Meanwhile, on the other side of the screen, Giovanni sat with furrowed brows, his eyes fixed on the frozen character displayed before him.
"Move forward," he said into the microphone, speaking to the screen in his characteristically authoritative tone.
However, the character on the screen didn't respond.
Giovanni's frown deepened.
He tried clicking various positions on the screen with his mouse, left-click, right-click. The character simply turned in place a few times and opened his backpack, but didn't move a single step.
"Hmph." He let out a small huff of dissatisfaction, his fingers tapping the keyboard somewhat irritably.
The character finally moved, bouncing up and down in place in an utterly ridiculous manner.
"..."
Giovanni suddenly didn't know what to say. A sense of absurdity washed over him.
He was actually being constrained by rules set by someone else.
He'd spent his entire life setting the rules, manipulating others, commanding Team Rocket. Now here he was, completely helpless against a simple game.
"Games are truly meaningless time-wasters," he thought to himself, yet his gaze never left the screen.
In order to get a clear look at this so-called "Rainbow Team Rocket" and that special "Mewtwo", he had no choice but to endure these tedious rules for now.
He took a deep breath, suppressed his frustration, and began carefully examining every corner of the screen. Finally, he noticed the simple control instructions that had appeared at the edge of the display, which he'd nearly overlooked.
"WASD keys," he muttered these unfamiliar terms to himself, then stiffly placed his hands on the arrow keys. His fingers were accustomed to giving orders, not following them.
He pressed the "W" key.
The character moved forward one tile, just as he expected.
He tried pressing it repeatedly, and the character began walking forward in choppy motions. Then, with a resounding thud, it crashed directly into the wall of the room and stopped.
Giovanni: "..."
He was silent for a moment, then decided to temporarily set aside his pride and pulled up a more detailed tutorial. The further he read, the more surprise appeared in his eyes.
Free dialogue? Multiple branching paths? NPCs that react differently based on player actions?
This was genuinely incredible. Games could actually do this?
Team Rocket's scientific capabilities were among the world's finest. When it came to bioengineering and weapon manufacturing, there was no match.
But in the fields of artificial intelligence and virtual interaction at this level, they seemed woefully inadequate compared to what he was seeing in this "game."
No, technology at this level shouldn't exist here at all.
He clearly didn't believe it. He closed the tutorial and decided to test it himself.
As Giovanni controlled his character out of his home, he encountered the first NPC roadside, a portly man. He immediately pressed the interaction button.
A dialogue box appeared, and the man greeted him in a friendly manner: "Hey! You're the new trainer who just moved here, right? Littleroot Town is such a peaceful, wonderful place!"
Giovanni barely hesitated. He directly pressed the voice button and spoke in a threatening tone: "What are you talking about? Hand over all your money."
The NPC's expression instantly changed to an angry emoji: "What?! Didn't your parents teach you how to speak nicely? You're so rude!"
Giovanni pressed the interaction button again and said: "Sorry, if that's the case, just give me a little bit."
He was deliberately testing this to see whether it was a true AI or just pre-programmed responses.
In the next moment, the NPC rolled his eyes.
"Ask your mom for money. I don't have time to deal with you," the NPC said, then turned and walked away.
But Giovanni was stunned.
This reaction... was way too realistic, wasn't it?
This was definitely not a pre-programmed response. It was more like talking to an actual person with real feelings!
So... did this game really have such advanced AI technology?
He pushed his surprise aside and continued operating the character, which still didn't respond smoothly to his inputs. He stumbled through the quest of visiting neighbors, then followed the instructions to proceed up the road toward where his rival awaited.
The moment he stepped into the grass, a cutscene triggered. He saw Professor Birch being chased by a Poochyena.
"Help me!" the professor shouted frantically. The screen shifted, entering the Pokémon selection screen.
Three Poké Balls appeared on the screen.
"Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip," Giovanni observed the three starter Pokémon with the same scrutiny he'd apply to examining weapons. "Offensive capability, speed, defensive ability... they all seem mediocre. As starter Pokémon, their value is limited."
Giovanni appeared somewhat disappointed, but he selected Torchic anyway and entered the battle.
Since he'd already skimmed through the instructions, his controls were much smoother this time. Two embers easily took down the wild Poochyena.
After successfully rescuing the professor, he was quickly brought back to the lab according to the storyline. Then came the section where he'd receive his starter Pokémon.
Looking at the numerous options before him, Giovanni dragged his mouse but didn't select any of the offered choices. Instead, he clicked on the "other type Pokémon" option mentioned in the professor's dialogue and selected Bug-type.
There was a reason for this. It was the attribute he most wanted to understand right now. His only Bug-type Pokémon was Beedrill.
However, when the new Poké Ball opened, inside was... Weedle?!
Giovanni's heartbeat skipped.
Weedle?
His fingers suddenly stopped. Was this just a coincidence?
One of his strongest Pokémon, the Beedrill that had fought countless battles at his side, had evolved from this weak little Weedle. This game... could it be...
He shook his head, dismissing the overly far-fetched thought.
It was just a game design, nothing more. Surely it was just a coincidence.
He selected the Weedle.
The story continued, and Giovanni officially obtained his Weedle and Pokédex. According to the plot, he set off to head north in search of his rival.
But just as he was about to leave town, the in-game "mother" stopped him and gave him some caring advice, then handed him some pocket money.
"Childish," Giovanni scoffed, dismissing this sentimental little play-pretend scenario with contempt.
But his character still quietly accepted the money. After all, resources were always useful, no matter how small the amount.
He controlled his character and walked out of the lab again, stepping onto Route 1.
The moment he entered the grass, a wild Poochyena jumped out, and with dramatic battle music playing, the battle screen opened once more.
"Poison Sting," Giovanni commanded.
[Weedle used "Poison Sting!"]
A shower of purple spores spread out, successfully dealing some damage to the Poochyena.
[Wild Poochyena used "Tackle!"]
The Weedle's health bar dropped slightly.
The battle pacing was clearly slow at the start of the game.
"Boring," Giovanni muttered softly. This low-intensity battle was basically child's play for someone of his caliber, a Champion-level trainer and leader of Team Rocket. He even felt like it was a waste of his time.
Well, as an entertainment product, the difficulty wouldn't be too high anyway.
Besides, his purpose wasn't to play and enjoy himself, but to gather information.
He patiently ground through the wild Pokémon on the road, slowly making his way northward.
Finally, at the end of the path, he saw another trainer, his "rival," a girl whom he'd nicknamed "Beans."
The dialogue triggered automatically, and after a few brief exchanges, the inevitable battle began.
[Rival sent out "Torchic" Lv5!]
A cute, fiery red silhouette appeared on the opposite side instantly.
"Weedle, Poison Powder," Giovanni commanded using his voice, though he'd already discovered that he could control the game with keyboard and mouse. But as a trainer, he was already accustomed to giving orders this way.
However, the Torchic seemed to be faster! It opened its mouth and unleashed a dazzling jet of flame!
[Torchic used "Ember!"]
[It's super effective!]
The scorching fire instantly engulfed the weak Weedle, and its health bar vanished in an instant.
It let out a mournful cry and collapsed, unable to continue the battle.
The screen went black, then lit up again.
[You have no more Pokémon that can battle!]
[Everything goes black before your eyes!]
With his defeat, Giovanni was automatically transported back to the Pokémon Center entrance in Littleroot Town.
At the same time, a system notification appeared:
[Due to battle defeat, you have lost ₽250.]
The amount was exactly half of what "mom" had given him.
Giovanni's hands froze on the keyboard, his body leaning slightly forward, staring at the screen displaying "Defeat" and "Money Loss," his face showing an expression that was almost catatonic.
He, the leader of Team Rocket, the dark overlord of Kanto, had been defeated by some unknown kid's Torchic on a beginner's route? And had been robbed to boot?
(/n: HAhaha)
Giovanni: "...???"
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world.
Kairos was working on the game's future content when suddenly a notification box popped up with a clear chiming sound.
[Ding! Detected player "Earthbound Giovanni" entering the game, generating "Ambition" emotion points +200!]
[Generated "Curiosity" emotion points +150!]
[Generated "Surprise" emotion points +180!]
[Generated "Confusion" emotion points +100!]
[Generated "Humiliation" emotion points +70!]
[Total emotion points acquired: 700!]
Kairos paused.
Giovanni?
This guy was playing a game, but his emotions were incredibly varied.
Ambition and humiliation both... what was his deal?
But he quickly shook his head. Whatever, it doesn't matter. As long as I'm making something, that's the important part. 700 emotion points was no joke.
But the next second, he suddenly realized something.
Wait! Giovanni?!
That Giovanni from Team Rocket?!
How did he get into Pokémon Emerald so quickly?
Kairos felt a sudden chill run down his spine. He'd specifically set up plot threads about Mewtwo and Rainbow Team Rocket in the game as a heads-up to the League.
If Giovanni saw this himself first, wouldn't that be tipping him off? Would give him time to prepare defenses against Mewtwo?
If that happened, things could get problematic.
He immediately pulled up the system management panel, his fingers hovering over the "Delete/Modify Specific Player Game Content" option, his brow deeply furrowed.
Should he... just delete all the Mewtwo-related content on his end? Or block it specifically for Giovanni?
He thought about it carefully, but ultimately shook his head and abandoned the idea.
Forget it. Sure, this guy is the number one villain, and his ambitions are huge, his methods ruthless. But at the end of the day, right now, he's just another player.
On the League side, people like Lance and Cynthia have been playing for a while now. Their levels and progression are probably way ahead of his. The information advantage is still on their side.
By the time Giovanni plays through enough to discover all this, who knows how much time will have passed?
From that angle, I've already done my part.
He closed the management interface and sighed.
At the same time, elsewhere.
"ROAAAARRR!"
Gyarados took a Ice punch from Beartic head-on. The frigid blow crashed against its hard scales with a dull thud, and its health bar noticeably dropped. It let out a pained roar.
"Gyarados!" Lance's heart jumped into his throat.
But Gyarados's fierce nature was completely ignited by that punch. Its crimson eyes were instantly consumed with savage fury. Its massive body was engulfed in a terrifying blood-red aura as it activated the move "Outrage!"
Driven into a state of madness, Gyarados lashed out with its primordial, brutal strength, whipping its enormous tail with a blood-red glow and slamming it viciously down onto Beartic!
BOOM!
Under the level difference and the terrifying power of Outrage, the massive Beartic didn't even manage a cry before it lost its ability to battle and crashed heavily onto the ice.
[Congratulations! You've won the battle!]
The battle screen closed.
The screen went black, and a game cutscene began playing. With Lance's arrival, the tide of battle instantly turned.
His Gyarados and his other Pokémon took the field, and with Liza and Tate's Solrock and Lunatone assisting from the sidelines, the remaining crazed ice-type Pokémon were quickly eliminated, all collapsing onto the ground, unable to continue fighting.
The entrance of the cave temporarily returned to silence, with only the sound of the character's heavy breathing and the howling wind in the background.
"We're safe," Liza, one of the twin gym leaders, let out a long breath.
"We really can't thank you enough, friend," Tate added quietly. Their Solrock and Lunatone had withdrawn their psychic glow and floated beside them, both bearing wounds and looking exhausted.
"Don't mention it. I happened to be exploring this area," Lance replied, pressing the interaction button to have his character speak. Then he immediately got to business.
"What exactly happened here? What's going on with these guys?"
Liza took a moment to steady her breathing, then explained in a grave tone: "We were tracking a missing Meowth when we ventured deeper into this cave.
At first, everything seemed normal, but we quickly discovered that the temperature here was abnormally lower than before.
Not only that, the Pokémon here seemed to have gone crazy, their eyes glowing red, attacking us relentlessly without regard for anything else."
Tate picked up the thread, a hint of lingering fear in his voice: "We were forced to keep retreating until we got trapped here. And we felt that there was more than one powerful force in this cave."
"More than one?" Lance immediately latched onto the crucial detail.