Chapter 296: Pokémon Autochess
The P1 Fighting Tournament was about to begin.
At Teacher Lu’s home,
Gengar was lifting dumbbells with a “Gengarrr Gengarrr!”
“Squirtle!” The dumbbell set wasn’t enough anymore for Squirtle’s strength training.
So, Squirtle’s eyes wandered over to the leek in Sirfetch’d’s hand.
“Gaa? =͟͟͞͞(꒪ᗜ꒪‧̣̥̇)”
You guys aren’t just after my body now—you want my leek too?!
As for the tournament itself,
Lu Ye wasn’t too worried.
As long as he made Top 8, there’d be prize money.
No need to risk going all-in for a higher rank.
What the little ones thought about the competition…
Teacher Lu couldn’t say.
Anyway, it’s the P1 Tournament.
Might as well just cruise through it.
After all, even Ash’s freshly caught Primeape had championship potential.
More importantly, what truly mattered was the release of Pokémon Autochess right before the tournament.
“Testing starts tomorrow.”
Lu Ye sat in front of his laptop, nodding thoughtfully.
“Gotta keep a close eye on this…”
December 19th, Saturday.
Johto Region, New Bark Town.
“Tralala~”
Standing in front of the mirror, Gold and Pichu rinsed their mouths together,
as Gold casually turned on the morning radio.
A soft BGM played, and a gentle female host’s voice came on:
“Good morning, everyone. This is DJ Walnut’s morning show…”
Gold put on a satisfied look of “everything’s perfect.”
He combed his bangs with care, slipped on his signature goggles, and nodded in approval.
“Another day, awakened by my own handsomeness!”
“Pfft!” Togekiss floating nearby accidentally spit out his mouthwash.
“You’re laughing too loud, Togekiss Taro!”
Gold took care of the backyard Pokémon for a bit.
Wearing her overalls, Kristal had also come into town to help.
“My, my, Gold really is so blessed to have you around!”
Gold’s mom cupped her face, smiling non-stop.
“Auntie, you flatter me…”
Kristal folded her hands in front of her, blushing. “I’m just… collecting some Pokémon data, that’s all…”
“Young people—I know how it is!”
Gold’s mom liked her more and more, nodding over and over.
“Hey!”
Gold shouted from the second-floor balcony, “Why not stay for lunch?”
“N-no need!”
Kristal waved both hands quickly. “I have to rush back to help at the lab!”
“Oh, really?” Gold scratched his head, quietly pleased.
That meant… no one would nag him about gaming later, right?
While the rest of the chat group was all hyped over the P1 Fighting Tournament,
Gold cared way more about Teacher Lu’s upcoming game release.
And today,
was the official Pokémon Autochess test launch!
“Let’s gooo!”
Gold clenched his fist and thought excitedly:
“Time to game all day long!”
With the nagging Class Rep out of the way,
Gold rubbed his hands together and flopped back into his gaming chair.
Togekiss floated beside him, looking smug as ever.
“Hehehe!”
As soon as the PC booted up, one boy and one Pokémon both started giggling.
“Let’s see what Teacher Lu’s cooked up this time!”
Unlike the cartoony style of the mobile version,
Jasmine had designed a sleeker, more minimalistic layout for the PC game.
The clean UI highlighted the 8-player match mode.
“Oh, it’s chess?” Gold scratched his head. “Might be hard to learn…”
When it came to chess games,
his first thought was complex stuff like Go.
But once he entered the game—
Gold was completely confused.
“This… is also chess?”
As the name “autochess” suggests,
players only needed to buy units and rank them up—the Pokémon fought automatically.
There were also synergies and type matchups that created layered interactions.
With the tutorial guiding him, Gold picked his first 1-cost Pokémon in the Draft Zone: Caterpie.
After getting knocked out in 8th place, he slowly started to get the hang of it…
By sunset,
Gold’s bloodshot eyes were glued to the screen.
“A 2nd-phase 3-star Beedrill?!”
Gold shouted, “You’re literally gambling your lifespan playing this!”
After collecting nine Weedles, you could evolve it into Beedrill.
On-screen, the blood-red-eyed Beedrill pierced Gold’s 1-star Cyndaquil with its lances.
Even with a type advantage, low star level was a death sentence!
“Blast Taro!!” Gold cried out in agony.
“Rrgh?” Typhlosion nearby looked puzzled.
Bug-types were mostly 1-cost units, making early evolutions easy.
They were great early-game workhorses.
But Gold was aiming for a Sunny Team synergy—
clearly a late-game comp.
Ten minutes later,
after getting wiped again, Gold slammed his desk.
“Next match!” he growled through gritted teeth.
Scenes like this were unfolding across different regions.
Hoenn Region, Mauville City.
Old man Ironspinner was so mad his mustache curled upward.
“This old man refuses to believe he can’t get first place today!”
“Just wait till I draw a 5-cost Zapdos and wipe you all out!”
A few minutes later…
Ironspinner slumped in his chair, face gloomy.
“…This kind of game… there’s no way to cheat, right?”
“Or maybe… is there some tech trick I can use?”
Addicted.
That was the first impression players had of Pokémon Autochess once they tried it.
And because the #1 win screen showed the phrase: “Winner winner, Torchic dinner!”
players began calling a first-place win “eating chicken.”
The game retained the traditional Pokédex style of the Pokémon Company.
Evolution lines and type interactions were presented with educational clarity.
Hovering over a unit even brought up a short Pokédex entry.
Even better, Autochess had no pay-to-win elements.
Not even unit skins were unlocked yet—only new boards and cosmetic effects.
Even a “zero-spender” could fully enjoy the experience.
Before long, gaming forums were flooded with hype for the new Pokémon title.
“This is insanely generous! If it’s from Teacher Lu, I’m all in!”“I’m hooked! Gotta get my chicken dinner today!”
“Recommending a fun comp—Thief synergy! Lineup: Meowth, Weavile, Fox Bandit…”
“Oh, you’re a thief player? Run into my Mama Machamp and I’ll smash your head in!”
Inside Devon Corporation.
The game promotion team looked helpless.
“Boss, their reviews are off the charts. We lost a ton of players…”
The department head frowned deeply.
Even though Devon Corp and Pokémon Company were partners,
there was still healthy competition between them.
They just didn’t expect that in their first PC title clash…
they’d suffer such a massive blow.
“This month’s revenue might fall short of projections,” someone muttered.
Player time was limited.
And Autochess, with its fresh gameplay, had attracted a massive audience.
Sure, they could copy it—but that would take a few months.
“Any word from the Vice President?”
The game division was one of Devon’s core industries.
Zinnia Tzukihara had handed its reins to her beloved son.
While he wasn’t that interested in business,
Steven Stone had sharp instincts and a record of textbook-level strategies.
That’s why the supervisor instinctively looked to him for guidance.
“He said…”
The staffer paused, looking conflicted.
“Pokémon Autochess… is really fun.”
“Way more fun than what we made ourselves…”