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Chapter 13: Then and There, Here and Now
🕑 Added 2025-08-10 15:34:03 +0000 UTCThis time, Cynthia spent a full half minute explaining the situation to Professor Oak.
After hearing her out, Professor Oak was clearly incredulous.
"Could something like this really happen?"
Cynthia had previously asked him to search for information and clues about this Sky Dragon, and despite mobilizing all his resources and connections—traveling to the Hoenn region, conducting interviews, searching, and poring over ancient texts—Professor Oak had come up empty-handed.
He hadn't found so much as a single scale related to this legendary Pokémon.
But now Cynthia was telling him she'd seen this legendary creature on a game cover?
After his initial disbelief, Professor Oak quickly became excited.
Not only had this game developer perfectly recreated a fossil Pokémon's appearance, but they had also used Rayquaza as the game's cover art—which meant they might possess even more information about rare Pokémon!
Moreover, anyone capable of creating such accurate ancient Pokémon reconstructions clearly had expertise in fossil research that far exceeded his own and his research team's.
If he could recruit such a person or collaborate with them...
At this thought, Professor Oak's eyes lit up.
"What did you say that game was called? I want to try it too."
"Huh? You want to play too, Professor?"
On the other end of the line, Cynthia was stunned.
Her reaction was understandable—Professor Oak was nearly 70 years old, after all.
Video games weren't exactly something you'd associate with someone his age.
"What's wrong? Little Cynthia, my body may be old, but my heart isn't. Back in my day, I was a trainer who could match you, you know."
Professor Oak laughed heartily on the other end of the phone.
Only then did Cynthia remember that this world-renowned professor had once been a Champion-level trainer in his youth, before his love for Pokémon led him to pursue research instead.
"In that case, I'll send you the website link in a bit, Professor."
"Though this game might be a little challenging—you'll need to take it seriously."
"Heh heh, it's just a game. How hard could it be?"
"Don't let my age fool you—I've been quietly playing all sorts of games. This won't stump me."
Professor Oak chuckled confidently.
"Don't worry, if this old man manages to get the first clear, I'll make sure you get that guy's contact information too."
"Well... thank you, Professor."
Somehow, Cynthia felt like Professor Oak's current confident demeanor seemed familiar.
Wasn't this exactly like her when she first started playing Emerald?
After ending the call with Professor Oak, Cynthia refocused her attention on Iono's stream.
After watching for a while, she understood what made the first Pokémon in this Rock Gym—Cradily—so challenging.
With extremely high defensive stats on both sides, plus carrying an item for continuous HP recovery, using "Ingrain" to restore health directly, and combining that with Confuse Ray's control effects—it was indeed a formidable opponent.
As a Champion who'd seen it all, she wasn't unfamiliar with such Pokémon. Some advanced trainers trained their Pokémon toward defensive counterattacks, using super-high defense and recovery abilities to wage wars of attrition against opponents.
If it were her own team configuration facing such a Pokémon, it probably wouldn't be much of a problem.
But this was in-game, and in the early stages... the Pokémon you could capture and train were quite limited, making Cradily's difficulty multiply many times over.
Seeing Iono's Joltik hit itself in confusion with "Bug Bite," successfully knocking out its last bit of HP, Cynthia couldn't help but giggle as she closed the stream.
She knew she shouldn't laugh, but watching Iono's face turn red as she stood up straight from her chair was just too much not to react to.
Through watching Iono's stream, she'd gathered some key information.
The next gym would be Rock-type, so she could prepare in advance.
For her Treecko, this seemed like good news—after all, Grass-type was super effective against Rock-type.
But she didn't think Treecko could successfully break through that Cradily, since it appeared to be a Grass/Rock type. Because Grass types resisted each other, Treecko's Grass-type moves wouldn't have much advantage.
So she needed to find a way to train a Pokémon that could handle Cradily!
But the most pressing issue was still dealing with that rival "black-haired boy" waiting at the end of the route.
Otherwise, forget about gyms—she couldn't even leave this starting town.
With this thought, Cynthia turned her camera and microphone back on, sat back down at her computer, and said apologetically:
"Sorry for keeping everyone waiting~ I had to take a phone call."
【No problem! I'd wait however long!】
【She warmed my heart and made me cry】
【Who was it? Not Dragonite guy, right? Or Stone guy?】
The Emerald game had successfully loaded, and the window popped up.
However, this time the opening animation was replaced by a notification box.
Looking at the contents of the notification box, Cynthia paused.
An update notification?
And from the timestamp in the upper left corner, it looked like it had just been updated a few minutes ago?
She curiously read the notification box:
【Dear players, please note: The game has been updated! Current game version: 0.2】
【Latest update contents:】
【1. Added "Weather" system. Weather conditions in the game will change based on region and time. When battling outdoors during weather conditions, it will have corresponding effects on battle and will activate some non-combat mechanics. Please explore on your own.】
【2. Further enhanced the AI intelligence of Pokémon and NPCs—they now have more distinct personalities.】
【3. Optimized particle effects for Pokémon move animations in-game, making them more visually spectacular.】
【4. Map development extended to "Dewford Town." Players can now head to Dewford Island for their second gym challenge after clearing the first gym!】
After seeing this series of notifications, Cynthia's first reaction was surprise.
If she remembered correctly, this game had only been released the day before yesterday.
How could there already be two updates in just two days?
As she pondered this, her gaze fell on the second line of the update notice, and she froze.
Wait.
What did they mean by "enhanced AI intelligence"?
When did this game quietly add AI?
Having played Battle Road for over a year, Cynthia understood how difficult it was to add intelligent AI to games.
Even a major company like Dream Factory had spent enormous time and resources trying to add intelligent AI to some PvE characters in their games, but the results were minimal and instead created a bunch of bugs.
There was no helping it—intelligent AI was still an emerging field that had only appeared in recent years worldwide. For gaming companies to dive deep into development in this area was exceptionally difficult.
But now this Emerald game she was playing claimed to have AI after just one day?
If it were any other game, Cynthia would never believe it.
But if it was this "Pokémon Emerald," that was a completely different story.
She believed that if this developer said they had it, then they probably really did.
As Cynthia pondered, the chat began updating:
【Wait? Is there really AI?】
【Can anyone who bought the game confirm if this is real?】
【Don't ask—anyone who bought the game is too busy playing to watch streams. You know how addictive this game is.】
【Is it my love for the streamer that keeps me in this stream? No, it's poverty that keeps us gathered here...】
Some viewers who'd watched Iono's stream gave confirming responses:
【It's real, and super intelligent!】
【You'll see in a moment.】
But this game's performance on the first day of streaming had already far exceeded most viewers' expectations. Now, after just one day, they claimed to have added AI functionality...
Even with people vouching for it, others found it hard to believe.
As everyone remained skeptical, Cynthia had already re-entered the game and walked her character out of the Pokémon Center.
She glanced at the prompt on the screen.
"Press E to voice chat or input commands for interaction."
Just as she was muttering to herself, she noticed her accompanying Treecko had a peculiar expression.
Unlike when she first started playing, when Treecko always maintained a cool demeanor, now it stood beside Cynthia with eyes glancing sideways at her, arms crossed over its chest, chewing on a twig—looking thoroughly dissatisfied.
Though pixelated, the graphics were detailed enough that Cynthia could tell at a glance that her Treecko was in a bit of a mood.
Seeing this, she pressed E to input a command, wanting to pat Treecko's head.
However, the next moment, as her in-game character reached out, Treecko stepped back and jumped away.
"Cha-mo—"
It even let out a distinctly disdainful cry.
Seeing this, the stream viewers were stunned.
Then the chat exploded with comments:
【Holy crap! There really is AI! How is this different from a real Pokémon?】
【Hahaha, lost twice in a row, now it's unhappy!】
【This has to be pre-programmed, right? Like a trigger that activates after losing to the same person consecutively?】
Everyone's focus varied, but Cynthia, looking at the Treecko on screen, took a slight breath and pressed E again.
But this time she didn't input a command—instead, she spoke directly in a sincere tone:
"Treecko, I'm truly sorry about those failures. Neither of those battles was lost because of any problem with you."
"From now on, I'll find ways to complete our team so you won't have to fight with type disadvantages, and instead, we'll find ways to showcase your strengths."
"Besides, I promise that someday, you'll be able to hold your own against even the strongest and most difficult Pokémon!"
"So, please give me one more chance, okay?"
After Cynthia finished speaking, she stared intently at the Treecko on screen.
Treecko turned to look at Cynthia's character, pursed its lips slightly, swished its tail, and subtly moved two steps closer to her.
"Cha-mo, cha."
With this somewhat dissatisfied cry, a notification popped up on screen:
【Obviously, Treecko seems to reluctantly accept your explanation, but you'll need to prove this with your actions moving forward.】
【Additionally, it's telling you that if you make it fight Fire-types again next time, it's going on strike.】
Seeing this, the chat exploded again.
If viewers had still doubted the game's "intelligent AI" earlier, now there was absolutely no question—this AI was definitely real!
Otherwise, how could there be such rapid, precise, and realistic responses?
【Holy shit, this AI is way too advanced! This is just like a real Pokémon!】
【Even the narration has AI intelligence, right?】
【This Treecko is so tsundere, I love it! So this is what they meant about Pokémon having unique personalities.】
【This completely destroys Dream Factory's crappy Battle Road AI by 20 streets! In comparison, theirs is artificial stupidity!】
Meanwhile, Cynthia, watching Treecko's reaction on screen, was slightly dazed.
Some images from deep in her memory suddenly surfaced.
It was many years ago, when she'd just received her starter Pokémon and was just an ordinary little girl.
Her Garchomp back then wasn't the powerful and majestic creature it was now—just a Gible that had recently hatched from an egg.
In an important first battle against another trainer her age, due to her command errors, they ended in defeat.
After the battle, Gible had acted like this Treecko—hands on hips, head held high, looking thoroughly indignant.
But her younger self had immediately made a promise:
"Gible, don't be mad~ This time it really was my fault for commanding like that."
"...I'll definitely work hard to improve my commanding skills and won't hold you back, I promise!"
"Someday, we'll become really amazing! More amazing than any trainer!"
These promises made Gible purse its lips and grudgingly grunt before moving closer to her.
And what happened after that... naturally didn't need to be said.
She had ultimately kept that promise.
And now...
Cynthia looked at the Treecko with its hands behind its head, looking thoroughly dissatisfied, and suddenly smiled softly.
Here and now, just like then and there, wasn't it?
Could this count as her becoming a trainer all over again?
