7:00 AM

  [Route 102]

  Seeing that Contrary Rayquaza baring its fangs and charging right at his face again, Hakuya defaulted to his switching strategy.

  Sprigatito, his lead Pokémon, turned into a fsh of white light and retreated into her Poké Ball. Milcery immediately took her pce, easily blocking the attack. Even in the face of the ferocious [Dragon Ascent], Milcery didn't take a single step back, standing her ground like a god of war.

  Watching this practically perfect opening, Hakuya let out a small sigh of relief.

  Fortunately, this NPC bot only knew how to spam attacks for now. Its AI wasn't advanced enough to predict switches; otherwise, it would have been a real headache.

  "Rayquaza, use Iron Head."

  Seeing its previous attack fail, the Rayquaza immediately changed tactics for the next turn.

  It was the same familiar routine: outspeeding, spiraling high into the sky, and then violently smashing its steel-blue glowing head down.

  In terms of raw power, an Adamant-nature Rayquaza with maxed-out Attack EVs could absolutely obliterate Milcery with a single [Iron Head].

  But things were different today. As the Iron Head crashed down, there was a crisp snap of a Focus Sash breaking. When the dust settled, Milcery was still standing on the field without a single compint, her small back radiating a stubborn will to fight.

  "Great job, Milcery! Hit it back with Draining Kiss!"

  Milcery shook her small head, still a bit dizzy from the collision with Rayquaza, and blew a flying kiss right back at it.

  Super effective, dealing double the damage!

  "Nai~"

  After draining nearly two-thirds of the opponent's health bar, Milcery turned around. She only had enough time to spsh some whipped cream to cheer on her teammate before she was completely knocked out by Rayquaza's second Iron Head.

  Entering the field once again, Sprigatito looked up at the whipped cream forming a thumbs-up in the air. Her eyes welled up slightly, and she immediately arched her back.

  "Sprigatito, finish it off with Bite!"

  "Nya-ha-ha!!!"

  Even though the Contrary ability had raised its Defense by one stage earlier, facing Sprigatito's ultimate arched-back predator stance, the roadblock Rayquaza let out a wail and crashed heavily to the ground.

  [Defeated the School Kid on the side of the road. Received 1,500 Poké Dolrs.]

  Looking at the little girl who was completely at a loss after her defeat, sobbing with snot and tears streaming down her face, Hakuya felt absolutely zero sympathy.

  Skipping school at such a young age and bringing a Rayquaza to block the road instead? What would she do when she grew up?

  She needed to be properly educated right here, right now!!!

  Half a minute ter, looking at the two stacks of Poké Dolrs he had ruthlessly extorted, Hakuya nodded in satisfaction.

  As for why he couldn't just snatch that Rayquaza's Poké Ball away...

  On one hand, this game clearly hadn't implemented the option to kick down Gyms, punch out the Pokémon League, and join Team Rocket.

  On the other hand, once the battle was completely over, Hakuya was surprised to find that the Rayquaza's Poké Ball had simply vanished into thin air. It was as if its sole purpose for existing was to let them experience the intensity of a high-ELO match.

  Continuing down Route 102, the Bug Catchers and Beauty NPCs that followed completely cked that overpowered boss aura. After battling them, he found they all used baby teams with base stats under 250.

  Watching a Magikarp use Spsh for zero damage on turn one, then loaf around due to the Truant ability on turn two, Hakuya's lip twitched. In the end, he used Sprigatito's All-Around Form to teach the overly confident, long-haired Beauty a harsh lesson.

  Immediately after, bzing through the route and taking down every trainer in his path, Hakuya finally crossed Route 102 and arrived in Petalburg City.

  Compared to Littleroot Town and Oldale Town, this pce was significantly rger.

  According to the normal storyline, the first thing to do in Petalburg City was to visit the Gym Leader—the pyer's father.

  After Hakuya walked through the automatic sliding doors of the Gym, he barely had time to exchange a few words with his in-game father—who was dangerously close to balding in the middle—before a green-haired boy in a long-sleeved shirt and pants rushed inside.

  "Um... since I'm moving to Verdanturf Town to live with my retives, could you please help me catch a Pokémon?"

  Just like Sapphire, this frail-looking boy named Wally was destined to become a future rival.

  Upon hearing Wally's request, Norman, who was busy with Gym duties and knew he couldn't get away, simply turned his head and dumped the task onto Hakuya, who was standing to the side eating sunflower seeds and mashing the skip button for the cutscene.

  Next up was the standard, mundane Pokémon-catching tutorial.

  However, unlike the original story, Wally didn't encounter a Ralts in the tall grass. Instead, it was repced by a Shedinja.

  A Shedinja with exactly 1 HP and without the Wonder Guard ability.

  Watching Wally throw a Poké Ball, successfully catch it, and light up with joy, Hakuya hesitated to speak.

  With a starter Pokémon like that, could he really punch his way through this chaotic, nightmare-filled Randomized Emerald?

  He'd probably get sent to the afterlife by one of Hoenn's weather trio jumping out of the grass the moment he started his journey.

  After sitting through the basic catching tutorial and being forced into an agreement with his Gym Leader father to "come back and challenge Petalburg Gym after getting four badges," Hakuya finally walked out the Gym doors just like Wally.

  Logically, he should have looked for the town exit and headed down the road to Rustboro City. But after witnessing Wally's capture firsthand, despite feeling pity for the kid's doomed future, Hakuya had to admit that his own urge to catch Pokémon had been ignited.

  "Come on, let's go stock up at the Poké Mart first!"

  "Nya-ha~"

  Perched on his shoulder, Sprigatito tilted her head in confusion.

  Because it didn't take long for her to realize that her trainer wasn't sweeping all the Poké Balls off the shelves at once. Instead, he tirelessly picked up exactly ten at a time, repeatedly interacting with the NPC cashier.

  "Nya-ha~"

  So buying them in batches of ten got you a better-looking Premier Ball for free?!

  After exchanging all his cold, hard Poké Dolrs for a warm, bulky stash of Poké Balls, Hakuya dove headfirst back into the tall grass of Route 102.

  The moment his foot touched the grass, a terrifying, overwhelming pressure assaulted him.

  "Mewtwo?"

  Looking at the pink-and-white figure that leaped out of the grass, Hakuya instantly shouted in excitement.

  "I have to say, Legendaries really are as common as stray dogs on the side of the road here."

  Although it hadn't randomized away from its vanil Pressure ability, it still had Legendary base stats. It was worth catching!

  "I have exactly 220 Poké Balls on me. There's no way I won't catch it, right?"

  Gncing at his system inventory stuffed to the brim with Poké Balls, Hakuya confidently sent Milcery out.

  —Encountered the Master Ball-Scammer Mewtwo by the road. It kept baiting him with three shakes, but even after throwing every single Poké Ball, he still couldn't catch it.

  Half an hour ter, after frantically rummaging through his backpack several times and confirming he was completely out of Poké Balls, Hakuya had no choice but to order Milcery to use Tackle at full power. He just wanted to knock out this stubborn Mewtwo that refused to be caught and get it off his screen.

  "Son of a bitch, that Mewtwo definitely had an Adamant nature!"

  Even after walking far away from that patch of grass, Hakuya was still grinding his teeth in pure rage.

  He had been fantasizing about recreating the miracle from a few days ago, when he caught the Shiny Milcery in just three balls. Turns out he must have used up a lifetime's worth of luck back then, and now he was getting utterly scammed by the game.

  Not only had all the Poké Balls he bought with his hard-earned cash gone down the drain, but he had thrown so many balls his arm almost cramped up.

  Now, he really had no choice but to honestly farm pocket money from the trainers along the road, then violently conquer the Rustboro Gym to increase his capture rate.