Interact with Green.
Without hesitation, Rei Akagi immediately accepted Green's childish challenge—whoever obtained the Gym Badge first would win.
Then he revealed an extremely sinister smile.
What followed could only be described as a textbook example of tailing and freeloading.
Red sneakily followed behind Green, keeping a safe distance.
Once Green finished clearing out the Gym's preliminary trainers and logged onto the final battle platform—
Just as he was about to start—
Red suddenly appeared from behind him.
Before Green could even react, Red jumped onto the battlefield first, leaving him staring in shock.
The camera focused.
The Pewter City Gym Leader, the rock-solid squinting-eyed man—Brock—entered the scene.
"Brock: Challenger! State your name!"
Instead of answering immediately, Rei Akagi began carefully explaining the rules to the audience.
"In Gym challenges, the order of collecting badges isn't fixed. The core duty of a Gym is to discover promising rookie Trainers, so Gym Leaders will usually send out at least three Pokémon to face challengers."
"Depending on how many badges you've already earned, later Gym challenges will gradually increase in difficulty."
"But it's worth noting—Gym battles during the badge quest don't represent a Leader's full strength. If you want to fight a Gym Leader at their absolute best, try talking to them again after becoming the Pokémon League Champion."
"So you can challenge Gyms in any order?"
"You can come back after becoming Champion and fight the Gym Leaders at full strength?! This game actually has a hidden post-game challenge!"
"Brock is a real man!"
"Alright, enough chatter."
Rei Akagi was about to start explaining the strategy when he suddenly seemed to remember something.
A mysterious smile appeared on his face.
He quietly took out his phone and tapped a few buttons backstage.
"Actually, when it comes to understanding the Pewter Gym, I think someone in this livestream has more authority to speak about it than anyone else."
Amid a flood of confused "???" in the chat, Rei Akagi opened the live call feature, precisely located a certain ID in the viewer list, and sent an invitation.
"Connecting…"
"Brock has joined the livestream channel."
"Who's Rock-Solid? Wait—why is the ID verified as Pewter Gym Leader?!"
"Holy crap! He just got doxxed!"
"Good morning, afternoon, and evening everyone. Would you like to explain the key points for challenging the Pewter Gym to our viewers, Leader Brock?"
Rei Akagi spoke in a familiar tone.
His relationship with Brock was quite good. In the past, they'd often spent time together discussing the subtle differences between Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys across different cities.
"The Gym Leader in the game is basically a 1:1 recreation of the real one," Rei Akagi added.
"And if anyone is interested in Rock-type Pokémon, the real Pewter Gym is always open. Brock is a great Trainer."
"Haha, no problem at all! Let me explain how to conquer the Pewter Gym!"
Brock's voice sounded cheerful yet steady.
He seemed a bit surprised.
In the background, faint clattering of a spatula and the chatter of children could be heard.
"I was just making dinner for my younger siblings while watching the stream… didn't expect Teacher Salted Fish to suddenly connect with me…"
A moment later, Brock realized Rei Akagi's intention.
This was basically free advertising for him.
Pewter Gym was already well-known, but attracting more challengers was always good.
What a great friend!
Thinking this, Brock's already narrow eyes seemed to squint even more as he continued enthusiastically:
"Teacher Salted Fish was absolutely right earlier! The purpose of Gyms is to discover and guide new Trainers' potential!"
"So in the game, I'd guess that I'd send out Geodude, Graveler, and my ace—Onix!"
At that very moment in the game, Brock indeed sent out Geodude first.
Exactly matching real-life Brock's prediction.
"Now that the lineup is clear, let's talk tactics!"
Brock's voice carried the authority of a Gym Leader.
"As a test of a challenger's ability to withstand pressure, I personally love using Self-Destruct strategies! It forces challengers to make instant decisions under pressure!"
"Finally, my ace Onix will finish the battle like a rolling boulder, crushing the challenger with unstoppable momentum!"
He paused briefly.
Then his voice suddenly rose with passion.
"Because a true man must remain rock-solid even in the fiercest storm!"
"Leader Brock's analysis is spot-on!"
Rei Akagi chimed in while continuing to issue commands.
"But we have Gastly. Normal-type moves don't affect us at all. If we switch at the right moment, we can perfectly avoid the Self-Destruct strategy."
Before he even finished speaking—
In the game, Brock took a deep breath and shouted:
"Brock: Geodude! Self-Destruct!"
"Come back, Bulbasaur—go, Gastly!"
Rei Akagi's command flowed smoothly.
A flash of red light—
Gastly appeared, completely immune to the Self-Destruct explosion.
"The Pewter Gym Leader personally teaching me how to beat the Pewter Gym… Am I crazy, or is the world crazy?"
"Got it. I'm preparing right now—going to challenge Pewter Gym later."
"A true man! That's awesome!"
"Leader Brock's analysis was great! Teacher Salted Fish's command timing was perfect!"
The livestream viewer count reached another new high.
With Brock's strategic explanation, Rei Akagi's Gym battle proceeded as smoothly as a boat drifting downstream.
When Onix finally collapsed, Red successfully obtained his first Gym Badge—
The Boulder Badge.
"Let's thank Leader Brock again for his strong support. Trainers with confidence in their skills are welcome to challenge the Pewter Gym anytime."
Rei Akagi ended the call.
He then guided Red to slip out of the Gym while deliberately avoiding Green.
Just as the audience held their breath, eagerly expecting him to rush toward Mt. Moon and continue Red's legendary adventure—
He suddenly said something completely out of place.
"Ahem… that's probably enough for today's demo."
"If you want to know what happens next, don't forget to follow Teacher Salted Fish. I'll stream again when I have time…"
He deliberately dragged out the final words.
"So then… ja ne~"
The livestream screen instantly went black.
"Did it lag? Why is the screen black?"
"I swear to—%￥&*… I already took my pants off and you just leave?!"
"Refund! Refund! Refund!"
"Give me my money back!!!"
After ending the stream, Rei Akagi let out a long sigh.
He gently placed the drooling, sleeping Gastly onto the bed and carefully tucked in the blanket.
Only after finishing did he take out his phone and open the game development group chat.
The first thing he saw was a message from Red.
The Battler: "!"
The Battler: "@DreamingOfRetiredSaltedFish"
The Battler: "Brother Rei Akagi! What about Mt. Moon?! I gave you all my allowance today and you still tricked me!!!"
Rei Akagi ignored it.
Instead, he tapped Add Group Member.
"DreamingOfRetiredSaltedFish invited 'Rock-Solid' to the group chat."
DreamingOfRetiredSaltedFish: "@Rock-Solid This is the Pokémon game discussion group. Feel free to chat whenever you're free."
The Evolver: "Welcome newcomer. Group status -1."
The Breeder: "-1."
The Healer: "-1."
The Battler: "?"
The Battler: "-1."
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