Pokémon Detective Case Files.

The trainer's eloquent words not only traveled through the telephone signal to the distant Hoenn continent, but also resounded throughout the entire Featherwood Residence.

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?!"

Chapter 078 The Opponent Who Vanished into Thin Air

Chimchar isn't in Lumiose City on the game map, but Hugo won't reveal that information to his opponent so easily.

The old man Tiexuan could no longer hear his opponent's voice in his earpiece. The other end of the call fell into a terrifying silence, as if a radio had malfunctioned.

"Hey, hey! Why aren't you saying anything? Where did you go?!"

The Mega Evolution Thunder Beast passed another checkpoint in the blink of an eye. Its smooth and fluid movements were flawless. It stepped on every speed boost pad and did not miss any moment to release a skill to accelerate, avoiding the monster's attack by taking the best route.

The hastily edited game script clearly worked, but the older cheater showed no joy, because there was no Black Luluga behind him.

The opponent has vanished like a ghost.

"Hey, did you disconnect? No, wait, if you disconnected the game would pop up a notification... Kid, can you still hear me? Is your headset broken?"

The old man's usually cheerful voice hesitated slightly; he really couldn't figure out what the person opposite him was up to.

Another winning condition? Come on, let alone depleting the Thunder Beast's hidden HP, given the current distance between the two sides, the Detective can't even see its exhaust fumes.

However, this puzzling situation is still unsettling, as if some kind of conspiracy is brewing.

.

Time was still ticking away.

In a flash, the scenic tourist coastal city of Winged City disappeared into the distance, leaving the resort town of Carlos far behind.

The Grass-type Gym Leader, who looks like a local gardener, is an NPC in the game. He stands by the roadside waving to Ironwhirl, while his iconic Pokémon partner, Goat, stands as an obstacle on a shortcut beside the bend.

Iron Whirl frantically manipulated the buttons, bypassing the script to unleash Thunder Beast's "Rampage Volt" skill ahead of time.

The giant dog, crackling with electricity, savagely tried to smash the obstacle in its path—the goat mount.

The robust antelope, its back covered in moss, bleated and slunk away, making way for the player. The NPC owner, named Master Fu, was startled but quickly regained his composure, stroking his beard and sighing at the dust kicked up by the player.

However, no opponent appeared behind Tie Xuan.

It felt like I was racing against thin air.

Despite the operator's growing frustration, the emotionless script continued to send commands to the game, bypassing the controller as usual. Thanks to this, the mount's fluid movements remained flawless, leaving any player attempting to manually control the game far behind.

Mega Raiden's agile figure has once again arrived in Sara City on the game map.

Horse Racing 8 truly lives up to its reputation as the culmination of the series. The game perfectly recreates this city with its stunning seascape, mysterious and ancient atmosphere, where the Refinement Tower, which carries the legend of the mysterious stone, stands in the seaside city.

According to the game mechanics, Pokémon capable of Mega Evolution can gain a Mega Transformation opportunity in the Refinement Tower here, while Pokémon that cannot evolve or have already evolved will gain a speed boost for a full ten seconds.

In Tie Xuan's original plan, he was supposed to completely leave the detective's Pokémon mount behind on this section of the track, leaving the other party only able to watch his departing figure on the minimap. But back then, even if he racked his brains beforehand, he couldn't have predicted the current state of the game.

Oh, right, the game map!

Old Man Tiexuan suddenly remembered a feature in the game—the mini-map.

The map in horse racing games is a useless feature. It was originally intended to help newcomers who are unfamiliar with the map to recognize the terrain. However, because the map is simple and does not contain much useful information, and it also obstructs part of the view, any skilled player will choose to turn it off.

Even so, the location of each player is still marked on it! In other words, in this game, this mini-map allows him to see the detective's current location!

The command to open the minimap conflicted with the script signal, but this didn't faze the Electric-type Gym Leader, who was engrossed in the game. Without hesitation, Ironwhirl released both hands from the controllers, spun his ergonomic chair, and began modifying the control commands on the external computer behind him. Meanwhile, in the game, Electabuzz's agile and perfect maneuvers continued unabated, completely unaffected by the player's hands being off the controllers.

After several clicks, the obstructive game map was successfully opened, and Tie Xuan couldn't wait to find the cursor representing the location of Detective Heluga.

However, a terrifying scene unfolded—on the vast map of the Tour of Carlos Rally, only the blinking dot representing the Super Thunder Beast was slowly moving on its own.

The rest of the space was empty.

Was he really competing against someone else just now? For a moment, the old man Tie Xuan wondered if he was facing not a person, but a data ghost floating in computer code.

The program-controlled Thunder Beast continued its frantic sprint, having just traversed the combined track that strung together Stone Town and Haruka City. Like a yellow whirlwind, the Thunder Giant leaped off the bike path and plunged headfirst into the jagged, interconnected underground caverns.

As the track changed, the view in the Iron Spin game screen suddenly went dark, the controller kept vibrating, and the sound of supersonic bats flapping their wings could be heard from afar.

The playful old man was now completely bewildered. Who was he dueling with? What was the point of him continuing on his journey? Where had Houndoom gone?

Suddenly, he had a thought—could the guy who called himself a detective actually be a master hacker, and he was challenging him just to humiliate him in this competition?

Yes, that must be it! The other side must have used cheats! Only this method can explain everything that happened in the game!

That detective must have altered the game data, completely erasing himself from the map! And just as he's about to reach the finish line, Houndoom's figure will reappear, precisely timing its attack to plunge him back into the abyss the moment his opponent sees hope!

Because the term "hacker" is synonymous with disrespect for the law and a perverse sense of humor!

Thinking of this, Old Man Tiexuan's face turned red with anger, like a mischievous bomb about to explode.

"You dare to provoke me with a cheat code! Who do you think you can fool with this clumsy invisibility technique?! Do you think I can't deal with someone like you?!"

however--

"Hey, hey."

Finally, Hugo's helpless voice came: "Whether it's cheat software or virtual scripts, it's you, Senior Tiexuan, who's breaking the rules."

On the other side of the online world, the Electric-type Gym Leader in Hoenn couldn't help but widen his eyes.

It wasn't because Detective Hugo's voice rang out again, but because the scene that appeared on the game screen was simply too unexpected!

.

Inside the Yuqi Residence, a female police officer who had skipped work was unusually agitated, sitting on the sofa.

"You think you can mega-evolve? We've already mega-evolved!"

Miss Officer Jenny, in a state of high excitement, cheered and shouted like a passionate sports fan on the sidelines of a game.

After a long period of patience, the highly anticipated comeback battle has finally arrived.

The little Chimchar's eyes flashed with fire, and the mount it controlled in the game was none other than Houndoom, which had also undergone Mega Evolution!

Chapter 079 The Only Way to Win

In the days of ignorance, people often imagined Houndoom's terrifying howl as the call of death from hell; now, when they appear in their super-evolved form, humanity will see the true flames from hell!

Despite being a game, the developers have done a great job of recreating the power of Mega Evolved Pokémon. After Mega Evolution, Houndoom's size increases dramatically, its original large dog-like body becoming even taller than Rapidash.

The bone rings on its forelimbs seemed unable to withstand the heat within its body and broke in the middle. Its horns, which had been curved, now bent upwards. A bone-white suit of armor hung in front of its neck, with the bony horns along the edges of the armor pointing outwards in all directions. The triangle at the end of its tail split in the middle, becoming a fork-like shape.

If the original Houndoom was a servant of the devil, then the current Mega Houndoom is the devil himself!

What suddenly appeared before the old man Tiexuan was a hellhound, its sharp teeth spewing out blazing serpents that blocked the path of the super lightning beast like chains binding sinners.

The narrow terrain of the interconnected caves severely limits the movement advantage of mounts. Faced with sudden situations, even the most perfectly executed electronic scripts are rendered useless.

Furthermore, the opponent clearly knew the map extremely well, and the timing of their attack coincided perfectly with the end of the acceleration granted by the Tower of Refinement, completely thwarting any opportunity to use the acceleration to overcome the deceleration.

As expected, Electabuzz ran head-on into Mega Houndoom's attack and took full hit from its slowing effect.

The light signifying super evolution flashed wildly on the Hellhound, even triggering a pre-set close-up animation in the game.

.

"I've never committed a foul."

The detective's relaxed and cheerful voice came through the call channel—

"Since you mentioned invisibility, I guess Mr. Tie Xuan must have checked the minimap halfway through. It's really kind of you to go to such lengths. Actually, if players want to be invisible on the game minimap, they don't need to do anything as complicated as modifying game data. Just move your position directly above the save point, and the glow of the save point marker will naturally cover the player's position flashing—it's that simple."

The exit of the connecting tunnels serves as a data recording point for the journey.

“Now, Mr. Tie Xuan, I have been waiting for you for quite some time.” The detective whispered into the microphone attached to his headset.

At the same time, Chimchar appeared at the exit of the connecting burrows, manipulating Mega Houndoom backwards, and a large mouthful of thick "Flame Ray" slammed into Mega Evolve's cool lightning mane!

"But why did you appear in front of me? Raiden was clearly leading the way... No! That's not right, it's a detour! You didn't even pass the save point in Myriad City, you went straight from Luna City against the flow of traffic to get here! Is this your plan!?"

The interrogation boomed from the other end of the earpiece, severely damaging Hugo's ears. The detective, wincing in pain, turned down the volume before fluently explaining—

"As I said before, there are two ways to win this race. One is to get ahead of you, pass through all the checkpoints in the middle of the track in order, and finally reach the finish line first. The second way is to use every means to deplete Electamon's hidden health bar before you reach the finish line."

As Hugo spoke, Houndoom's flames continued to scorch its opponent. After Mega Evolution, Houndoom's "Flamethrower" became much stronger, and its duration was nearly doubled.

Chimchar skillfully cranked the handle. It must be said, while Mega Houndoom looked imposing and powerful, the way it swung its limbs and ran backwards seemed rather comical to the onlookers at Featherwood Residence. It was truly remarkable how smoothly Chimchar could reverse.

As soon as the power of "Flame Burst" weakened, Houndoom immediately unleashed "Flame Burst," which had already cooled down, and attacked its opponent again with the flames slowing it down, which had not yet completely worn off.

With a loud bang, flames struck the Thunder Beast's head, even causing it to stun.

A burst of cheers erupted around the sofa in Yuqi Residence.

Keep in mind that at this moment, this little monkey, whose skill level is no less than that of an e-sports player, still had two Dark-type harassment moves, "Dark Pulse" and "Roar," that it hadn't yet used.

As if he hadn't forgotten the grudge from being yelled at earlier, Hugo continued to verbally harass her. However, in Officer Jenny's eyes, the detective was clearly enjoying himself, not satisfied until he finished explaining what he had to say.

"Of the two ways to win, we first ruled out the first one, because even if we raised our skills to the level of a game master, we still couldn't compete with your superior skills, Mr. Tiexuan. So, after eliminating the impossible options, what remains must be the truth, which is that if we want to win, we must give up the race for the save point and focus all our efforts on hunting down your Thunder Beast!"

In the Electric Gym of Mauville City, Hoenn, the old man, Iron Whirl, paid no heed to the detective's deductions. He was frantically switching between the controller and the computer, attempting to modify the program to brute-force a seemingly simple but actually unsolvable encounter and pursuit problem—

Faced with Houndoom reversing, Iron Whirl wanted to use a move to counterattack, but Houndoom was moving away from where the Electamon's move would land, making it impossible for Electamon's berserk lightning to hit.

What's even more disadvantageous for the old man is that his Thunder Beast is charging in the opposite direction of the opponent's backward attack, making it increasingly difficult for him to maneuver and dodge.

"Drain their health bars. We have to accomplish this seemingly impossible task. Fortunately, the map for the game is in the Carlos region, and the complex and varied tracks, as well as the diverse item designs, make this strategy possible."

Tie Xuan finally gave up fighting back and devoted all his energy to dodging attacks.

Despite the impressive visual impact of skill attacks in the game, they actually deal negligible damage to the mount. He only needs to reach the finish line before the detective depletes the Thunder Beast's health bar to secure victory!

"You might think that the damage from skills in the game is negligible, and that as long as you persevere, you can still achieve final victory."

Hugo's seemingly understanding commentary came through the other end of the earphone, but it sounded even more sarcastic.

"This would naturally be true for your earlier games where you still roam the electronic racetrack, but don't forget, we're playing the eighth installment in the series, where the highly anticipated Super Evolution system has been launched. Let me introduce it to you—"

Inside the Feather Residence, the detective in the white coat raised his arm towards the air.

"Mega Houndoom, the Pokémon with the highest attack power in Pokémon 8, caused quite a stir among players when it first appeared in the game: 'Pokémon 8 is finally transitioning into a competitive game!' Its area-of-effect attack, 'Flamethrower,' boasts the most efficient HP-based damage in the entire game. Among high-damage moves, it has the shortest cooldown, and among short-cooldown moves, it deals the highest damage. It can even be combined with 'Fire Blast' for a combo attack! This Pokémon is the foundation of my strategy!"

"On Route 16, northeast of Luna City, in a patch of grass somewhere along this road known as the 'Sad Road,' you can find this unique Mega Stone. I went there immediately after veering off course. After Mega Evolving, I reversed back through Luna City and ambushed the exit of the Pit Link. And then, as you can see."

Hugo heard his opponent's heavy breathing through the earpiece.

The race footage returned to Miare City, and following the normal map guidance, the Iron Cycling should have passed through this romantic city with its towering iron tower once again, with the Carlos Circuit lying across the right half of the figure-eight.