[Feels like one day, Gym Leader Grey's livestream is going to turn into a gathering spot for Champions and Elite Four members from every region.]
[Seriously! Red, Blue, Mustard, Elite Four Lance, Elite Four Lorelei, Elite Four Bruno, Elite Four Flint, Cynthia, and today even Steven showed up—this is terrifying!]
[Be honest—did someone secretly pay to boost the streamer's recommendations?]
[A whole-network push, huh? Grey, you're really about to blow up!]
[Just thinking about Grey getting big makes me emotional.]
[What kind of ending could ever match all the wandering and hardship along the way?]
["Wandering and hardship" as in… roaming around and catching Team Rocket everywhere?]
[Hey, hey, hey, stop ruining the mood! Isn't it worth getting sentimental about watching a small streamer grow into a big streamer? We're basically founding members here—think about the streamer a little!]
[A "raise-the-streamer" type—almost raised into a big streamer! I'm tearing up!]
[Tearing up!]
After a whole string of "tearing up," Grey felt his scalp go numb just reading it.
He only had 150,000 followers, and he already had a fanbase like this?
Only after the chat calmed down did Steven's message finally come through.
[I happen to have something to do at Silph Co. on Sunday. I figured I'd stroll around Saffron City after I'm done, and then this stream got recommended to me.]
[Whoa, whoa! Even Steven is coming to Saffron City? Being in Saffron City makes me so proud!]
[Damn it! Every hotel in Saffron City has been fully booked these past few days—there's no chance to stay here at all! I really want to meet all the Gym Leaders, and Mr. Steven too!]
"Hm? Mr. Steven is going to Silph Co. too?"
After seeing Steven's message, Grey was a little surprised.
He'd also been invited to Silph Co.
He didn't expect Steven to be invited too.
But thinking about it, it made sense.
Steven was the refined young heir of Devon Corporation—going out on behalf of his father was perfectly normal.
And besides, Hoenn still had Wallace holding the Champion position like a gatekeeper, so nothing was going to go seriously wrong over there.
[Oh? The streamer asking that… means you know something, huh? (covers mouth, laughs)]
"Yeah, Mr. Steven. I was invited by the Silph Co. President to visit Silph Co. on Sunday too. Maybe we'll even get the chance to meet in person."
Grey replied to Steven's chat message.
The moment he said that, the livestream exploded.
[The streamer isn't just meeting up with a girl—now you're meeting up with Steven too?! What a life winner—you really go both ways, huh!]
[Aaaah, I'm so jealous! And not just meeting Steven—did you guys forget what Steven just said? Lisia is coming to Saffron City too!]
[Holy crap—this is the episode where we need scalpers the most! I seriously want to see the streamer, Steven, and Lisia!]
[Any hotels or inns still have rooms?!]
The messages flashed by at lightning speed—everyone was begging for hotel rooms.
Saffron City had plenty of hotels, but with a pile of major events happening back-to-back, a ton of people had poured in.
On top of that, it was peak travel season, so hotel rooms everywhere had been booked out for the next half month.
You could basically say: for the next two weeks, Saffron City had absolutely zero vacant rooms.
If you wanted to come anyway, there were only two options.
One was to stay in a neighboring city and commute into Saffron City—either riding a Pokémon or taking a taxi when it was time to come over.
That wasted a lot of time, so it generally wasn't recommended.
Of course, that didn't apply to truly strong Trainers—when their Pokémon were fast enough, they were far quicker than ordinary Trainers.
They might even save money that way.
The second option was pitching a tent in a park… though you might get chased off by staff.
[Is that so? Then if it's convenient, could I trouble you to be my guide for a day?]
"Of course. The dojo happens to be off that day."
Grey nodded.
Gym Leaders generally lived a nine-to-five life, and weekends off were normal.
Most of the time they didn't open on weekends—there wasn't much of that kind of grind culture.
A lot of Gym Leaders were closed more often than they were open.
For example—Giovanni, and Volkner from Sunyshore City.
Those two were basically classic cases.
They'd close up relying on their strength, and they could even say with a straight face that "only truly strong Trainers are qualified to challenge."
Challengers could only grit their teeth and swallow the frustration.
That said, Volkner's Gym was basically charity.
He genuinely didn't care about handing out badges—he'd even leave them right at the entrance and let people take them.
Which led to Sunyshore Gym's badge becoming the most commonly held badge among Sinnoh Trainers.
One dared to put it out, another dared to take it.
Of course, plenty of Trainers were unhappy with Volkner's complete lack of effort.
They traveled all the way over for battles—for the fight!
And what did they get?
A closed door that kept challengers out, right?
Compared to that, Giovanni was better.
At least when his Gym was open, he really battled people.
He just didn't hold back most of the time.
The number of Trainers he actually acknowledged was ridiculously small.
Anyway.
Grey had decided he was going to properly rest on the weekend.
Over the past half month, he could count his rest time on one hand.
Either he was catching Team Rocket, or he was on the way to catch Team Rocket.
If he went for a walk with Lisia and Steven, that would count as relaxing for himself too.
Once that guy Mandi came over later, Grey would beat him, then go work out a rough itinerary.
After walking them around, the next week would be taking Caitlin out—so this would help him build experience, just in case something went wrong when he was with Caitlin.
Run through the route once first—totally normal.
Thinking that, Grey let out a slow breath.
Then he saw chat messages asking what fun things there were to do in Saffron City.
"Uh…"
That question actually stumped Grey.
What's fun in Saffron City?
Honestly… nothing.
At best, you could revisit the ruins of the Saffron Gym and use it as a chance to denounce Team Rocket's evil crimes.
Other than that, it was basically just battling at the Fighting Dojo, or visiting Silph Co.'s public/open areas.
Hm. He should probably find a chance later to talk with Silph Co. and see if they could do a co-branded Poké Ball.
Print some Fighting Dojo stickers on the Poké Balls and hand them out as free promos.
That would count as making a small contribution to Saffron City.
At least it wouldn't be a wasted trip, right?
[Seeing the streamer go silent like that made me laugh.]
[So does any Saffron City bro want to tell us what there is to do here?]
[What is there to do? We're all here to watch battles, aren't we?]
[I'm here to see psychics. Surely nobody actually comes here to tour Silph Co., right?]
[Keep talking!]
[Streamer, streamer, I have a question. I just caught an Aerodactyl, but it won't listen to me—what should I do?]
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