2:00 PM

  Leaving behind the heart-breaking Route 102 and Petalburg City, Hakuya, Sprigatito, and the others continued along Route 104, heading toward the location of the first Gym—Rustboro City.

  Unlike the nerve-wracking, high-stakes early routes, none of the NPCs along this road had rolled any challenging Pokémon.

  The only thing that made his eyes light up was the 30,000 Poké Dolrs the system rewarded him with after he defeated the Rich Lass at the entrance of Petalburg Woods.

  Just as Hakuya crossed Route 104 and officially reached the entrance of Petalburg Woods, the bushes rustled, and a ridiculously edgy, dramatic shout almost scared them half to death.

  "I am absolutely certain that I have caught the strongest Pokémon in the world. Do you want to test it out?!"

  The NPCs in Randomized Emerald didn't just have disgusting team comps; even their ways of spawning were deeply cursed.

  —Some would jump out of the waist-high grass right when you were grinding wild encounters and completely off guard. Others, like this guy, would scream from a mile away before you even saw them, instantly dragging you into a battle phase.

  "Sprigatito, looks like another absolutely broken, toxic NPC. Get ready to fight."

  "Nya-ha~"

  Hearing that opening line about "catching the strongest Pokémon in the world," Hakuya instinctively gulped, starting to break into a cold sweat.

  Sprigatito bared her tiny fangs, looking as if she were facing a lethal threat.

  Both trainer and Pokémon naturally assumed they were about to fight something like a Desote Land Reshiram, a Contrary Rayquaza, or some other absurdly overpowered monstrosity.

  But then, a fsh of white light erupted, and the Bug Catcher, radiating the aura of a grandmaster, sent out his pride and joy as his lead Pokémon.

  —Waving its violin-string-like forearms, a creature whose only memorable trait was its cry... a Kricketune.

  Seriously, they had scared themselves over nothing.

  Hakuya wiped the sweat threatening to roll down his cheek with a trembling hand, letting out a heavy sigh of relief.

  What kind of tier did Kricketune belong to?

  It was a bug you could find everywhere in the Sinnoh region, more common than stray dogs in Kanto.

  Sure, as a Bug-type, it was bulkier than Pheromosa, hit harder physically than Volcarona, completely outcssed Buzzwole in Special Attack, and was even faster than Guzma's ace, Golisopod.

  Even Aaron, the Bug-type Elite Four member of the Sinnoh region, couldn't handle Kricketune's "overwhelming power." He preferred to bring two early-route Hoenn bugs—Beautifly and Dustox—rather than risk using a native Sinnoh Kricketune.

  To sum it up in one sentence: Come back when you get another evolution into something actually useful!

  "Sprigatito, fire off a Leafage first to test its build."

  Despite mentally thrashing Kricketune into the dirt, Hakuya didn't drop his guard right away.

  Knowing the bullshit nature of Randomized Emerald, it wasn't entirely impossible for this bug to have rolled the Wonder Guard ability.

  He still needed to probe it to see exactly what kind of build he was dealing with.

  Surprisingly, faced with Sprigatito's speedy assault, the Bug Catcher actually chose to switch out.

  Repcing Kricketune was a Barboach—a Pokémon that, in every conceivable way, was just as mediocre.

  With an Unnerve ability that stopped opponents from eating Berries, a pitifully low base stat total, and a quadruple weakness to Grass, it was instantly vaporized by Sprigatito's increasingly practiced [Leafage] the moment it popped out of the ball.

  Just as Hakuya thought the opponent was completely out of options, another ridiculously hyped-up shout echoed out.

  "Ohoho! Looks like you aren't half bad!"

  Paying zero attention to his Barboach getting one-shot upon entry, the Bug Catcher still looked insanely confident. He took a deep, pious breath, and threw Kricketune's Poké Ball back out.

  And then.

  Kricketune actually transformed into something greater.

  [Kricketune's All-Around Transformation! Kricketune has entered its All-Around Form.]

  "So when he said 'the strongest Pokémon' earlier... this is what he meant?"

  Staring at the ability notification next to Kricketune, Hakuya nodded in sudden realization.

  He didn't expect this guy to have rolled the exact same [All-Around Transformation] ability as Sprigatito.

  Unlike other typings, even if you looked across the entire Pokémon franchise, the highest base stat total for a Bug-type was only 600, far outcssed by the broken monsters of other types. So, in a way, through the eyes of a Bug Catcher who loved Bug-types to death, an All-Around Form Kricketune really was the strongest Pokémon in the world.

  If Hakuya only had Sprigatito on his team, considering the type disadvantage, he probably would have gotten violently elbowed out of existence by this Bug Catcher all over again.

  But unfortunately for the Bug Catcher, he wasn't alone.

  "To deal with a guy like you, this one is definitely more suitable!"

  Hakuya recalled Sprigatito to her Poké Ball and sent out Milcery to take the field.

  "Nai~"

  Milcery tilted her head, curiously examining the opponent in front of her.

  On the other side, for some unknown reason, the moment he saw that tiny, cream-colored figure appear, the brainless, thoughtless, and fearless Bug Catcher suddenly stiffened, unable to ugh anymore.

  Fact: Milcery's ability was [Wonder Guard], granting her immunity to all attacks that weren't super effective.

  Fact: Even if you flipped through Lord Kricketune's entire move pool, you wouldn't find a single Poison-type or Steel-type move to counter a Fairy-type.

  In other words, this was a battle where the final outcome was determined before a single blow was struck.

  At this moment, Kricketune unleashed an all-out [X-Scissor]. Milcery didn't move an inch. Instead, the built-in forcefield of Wonder Guard caused the attacking Kricketune to bounce back several meters.

  Bug Catcher: The strongest Pokémon... will it win?

  Lord Kricketune remained expressionless, simply raising a thumb in response: Nah, I'd win.

  ...

  Three minutes ter, walking past the Bug Catcher whose very soul and martial heart had been shattered, Hakuya suddenly felt a deep sense of guilt.

  After all, he had effortlessly crushed a young boy's dream and casually pocketed his years of saved-up allowance.

  "I feel like letting Milcery steamroll him the entire time was a bit too cruel. At the very least, I should have sent Sprigatito out first to give him a passionate, back-and-forth battle."

  Hakuya looked up at the sky and sighed.

  He suddenly saw his past self from a week ago in that Bug Catcher.

  Just as confident, only to get mercilessly fttened like a stray dog by the overpowered monsters along the route.

  "Nya-ha-ha~"

  Sprigatito hopped onto her trainer's shoulder and gently patted him with her fluffy paws.

  Shortly after, having been comforted by his little grass cat, Hakuya found himself entirely incapable of empathizing with his earlier guilty feelings.

  "Yeah... you make a lot of sense, Sprigatito..."

  Hakuya nodded, thoroughly agreeing with Sprigatito's logic.

  "If Kricketune wants to be the strongest Pokémon, one evolution clearly isn't enough. It needs to evolve one more time to expand that pathetic move pool of its!"