Kanto Region, Pallet Town.
"Ahhh, what a shame, right, Pikachu?"
A young man in his early twenties, wearing a black tank top and a red vest, had a broad smile on his face.
A glossy, slightly plump Pikachu stood on his shoulder.
He was Red, the Fighter, the Battle Legend of Mt. Silver-sunny in the manga, composed in the anime, and ice-cold in the games.
"Pika!"
Since Green had something come up, Red had ended their special training on Mt. Silver and returned to Pallet Town.
Ding!
Red's phone chimed. An account on his special watchlist, [Jubilife Breeding Center], had posted a new video.
Thanks to Akin's recommendation, Red had discovered a very interesting new UP Creator a little while ago.
At that moment, a girl with long orange hair tied in a high ponytail stood outside Red's house.
Her cheeks were still faintly flushed.
"Chuchu, I can do this."
The Healer-Yellow de Diantha Viridian-clenched her fists to encourage herself and looked at the Pikachu on her shoulder, who wore a little pink flower.
With her heart fluttering nervously, Yellow rang the doorbell.
Ding-dong!
"Oh, Yellow! Come on up."
At his voice, Yellow's face instantly turned red.
Red's Pikachu leaped down and flung himself into Yellow's arms. "Pika!"
"I missed you too, Pikachu!" Yellow hugged Pikachu close, smiling as she stroked him gently.
"What are you standing around for? Come on up!"
After silently giving herself another pep talk, Yellow climbed the stairs.
As soon as she entered the room, Yellow saw Red sitting in front of his computer, which was already on.
The screen was open to the Eevee Bullet Screen Video Network.
Yellow knew Red liked browsing the Eevee Network. She had registered an account there too.
She followed only a handful of people: Red, Green, and Blue. Lance didn't have an account; he had no time to browse videos.
Previously, Red's homepage had always been nothing but battles.
It was just like that saying:
"Red, all you ever think about is battling."
But the paused frame of this video caught Yellow's attention. This definitely wasn't a battle!
Yellow gathered her courage. "What are you watching?"
"This is a Trainer I've really liked lately!"
Seeing that it was a man, Yellow breathed a sigh of relief, then suddenly felt something wasn't quite right.
Didn't he already have Green?
Wasn't one husband and one wife enough?
Ahem. Yellow had been reading too many novels lately.
"Come on, let's watch together!"
Red invited Yellow to join him.
With only the armrests of their two chairs between her and Red, Diantha Viridian's cheeks flushed faintly.
Red's attention, however, was entirely absorbed by the video.
"Look, those are all high-quality Pokéblocks!"
Yellow nodded. "They really are."
Since the video had been up for a while, bullet comments drifted across the screen from time to time.
"Those expressions don't lie. They're seriously delicious!"
"He really wants to teach us!"
"He's so thoughtful. Could he be a little more thoughtful? Like, send them straight to me!"
As Arcanine and the others turned their noses up at the high-quality Pokéblocks on the table, more comments floated across the screen.
"I'm not picky. Pour them into my mouth!"
Yellow's eyes lit up, and she said softly, "His Pokémon really love him."
Red nodded. "Right? I noticed that before too. I want to battle him!"
Amateurs watched the spectacle; experts saw what made it work.
Yellow had the ability to read Pokémon's emotions.
She sensed powerful feelings from Lucario, Arcanine, and Metang alike.
That alone showed the affection and bonds between Li Wei and Lucario and the others.
Red and Yellow exchanged a glance.
"The quality of this batch of Pokéblocks seems..."
But Red and Yellow weren't Green. They couldn't identify the quality as easily as he could.
Still, they could sense what made this batch of Tamato Berry Pokéblocks different.
Arcanine and Lucario's eagerness made it obvious too.
What drew every viewer's attention most, however, was Metang's evolution at the end of the video.
"Holy crap, that can make it evolve?!"
"Even my grandma was stunned!"
The near-perfect Pokéblocks, Arcanine and Metang fighting over them, Lucario's conflicted expression,
and then Shiny Metang's evolution-
this video was spectacularly entertaining.
It also sent the numbers for Li Wei's latest video soaring.
"That Metagross has been raised incredibly well!"
As though determined to teach Yellow all about Li Wei, Red played three of his videos in a row.
By the end, Yellow had forgotten why she'd come to see Red in the first place.
Oh well... spending a quiet afternoon with him is nice too.
His eyes gleaming with excitement, Red didn't notice Yellow's smile.
"Oh, right! That guy said he was going to Jubilife City. I can ask him to go meet Li Wei!"
Red immediately took out his phone to contact him.
Yellow blinked.
"Huh? He's going to Jubilife City?"
Li Wei's fourth video continued to gain traction. He browsed the comments and picked out a few to reply to.
This video had drawn another big name out of hiding.
The Shiny Metagross thumbnail had lured him in.
He was using an alternate account, though, so no one recognized him.
[Mining Champion]: Metagross has exceptional computational abilities...
Since Mining Champion knew Metagross very well, his comment had plenty of likes, and the number kept rising.
"And I take first place, strong and amazing"-Steven, former Hoenn Champion, current mining enthusiast.
Steven sent Li Wei a private message.
[Mining Champion]: "Hello, I'm Steven Stone. If you need it, I can send you a document on raising Metagross. If you'd like it, please leave your LINE account."
A lifetime Eevee Network member and a super-rich heir whose family owned shares in the site-even his private messages could be pinned to the top.
That was how Li Wei spotted the message so easily. His profile picture was eye-catching too: a brooch set with a Key Stone.
A Key Stone brooch used for Mega Evolution.
Li Wei couldn't help coveting it.
Mega Evolution had already appeared by now, and was even gradually being used in battles.
[Jubilife Breeding Center]: "Mr. Steven, I'm Li Wei. Here's my LINE. Please do send it to me. Thank you very much. I hope we can keep in touch."
After Red, Li Wei had now added Steven as a friend too.
His backend numbers were soaring, but Li Wei paid them no attention, because Steven had already sent a file over LINE.
[Metagross Breeding Manual.pdf]
[Li Wei]: Got it. Thank you, Mr. Steven.
[Steven]: No problem. Ask me anytime if you have questions. Sometimes I'm out mining ore, though, so I might not reply right away.
They had barely exchanged a few messages before Steven said he was going mining.
Soon, Steven's profile picture turned gray. From anyone else, that might have been an excuse, but this man really was...
Li Wei looked at Steven's personal account. His status read: "Mining... call if you need me."
Li Wei opened the file Steven had sent.
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