Pokémon Dev Chapter 46: [46] : Big Brother, Don't You Need Sleep?

Looking at the prompt in front of her, Cynthia froze for a mont.

Swampert ga Stone?

What was this thing?

Her gaze fell on the item's description—

[A special stone unique to Swampert. In certain scenarios, it might unleash incredible power.]

"So this thing should be Swampert's exclusive held item... or tool?" Cynthia pondered aloud.

Either way, the golden prompt proved this item's effect should be extraordinary, but the problem was that to make it work, she'd need to have a Swampert first.

And Swampert was the final evolution of Mudkip, one of the Hoenn region's starter Pokémon. Given the current ga progress, Cynthia really didn't know where to find a Mudkip.

She could only store this stone in her backpack for now.

However, thinking about it carefully, Marshtomp seed like it would be a great addition to her team.

Since she wanted to build a rain team centered around rainy weather, Water-type Pokémon would naturally fit right in.

Moreover, Swampert also had Ground as its secondary type, which could resist many attacks while countering Electric, Poison, Rock, and Steel types.

Along with its excellent typing, Swampert was also a Pokémon that excelled in both physical and special attacks, with decent bulk. In the real world, many trainers raised them, either developing them as tanky warriors or pursuing unique builds focused on maximum burst damage.

If there was one weakness to ntion, it would probably be speed. This was indeed sowhat unfortunate—its massive body moved sluggishly.

But in the ga, the speed issue wouldn't be as significant. After all, being a little slower or much slower both ant going second anyway.

With this thought, Cynthia shook her head slightly and made a decision: she'd try to find a suitable Mudkip to catch later.

Speaking of catching new Pokémon...

Both Paul and her rival now had four Pokémon each.

In this situation, battling them with only three Pokémon would beco increasingly disadvantageous.

New Gym Leaders would likely have three or more Pokémon as well. As the ga progressed, the trainers she'd face would naturally have more and more Pokémon.

It seed she needed to consider catching new ones.

Cynthia thought it over.

Her core team was already basically ford—Stufful, Ludicolo, and Grovyle could handle most situations.

But if she was going to continue building a rain team, then Pokémon capable of summoning "rainy weather" would be crucial.

Among such Pokémon, there actually was one good option.

Her thoughts returned to when she'd just taken Old Man Briney's ferry, sailing across the ocean.

Whether from Petalburg City to Dewford Town, or from Dewford Town to Slateport City, she'd seen one particular Pokémon multiple tis in the cutscenes.

—Wingull!

This Pokémon's typing was Water and Flying, and its final evolution, Pelipper, could learn the "Rain Dance" move that summoned rainy weather.

And for so reason, in the real world, this species learned the move incredibly quickly, as if they had a natural talent for it.

She wondered how they'd perform in this ga.

Plus, her team really didn't have any Flying types, so catching a Wingull would fill that gap too.

With this thought, Cynthia made her decision.

She'd head back to the beach and look around to see if she could catch a suitable Wingull.

But just as she was thinking this through, a sound pulled her consciousness back to the real world.

—Her phone on the desk started ringing. Soone was calling.

When she looked down, she discovered the caller was none other than Professor Oak.

Could it be that the information she'd given him had been verified?

Regarding the abilities of Lotad and Stufful, Cynthia was actually quite curious about whether it was true or false.

She imdiately muted the stream's microphone and answered the call.

Soon, Professor Oak's excited voice burst through the phone:

"Little Cynthia, is that ga you're playing called Erald? Send it to —I want to play too!"

This statent left Cynthia stunned for several seconds before she snapped back to reality.

"Professor, what's gotten into you? Why so suddenly..."

In Cynthia's mind, Professor Oak had always been a stable, experienced, and knowledgeable elder, ever since she was young—and even now.

But now...

She rarely saw him display such excited emotions, and moreover, in her opinion, he should have absolutely no interest in electronic gas, right?

According to his own words:

"Rather than imrsing yourself in those virtual gas, you'd be better off spending ti exploring the mysteries of Pokémon. There are still many puzzles waiting for this old man to uncover."

Professor Oak's hurried voice ca through the phone again:

"Why? Because I drew that 'Cradily' you ntioned and sent it to the lab. They compared it with our current data and found it matched perfectly!"

"The 'Archen' you ntioned—we've also discovered ancient fossils that look similar!"

"As for Stufful and Lotad... we happen to have quite a few of these two species in my research lab. After comparative testing, we found that in simulated rainy environnts, Lotad's movent speed indeed improved significantly, while Stufful was indeed quite afraid of Fire-type moves!"

"Also, I sent those ancient text translations to the archaeology departnt. In less than a day, they've already worked through the night to decipher over a hundred symbols—that's more progress than the past few years combined!"

"So that ga might bring even more useful information!"

"How could I miss such a ga?"

Cynthia was stunned again.

She hadn't expected Professor Oak to work so quickly, verifying the ability-related answers in such a short ti.

"But Professor, don't you have several important projects on hand recently?"

In a daze, she suddenly rembered sothing and asked instinctively.

If she rembered correctly, his recent research projects were all major tasks assigned by the League—quite important, and requiring his personal guidance and control.

Over the past few months, he'd basically been busy with them, investing considerable effort.

Logically, now should be the critical period for those projects...

But after asking, she regretted it.

Between the two, there really was no comparison.

Sure enough, faced with Cynthia's question, Professor Oak didn't even hesitate:

"Oh! Those projects are important, but how could they be as important as this ga?"

"Think about it—ancient fossils, legendary Pokémon, hidden abilities, and various items we've never seen before..."

"The value of this information compared to a few projects—which is more important? This old man can certainly tell the difference!"

"Besides, didn't you say that whoever clears this ga first can get the contact information of the ga's creator?"

"Quick, quick, send the ga—I'm already sitting at my computer!"

"Oh, and tell ... how exactly do you play this ga?"

Honestly, seeing this elderly scholar and research legend asking her how to play a ga felt pretty weird to Cynthia.

But she dutifully told Professor Oak all the information related to Pokémon Erald and sent him a ga link.

Then she heard his surprised voice through the phone:

"Such an excellent ga for less than 6,188 yen—the price is so cheap? It's hard to believe..."

"After all, an official encyclopedia costs over 8,250 yen."

Cynthia paused at this, forcibly suppressing her urge to explain ga market pricing to him.

And honestly, before playing, she'd definitely thought 5,940 yen was expensive.

But now, after several days of gaplay, she felt like selling it for only 5,940 yen was practically charity!

Getting it was pure profit...

While she was thinking, Professor Oak's voice ca again:

"Little Cynthia, how's your ga progress?"

Cynthia answered honestly:

"I'm about to head to Mauville City—that's where the 3rd Gym is located."

"Good, keep up that montum! We must get that ga creator's contact information!"

"I'm going to play the ga now. Keep it up!"

With that, he hung up.

Cynthia turned her microphone back on and refocused on the screen.

She'd finished searching for items around Slateport City and completed both rival battles, so now it was ti to head to the next city—Mauville City.

She moved her ga character past Slateport City, and a large bridge appeared ahead, stretching into the distance.

However, just as her character reached the bridge, a prompt suddenly popped up:

[The area ahead will be explored later!]

[Note: The ga will update "Mauville City" content before 12 PM today. Please wait patiently. Thank you for your cooperation.]

Cynthia froze.

She suddenly rembered sothing.

This ga was just a test version released at the New Ga Festival!

It was only because the gaplay experience was so good, the completion level so high, and the update speed so amazing that she'd gotten the illusion this was already a finished product!

Thinking about it, it was kind of scary—was this really the quality a half-finished test ga should have?

With this thought, Cynthia shook her head slightly and glanced at the ti in the bottom right corner of her screen—still two hours until 12 PM.

So, should she play "Battle Road" for a while?

There was an old saying that fit perfectly: without comparison, there's no harm.

After thinking about it, she realized that after playing Erald, she'd completely lost interest in Battle Road.

Just these past few days, she hadn't even logged in once for a daily check-in!

Because in comparison, Battle Road's gaplay couldn't even match this pixelated turn-based ga...

Well... might as well find a movie to watch with the stream audience while waiting for the update.

With this thought, she addressed her viewers:

"Since Erald won't update until 12 PM, why don't you all help pick a movie to watch together? It's been a while since I watched a movie with everyone in the stream."

She opened the stream's voting feature, letting the audience decide.

While waiting, Cynthia absentmindedly picked up her phone to scroll through it, only to discover her social dia app had a whopping 999 notifications!

Only then did she rember that she'd been completely absorbed in Erald these past two days—either doing tasks or playing—without even checking the Champion and Elite Four group chat.

She opened the social app called "Coco Chat" with an Aron icon and imdiately saw private ssages from two people.

[21 hours ago: Don't Call Fire-Type Explosion Head]

Cynthia, you seem really busy with tasks lately. Nobody can reach you. If you have ti, drop by the group chat.

[20 hours ago: Dragon Types Are The Best]

(Dragonite scratching head.jpg) Cynthia, do you know a Battle Road high-ranking player called "Decent Person"? I matched with this guy today when playing Battle Road. His tactics were really interesting... even I fell for it.

[18 hours ago: Dragon Types Are The Best]

(Dragonite looking pitiful.jpg) Never mind about that guy. Cynthia, how do you beat Roxanne's Gym? Her three Pokémon are more ridiculous than the last! I've been stuck for almost an hour! When did the Hoenn region get such a strong Gym Leader? How did I not know about this?

[10 hours ago: Dragon Types Are The Best]

(Garchomp pondering.jpg) So the Pokémon in that cave was Regirock? Interesting.

[2 hours ago: Dragon Types Are The Best]

(Hakamo-o dancing.jpg) I cleared Brawly's Gym! I'll temporarily take that first-place position!

Except for the first ssage asking about "Decent Person's" identity, Lance had sent seven or eight ssages to Cynthia about playing Erald.

Seeing these ssages, Cynthia couldn't help but facepalm.

This guy—where was his dignity as an Elite Four mber?

She opened the chat box and started typing a reply:

"About this Decent Person... I really haven't heard of them. I haven't been on Battle Road these past two days either. I'll ask those high-ranking players to help you find out when I get a chance."

"But you... Why did you suddenly start playing Erald, too?"

After editing the ssage, Cynthia sent it.

She didn't expect Lance to reply, since he'd been playing for over ten hours straight and should be catching up on sleep.

But to her surprise, his ssage ca right back.

[Dragon Types Are The Best: I went to the group looking for you that day, and they said you were playing it, so I said I'd try it.]

[Turns out it really is fun—way better than Battle Road.]

Cynthia paused—why wasn't this guy sleeping yet?

But maybe he'd just finished washing up and was about to sleep?

To be safe, she sent another ssage asking about his situation:

[Ice Cream Lover: You've been playing so long, aren't you going to sleep?]

However, Lance's reply ca quickly.

[Dragon Types Are The Best: Ugh, don't even ntion it. I'm on a mission in a secret realm right now. Was playing just fine when the League suddenly called out. So annoying.]

[Not gonna chat anymore. There's a Snorlax ahead that just attacked us. I'm gonna beat it up to blow off so steam. Talk later.]

Cynthia: ???

So you weren't tired from playing ten minutes ago—you got called for a mission?

Lance, do you seriously not need sleep?