Viridian City.
Inside a small rental apartment.
Ling Feng stared at the large amount of newly added data on his screen, deep in thought.
Yesterday, while he was expanding the Gym-related storyline, a new idea crossed his mind.
—In the original Ultimate Emerald, players had a huge variety of starter Pokémon, even being able to choose starters from multiple generations.
And if they met certain Easter-egg conditions, they could even choose two starters.
Since his own game had a difficulty level far beyond the original, the starter selection system naturally needed to be more flexible as well.
Combined with the newly implemented voice-interaction system, Ling Feng simply made an Easter egg:
If the player told Professor Birch they wanted a starter of a different type, the Easter egg would activate, and Birch would give them a random non-pseudo-legendary, non-legendary Pokémon of that type.
And the Pokémon would always have a base stat total of at least 500.
To players, this was undeniably a great bonus — more freedom of choice for their opening type instead of being forced into Water / Fire / Grass.
But naturally, for balance, players who activated this Easter egg would also pay a price.
—Some rival battles would instead be replaced with Team Rocket Trio battles!
Yes, that Team Rocket Trio: Meowth, James, and Jessie.
And the difficulty Ling Feng designed for them was not the "comic relief" level.
When the player sets out for Petalburg City, they encounter the trio for the first time. Their Pokémon will match the player's level — a Koffing and an Ekans.
Both with perfect IVs, maxed EVs, and proper held items.
Their battle strength was undoubtedly far scarier than that of their rival.
As the story progresses, each time the player meets them, they become even stronger.
Ling Feng added them because he always felt the trio should have had real strength.
After all, if they stopped chasing Ash's Pikachu and did literally anything else, they would have succeeded long ago.
They could probably even steal Arceus's Plates if they really tried.
Plus, they were some of his favorite characters in the original anime, so adding them was basically his personal fan service.
As for whether the real world of this story actually had a Team Rocket trio…
Well, that's another matter.
Meanwhile, in Kishu's livestream, while chat was passionately discussing Team Rocket, Jessie and James stepped forward in-game, triggering the battle animation.
"You brat, hand over your Pokémon!"
[Team Rocket Trio challenges you!]
With booming battle drums, a flash of white light followed—
A Koffing appeared!
Its level matched Kishu's Mareep: both level 11.
"Same level and they have two Pokémon… This might get tricky."
"But since they're NPC Pokémon, it shouldn't be that bad, right?"
Kishu muttered while looking at the top-right status window, then commanded Mareep to use Thunder Shock.
Lightning descended—
Koffing's HP bar instantly dropped by half!
But before she could celebrate, Koffing spewed a dark purple blast of poison.
[Koffing used Venoshock!]
[Critical hit!]
Mareep's HP bar emptied instantly.
Kishu: "???"
Bro, WHAT IS THAT DAMAGE?!
Even with a crit, this is way too broken!
Since when was Koffing this terrifying?
While she was still stunned, Jessie and James reappeared on screen.
"Hmph, you and your partner are way too weak! The boss wouldn't want Pokémon like yours!"
"Bye-bye, brat!"
The screen went black.
[Kishu has no Pokémon left that can battle.]
[Everything fades to black…]
A few seconds later, as Kishu respawned at the Oldale Town Pokémon Center, the chat was already going wild.
[Excuse me?? THIS is a regular Team Rocket grunt battle??]
[Since when is Koffing this strong?!]
[Streamer so weak Team Rocket didn't even want to steal her Pokémon LMAO]
Kishu finally snapped back to reality.
Now she understood:
The "extreme difficulty" mentioned in the game's description wasn't a joke.
But difficulty was what made a game fun.
She immediately started forming a plan.
Koffing one-shot her Mareep because it landed a critical hit.
From the game tutorial earlier, critical hits were a mechanic that doubled damage with a probability. They wouldn't always happen.
Which meant:
Normally, Mareep could survive two Venoshocks.
Mareep, having priority speed, could deal two Thunder Shocks and knock Koffing out.
But even if she passed Koffing, Team Rocket still had a second Pokémon.
A half-HP Mareep would have no chance.
So…
She needed a way to defeat Koffing without taking damage.
Thinking quickly, she opened her bag, checked Mareep's moves, and instantly formed a new strategy.
She returned to the encounter spot.
No dramatic music this time — the battle began immediately.
This time, instead of Thunder Shock, she used—
Thunder Wave.
A spark of electricity hit Koffing, paralyzing it.
[Koffing is paralyzed! It can't move!]
Koffing twitched violently and skipped its turn.
Kishu's eyes lit up.
Yes!!
She explained to her viewers:
"Thunder Wave paralyzes the opponent, so I wanted to try restricting Koffing's actions."
"It worked! If Koffing can't attack, Mareep can stay healthy and deal with their second Pokémon!"
Chat spam rolled in:
[Kishu is too good—found the solution instantly!]
[Isn't Thunder Wave kind of OP though?? If it always works on the first turn, Mareep is unbeatable.]
[Turn-based games are always hard to balance lol]
Kishu confidently selected Thunder Shock.
Koffing's HP dropped to half again.
"Great, one more hit!"
But suddenly, Koffing twitched—
Electricity flickered across its body—
And it moved anyway.
A blast of poison erupted from its mouth and struck Mareep.
[Koffing used Venoshock — Critical Hit!]
[Mareep fainted!]
[Everything fades to black…]
Kishu froze.
Wasn't it paralyzed?? How did it still attack??
And WHY ANOTHER CRIT?!
This Koffing's crit rate is ILLEGAL!
After respawning, she opened the tutorial menu and quickly found the explanation:
"So paralysis cuts speed in half and gives a chance the Pokémon can't move…"
That made sense.
Otherwise, paralysis would be way too broken if it always stopped actions.
She couldn't help but admire the developer.
Not only abilities and moves, but even status conditions were perfectly implemented.
This battle would definitely require multiple attempts.
Armed with a new understanding, she retried the fight.
This time, she got lucky: Koffing stayed fully paralyzed two turns in a row and fainted.
Team Rocket then sent out Ekans.
As soon as it appeared, a red aura flashed around Mareep, and a system prompt popped up:
[Mareep's Attack fell due to Intimidate!]
Kishu let out a long breath.
"This is great! That means this Ekans has Intimidate, not Shed Skin."
"If it had Shed Skin, it would heal any paralysis instantly."
"And since Mareep is a Special Attacker, losing Attack doesn't matter."
"This should be easy!"
Confidently, she used Thunder Wave again.
But Ekans struck first.
[Ekans used Bite!]
[Mareep flinched and couldn't move!]
Kishu stared at Mareep's HP dropping into the red.
"…."
She clenched her fist.
"Again!"
Seven or eight failed attempts later, Lady Luck finally smiled on her.
Neither Koffing nor Ekans landed crits.
Both got paralyzed and never acted.
Even so, Mareep won with only a sliver of HP remaining.
That was how brutal the fight was.
After the victory, Team Rocket stumbled back.
"Darn brat! You'll pay for this—we'll be back!"
"Nyah! What an awful feeling!"
They ran off into the tall grass.
Kishu exhaled deeply.
At that moment, a strange feeling welled up in her chest.
Although this was technically a Pokémon battle…
The feeling was completely different from real Pokémon battles.
This loop of trial-and-error, retrying over and over until success…
In real life, you only have one chance.
Pokémon needed time to rest and recover before trying again.
But here, she could challenge repeatedly without waiting.
And the satisfaction of finally clearing a difficult fight was incredibly addictive.
Without realizing it, she had already been drawn into the game's charm.
After beating the trio, she continued toward the next city.
The next segment was simple:
She reached Petalburg City, visited the Gym run by her in-game father, helped a young boy named Wally catch a Ralts, then entered the forest north of the city.
A huge green forest filled with Bug-type Pokémon.
Soon, she encountered a Joltik.
Without hesitation, she caught it and added it to her team.
Then she cheerfully addressed her viewers:
"Ta-da~ Kishu's Electric-type class is now in session!"
"We all know Electric Pokémon are fast and strong, but they have weaknesses."
"The biggest is Ground types — Electric moves don't work on them at all."
"Grass, Rock, and Dragon types also pose trouble."
"Grass and Dragon resist Electric moves, and Rock types commonly learn Ground-type attacks, which threaten us greatly."
"The main quest of this game seems to be battling Gyms of various types and collecting badges."
"So, if we want to build a full Electric-type team, we need to cover all those weaknesses."
"This Joltik is part Bug type — so it'll help deal with Grass types!"
"In the coming chapters, I'll keep adding Pokémon to fully cover every Electric-type weakness!"
The chat erupted:
[As expected of an official Electric-type Gym Leader—knowledge on point!]
[Even in a game she's completely professional lol]
Kishu laughed.
I don't think a Dragon Gym will appear so early in the game.
So… that leaves Ground and Rock.
No way the first Gym is one of those types, right?
She stretched lazily.
All right~ Let's keep going!