Less than ten minutes after the world announcement ended, another one rang out. And once again, it was triggered by Satoshi. Naturally, this left many players furious.
"It's only been ten minutes since the last world announcement! How is there another one already? And why is it Satoshi again?!"
"It must be because of the rewards from the first announcement! I know about Skill Machines—they're disposable items that let Pokémon learn new moves. But it's probably because of that Silver Crown."
"His Charmander has Elite potential! Unless the Silver Crown can make Pokémon break through repeatedly, Satoshi must have started with a Charmander that had Quasi-Elite potential from the beginning!"
"This is unfair! He's definitely cheating! How else would he get a starter Pokémon with Quasi-Elite potential right off the bat?!"
The forum erupted into a heated debate, with some players dismissing Satoshi's success as pure luck or accusing him of foul play. However, others defended him:
"There are always players like this in games. Stop being jealous."
"Yeah, maybe he's just better than you. Get over it."
"Some people are just sour about everything. Go play the game instead of crying here."
The arguments turned into a full-blown keyboard war, with both sides hurling insults at each other.
Meanwhile, Satoshi—completely unaware of the chaos he had caused—was focused on leveling up. Even if he had known, he wouldn't have cared.
The strong are always the subject of discussion, and Satoshi understood that better than anyone.
Right now, however, he was facing an unexpected and unprecedented opportunity.
"Oh my god… What did I just say about not encountering one of the three starters?!"
Satoshi's mouth twitched, and his brows furrowed as a light blue frog Pokémon suddenly jumped out in front of him.
He immediately recognized the Pokémon, and his shock deepened.
At first, he thought it might be a Ditto playing tricks on him. But the Pokédex in his hand confirmed it was the real deal:
[Name: Froakie
Attribute: Water
Ability: Protean (Hidden Ability)
Level: 5
Potential: Quasi-Elite
Held Item: None
Skills: Pound, Growl, Bubble
Habitat: Prefers humid environments]
"One of Kalos's three starters, Froakie, with Quasi-Elite potential and the Hidden Ability Protean!"
Satoshi's mind raced as he processed the information.
"This ability, Protean, is so rare and powerful! And this Froakie has it!"
Protean is an incredibly rare Hidden Ability. Only four Pokémon in the world can have it:
Kecleon
Froakie
Frogadier
Greninja
How powerful is this ability?
Pokémon with Protean change their type to match the move they're about to use, gaining both offensive and defensive advantages.
Offensively, every move benefits from the STAB bonus (Same Type Attack Bonus), which increases its power by 1.5×.
Defensively, a Pokémon can alter its type to reduce or nullify incoming damage.
In other words, a Pokémon with Protean and diverse moves is almost impossible to counter effectively.
"This is unreal… I'm lucky it's only level 5. If it were higher, even Charmander might not stand a chance against it."
Satoshi stared at the cute Froakie standing in front of him, grinning mischievously.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I have to catch it!"
"Charmander, use [Smokescreen] to trap it!"
"Gah!"
Charmander exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, enveloping Froakie.
Using his Power of the Evergreen, Satoshi could sense Froakie's emotions. It felt confused, as if thinking: "I just came out for a walk—why am I being attacked?"
"Ha! Because I'm going to capture you! Charmander, use [Ember]!"
Charmander spit a stream of flames into the smoke cloud, hitting Froakie directly.
"Quack!"
The Froakie cried out in pain, but as a Water-type, it resisted the Fire-type move, sustaining only minimal damage.
"Perfect. I need to weaken it just enough. Charmander, its counterattack is coming—dodge those [Bubble] attacks and circle around!"
Froakie, recovering from the attack, retaliated with Bubble, but its vision was impaired by the Smokescreen, and it couldn't locate Charmander.
Charmander dodged effortlessly and moved behind the unsuspecting Froakie.
"Charmander, finish it with [Scratch]!"
Charmander rushed forward, swiping at Froakie with its claws. The blow knocked Froakie out of the Smokescreen, leaving it sprawled on the ground in front of Satoshi.
"Quack~"
The Froakie was still conscious but barely hanging on.
"It's too risky to use a regular Poké Ball. I'll use a Great Ball instead."
Satoshi pulled out a Great Ball and threw it at Froakie.
The ball struck Froakie, absorbing it in a flash of red light. It wobbled on the ground:
Shake left.
Shake right.
Shake left again.
Finally, the ball clicked shut.
> "Ding! Congratulations, you have successfully captured Froakie!"
> "Ding! Player 'Satoshi,' your Pokémon 'Froakie' has Quasi-Elite potential and qualifies for the Potential Leaderboard. Would you like to register it? If so, would you like to hide your name?"
"Register it. And no, don't hide my name."
What's the point of hiding? Let everyone know who the real master is.
"Yes! Hahaha! My second starter Pokémon is Froakie, with the Protean ability and Quasi-Elite potential.
Who can compete with me in the early game? No one!"
Satoshi picked up the Great Ball and couldn't help grinning.
"We might not be playing the same version, but we're still in the same game.
I'm not just competing with other players anymore—the indigenous strongmen of this game world are my true rivals!"
End of Chapter
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