Chapter 163: I'll Jungle with Pikachu; If You Don't Let Me, I'll Feed.
2024-05-15 Author: Samsung Charmander
Ash and his companions followed the tech researcher into an elevator, heading toward the 7th floor of the Celadon Building.
"I don't think I've ever heard of Game Freak before," Ash whispered to his two companions inside the elevator.
When he was little, he always went to the Back Mountain with Gary and Blue to catch Bug Pokémon and go fishing. He basically never stayed home to play with any game consoles.
He considered game consoles to be something that led people to ruin.
"A few years ago, I played a new game they released called 'Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.' The quality was average, I guess, but there were a lot of Pokémon in it that I'd never seen before," Brock explained.
"I just played their 'Pokémon Sword and Shield' last year, and they pulled that stunt where they cut a bunch of Pokémon, which really disgusted me. My beloved Staryu and Starmie were all blocked at customs. I smashed my game console right then and there."
Misty, standing to the side, spoke in a huff, not at all trying to hide her anger in front of the tech guy.
If her three sisters hadn't stopped her back then, she would have led a protest march in Cerulean City.
"Heh heh, but we've now approved Starmie in the latest DLC..." the tech guy said with a dry laugh.
Misty shot him a Leer, her tone unfriendly. "That's something you should have done in the first place. Do you need me to praise you for it?"
"Heh heh, it's mainly because the workload was just too massive. We also have to focus on R&D in other areas, and we just couldn't spare the manpower, so we had to temporarily cut some of the Pokémon."
"If you don't have enough people, then hire more."
"Exactly. You're making top-tier money, but you're still short-staffed. What are you running here, a family business?"
The tech guy: "..."
He was already starting to regret bringing the three of them to the company.
Ash, on the other hand, was enjoying the show from the sidelines. After all, he was a complete outsider and didn't understand the mindset of gamers.
Entering the Game Freak office, the space was quite open, but there weren't many desks. A quick scan revealed only about thirty workstations, many of which were empty.
It was a weekday, and many employees were at their posts, working. This tech guy was probably some kind of supervisor; when he entered, the employees all greeted him before burying their heads back in their computers and phones.
"Wait here for a moment. I'm going inside to get something for you."
The tech guy made a gesture for them to be patient, then turned and entered an inner room.
With nothing to do, Ash looked around curiously. He noticed four people at the nearest row of desks whispering to each other, pointing at their phones as if they were discussing something, so he inquisitively leaned in closer.
Each of the four employees was holding a full-screen smartphone with a chrysanthemum logo on it.
On their screens was the same game, the one they had seen on the billboard outside called "Pokémon UNITE." Thanks to the built-in voice chat, they could even talk directly to their teammates.
UNITE was still in its beta phase, but quite a few accounts had been released. Its popularity was high, and many employees were playing it.
"I'm first pick, mid-lane Charizard. I'm a veteran booster, you can check my battle record."
"Picks 2 and 3, Cloyster and Onix, we've got bottom lane covered. As long as we don't feed, it's an easy win."
"Hey, I'm 4th pick, jungle Pikachu. If you don't let me, I'll feed."
These four employees were in a four-stack, playing the same match. They had claimed their positions the moment they got in, leaving the fifth player, a random, to confusedly take his Squirtle to the top lane.
A real headache for the little guy.
Although Brock and Misty were players of mainstream turn-based games, they couldn't help but lean in to watch.
One look was all it took to be shocked. The battle was incredibly intense. By the three-minute mark, the jungle Pikachu had already been killed twice by wild Pokémon.
Four minutes in, the mid-lane Charmander had been killed three times. The opposing Bulbasaur had already evolved into Ivysaur, while he was still just a Charmander.
Five minutes in, their bottom-lane tower had been destroyed. Cloyster and Onix didn't dare get close, so they could only hang back at the Spring and watch their recall animations.
And what do you know, the recall animations for Cloyster and Onix even had a connected easter egg.
Finally, the random player who had been soaking pressure in the top lane until he evolved into a Blastoise couldn't take it anymore. He had fought hard to get a score of 1-0, but then he looked at the team's total score: 1-28. He switched on his mic and started to let loose a torrent of abuse.
"Why the fuck are you playing jungle Pikachu? Are you just strolling through the jungle to pick out a grave for your mom?"
"I could sprinkle rice on my phone and a chicken would play better than you."
"And you two faggots in the bot lane, are you still pounding each other?"
He flamed all four of them. A heavy hitter on the internet, he went all out online. This provoked the four-stack, and they immediately joined the flame war.
"To be honest, the top laner is the brain-dead one."
"We tower-dived their second tower at level 1, top had teleport and didn't come?"
"This Squirtle must be an actor, right?"
"How dare you run your mouth at 1-0? Why don't you check your own stats first?"
The Squirtle player nearly coughed up a liter of blood. The jungle Pikachu was 0-17—you're the worst one here, and you have the nerve to look down on someone who's 1-0?
Finally, he turned off the voice chat and typed a line on the screen, his mood hitting rock bottom.
"It's 15, surrender. If you don't, your whole family dies tonight."
The other four simply stayed AFK in the Spring and aimed all their verbal attacks at the Squirtle.
"Guys, let's all report the top laner for going AFK."
"So terrible."
"How dare he show off with a 1-0 score?"
A game with 10 players: 5 lucky ones, 4 orphans, and 1 unlucky soul. That's all.
Ash and his two companions: "..."
This game really makes you waste your breath.
Soon, the tech guy came out, holding three brick-like devices, each with a red and a blue controller attached to its sides.
"This is the latest Nintendo Switch developed by our company. Please take them as souvenirs. Not only do they have the newest Sword and Shield games, but they also have the entire series of past games. It's a special custom edition."
The tech guy smiled as he handed the three custom Nintendo Switch consoles to them.
"The entire series!?"
Brock and Misty, both gamers, had their eyes light up as they quickly accepted the two consoles.
Although Ash didn't quite get it, he felt it was impressive and accepted the Nintendo Switch as well.
But to be honest, he wasn't very interested in turn-based games. He was actually more interested in that Pokémon Glory game they were just playing.
Not only could it train one's hand speed, but it could also help one develop great eloquence. It was truly a healthy and self-cultivating game.
"Don't look down on turn-based games. If you familiarize yourself with turn-based Pokémon combat, you might find inspiration for your real-life Pokémon battles."
The tech guy wasn't just talking nonsense with this statement. Many Elite Trainers were, in fact, high-level turn-based players. Although the two battle styles were vastly different, there were still countless things one could learn from.
It was just that in this world, most players only played to clear the story. Their understanding of turn-based strategy was basically zero, and they had no sportsmanship whatsoever.
Hearing this, Ash could only put the Nintendo Switch into his backpack. Suddenly, he thought of something and asked, "Speaking of which, since you're an expert on games, I have a question. Is it possible for something like this to happen: a human crossing over into the digital world of a game, or a character from the digital world crossing over into our real world?"
He was, of course, talking about the Red in his mind.
"How could that be possible? The real world and the digital world are two completely different concepts. How could they possibly be connected?" the tech guy immediately retorted.
Ash immediately retorted back, "That's not a reason. Isn't there a Pokémon called Porygon? I heard it can already travel from the real world into the digital world."
He had heard people talking about it back in Saffron City. Although the technology wasn't perfect, it was indeed possible.
The tech guy frowned slightly. As an expert in this field, he naturally knew about a Pokémon like Porygon.
"Alright, let's assume these two worlds can be connected. But characters in the digital world are, in the end, just tool-like puppets. There's no possibility of them having any intelligence. Unless..."
"Unless?" Ash's eyes lit up with curiosity.
"Unless a character in the game develops advanced intelligence, to the point of realizing the fact that they are a game character, and thus transcends the digital world... Haha, but that's too much like metaphysics. I guarantee with my 20 years of experience as a programmer that such an absurd thing could never happen. They're just NPCs made of 1s and 0s."
As he spoke, the tech guy suddenly burst out laughing, thinking Ash was just speaking casually.
Ash didn't say anything more. After wandering around for a bit, he left the Game Freak office with his companions.
(end of chapter)