Holy crap, how can this Randomized Emerald be this malicious?!
It was bad enough that it sent overpowered monsters to snipe him every day, but now it wasn't even pretending anymore, straight-up throwing a Wonder Guard Regigigas at him.
Looking at the prehistoric giant that hadn't even moved a single step, the corners of Hakuya's mouth couldn't help but twitch slightly.
"Seriously, if you have this thing, why don't you just kick Brawly out and become the Gym Leader yourself?" Hakuya wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and asked a soul-searching question.
He didn't even care whether he could defeat this damn Battle Girl anymore. He was just genuinely curious about what kind of almighty being Dewford Town's Gym Leader, Brawly, was to be able to recruit a talent of this caliber to be a Gym Trainer in his establishment.
As for Hakuya's question, the Battle Girl opposite him clearly lacked the AI to respond. She just threw her brain away and repeated the exact same command the entire time.
"Regigigas, use Crush."
"La-woo—"
The little jet plane, whose movepool completely lacked any Fighting-type moves, had absolutely no way to fight back. She returned to her Poké Ball with swirly eyes. After comforting the unconscious Latias, Hakuya noticed the headband on Regigigas's forehead.
If he wasn't mistaken, that was a Choice Band, right?
"Equipping a Choice Band boosts a Pokémon's Attack stat by 50%, but locks them into using only the first move they select after entering the field. If that's the case, then the move it's currently locked into should be Crush?"
Recalling the specific effects of the Choice Band, Hakuya placed his hand on Alcremie's Poké Ball at his waist.
Although Alcremie similarly lacked any moves that were super-effective against Regigigas, since it was locked into the Normal-type move [Crush], this Regigigas would also be completely unable to harm the Fairy-type Alcremie, whose ability was also Wonder Guard. Fast-forwarding to a Struggle-fest at the end wouldn't be impossible.
However, plans never keep up with changes. The large cat, who had been waiting in the backline, was already making her move. "Floragato, don't go! You can't beat it!"
Hakuya shouted loudly, watching Floragato, who couldn't wait to launch an attack.
It wasn't because Floragato taking the field disrupted his tactical setup.
After all, the randomized world was ultimately just a game. A temporary victory or defeat in battle wasn't actually that important. Furthermore, as his precious partner, there was nothing wrong with Floragato being a little willful occasionally.
It was just that with the cat's current strength, even if she had entered her [Omni-Transformation] state, before she could elbow this Wonder Guard Regigigas to death, there was a high probability she would be beaten to the ground first.
Believing that Alcremie could handle it alone and not wanting Floragato to lose her ability to battle like Latias, the thought of persuading Floragato to return involuntarily rose in Hakuya's heart.
However...
It was precisely because of this that Floragato, grasping the underlying meaning of his words, paused her steps and froze in place.
"Meowha?"
She turned her head stiffly, pointing her cat paw at herself, and then at Regigigas. I... can't beat it?
From Floragato's disbelieving feline pupils, Hakuya could glean a lot of information.
—Even if Latias has Mega Evolution and her strength has far surpassed mine; even if Alcremie has the Wonder Guard ability and can completely immunize all my attacks... I, Floragato, am absolutely not some mediocre 'flower vase' Pokémon! I have incredibly high combat strength too!!!
Hakuya suddenly fell silent.
—I'm doomed. When did Floragato start becoming this extreme?
Looking back at her Trainer one last time, Floragato charged toward Regigigas without hesitation, harboring the absolute determination to win. She wasn't just blindly rushing in; within her current movepool, she happened to possess the Fighting-type move [Low Kick].
The heavier the opponent's weight, the greater the power of this move—this was the effect of [Low Kick].
Although she had only used this move previously to execute a low-health Mega Aggron, meaning her proficiency with it wasn't very high... against this guy, whose weight was even heavier than that steel behemoth, Floragato believed it should be enough.
"MEOWHA—!!!"
Accompanied by a hiss that echoed across the battlefield, Floragato lowered her body. Her figure turned into an afterimage as she flashed right in front of Regigigas. Her right leg, imbued with powerful Fighting-type energy, shot up and kicked viciously at its lower body like a bolt of lightning.
"Regi~"
With its massive body making it completely unable to dodge in time, Regigigas took the hit head-on and let out a painful wail.
However, before Hakuya could even rejoice at the sight of the opponent's health bar rapidly dropping from Floragato's combo kick, he saw Regigigas forcibly hold on at the very end of its yellow health bar, staggering and struggling to get back up from the ground.
"It's over."
Hakuya instinctively covered his forehead with his hand, not having the heart to watch the next scene of the battle.
Because the Wonder Guard Regigigas had already raised its arms high into the air, preparing to send this willful cat back to fully 'digest' this lesson.
A base Attack stat of 160, wearing a Choice Band, coupled with a STAB [Crush]—a move that dealt more damage the higher the opponent's HP was... The combination of these three was simply too overwhelming.
Furthermore, Floragato's proficiency with [Low Kick] was too low. As long as she failed to one-shot Regigigas, she would be caught off guard and instantly killed in retaliation. Even with his off-field commanding, there was no possibility of turning the tide.
"Floragato, come back and get some good rest first." Hakuya recalled the completely burnt-out Floragato, then threw out his final Poké Ball. "Alcremie, I leave the rest of the battle to you."
What Floragato had done just now wasn't useless. Thanks to her [Low Kick], Regigigas's health bar was now like a candle in the wind. Next up should be the trash-talk phase where neither side could harm the other, dragging it out until the final Struggle turns.
"Nai~"
Although the situation was advantageous for them, the normally gentle Alcremie put away her smile, her gaze turning chillingly sharp. After nodding solemnly to her Trainer, Alcremie turned around, leaving him with a highly reliable back.
"Regi~"
But unexpectedly, the faster Regigigas opposite them immediately performed a jaw-dropping maneuver.
Quite intelligently, it used its massive hands to rip the Choice Band off its forehead. Subsequently, a gem gleaming with a steel-like luster appeared out of thin air in its hand. Suddenly, the background music on the battlefield became incredibly intense.
"Nai?"
Seeing the gem flashing with light in the opponent's hand, Alcremie suddenly had a very bad feeling.
"Wait a minute, freely swapping held items mid-battle... is that allowed?!"
Witnessing Regigigas rip the Choice Band off its forehead, pull out a Steel Gem from nowhere, and ruthlessly crush it with three fingers... Hakuya's expression completely broke.
Can we please respect the basic laws of Pokémon battling?!
If you put on a Choice Band, keep the damn thing on—!!!
"RE—GI—!!!"
At this moment, accompanied by the frantic flashing of the signal lights on its face, a steel-blue luster instantly coated Regigigas's entire body. Its hind legs violently kicked off, shattering the ground, and the floor inside the stadium rumbled as it completely caved in.
The intricate, complex Gym maze: Shattered.
The ceiling that blocked out the sky and limited challengers to seeing only a few steps ahead: Collapsed.
In that moment, as Hakuya and Alcremie watched Regigigas completely demolish the entire Dewford Gym, memories of the deceased [Contrary] Rayquaza, [Huge Power] Mega Metagross, and [Heavy Metal] Mega Aggron resurfaced in their minds.
—Regigigas's Heavy Slam! It's super effective!
"Its stats are already so overwhelmingly high that it could easily one-shot Alcremie with Heavy Slam, yet it specifically consumed a Steel Gem just to show respect! Wonder Guard Regigigas, you're too much, I'm crying to death—" Hakuya & Floragato & Alcremie & Latias: Dead.
2:00 PM.
[Littleroot Town. A town that can't be shaded any hue.] "I got set up by this damn Randomized Emerald again."
Back in the wooden cabin, Hakuya routinely grabbed an apple from the kitchen and chewed on it, his face full of helplessness as he spoke.
He hadn't been able to enjoy using his Mega little jet plane for long before he was brutally sniped by a Regigigas with the Wonder Guard ability.
But the Wonder Guard Regigigas was secondary. The main issue was that Hakuya realized his understanding of the randomized world's combat mechanics was still not deep enough. A while back, there was an NPC who broke normal battle rules by Mega Evolving two Pokémon consecutively in a single battle. And just now, it didn't even pretend, performing an operation to autonomously swap held items mid-battle.
"Fine. Next time we battle, I'll have Floragato and the others carry a few extra items on them too." Hakuya swallowed the juicy apple flesh and nodded. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
Since this group of NPCs had absolutely no martial ethics, as the player, it was even less possible for him to follow the battle rules.
—Just fast-forward me straight to the rivers of blood!
"However, how exactly I'm going to elbow my way past that Wonder Guard Regigigas now is still a slightly tricky problem..." Thinking of the Regigigas owned by that Battle Girl, Hakuya felt a bit of a headache coming on.
Given that Regigigas's typing was Normal, only Fighting-type moves could deal damage to it.
Currently, there were two solutions to deal with it.
First, he could rely on Floragato's [Low Kick] to instantly one-shot this Wonder Guard Regigigas before taking an attack. "Hmm... similar to the original game, the damage of moves here also fluctuates up and down." Hakuya looked at the system panel provided by the randomized world and fell into thought.
In the original games, the damage dealt by a Pokémon's move wasn't a completely fixed value based purely on both sides' stats. Instead, it was affected by a Random Number Generator (RNG), causing the final damage to fluctuate.
Here in the randomized world, this random number had been replaced by the Pokémon's proficiency with the move.
Because Hakuya frequently spammed commands, and because Floragato's innate typing was Grass, her proficiency with Grass-type moves like [Leafage] and [Petal Blizzard] was extremely high, and the damage was noticeably higher.
Moves used less frequently, like the non-STAB [Low Kick], had proficiencies far inferior to the former. This was why she couldn't out-damage Regigigas in battle. Compared to the plan of giving Floragato special move training to achieve a solo-sweep, the other plan was much simpler and cruder.
In order to quickly blast through the levels, he could just run off and catch a Pokémon that already knew Fighting-type moves. Even if he was unlucky and didn't encounter any overpowered monsters, there was still that massive horde of Shadow Tag Machamp waiting for him in Granite Cave.
Even if their Speed couldn't match Regigigas's, after taking a few Mach Punches, Regigigas would still have to obediently fall to its knees. Just as Hakuya was rubbing his chin deep in thought, Floragato was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking utterly dejected.
She was still brooding over her Trainer's words and the battle from earlier.
"Meowha~"
Floragato lowered her head, her cat ears drooping down completely.
She was already prepared for her Trainer to use a Poké Ball to sign a marriage contract with a new Pokémon.
After all, upon encountering a powerful enemy they truly couldn't defeat, they always needed new partners to join the team.
But this time, the situation seemed completely different from before.
"Floragato, I leave the battle against that guy in your hands." A familiar voice rang in her ears.
"Meowha?"
Feeling the warm touch on her head, Floragato lifted her face, unable to help but blank out for a moment.
At this moment, looking at the surprise on Floragato's face, Hakuya couldn't help but shake his head helplessly.
He had long observed that something was wrong with this large cat's condition.
Choosing the second plan and going to catch a new Pokémon would certainly allow him to casually elbow past that Wonder Guard Regigigas, yes. But it was obvious that the timing for recruiting a new partner to the team was completely wrong right now.
The randomized world was ultimately just a game.
The only purpose of aggressively pushing through the levels was to break through the level limits for Floragato and the others. And precisely because of this, compared to his progress in the randomized world, he cared much more about what Floragato was thinking right now.
The reason she had disrupted his tactical arrangements to take the field early just now, and the reason she had displayed such extreme behavior on the battlefield, was highly likely because he had been continuously using the Mega little jet plane to experience the thrill of crushing opponents, thereby neglecting and leaving her out in the cold.
Sensitive cats were always like this. They would worry that their strength was too low to be of help to their Trainer, and they would throw tantrums, get jealous, and withdraw into a state of self-isolation because their Trainer frequently used other Pokémon and ignored them.
But... even if you aren't the absolute strongest, there's no way I would ever throw you into the PC box— Thinking of this, Hakuya smiled, reached out, rubbed Floragato's head, and reaffirmed his stance.
"Yes. I want to apologize for what I said during the battle just now. Although the end result was indeed that we didn't defeat that Regigigas, you absolutely have the strength to beat it... No, to be more precise, Floragato, you are the ONLY one who can defeat that big guy."
"Meowha~"
Being entrusted with such a heavy responsibility, the large cat blinked, two rosy blushes involuntarily flying to her cheeks.
Because after rubbing her head, Hakuya had taken both of her paws in his hands.
—Trainer didn't go look for the losing-heroine Latias who now possesses a new Mega Evolution form, nor did he pin his hopes on the 'Wall of Sighs' Alcremie whom she couldn't even scratch. Instead, he so sincerely held both her hands, repeatedly assuring her, believing that ONLY she could elbow past that overpowered monster Regigigas.
Even though it wasn't the first time she had been trusted like this by her Trainer—even though during their previous challenge at the Rustboro Gym, they had trusted each other just like this and ultimately defeated cyber-Roxanne's Mega Aggron—facing this fiery, blazing trust once again, Floragato still couldn't help but sniffle, her eyes filling with warm tears.
Besides tearing up with a face full of emotion, uncontrollable thoughts raced through Floragato's mind again.
Trainer is a pure stat-freak who loves Pokémon with high combat strength.
So it turns out... I am the strongest one in Trainer's heart?!
"Although I don't know what kind of wild thoughts are running through your head right now, Floragato, you don't need to worry that one day I'll disdain your strength and then leave you out in the cold. After all, you are the strongest in my heart."
Hakuya looked at the large cat, who was crying one second and laughing the next, changing her expression faster than flipping the pages of a book, and couldn't help but smile helplessly.
Then, he let go of Floragato's paws and gradually moved his hands to the sides of her cheeks, kneading them like dough. The texture was very soft, and with a touch of tears, it made the floral and grassy fragrance inherently carried by Floragato even more refreshing.
But as a qualified Pokémon Trainer, when giving praise, he naturally couldn't focus entirely on one Pokémon the whole time. He occasionally had to share the love and make sure the rest of the Pokémon were included too.
"Whether it's you, Floragato, or Alcremie, or Latias... you are all the strongest in my heart... and you are all my wings." Noticing the two gazes watching him from behind, Hakuya spoke his true inner thoughts without hesitation.
After being defeated by a strong enemy, it wasn't just Floragato who needed validation; Alcremie and Latias couldn't be left out either.
Hmm... it just felt like he had casually issued some sort of bizarre declaration at the very end.
"La-woo~"
Latias, who was invisible in the air, was startled and let out a frantic whimper.
From the fragmented psychic telegrams, it wasn't hard to hear that this tsundere little jet plane was saying things like: "What nonsense are you spouting now, Trainer!" and "I don't want to become your wings like them at all!"
And hearing this declaration that bordered on building a harem, Alcremie floated over and gently hugged Hakuya.
The honest Alcremie was always like this. Faced with her Trainer's affection, she didn't hesitate to come over and return her own feelings of immense affection for her Trainer.
As for Floragato, after having her cheeks affectionately kneaded, she visibly turned into a feline steam engine.
Her Trainer's experienced cheek-kneading technique and direct, straightforward confession had sent this large cat entirely into a state of bashful shyness.
Although after the blush on her cheeks faded, her face puffed out slightly—seemingly expressing her dissatisfaction with this playboy behavior—facing Hakuya's genuine, unfeigned gaze, Floragato still nodded solemnly, completely losing her previous melancholy.
—She would absolutely bring her Trainer the ultimate victory.
"Alright! While we still have time, let's hurry outside and do some special training!"
Feeling the resolve conveyed by Floragato, Hakuya prepared to fulfill his duties as a Trainer.
It wasn't just about specially training Floragato to increase her proficiency with [Low Kick]. By grinding wild encounters in the tall grass, maybe Latias could randomly learn [Aura Sphere] too. With dual Fighting-type moves, taking down that Wonder Guard Regigigas would become much easier.
"Meowha~" "La-woo~" "Nai~"
After cleaning up the kitchen, Hakuya led Floragato and the others in a grand march toward the tall grass outside of town. And not long after, a sigh of admiration echoed within the once-again silent wooden cabin.
"Not bad, not bad at all. Truly worthy of being the Child of God I selected..."
Leaning against the doorframe, having shed her "mom" attire and changed back into a luxurious, black taffeta silk gown, Cogita watched the retreating figures of Hakuya and his Pokémon—whose goal was to train Floragato's Fighting-type move—as they gradually disappeared at the end of the road in Littleroot Town. The corners of her mouth curled up slightly, revealing a smile capable of captivating all living beings.
"He didn't blindly pursue power, but rather was able to promptly perceive and respond to the feelings of his Pokémon. Very well done." Within her beautiful grayish-brown eyes, Cogita made no effort to hide her pleasant surprise and admiration for the Child of God.
She had been downstairs just now and completely overheard the conversation between Hakuya and Floragato.
Pokémon were not machines, nor were they tools to be driven by humans.
They also felt happiness, sorrow, anger, and sadness. The emotions they could express were identical to humans. Treating them merely as pets, rather than as independent individuals like humans, was fundamentally wrong.
Mhm.
Rather than saying Pokémon are like humans, it's more accurate to say that humans are also a type of Pokémon.
"Mmm..."
As if recalling something, Cogita suddenly seemed to have her primary personality take over. Her delicate hands, clad in black silk gloves, instinctively caressed the sides of her cheeks. Her previously mature, alluring aura underwent a sudden shift, and a sickly, obsessive smile gradually spread across her face.
I really, really, really, really, REALLY... love this kind of Child of God—
Whether it's his decisive and brave demeanor when commanding battles, or his genuine, unreserved love for his Pokémon in daily life... I love them both...
I really want to lock the Child of God up in here, so I can keep watching him up close like this forever~ But it didn't take long for her to shake her head and dismiss the thought.
It would be incredibly satisfying, yes, but the price would highly likely be earning the Child of God's hatred. "What if I used another method... like extending the amount of time the Child of God can stay in the randomized world?" Moving her black-silk-clad hands away from her face, Cogita furrowed her delicate brows, seemingly considering this plan very seriously.
According to her initial settings, based on the time flow of the randomized world, the Child of God could only stay here for a maximum of 12 hours a day. Once the time limit was reached, no matter what activity he was engaged in, he would be forcefully logged out.
But right now, not only did she want to observe this Child of God more, but in order to defeat that Wonder Guard Regigigas, the Child of God surely also wanted to temper himself a bit longer in the randomized world to increase that cat's proficiency with her Fighting-type move—
Compared to forcefully building a small dark confinement room and locking him up, Cogita ultimately decided it was better to give him ample initiative.
"Hmm... A Child of God who loves growing stronger absolutely wouldn't refuse to stay here a little longer, right~" Cogita smiled.