Chapter 35

"So that's how it is." Mom Luo said worriedly, "Looks like even for your Pokémon, Little Yi, you'll need to start making money and buying a house early. Wait... when you get married in the future, what if the girl is also a Trainer? You'll need even more space. Hmm, at the very least, buy a villa."

Roy never expected that even though the world had changed, he would still be pressured into getting married and buying a house.

However, for Roy, who was already a Trainer and had gained a bit of fame, making money was not difficult.

Several Pokémon textbook manufacturers in Shenghai had approached him for endorsements, offering extremely high prices. If Roy accepted, he could buy a villa whenever he wanted.

But Roy was in no hurry.

Rather than cashing in on his current popularity, he might as well wait until he was stronger and worth more before making money. Besides, he had to carefully choose his partners. He could not just sell out for easy money.

Unlike other Trainers, he did not need money that badly. Maintaining his popularity and reputation was more important.

Speaking of popularity, Roy looked again at Squirtle, who was burying its head in its food.

Even the unborn Vulpix already had a reliable way of gaining Popularity Points, yet there was still no news on Squirtle's side.

It's time to put this silly turtle's fame plan on the agenda.

After dinner, Roy returned to his room with his two Pokémon and began his "Squirtle meme" project.

"Squirtle, I want you to cooperate with me and take some pictures."

"Squirtle?"

Squirtle tilted its head in confusion.

Was there any point in taking pictures?

Roy thought for a moment, took out his phone, searched for a picture of a Milotic that had been nominated for an award in a world-class Pokémon beauty pageant, and showed it to Squirtle.

The Milotic in the picture exuded an elegant, noble charm, like a refined lady. Her body was slender and graceful, incomparably beautiful.

Even humans of a different species could recognize her beauty at a glance.

For Pokémon, the effect was even more outstanding.

Even the aloof Riolu's eyes lit up.

Squirtle instantly displayed a "silly blushing face," staring fixedly at the Milotic in the picture.

Roy seized the opportunity and snapped a photo of the scene, intending to use it as meme material later.

Then Roy teased it.

"What do you think? Pretty, right?"

"Squ-Squirtle!"

Squirtle shyly scratched its head, like an inexperienced boy seeing a beautiful older girl.

"What I want to do is like what happened with this Milotic. I'll take pictures of you, make some minor edits, then upload them online so everyone can get to know you."

Roy explained with a serious expression.

He recalled what Principal Fang had said about Squirtle's past and knew that this Squirtle had a strong desire to stand out. It desperately wanted to show everyone how special it was.

Unfortunately, its way of thinking was a little silly.

They were both "great detectives" who had solved countless cases. Some could become Sherlock Holmes or Shinichi Kudo, while others could only become Kogoro Mouri.

It could only be said that it was not just personality or ability that determined one's fate. Looks did too.

"I'm confident I can make you famous and let everyone understand how special you are!"

Hearing the key words, Squirtle immediately became excited.

"Squirtle!?"

"Of course it's true." Roy struck while the iron was hot and continued tempting it. "Once you become famous, maybe you'll get to meet the Milotic in that picture. Think about it—you could star in television dramas and movies with her..."

Squirtle imagined spending wonderful times with Milotic, and its head suddenly seemed to swell in size.

It raised a hand full of determination, clenched its fist, and wore a resolute expression!

"Squirtle!"

Just do it!

Very good.

Roy smiled in satisfaction and pulled out a pair of sunglasses he had prepared in advance.

They would start with sunglasses-themed memes: Squirtle as a streetwise tough guy.

With Squirtle's cooperation, Roy took over a hundred photos in one go. He then carefully selected around twenty of them and, using memories of the internet from his previous life, edited them into memes.

Roy checked the quality of the memes and nodded in satisfaction.

This world also had plenty of Pokémon memes, and they were all quite cute.

As one of the Starter Pokémon, Squirtle also had quite a few memes.

But never had there been a Squirtle as round and adorably silly-looking as Roy's.

Others had three stages of silly aura. Judging by its looks alone, Squirtle was at least at the level of turning silly aura into a horse.

Terrifying indeed.

After finishing the preparations, Roy got ready to upload the pictures.

As for where to upload them...

Roy racked his brains for a while before finally remembering the password to his Weibo account.

He had rarely used Weibo in his previous life, because there really was nothing interesting on it that could attract a straight man.

Most of the platform's active users were women.

Even in another world, that had not changed much.

Opening Weibo's homepage recommendations, Roy saw nothing but Pokémon makeup, Pokémon skincare products, Pokémon conditioner, scandals involving some star Trainer, and upcoming movies and television dramas...

Occasionally, there would be major national news or interesting tactical analyses, but they were rare, and their popularity was far below that of the former.

The platform was not really Roy's cup of tea, but he still chose it.

The reason was simple.

There were lots of female fans here.

"Ah, this damned charm of mine."

Looking at the account with five hundred thousand followers, Roy shook his head and sighed.

His fame from the New Star Cup, along with reports from Shenghai and nearby media outlets, had made Roy popular for a while. His Weibo, WeChat, and other online accounts had all been dug up.

But most people merely knew that someone like him existed. They would not go out of their way to follow him.

The only people who had truly become fans were some of those who had watched the competition that day and had high expectations for him.

Other than that, there were only fans of his looks.

When Roy saw that as many as 92% of his followers were women, and that 30% of them had spent time voting for him on his fan topic page, while among the 8% male fans, only two people had voted for him, he deeply understood one truth.

Male fans were useless. Their spending power was worse than dogs.

That saying truly did not deceive him.

Roy looked over his Weibo. His most recent post was still a photo from his second year of high school, when he had gone on a picnic with Mu Tianyang. It already had more than a thousand comments beneath it.

The female fans were extremely enthusiastic.

However, their enthusiasm also faded quickly. How many internet celebrities had they made famous, only for them to fall like meteors soon after?

The New Star Cup was still hot right now.

But if Roy did not manage his account properly and continued lying flat, it would soon become useless.

Roy thought for a moment, paired the post with his favorite "Squirtle Silly Blushing Face.jpg," and wrote a caption.

"I'm very happy that everyone is following and supporting me! From now on, I'll share my life as a Trainer and some useful knowledge here. Thank you, everyone!"

Without pausing, Roy posted a second Weibo update.

"This is my second Pokémon, Squirtle, one of the Starter Pokémon. Haha, it looks kind of festive. I'll raise it well."

The picture Roy attached showed Squirtle wearing a goofy smile, spreading its limbs wide as it leaped through the air.

Caption:

—Your little cutie suddenly appears.jpg.

After posting those, Roy did not wait around for his fans' reactions.

He put down his phone and looked at Squirtle and Riolu, who were sitting shoulder to shoulder, leaning against each other as they watched "Baa Baa Sheep and Mightyena."

"Ahem." He deliberately coughed twice, walked over, and turned off the television amid the regretful gazes of the two Pokémon.

"Starting tomorrow, Squirtle will officially begin training. If you want to become special, pictures alone won't be enough. You need to become stronger too, achieve results, and show everyone what you can do!"

"The same goes for Riolu. The New Star Cup may be over, but it was only the beginning. If you want to reach your father's level—or even surpass him—we'll need to face even more challenges!"

"Riolu!"

That spoonful of motivational chicken soup immediately filled Riolu and Squirtle with fighting spirit, and they threw their disappointment over not being able to continue watching television to the back of their minds.

Roy chuckled to himself. Such innocent, easily fooled little Pokémon.

"As for your upcoming training plans..."

Riolu's training plan would not change much from before. It would still undergo Lightning Body Tempering and practice the Move Proficiency of the moves it had already mastered.

As its physical functions continued improving and its cells became more resistant to electricity, the amount of electrical energy Riolu needed for Lightning Body Tempering was increasing.

Mild electricity was no longer enough to stimulate its cells.

One day, Lightning Body Tempering would exceed the threshold of Thunderbolt.

At that point, the Lightning Rod item would lose its effect, and Roy would need to consider other training methods.

But at least for now, Riolu could continue training with this method.