"Aether Foundation wants to meet me?"
Grey was stunned by Damalanchi's words.
Aether Foundation was a major organization, too.
It was based in the Alola region. Since the area had no Pokémon League, Aether Foundation was somewhat like a semi-official organization there.
Its current president was Lusamine, Lillie's mother.
Don't tell me she's coming after me because I ran off with her daughter?
No, that wasn't right...
Considering Lusamine's current situation, she probably wasn't paying all that much attention to Lillie.
If she was paying attention to anything, it was probably Nebby, the Cosmog with Lillie.
Right now, Cosmog still hadn't evolved into Cosmoem, let alone its final form. Who knew which form this Cosmog would eventually evolve into?
"That's right. President Lusamine of Aether Foundation said she wanted to visit the Kanto region. But she won't be coming personally. Instead, she's sending several executives under her to Saffron City for an exchange."
Damalanchi nodded.
He had dealt with the Alola region a few times before.
He knew the locals wanted to establish an official organization similar to a Pokémon League.
The Alola region had even submitted applications several times.
He had rejected them several times, too.
After all, the Alola region still had yet to gather a full Elite Four and Champion.
The Masked Royal's arrival this time was probably also related to the matter of establishing a Pokémon League.
He likely wanted to use the tournament to prove his strength.
Back to the topic at hand.
After hearing the news, Grey rubbed his chin and thought for a long while.
"Senior Damalanchi, where exactly are these executives planning to visit in Saffron City? Silph Co. is still being rebuilt, and even my Gym is being renovated. If they come at a time like this, I'm afraid there won't be anywhere to properly receive them."
Grey answered honestly.
Just as he said, Silph Co. was still under reconstruction, while the Fighting Dojo was being merged with Saffron Gym and renovated. Under those circumstances, even if Aether Foundation came, there wouldn't be much for them to visit.
Hmm...
They could visit the Battle Club, though.
But Grey believed Aether Foundation wouldn't waste their time visiting a Battle Club.
They were crossing the ocean all the way from the Alola region. Were they really doing that just to look at a Battle Club that could be found anywhere?
Anyone with eyes could tell that was impossible.
"I'm not sure. According to Aether Foundation, they want to come here for a local tour and take a look around. At the same time, they hope to offer what little help they can, so that a partnership might be reached afterward."
Damalanchi gave Grey a meaningful look.
He deliberately emphasized the word "partnership."
"A partnership... The Fighting Dojo doesn't really have anything it can partner with Aether Foundation on."
Grey felt that the Fighting Dojo was just an ordinary Gym.
The Fighting Dojo had only become so popular because he was the one supporting it.
Besides.
If they wanted a partnership, wouldn't it be better to partner with Silph Co.?
"Heh, heh, heh. Gym Leader Grey, there's something you may not know. Aether Foundation has a patent. I believe it was jointly developed with the local Professor Kukui. It's called the Ride Pager."
"This Ride Pager is somewhat similar to the Pokémon Box. Both use a certain device to achieve the purpose of sending out Pokémon anytime, anywhere."
Damalanchi told Grey about Aether Foundation's patent.
Grey knew about this.
In Pokémon Sun and Moon and Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, the player could use the Ride Pager to mount Ride Pokémon anytime, anywhere.
It was quite convenient.
If they really wanted to give him a "Ride Pager," that would actually suit him perfectly.
The function he lacked right now was being able to send out Pokémon anywhere.
If he had a Ride Pager, things would be much easier.
"Senior Damalanchi, when will Aether Foundation's people come?"
At this point, it was impossible to tell Aether Foundation not to come.
He would have to face them sooner or later.
It was better to accept it calmly.
"Probably in about a month. I know you're heading to the Hoenn region after the Indigo Conference ends, so I arranged the timing with that in mind."
Damalanchi heard that Grey was somewhat tempted, so he added that explanation on purpose.
"Ahem. In that case, I'll be waiting for Aether Foundation's executives to honor us with their presence."
Grey silently did some calculations.
A month should be just about enough time for the Fighting Dojo's renovations to be completed.
"In that case, it's decided."
Damalanchi looked at the time, then stood up and looked toward the podium.
Lance had already finished speaking.
The Indigo Conference would officially begin tomorrow!
That night, at the Indigo Plateau.
The night outside the venue was lit up by countless lights.
Not long after the opening ceremony ended, the mountain roads were already packed with people.
Trainers excitedly discussed their matches over the next few days, food stalls carried the scents of hot stew skewers and Poké Puffs, and the souvenir shops were crowded with children holding Poké Balls.
The entire plateau was immersed in the lively atmosphere unique to a League Conference.
"Gym Leader Grey! Can I have your autograph?"
"Whoa! Gym Leader Grey, I'm one of your Captain-tier supporters! Can I get a photo with you?"
As soon as Grey walked out of the main venue, enthusiastic fans recognized him.
The crowd quickly gathered around him. Countless autograph boards and phones were shoved toward him all at once, while cheers and camera shutters rose one after another.
"Uh, everyone, don't rush. One at a time! We're still on the main road here, so let's move a little to the side and avoid blocking other people, okay?"
Grey glanced at the noisy crowd and quickly moved to the side to guide everyone over, avoiding any kind of stampede.
"Gym Leader Grey! We're reporters from Kanto Daily. Would you be available for an interview?"
He had only just moved to the side when reporters from the daily paper came over, wanting to interview him.
"Uh, well, let's wait until my fan friends here are mostly done getting their photos and autographs. I don't want them to have come all this way and then wait so long for me. If your paper can't wait, you can interview someone else first, then come back when there are fewer people on my end."
Grey looked at the fans who had already lined up and were waiting eagerly. In the end, he didn't have the heart to make them wait that long.
"Huh? All right, then we'll go interview someone else first. See you later, Gym Leader Grey!"
The reporter could only give up for now.
Grey watched them leave, then began interacting with the fans.
"Gym Leader Grey! This is my account. I subscribed to you at Captain tier. Can I get a photo?"
A young man who looked around twenty walked over. He held a phone in his hand, and the screen displayed the page showing that he had subscribed to Grey at Captain tier.
Now that he thought about it.
Recently, the Flare Doule platform had been cooking up who-knew-what, and it had increased the number of Voyage membership levels.
Originally, opening an Admiral-tier membership only went up to level 25, but now it had been changed straight to level 30.
Meanwhile, Governor-tier membership had changed to level 39, forming a sharp contrast with its previous level 28.
The hierarchy had become even stricter.
If there had already been gaps even within the previous twenty-five levels, then now those gaps had become even larger.
Sigh. When it came to squeezing money out of users, platforms really knew what they were doing.
"Of course, no problem. It's already great that all of you are willing to come support me. Captain tier or whatever doesn't matter. Spending that money is way too much of a loss. My Captain-tier gift package doesn't even have anything good."
Regarding fans subscribing to him at Captain tier, Grey still held the attitude that they should avoid sending gifts if they could.
He mainly streamed to build his reputation.
Gifts and all that didn't really matter.
If they really wanted to support him, they could support him more offline.
"Also, I didn't bring many freebies with me today. Only about fifty sets or so. I'll go print a few more batches later, and I should be able to get them in a few days."
After taking a photo with the fan, Grey gave him a freebie and explained that there weren't many freebies this time.
"Of course, no problem! Gym Leader Grey, you're already thoughtful enough! Oh, right, can we take a selfie?"
The fan who received the freebie raised his arm and cheered. After saying that, he didn't forget to ask Grey for a selfie.
"A selfie too? I'm not even doing cosplay, and you still want a selfie?"
Grey scratched his head, feeling a little embarrassed.
Even so, he still took the fan's phone and snapped a few selfies.
"Thank you, Gym Leader Grey! I'll definitely keep supporting you!"
The young fan left.
The other fans quietly lined up and waited for their turn.
That line lasted for a full hour.
Finally, after the last fan finished getting their photo and autograph, Grey let out a breath of relief.
This period reminded Grey of his past life, when he went to Comic-Con and saw pretty cosplayers with lines of people waiting to take photos with them.
It was nice to have people want photos with you.
But it was also genuinely exhausting!
"Goodbye, everyone. I hope all the competitors have smooth battles, and I hope everyone here to have fun enjoys themselves!"
Grey waved goodbye to the crowd.
"Gym Leader Grey, give us a few more blessings! Something more specific!"
One fan took the lead in stirring things up.
Grey thought for a moment, then smiled and said, "Then I hope everyone's Thunder Wave and Sleep Powder hit every single time!"
"That's toxic, Gym Leader Grey."
"Gym Leader Grey, I play Toxic, Substitute, and Protect stall. Can you bless me so I run into opponents who don't know Taunt?"
"Gold, what are you doing joining the fun? Aren't you not battling? Forget it, I bless you with running into a Poison Heal Gliscor, the same kind as Gym Leader Giovanni's."
When Grey saw that the person speaking was Admiral-tier Gold, he immediately cracked a joke.
Gold: "???"
"Wow, okay, so this is how you treat your own Admiral, huh? Aren't you afraid I won't send you Popcorns anymore?"
"Exactly, exactly. Gym Leader Grey, how can you treat your Lord Admiral like that?"
"Oh my god, Lord Admiral!"
The crowd that should have left became lively again because of Admiral-tier Gold's appearance.
He had to admit it.
Gold was really good at creating content.
Just standing there was enough to make people want to laugh.
"All right, all right. Then I hope every Egg you hatch has perfect 6 IVs."
Grey cupped his fists and sent out a blessing.
"That's more like it. I'll take that blessing."
Gold rubbed his nose. Although every Pokémon Egg that passed through his hands had at least one guaranteed perfect IV, getting perfect 6 IVs every time was still pretty difficult.
This could be considered borrowing a bit of Grey's luck.
Grey watched Gold leave.
The rest of the fans also ran off to have fun.
"Gym Leader Grey, can you accept the interview now?"
The reporter from earlier saw that Grey was alone and hurried over, pointing the microphone at him.
Grey nodded. "No problem. What do you want to ask?"
"Let me see..."
The female reporter lowered her head and flipped through her notebook. After looking for quite a while, she finally pointed the microphone at Grey. "Gym Leader Grey, regarding the fact that your online streams are even more popular than your offline Gym, have you ever considered becoming a full-time streamer?"
?
Starting off by asking about his career path really left Grey unsure how to react.
"Well... I have indeed thought about whether I should become a full-time streamer. But it was only a thought. After all, my foundation is being a Gym Leader. Streaming is too unstable, so I definitely won't make streaming my main focus."
Grey answered honestly. "After all, I'm a Gym Leader first, and a streamer second."
It was the same as photography.
Playing around with it occasionally was fine, but with the market almost saturated these past few years, he still had to maintain his foundation first.
Otherwise, he might fail to pick up the sesame seeds and lose the watermelon at the same time.
Grey saw things very clearly.
A stable income was enough.
"Wow, I didn't expect Gym Leader Grey to have such a clear career plan. Then, second question. There are rumors online that Gym Leader Daisy of Cerulean Gym has improved rapidly in strength, and that this is entirely because of your guidance, Gym Leader Grey. Is that true?"
The female reporter continued asking questions.
"Well, I'm actually not sure how to answer that."
Grey didn't know how he should respond to this question.
Daisy's progress was definitely connected to him.
But whether it was "entirely" because of him was hard to say.
Loose lips start trouble. Grey didn't want to be dogpiled by Daisy's fans, so he was very cautious about this question.
"Okay. Since it's hard to say, then we won't ask. Third question! Gym Leader Grey, how did you meet Gym Leader Sabrina?"
When the female reporter asked her third question, Grey felt this one was quite easy to answer.
"Well, this goes back to when I was training Pokémon two and a half months ago..."
Then Grey began speaking at length.
By the time he finished, the female reporter's expression looked a little strange.
The female reporter said, "So you're saying that while you were training Pokémon, you encountered Gym Leader Sabrina, who had become weak because her psychic powers went out of control, and then you brought her home?"
Grey nodded lightly. "Correct."
The female reporter said, "And you coaxed Gym Leader Sabrina by saying that if she learned from you, she would be able to control her psychic powers?"
Grey nodded firmly. "Exactly."
The female reporter said, "And as long as her psychic powers combine with your Aura, Gym Leader Sabrina's psychic powers will be brought completely under control?"
Grey gave a thumbs-up. "Correct."
The female reporter said, "..."
"Gym Leader Grey, you really are... impressive."
The female reporter held it in for a long time before finally forcing out that sentence.
Meanwhile, the cameraman looked at Grey with admiration.
Bro, that was Tauros-level stuff!
"Not impressive. It was all blood and tears. Sigh, never mind. I still need to go get some bracelets."
Grey waved his hand.
This time, it was the reporter duo's turn to watch Grey leave.
"Gym Leader Grey's experiences really are... full of twists and turns."
The female reporter looked at Grey's departing back and murmured to herself.
"They really are."
The cameraman agreed, then asked, "What do we do with that segment just now? Cut it, or what? I feel like it's not the kind of thing we can broadcast."
"Hmm... I have this strange feeling that the censors already ganked us once. If we release it, Gym Leader Grey might end up becoming a certain unnamed Gym Leader, right?"
"He really might."
"Cut it. Cut it."
Everything seemed cheerful and harmonious.
And in an unknown corner of the Indigo Plateau, a deep-blue rift slowly opened...
//Check out my P@tre0n for 30 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810.