When Kishu, full of confidence, once again guided her character forward on the journey, the chat in her livestream was exploding with flying messages and heated discussions.
[Judging from this, the streamer should have no trouble clearing the first Gym!]
[As expected of our streamer—her game progress is even faster than Cynthia's. Kishu is really making us proud, sob sob!]
[Excuse me? Our Nana only left because of a mission! If she were playing now, no way her progress would be slower than Kishu's!]
[Exactly. Just wait a few days for Nana to return. Go check her stream then—she's the Champion. In a game built on real battle mechanics, how could she possibly lose to a Gym Leader?]
Deep inside Petalburg Woods, the story progressed—
A Devon Corporation employee was cornered by a Team Aqua grunt, who stole the package he was carrying.
Naturally, Kishu's character stepped in to help and fought the grunt, successfully retrieving the stolen goods. As thanks, she received a Great Ball.
After helping the Devon employee, Kishu did not rush to leave the forest. Instead, she stayed inside to train her Joltik and Mareep, grinding their levels.
Only when both Pokémon reached the current level cap—Level 15—did she exit the forest and arrive at the city of the first Gym: Rustboro City.
It was a modern city filled with tall buildings and bustling traffic, dazzling and overwhelming to look at.
The in-game visuals beautifully captured that atmosphere, drawing another round of impressed reactions from the chat.
After a quick visit to the Pokémon Center to heal her team, Kishu followed the map's direction and found the entrance to the Rustboro Gym.
Her face showed clear anticipation.
As a Gym Leader in the real world, she was always the one being challenged.
Challenging another Gym—
Even if it was only in a game—
It was a completely new experience, and it felt surprisingly refreshing.
"I'm ready! Bring on a fierce Gym battle!"
She took a deep breath, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
Given how strong even Team Rocket NPCs had been in this game, she fully expected this Gym Leader to be no ordinary opponent.
The upcoming battle would likely be difficult.
But that challenge thrilled her even more.
With such thoughts, Kishu moved her character into the Gym.
But the moment she stepped in, the first thing she saw was a sign:
[Rustboro Gym]
Below the text was a huge brown rock-shaped symbol.
So this… was a Rock-type Gym??
Was she really this unlucky?
She instantly regretted tempting fate just minutes ago.
Kishu stared wide-eyed.
The chat erupted.
[HAHAHAHA IT REALLY IS A ROCK GYM!]
[I love that one line from the streamer—"There are so many Gym types, there's no way the first one is Rock or Ground, right?"]
[LMAO I'm starting to think this game was designed to do this. Knowing its style, maybe if she picked a different starter type, the Gym type would also change accordingly.]
Reading the chat, Kishu took a deep breath and encouraged herself:
"Rock type or not, there's nothing to be afraid of! At least it's not Ground type!"
"It's still an early game—Rock-types rarely know Ground-type moves this early."
"Besides, I have two excellent Electric Pokémon at the level cap. They definitely won't lose!"
With that, she headed deeper into the Gym.
Ahead was a straight walkway laid across uneven rocky terrain, leading directly to a platform.
NPCs stood on both sides of the path, seemingly waiting.
The moment Kishu walked forward, an exclamation mark popped above an NPC's head.
[You want to challenge the Rustboro Gym? Let me see if you're qualified!]
The battle triggered instantly.
Three minutes later, Kishu had already cleared all the Gym Trainers and reached the platform.
However, something made her frown.
Even though this was supposedly a Rock-type Gym, the Trainers were using Ground-type Pokémon—a Sandshrew and a Diglett…
Fortunately, their levels were lower than her team's by several levels, so she still managed to defeat them without too much danger.
But this raised a new, very troubling question—
If even the Gym Trainers were like this,
would the Gym Leader also be using a team filled with Ground-types…?
Kishu felt a headache forming.
After all, she'd heard tales of a certain Dragon-type Elite Four member in Kanto whose team consisted mostly of Flying-types…
But the moment she started the battle with the Gym Leader—
Dujia (Roxanne), a girl with twin-tailed hair dressed in a sharp black suit—
Dujia's opening line instantly made Kishu exhale in relief.
[Rock-type Pokémon are strong and enduring—allow me to show you their unbreakable spirit!]
With her saying that, it would be way too rude to suddenly send out a Ground-type Pokémon.
The next moment, Dujia tossed her Pokéball.
White light flashed.
A bizarre purple Pokémon with a head shaped as a blooming lily appeared before Kishu.
She froze.
As the Electric Gym Leader of Paldea, she had extensive knowledge of Pokémon. She recognized almost everything.
But this one?
She had never seen it before.
Instinctively, she looked at its name.
"Lileep? Judging by that, it should be a Grass-type Pokémon."
"In that case—go, Joltik!"
She swapped immediately.
In this game, during Gym battles, the challenger's first switch didn't use up a turn—
just like real Gym rules.
The chat reacted instantly to the strange Pokémon.
[Huh? What Pokémon is this? Never seen it before.]
[Maybe it's an original design by the developer?]
[Who cares, if it's Rock + Grass type, it shouldn't be that strong. And the streamer has Joltik—Bug beats Grass. Perfect counter!]
Kishu already commanded Joltik to use Bug Bite.
A green flash hit Lileep.
"Super effective!"
But—
Lileep's HP bar only dropped by a tiny chunk.
Kishu's eyes widened.
So tanky??
Before she could recover, a burst of dazzling, psychedelic light shot from Lileep and struck Joltik.
[Lileep used Confuse Ray!]
[Joltik became confused!]
And then—
A ring of dark blue sparkles floated around Lileep and sank into its body.
[Lileep restored HP with its held item: Leftovers!]
It's barely scratched HP bar rose right back up.
Kishu: "???"
Tankiness was one thing.
But self-healing too?!
Brother, how am I supposed to fight this??
What happened next was predictable.
Joltik, confused, hurt itself multiple times, and was destroyed by Lileep.
Lileep's defenses were absurd—
max EVs, perfect IVs, holding Leftovers.
Neither Bug Bite nor Electro Ball could break through its wall.
Sometimes, attacking only healed Lileep even more overall.
After defeating Joltik, Lileep still had full HP.
Mareep stood no chance and quickly fell as well.
After the battle ended, chat was exploding.
[Hey haters, speak up! A 1v2 sweep—]
[Oops, my bad, it was the STREAMER who got swept LMAO]
[Who said Gym Leaders would be easy? That was some LEVEL 100 CURSED COMMENTARY]
[First time I've seen a videogame NPC sweep a player's whole team with one Pokémon. Even if she only has two Pokémon, this would be impossible in the real competitive scene. This game is insane.]
[Yep, this Gym Leader is basically Cradily. Tanky as hell, controls status, AND heals. Who can beat this??]
Even when Kishu lost to Team Rocket, it was still a 1v2 situation. Losing was reasonable.
But this time—
Her entire team was destroyed by one Pokémon.
While the audience marveled at the game's insane difficulty, Kishu composed herself, left the Pokémon Center, and returned to the Gym entrance.
"Everyone, as you've seen, this Dujia is quite something."
"But it's fine. I already have a strategy."
"—We're sticking with our old Thunder Wave tactic!"
"Since this Lileep isn't Ground or Electric type, it has no immunity to paralysis."
"And judging by its insane bulk, it should be slow. Both Joltik and Mareep can outspeed it."
"So just like with Koffing and Ekans last time, we paralyze it and pray for full paralysis!"
Kishu explained calmly.
It was the same strategy—but in a brutal game like this, every workable tool had to be used.
And Lileep's Leftovers reminded her—
Her Pokémon could also hold items.
She didn't have any good held items…
But she did pick up some Oran Berries earlier.
According to the description, the berries automatically restore a bit of HP when a Pokémon falls below a certain threshold.
Not much, but better than nothing.
After giving each Pokémon an Oran Berry, Kishu re-entered the Gym.
This time, the plan succeeded.
Joltik's Thunder Wave landed immediately, paralyzing Lileep before it could use Confuse Ray.
Several turns passed.
Lileep basically never moved.
Only one Confuse Ray activated—
and it even missed.
Then Joltik used Electro Ball, dropping Lileep below half HP.
Its bar turned yellow.
"Great job! Keep it up!"
Kishu cheered.
Chat burst into action.
[Let's goooo streamer!!]
[Four full paralysis in a row—INSANE luck!!]
[Game's rigged for the streamer??]
[The streamer clearly turned something on.
…Her monitor.]
[Feels like she might actually take down this one. At least we'll get to see the Gym Leader's second Pokémon, right?]
Kishu glanced at the chat and confidently pressed Electro Ball again.
During the previous fight, she had already determined that Lileep had no moves that could threaten Joltik directly.
Otherwise, it wouldn't keep alternating between Confuse Ray and Mega Drain.
Based on its pattern, the next move should be Mega Drain.
Even if Mega Drain landed, Joltik resisted Grass-type attacks, so it would only take minor damage.
Lileep wouldn't heal much either.
If things continued like this, and paralysis triggered a few more times, Joltik could maintain around two-thirds HP going into the next fight.
While she was thinking, another Electro Ball hit Lileep.
Its HP dropped again—still not much, but progress.
But then—
The paralysis effect flickered on Lileep, but it did NOT tremble.
Kishu immediately recognized the meaning: paralysis did not trigger this turn.
She wasn't worried.
After all, as she reasoned, Mega Drain wouldn't change anything.
But—
The unexpected happened.
Lileep suddenly raised its head.
A beam of white light descended from above, enveloping its body.
"What… what move is that?"
Kishu froze.
A bad feeling crawled up her spine.
The game message popped up:
[Lileep used Synthesis! It restored HP!]
Under the shining light, Lileep's HP bar shot upward—
all the way to two-thirds full.
Then another message:
[Lileep restored HP with its held item: Leftovers.]
Blue sparkles danced.
HP restored.
Staring at Lileep's almost-full HP bar…
then at Joltik, whose PP was nearly depleted…
Kishu sat motionless before the screen.
"????"
She suddenly kind of wanted to end the stream.