Xia Chi had stuffed himself full on his own pie-in-the-sky promises.
For the rest of the afternoon, he was brimming with enthusiasm, writing an epic script about Arceus creating the world, full of grand language and sweeping majesty.
The messages that occasionally sounded in his mind-[Sprigatito defeated Mankey.]-also reminded Xia Chi.
Sprigatito was working hard somewhere else, too.
Though behind that hard work, quite a few Mankey were probably paying the price for their past bullying and intimidation.
Once the tracker showed that Sprigatito had officially started heading back, Xia Chi tallied the day's final results.
Seven Mankey, four Aipom, and 2.4 Fear for the Dark-type bond.
On the surface, it seemed that just over forty more days would be enough to reach a hundred stacks of Fear, increasing Sprigatito's damage by 10% and unlocking the first reward.
But the reality definitely wouldn't be that ideal.
There weren't many Pokémon causing trouble at school to begin with, and even fewer that Sprigatito could beat at this stage-
There was no need to discuss opponents beyond Sprigatito's abilities, and beating weak ones was useless, too. They barely provided any Fear.
Viewed that way, the Shanghai Pokémon Cup coming up in a month was a pretty good place to farm Fear.
Great. That was one more reason he had no choice but to enter the Shanghai Pokémon Cup.
Sprigatito returned in the fading glow of sunset, with far more exhaustion in both eyes and body than that morning.
Clearly, the rest and recovery at noon hadn't been enough to sustain half an afternoon of back-to-back battles.
Feeling sorry for Sprigatito, Xia Chi insisted on a night of rest in the dorm, with no going anywhere.
He dressed it up as watching streams beside him for a "tactical literacy class" to improve tactical awareness.
Naturally, Sprigatito couldn't object and could only passively enjoy the peaceful downtime.
Meanwhile, after a full day and night of gathering momentum...
Xia Chi's battle with Raihan the previous night had swept across the internet.
It was drawing far more attention than even Xia Chi's two wins over Iono a little while ago.
After all, while they were both Gym Leaders, Gym Leaders varied in strength.
At the upper end was Giovanni of the Earth, leader of the world's largest criminal organization, Team Rocket, and the underworld emperor of Kanto and the Johto Region.
At the lower end were the Cerulean Sisters, whose strength was inversely proportional to their beauty. Rumors constantly claimed their Gym status was about to be revoked, and their water shows were all that kept them afloat.
As for why the rumored revocation never actually happened, maybe the League inspectors liked watching, too?
But that was beside the point.
The gap between Iono and Raihan wasn't quite that ridiculous, but the latter did hold the title of strongest Gym Leader.
Granted, that title was no different from the utterly misleading Forbes rich list.
Still, he was the public-facing No. 1, so naturally his visibility and prestige were maxed out.
As a result, when Xia Chi started streaming that day, the arguments in his chat were fiercer than ever.
Passersby who resented Raihan's lofty status hyped Xia Chi up, while Raihan's devoted supporters arrived to tear him down.
Xia Chi's existing viewers could barely keep a straight face, while the Iono fans drawn in over the previous two days were having a blast.
And Xia Chi, who immediately restricted chatting to paid fans and feasted on all that traffic, was the winner!
In short, he hadn't pulled any fancy stunts, hadn't matched against another famous Trainer, and hadn't received any payments from Iono.
He had simply used his second-biggest donor's account to put together a Trick Room team and run rings around opponents in Great Ball-tier ranked battles. For Xia Chi, it was another day of money rolling in.
Over the next few days, Xia Chi settled into a fulfilling cycle of attending classes, editing videos, streaming, and remotely training Sprigatito.
Occasionally, he also strengthened his bond with his top female donor-
Discussing with her the feasibility of replacing Rillaboom with Pawmot for a double Fake Out strategy.
Joining her in complaining about the annoying Gym challengers or obsessive fans she encountered every day.
Giving her plenty of emotional support through the masterful art of teasing her with what were actually compliments.
In short, after a few days, Iono was reaching out to chat with Xia Chi more and more frequently.
Sprigatito's progress was equally remarkable. Not only had the accumulated Fear passed 20, but the level displayed in the system had also reached lv.14.
If the system's levels matched those in the Pokémon games from his previous life...
Then that meant Sprigatito was only two levels away from evolving into Floragato.
Perhaps the little cat would manage to stand on two legs before the Shanghai Pokémon Cup arrived?
The system couldn't display a detailed progress bar for Pokémon levels, so Xia Chi couldn't be sure.
And on the very last day of November, the Sprigatito raising materials he had been longing for finally arrived.
Once again, the adorable Bellibolt avatar he had been contacting most frequently these past few days flashed and bounced.
"Sorry for the wait! The raising materials were scattered all over and needed organizing, so that took a while. (Bellibolt flopping down.jpg)"
"Attachment (Geeta's Sprigatito raising notes.rar)"
"Attachment (Brassius's Sprigatito raising notes.rar)"
Xia Chi, who had just finished editing a video and was sprawled bonelessly in his chair, immediately sprang upright like a Magikarp and clicked both files at lightning speed.
Xia Chi: "Files successfully received ×2."
Xia Chi: "Thanks for all your hard work! Please, come in and have a seat. I'll pour you some tea! (Polteageist smiling with hands propped up.gif)"
Xia Chi: "By the way, did those two big shots help organize these, or...?"
Iono: "They're so busy, I'm lucky they were willing to dig them up for me. Where would they find the time to organize them? (Pawmot sighing.gif)"
Xia Chi: "!!!"
Xia Chi: "I have wandered for half my life, regretting only that I never found a worthy lord. If you would have me, I wish to take you as my adoptive father! (Squirtle crying.jpg)"
Iono: "(Bellibolt blank stare.jpg)"
Xia Chi: "Wait, I mean adoptive mother!"
Iono: "That's not the point!"
Xia Chi: "Anyway, Ms. Iono, you've really done me a huge favor!"
Iono: "Oh, never mind. It was something I promised I'd do anyway. No need to be so polite."
Iono: "I have a Gym Challenge coming up in a bit, so I'd better get going. (Pawmot waving goodbye.gif)"
Xia Chi: "Hope you win right out of the gate! I'll go study those notes, too!"
Closing his chat with Iono, Xia Chi rubbed his hands together excitedly like a fly, then extracted the two compressed archives.
There was a saying that had long circulated in this world: a top-tier Trainer was always an excellent Pokémon raiser.
Iono certainly belonged in that category, too. The Sprigatito raising materials she had organized were exceptionally clear and well structured.
The complete set of materials was divided into three stages: Sprigatito, Floragato, and Meowscarada.
Each major stage was then divided into six sections, including diet, training, and moves.
Each section was comprehensive as well. The diet section, for example...
Covered everything from daily nutritional requirements and optimal Berry ratios to energy distribution across three meals.
It was practically a hand-holding guide to raising them.
Just as Iono had said, Geeta and Brassius certainly wouldn't have taken the trouble to make things this detailed for Xia Chi.
So it went without saying who deserved the credit behind the scenes.
Although these two sets of raising materials were part of their still-unfinished deal, Iono could easily have done the bare minimum. Instead, she had put so much care into them.
Xia Chi silently reflected on that.
Now he owed Iono a huge favor.
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