Back in the dorm, John powered up his Gameboy.
Of course, Pokemon eggs could be stored in the Gameboy too.
However, Pokemon eggs took up one of the Pokemon storage slots, so John decided to take out his Zigzagoon and replace it with the egg.
Since there was no way to know how many steps it would take to hatch the egg, John figured he'd take it to Granite Cave, where he could walk around and count his steps.
As his hands worked on the controls, his mind drifted back to his previous experiences with egg hatching and hunting for Shiny Pokemon.
In the game of his past life, the probability of hatching a Shiny Pokemon was generally higher than encountering one in the wild. (At least, that's the assumption—there were plenty of theories, but no definitive proof.)
There was also an item in the game called the Shiny Charm, which boosted the chances of hatching a Shiny Pokemon.
Because of this, many players spent hours after completing the game hunting for their favorite Pokemon in Shiny form. Some focused on rare Pokemon like Pseudo-legendaries, while others hunted for fan-favorites like Riolu or Ralts. Some even set out to get every Pokemon in their Pokedex in its Shiny form.
Pokemon was more than just a game—it was about collecting and development.
John had fallen into this trap too. He'd spent hours hatching Dratini eggs, hoping for a Shiny one, but after twenty boxes—1,200 eggs—without a single Shiny, he'd thrown in the towel.
One box in the game contained 60 eggs, so after 20 boxes, that was a total of 1,200 eggs.
John joked to himself that with no Shiny Pokemon after that many eggs, he must have the worst luck in the world.
However, when he went online to check out other players' results, he found that some of the "big names" on the forums had gone through hundreds of boxes without a single Shiny, spending months on them.
It was hard for John to believe there were players with such patience.
Did these players not have jobs?
Of course, some of the more fortunate players in the community—players with entire boxes of rare 6IV Riolu or even a full box of 5IV Ralts. These were the players everyone envied. John couldn't help but feel a little jealous when he saw what they'd managed to achieve. It seemed like they'd been blessed by luck itself.
After all the frustration of not getting a Shiny, John decided he would try again. "If I ever get the chance, I'll buy another hundred boxes of Dratini and hope for that one Shiny."
Three hours later, John had just defeated an Aron. He controlled his character to walk a few more steps, and then—just like in the game—a Pokemon egg appeared on the screen.
'Looks like the egg hatches based on the number of steps.' John muttered to himself.
Suddenly, the egg began to crack, revealing colorful spots. And then, a dog's head broke through the shell.
John watched closely as the egg fully broke apart, revealing a white-furred dog walking upright. It had brown ears and a tail with greenish tips.
"Not bad," John said to himself, impressed.
Smeargle was a rare Pokemon, nearly as rare as Pseodo-legendaries. However, because its combat abilities were low, very few trainers used it for battling. Most trainers who raised Smeargle were artists. This was because Smeargle had a unique ability—it could paint with its tail, which changed colors depending on its mood.
Some of the most expensive paintings in the world were made by Smeargle. In the art world, Smeargle was considered a legendary Pokemon.
John wasn't interested in Smeargle because of its artistic abilities, though. He was more interested in it signature move: Sketch.
Sketch was a move that allowed Smeargle to permanently learn the last move used by its opponent.
This made Smeargle an amazing utility Pokemon.
For example, Smeargle with the moves False Swipe, Mean Look, Spore, and Soak would make it nearly impossible for a Pokemon to escape once caught.
Smeargle could also be used as a utility Pokemon with moves like Fly, Surf, Teleport, and Dig—making it useful in almost every situation.
"Smeargle is like my personal army," John mused, smiling. "It's the army, navy, and air force all in one."
The most interesting part of Smeargle's abilities was that, in theory, it could even learn the exclusive moves of legendary Pokemon. If a legendary Pokemon used one of its signature moves in front of Smeargle, Smeargle could replace its own Sketch with that move and use it permanently.
In John's previous life, he had used Smeargle in some creative combinations with moves like V-Create, Doom Desire, Fusion Bolt, and Fusion Flare—it was an incredibly versatile Pokemon.
But he wasn't sure if the same mechanics would work in this world.
After all, the exclusive moves of legendary Pokemon weren't just about numbers or stats—they had their own unique powers that went beyond the data of the game.
"Pokemon in this world have a limit of four moves, but here, there's no limit to how many moves they can learn. I don't need to train a dozen Smeargles for utility anymore."
Suddenly, John sat up straight in bed, a thought hitting him.
If Smeargle's Sketch could learn any Pokemon move, then it could theoretically learn all the moves from every Pokemon. There were no limits to the number of moves it could store. Could this be similar to the power of Arceus, the Pokemon that could adapt to any situation?
"Wait," John thought, shaking his head. "That's a ridiculous idea."
Yes, Smeargle had incredible potential with its Sketch ability, but it was still just a regular Pokemon. Its base stats were extremely low—only 250 points. For comparison, a Torchic without evolution would have better stats than Smeargle.
"Forget it," John sighed. "Let's stick to the utility route. It's a nice tool, but not something I need to train up like I did in the game. I'll focus on using it strategically."