"Are you not staying a little longer? I was planning to take you to try some Paldean cuisine tonight."
After witnessing Aiden's process of capturing Riolu, Cynthia's purpose for this trip to Paldea seemed to have been fulfilled.
Thus, she soon took the initiative to bid farewell.
Originally, Aiden had been very nervous and uneasy about meeting this childhood friend he hadn't seen in five years.
But when they finally met, he realized that somehow he had already adapted to being around her. He even felt a bit...
A small tinge of reluctance?
Aiden glanced at Nemona beside him.
She kept saying her idol was Sinnoh Champion Cynthia, but when she actually had the chance to meet her, she became all shy and didn't dare to speak much…
Was this what they called "loving dragons but fearing them when they appear"?
At least ask for an autograph! Opportunities like this don't come often!
"No, coming to Paldea was just a spur-of-the-moment decision. If I stay too long, it might cause trouble for the Paldea League if they find out."
Cynthia smiled faintly and continued.
After all, her current status as Sinnoh Champion meant that appearing in another region could lead to unnecessary misunderstandings or draw unwanted attention from the League.
Her purpose for this visit was simple—to check on Aiden's current situation.
Now that she saw he had moved past his struggles and planned to inherit the Sunshine Gym, she felt much more at ease.
"If things don't go well in Paldea, come back to Celestic Town for a break. Everyone in town is worried about you."
"After this busy period is over. The Gym is still in its early stages of rebuilding, so I need to work harder."
Aiden waved helplessly.
"Not even a few days off?"
Cynthia frowned slightly and tilted her head.
"What if the Gym doesn't pass the assessment later? Will you take care of me then?"
Aiden chuckled awkwardly, only realizing what he had said after the words slipped out.
Had he become too relaxed…?
Was that something he should say?!
Upon hearing his words, Cynthia paused briefly before breaking into a smile, looking earnestly into Aiden's eyes.
"I'll take care of you."
Thump—
Aiden felt his heartbeat skip several beats. The chain reaction caused by insufficient blood flow quickly reddened his face, and he instinctively turned his head away.
Mom, she's too good!
"Don't joke like that!"
"But you were the one who brought it up first~"
Cynthia's lively gray eyes locked onto Aiden, her lips curling into a mischievous grin as she playfully stuck out her tongue.
"Alright, I won't tease you anymore."
"But I'm not lying."
"And…"
The last half of the sentence remained unspoken as Cynthia gracefully mounted Garchomp, who had been waiting patiently. She turned back to wave goodbye to Aiden.
"See you~"
"Kaaw…"
Garchomp glared at Aiden with an intimidating look.
These two are such a bunch of saps.
So indecisive!
Still, since they're acquaintances now, they might bump into each other again in the future. It wouldn't hurt to say goodbye properly.
Mimicking its Trainer, Garchomp lazily extended its scythe-like claw and gave a half-hearted wave before rocketing into the sky, quickly turning into a streak of light on the horizon.
Only a stunned Aiden waving awkwardly remained, along with Nemona, who, for some reason, looked incredibly excited and thrilled.
---
That night.
When Aiden went live, many viewers were already waiting in the chatroom.
Of course, their reasons for waiting this time might be slightly different from before.
[Teacher Azure is finally live!]
[Streamer, what exactly is your relationship with the Sinnoh Champion?]
[Seeing everyone curious about this makes me feel relieved—I was so worried yesterday when you abruptly ended the stream...]
Glancing at the barrage of comments flooding the screen, Aiden scratched his head helplessly.
Compared to Steven, who merely appeared in the video comment section, Cynthia personally giving him a donation clearly generated topics of much higher magnitude.
Given Cynthia's worldwide fame, the effect of that single donation might surpass the combined impact of his previous three days of streaming…
This was going to be troublesome.
As a technical streamer, Aiden intended to quickly move past the topic and start his "carefully prepared" lesson on the next Pokémon.
So he cut straight to the chase:
"To be honest, I've known Cynthia since we were kids. Do you believe me?"
[??? Is the streamer still asleep, dreaming?]
[Someone piss on him to wake him up—don't give him any sweet talk!]
[Is this a try not to laugh challenge? I lost!]
Aiden had always prided himself on sincerity, which was evident from the moment he started streaming.
He would answer every question, and whether or not the audience believed him was their own business.
Since the truth was coincidentally unbelievable, explaining further would be meaningless.
"Let's set aside unrelated topics for now. Today, we're playing with a very powerful Pokémon—one that guarantees ranking points once you learn how to use it~"
Skillfully steering the conversation back, Aiden opened Pokémon Champions.
In the team editor, the same six Pokémon from yesterday were still there.
His mouse hovered over a red-and-white bird with sharp eyes.
"Didn't someone ask me earlier if there were simpler tactics to use?"
"Well, friends, there are indeed simpler ones."
"Today's star is this one—the widely distributed regional bird of Paldea and Kalos, Talonflame, evolved from Fletchling!"
Since he had mentioned the regional rodent, he figured he might as well talk about the regional bird too.
Conveniently, this particular bird was beginner-friendly and even easier to use than Maushold.
But its combat power was undeniably high.
Talonflame, the Flame Pokémon.
It debuted in the XY generation and quickly became the undisputed king of regional birds, even dominating the competitive meta at one point.
As everyone knew, easily encountered Pokémon generally had lower base stats,
and Talonflame had less than 500 base stats.
Even though its Fire + Flying type combination was decent, on paper, it seemed like its combat power was quite average.
What truly made it soar to the top was its absurdly overpowered Hidden Ability:
Gale Wings.
The effect of this ability was simple:
Flying-type moves were given priority.
But in actual battles, the impact of priority was enormous.
In the past two streams, Aiden had shown the audience how effective Spikes were in singles battles and how to counter them with Maushold's exclusive move.
This time, using Talonflame as an example, he would teach the audience a fundamental truth—
Speed is life, and priority rules everything!
[By the way, if the streamer wins this match, he'll advance to Ultra Ball rank!]
[Four days to reach Ultra Ball rank—that's insane efficiency...]
[Following yesterday's script, if Azure gets unlucky in the promotion match, he might run into some tough opponents—it's "smart matchmaking", after all~]
After pressing the match button, Aiden glanced at the chat and casually replied:
"Since I'm advancing to Ultra Ball rank, it's normal to encounter Gym Leaders or stronger Trainers at this level."
"No matter who the opponent is, I'm still pretty confident, alright!"
Facing strong opponents was inevitable, especially as his ranking climbed.
Rather than lingering in the lower tiers, Aiden hoped to clash with the elite Trainers of this world.
Not long after, the pointer on the matchmaking interface stopped spinning.
The opponent for the promotion match appeared on Aiden's screen.
ID: SimplicityIsTrueBeauty.
Below the name was an official League certification: Paldea Elite Four, Medali Gym Leader, Larry.
---
A/N:
The Talonflame in this novel hasn't been nerfed. I don't need to explain how OP Gale Wings was, do I? Back then, the meta was reduced to only those who could withstand Talonflame's first hit being deemed worthy of battling -.-
Also, I really like the Elite Four and Gym Leaders' character designs in Scarlet and Violet. There's something paradoxically relatable about Larry, like he's alive but also kind of dead inside lol.
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