"Gloom has lost its ability to battle, so the victor is... Caster!"
Seeing the match was decided, Mitsuko immediately stepped forward to act as referee and announce the result.
"The streamer won!"
"The streamer's amazing! Another sweep!
Though he benefited from Magikarp's evolution (otherwise he would've lost), congratulations are still in order.
Gifting an Ultra Ball, a small token of respect!"
"I hereby declare that the streamer is now my idol! Challenging a gym with a Magikarp and pulling off consecutive sweeps; it's absolutely incredible. Tell me, is there anything the streamer can't do?"
"The streamer's strength is truly formidable, and his trainer talent is exceptionally high.
As long as he captures and trains a few more Pokémon, making it into this year's Indigo League really isn't impossible."
...
After the match was decided, Caster also breathed a sigh of relief, then said to the camera with emotion.
"Whew~ What an exhilarating battle!"
Hearing this, Caster's livestream boiled over again.
"Fish Boy is starting to show off again? But you know what, I actually like his smug little look."
"Let him flex! Let him flex!"
"Not only defeating but also rubbing salt in the wound? Streamer, please act like a decent human!
You may have had a blast, but did you consider Erika's feelings?"
"Gloom: I'm sorry! Lord Gyarados, I couldn't satisfy you! But I really can't go on anymore..."
"But honestly, Fish Boy challenging beautiful female trainers is indeed quite entertaining.
Streamer, come to Saffron City; the sexy, aloof Sabrina is waiting for you to win her over!"
...
Glancing at the comments, Caster tactically retreated, saying coldly, "Win over Sabrina? There are troublemakers among my livestream fans!"
At this point in time, Sabrina was still in her withdrawn state; she was too dangerous, and Caster didn't dare go there and poke the tiger.
Although he really wanted to play with Sabrina, getting turned into a doll wasn't the kind of play he had in mind. There wasn't even a safe word; it was too risky.
If he were going to Saffron City, he'd wait until Ash had healed Sabrina first.
After chatting with his fans for a bit, Caster finally had time to check his livestream stats.
"Online viewers reached 300,000? Fan count also broke through 100,000? Awesome!"
Delight appeared on Caster's face.
Breaking through 100,000 fans, he could barely be considered a well-known streamer now.
"Thank you drago for gifting Master Balls and Rayquaza Draco Meteors..."
Caster quickly thanked them one by one, his attitude respectful.
After all, they were all patrons!
"Congratulations on your victory. Please accept the Rainbow Badge!"
At some point, Erika had come to Caster's side and handed over a petal-shaped badge that was colorful like a rainbow.
"Thank you!"
Caster happily accepted the Rainbow Badge.
"You earned this with your strength; you don't need to thank me!"
Looking at Caster, the curiosity in Erika's beautiful eyes grew stronger.
So young yet able to train a Magikarp this excellently; this was truly beyond Erika's expectations.
Erika had a premonition that this young man's future probably wouldn't be ordinary.
...
Time rewinds to thirty minutes earlier.
Paldea region, Levincia City.
"Everyone~! It's time~ for Iono's stream~!"
"Hey~ hello hello~!"
"Catching your eyeballs with an Electric Net! Who's streaming? Iono's here!"
"Good morning, afternoon, evening, hello!"
A greeting full of personal style rang out.
A vivacious young woman wearing extremely loose punk clothing with two Magnemite-like decorations on her head enthusiastically greeted the screen.
Whether her outfit or speaking style, both left a strong impression and caught the eye.
Iono, Gym Leader of Levincia Gym in the Paldea region, and also a future super popular streamer.
Though she'd only recently entered the streaming industry, her lively and cheerful personality and skill at engaging the audience during streams meant she'd already accumulated quite a few fans.
Her viewership was extremely high during each stream.
However, during today's stream, Iono noticed her viewer count and engagement weren't rising, which puzzled her considerably.
"What's going on? Could it be some Champion started streaming and stole my traffic?"
After ending the stream, Iono leaned back tactically in her chair, her delicate pale feet swaying.
To determine the reason, Iono began searching through the streaming website, looking for popular livestreams.
But strangely, no Champions were streaming at the moment, and even Elesa wasn't doing a fashion show.
"Weird! Then why was my stream engagement so low today?"
Puzzled, Iono continued scrolling down the rankings, then saw an unfamiliar account streaming with the word "Trending" prominently displayed.
"Fishing Dreamer? Never heard of them!"
Full of curiosity, Iono entered Caster's livestream.
Let me see what kind of tricks you're pulling!
"Huh???"
But after actually entering, Iono couldn't help widening her eyes, feeling somewhat incredulous.
Because as soon as she entered, she saw a Magikarp battling an Oddish!
Glancing at the comments, Iono learned that this streamer was a trainer from the Kanto region conducting a gym challenge.
Iono scratched her face, exclaiming in wonder, "Are all Magikarps in the Kanto region this aggressive?"
The battle in the livestream continued.
Watching Magikarp use Bounce to defeat Weepinbell, then evolve at the critical moment, Iono's eyes also became bright and shining.
Pokémon evolution had always been an exciting moment.
"No wonder the stream engagement could suppress mine.
This Kanto region trainer really has something; his Pokémon training and battle style are also extremely novel and eye-catching."
"He might become my streaming competitor in the future. I'll follow him for now!"
Iono clicked follow, and the value of Caster's fan count instantly skyrocketed.
...
At the same time, in Blackthorn City in the Johto region.
Having followed Caster, Clair hadn't missed his gym stream; she watched the entire battle from Magikarp's fight to its evolution.
Seeing Caster's Magikarp master the Bounce move, Clair was equally shocked.
This kind of thing, let alone her, even Lance hadn't achieved.
But what shocked Clair the most was that after winning, Caster's Gyarados hovered for a moment before slowly descending.
"This Gyarados can actually fly?"
Noticing this detail, Clair's pupils contracted sharply.
Though it only hovered for a moment, Clair was certain this was flight!
Just still at the elementary stage of flying!
Clair's Dragon Tamer family had an ancient heritage; historical records could be traced back over a thousand years.
In their ancient family texts, there was a record of a family ancestor who encountered a storm at sea and nearly drowned.
Before losing consciousness, he vaguely saw a flying Gyarados stirring up the storm.
After returning to the family, that ancestor recorded the incident in their texts and attempted to train a flying Gyarados, but unfortunately never succeeded before dying.
Over time, this incident was treated by the family as that ancestor's hallucination.
But now... Clair had seen it!
"My Gyarados also mastered Bounce, but its power is mediocre, and it can't hover or fly; it can only barely manage short-distance gliding."
Clair speculated to herself: "Could it be that one must master the Bounce move during the Magikarp stage?
This way it activates Magikarp's flying bloodline, and after evolution the bloodline advantage is amplified, enabling flight?"
Because before evolution, the only difference between Clair's Gyarados and Caster's Magikarp was that it hadn't mastered the Flying-type move Bounce.
Following variable analysis logic, this was extremely likely the reason.
Thinking of this, Clair couldn't care about anything else and quickly used her phone to call Lance.
As far as she knew, Lance was in the Kanto region, and as a famous Champion, it would be more appropriate for him to investigate than for her to do so herself.
"Sorry! The number you have dialed is currently switched off. Please try again later."
Clair became furious. "Damn it! Can't get through again. What mission is that guy executing? It's been half a month already."
Suppressing her anger, Clair shared the video of Caster and Gyarados with Lance, then looked in the direction of Kanto, thinking to herself: "Forget it! I'll make the trip myself! Kanto isn't that far anyway..."
With that, Clair threw out a Pokéball.
Light flashed, and a Pokémon appeared that was primarily green overall, had two green antennae on its head, two green wings, an eight-segmented tail, and red hemispherical structures over its eyes.
It was the Ground and Dragon dual-type Pokémon ~ Flygon!
"Flygon, we're going to Kanto!"
Clair jumped onto Flygon's back. The latter flapped its wings and immediately soared into the sky.
۞۞۞۞
~ Push the story forward with your Power Stones