"So, this is basically a new event, kind of like that Easter egg hunt from before?"
John looked at the badge in Mike's hand and recalled the time he had won a prize himself. Holding the badge up to the sunlight, Mike excitedly clenched it tightly in his fist.
"If I get all eight Gym Badges, I'll be able to pass through Victory Road and reach the Pokémon League, which is personally managed by GAMENOVA and where I'll challenge the Elite Four and the Champion."
"Okay... so what?"
"When I defeat all of them, I'll be inducted into the Hall of Fame and receive a commemorative medal personally produced by GAMENOVA, complete with signatures from the entire development team, along with a huge cash prize."
"That actually does sound worth trying."
John was startled. If that was the case, even he was tempted to give it a shot. A medal signed by everyone at GAMENOVA!
"No, no. You don't get it, John. That's not what I really care about."
Mike interrupted him, waving his hand. His eyes burned with excitement.
"The first one hundred successful players will receive beta testing access to the sequel in the future!"
"WTF?!"
...
Never before had there been a game that caused a sensation on the scale of Pokémon. Its simultaneous online and offline marketing completely shattered the boundary between the virtual and real worlds.
Whether on subways or airplanes, in restaurants or libraries, anywhere there were people, one could always find players clutching NovaPockets and playing nonstop.
In an era when mobile phones were still Motorola brick phones, the NovaPocket had taken over the niche of portable entertainment devices and become an electronic product people carried everywhere.
Long journeys, tedious waits, there was hardly any situation in which it couldn't be used. And the creator behind all of this, Ethan, was currently sitting in front of a camera, listening to an interview conducted by Steve, the founder of Electronic Games Magazine.
"Regarding the handheld port of Harvest Moon, our hardware division is already working on the technical challenges involved."
"Now that's something I'm really looking forward to. I hope I'll get to play it as soon as possible!"
Whenever the topic of Harvest Moon came up, Steve still found it difficult to keep his composure. Looking down at his notes, he continued.
"Then for the next question: we've noticed that besides GAMENOVA, the opening logo of Pokémon Red/Green also includes a company called Game Freak. Could you explain what's going on there?"
"Game Freak? That's a content development company we've established overseas. It's mainly responsible for entertainment products outside of gaming, as well as the operation of certain game-related intellectual properties."
Ethan's answer was extremely formal. Although it explained the general idea, Steve still felt somewhat confused.
"I can give everyone a little spoiler. Before Christmas is over, there will be new content related to the Pokémon IP waiting for everyone."
...
After the interview ended, Ethan glanced to the side. Sam, who had been waiting for quite some time, smiled and waved the booklet in his hand.
On the cover were the words Pokémon Pocket Monsters written in Japanese, with the Game Freak logo in the lower-right corner.
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Pokémon Pocket Monsters, also known as the Clefairy story. It was a comedic manga created based on the Pokémon storyline. In the original timeline, it had begun serialization as early as 1996.
During Pokémon's lukewarm early days, this story had successfully breathed new life into the struggling Game Freak.
In this world, however, Pokémon was backed by GAMENOVA and had no shortage of publicity.
Even so, Ethan had still contacted Satoshi's side and brought in the twenty eight year old Kosaku Anakubo.
This series still had its own significance and so, this wonderfully bizarre manga, with Satoshi serving as series coordinator and Ken as supervisor, crossed the ocean and arrived in Ethan's hands.
"Steve, if you don't have any other plans later, why don't you stay and chat for a while?"
Ethan looked at Steve, who was preparing to leave, before picking up the telephone receiver on the desk and making a call.
...
Just as the outside world was scratching their heads in curiosity over what exactly the new Pokémon content mentioned in the interview could be, a new product arrived simultaneously at Pokémon Centers across the country, riding the momentum of the Christmas shopping season.
Pokémon Pocket Monsters, the story of Clefairy.
A serialized manga produced by Game Freak, translated by GAMENOVA and published by Electronic Games, which was then distributed across America.
At the same time, a company called ComicNova was officially registered in California.
GAMENOVA was the majority shareholder and principal owner, with Ethan holding the largest share both personally and as its founder. Sam, Game Freak, and Electronic Games held smaller minority shares in ComicNova through their investments.
So, ComicNova was officially established as a creative and publishing company, which was completely backed by GAMENOVA
It's debut work, the story of Clefairy, rode the massive wave of Pokémon's popularity and sold out immediately upon release.
Having learned from the previous rushes for handhelds and game cartridges, players this time gave it no room to breathe. Almost as soon as copies came off the printing press, they were sold out.
...
"The story seems pretty similar to the game."
Mike hugged his freshly purchased copy and quickly flipped through a couple of pages.
The character settings were almost identical. Aside from the protagonist being named "Red" rather than using the default player name, it was practically the same.
Even "Green," the rival who competed with players in Pokédex completion within the game, appeared in the manga and had cleverly chosen Charmander as his partner.
"But the protagonist's partner is actually Clefairy. That thing is super weak."
"Well, there's still Pikachu. It should be fine."
The two continued turning pages. With its chaotic art style and utterly absurd plot, Mike would never have imagined that Pokémon's first official manga would look like this.
Yet somehow, it was incredibly addictive. If he had to describe it, the numerous elements that felt completely different from Pokémon's usual style instead created a strange chemical reaction, producing a unique sense of contrast. Unexpectedly, this style fit the tastes of the western market quite well.
"Wait, wait! Go back!"
Mike suddenly stopped John, who was about to turn another page. His brows furrowed. It felt like they had just skimmed past something important.
"Here, look at this!"
Mike pointed at one of the panels. Several characters were having a conversation. At first glance, nothing seemed unusual, but when John carefully followed the direction of Mike's finger.
"There's a Pokémon hiding behind the tree?"
Behind the trunk of an otherwise ordinary tree, half of a head was peeking out furtively. Judging from the ears, it looked like some kind of cat.
"Could it be Jigglypuff? No, Jigglypuff isn't that skinny..."
Since the manga was printed in black and white, Mike didn't have enough clues to identify it and could only temporarily dismiss it as an artistic mistake. But soon, another piece of dialogue caught his attention.
["Legend says that someone once spotted a 'Mythical Pokémon' in this region."]
["Only those with a pure heart and a strong desire to meet it can make it appear."]
["What's this supposed to be? Some kind of urban legend? (laughs)"]
Mike stopped John from turning the page and reread the lines over and over again, shock filling his eyes. He recalled GAMENOVA's habit of hiding countless secrets and Easter eggs within their games.
"There might be... a hidden Pokémon in Pokémon that nobody has ever discovered..."
Mike muttered to himself.
"No.151..."
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