The Great Barrier Reef is located off the coast of Queensland, Australia.
The Great Barrier Reef is a fantastic resource. It usually appears in pairs and can collectively produce 4 Food, 2 Production, 2 Gold, and 4 Science. If you're playing as Spain and stumble upon the Great Barrier Reef, you'd be overjoyed.
Back when Kobayashi Tetsu played Civilization, he always loved hunting for the Great Barrier Reef. If some city-state was unlucky enough to possess such a divine resource, he'd take advantage of the fog of war—before other civilizations could discover them—and stealthily wipe them out.
How dare a mere city-state possess such a divine treasure as the Great Barrier Reef!
But now, actually standing on a boat and observing the Great Barrier Reef, Kobayashi Tetsu only wanted to ask one thing.
How much would it cost to buy the Great Barrier Reef?
A few billion US dollars? Never mind, he was just asking.
The yacht sailed smoothly along the Great Barrier Reef. The tourists all around were chatting among themselves, completely indifferent to Kobayashi Tetsu.
Although he was already a celebrity in Japan, in Australia, he was just a person's name.
But Kobayashi Tetsu was happy about this.
He leaned against the ship's railing, taking in the scenery outside, not even afraid that Tajiri Satoshi might suddenly go crazy and push him overboard.
Satoshi Tajiri, still sporting his shudder-inducing outfit, stood beside Tetsu Kobayashi.
"The Great Barrier Reef is beautiful," Tajiri remarked simply.
Tetsu nodded in agreement and casually brought up the topic of the game. "I thought you'd have an idea sooner. I didn't expect it to take you this long."
Hearing this, Tajiri himself felt a bit surprised. "I thought President Kobayashi would have urged me to speed up." He gestured with a flick of his wrist.
"I spent two years visiting museums all over Japan, gathering tons of material. I've drawn them all as cute creatures. I believe this will be a very interesting game. In the game, we can trade our pets with other players and even have them battle—"
Tajiri spoke passionately, completely oblivious to how difficult his fragmented sentences were to follow.
Fortunately, Tetsu could keep up with his train of thought.
He was in no rush to pressure Tajiri. After all, Pokémon was best suited for handheld consoles or mobile phones; without a handheld device, it wouldn't be much fun on a home console.
On the other hand, Satoshi Tajiri worked at a snail's pace. From the initial material collection phase, the entire process would have taken an immeasurable amount of time.
Fortunately, Satoshi Tajiri was finally finished!
Kobayashi Tetsu said, "I hope you can further refine the game's design. Then, we'll officially start production after some time. It's not just you who's waiting; I'm waiting too. To realize your vision, we need a portable medium that allows for data exchange. In other words, we need a good handheld console."
Satoshi Tajiri nodded, offering no objection to this statement.
Kobayashi Tetsu had let him work for two years, so he didn't mind waiting any longer.
Kobayashi Tetsu raised his hands as if cradling a large basin.
"Once I've prepared everything on my end, I'll hold a special conference and invite creative people to develop games. At that time, I will announce this project as the first one at the conference and invest funds into it."
Kobayashi Tetsu saw Satoshi Tajiri about to speak and added, "Don't be so quick to refuse. You need to understand that developing a game costs money. This isn't like running your GAMEFREAK magazine, where you just gather information on your own or run it out of passion and love. You have to pay your employees. Atlus will help you solve this problem."
Satoshi Tajiri thought for a moment and spoke with difficulty: "I can sell Sonic."
Golden Sonic was worth tens of millions of yen. Selling it would be enough to fund the development of a game.
"Then you'd better keep it."
Kobayashi Tetsu patted his shoulder and gave him an encouraging look.
"That is an honor, and it's one of a kind. Even if you sell it and then buy it back, it won't be the same. Do you understand what I mean? You can use your strategy magazine to establish a studio; calling it GAMEFREAK is fine. It will be an independent studio. Atlus may provide some guidance, but they will not interfere with your management or development work."
Satoshi Tajiri didn't argue any further, just bowed his head.
As for the matter of the studio...
After thinking it over, he said honestly, "But it would still be better if someone could keep an eye on things."
Satoshi Tajiri had never been one for power. If it came to it, he didn't even care who owned Game Freak.
After all, he had started the company's precursor, a strategy guide magazine, out of pure passion. He had always been driven by his love for the craft, so continuing to do so—even without ownership—was perfectly fine with him.
Kobayashi Tetsu suddenly spoke up. "Have you thought of a name yet? If not, how about Pokémon? It's a portmanteau of 'Pocket' and 'Monsters.' You can think of it as 'Pocket Monsters' or 'Pocket Yokai.'"
Tajiri's eyes instantly lit up.
Though his high school grades had been poor, he immediately grasped the brilliance of the name.
Since the game was designed for a handheld console, "Pocket" was a perfect fit.
And in his original concept art, there were not only insect-like monsters but also many based on beasts, and even some that looked almost human.
Of course, he wasn't thinking of Gardevoir—he meant Machamp.
In that case, using "Yokai" as part of the name was incredibly apt.
"So, we'll call this project Pokémon?" Tajiri nodded solemnly.
This was the perfect name. He was sold!
Kobayashi Tetsu acknowledged the comment and let the topic drop.
He looked out into the distance, where the Great Barrier Reef seemed to stretch endlessly into the pale blue sea.
The kind of people who would risk everything for their ideals in the most innocent of times, Tetsu thought silently.
In the evening, Tetsu called Atlas to get an update on the past few days' work. At least from the report, there was nothing he absolutely had to do.
The sound of rushing water filled the bathroom. A moment later, Tetsu saw Takamine Aika emerge, damp and enveloped in a mist of steam. Her wet hair hung loosely over her shoulders. She lowered her gaze, looking at Tetsu with moist, puppy-like eyes.
In an instant, Tetsu was completely captivated by her pure yet alluring gaze.
"Let me," he said, taking the hairdryer to dry Aika's hair.
As his fingertips ran through her strands, a faint, ticklish sensation tingled against her scalp. A sudden sense of relief washed over Aika.
Thank goodness.
Tetsu-kun is still the same!
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