In this world, Pokémon had long been part of people's daily lives, their figures visible in every corner of the city.
"Harmonious coexistence between humans and Pokémon" wasn't just an empty slogan, but a reality that had truly been achieved.
During the week since Kairos had arrived in this world, he'd seen plenty of Pokémon—whether it was Meowth grooming itself on street corners, Eevee being carried by girls on outings, or Pidgey dancing in the sky—he'd grown accustomed to it all.
However, the problem was that during this week, aside from a few rare outings, he'd basically been holed up in his room, focused on making games.
After all, rent was due soon, and if he couldn't scrape together the money, the landlord would toss him out.
So during this week, he hadn't had any close contact with Pokémon.
But now, he had.
And this contact came completely out of nowhere.
After instinctively jumping back two steps from the shock, Kairos calmed down a bit and carefully observed the Pokémon before him.
Candle-like appearance, deep blue flame...
This was actually a Litwick—and in shiny form, no less.
Why would such a Ghost-type Pokémon appear in his room?
Kairos immediately tensed up again.
Ghost-type Pokémon were extremely special beings, very rare in cities, and mostly found in remote wilderness areas because they were almost all fed by devouring the energy of other living creatures—extremely dangerous.
Litwick was one of them. According to his memory, though these Pokémon looked cute, they would silently devour human souls.
In other words, if he wasn't careful, his soul could be absorbed by this little guy.
At this moment, Kairos stared intently at Litwick, and Litwick looked back at him.
One human and one Pokémon, eyes locked—the air fell silent.
As Kairos stepped back bit by bit, he noticed that the Litwick before him didn't seem to make any moves.
Besides that, even being this close, he didn't feel any physical discomfort.
So... this little guy isn't "eating" me?
Kairos thought carefully.
This Litwick probably hadn't just arrived in his room, since during his sleep, he'd vaguely felt a bit cold.
It was summer now, so that shouldn't normally happen—meaning this guy had been here for a while already.
But after waking up, he felt refreshed and energetic, not at all like someone whose soul had been absorbed.
Looking at Litwick again... the flame on its head was flickering weakly, as if it might go out at any moment. How could it be in this state after feasting on a soul?
Considering the current situation, maybe this little guy actually had no ill intent toward him?
"Um... hello?"
Kairos tentatively waved and greeted.
"Lit—"
Litwick glanced at him and responded with a soft cry.
But Kairos found he couldn't understand at all.
What does it mean?
"Lit lit!"
Litwick called out again, voice somewhat urgent, the flame on its head twisting like an arrow pointing toward its own body.
From a human perspective, that position... roughly the stomach?
Kairos immediately had a guess and asked tentatively:
"Are you hungry?"
Litwick nodded vigorously.
"Wait here for me, stay right there, don't move. I'll get you food right away."
After saying this, Kairos immediately turned and rushed out of the room.
Litwick stood there, tilting its head, green eyes watching the direction Kairos had gone, looking somewhat confused.
Human... left?
But he said there would be food.
Food... that's good.
So hungry.
But definitely can't eat the human.
Humans would feel bad.
Mm.
In a world full of Pokémon and trainers, Pokémon-related industries were naturally quite developed.
Though Kairos lived in a remote area of Viridian City, there was still a Pokémon goods shop downstairs.
Withdrawing the money from selling 2,000 copies of his game from the platform, he walked straight into the shop and picked the most expensive Ghost-type Pokémon food.
This food was specially made by breeders for Ghost-type Pokémon, considering their unique need for souls, and carefully formulated with special energy to provide corresponding supplementation.
Though it couldn't match the effect of Ghost-type Pokémon directly absorbing souls, it could satisfy their basic needs.
After all, as a trainer, you couldn't really let Ghost-type Pokémon go around absorbing people's souls, right?
That would make you like an evil cultivator running around with soul-collecting banners—you'd get arrested by the League...
After buying the food, Kairos hurried back home and placed the container in front of Litwick.
"Sorry for the wait, eat up."
Litwick poked its head out, curiously sniffing the black food in the container, and its eyes immediately brightened.
"Lit lit!"
The next moment, it buried its head right in.
The food in the container began disappearing at a visible rate.
This eating speed startled Kairos.
Good lord, how many days had it been starving to eat this quickly?
After a full half-container of food disappeared, Litwick finally stopped.
The flame on its head was much more vigorous than before.
"Lit—"
It made a satisfied sound, squinting its eyes, looking at Kairos with warmth and gratitude.
"Good that you're full, don't mention it."
Kairos smiled, feeling relieved.
Good thing this expensive food was worth it—though one container cost over 2,000 yen, at least Litwick liked eating it... that was enough.
But come to think of it, he actually couldn't understand Pokémon speech?
Based on the original series, Pokémon could understand human speech, and while humans couldn't directly comprehend the detailed content of Pokémon language, they could at least get the general idea.
When the relationship between trainer and Pokémon became close, this barrier would completely disappear, allowing perfect communication.
But when he just heard Litwick speak, he couldn't understand at all and could only guess purely on his own.
This was really quite troublesome.
Just as Kairos was pondering, a golden notification suddenly appeared before his eyes.
[Detected that the host has Pokémon language needs!]
[Recommended for you: Pokémon Language Translation Module (Basic)]
[After unlocking this module, you can understand any Pokémon's language, while accurately recreating Pokémon calls and language in games to match reality.]
[Unlocking this module requires 100 emotion points.]
Looking at this information, Kairos's eyes immediately lit up.
With this thing, he could understand what Litwick was saying.
Not only that, but after unlocking this module, it would also be useful for future game development.
This effect of perfectly recreating Pokémon calls and language could add considerable realism to games.
He could even immediately add this feature to Emerald.
And this module wasn't expensive either—just 100 emotion points.
He had over 600 points now.
With this thought, Kairos didn't hesitate to purchase it.
[Purchase successful, module activated, host's remaining emotion points: 562!]
After scanning the notification, Kairos looked at Litwick again and asked:
"Are you full?"
"Lit! Lit!"
[Full! Thank you, Human!]
Litwick nodded in response, and Kairos could now clearly understand the meaning in its cries.
But this speech pattern... why did it feel so familiar?
Kairos paused, then asked again:
"How long have you been in my room?"
"Lit lit, lit."
[Very long! Human always played with big metal thing. I waited for you to sleep... so I could eat you]
This made Kairos feel somewhat chilled. Though he knew Litwick meant souls, it still sounded pretty scary.
He steadied himself and continued asking:
"Then why didn't you eat me in the end?"
This time, Litwick didn't answer immediately, but thought for a moment:
"Lit, lit."
[Because, Human would feel bad. I don't want Human to feel bad]
Kairos was stunned.
Holy crap?!
What was this? Had he pulled an SSR legendary good ghost?
Just like stray luxury cats had the saying "hesitate and it's gone," wild Pokémon also had "hesitate and it's gone." Kairos immediately made his decision, extending a hand toward Litwick:
"In that case, how about following me from now on? I'll take care of all your food, so you won't go hungry and won't have to worry about absorbing others' souls and making them uncomfortable."
Ghost-type Pokémon absorbing souls wasn't just instinct, but also how they replenished their bodies' energy.
But if their internal energy was kept fully replenished through other means, why would they need to eat souls?
Unless they were naturally vicious Ghost-type Pokémon who enjoyed devouring souls for pleasure.
But obviously, the Litwick before him wasn't that type.
Hearing this, its eyes immediately brightened, nodding repeatedly while happily bouncing around Kairos.
"Lit!"
[Human is so good! Thank you, Human!]
Kairos smiled and reached out to pick up Litwick.
"Then please take care of me from now on, Litwick."
"Lit~"
Unexpectedly, despite being a Ghost-type Pokémon with an ethereal spirit body, Litwick felt like a soft, jelly-like mass—very comfortable.
And holding it didn't feel cold at all, but actually made him feel quite warm.
Uh.
Warm was warm, but why was it suddenly getting hot?
Kairos instinctively looked down.
Oh, I was wondering what was happening—turns out my clothes had caught fire.
Hm?
Wait?
Caught fire??
The next instant, screams echoed through the rental apartment again.
"IT'S ON FIRE AHHHHHHHHH!!!!"
Five minutes later.
Kairos dumped a pile of ashes into the trash can, having changed into an old shirt full of patches, sighing slightly.
He'd forgotten that Litwick was also a Fire-type Pokémon—that flame on its head wasn't just decoration.
Looks like if he wanted to hold Litwick in the future, he'd need to buy some fireproof clothing.
He'd also need Litwick to be more careful normally, or the house would really catch fire sooner or later.
Turning around, he found Litwick had already fallen asleep against the wall.
While sleeping, the flame on its head had dimmed considerably, leaving just a small point.
"Must be tired."
Kairos thought about it and decided not to disturb him.
Originally, he wanted to ask where Litwick came from, but now he should let the little guy rest properly.
As for himself...
He sat back down at his computer desk.
The software showed that Pokémon Emerald sales had reached 2,125 copies, successfully breaking the 2,000 milestone.
But this number had been stuck here for several minutes without continuing to grow.
Kairos wasn't surprised.
From the system's hints, Cynthia's stream should have ended, since he wasn't receiving large amounts of emotion points—just some scattered income.
This should be from those 2,000+ players who bought and were playing the game.
Over 2,000 copies sold, minus platform fees, netted him just over 450,000 yen.
The money shortage problem was naturally resolved.
But from the moment he got the system, Kairos's goal in making games wasn't just about money.
He wanted everyone in this world to experience the joy that Pokémon games could bring.
Well, of course, torment was also a kind of joy—pain and pleasure combined.
Collecting his thoughts, Kairos began considering his current situation.
The first priority was definitely completing Pokémon: Emerald and officially releasing it.
He had many ideas that couldn't be realized with the current system's basic module technology.
He opened the system panel and checked the module interface.
Just the basic quality modules alone were quite numerous, stretching endlessly at first glance.
Like [Card Game Module] and [Roguelike Game Module], which increased production speed and quality for specific game types.
Or [Ultra HD Blu-ray Graphics Module] and [Top Professional Music Module], which enhanced games' presentation and overall quality.
These modules all cost around 300 points each, and with Kairos's current situation, buying two wouldn't be a problem after waiting a bit.
But his gaze unhesitatingly fell on one particular module.
[AI Module (Basic)]
[Description: Can add individually responsive advanced artificial intelligence to NPCs, Pokémon, and all units in your games, allowing them to make intelligent decisions based on actual situations.]
[Price: 500 points]
This module's price far exceeded other basic ones, but Kairos's gaze was fixed on it.
What was most important when making Pokémon games in the Pokémon world?
—Authenticity.
Only by letting players feel they'd entered a real world could they immerse themselves.
Those Pokémon and NPCs shouldn't seem like data that could only make mechanical responses, but more like living beings.
Games are, though, essentially virtual by nature.
But good games could make you forget this while playing, as if you'd truly entered another world.
—This was gaming's greatest charm.
When playing Pokémon handheld games in his previous life, Kairos had some regrets.
He regretted not being able to truly interact and chat with those Pokémon companions, to feel their joys and sorrows... to live alongside them.
Even after crossing into the Pokémon world, he discovered it was actually quite realistic here, too.
Not everyone had the conditions to become a trainer, traveling with Pokémon and climbing peaks.
This required not just time and money, but courage and talent.
For ordinary people, even living in the city with one Pokémon was already quite good.
More people could only spend their lives in fixed cities, doing fixed jobs, barely supporting themselves and their families, let alone taking on the expenses of more Pokémon.
Even if these people loved Pokémon as children, they'd eventually have their edges worn down by life's pressures, gradually losing themselves in cold cities.
So every game Kairos made going forward had to give all people who loved Pokémon a chance.
Maybe a chance to experience growing and battling alongside Pokémon, reaching the world's peak.
Or perhaps a chance to live, bond, and become friends with Pokémon.
Or maybe a chance to travel with Pokémon and witness the world's wonders and diversity.
He believed these individual chances were like little flames.
Someday, these flames would ignite the entire world.
They would make everyone remember what they truly loved deep in their hearts.
۞۞۞۞
~ Push the story forward with your Power Stones