One day later.
When the Grand Festival of the Kanto Region concluded, firsthand reports spread across the internet immediately the very next day.
Among them, the hottest topic was undoubtedly Terrance obtaining the honor of Contest Master.
In the field of coordination, the status of the Contest Master title in the eyes of countless Coordinators is equivalent to the status of the Elite Four in the eyes of ordinary Trainers.
Terrance scrolled through reports about himself on his Rotom Pokédex, looking at the various opinions—some praising, some questioning—and shrugged helplessly.
This title was far heavier than Top Coordinator. Terrance had originally felt that public opinion toward him was generally positive, but today he discovered that all kinds of monsters had suddenly crawled out of nowhere, polluting the environment with illogical smear attacks.
"As fame grows, the chance of running into idiots increases too..."
Terrance sneered, and casually glanced at one of the hottest post.
"A colossal scandal! Beating a rookie and you become a Contest Master?"
The poster was using a throwaway account, with absolutely no posting history on the Pokémon Contest forum, as if it had appeared out of thin air that very day. The post even listed many so-called examples that Terrance had never even heard of, leaving him utterly speechless.
Raoul Contesta had already warned Terrance about this, saying that there would definitely be malicious smears online afterward and that Terrance shouldn't take them to heart. Even Wallace had gone through the same thing back then.
After some time passed, the malicious comments would gradually disappear.
"Too slow." Terrance curled his lip, ignoring Raoul Contesta's earlier advice. Could the Contest Committee really not even stop such pointless evaluations?
"Rotom Pokédex, have you locked onto the IP of this poster?"
"Locked on, Roto." Having been exposed to plenty of cutting-edge technology in the future world, the Rotom Pokédex found this task effortless.
"Next, investigate the IPs of the posters of the other hot threads, and those users who are arguing the most aggressively," Terrance said as he continued browsing.
After the Rotom Pokédex finished its search, Terrance discovered that almost all of these people originated from the same few IP addresses.
Even when the IPs differed, the accounts were almost all registered in the same place, showing inseparable connections.
"Leda Entertainment, Konghai Media?" Terrance realized that the most disruptive users were definitely connected to these two companies. After thinking it over, he directly dialed Raoul Contesta's number.
Hearing Terrance's question, Raoul Contesta fell silent for a moment before saying helplessly, "I didn't expect you to investigate this yourself. Actually, you already guessed it, didn't you? Those are companies whose interests conflict somewhat with the Pokémon Contest. As the second Contest Master ever promoted by the Pokémon Contest, how could they miss such a good chance to smear you?"
"I understand that," Terrance said. "Then what? Just ignore it?"
"Generally speaking, their accounts are limited in number. As long as we keep banning them, it won't be a problem. After some time, the uproar will die down on its own," Raoul Contesta explained.
"Mr. Raoul Contesta…" Terrance frowned. "These malicious smears even include personal attacks. Is it really appropriate to resolve this in a way where they have to pay the least price?"
On the other end, Raoul Contesta gave a wry smile upon hearing this. He had expected Terrance's attitude. After all, Terrance was still young and hot-blooded. The situation Wallace had gone through back then was even more complicated than Terrance's. In Raoul Contesta's view, these were things that all famous people had to endure.
"Then what do you propose?" Raoul Contesta asked.
"Make them pay a greater price," Terrance said.
In truth, Terrance only wanted to see a show of sincerity from the Contest Committee. With the power of the Contest Committee, this kind of smear incident could definitely be resolved perfectly. But if they only used the lowest-cost solution, Terrance could only take it as a sign that the Contest Committee did not value him highly enough.
After all, there were no negative evaluations of Wallace on the internet.
Since he had to choose a faction, Terrance naturally preferred the one most closely tied to him, but that did not mean Terrance had no demands of Pokémon Contests. From the current incident involving paid online trolls, Terrance had already seen the weakness in how the upper management of the Pokémon Contest handled matters.
Terrance chose the Pokémon Contest, and naturally hoped that the Pokémon Contest could take perfect responsibility for protecting his reputation. If they could not even do that, how was he supposed to compete for a position in the Elite Four as a Coordinator?
The Pokémon Contest's approach was somewhat too soft. This was something Terrance was quite dissatisfied with. No matter the reason, he was the second Contest Master, after all.
Perhaps the Pokémon Contest did not understand him deeply enough and was still stuck in their impression of him from the Super Festival, only viewing Terrance as a Top Coordinator with the potential to challenge for an Elite Four position. But Terrance was very clear about his own value.
Mismagius, Beautifly, Arcanine, Castform, and Gallade—the foundations of these Pokémon saw explosive growth after Terrance returned from the future. The knowledge system of the next four years benefited Terrance immensely. Among them, Altaria, no longer the Pokémon with a lacking foundation it once was, can even hold its own against the Kalos Champion's ace for a short period.
In addition, with Carbink, Ninetales, Kirlia, and Pupitar all possessing extraordinary potential, Terrance never believed that the Elite Four position posed much difficulty for him. Even if one year wasn't enough, or two years wasn't enough, could it be that before the age of twenty he still wouldn't be able to reach that level?
Terrance didn't believe that. Precisely because he clearly understood his own strength, Terrance wanted to receive corresponding attention from the Contest Committee.
"I understand. I don't want to see this either; after all, your Contest Master honor is something I fought for," Raoul Contesta said. Naturally, he also hoped Terrance wouldn't have to endure these malicious smears from Pokémon Contest competitors. But if they wanted to resolve the issue thoroughly, his own influence alone was not enough; it would require mobilizing the full power of the Pokémon Contest.
Unfortunately, his individual authority was still not that great, so he hadn't been particularly firm in handling these matters. Originally, Raoul Contesta had wanted to make it up to Terrance in other ways, but since Terrance had now raised the issue himself, he had no choice.
"I will handle it properly." When Raoul Contesta made this promise, Terrance's expression relaxed, though at the same time he felt he might have been a bit impatient.
This method of resolution wasn't unacceptable. At the very least, the Pokémon Contest was doing its best to delete malicious smear comments. It was just that this was Terrance's first time dealing with such things, so he was somewhat sensitive about it.
Still, Terrance did not regret his firm.
"I will show the corresponding level of strength, so my position on this matter remains the same," Terrance said.
Since the Pokémon Contest did not yet value him enough, he would carve out recognition for himself, on the premise that the Pokémon Contest could resolve this matter perfectly.
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