Kairos stared at the newly caught Wurmple in his party window.
The little bug didn't exactly scream "hope." Its pixel eyes drooped like it already regretted being born.
Still, he set it as his lead Pokémon. Wimpod was useless right now. Wurmple would have to do.
The stream chat immediately caught fire.
[Caught a Wurmple! Streamer's Bug-type army takes its first historic step!]
[Finally something that can fight, right? Right??]
[You're gonna challenge the rival with that? Please survive two turns. Just two.]
[Wurmple: maybe let me go, bro. Please.]
Kairos flicked his eyes toward chat, said nothing, closed the bag menu.
He was still broke. Early-game broke. The kind of broke where you can list your entire inventory without scrolling.
One Super Potion left. That's it.
A faint flicker in the corner of his HUD caught his eye: [Mild Contempt, Emotion Value +1...+1...]
Heh. Even mockery counted as profit. Mosquito legs are still meat, after all.
He guided his avatar north, the grass swaying along Route 103. Somewhere up ahead, that last potion would pay its rent.
A kid in green shorts jumped out, face shaped like a watermelon. "Hey! A new trainer! Let's battle!"
Cue the music.
Wurmple (Lv.4) vs. Poochyena (Lv.3).
Kairos hit the button.
[Wurmple used Poison Sting!]
The needle landed. Barely. Poochyena's HP bar trembled, maybe out of pity.
[Poochyena used Tackle!]
Wurmple shook like a wet tissue. Its health dropped fast.
Chat immediately went feral.
[Chip damage! It's chip damage, people!]
[Streamer, maybe feed it that Super Potion just for laughs.]
[This is brutal. One Wurmple, one potion, and a dream.]
[Poochyena: is this my warmup?]
Kairos didn't react. Another Poison Sting. Then another. Wurmple's bar bled red.
He popped open the bag, clicked the only healing item he had.
A green glow. Full HP.
[There it is! The family heirloom Super Potion!]
[One potion to rule them all.]
[Beautifly fund established: zero dollars.]
[Wurmple: thanks boss, I'll cry quieter next time.]
Third turn after healing—Poochyena rushed again.
[Wurmple used Poison Sting!]
Critical hit. The text blinked red.
Poochyena let out one miserable bark and fainted.
Silence. Then chaos.
[Lucky break!]
[Victory, but it feels like a bankruptcy moment.]
[This is literally the easiest NPC and he almost lost. What happens next, Armageddon?]
Wurmple leveled up to 5.
Kairos didn't even blink. He turned around and sprinted to Petalburg's Pokémon Center.
[Streamer's running away?!]
[Healing time! Nurse Joy arc begins.]
[He's gonna be Joy's favorite regular.]
[Streamer VIP membership incoming.]
A white flash, full heal. Then right back into the tall grass.
[Grinding? Again?]
[Bro, rival's level syncs with yours, you know that, right?]
[The strategy: fight monsters → nearly die → sprint to Nurse Joy → repeat forever.]
[Joy: sir, would you like to sign up for our annual plan?]
Wurmple fought hard. Too hard. Its base stats were so bad that every battle looked like a tragic documentary.
He'd run, heal, run back, repeat.
[The streamer's running form has real broke-student energy.]
[He could sprint Route 103 blindfolded by now.]
[Wurmple: not human, but streamer, you're a real dog for this.]
[Nurse Joy: back again? That's visit number eight.]
Finally, through a mix of stubborn luck and mosquito-leg persistence, Wurmple poisoned a Zigzagoon to death. Level 7.
White light bloomed across the screen.
[Wait—it's evolving?!]
[Already? That was fast!]
[All those laps to the Pokémon Center paid off, huh.]
[Still weak though. Probably worse than before.]
The cocoon formed. White shell, tiny head poking out. Silcoon.
Kairos checked its moveset. Harden, Tackle, Poison Sting. That's all.
Back into the grass.
Silcoon's attacks still hit like wet noodles, but now it could tank hits forever. Progress, sort of.
Two minutes later—HP red again. Another sprint.
[He's running again!]
[Is the Pokémon Center your home address now?]
[Nurse Joy: twelfth time today, sir, please.]
[Silcoon: it doesn't hurt... but why am I so tired...]
On and on. Battle, heal, battle, heal.
Until the shell glowed again.
Level 11. Another flash.
Out came a slender blue body, patterned black, four wings spreading like glass. Beautifly.
Chat went silent, then exploded.
[???]
[No way, already?!]
[Two evolutions before lunch?]
[Beautifly! It's actually pretty!]
[Cheating, right? There's no way.]
Kairos just adjusted his mic. "Bug-types evolve fast. It's normal."
He scrolled through the moves. Explained calmly like a teacher.
"Wurmple's evolution is random. White becomes Beautifly, purple becomes Dustox."
[Ah, got it! I thought they were the same bug.]
[Still, Torchic's gonna roast it alive.]
[Starter's advantage. Rip Beautifly.]
Kairos said nothing. Just walked north.
The rival appeared. Short chat box, brief banter. Then battle.
Beautifly (Lv.11) vs. Torchic (Lv.11).
The chat screamed.
[It's time!]
[He's so dead.]
[Goodbye streamer.]
[No Pokémon Center this time hahahaha.]
Kairos chose Gust.
[Beautifly used Gust!]
A rush of wind blasted across the screen.
Critical hit. Red text.
Torchic didn't even squeak. Straight to zero HP.
Silence. Pure, heavy silence.
Then the chat lost its mind.
[No way. That crit?]
[What even just happened.]
[One-shot kill? From a Bug-type?]
[Who's the newbie village nightmare now?]
[Streamer must've bribed Nurse Joy for steroids.]
Beautifly just hovered on screen, wings calm. [Beautifly: that's it?]
System notifications stacked like fireworks. [Emotion +100! +98! +81!]
The pinging sound almost musical. Kairos smiled, small and satisfied.
Not bad. A decent emotional payout.
He opened the stat page, tone steady.
"Beautifly's final evolution early means it's got real numbers. Forty HP already. Most Pokémon don't have that yet. Even if that crit didn't land, two Gusts would've finished Torchic after one Ember."
Pause.
"And for coverage, it learns Psybeam, Psychic, Giga Drain, Air Slash. Covers multiple types."
He added, "Torchic evolves into a Fire and Fighting dual-type. Flying beats Fighting."
Simple. Clean. Logical.
The chat shifted tone—half disbelief, half respect.
[Wait, he's not a pro trainer?]
[No way this is his first run.]
[Battle Road champion energy confirmed.]
Then a highlighted comment popped up: [But you said the evolution was random. What if it turned into Dustox instead?]
Kairos didn't miss a beat. "Dustox would've been fine too. Higher special defense. Ember wouldn't do much. Learns Psychic early, can use Light Screen, Whirlwind later. Very solid."
Chat froze again.
[So either way he wins?]
[Are Bug-types secretly overpowered?]
[Streamer rewriting the meta live on stream.]
[Someone clip this. Post it everywhere.]
[Hey, streamer, permission to use your footage?]
He nodded. Sure.
Publicity's publicity. The more people watching, the better for Emerald's numbers and his.
After wiping his rival faster than any trainer in history, Kairos calmly followed the story path back to the lab.
The professor handed him five Poké Balls and a Pokédex.
He stopped for a second, staring at the screen.
Ultra Emerald was supposed to be harder. Full masochist mode. But the rewards? Pretty standard.
He tapped his chin. Maybe too standard.
In the original game, Pokédex was just a collector's journal. Fill it, get trivia. Some versions gave tiny rewards, like candy or a ball or two.
Emerald didn't even do that.
What if... in the next update... completion gave bonuses?
Or maybe, since captures were limited on this difficulty, even defeating a Pokémon could count as a valid entry.
That'd fix the grind problem.
He quietly made a note.
Behind him, the chat was still burning like a second sun.
۞۞۞۞
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