And these few selectable talents... It's hard to pick even among the shorties.
Could it be that the simulation target is a passionate, luck-based player who relies solely on connections?
After much deliberation, he decided on the last two.
Being weak and often ill might trigger during the conference according to past simulation experiences, and a poor family background could lead to an overall weaker Pokémon team, resulting in just securing a minimum guarantee.
But Heart Like Iron Stone, at first glance, seems like a negative talent, maybe it has a miraculous effect in the story?
With anticipation, he clicked start.
——
[Simulation Start]
A familiar pixelated style, in front of a building with a façade full of dazzling neon lights.
Automatic sensor doors suddenly opened.
Two pixelated figures dressed as waiters threw out an old man in gray clothes and a Poliwhirl, angered soybean expressions on their foreheads.
[At the age of fifty-seven, you were thrown out by the staff of Yuhong Game City for harassing customers]
Baimu: "…Huh?"
How old? How old is the simulation target?
Fifty-seven years old!
He never expected that this time the simulation target would be a fifty-seven-year-old man, and judging by the pixel art, it must be a Gambler in the game!
No wonder the fixed talent is Time for a Change, no wonder there's Poor Family Background and Weak and Often Ill!
No wonder it's a Poliwhirl!
A fifty-seven-year-old Trainer belongs to almost retirement age! Even Dr. Da Mu at this age has to accept getting old!
Do you think you're Agatha, Genji, or Adaike?
The previous Uncle Ranch had already made Baimu complain endlessly, but he didn't expect this time would be even more explosive!
How does someone this age join a conference?
Have to say.
Although this simulation target is too outrageous, it has indeed piqued his curiosity.
Baimu watched the screen with great interest, seeing the white-bearded bald gambler in the pixelated style, even in such style it was evident how unkempt the gambler was, getting helped up by Poliwhirl.
Then he was taken away by two Men in Black running out of a nearby alley.
The screen darkened.
Then brightened again.
The gambler and Poliwhirl arrived at a rundown warehouse, in front of them stood many Men in Black, the leader's chest bore a strikingly eye-catching blood-red capital "R".
Rocket Team?
[You heard the other party demand you to repay your debt, expressing helplessly that you have not a penny on you, otherwise you wouldn't have harassed people in the arcade for a few gaming chips]
Still in debt...
Good gracious, turns out it's an old-age gambling addict?
Baimu was quite surprised that after the Rocket Team Member, he again stumbled upon someone of lower moral standing.
And naturally, the Rocket Team wasn't so understanding, regardless of how old the gambler was, they beat him up upon hearing he couldn't pay back.
After the exaggerated stars and smoke disappeared.
The gambler and Poliwhirl lay on the ground panting heavily.
[You admit that you really can't repay the high-interest loan, even if you sell yourself and Poliwhirl it wouldn't cover the debt]
Are they going to take kidneys?
Baimu raised an eyebrow, but unfortunately, the Rocket Team seemed uninterested in the gambler and Poliwhirl.
The narration relayed the leader of the Rocket Team's disdainful words, basically saying the gambler and Poliwhirl were too old to sell to anyone.
Good gracious, even the Pokémon are long in the tooth?
Tsk tsk.
The Rocket Team is truly rampant in Kanto, no one cares about them selling high-interest loans?
Just as Baimu wondered how the gambler would escape, the Rocket Team Member gave the gambler a suggestion to repay the debt: participate in the Quartz Conference, using the championship rewards to pay back some of the money.
[You quickly shook your head, saying that you are too old to battle against others]
The gambler at least had a sense of self-awareness, having never been a powerful Trainer in his youth, hardly possible to rise up in old age?
However, the Rocket Team didn't care about that.
The narration stated that if the gambler couldn't repay his or his gambling son's debts, they would cause trouble for the grandson hidden in a countryside town.
Tie them up and drown them at Kuye Port.
[Your body froze]
No way? He has a son, and even the son is a gambling addict?!
Baimu sucked in a cold breath, thinking is gambling something that can be genetically inherited? Grandpa gambled, dad gambled too, and passed away early.
This unlucky grandson must have started with a grand opening.
He couldn't imagine if he were in the grandson's shoes, without any special circumstances attending to, besides joining the Rocket Team and working for them a lifetime, what other options there could be.
The gambler on-screen transitioned from silence to madness.
[You kowtowed to those people, begging them not to harm your grandson, the other side remained unmoved, leaving you no choice but to agree]
Huh?
Isn't it supposed to be Heart Like Iron Stone?
Baimu initially thought that the gambler wouldn't concern himself with his grandson's future outcome, given the talent laid here, surprisingly he was very concerned.
Where is the Heart Like Iron Stone exactly?
With this doubt, the gambler in the scene was forced to begin his Gym challenge journey.
[You have no confidence in yourself, nor do you know how to defeat those powerful Gym Leaders, the Rocket Team Member mockingly tells you to steal, rob, or even gamble, something you excel at]
[Looking at Poliwhirl, you suddenly have an idea]
Under Baimu's curious gaze, the gambler arrived at the nearby Yuhong Gym.
A fifty-seven-year-old elder Trainer challenging the Gym is an outright sensation, the personnel receiving the gambler often looked at him, foreheads filled with various incomprehensible expressions.
What surprised Baimu was that the Yuhong Gym Leader was an unfamiliar male pixel figure.
Where's Lijia?
Where's my big Lijia?!
[You shyly greeted the Gym Leader]
Baimu watched the gambler and that unfamiliar Gym Leader enter a battle, realizing this story might take place a long, long time ago, at least before Lijia became the Yuhong Gym Leader.
Then suddenly.
Something even more jaw-dropping happened.
The gambler's tactical style was almost nonexistent, from start to finish he only gave Poliwhirl one command —
[Earth Split].
In other words, this fellow didn't bother with any complicated tactics, much like his profession as a gambler, he bet everything on one move: [Earth Split].
If it didn't hit, then he'd get beaten up, even if it meant getting beaten up until he couldn't battle anymore.
So, Heart Like Iron Stone is here... Baimu was speechless, but could somewhat understand the gambler's thinking, according to what the Rocket Team said, both the gambler and Poliwhirl were old and penniless.
A normal battle wouldn't be a match for the Gym Leader, only [Earth Split] offered a desperate gamble.
He won the gamble.
Then naturally the Badge was secured.
And just like the gambler's talent [Time for a Change], looking at the absurd idea paired with gambling determination, he really took down two of the Yuhong Gym Leader's Pokémon with Earth Split.
Since it's the first Gym, defeating two Pokémon awarded the gambler the final victory.
[You defeated the Yuhong Gym Leader, earning the Yuhong Badge]
"Whoa… impressive…"
Baimu felt a slight admiration for the gambler, but how far could such a tactic take him?
In Pokémon battles within animations it's not like in games, if he played games like this, perhaps he might really break through the whole league.
But a fact is.
This extraordinary world always has one or two extraordinary people.
Successfully acquiring the Yuhong Badge instilled confidence in the gambler regarding challenging the league conference, he borrowed money from the Rocket Team again as funds for travel expansion and expanding the Pokémon team, and embarked on the journey.
"You can still borrow money like this? The Rocket Team's brains seem not very bright."
Baimu was running out of places to complain.
Lucky enough to coincidentally secure a badge enables borrowing money, does the Rocket Team have more money than they can spend?
The gambler's next target is Golden City located east of Yuhong City, if not knowing the story's year, Baimu reckoned this guy probably would get stuck here.
How could Nazi be easily downed by a [One-hit Kill Class] move?
Unfortunately, in the simulation's era, the Golden City Gym Leader was a karate champion using Fighting-type Pokémon.
[You started challenging the Golden Gym]
Consistently using Earth Split from start to end, Baimu sensed the muscle-bound Gym Leader on the screen seemed almost speechless, never having faced such a Trainer.
An Earth Split warrior roaming the world!?