bookbashuk Chapter 73 "Pokémon Horse Racing"
Chapter 73 "Pokémon Horse Racing"
To test the detective's strange aura, the assistant will have a friendly match with the little fire monkey.
Because Hugo's choice of Mareep in the game was too jarring, Azure changed its mount before the match started, replacing the bouncy little sheep with a Jolteon that looked like it could run very fast.
"Bu-i-bu-i!"
In the corner, a little guy looked quite proud, munching on Pokémon food while waving his arms and legs and wagging his tail incessantly, cheering wildly for his owner.
Logically speaking, Reeve, at 0.8 meters tall, shouldn't be able to ride a person, but it's just a video game, so there's no need to worry too much. Hugo's Mare was even lighter and smaller than the Mare that he rode before.
Perhaps influenced by their trainers' personalities, unlike Eevee, Turtwig and Piplup simply sat quietly on their owners' laps, watching the LCD screen together with Hugo, who was observing through binoculars, appearing very composed.
The detective crouched in the corner with the Pokémon to keep Chimchar away from the Chimchar, so it wouldn't be affected by the "disastrous aura." According to Hugo's previous calculations, without commanding a Pokémon to use a move, the area he could directly influence a Pokémon with wouldn't exceed a two-meter radius centered on his own weight; therefore, this distance was more than sufficient.
The competition hasn't officially started yet, and Chimchar is still teaching the Azure contestants basic operations such as acceleration, changing direction, and drifting. He also generously demonstrated the details of using Pokémon moves and ground acceleration pads.
After the tutorial, the two played their first tutorial match. Through trial and error, the assistant gradually became familiar with the controls and understood the effects of Jolteon's skills in the game. The first match ended in a harmonious atmosphere of mutual learning and growth.
"Azure learns very quickly, and Chimchar is also a good teacher."
Hugo nodded in satisfaction, not finding the scene of Pokémon using sign language to teach humans how to play games particularly strange.
Then the official competition began.
To accommodate Azur Lane's unfamiliarity with the map, the competition venue was chosen to be the familiar Flying Cloud Wharf.
The obstacles on the map are mainly parked vehicles and containers being loaded and unloaded from ferries. The rules are the simplest three-round elimination system, and both sides are allowed to use the moves of their mount Pokémon.
Before the race, the track's own opening animation began playing.
The film's background captures the nighttime street scene of Feiyun City, with brightly lit advertising signs atop the surrounding high-rise buildings. Warm yellow lights guide the race track, creating a winding, looping road.
Compared to the real-life night view of Feiyun City, the game recreates the metropolis's cityscape with a more cartoonish and streamlined style. In reality, Feiyun City doesn't have that many nighttime lights, and the promotional photos mainly focus on the pedestrian avenue running through the city center; the roads encircling the city are actually quite simple.
However, the game's inaccurate adaptations to reality are actually quite fitting, perfectly capturing the character of Feiyun City. The signage adds a cheerful and lively atmosphere to the map. The game designers also kept the road modifications subtle, and the racetrack was well-arranged so that even a traveler like Azure, who had been living in Feiyun City for over a month, wouldn't feel completely out of place.
The orange monkey still chose its favorite fiery red Rapidash, while Azure, sitting on the other side of the sofa, seemed to have started to take an interest in the game. It was also staring intently at its game screen, and after pressing the speed-up button, lightning began to flash from the soles of Rayquaza's feet.
Three, two, one, countdown to zero.
The Pokémon horse race has officially begun.
The little fire monkey and Azure both accelerated at the start. Due to the difference in their chosen mounts, Azure, whose skills were not as refined, was actually a little faster.
But this gap was immediately closed at the first corner, where Rapidash, with its burning mane, overtook Reibu with a daring drift that hugged the container obstacle.
Eevee, standing next to Hugo, let out a tense whimper, as if it had been overtaken by an enemy.
As the saying goes, "Teach your apprentice and he'll kill you," Azure's trainer nature kicked in, and without hesitation, it activated Jolteon's move "Lightning Bolt," trying to press the Chimchar into the wall from the outside.
However, Chimchar, the girl's opponent, did not panic. Instead, he calmly pressed the buttons on the controller without using any special moves.
With the monkey's nimble maneuvering, the Flaming Horse's direction of travel swayed slightly, and then Azure's aggressive skill missed its mark.
Even though Jolteon pierced the gap between the horse's body and the wall like a blade, forcing Chimchar to the outside, the opponent was still ahead of Jolteon and its speed was not affected at all.
At that moment, the monkey pressed the skill button, and a storm of flames surrounded the Flame Horse, greatly slowing down the opponent while giving himself a speed boost. With the speed boost, the monkey successfully passed through the shortcut without stalling and then sped towards the straight road further away, leaving the poor opponent, who was slowed down and lacked the skill to speed up, behind.
The grass turtle became excited, its tender shoots on its head throbbing joyfully, while Bogarman stroked its chin with its paddle fin and nodded approvingly.
The obstacles on the straight road are mainly a few dust hills that occupy the middle of the road. In this game, their size is exaggerated, making them look as huge as if they have been Dynamaxed.
These dust mountains will spray highly toxic sludge that slows people down. If you don't anticipate where the sludge will land and dodge in advance, you could easily get into trouble.
However, the little fire monkey seemed to disregard the danger, and its driver, Rapidash, easily traversed the muddy minefield at full speed, while Azure had to slow down several times to avoid the mud overhead.
After putting down his binoculars, Hugo raised an eyebrow: "The little fire monkey is moving through obstacles much faster. Not only that, it hasn't made a single mistake so far. If it can keep this up, it might not only surpass my previous horse racing record, but it might even challenge the best record for this map."
The remaining matches weren't very interesting.
The little fire monkey performed perfect drifts on every bend, like a showman, and gracefully flipped between the speed boosts along the best path, catching up with Azure in the second half of the second lap.
Azure tried desperately to use the disruptive move "Thunderbolt" to recover some of its disadvantage, but Rapidash seized the opportunity and used the move "Charged Flame" at the same time.
Under the influence of the game's rules, the energy in the lightning is gathered into the firelight behind the Blazing Horse—an effect that is said to be possible in reality.
After completing its second energy charge, the horse's entire body turned crimson, and its speed further increased to the theoretical peak set in the game.
From the player's perspective in Azure, the Flaming Horse vanished in a flash, leaving only a red trail behind.
The race ended with Chimchar taking an overwhelming lead. Even though Blue Jolteon didn't make any obvious mistakes, it still trailed by nearly two laps, breaking Detective's previous best time.
Little Eevee in the corner was so angry he was jumping up and down.
"Hugo, aren't you still doing the control experiment? Quickly sit next to the little fire monkey and let's have another round!"
Competitive games can easily make people lose their heads, and the girl, unwilling to accept defeat, wanted to fight again, but with strict conditions attached.
Hugo put down his telescope and shook his head at his assistant: "The experiment is over, and the conclusion is very clear."
Whether it's luck or skill, Pokémon are weakened when they're with Hugo. Their movements become inexplicably sluggish, their accuracy inexplicably decreases, mistakes occur inexplicably, and accidents happen inexplicably. Even casual video games are not immune to this abnormal state.
"The test is over. Now, I need to contact a hacker and challenge him in this game. Little Chimchar, can you take on the challenge for me?"
Hugo walked to the sofa, faced the bewildered little monkey, squatted down, and made a solemn request to his Pokémon.
"Hehehe!"
The little fire monkey leaped three feet high and jumped onto the back of the sofa. The small flames that had been contained in order to sit on the sofa suddenly burst forth from its tail.