The battle club had already been crowded to begin with.
Once word spread that a Shiny Beldum had appeared, even more people rushed over, packing the observation area around the battlefield.
In the end, Beldum completed all ten battles with a flawless record.
One Pokémon.
Ten opponents.
Ten victories.
As a result, Suguru Natsume became an overnight sensation on the internet.
Several videos of him commanding Beldum had already appeared on PokéTok.
A silver-white Beldum was rare enough to attract attention on its own.
When it was paired with Suguru’s flawless features and the refined bearing of a young nobleman, countless female viewers immediately became fans based solely on his appearance.
As for his opponent, Nozomi Mizuno—
She had thoroughly become the background character in Suguru’s grand debut.
Discussions about him rapidly spread across the internet.
[Gardevoir’s Stockings: Suguru Natsume is ridiculously handsome!
How is that even fair?!]
[Attack on Torchic: One Beldum defeated ten Pokémon?
This has to be fake.]
[Tepig Fried Rice: A silver Beldum?
He’s definitely Elite Natsume’s grandson.
His face already looks sixty or seventy percent like Gendō Natsume’s.]
[Tsundere Snivy: I swear, the entire Natsume family has been blessed with unfairly good looks.]
[Invincible Youth: He’s only impressive because of his family background.
Without that, would he have accomplished anything?]
[Crossroads Pidgeotto: Why are you so bitter, person above me?]
[Tone-Deaf Pidgeot: Is he wrong?
Give me that kind of family background and I’d do even better.]
[Washed-Up Butterfree: This world is seriously unfair.
Some people exhaust their entire family’s savings just trying to become Trainers, while other people receive a Shiny pseudo-legendary hatchling as their starter.]
There were countless comments about Suguru.
Most of them were perfectly normal, but a considerable number were filled with envy, jealousy, and resentment.
That was hardly surprising.
In Japan, there had always been a deep conflict between Trainers born into great families and those who came from ordinary households.
The same conflict existed in almost every country.
Common-born Trainers believed that descendants of great houses were born with access to resources they could never hope to reach.
Those powerful Trainer families also controlled the habitats, breeding lines, evolution materials, rare ores, secret techniques, and cultivation resources required by many Pokémon.
As a result, ordinary Trainers had to expend several times more effort to obtain the same opportunities.
Sometimes, even risking their lives was not enough to acquire the resource they needed.
From the perspective of the great families, however, keeping those resources under their control was only natural.
If they wished to preserve and strengthen their lineage, they needed those resources to raise powerful Pokémon and cultivate outstanding descendants.
The positions of the two groups were fundamentally opposed.
Japan’s government had made considerable efforts to reduce the gap between them.
Otherwise, it would never have established the rule that, in official competitions, a Trainer could not use a Pokémon more than ten levels above their registered starter.
That regulation existed to protect common-born Trainers from being completely crushed before they ever had the chance to grow.
The government had also introduced numerous support policies.
For example, when purchasing Pokémon from licensed breeding centers, common-born Trainers could receive special discounts.
Similar subsidies applied to Pokémon food, medicine, training equipment, and other related products.
The system could determine whether someone qualified simply by checking their identity records.
Therefore, descendants of Trainer families could not disguise themselves as commoners to take advantage of the subsidies.
As for the commotion on the internet—
At that moment, he was sprawled comfortably across the sofa, scrolling through PokéTok.
Beldum floated beside him, curiously watching the videos on the screen.
[“This young man’s name is Ikemen-kun, and the woman beside him is Miki-chan…”]
[“Everyone, the latest Wilderness Survival Challenge officially begins today!”]
[“Thank you all for your generous gifts!
I’ll remember your support forever!”]
[“Now, Blaziken!
Finish it with Blaze Kick!”]
There was no shortage of talented creators on PokéTok.
There were also plenty of beautiful women with long legs and impressive figures—the sort of content Suguru naturally appreciated.
Still, the overwhelming majority of videos were related to Pokémon.
In this world, Pokémon were the true protagonists.
Almost everything in human society revolved around them.
Humans appeared to be the Trainers and masters of Pokémon, but the actual relationship between the two was closer to a partnership.
Humans provided Pokémon with carefully prepared food, training methods, medical treatment, and resources, allowing them to grow far more quickly than they would in the wilderness.
In exchange, Pokémon used their power to help humans acquire wealth, status, influence, and authority.
Naturally, after living and battling together for many years, deep emotional bonds would form between them.
Human relationships were far less dependable.
In this world, there were people willing to attack their companions, relatives, lovers, and even their own children for a high-aptitude Pokémon or an exceptionally rare treasure.
In the face of overwhelming profit, so-called affection could become utterly worthless.
Countless Trainers entered the wilderness as teams, trusting one another with their lives.
Yet after discovering a valuable treasure, those same companions often turned their Pokémon against each other.
Interest was the chain that connected people.
At the same time, it was also the knife most likely to stab them in the back.
Anyone in this world could betray you.
Your companions.
Your friends.
Your family.
Even the person who claimed to love you most.
But a Trainer’s Pokémon would remain at their side until the end.
Even at the gates of death, it would still step forward and take the final attack in its Trainer’s place.
That was why any Trainer who treated their own Pokémon harshly—or even abused them—was unquestionably human trash.
Once the Trainer Association discovered credible evidence of Pokémon abuse, it would immediately revoke the offender’s Trainer license and forcibly remove every Pokémon under their ownership.
Many Trainers lost their qualifications for that reason every year.
In the eyes of society, abusing a Pokémon was treated almost as seriously as abusing a child.
“Garde.”
While Suguru was happily scrolling through PokéTok, Gardevoir’s gentle voice reached his ears.
He looked up and saw her approaching with a neatly prepared plate of sliced fruit.
“Garde.”
My second little treasure, eat some fruit.
Aya was the eldest treasure.
Suguru was the second.
Naturally, Hatsumi was the third.
Together, the three siblings were the Natsume family’s three precious treasures.
All three had practically been raised by Gardevoir.
Their parents were always busy with work.
They rarely had enough time to personally take care of the children.
Then, after Hatsumi was born, that particular incident occurred, causing their mother to leave the Natsume estate and return to her own family. New chapters come out on g.com first.
Since then, Gardevoir had effectively taken on the roles of both father and mother.
To Suguru’s family, she was far more than merely his mother’s Pokémon.
She was family.
“I’ll eat it in a little while.”
Suguru nodded without taking his eyes off the phone.
“Garde.”
Don’t forget.
“Mm-hmm.”
Half an hour later—
After finishing the household chores, Gardevoir returned to the living room.
Suguru was still scrolling through PokéTok.
His position had not changed in the slightest.
The plate of fruit sitting on the table had not been touched, either.
Gardevoir’s ordinarily gentle gaze gradually became dangerous.
Suguru suddenly shivered.
“Beldum…”
He rubbed his arms and looked around in confusion.
“Do you feel like the temperature suddenly dropped?”
“Bzz…”
Beldum’s single eye shifted toward the space directly in front of him.
Its meaning was obvious.
Maybe you should look ahead.
“Ahead?”
Suguru slowly raised his head.
Gardevoir stood directly in front of the sofa.
She was smiling.
It was the same gentle smile she always wore—
Yet an invisible pressure had already frozen the entire room.
“M-Mama Gardevoir, I’ll eat it right now!”
Suguru instantly put on his most ingratiating smile.
He grabbed the plate and devoured every piece of fruit in only a few moments.
The moment he called her Mama Gardevoir, the faint irritation in Gardevoir’s heart immediately transformed into helpless affection.
She could only release a soft sigh.
After all, she was the one who had raised him.
If she did not spoil him, who else would?
“Garde.”
Stop looking at your phone.
Let your eyes rest for a while.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Suguru instantly transformed into an obedient child and turned off his phone without hesitation.
The true authority in this household was not his grandfather, despite being the head of the Natsume family.
It was Gardevoir.
No matter how imposing or powerful someone might be outside, once they returned home, they had to obediently listen to her.
Otherwise—
They could forget about being served dinner.
Within this home, Gardevoir was the absolute center of the family.