Chapter 11: The Battle of Mount Chimney: Broadcasting Myself? (5k)

However, to Cynthia's surprise, the opponent who stepped forward next was not Maxie, but another elite executive wearing the Magma uniform.

Clearly, for a "child" like her, Maxie, the leader of Team Magma, did not even have the desire to fight her personally and simply handed the matter over to his subordinates.

Of course, such a design made complete sense in a game. How could she, a trainer who had just set out on her journey, possibly stand on equal footing and fight evenly with the boss of Team Magma?

As Cynthia pondered this, the battle began, and her first Pokémon, Pelipper, was automatically sent out.

Across the field, the Team Magma member tossed a Pokéball, and the next moment, a turtle-like figure appeared before her eyes.

This Pokémon possessed a hard shell, thick stubby limbs pounding the ground, and steam constantly billowing from the recessed holes on its back, seeming to harbor intense heat within its body.

[The opponent sent out Torkoal Lv. 35!]

The prompt popped up.

One had to bear in mind that the current level cap for Cynthia's team had barely reached level 30.

The level difference between them was a massive 5 levels!

Yet, facing such a challenge, neither Cynthia nor the viewers in the live broadcast room seemed particularly nervous.

Given the difficulty of this game, under normal circumstances, a 5-level gap would certainly be quite difficult to overcome.

However, based on their previous experiences, they clearly knew that every single Pokémon used by these Team Magma members was of the Fire type.

Boosted by the weather, they would be completely countered by the two Water-type Pokémon in Cynthia's team, entirely neutralizing the gap caused by those 5 levels.

At this moment, as both Pokémon took the field, Cynthia unhesitatingly selected Water Pulse to initiate the attack, officially kicking off the first turn of the battle.

A strange blue energy instantly emerged from Pelipper's body, the sky suddenly turned gloomy, and heavy raindrops came pouring down!

[Pelipper's Drizzle ability was triggered, and it started to rain!]

This was rainy weather. Under such weather, the power of all Fire-type moves would be drastically reduced.

Pelipper already resisted Fire-type moves, and under these circumstances, the threat was naturally even smaller. Torkoal's signature attacks were practically rendered useless!

Yet the very next moment, a scene unfolded that exceeded everyone's expectations!

A crimson radiance began to swirl around Torkoal's body, surging straight into the sky!

The gloomy sky instantly cleared up at that moment, and dazzling sunlight replaced the raindrops falling from the air, enveloping the entire battle arena and both Pokémon in a scorching radiance.

[Torkoal's Drought ability was activated, and the weather cleared up!]

[The power of Fire-type moves has increased! The power of Water-type moves has decreased!]

This sudden turn of events not only left Cynthia stunned, but even the viewers in the live broadcast room flooded the chat with question marks.

[What the hell, bro, who are you? You're hacking too?]

[Torkoal: You're the one who started it.]

[Mom, how did my weather get stolen?]

At this very moment, Cynthia's gaze also narrowed.

Weather abilities again!

She should have thought of it sooner. Since Pelipper had the "Drizzle" ability, which could directly change the surrounding weather and turn it into rain, then weather conditions like sunny days, sandstorms, and snow should undoubtedly all have their corresponding abilities!

For trainers looking to develop weather-centric teams, this was undoubtedly a tremendously important hint in the real world!

Perhaps there were still many Pokémon with weather abilities in the real world, waiting for people to discover and explore them!

Returning to the game, Cynthia immediately grasped the mechanics of the weather system.

Torkoal's speed was undoubtedly slower than Pelipper's. It seemed that in this game, when two Pokémon with weather abilities were sent out simultaneously, the one with the slower speed would gain control of the weather!

Torkoal's entry had used the Drought ability to snatch away the weather on the field, directly reversing what should have been a one-sided situation.

The power of Pelipper and Ludicolo's Water-type moves had both decreased, and without the ability to eliminate the opponent in one hit, the advantage brought by the exaggerated level 35 suddenly manifested itself.

Just like that, Cynthia undoubtedly lost the first battle.

However, she quickly initiated the second challenge.

Having now understood the weather mechanics, she successfully avoided Torkoal seizing the weather in the first turn using Drought by choosing Bewear as her lead.

She then waited for an opportunity to switch in Pelipper to trigger the Drizzle ability, and finally used Ludicolo, with its Swift Swim ability, to close out the battle.

Strictly speaking, this was the first time Cynthia had executed a flawless battle utilizing weather abilities since obtaining Pelipper.

As the Team Magma elite was defeated, the game exited the battle interface.

A hint of surprise flashed across Maxie's face, only to vanish instantly and transform into a cold sneer.

"It seems your talent is even greater than I imagined. It's a pity you chose to refuse our invitation."

"Since you cannot be of use to me, then vanish into ashes along with your Pokémon!"

With that, amidst tense music, Maxie raised a hand, revealing a crimson Pokéball.

Even though the Pokémon had not been released, it still exuded a powerful and terrifying aura, making everyone's hearts skip a beat!

Yet at that critical juncture, a silver-white figure broke through the clouds, diving down from the sky!

Accompanied by it was a roar.

"Stop right there!!"

The newcomer was none other than the Hoenn Region Champion, Steven, riding atop a Skarmory!

Maxie's expression shifted. He looked up at the figure in the sky and unhesitatingly threw another Pokéball, from which a Charizard abruptly appeared.

Maxie then leaped onto Charizard's back, and the creature flapped its wings, spewing dazzling flames from its mouth as it charged straight at Cynthia!

In the sky, Skarmory's figure suddenly accelerated in that instant, turning into a silver lightning bolt that blocked the way in front of Cynthia!

A deep blue barrier suddenly materialized in the air, completely neutralizing the scorching flames.

However, when the smoke generated by the flames dissipated, Maxie and Charizard had already vanished into the sky.

As the leader of Team Magma, his strength might allow him to contend with Steven, but once a battle with him began, it meant being delayed.

Here, League reinforcements would arrive very quickly, and the situation would be immensely unfavorable to him, so naturally he dared not linger.

The game perspective switched to the firmament above, where Maxie looked down at the volcano beneath his feet with a tense expression, wondering what he was thinking.

After a long while, he carefully drew something from his chest pocket.

It was a crimson circular crystal enclosed in a black box, continuously radiating scorching heat waves and temperature to its surroundings, warping and distorting even the air.

The black box carrying it seemed to be made of a special material, otherwise it would likely have long been reduced to ashes under such high temperatures.

Maxie gazed deeply at the red crystal and muttered softly.

"So be it. Even without that meteorite, our plan can still be achieved with this."

"Just wait... the day the flames are ignited will arrive soon enough..."

Following his words, Charizard flapped its wings and ascended, vanishing with him into the clouds of the sky.

Cynthia watched this scene with a pensive look.

Intuition told her that the red crystal just now was probably far from ordinary.

But what could it be? And what did this thing have to do with Team Magma's plan?

Clearly... these questions would have no answers for the time being.

Meanwhile, the game interface switched back to the Magma volcano. Steven jumped down from Skarmory's back and asked with concern:

"Strawberry Ice Cream, why are you here? Are you alright?"

"I just received word that Team Magma had some evil actions and plans here at Mt. Chimney, so I rushed right over. Fortunately, it looks like I made it in time..."

"Right... how did you manage to stand before Maxie? Did you defeat his subordinates?"

"...I didn't expect you to grow so fast. I certainly didn't misjudge you, but remember, don't be so impulsive next time. None of these dangerous guys have a kind heart."

"Alright, I'm going after him. Take care of yourself!"

Steven finished speaking rapidly, leaped back onto Skarmory's back, soared up on the wind, and vanished into the clouds.

At the same time, the live chat in the broadcast room began buzzing with comments.

[Boss Steven is a good guy. First he hands out evolutionary stones, and now he comes to save the day at a crucial moment. As expected of the Hoenn Champion, totally professional.]

[I heard the real-world Steven is like this too. Though he's fanatically obsessed with stones, when it comes to doing his job and protecting the public, he's very responsible...]

[So what exactly is Team Magma trying to do? They don't look like they just want to blow up a volcano, do they?]

[Not quite sure. Didn't he just say something about igniting the whole world? ...But it feels like that must be an exaggeration, right?]

Just as everyone was discussing this, Cynthia suddenly noticed that there was a machine right beside her.

Maxie had been standing in that direction earlier, his bulky frame blocking it from view, which was why Cynthia hadn't noticed the object.

She immediately manipulated her character to step forward, only to be surprised to find that right at the very top of this machine sat a pitch-black stone.

What was this?

A line of prompts popped up before her eyes.

[This seems to be the meteorite that Team Magma stole. Do you want to take it?]

As Cynthia chose yes, the roaring machine abruptly ground to a halt, and that fossil was placed into her backpack.

However, once it entered Cynthia's inventory, the game did not provide information prompts about this item as it usually did; instead, a red border appeared.

There was a note on the border.

[This meteorite seems to be carved with some familiar symbols...]

Below the note were three rows of symbolic text.

The moment Cynthia saw these characters, her gaze immediately narrowed.

Because these characters were none other than the ancient script she had deciphered earlier in Granite Cave!

The only difference from Granite Cave was that the content of these symbols was different.

Cynthia could only rely on her previous translation experience to barely make out a fraction of the meaning.

She subconsciously spoke, softly reading a part of its content aloud.

"Legend has it... ruling..."

"When the land and sea are in chaos..."

"...appear?"

This was the entirety of the content she could currently understand.

What did the land and sea refer to?

Appear...

What would appear?

From such a meager amount of information alone, it was naturally difficult to judge anything.

However, Cynthia was not in a anxious rush, because ever since she sent the data of those ancient texts to the archaeological research team last time, they had already stepped up their research into the meaning of these ancient scripts.

She believed that it wouldn't be long before they made further breakthroughs, and by then, she would only need to send these texts to them to obtain a more detailed translation, thereby figuring out what the information on this meteorite was talking about...

With this thought, Cynthia put the meteorite back into her pocket.

Whether it was her imagination or not, ever since she removed the meteorite from the machine, the boiling magma in the lava pool ahead seemed to calm down and stopped churning violently.

At this point in the game, Cynthia understood that the Team Magma subquest storyline had probably come to a temporary close.

Then next.

She should be able to challenge the next Gym—Lavaridge Gym!

She maneuvered her character to walk down Mt. Chimney.

Meanwhile, in a villa in Saffron City, Kanto Region,

Ling Feng stretched lazily, looked at the deep purple Pokéball icon appearing on his screen, glanced briefly at the time in the bottom right corner, leaned closer to the microphone, and spoke.

"Brothers, the zero-recharge win streak challenge to the Master Ball tier has succeeded. The streamer is signing off for now."

Since today was a day off and he didn't need to work on game development, Ling Feng simply turned on a livestream and played Ranked Battles.

Because the battle mechanics of this game awarded continuously increasing points upon win streaks, after his 46th consecutive win, he successfully reached his target rank—Master Ball—with a 100% win rate.

This series of win streaks naturally brought a massive wave of popularity to his channel. At this very moment, the live concurrent viewer count had actually reached a staggering 250,000, making it a fairly high-traffic tier even across the entire streaming platform.

At this moment, following Ling Feng's announcement, countless messages began frantically flooding the chat in the broadcast room.

[Don't go yet, bro! You've only streamed for an afternoon. Play a couple more games, just a couple more!]

[Seriously, streamer, I'm begging you. If I don't get to watch your stream every day, it feels like ants are crawling all over me. It's rare for you to stream for a bit today, why are you so lacking in stamina?]

[I haven't learned your shady tactics yet, streamer. Once you leave, whose dirty tactics will I watch... uh, sorry, I meant climbing ranks...]

During the Ranked Battle grind today, Ling Feng had naturally used his limited setup to cycle through every single strategy he could possibly deploy.

He had to admit that the skill level of players in Ranked Battles really wasn't very high. Even tactics like "Substitute, Protect, Toxic," which were already widespread in his original world, helped him successfully pull off a win streak of several games.

After playing through the entire day, Ling Feng was actually starting to lose interest.

It was fine at first, but after playing too much, he realized that the gaming experience of these Ranked Battles wasn't even as good as the ranked mode in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

After all, in this game, not only were many Pokémon missing, but abilities, items, and even move pools were incomplete.

Had it not been for his previous system mission and the promise he made to these viewers about reaching the Master Ball tier, he wouldn't have played for this long.

With that thought, Ling Feng closed the game window and spoke again.

"Brothers, I'm really logging off."

Just then, however, a paid red super chat message instantly caught his attention.

[Shellder Who Loves Water Weeds: Streamer, you're so talented, what's the point of playing Ranked Battles and crushing newbies every day instead of playing some other game to make a name for yourself? How about this, I'll recommend a game to you that is guaranteed to be fun. It's called Pokémon Emerald, why don't you go give it a try?]

As soon as this chat message appeared, the viewers in the broadcast room naturally burst into loud laughter.

[I second that. Strongly suggest the streamer go play Emerald. That game is genuinely interesting.]

[Just admit you want to watch the streamer suffer in prison, stop beating around the bush.]

[What nonsense is the guy above talking about? Emerald is truly a great game, fun and relaxing. My kid loves it, I've already bought two copies and will buy more in the future.]

[6666, this group of people are all bad eggs.]

Looking at the flying chat messages before him, Ling Feng was momentarily stunned, then his eyes lit up as he realized something.

—That's right! Why didn't he think of that?

If he was going to stream, why ignore his own made game and run off to play garbage like Ranked Battles?

Nobody knew that he was actually the developer of this game anyway...

He just needed to showcase a bit of his game understanding, and wouldn't those emotional points come pouring in like a waterfall?

Furthermore, as the number of viewers in his livestream increased going forward, it could also serve to promote the game Emerald!

—Wasn't this one of the best promotional methods available?

As Ling Feng pondered, the viewers in the livestream saw him remain silent for a long time and started getting a bit anxious.

[The streamer wouldn't be too scared, would he? Figures, that game has high difficulty, even Cynthia got stuck playing it.]

[Bro, just play it. If worst comes to worst, I'll pay for the game.]

[“AA Wholesale Fire Punch Boxing Gloves” gifted the streamer a Luxury Sports Car worth 500 yuan!!]

[Damn, big bro is out of his mind! If you have that much money to throw at me, I'll play it for you!]

Looking at the swirling chat on his screen, Ling Feng's mouth curved slightly upward. He moved his mouse away from the close-stream button and, right under everyone's watchful eyes, opened his browser and typed out seven characters.

—[Pokémon: Emerald]!