In any live stream chat, viewer comments can't always stay friendly forever.
Even though Kairos had just delivered an outstanding performance with Beautifly, directly defeating his rival, plenty of comments tried to bring him down.
[That's how he deals with his rival? Just got lucky. Let's see how the streamer handles the Rock Gym coming up.]
[Yeah, just that Archen alone will probably stop the streamer cold. Rock-type and Flying-type are both hard counters to Bug-types.]
[Exactly! And your Beautifly is Bug/Flying, so it takes quadruple damage from Rock-types.]
[Can't wait to watch the streamer's team get pounded senseless by the Geodude at the gym entrance LOL]
[Didn't the streamer say Beautifly could learn Grass-type moves? Wonder if it can learn them before level 15. If not, what's the plan?]
[Even if it does learn them, it still can't get past that ridiculously tanky Lileep...]
The performance of Pokémon Ultra Emerald's first gym was deeply etched in every viewer's memory, and everyone agreed: the difficulty was hellish.
Many viewers who had bought the game on launch day still hadn't cleared the Rock Gym and were scouring forums for strategies.
No helping it—Roxanne's Pokémon were just too powerful.
Now here was a streamer claiming he'd clear Roxanne's Rock Gym with an all-Bug team. Naturally, the skeptics didn't believe it.
But they only made up a small portion of the chat.
Kairos's recent performance had genuinely excited quite a few viewers. Supportive comments flooded the chat, and gifts kept appearing in the bottom right corner.
Someone new even showed up out of nowhere and immediately donated ₽20,000 worth of gifts. The stream's popularity began skyrocketing.
In front of his screen, Kairos finished battling a roadside NPC and glanced at the viewer count. From 50,000 when the wealthy viewer first sent gifts, it had climbed to 70,000—and was still rising rapidly.
Still far from the system's 500,000 requirement.
But Kairos wasn't worried. Everything he was about to show would make the stream's popularity surge.
Ultra Emerald was old news to someone like him.
He steered his character toward Petalburg City, skillfully picked some wild berries from the roadside, then found two reward Poké Balls, obtaining a Great Ball and a Star Piece.
Next came helping May catch her starter Ralts, saying goodbye to Norman, and continuing the journey.
After finishing the Petalburg City story events, Kairos didn't immediately move on. He paced back and forth in the grass to the left of the city.
Soon, he encountered a wild level 6 Pokémon—Taillow.
As a starter Pokémon, Taillow would be excellent. Its final evolution, Swellow, with the Guts ability, could be incredibly powerful.
Unfortunately, with the all-Bug team challenge, Kairos had Beautifly take it down with two Gusts.
As he searched the grass again, the chat responded immediately:
[Is the streamer going to start grinding levels again? Really planning ahead.]
[But if you're grinding levels, wouldn't the forest be better? That's where all the Bug-types are, and they'd be weak to Beautifly's Flying moves.]
[True, I don't really get it either...]
[You guys don't understand. This place might be more troublesome for leveling, but it's close to the Pokémon Center. Don't forget what the streamer loves doing most.]
[Got it, got it—running marathons between the grass and the Pokémon Center.]
The chat filled with laughter while Kairos spoke softly.
"Since I'm using an all-Bug team for this playthrough, with the restriction of only catching 15 Pokémon, every early-game Bug-type is extremely important."
"The Pokémon in each area's grass are different, so I want to see if anything useful appears here."
True, but not the whole truth. As a veteran player and designer of the game, Kairos knew exactly what he was looking for.
But as a first-time streamer, he had to act the part for viewers.
Kairos's explanation sparked discussion in the chat:
[That makes sense. We usually rush through without checking the grass for Pokémon.]
[I heard if you encounter enough wild Pokémon in grass patches, you might find rare ones.]
[Really? Every patch has rare Pokémon? Guess we'll need half an hour in each patch from now on.]
[You can check the forums—I think someone shared that info.]
Kairos smiled slightly. His effort to promote the forums seemed to be working.
Speaking of rare Pokémon, that was a feature from the original games. Route 101 had a rare Bug-type with only a 1% spawn rate: the initial form of Beedrill, Weedle.
Catching it immediately would make the challenge trivial. Beedrill was unstoppable early, and terrifying even in the late game with its Mega Stone.
But finding Weedle now would spoil the fun.
Kairos was looking for a common Pokémon: Pidgey, Zigzagoon...
After several consecutive spawns, using Beautifly to easily defeat wild Pokémon for experience, a new Pokémon appeared.
Finally.
If he hadn't found it soon, he would have doubted its spawn location.
It looked similar to Wurmple, but with two white lens-like eyes and a blue-and-white spherical body that looked a bit dopey.
[Wild Blipbug, Lv.6, appeared!]
The chat erupted.
As a Galar Pokémon, viewers had never seen Blipbug.
[Huh, who's this? Bug-type maybe, but never seen it.]
[Probably another original Pokémon.]
[I found one yesterday! Thought it was rare, used three Poké Balls, and found its stats were less than half my starter's. Not powerful at all, seems common.]
[So regretful. Game won't let you release Pokémon, so it permanently takes a slot. Ugh.]
[Thought the streamer's luck was kicking in again.]
Some comments turned teasing:
[Streamer! Didn't you say no weak Pokémon, only weak trainers? Catch it and show us.]
[Yeah, it's Bug-type too, just catch it.]
Kairos just smiled. He had Beautifly use Tackle, dropping Blipbug to critical HP, then threw a Poké Ball. Three shakes later, sparkling light and cheerful music played.
[Congratulations! Successfully caught Blipbug!]
[New Pokémon data recorded in the Pokédex!]
The chat erupted in question marks.
[???]
[Wait, streamer, you actually did it? Someone said Catch it and you did?]
[Haha, your head is really hard as a rock.]
[Support! Those guys' attitudes are ugly—they can't respect Pokémon.]
[True, but catching Blipbug as your third Pokémon drags the team down, right? Does it evolve as powerfully as Beautifly?]
Some discussed its evolution timing:
[Impossible! It doesn't reach final evolution until level 30. I threw mine into storage.]
[Geez, Bug-type, but evolves that late? Even Garchomp is 36. Late bloomer, haha.]
Negative chat faded. Kairos said nothing. Blipbug's usefulness was unknown.
He led Beautifly and Blipbug into Petalburg Woods.
He walked straight to a large tree, pressed the interaction button, and got:
[Antidote x1 added to your bag!]
The chat exploded.
[Luck too good!]
[Didn't know trees had hidden items.]
[Streamer snuck practice, figured this out.]
Kairos snapped back to reality. In every generation, entering the first forest included a tree that gave an Antidote. It was instinct.
The chat noticed nothing. He entered the left grass.
Most Pokémon in Petalburg Woods were Grass and Bug types. Flying-type moves instantly KO'd them, making leveling highly efficient. He only needed one trip back when Gust PP ran out.
Under this efficient leveling, Beautifly and Wimpod reached level 14, one below the cap.
Blipbug leveled to 10. Rainbow-like evolutionary light burst from its body, it had reached the requirement for its first evolution.
۞۞۞۞
~ Push the story forward with your Power Stones