Carrying a small pack on his back and a crimson scarf around his neck, the Ninja Boy went to see his grandpa in the hospital one last time, then left Verdanturf City overnight.
[You understand that Verdanturf City, where you're surrounded by acquaintances, isn't suitable for registration and Gym challenges, so you set your first target as Mauville City]
A bit too hasty, isn't it.
Baimu watched the Ninja Boy rush along under cover of darkness, sprinting all the way to Route 119, and was very curious where this kid got such guts from—even he didn't dare run around at night.
Breath Concealment Techniques, huh?
Seeing how the Wild Pokémon that roam at night in the sim acted like they didn't notice the Ninja Boy at all, he grasped what was going on.
It's just that the real danger of nights in the wild lies in the extremely low visibility and the terrain and surroundings that are hard to judge with the naked eye.
Which fit perfectly with Baimu's thoughts.
The problem appeared quickly.
[You realize you're lost, and because of your past living habits, drowsiness that interferes with judgment sets in]
The Ninja Boy stopped in a forest and stood still for a long time.
"I thought…"
Baimu had almost been fooled by his earlier practiced, confident air, thinking the kid had experience operating in the wild, only to find out he was just charging in headfirst.
Realizing that he was very sleepy and couldn't find the way out, the Ninja Boy leapt up onto a big tree, sat down on a branch sturdy enough to hold his weight, and closed his eyes.
A string of Z's, small to large, floated out.
No tent or sleeping bag?
He was very curious whether the Ninja Boy simply hadn't thought about it, or whether ninja training really was like this—sky for blanket, earth for bed. That willpower was just too strong.
As he pondered, a red light flashed at the top of the screen.
[You detected an enemy]
The sleeping Ninja Boy suddenly opened his eyes and snapped his scarf toward the place where the red light flashed. The first Pokémon he'd chosen earlier—Koffing—shot out.
How did it hide in that thin, long scarf?
Baimu was slightly amazed, and then something that truly shocked him happened: the Koffing that flew over didn't say a word and directly Self-destructed on the spot.
It was like a grenade the Ninja Boy had thrown.
Boom!
A mushroom cloud took up half the screen, and countless pixelated Wild Pokémon in the woods scattered in all directions, clearly terrified by the blast.
The Ninja Boy had already moved far away from the blast center, and only approached once the smoke and dust cleared.
Under the moonlight.
Two Pokémon were lying in the torn-up shallow crater.
One was the Koffing with a bizarre grin and white smoke curling from its mouth. The other was a Kecleon with pale green and bright yellow coloring.
A red zigzag stripe encircled its waist—obviously the source of that red light.
As everyone knows.
Kecleon's waist pattern is the one thing that can't disappear, which is one of its big weaknesses.
But the Ninja Boy's knowledge of Pokémon was clearly lacking, and without an Illustrated Guide to help, he circled the Kecleon over and over, studying it for quite a while.
[You're very interested in this Pokémon's Invisibility Ability and decide to capture it]
The Ninja Boy pulled out a Pokeball.
[You captured Kecleon; your ninja partners have increased]
Ninja partners… calling them Spirit Communication Beasts would be so much cooler.
Baimu grumbled inwardly, though he also knew the Ninja Boy should be a "proper" ninja, not the fantasy ninja from a fictional manga like Naruto.
He might even be the heir to some particular school.
Like that father–daughter pair next door in Kanto, Four Heavenly Kings Koga and Gym Leader Axing—if he remembered right, those two were heirs of the Iga School ninja tradition.
After capturing Kecleon, the Ninja Boy smoothly moved on to healing Koffing.
Clearly it wasn't his first time using Koffing like a grenade, and from the perpetual grin on its head, it wasn't hard to see that Koffing didn't dislike the Self-destructive Style tactic.
The scene shifted.
A bright, sunny day.
The Ninja Boy set out on his journey again.
Thanks to the endurance and swift footwork earned from darting between giant trees, Mauville City had appeared before him in less than half a day.
[You arrive in Mauville City; the glitz and glamor of the City of Joy feels wonderfully new to you]
No matter how outrageous his behavior, the Ninja Boy was still just an eight-year-old kid. Seeing bustling Mauville City for the first time, it was only natural he'd be drawn in.
Of course, he didn't forget to head to the Pokémon Center to register.
[You use your naturally short stature as an excuse and, with a homemade ID card, successfully register for the League tournament]
There's basically no vetting at all.
Though Baimu knew that in the early years the League really didn't put much effort into screening competitors, he still felt Joy's "ask the name and just sign them up" way of doing things was ridiculously lax.
Still.
Considering how loose League management has always been—back in the era when Ash Ketchum first set out, Gym Leaders who served as examiners could just say "go on a journey" and off you went, or "turn them into dolls" and poof they became dolls. Gyms had turf wars, blew off challengers, handed out badges for free and so on.
By comparison, what the Ninja Boy did barely even registers.
Anyway, he successfully arrived at his first Gym.
[You begin your challenge of Mauville Gym]
Tie Xuan, the Mauville Gym Leader, was still young when Sister Xiangfen challenged him. By the time it was the Ninja Boy's turn to visit, he'd already become a middle-aged man with a full beard.
His hair was still fairly thick, with no signs of turning white yet.
The battle began.
Watching Kecleon and Magnemite clash in the cramped arena, Baimu realized that while the Ninja Boy might be very talented in ninjutsu, he was utterly clueless about battling and raising Pokémon.
He was only eight, after all.
Most of his life energy had gone into ninjutsu training; he simply didn't have the time to learn about Pokémon.
The Ninja Boy's first Gym challenge ended in defeat.
Honestly.
He'd run this simulation so many times, and this was the first time he'd seen a subject with Blue Talent or higher fail to beat even the first Gym.
Yet if nothing went wrong, the Ninja Boy would eventually end up the tournament's top winner.
One year, an eight-year-old starting from zero becoming Champion of the tournament…
Koga?
Koga, is that you, Koga?
Resting his chin on his hand, Baimu watched as the Ninja Boy—having lost his first battle—went off for special training, and not just burying himself in practice either. He frequently ambushed other Trainers at the Pokémon Center to draw experience from them.
Because he annoyed people to no end, the Ninja Boy repeatedly drew the combined pursuit of Officer Jenny and Growlithe. Fortunately, his ninjutsu skills kept him from being caught.
Through those fast-forwarded scenes.
Baimu learned that the Ninja Boy's specialty ninjutsu was Breath Concealment Techniques: this guy could walk openly under several people's noses without being noticed, practically like full-on invisibility—mystical as hell.
"Breath Concealment Techniques, huh…"
He rubbed his chin.
For him right now, that skill didn't seem to mean much. After all, he rarely took the initiative to capture Wild Pokémon, and he didn't have any enemies he absolutely had to ambush.
But having it would still be better than not having it. Who knows when it might come in handy?
Hopefully he would draw it.
Baimu refocused on the simulation. The Ninja Boy, having finished his special training, began his second Gym challenge.
Tie Xuan's Pokémon lineup was the same as before: Magnemite first, then Electrike. The Ninja Boy still only had two Pokémon to choose from.
But the way the battle played out was completely different.
Last time.
Kecleon's Invisibility had way too many weaknesses, and basically hadn't helped at all. This time, it scratched up the ground to throw dust everywhere, then used the Shadow Clone it had specially learned to successfully confuse Magnemite's eyes.
At the same time, it followed up with repeated Shadow Strikes from behind, making Magnemite misjudge Kecleon's true position several times until it was finally knocked out.
Electrike also fell to Kecleon; Koffing didn't even have to come out.
Without question.
The Ninja Boy didn't understand how to raise Pokémon or how to battle with them—but he did understand ninjutsu and combat using ninjutsu.
Once he fused his own training into his battling, the first badge became no problem at all.
[You defeat Mauville Gym Leader Tie Xuan and obtain the Mauville Badge]
The Ninja Boy was especially excited as he held the badge. In his still-short life, he had once again earned such a visible reward through his own efforts.
[You feel joy beyond simply learning ninjutsu and finally understand why the Ninja's Book kept saying a ninja's power can be greatly enhanced by a Pokémon's strength]
The sense of accomplishment that rose within him spurred the Ninja Boy to hurry toward the next city without pause.
[You decide to head to Kaina City]