The next morning.
A barrage of piercing notification sounds from his phone violently dragged Rei Akagi out of his sleep.
He sat up with heavy dark circles under his eyes and rubbed them irritably.
Last night, Cynthia had dragged him into playing Pokémon with her as a gaming partner. They battled late into the night until the Champion herself couldn't stay awake any longer.
At first, he had firmly refused—
Until she casually mentioned that she could help promote the game.
Ahem… helping friends out by playing a game together—what's wrong with that?
Perfectly reasonable!
Absolutely, definitely not because he wanted the advertising effect of her Champion status.
He, Rei Akagi, was certainly not such a profit-driven person!
Scratching his messy bird-nest hair, Rei Akagi grabbed the phone beside his bed.
Then he froze.
His screen was flooded with video notifications.
"What the… did I get internet-mobbed?"
He tapped the notification.
It redirected him to the video he uploaded last night.
At the title—
Two bright red characters stood out:
Trending.
300,000 likes.
100,000 coins.
150,000 bookmarks.
And…
800,000 views.
"…Huh?"
Rei Akagi instantly woke up halfway.
"It's only been half a day… I didn't even buy promotion…"
He opened the video.
The screen was completely covered in scrolling comments.
"The place where the dream began ×10086"
"As long as you play Pokémon, we're best friends!!!"
"Grandpa, the uploader you followed has finally come back from the dead!"
"Instantly surpassed Red!"
Rei Akagi opened the comment section.
Everyone there seemed like a comedic genius.
"Guys, listen! Every time that Researcher Basees me he gives me items. Does he secretly have a crush on me?"
"MEW! It's MEW! Teacher Salted Fish please stop hiding things! Tell me how to bond with it!"
"Nine hours! It's been nine whole hours without an update! Unfollow! …Wait, I haven't followed yet? Then I'll follow first and unfollow later!"
One highly-upvoted comment caught Rei Akagi's attention.
"Salted Fish is still hiding stuff! Someone dug up deeper lore about the Researcher Rei—about Mew! Go watch → @PokéFan Kricketune Knight"
PokéFan… Kricketune Knight?
Rei Akagi clicked the link.
It led to a new uploader.
There was only one video on their profile.
Title:
"Secrets About the Researcher BaYou Must Know…"
!
A chill ran up Rei Akagi's spine.
The game had only been released one day.
Did my secret identity already get exposed?
He quickly hit play.
A gentle male voice spoke.
"Hello everyone, I'm PokéFan Kricketune Knight. I believe many of you have already immersed yourselves in the world of Pokémon, right? Last night Teacher Salted Fish released a hidden-event guide video packed with useful information! But—"
The uploader's voice suddenly rose with excitement.
"I'm here to tell you he's still hiding things!"
The footage switched to gameplay.
The uploader created a character and officially entered the game world.
"Everyone still remembers the information Salted Fish got from that Team Rocket grunt in the preview stream, right? The reason Team Rocket moved their Mew capture operation to Mt. Moon was because a mysterious person sabotaged their original plan."
The character stepped outside their house and entered Pallet Town.
"Now some people might say—'Hey uploader, what does this have to do with the title? What does it have to do with the Researcher Baor Mew?' Don't worry…"
The uploader deliberately built suspense.
Normally, the next step would be visiting Professor Oak to receive a starter Pokémon.
But instead—
The character turned into an inconspicuous side path.
They bypassed Route 1 entirely and slipped into the wild area outside Pallet Town.
"At the start, we use this hidden trail to avoid Route 1 and head straight into the wilderness. Important: Do not walk the main road! Otherwise Professor Oak will literally arrest you and drag you back to pick a starter!"
After sneaking into the wild and reaching a specific location, the uploader had the character crouch in thick grass.
The screen fell silent.
"Once you reach this spot…"
"The show is about to begin."
As time passed—
A blurry streak of dreamy pink light suddenly shot through the forest like a meteor.
Immediately afterward, hurried footsteps echoed off-screen.
Through the gaps in the grass, a group of Team Rocket members could be seen desperately chasing the pink light, yet unable to close the distance.
The comment barrage suddenly filled with:
"HIGH ENERGY MOMENT INCOMING!"
The next second—
A familiar figure leaped down from the treetops!
Within only a few seconds—
More than sixty Team Rocket members were single-handedly knocked to the ground by that person, sprawled everywhere!
"Yes!"
The uploader's excited voice rang out.
"The mysterious person who ruined Team Rocket's capture operation is none other than the Researcher Rei!"
"And this—"
"Is the legendary beginning of his encounter with Mew!"
The comments exploded.
"HOLY—Eastern martial arts! Human-type Pokémon!"
"Pokémon battle? Nah, this is Mortal Kombat!"
"Mystery solved! No wonder he dares to travel the wilderness alone—he is the Pokémon!"
When the video finished, Rei Akagi slowly let out a breath.
He was surprised—but also impressed.
He even followed the uploader.
"I underestimated the internet's investigative instincts…"
He shook his head helplessly.
He had originally planned to milk this easter egg for another video.
After getting up and washing up, Rei Akagi stood in front of the mirror and spoke silently:
"System Notification, check my assets."
"Assets: 11,240.13 Battle Points (overall influence still expanding. Estimated future gain: 23,112.11 Battle Points)."
Looking at that tempting predicted number, Rei Akagi felt his heart burn with excitement.
A bold idea emerged.
He cleared his throat.
"Xiao-A… we've been working together for a long time now. Maybe we're not inseparable partners, but we've definitely been through life and death together, right?"
His tone became extremely sincere.
"How about giving me a special internal discount?"
"Just use these twenty-thousand-plus Battle Points to help me summon Rayquaza. Don't worry! This stays between us. If we ever run into that sheep—uh, Arceus—I absolutely won't tell it!"
"SystemNotification: Simulating analysis…"
"You are requesting to use approximately 20,000 Battle Points that have not yet been fully received, which currently exist only as projected earnings, to summon Rayquaza, which normally requires 100,000 Battle Points. Is that correct?"
"Yes."
Rei Akagi nodded without the slightest embarrassment.
"That's right. Exactly."
After all, he expected to be rejected anyway.
What was there to fear?
"SystemNotification: Optimizing summoning protocol…"
"SystemNotification: Optimization complete. Detected that Rayquaza (Designation: Sky Sovereign) is currently in a leisure state and shows a positive willingness to respond to the summoning."
"Would you like to execute the summoning procedure immediately?"
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