"Phew..."
Big Wave let out a long breath and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"Now that's how it's done."
He glanced down at the Weedle sitting obediently at his feet, the corners of his mouth curling into a smile.
"From now on, you're rolling with me."
Just then, a cold snort came from nearby.
Big Wave turned to look.
It was his companion, who had been standing off to the side watching with detached eyes the whole time. His face wore an expression of indifference and contempt, his gaze filled with disapproval.
"You could have just walked away."
His voice was cold and blunt, cutting through the warmth of the moment without mercy.
"The trial is what matters. Wasting time and taking risks for a worthless Weedle..."
He shook his head, as if looking at someone beyond reason.
"I don't think you made the right call."
The character Big Wave was controlling said nothing, only watching him in silence.
His companion continued, his tone growing harsher.
"Softness will only drag you down — compassion is a luxury people like us can't afford."
"In Team Rocket, staying cold is how you survive."
Apparently convinced that the protagonist was a bleeding heart destined to go nowhere, he said his piece and turned away without another glance, walking off on his own. The protagonist remained silent, offering no defense, only quietly crouching down to scoop up the injured Weedle in his arms.
The chat in the livestream erupted into debate again.
[His companion has a point, though. The trial really does matter.]
[But still... you couldn't just leave it there, could you?]
[Playing a game and suddenly it's a clash of values?]
[I think the protagonist did the right thing. What makes us human is exactly that kind of compassion.]
[But this is Team Rocket! What good is compassion here?]
Big Wave watched his companion's retreating figure and sighed.
"That guy's way too extreme. But maybe... that's just how he learned to survive in a world that harsh."
Time flew by, and before long, the in-game trial had reached its seventh day.
Over those seven days, Big Wave's protagonist and his companion had continued traveling together, though they exchanged very few words.
The Weedle, under his careful attention, had made a full recovery and now followed him everywhere, becoming his most loyal companion.
That night, a storm was coming.
The sky hung low and dark. A howling wind swept up sand and gravel from the ground, stinging against the skin.
Big Wave guided the protagonist and his companion to take shelter in a cave, while thunder rolled and boomed outside.
Without warning, a deep, ferocious roar tore through the curtain of rain and reached their ears with startling clarity.
"AWOOOO!"
The sound radiated pure savagery and killing intent, sending a chill down the spine.
Immediately after, the underbrush thrashed violently, and a massive dark shape came charging out of the darkness.
It was a berserk Mightyena!
Its frame was a full size larger than an ordinary Mightyena, its entire body radiating dark-type energy, its eyes a burning crimson, fangs bared, saliva dripping from the corners of its jaw.
The pressure it exuded was overwhelming.
Big Wave froze.
"How are we supposed to fight that?"
The other new recruits had already fallen apart, screaming and scattering in every direction, not one of them willing to stand their ground.
The Mightyena paid no attention to those fleeing underlings. Its gaze locked hard onto the protagonist and his companion.
As if sensing something, it suddenly launched off its hind legs like a black cannonball and came hurtling straight at them.
"Run!"
His companion shouted and spun to flee.
But the Mightyena was too fast. In an instant it was right on top of them.
That reeking maw gaped open, wide enough to crush a skull in a single bite.
Everyone squeezed their eyes shut, certain the protagonist was done for.
Then, in that razor-thin moment between life and death, a small figure suddenly shot out from behind the protagonist.
It was the Weedle.
Its tiny body looked almost laughably small against the Mightyena — little more than a speck of dust. But its eyes held absolute resolve, without a trace of hesitation.
It placed itself between Big Wave and the threat.
"Hissss!"
"Weedle!"
The moment clearly caught Big Wave completely off guard. He cried out involuntarily.
There was no way the Weedle could take a hit from that Mightyena!
The Mightyena's claws flashed.
But the Weedle wasn't torn apart.
The Weedle let out a cry with everything it had.
And then its body began to glow.
The light grew brighter and brighter, more and more blinding, flooding the entire cave in an instant and even outshining the lightning outside.
The Weedle was evolving!
Big Wave's eyes went wide, his heart pounding.
"It's... it's evolving?!"
Within the radiance, the Weedle's body began to change.
Its soft form hardened and transformed into a large cocoon.
Kakuna!
But it wasn't over.
The light didn't fade. If anything, it intensified.
Cracks began to spread across Kakuna's shell, and an even greater surge of energy erupted from within.
Crack. A sound like splitting bone — and the shell shattered.
Standing before them was a sleek Pokemon clad in yellow-and-black armor plating, four great wings spread wide, a pair of lethal stingers at the ready.
Beedrill!
Two consecutive rapid-fire evolutions!
The entire cave fell dead silent. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.
Beedrill beat its wings with a deep, resonant hum, those crimson compound eyes gleaming with a sharp, focused light.
It looked at the rampaging Mightyena before it without the slightest trace of fear.
The Mightyena, rattled by this sudden turn of events, let out a furious roar and lunged at Beedrill.
But Beedrill was faster.
So fast it left only a yellow afterimage.
"Twineedle!"
Purple light crackled along Beedrill's stingers as it drove them clean through the Mightyena's throat in an instant.
Thud.
The once-unstoppable rampaging Mightyena didn't even have time to cry out. Its massive body crashed to the ground, twitched twice, and went still.
One-shot kill. A single strike, and it was over.
The livestream chat went completely berserk, messages scrolling so fast the words were a blur.
[HOLY SH** OH MY GOD!!!]
[Two consecutive evolutions?! That is INSANE!]
[The power spike is unreal. One-shotting a berserk Mightyena??]
[THIS IS THE POWER OF BONDS! The streamer was right to save it!]
[I'm actually tearing up. One minute it's a tiny little thing, the next it's an absolute god of war!]
Big Wave was completely dumbstruck, jaw hanging open, unable to close it for a long moment.
"That... that was way too sudden!"
He was shaking with excitement from head to toe.
Beedrill slowly retracted its stingers and turned around to face the protagonist.
The sharp intensity in its eyes softened the moment it found him.
It dipped its head slightly, folded its wings, and settled into a composed, protective stance.
As if to say: from now on, it was its turn to protect him.
"You're incredible."
Big Wave reached out and gently ran his hand along Beedrill's hard shell.
Beedrill leaned contentedly into his palm, letting out a low, quiet hum.
Just then, a stunned voice came from nearby.
"You..."
Big Wave turned to look. His companion, who had always been so cold and unshakeable, was standing there staring blankly at Beedrill, then back at the protagonist.
Those stone-hard, ice-cold eyes of his were, for the very first time, showing cracks — he looked shaken, struck to the core, and beneath it all, there was the faint glimmer of something like understanding.
He was silent for a long time, as if reassessing the world around him, as if re-examining the beliefs he had held onto for so long.
When he finally spoke, his voice was no longer cold. It was calm, and carried within it a quiet sense of release.
"You've shown me something I didn't understand before."
"Maybe this world isn't what I thought it was."
He looked at Big Wave after speaking, holding his gaze for a long moment, as if he wanted to engrave that image into his memory.
"Until we meet again, then."
He gave a small nod, turned, and walked away.
The livestream chat flooded with teary-eyed emoticons.
[He gets it now! He finally gets it!]
[Now that is real growth!]
[Whoever wrote this game, come out. I promise I won't hurt you. I just want to bow at your feet!]
Big Wave let out a sigh and leaned into the mic.
"If you witnessed something like that... it really could change a person."
Right at that moment, the Team Rocket executive's voice broke the silence.
"Not bad."
Without anyone having noticed, the executive had appeared soundlessly at the entrance of the cave. He looked at the protagonist and Beedrill, and for the first time, that perpetually cold face showed a faint glimmer of approval.
"Principled, not sentimental. Understands power. Knows what bonds are worth."
He gave a slow nod, a slight smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.
"That's exactly the kind of person Team Rocket needs."
[System Notice: Trial Complete! You have earned official Team Rocket membership!]
Staring at those golden letters on the screen, Big Wave let out a long breath and slumped back into his gaming chair, feeling as though he had just lived through a real life-or-death trial.
"I made it... finally made it!"
The chat erupted into another wave of messages.
[LEGEND!]
[Streamer is an absolute legend!]
[What's next? Becoming the most powerful Team Rocket member?!]
Big Wave looked at the young man standing beside Beedrill on the screen, his heart brimming with anticipation.
"This is only the beginning..."
He had a feeling the game hadn't even shown him its teeth yet.
The screen slowly faded to black, bringing the first chapter to a close.
But in the bottom right corner, a small countdown timer had appeared.
[Chapter Two: Undercurrents Rising, Coming Soon]
Big Wave's eyes lit up all over again.
"Alright, brothers, five-minute break and then we're back at it. I am not stopping until I clear this game tonight!"
Kairos returned to his villa in Cerulean City.
He pushed open the door to a quiet house, the only sound the faint hum coming from the custom-built thermal tank in the corner of the living room.
He walked over and peered inside.
Omanyte was sprawled at the bottom of the tank, its large eyes half-open, looking thoroughly lazy and unbothered.
Kairos opened the feed cabinet beside it, took out a small bag of ancient Pokemon food he had ordered online, and poured it into the feeding trough.
The little creature perked up immediately. Its tentacles shot out, and it hauled itself out of the tank with a plop, shuffling cheerfully toward the trough.
Kairos watched it eat, turning things over in his mind.
The little one could already move around freely outside the tank, its adaptability far better than he had expected. Evolution, on the other hand, still seemed a long way off.
Ancient Pokemon had notoriously demanding evolution conditions to begin with, and Omanyte's were particularly strict, requiring specific environments and time. There was no rushing it.
Better to just let things unfold naturally.
Just as he stood there watching Omanyte feed, the shadows behind him suddenly twisted.
A gray-black figure rose up through the floorboards and drifted over to Kairos's back.
Marshadow dropped down onto his shoulder.
"Hey, where did you go? It's so boring when you're not home. I don't exactly want to go wandering around outside on my own."
Kairos didn't turn around. He reached up and peeled it off his shoulder.
"Went to another world for a bit. Working on ways to keep restoring the faith of that great Ho-Oh of yours."
The moment Marshadow heard that, its entire body snapped to attention and it hovered upright in midair.
"Oh, well, in that case, you don't really need to rush back next time. I'm not that bored, honestly."
Kairos rolled his eyes.
Wasn't it just saying how bored it was?
"Relax. Rushing won't help. Everything takes it one step at a time."
He crossed to the sofa and sat down, pulling up the system panel out of habit.
Just moments ago, a task completion notification had popped up.
[New Task Triggered!]
[Task Description: Host has obtained the Virtual Reality Module. Please develop a virtual reality game centered on the theme of villains and release it into the first New World.]
[Task Reward: To be determined based on the game's popularity among players.]
[Time Limit: 7 days.]
Beyond the task itself, there was also the reward from completing this one: a special system item called Module Masterwork Upgrade.
Its effect was straightforward: it could be applied to a designated creation module to trigger the module's evolution.
Kairos scanned his current list of modules, and without much hesitation, selected the Virtual Reality Module.
Once the upgrade was confirmed, the module's description updated rapidly.
After the upgrade, the virtual reality module's graphics and overall experience would be significantly sharper and more immersive.
The most critical change was that players would no longer need to wear any kind of headset equipment.
With nothing more than a thought, they could enter the game using pure mental projection.
The game also had built-in safety mechanics, meaning players would suffer no real harm within the virtual reality; upon death, they would simply be ejected from the game. As for death penalties, Kairos could design them himself, or choose to have none at all.
Kairos stared at the upgrade details for a good while.
This new module was something else entirely.
He could try it out with the next game and see just how far this "improved experience" actually went.
With that thought, his gaze drifted to the Poke Ball sitting on the table beside him, and something came back to him.
Inside it was the Miraidon, still in a bricked state, completely unable to move.
He wanted to fix it, but clearly didn't have the technical know-how himself.
So who could he turn to?
Kairos furrowed his brow and thought it over.
Would Ho-Oh be able to handle something like that?
He glanced over at Marshadow.
"Hey, Marshadow, do you think Ho-Oh could repair things?"
Marshadow perked up the instant Ho-Oh was mentioned and floated closer.
"Repair things? What do you need to repair?"