Pokémon Champion

"Pokémon Champions"

A next-generation game developed by the Game Freak company, which took five years to make and had been released for less than a month.

Not only did it load Dr. Lysandre's holographic imaging technology and the Unova Region's global networking communication technology, but it was also dedicated to creating the most realistic online Pokémon battles.

It also obtained authorization for various regional professors through League channels, digitizing most currently known Pokémon data.

Holy crap, a sci-fi movie!

Qingyu raised an eyebrow.

Sure enough, he had woken up too abruptly-did Game Freak actually have this kind of technical prowess???

Although a bit absurd, it truly was this world's very first Pokémon battle game.

Therefore, during this period, "Pokémon Champions" was blazing hot on the internet, boasting extremely high popularity even among Elite Four members and Champions alike.

Qingyu also checked Poké TV, and eight out of the top ten trending searches were related to this game.

The other two unrelated videos both came from the Kanto Region, one of which was Professor Oak's daily life short video.

As well as the Cerulean Sisters' "Water Waltz"...?

"Are you even allowed to broadcast this?!"

After roughly glancing through the top ten trending videos, he already had a certain understanding of the current battle environment.

Limited by geographical factors, various regions had actually had virtually no communication for quite a long period in the past.

It was only in the recent decade of rapid internet development that people gained a slight impression of places outside their own region.

This also led to a problem-

The vast majority of people actually couldn't even recognize all the Pokédex entries, and those who understood all the Pokémon of their native region were already quite impressive.

Let alone using them to battle.

Even some of the tactics mastered by certain Gym Leaders seemed a bit... to Qingyu.

Rustic?

"Family members, Infernape sweeping with sliver HP after activating Blaze is just too satisfying!"

"Swords Danced three times, Garchomp's attack reached thirteen thousand points!"

"Don't underestimate the bond between me and Kricketune! Focus Band, reverse the situation!"

Without various shady metagames, Trainers were all enjoying pure, passionate battles, and the entire game environment was filled with wholesome vibes for a time.

After keenly noticing this, Qingyu couldn't help letting out a soft chuckle.

Although he wasn't any sort of professional player in his past life, he still had years of battle experience and could be considered a regular in high-tier brackets.

With his battle understanding, standing out among these rustic locals shouldn't be too difficult a task.

And what was even more important was-

He was a variety streamer in his past life, so he had some idea about even more bizarre and unpopular Pokémon usages.

Having both highlight moments and blundering misplays, wouldn't the audience stuff themselves silly with a double-barreled approach?

"So the key lies in how to build up our reputation."

Qingyu fell into thought once more.

He had always thought that Gym Leader strength was an important indicator for measuring a Gym's level.

In reality, that wasn't the case.

That was the high requirement demanded only of the eight League-designated Gyms, and some regions even watered down their eight Gyms.

For instance, the Cerulean Gym from the Kanto Region, which had its corpse dug up and whipped countless times.

People bought admission tickets and were given Gym Badges, yet before Misty came back to take over, wasn't it still thriving and prosperous?

As long as they could sustain themselves, the League was generally quite lenient toward established Gyms.

For ordinary Gyms like the Sunshine Gym, this was even more true.

"Characteristics" were the key to a Gym.

An excellent Gym had to possess traits capable of attracting challengers in order to operate continuously.

It could be proficiency in raising a specific type, or like other Gyms in the Paldea Region, incorporating fun mini-games before the challenge.

During his parents' management era, the Sunshine Gym's selling point was its two Elite Trainers with different styles, thus attracting many moderately capable challengers to come and challenge it.

Much like Gym Leader Norman of the Hoenn Region, following the path of gaining fans through strength.

Yet he clearly didn't have this kind of strength yet.

"My only advantage right now is the information gap brought by my identity as a transmigrator."

Qingyu quickly recognized this point.

Now that various tactics from his past life hadn't been developed yet, this was the only method to break the deadlock that he could think of.

Battles were inherently the undisputed number one sport in this world, but the high threshold of real-life battles made many people flinch.

Now that "Pokémon Champions" had burst onto the scene, it was only a matter of time before it exploded in popularity and became a phenomenal game.

This was a massive wave of heaven-sent wealth!

So-

Want to save the Sunshine Gym?

Then debut and become a major streamer!

Get the popularity up first; Gym management could wait until he and Eevee's strength went up.

This was precisely the success path of the Levincia Gym.

Get on the train first, buy the ticket later.

Build up a reputation before the end-of-year evaluation and strive to get the Gym back on track.

The problem would be readily resolved.

So as long as they endured the growth growing pains of these past two months, everything would get better!

Without further ado, Qingyu decided to take action starting right now.

"Vee~"

Just as he made up his mind in his heart, Eevee outside had already finished its lunch, walking in with light and cheerful little steps.

Qingyu soon noticed that it still had a paintbrush clamped in its mouth, and upon walking to his bedside, it hopped straight onto the bed.

Afterward, it revealed bright, sparkling starry eyes, looking at him with eager little gazes.

Qingyu really wanted to say that he still had serious business to attend to.

Yet, being gazed at by such an adorable creature with eager eyes, he couldn't utter these words no matter what.

Forget it, we'll talk about it tonight.

Qingyu shook his head helplessly, retrieved drawing paper from the bedside cabinet, and flashed a smile at Eevee.

"What shall we draw today?"

Unlike other Pokémon, his Eevee's hobbies and interests were exceptionally unique.

Painting.

Of course, from Qingyu's God's-eye perspective, it probably wasn't entirely because it liked watching him draw.

During these past six months, whenever the original host fell into sorrowful emotions, Eevee could always immediately perceive it and pestered him to play with it.

Many sleepless nights after his parents' disappearance were spent with Eevee and him keeping each other company.

If not for it, the original host probably would have had suicidal thoughts long ago.

"Vee~"

After having its head petted by Qingyu, Eevee affectionately rubbed against his palm, and then cast its gaze outside the window.

Following its line of sight, it was a very imposing-looking modern building.

Qingyu had a slight impression of it; although it had been built for a while now, it seemed to have always remained uninhabited.

"Alright, we'll draw this."

He nodded, stepped forward, and opened the window.

Warm sunlight spilled into the room, making Qingyu's eyes narrow instinctively.

"Vee..."

Witnessing his action, Eevee's eyes immediately revealed clear surprise.

"Sorry, I've kept you worried for so long."

Qingyu turned back, pulled Eevee into his embrace, and smiled.

Pokémon truly were magical creatures extremely sensitive to emotions; it must have had a hard time during this period as well.

"Starting today, let's revive the Gym together!"

"Vee!"

Eevee nodded heavily, extended its soft little fleshy pads, and actively rested them in Qingyu's palm.

As long as its Trainer could be happy forever, it would work hard together too!

To be honest, Qingyu felt that he didn't actually have much talent for painting.

The drawing that took him an entire afternoon to finish could only barely be recognized as sketching.

As for whether it looked accurate or not?

That question was a bit discourteous.

Yet Eevee seemed to exceptionally like this drawing, so Qingyu ultimately still stuck it on the bedroom wall.

After interacting with Eevee and simply solving the dinner problem, he finally remembered the serious business.

To be a streamer, the first thing to do was change his name.

A good username and stream title could attract more viewers to click in.

At first he planned to use the name [Pocket Fan Qingyu].

But on second thought, this name was bad luck; it sounded right off the bat like some unlucky bastard who would miss Hydro Pump four times in a row.

So the username was ultimately changed to the mediocre [Azure Feather].

Stream title:

[League Gym Leader Certification, Starting from Zero to Master Ball!]

Perhaps because it was a newcomer's stream, just a short while after starting the broadcast, around a dozen viewers clicked in.