In the stream, viewers were still buzzing about the time freeze and Celebi's appearance, with all manner of speculation and analysis flooding the chat.
[Tell us, What exactly did Celebi mean just now? I couldn't quite follow it.]
[The Cursed Tower? Sounds like a late-game dungeon.]
[The plot depth just shot up out of nowhere. I'm in love.]
[Grovyle: bearing a grudge I never deserved at my age.]
"Don't you need to keep grinding before heading to the next destination? I want to see Dragonite go on a rampage!"
Yancy returned to her room and opened the team panel.
She looked at the three names on the panel, each one transformed beyond recognition: Volcarona, Dragonite, Blastoise.
Her gaze gradually hardened with resolve. Despite the massive surge in strength, and even the gift from Celebi, the memory of that tower spewing black mist lingered in her mind, and she knew her current level was nowhere near enough.
After all, this was the final dungeon, and it concealed a crisis that could swallow the entire world.
But now that she knew the truth, she couldn't afford to stand by and do nothing.
She addressed her team.
"Ready?"
Behind her, Dragonite let out a deafening roar. Blastoise raised the cannons on its back high into the air.
"There's only one goal from here: grind like crazy. We'll tear through every dungeon there is, until we're strong enough to flatten that Cursed Tower."
The scene froze on the trio's faces, burning with determination. A new adventure had officially begun.
"I'm fired up!"
"Grind! Grind! Grind!"
"For the world! For the Horde! Wait, no, for the Rescue Team!"
"Go, streamer! We've always got your back!"
"See you next chapter! Don't you dare miss it!"
Meanwhile, at the villa on the outskirts of Viridian City, it was another lively day.
The midday sun spilled through the floor-to-ceiling windows onto the living room floor. It should have been a quiet, pleasant afternoon, but the kitchen doorway was decidedly crowded.
A large orange dragon-shaped Pokémon had scrunched itself down, craning its not-exactly-small head into the kitchen, its stubby little wings gripping the doorframe as it let out a series of eager, whimpering cries.
It was Dragonite, naturally.
Come mealtime, it would appear at the kitchen doorway without fail, faithfully taking up its post as a pre-dinner shadow. As far as it was concerned, those expensive Energy Cubes might provide all the fuel needed for battle, but in terms of taste, they were absolutely flavorless compared to anything Kairos made.
"Dragonite, you're blocking the way."
Kairos looked back at the big lug, a freshly washed tomato in hand, and shook his head with a helpless expression.
Dragonite immediately tucked in its neck, but showed no sign of actually moving. It simply fixed those big round eyes on the tomato in Kairos's hand with the most pitiful look imaginable, as if asking whether that particular item was edible.
Behind Dragonite, an Omanyte floated in midair, mimicking its elder and also attempting to poke its head into the kitchen. It didn't entirely understand why Dragonite was so obsessed with human food, but if the big brother was doing it, there had to be a good reason, and following along seemed like the safe bet.
As for Marshadow, this was its first time here.
Its semi-transparent form drifted around the living room, taking in every corner of the house with curious eyes. It studied the soft sofa, then the Pokémon landscape paintings hanging on the walls, and finally allowed its gaze to settle on Kairos, who was busying himself in the kitchen.
"I didn't expect your place to feel so warm and lived-in. I figured you'd be the type to live somewhere with no personality at all."
Marshadow floated over to the kitchen doorway and watched Kairos chop vegetables with practiced ease, unable to help itself from commenting. In its experience, a special human with Kairos's level of ability tended to be the solitary sort, the kind who lived somewhere dark and cold.
Kairos nearly dropped the knife in his hand.
He rolled his eyes dramatically and shot Marshadow a flat look.
"People need to eat and sleep regardless. Of course I'd want somewhere comfortable."
He kept talking while tossing the chopped tomato into the nearby dish.
"If you've got nothing to do, go watch TV in the living room. Stop getting in the way in here."
Marshadow rolled its own eyes.
"Television. What's that?"
Just then, a purple ghost phased through the wall, a laptop tucked under its arm.
It was Gengar.
With the growing number of games in the lineup, Gengar had been run off its feet lately, helping Kairos manage basic data and code for the games day after day. Watching Gengar flip open the laptop and rattle away at the keyboard with practiced speed, Kairos was suddenly reminded of something.
"Gengar, would you be interested in learning that shadow ability from Will's Gengar?"
He asked the question offhandedly while chopping ribs.
Gengar's fingers paused over the keyboard. It pointed at itself, an expression of total disbelief on its face.
Wasn't it supposed to be the administrative staff?
Kairos seemed to read its thoughts. He smiled and said, "I just thought that ability looked pretty useful, and it should benefit your own body too. But no pressure if you'd rather not. I'm only asking."
Gengar blinked, and then its eyes lit up.
Absolutely, yes.
It had nearly forgotten the whole reason it had left the Ghost World in the first place: to get stronger. How could it possibly pass up a chance like this? It immediately set the laptop aside and gave Kairos a firm nod.
It was in.
Kairos couldn't help laughing at the sight.
"All right, then. I'll take you to the Ghost World soon. You'll stay there for a while, and once you've learned it, I'll come pick you up."
After everything that had happened there last time, the Ghost World was now quite safe.
Gengar had absolutely no objections.
Before long, a rich, savory aroma was drifting out of the kitchen.
Braised pork ribs, sweet-and-sour tenderloin, stir-fried seasonal vegetables, and a big bowl of steaming rice.
The moment the dishes hit the table, every Pokémon surged forward.
Dragonite, who had been holding itself back for some time, might have been large, but it was far from slow. It snatched a rib in each wing and shoved them straight into its mouth. Omanyte drifted over at its own leisurely pace, curled a tentacle around a piece of tenderloin, and began eating with evident satisfaction.
Marshadow watched the others eat with such obvious relish, and felt a twinge of skepticism.
It was just regular food. Was it really that good?
It floated over to the table and sniffed at the aroma. Its nose twitched involuntarily. That smell was, admittedly, rather extraordinary.
It hesitated a moment, then extended a finger and delicately dabbed at a bit of the sauce, bringing it to its mouth.
In the next instant, Marshadow's eyes went wide.
This flavor...
It had traveled through the Sinnoh region and sampled no small number of human dishes along the way, but compared to what was in front of it right now, all of that was garbage. Without any further ceremony, it conjured a pair of black chopsticks out of pure energy and joined the feeding frenzy.
Kairos looked at this tableful of ravenous creatures and shook his head with quiet resignation.
Was his cooking really that good?
It seemed he might need to consider opening a restaurant one day. It might even be more profitable than making games.
After a meal that swept the table clean like a storm — not a drop of sauce remaining — every dish was spotless.
The Pokémon sprawled contentedly across the sofa, rubbing their rounded bellies and letting out satisfied little groans.
Kairos tidied the dishes, washed his hands, and came to sit on the living room sofa.
He glanced at the calendar on the wall.
Time really had flown. It was already time to distribute the fourth round of game progress leaderboard rewards.
He took a slow breath and opened the system panel in front of him.
A golden display unfurled in the air, streams of data flickering rapidly across its surface.
Looking at the emotional energy points ticking steadily upward in his account, Kairos felt a deep sense of satisfaction.
Over this period, as several of his games had exploded in popularity, the emotional energy points in his account had seen substantial and continuous growth. Since rewards were due, he figured he might as well try his luck at the draw first.
With a thought, he spent twenty thousand emotional energy points and activated the lottery function.
The wheel spun at dizzying speed in front of him, a whirl of vivid colors dazzling to the eye.
A few seconds later, the wheel gradually slowed to a stop, the needle landing on a golden square.
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained an Advanced Item: Deep Black Flame Coal.]
The draws continued one after another, the system notification chimes sounding in rapid succession, and a pile of items materialized in Kairos's panel inventory. Ten minutes later, he opened the inventory and began selecting items suitable for distributing as player rewards.
With Cynthia holding the top spot in the overall rankings, the reward could hardly be stingy.
Kairos selected a candy radiating a faint luminous glow. Unlike the ordinary Rare Candies from before, this was a high-grade candy fresh from the draw that could instantly elevate any Pokémon's strength by a full tier, including Pokémon that had already crossed into the legendary threshold.
Beyond that, he picked out a disc engraved with dragon-shaped patterns.
It was a "Draco Meteor" TM.
If Garchomp learned it, its offensive output after Mega Evolution would probably climb by a considerable margin.
"For Lance..."
Kairos thought it over, then fished a gold-and-crimson scale out of the inventory.
It was a draconic secret treasure: the Sky Dragon Scale.
It held powerful Dragon-type energy within it, and could be used to deepen a Dragon-type Pokémon's affinity, directly boost a Dragon-type Pokémon's strength, or serve as a held item. For Lance, it was a top-tier piece of equipment by any measure.
For the other players, Kairos worked through the rankings one by one, distributing corresponding rewards based on their standing and contributions.
Though none of these items struck him as particularly remarkable, in the hands of players at their current stage, they were genuinely extraordinary finds.
Once the rewards were distributed, Kairos leaned back into the sofa and turned his thoughts to what lay ahead.
It was possible that the worlds reached through the Transit Scroll would have no Pokémon at all. In that case, what would the game leaderboard rewards even look like in worlds without Pokémon?
This was a very real problem.
If Pokémon-related items were sent over, those players obviously wouldn't have any use for them, and might even think it was some kind of prank.
If money was sent instead...
Kairos rubbed his chin.
That actually seemed like a decent option. The income he earned in those worlds would have nowhere to go anyway, so he might as well convert it into currency and distribute it as rewards. Direct, simple, and far more motivating.
But there was, in fact, a third option.
Something like, perhaps, bringing back specialties or abilities from those worlds into the Pokémon world.
That capability, though, was still beyond him for now.
Kairos gave a small shake of his head and set the thought aside for the time being.
It was too early to be thinking along those lines. Better to handle what was in front of him first.
He opened the mission panel and began taking stock of the current situation.
The main storyline missions had all been completed for the time being, which was a relief.
On the Legendary Pokémon Dex, there was just one entry left before it would be fully lit up. That one might be resolved once Professor Oak finished repairing Miraidon, or perhaps he'd encounter a Legendary Pokémon in the next world.
As for the Legendary Faith function...
Kairos's gaze sharpened, and he went straight to Ho-Oh's entry.
The faith recovery level didn't appear to have triggered its reward yet. He would have to wait a little longer. In the next game, he'd find a way to build more faith for Ho-Oh and try to claim that reward.
Even after spending twenty thousand on items for the draw and the reward distribution, he still had over ninety thousand emotional energy points left in his account.
With that much sitting there unspent, Kairos felt a persistent itch.
"Time for another round of spending."
He went straight to the Advanced Module section of the system shop.
He purchased four advanced modules at once, spending just over forty thousand points.
The first module was a pure enhancement module.
[Pan-Entertainment Resonance Amplifier]
[Effect: Emotional energy points gained from non-game entertainment works such as anime and manga are increased fivefold.]
This module was extremely useful to Kairos. After all, beyond games, he might branch out into other fields down the road. With this boost, the rate at which he accumulated points would accelerate considerably.
The second module dealt with visual fidelity.
[Hyper-Realism Visual Rendering Engine]
[Effect: Comprehensively elevates the visual quality of games, animations, and similar content to the level of real-world human vision, and can even surpass real-world visual experience.]
This module was practically made for the VR games he had in mind. With it in place, the level of immersion in his games would reach a terrifying degree.
The third module was designed to maintain the integrity of the gaming environment.
[Order's Verdict: Custom Violation Penalty System]
[Effect: Automatically detects players engaging in prohibited behavior within games and applies customized punishments to them. Punishments include, but are not limited to, restricted movement, forced attribute reduction, and even being hunted by in-game monsters.]
For cheaters and players who deliberately ruined the experience for others, this module was the perfect enforcer.
The fourth module was the one Kairos had been most eager to obtain.
[Dimensional Collapse: Cross-World Multiplayer Server]
[Effect: For the same game, players from different worlds can enter a shared server and communicate with one another. Applicable to multiplayer games only.]
۞۞۞۞
~ Push the story forward with your Power Stones