Elesa was one of the world’s top supermodels, after all.
The moment she reposted Aiden’s video and left a comment, its view count began skyrocketing.
More and more comments flooded in by the minute.
[Came here from Elesa’s repost!]
[Same here!]
[I didn’t, but why the hell is this guy’s life so much more interesting than mine?!]
[Sprigatito is so cute!
Those pink paw pads…
hehehe~]
[Snivy is clearly the prettiest!
My wife~]
[I was there!
I noticed the Trainer with the Sprigatito back then.
When everyone started chasing the Shiny, I left him way behind and felt pretty smug about it.
Never thought he’d end up finding ruins instead…
I’m so jealous!]
[It’s huge.
The streamer’s is absolutely massive~]
Alongside those perfectly “normal” comments, there were also plenty of viewers analyzing the details.
[That Golurk is way taller than normal and looks insanely strong, so why did it only use one move?
Was the whole thing staged?]
[Staged?
Dude nearly got blasted to death.
If his dodging hadn’t been so good, there wouldn’t even be a video.]
[Judging from the ruins, that Golurk must’ve been asleep for at least a few hundred years.
Maybe it slept so long its brain hadn’t fully rebooted yet?]
[Honestly, if he hadn’t had that Heavy Ball at the end, I’m not sure he would’ve caught it at all.]
The endless speculation only pushed the video farther across the internet.
But as its popularity continued rising, a different group of Trainers eventually found it—people who believed battles and captures should always be handled openly and fairly.
Negative comments soon began appearing.
[That capture method was way too underhanded!
A Pokémon battle should be fought fair and square!]
[Real Trainers settle things head-on!
Cheap tricks are the wrong path!]
Naturally, Trainers who liked Aiden’s improvisational style immediately fired back.
[I hope you keep that same energy when you’re traveling with a Caterpie and run into an Ursaring.]
[What’s that supposed to mean?]
[Exactly what you think it means.]
[Heh.
Of course you’re a Dark-type Trainer.
That explains everything…]
[And you’re a Fighting-type Trainer, so I guess that explains why your skull is full of nothing but muscle.]
Before long, the discussion had completely derailed into one of the internet’s oldest and most pointless arguments: whether Dark- and Poison-type Trainers were inherently sneaky and underhanded, and whether Fighting- and Fire-type Trainers were all hotheaded idiots.
Of course, controversy brought attention.
And with every new argument, Aiden’s video climbed even higher.
He didn’t realize how far things had spread until another Trainer recognized him while he was helping Nurse Joy move supplies around the Pokémon Center.
Only after thanking the other Trainer for watching and sending off his very first fan who had actually shown up in person to demand the next upload did Aiden finally open PokéTone.
The moment he saw the view count and all the other numbers rising at ridiculous speed, he clenched his fists and pumped them excitedly.
“Sprigatito!
Snivy!
We’re rich!!”
“New cooking equipment, new toys, Sis Joy’s figurine—”
“What figurine?”
Aiden froze.
Nurse Joy stood behind him with Audino at her side, smiling very pleasantly.
Far too pleasantly.
She had originally assumed Aiden would actually leave on a proper journey, and she had already resigned herself to saying goodbye to her beloved figurine.
Instead, he had gone out in the morning and come back that same afternoon.
He ate more than anyone else, disappeared whenever there was work to be done, and somehow always managed to avoid helping.
That alone would have been irritating enough.
But when he ran off, he had taken Sprigatito and Snivy with him too, depriving the Pokémon Center of two perfectly good extra pairs of hands.
Joy had worked herself exhausted all day.
When Aiden finally came back, she thought she might at least get some help.
Instead, he immediately dumped Sprigatito and the others on her for treatment and vanished into his room.
Then he came back out yelling that he was hungry.
After eating, he had nearly slipped away again.
Joy finally managed to catch him and make him help carry supplies, only to wait around for ages without seeing him return—until she suddenly heard him shouting about getting rich.
Even Nurse Joy had limits to her patience.
“…”
Looking at her smile, Aiden immediately realized how much danger he was in.
The figurine itself wasn’t the real problem anymore.
He could simply buy a replacement tomorrow.
No, the dangerous part was that Joy’s expression had forced him to remember exactly how useless he had been around the Pokémon Center these past few days.
A huge bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.
‘I’m dead.
I’m so dead.’
Fortunately, Aiden was still Aiden, and when it came to talking his way out of trouble, he had plenty of experience.
His eyes darted around before inspiration struck.
“Sis, I said your hands!
Your hands have been working so hard lately, so I wanted to buy you some hand cream.
And besides—if there’s work to do, leave it to me!”
Aiden thumped his chest and struck an exaggerated bodybuilding pose, expressing his overwhelming desire to help Nurse Joy in every possible way.
Naturally, Joy had absolutely no intention of refusing such heartfelt enthusiasm.
“Oh?
Is that so?”
Her smile became even warmer.
“Then I’ll be counting on you.”
Under that gentle smile, Aiden worked until ten o’clock that night.
By the time he finally returned to his room, he exchanged a look with Sprigatito and Snivy.
All three of them shuddered.
Aiden threw himself onto the bed, and the soft blankets immediately became the most tempting thing in the entire world.
“Let’s sleep early tonight.
We still have to challenge the Gym tomorrow…”
“Meow~”
“Sni~”
The two exhausted Pokémon answered lazily before crawling under the blankets with practiced ease.
At the same time, Golurk’s Poké Ball gave a small shake from nearby.
Apparently, it was looking forward to tomorrow’s battle too.
Should add name into the stream chatters?
would you all like to be included?