionally high—had not been a joke.

But games were only fun when they presented a challenge.

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She immediately began thinking of a strategy.

The reason Koffing had defeated Mareep in a single attack was that the move had resulted in a critical hit.

According to the game’s introduction, a critical hit seemed to be a special mechanic that could trigger randomly and deal double damage. It would not occur in every battle.

In other words, Mareep should normally have been able to withstand two attacks from Koffing.

With the first-move advantage, Mareep could survive one Venoshock and then finish off Koffing with a second Thunder Shock.

Even so, Iono still faced another enormous problem: the opponent had a second Pokémon!

Mareep had already lost half its health, so there was a very good chance it would be unable to defeat the next Pokémon.

Therefore, she had to find a way to defeat Koffing without taking any damage.

After thinking for a moment, Iono opened her bag, glanced over Mareep’s information, and immediately came up with a plan.

She guided her character back to the place where she had encountered Team Rocket. There was no dramatic music or announcement this time; the battle began immediately.

This time, instead of ordering Mareep to use Thunder Shock, she chose another move—Thunder Wave!

Electricity flashed. A current ran across Koffing’s body, and an orange icon appeared in the status bar. Koffing had been paralyzed.

【Koffing wants to act, but it cannot move!】

After a series of spasms, it failed to attack on its first turn. Its chance to act was skipped entirely!

Iono’s eyes lit up.

Just as she had expected!

She turned to the viewers in her livestream and explained, “Thunder Wave temporarily paralyzes the Pokémon it hits, so I wanted to see whether I could use it to restrict Koffing’s actions.”

“Looks like the game’s creator even accounted for that! If Koffing can’t attack, Mareep can preserve its health and defeat it, leaving us in good shape for the second Pokémon!”

She looked completely confident.

The chat began to fill with messages.

【As expected of Iono! She found the solution immediately!】

【That’s so broken. If Thunder Wave always goes first and hits, doesn’t that make Mareep invincible?】

【It is a little unreasonable, but it’s only a turn-based game. It’s normal for the balance to be imperfect.】

As the chat debated, Iono confidently selected Thunder Shock and ordered Mareep to attack.

Electricity flashed again, and Koffing’s health bar dropped to half once more.

“Excellent. We just need to do that one more time.”

But just as Iono excitedly shouted her encouragement, electricity flickered across Koffing’s body without making it convulse. In the next instant, a mass of poison erupted from its mouth and struck Mareep once again!

【Koffing used Venoshock. A critical hit!】

【Mareep has lost the ability to battle!】

【Iono has no Pokémon left that can continue battling.】

【Everything before you fades into darkness.】

Staring at the prompts before her, Iono froze.

Wasn’t Koffing already paralyzed? How could it still use a move?

And why was it another critical hit?

Wasn’t this Pokémon’s critical-hit rate a little too high?

...

After reappearing at the Pokémon Center, Iono did not rush to challenge Team Rocket again. Instead, she opened the menu and examined the game’s tutorial information.

Sure enough, she soon found the explanation for status conditions.

“So paralysis cuts a Pokémon’s Speed in half, while only giving it a chance of being unable to use a move...”

She finally understood.

If that was how status conditions worked, it made sense. Otherwise, paralyzing an opponent would prevent it from acting at all, which would be far too powerful.

She could not help admiring the game’s creator.

Not only had the Pokémon’s abilities and moves been faithfully recreated, but even the various status conditions had been implemented in a perfectly reasonable way.

Come to think of it, she would probably have to attempt this battle several times before she could win.

...

Now that she understood how paralysis worked, Iono activated the Team Rocket encounter once more.

This time, her luck was excellent. After Koffing was paralyzed, it failed to act for two consecutive turns, allowing Mareep to take it down with two Thunder Shocks.

Team Rocket’s second Pokémon was an Ekans.

The moment it appeared, a red glow flashed across Mareep’s body, accompanied by a game prompt.

【Because of the opposing Pokémon’s Intimidate, Mareep’s Attack fell!】

Iono watched the scene and let out a long sigh of relief before explaining to the chat, “That’s wonderful. It means Ekans has Intimidate instead of Shed Skin!”

“If it had Shed Skin, we’d be in trouble. The moment it became paralyzed, its ability could automatically remove the condition.”

“But Mareep is a special attacker anyway, so having its Attack lowered doesn’t matter much.”

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“We should be able to take it down easily!”

Still brimming with confidence, Iono ordered Mareep to use Thunder Wave again and paralyze Ekans.

But the next moment, Ekans moved first.

【Ekans used Crunch!】

【Mareep flinched and could not move!】

Watching the health bar above Mareep’s head flash red, Iono fell silent.

Iono: ...

She clenched her fists.

“It’s fine. Again!”

...

After seven or eight consecutive failed attempts, fortune finally took Iono’s side.

During this battle, neither Ekans nor Koffing landed a critical hit.

Once both Pokémon were paralyzed, neither managed to act even once.

Even so, by the time Mareep secured the victory, it had been struck only once—and yet its health bar had been reduced to its final sliver.

That alone showed how difficult the battle truly was.

After the victory, the three members of Team Rocket stumbled backward several steps.

“Blast it, twerp! Just you wait—we’ll be back!”

“—What a rotten feeling, meow!”

After leaving those threats behind, they vanished into the distant grass.

Iono also let out a long breath of relief.

At the same time, she noticed a strange feeling welling up inside her.

In a certain sense, this was still a Pokémon battle.

Yet what she experienced in the game was entirely different from battles in the real world.

Repeatedly testing strategies based on her own understanding, challenging the same battle again and again until she finally succeeded—this was something real-world Pokémon battles could never offer.

After all, in a real Pokémon battle, there was usually only one chance. If she wanted to try again, she would have to wait for some time.

Pokémon needed a considerable amount of time to recover their stamina and energy. In the game, however, after a defeat, she could immediately regroup and try again!

And the feeling of finally succeeding after repeated attempts was often the most addictive feeling of all.

By now, Iono was growing more and more interested in the game. She herself had not realized that this single NPC battle had already drawn her deeply into it.

After defeating the Team Rocket trio, she continued toward the next city without hesitation.

The rest of her journey was relatively simple. After reaching Petalburg City, she visited the Petalburg Gym, which had been established by the player’s father. She then accompanied a boy named Wally as he caught a Ralts to serve as his starter Pokémon.

After that, Iono left Petalburg City and entered the forest to the north.

It was an immense green woodland inhabited by countless Bug-type Pokémon.

Before long, Iono encountered a Joltik!

Without hesitation, she threw a Poké Ball after the battle and successfully caught it, adding it to her team.

At the same time, she smiled at the viewers in her livestream and began to speak.

“Ta-da! Iono’s Electric-type classroom is now in session!”

“We all know that Electric-type Pokémon are fast and powerful, but they have weaknesses too.”

“As everyone knows, the greatest weakness of Electric-type Pokémon is the Ground type. Electric-type moves are completely ineffective against Ground-type Pokémon.”

“Besides that, Grass-, Rock-, and Dragon-type Pokémon are all difficult opponents for Electric types.”

“Grass and Dragon types are troublesome because Electric-type moves are not very effective against them. Rock types may not resist Electric-type moves, but they generally have access to Ground-type moves, which pose a serious threat to Electric Pokémon!”

“The main storyline of this game should involve challenging Gyms of different types, collecting badges, and eventually taking on the Pokémon League.”

“If we want to build a team specializing in Electric-type Pokémon, we’ll have to overcome these weaknesses.”

“Take this Joltik, for example. It also has the Bug type. When we encounter Grass-type opponents, dealing with them won’t be nearly as difficult.”

“From this point onward, I’ll build my team around this idea, until I’ve completely covered every blind spot in an Electric-type team!”

The moment she finished speaking, the chat erupted in cheers.

【As expected of the official League Gym Leader for the Electric type, her knowledge in this area is incredible!】

【Exactly! Even if she’s only playing a game, she’s still a true professional when it comes to the important stuff!】

Iono glanced at the chat and continued with a smile, “I don’t think a Dragon-type Gym is likely to appear this early in the game.”

“So that leaves only the Ground and Rock types.”

“There’s no way the very first Gym could be one of those two types, right?”

She stretched lazily.

“All right, let’s keep moving!”

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