LRAB Chapter 77 The Tour of Carlos Rally
Chapter 77 The Tour of Carlos Rally
At noon on Sunday, the clock hands pointed to exactly twelve o'clock, the exact time when the detective and the hacker were to have their duel.
The little fire monkey was in top condition and logged into the game on time, using the game controller.
Detective Hugo, wearing a headset, stood at a distance and negotiated with Old Man Tiexuan.
Azure, Officer Jenny, and Sera, along with the other Pokémon, sat on the floor near the temporary sofa that Chimchar had made his home.
"I still have a few spectators here, should it be okay?" Hugo asked the other end of the headset.
"Of course, no problem. But kid, are you ready to embarrass yourself in front of your friends? Hahaha, it's not too late to admit defeat now."
The Mauville City Gym Leader's laughter remained hearty, showing no sign of unease before the duel. In contrast, the Chimchar on the sofa was already sweating with tension.
Hugo made a series of hand gestures towards his Pokémon, which seemed to be a sign telling it not to focus too much on the outcome of the match, but to trust itself and just do its best.
The little monkey nodded seriously after seeing this. Azure, who had noticed this, frowned, wondering: When did this little fire monkey learn sign language?
Both players quickly and smoothly selected their mounts and confirmed their equipment. Then, the match began as scheduled.
Chimchar's chosen mount Pokémon is a completely black Houndoom. This Pokémon has light gray, bone-like objects around its neck and back. It is fierce and irritable and is good at using Dark and Fire-type attacks.
This mount was jointly selected by Hugo and Officer Jenny. It not only suits Chimchar's habit of using fire-type racing skills, but is also suitable for the long and unique Carlos Rally.
The old man, Iron Whirl, chose the same mount as his signature Pokémon – Raiden, a blue Pokémon with golden mane covering its head and lower back, making it look heroic and majestic.
"So they really used this one," Hugo remarked.
The Thunder Beast is considered one of the more difficult mounts to control in this game. Its extremely high acceleration gives it a significant advantage on straightaways. Therefore, to maintain game balance, the game company has made the Thunder Beast's drift detection very strict. Because of this characteristic, the Thunder Beast is often referred to by players as "a toy for expert players."
—This is exactly the type of mount that cheaters love to use!
"When I was riding a thunder beast on a real road, you greenhorns weren't even born yet!"
Beside the starting line, the old man Tie Xuan was proudly boasting to himself.
"Anyone who seeks realism in a fictional world must have something wrong with their head," Hugo taunted in the voice chat. "Gamers don't need any qualifications."
Exchanging trash talk seems to be a tacit opening greeting among gamers. However, no matter how eloquently both sides try to provoke each other, it won't affect the outcome of the match in the slightest—because one side is using cheats, and the other side has hired a substitute player…
They are truly evenly matched rivals.
.
Beep, beep, beep, piss—
The game officially begins!
As the starting prompt sounded, the two four-legged beasts, one black and one blue, simultaneously began to gallop wildly, instantly illuminating the entire track with red flames and yellow lightning.
The race starts in Asaka, a town south of Carlos, and the track is modeled after the local Route 1.
The track is bathed in sunshine, with flowers everywhere, though occasional swarms of small finches may occasionally obscure the player's view. For gamers, the terrain here is relatively gentle, with almost no obstacles or curves that test their skills.
Using Pokémon moves prematurely in such a place would undoubtedly be a waste of resources. Iron Spin and Chimchar cooperated perfectly, avoiding each other's attacks, and proceeded north, passing the first checkpoint with a restrained approach.
Officer Jenny, watching the battle, frowned slightly as she looked at the data in the corner of the screen: "Chimchar's actions were flawless, but it was still more than ten milliseconds behind Electabuzz. It seems that the opponent was indeed..."
Azure and Sera simultaneously raised their index fingers to their lips, signaling Officer Jenny to shut up quickly.
With Chimchar fully focused on controlling it, the two Pokémon entered the labyrinthine Ebony Forest.
In this terrain, the huge trees block most of the sunlight. Players need to be careful of the logs that are blocking the road and give way in time. There will be insect-type butterfly insects on the roadside that will spit out silk threads. If you get entangled, your mount's speed will be slightly reduced.
Houndoom and Electamon, who were originally walking side by side in the middle of the road, parted ways without hesitation when faced with a fork in the road.
Chimchar subtly adjusted the joystick to dodge the silk-slinging attacks from both sides, navigating the optimal route back to the confluence track. However, at that moment, Electabuzz, rushing up from the other side, overtook it, already a head ahead.
At this moment, the keen detective noticed that his Pokémon were starting to panic, and the little Chimchar's paws gripping the game controller were trembling slightly.
Hugo wanted to comfort his Pokémon immediately, but he knew all too well what kind of useless constitution he had, and if the detective offered words of encouragement at this moment, it would only ruin everything.
So the detective changed his approach and began speaking loudly to the old man with the iron swivel on the other end of the microphone—
"Mr. Tiexuan, this map is described as the Carlos Rally, but its route is actually a horizontal figure-eight loop; and the condition for winning is to pass all the checkpoints in the Carlos region on the map. Starting from Asaka Town in the lower right corner, it goes up to Miare City in the center, then circles around through Winged City in the northwest, then returns to Windblown City in the east of Miare City, and finally from Lianli City in the far east, through Yingxue City, to the summit of the Champion's Road where the Carlos League is located..."
The trainer's eloquent words not only traveled through the telephone signal to the distant Hoenn continent, but also resounded throughout the Hawthorn Mansion.
For some reason, listening to the detective's rambling words, Chimchar's tension gradually disappeared. Although it hadn't closed the gap with Electabuzz, its previously trembling claws gradually stabilized, and Houndoom on the game screen returned to its best condition.
However, at this point, the gap between Houndoom and Electabuzz had widened even further.
"Of course I know this terrain. What are you trying to say?"
Completely bewildered by Hugo's long-winded explanation, the old man Tie Xuan had no idea what the meaning behind his words was, and asked the detective in utter confusion.
“What I wanted to say…” Hugo gazed at the approaching city of Lucerne on the game screen, watching the Prism Tower grow larger as his view expanded, and couldn’t help but speak slowly—
“The Pokémon Racing series has had an alternative winning condition since the first generation. This hidden rule coincides with the real-world Pokémon battles. Mr. Tiexuan should remember the details of that winning condition.”
"Ha, you mean you win by continuously attacking with skills until you deplete the opponent's hidden stamina?" Tie Xuan retorted confidently to the detective, completely unconcerned.
"This is almost impossible in a normal match. The skill damage in this game is so weak that it's impossible to take down the opponent before creating distance; moreover, if one side's skill works, the other side's speed will inevitably drop to its lowest point, at which point you can just create distance and win, so why bother exhausting the opponent's stamina?"
As Tie Xuan was speaking, the lightning beasts controlled by his subordinates had already rushed into the city of Miarei. Instead of choosing the shortest route, they headed straight for the area below the Prism Tower.
"I'm sorry, young man, but I'm about to obtain the keystone to final victory."
Although Iron Whirlwind's harsh words were quite cool, his actions were entirely within Hugo and the others' expectations, and even Eevee and Torterra wouldn't be surprised by it.
In fact, everyone already knew Tie Xuan's plan when he was choosing his mount.
The Prism Tower in Lucerne City houses a famous Electric-type gym, so the game designers hid an important item inside.
That is, the Mega Stone of Raiden.
To enhance the game's fun, in a few maps of *Horse Racing 8*, some special Pokémon mounts can take a longer route to obtain crucial items that allow them to transform. In the Tour of Carlos Rally map, this crucial item is the Mega Stone.
In reality, this newly discovered evolutionary form transcends the current limits of Pokémon evolution, representing a higher level of evolution. Pokémon that have undergone Mega Evolution temporarily unleash hidden power, enabling them to possess abilities that cannot be obtained through normal evolution.
In this horse racing game, the Mega Item significantly increases the speed of Pokémon mounts, allows them to ignore some obstacles, and also enhances their skills. Generally, if someone manages to grab the Mega Item early in the game, the race is already over.
In the game, Electivire leaps between skyscrapers and rushes into the gym area of the Prism Tower in an instant, successfully obtaining the item.
With a burst of colorful special effects, the Thunder Beast transformed into a completely new form. Its yellow mane became a continuous, exaggerated shape resembling a zigzagging lightning bolt, and its speed increased dramatically, surpassing its usual acceleration and sprint even in its normal running state.
In stark contrast to the Thunder Beast, which was speeding along with a cool appearance, the trainer, Mr. Iron Whirlwind, who was piloting the mount, was somewhat embarrassed as he questioned Hugo—
"I've arrived at Prism Tower, where's Houndoom? Kid, you're not even in Lucerne City! Where are you?!"