"I lost!"
A long time later, Violet slumped to the ground, looking utterly dejected.
She had thought this match would be an easy win, but it turned out to be a deadly one instead.
She was knocked out the moment she started!
In the pool.
Magikarp seemed to have exhausted its last bit of stamina and began to float belly-up.
Seeing this, Adrian rushed forward, activating several energy cubes to help Magikarp recover its strength, and praised, "Magikarp, you worked hard!"
"Karoo~"
A feeling of comfort washed over Magikarp, and it couldn't help but groan.
Seeing its goal achieved, it immediately flicked its tail, splashing a lot of water and drenching Adrian.
"You little rascal, you dared to trick me?"
Adrian feigned anger, but there was no hint of blame in his tone; instead, he was smiling happily.
Because they won!
Magikarp had won the Cerulean Gym's Blue Badge for Adrian.
Adrian and Magikarp had created a miracle!
At the same time, the Streamer's chat was continuously flooded with comments.
"What move did Magikarp just use? That power is even stronger than 'Giga Impact'!"
"It was Flail! The move Flail is very special; its effect is that the less stamina a pokémon has, the greater its power. Magikarp's stamina had just dropped to rock bottom, which made the power of Flail explode, comparable to 'Self-Destruct'."
"Streamer is awesome! Magikarp is the best!"
"This Streamer's Magikarp is indeed powerful. I'd call it 'Great Carp Overlord'."
"Learned a lot! I'm going to catch a Magikarp right now!"
"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, who would believe that Magikarp could defeat three pokémon in a Gym battle? Streamer, you were born to be a Trainer. I, Maddy, am investing in your goal of becoming a pokémon Master."
"Follow Manager Wang's investment, and you won't worry about money. I'm investing too!"
...Just then, a flying dragon, mostly green, suddenly appeared on the Streamer's screen.
It shook its head and wagged its tail as it flew for a moment, then suddenly shot an orange Energy Ball from its mouth, which exploded and released energy, scattering downwards like fireworks and meteors, a beautiful sight indeed.
"Thank you, Boss Maddy, for the Rayquaza Draco Meteor! Boss is generous, I wish you ten sons."
Seeing the Rayquaza animation effect appear on the screen, Adrian was overjoyed.
As far as he knew, a Rayquaza Draco Meteor cost ten thousand Pokedollars in donations. Even after the platform took half, it was still a full five thousand Pokedollars, enough for him to live comfortably for a month.
Before long, Rayquaza disappeared, but Adrian's surprise did not vanish with it.
Following Rayquaza were a series of pseudo-legendary Draco Meteor donations, including Dragonite, Salamence, Garchomp, Hydreigon, Kommo-o, and Dragapult, each worth one thousand Pokedollars.
After that were some smaller donations and gifts. Although the individual amounts were small, their sheer number added up to a considerable income.
"Thank you all for the Draco Meteor and gifts! Your support is the greatest motivation for me and Magikarp to move forward."
Adrian always held the highest respect for his benefactors, quickly thanking each one individually.
During the thanking process, Adrian inadvertently saw that the number of viewers in his Streamer room had already reached over one hundred thousand, and the popularity had not stopped even though the battle was over. The number of netizens pouring into the Streamer room was still continuously increasing.
Even his follower count had reached a terrifying thirty thousand, directly increasing more than tenfold.
"Indeed! Being a Streamer in the Pokémon world still has potential."
Adrian couldn't help but grin... Meanwhile, in Blackthorn City of the Johto Region.
This was a mysterious area surrounded by mountains, with most of the land covered in beautiful flowers, grass, and trees. A waterfall flowed down from the nearby mountains, converging to form a beautiful large lake nearby.
It was the Dragon Sanctuary!
The Dragon Sanctuary was a sacred place where Dragon-type pokémon resided, guarded by the Dragon Master Family.
It was said that due to the influence of Dragon-type pokémon's power, the flowers here bloomed regardless of the season, making the scenery very pleasant.
"Aoooh!"
Accompanied by a roar, a huge pokémon resembling a blue long snake with three upward-curving green horns on its head and a 'macro'-shaped shell on its back, its tail wrapped in colorful energy, heavily slammed into the lake surface.
Dragon Tail!
Boom!
The lake surface exploded, as if a hurricane had swept through, water splashing everywhere, waves crashing against the shore, but it quickly calmed down.
Just then, a girl with light blue hair, wearing a tight-fitting outfit that accentuated her perfect figure and revealed long, fair legs, walked to the shore.
It was Clair, the Gym Leader of the Blackthorn Gym.
Her most striking feature was the small whip she always held in her hand, making people hesitant to approach her.
"Aoooh!"
After a low growl, this sturdy Gyarados approached like a child, rubbing its huge head against Clair.
"Gyarados, take a break!"
Clair stroked Gyarados's head, and the latter seemed to enjoy it immensely.
Since the Dragon Sanctuary was adjacent to the Blackthorn Gym, Clair often liked to come here to train her pokémon when she had nothing else to do.
Taking advantage of Gyarados's rest, Clair sat cross-legged under a large tree by the lake, lost in thought.
Looking at the familiar scenery, Clair couldn't help but recall the past scenes of special training, battles, and growth she shared with Lance here. Everything was vivid in her mind.
The only regret was that Clair was always suppressed by Lance.
From beginning to end, she had never managed to win against Lance even once.
"I wonder what he's doing now?"
Clair took out her phone.
She didn't contact Lance rashly but instead opened Lance's platform homepage to see if there were any updates.
"It hasn't been updated for a month. He's probably on some mission again, isn't he?"
Clair shook her head in disappointment.
Besides being a Champion, Lance also had a special identity: a pokémon investigator, often tasked with special missions that couldn't be easily disturbed.
As she exited Lance's homepage, Clair aimlessly scrolled through the content on the platform to pass the time, and then she saw a video clip that the platform recommended to her.
"The strongest Magikarp on Earth?"
Clair was startled at first, then scoffed, "The internet nowadays is really exaggerated; they'll say anything!"
As part of the Dragon Master Family, they were undoubtedly extremely skilled at raising Dragon-type pokémon.
In addition, they were also adept at raising Flying-type pokémon that weren't Dragon-type but had 'Dragon' in their name and possessed Dragon-type bloodlines, such as Gyarados... So, Clair also had a lot of authority when it came to Magikarp, as she herself had a very powerful Gyarados.
Thinking it was just clickbait, Clair was about to swipe past, but then she saw a line of small text below the title: "Hmm? Magikarp goes legendary, defeating three pokémon to win a Gym battle?"
Clair rubbed her eyes, making sure she hadn't misread it.
She recognized all the words, but the problem was that when put together, she found them somewhat difficult to comprehend.
Magikarp in a Gym battle?
Is this reasonable?
And defeating three pokémon?
How is that possible?!!!
Even her cousin, Champion Lance, couldn't do something like that, could he?!
"What Gym Leader can't even beat a Magikarp? Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
Out of curiosity, Clair entered the Streamer's room and then scrolled through the chat and comments, looking for useful information.
"Oh~ So it's the Cerulean Gym in the Kanto Region? Then it's fine!"
Clair scoffed, then realized with a sudden understanding.
The Cerulean Gym, that was practically the shame of all Gyms.
Even Lance was extremely troubled by it and seemed to intend to send a pokémon inspector to conduct supervision and assessment.
Since the live battle had already ended, Clair could only watch the video clips recorded by netizens.
"This Trainer really has something! To be able to cultivate a Magikarp so exceptionally?"
Seeing the battle scenes of Magikarp, Clair's eyes also lit up, and she commented, "Although its physical fitness is outstanding, there's still room for improvement. As for the moves, both Tackle and Splash are impeccable. Flail is also mastered quite well..."
Adrian's Magikarp's spirit reminded Clair of Lance's Gyarados, whose strength before evolution was also very outstanding.
Watching the handsome young man on the screen humbly receive the Blue Badge from the Cerulean Sisters, Clair felt as if she was witnessing a rising star among Trainers.
At least in the cultivation of Magikarp, Clair had already acknowledged Adrian.
"When this Streamer's Magikarp evolves into Gyarados, its strength will certainly not be bad, and there might be opportunities for comminicate in the future. I'll follow him for now!"
Thinking this, Clair clicked follow.
Moreover, Clair had a faint feeling that this Streamer might bring her an even bigger surprise.
After a moment of hesitation, Clair also shared the video link with Lance.
Unfortunately, Lance's gray avatar did not light up.
Seeing this, Clair sighed inwardly, got up, and continued training her pokémon... Adrian was unaware of Clair and Lance's situation.
After receiving the Blue Badge, he smiled at the camera and announced, "I've got the first badge, thank you all for your support."
"Next, Magikarp and I will continue to work hard, challenge Gyms in various cities, and strive to collect all eight badges to participate in this year's Indigo Conference."
As soon as he finished speaking, the netizens in the Streamer's room turned their attention and became jokers again.
"Old Fish, I admit you have great Trainer talent, and Magikarp's strength is indeed very strong. But the Indigo Conference is not that easy to participate in, and collecting eight badges is not easy either. After all, there's only one Cerulean Gym in all of Kanto."
"Old Fish, you're getting ahead of yourself! The Indigo Conference, you really dare to dream! I've been a pokémon Trainer for three years and haven't even participated in a regional tournament yet!"
"Why don't you guys stop discouraging Old Fish? Everyone can see Old Fish's talent. So I suggest Old Fish can first come to the Viridian City Gym where I am to challenge, the Gym Leader here is only 'a little bit' stronger than the Cerulean Sisters..."
"You're comparing Viridian and Cerulean? Upstairs, you're being too harsh!"
"Adrian, you should first catch and train a few more pokémon! After all, to participate in the Indigo Conference, you need at least six pokémon to compete in a 6vs6 full battle."
...The people in the Streamer's room discussed animatedly, as if they had returned to yesterday, and Adrian and Magikarp had once again become their electronic pets.
But they didn't know that this was exactly what Adrian wanted to see.
He wanted to set some goals that were difficult for ordinary people to achieve, and then achieve them despite the doubts, which would create a sensation.
If everyone could do it, who would come to watch him?
If they wanted to see a pokémon Master, Lance, Steven, Leon, which one wasn't more interesting than him?
If they wanted to see cuteness, he certainly couldn't compare to Iono, Elesa, and the like.
Even if they wanted to see a combination of a pokémon Master and cuteness, there was Sinnoh Champion Cynthia, for whom there was still no substitute.
So, for Adrian to stand out, he had to find another way and create some hype.
"Making money, it's not shameful!"
Adrian smiled, ready to close the Streamer.
Just then, another comment flashed across the screen, catching Adrian's eye.