Right now, Cynthia was in the middle of a full-blown crisis.
From everyone's chatting, she could tell Grey really was a pretty decent Trainer—he even had a strong sense of justice, basically the type a lot of people would consider "ideal."
But Cynthia kept getting this nagging feeling like her best friend was about to get whisked away by some random pretty boy. And the more time passed, the stronger that feeling became.
She didn't have any problem with Grey himself, but when she thought about the possibility of Caitlin leaving the Sinnoh region one day… she still felt uncomfortable.
If possible, it'd be best if Caitlin stayed in Sinnoh.
After all, Cynthia was Sinnoh's Champion. If Caitlin ever lost control again, Cynthia could rush over immediately to keep things under control.
But if Caitlin went to Kanto…
Could Grey really stop psychic power that terrifying?
The fact that he had aura wasn't a secret, but Cynthia honestly had no idea what level his aura actually reached.
And Caitlin?
Her psychic power, no matter where you put it, would be a disaster if it was used carelessly.
Cynthia was afraid Team Rocket would point their arrows at Caitlin and pull something like "killing with a borrowed knife."
If it were Sinnoh's Team Galactic, it might be a little better…
Though not by much.
Honestly, no matter what region it was, each one had its own headaches.
Cynthia let out a soft sigh.
In the end, she decided to leave it to time.
Worst case, she'd just take a trip to Kanto herself—Team Rocket definitely wouldn't dare pop their heads up and cause trouble if she was there.
…
…
Kanto region, Saffron City.
Back at the Fighting Dojo, the casual Q&A was still going.
A lot of the public's questions were downright bizarre. Grey glanced through a few and genuinely didn't know how to respond.
After that, he picked a handful of more normal ones and answered those.
[Streamer, streamer—among Kanto's three Legendary Birds, you already caught Articuno and Zapdos. When are you going to catch Moltres? You can't just leave Moltres all alone over there, right? (Gifted Great Ball x6)]
"Thanks to 'Professional Bird Keeper' for the six Great Balls! As for Moltres… not that soon, probably. I feel like it'll take a while. I've definitely thought about it, but whether I can actually run into it is another story—so I'm not setting a flag, okay?"
Moltres had the loudest demand by far. After reading the message, Grey gave his answer.
There really was a legitimate way to catch Moltres.
Win the Gym Leader Selection Tournament, then battle Moltres—if you earn its recognition, you can catch it.
It sounded hard, but if it worked, it would mean catching Moltres live on stream in front of the entire internet.
After all, this was an official League-backed operation.
Win in front of the public, then beat Moltres into submission—if that hit the internet, it would absolutely blow up.
And then he could pull in traffic, ride the wave… becoming a top-tier streamer would be just around the corner.
Right now, Grey's account already had 150,000 followers.
But the actual live viewer count was only so-so.
He had that "I speak, everyone responds" kind of presence, but it only occasionally climbed to around a thousand viewers.
His overall influence still wasn't strong enough.
More like a niche account with a bit of heat.
Still, Grey was pretty satisfied that he'd attracted big shots like Red and Blue.
Now he just needed to keep improving himself, build up both the account and the Gym, grind for a few years, save enough money, and then retire.
If possible, he'd love to collect a League pension like Blaine—pick up a few hundred thousand a month, then find a nice spot to fish for Magikarp. That sounded great.
[So Grey's already thinking about retirement after catching Moltres?]
[But can Moltres learn Fighting-type moves? I heard Articuno can learn Rock Smash, and Zapdos has Detect. But Moltres… feels like it's all Fire- and Flying-type moves.]
"It can, bro. It can. Articuno told me Moltres can actually learn Rock Smash too. If it can learn a Fighting-type move, then it counts as half a Fighting-type Pokémon."
Seeing someone ask about Moltres's moves, Grey immediately dragged Articuno into it, claiming Articuno had told him—instantly making the whole thing sound way more convincing.
"Kyah?" (Huh? When did I ever say that? You didn't even ask me! And I'm Articuno—how would I know anything about Moltres?)
Having just finished breakfast, Articuno strutted out of the kitchen in a great mood. It was happily rubbing its belly, feeling completely satisfied—until it heard Grey using its name on stream to pull nonsense.
Its expression changed on the spot.
So Grey was really out here taking advantage of humans not understanding Pokémon speech, huh?
I, Articuno, am being used by a human to scam people—how is that acceptable?
"Kyah!" (Grey! You're using my name to do this kind of thing! Did you even consider how I feel? My heart hurts so much right now. You owe me a solution!)
Articuno flew to Grey's side, and the camera automatically shifted, locking onto Articuno's slightly-out-of-shape belly.
[Is… that really Articuno? Why does it look kind of different from the drawings?]
[Not gonna lie, Grey's Articuno really does look different from what the photographers caught. I just can't put my finger on what, exactly.]
[Oh—holy crap, I get it. It's the belly! Why is it so round?!]
Everyone stared, and only then did they realize that over the past few days, Articuno's belly had been getting bigger and bigger.
It looked like it had dumped a lot of EVs into HP, Defense, and Special Defense.
The only question was whether its Speed had dropped.
"Hm?"
Grey tilted his head and met Articuno's eyes.
He'd had Articuno for a while now, but he still had no clue what it was thinking right this second.
Heart hurts?
Yeah, right.
Looks more like it was craving food.
"Kyah." (How about this—since you'll be getting revenge for me later, I, the great bird, will be the bigger Pokémon and let this go. You just need to treat me to ten meals of high-end food. And remember—hand-fed. I, Articuno, of course… huh?! What are you doing?!)
Articuno rambled on, but then noticed Grey was already looking at little Riolu.
Articuno immediately craned its neck, saw Grey was about to speak, and cut him off.
"Kyah!" (Talk it out properly! This is between us—don't call in backup!)
Articuno had been with Grey long enough to know exactly what he was thinking.
"Redirect the disaster," drag Riolu into it—something like that.
And if that happened, Articuno would go from "hunter" to "prey" instantly.
"Kyah?" (Okay, okay—seven meals… five meals—no, no, no—three! How about three?!)
As Articuno spoke, it kept watching Grey's expression, bargaining itself down from ten meals all the way to three.
To Articuno, that was already the maximum possible concession.
"Next time, definitely."
Grey patted Articuno's belly and said earnestly, "If you keep eating like this, you won't even be able to fly soon. At this rate, Zapdos is going to be faster than you!"
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