A long while later, Shauntal finally lifted her head and took a deep breath.
“That was unbelievably cheesy…
and somehow completely addictive.
Incredible~”
Shauntal was an accomplished novelist, and in her opinion, good writing required a deep reservoir of material and experience to draw from.
That was why she was always collecting little details from the people, places, and events around her, storing them away as potential inspiration for future stories.
Which naturally left her with one burning question.
‘What kind of life has someone lived to write something like this?!’
At that moment, Shauntal found herself genuinely looking forward to talking with Aiden.
Fortunately, the interest was mutual, and their conversation went remarkably smoothly.
Not only did Aiden learn a great deal about Golurk from Shauntal, he also discovered that she was currently staying in Driftveil City for work.
[I heard you’re traveling around challenging Gyms.
Have you considered Driftveil Gym?
If you come here, I can take a proper look at your Golurk in person as well.]
Shauntal had effectively invited him to meet.
Aiden didn’t hesitate for even a second.
[Absolutely.
No problem!]
Going to Driftveil City meant he would immediately have the next installment of his Gym-challenge series lined up.
And on top of that, he could borrow some of Shauntal’s popularity while he was there.
It was practically a dream assignment.
…
Aiden was already getting ready to pack and leave when another thought occurred to him.
Lacey.
She was Clay’s beloved daughter, a famous rich girl, and the heiress of one of Driftveil City’s most prominent families.
Aiden immediately sent her a message.
[Hey.
Thinking of heading to Driftveil City?
If so, take me with you.
Also, please bring enough food.
Thanks.]
His favorite walking wallet accepted the invitation with great enthusiasm.
Not long afterward, Lacey arrived at the Pokémon Center and took Aiden straight to Nimbasa City’s largest shopping complex.
Premium Pokémon food?
Buy it.
Top-of-the-line grooming supplies?
Buy them.
Max Potions?
Buy them.
Luxury Balls?
Buy them.
…
Lacey gave Aiden his first true lesson in what it meant to have more money than common sense could comprehend.
She also made him realize that his own savings of thirty or fifty thousand weren’t enough to spoil his Pokémon lavishly.
Hell, they weren’t even enough to spoil himself properly.
The Miracle Seeds Lacey bought as gifts for Sprigatito and Snivy cost thirty thousand each.
And they were consumable.
The seeds could be ground into powder and mixed into a Grass-type Pokémon’s food, providing excellent support for healthy growth and development.
Then there was the Smooth Rock she bought for Golurk to handle and train with.
By repeatedly interacting with it, Golurk could improve its control over Ground-type energy.
That one cost fifty thousand.
Also consumable.
Once all the stored energy had been absorbed, it would become nothing more than an ordinary rock.
And those were only the expensive items Aiden actually noticed.
There were countless other smaller purchases besides.
The sheer scale of Lacey’s spending terrified him so badly that he immediately pulled out his phone and started filming the surroundings.
Followers.
Views.
Money!
There was nothing quite like witnessing a much better standard of living to awaken someone’s desire to earn more.
After seeing the kind of life Lacey’s Pokémon enjoyed, even Aiden—who had previously been fairly content once he had enough money to get by—suddenly felt the fires of ambition burning inside him.
At the very least…
At the absolute minimum…
He needed to make enough money that Sprigatito could eat as many premium cat treats as she wanted!
…
While Aiden was throwing himself into filming with renewed enthusiasm, his video was once again climbing the trending rankings online.
And the reason was almost identical to what had happened when Elesa promoted him.
After enjoying their conversation, Shauntal had gone looking for Aiden’s videos out of curiosity.
As a result, she not only learned exactly how Golurk had been captured, but also watched footage of Aiden and Golurk tearing through opponents at the Battle Club.
Once she compared what she saw in the videos with the medical report Aiden had sent her, Shauntal was almost certain there was nothing seriously wrong with Golurk physically.
Unfortunately, that suggested the real issue was psychological.
Either Golurk was simply the deeply reserved type whose emotions were impossible to read…
Or it was genuinely struggling with its mental state after spending so long dormant and isolated.
If the problem was emotional rather than physical, Shauntal figured she could bring along some of the more lively members of her own team and see whether a little Pokémon-to-Pokémon conversation might help.
Once she had a rough idea of what was going on, Shauntal closed the video and left a single comment beneath it.
[Looking forward to the next episode~]
The moment people noticed that the comment came from Shauntal’s verified account, Aiden’s video received another wave of attention.
At the same time, more and more people finally began wondering exactly who this creator called Aiden Cross actually was.
What kind of guy could get two famous beauties like Elesa and Shauntal publicly supporting his content?
Curious viewers clicked on the video.
Then—
Wait.
There was a cute pink-haired girl in there too?!
That was when the internet collectively began feeling deeply unfaired.
Seriously, what the hell had this guy done to deserve all this?!
Sure, he was a little handsome.
His Pokémon were adorable.
His luck was ridiculously good.
Other than that, he was completely ordinary!
Somewhere in Kanto, a certain squinty-eyed viewer stared at the screen with tears of pure envy gathering at the corners of his eyes.
…
Meanwhile, Aiden and Lacey had arrived at an enormous mansion on the outskirts of Nimbasa City.
“Uncle Bruce, I’ll be staying here tonight!”
Aiden had already known Lacey was rich.
But apparently he had underestimated just how rich.
She owned a residence in central Nimbasa City.
And then she also had this sprawling estate in the suburbs.
According to Lacey, this particular property existed primarily for her Pokémon.
Since Trainers were only permitted to carry six Pokémon at a time, most people had to find somewhere else to leave any additional partners they owned.
Some entrusted them to family back home.
Others used the ranch or preserve maintained by the Professor who had given them their first Pokémon.
Breeding facilities, Pokémon Centers, and other specialized services could also provide long-term care.
Naturally, all of those options charged fees, though the costs were generally reasonable.
Wealthy families, however, often built private ecological preserves of their own.
Nearly every Gym maintained something similar for its resident Pokémon.
The problem was that Driftveil Gym specialized in Ground-types, so its preserve had naturally been designed around environments that suited Ground-type Pokémon.
That made it less comfortable for Pokémon of other types.
Since Lacey herself wasn’t a Ground-type specialist, she had simply established a private estate outside Nimbasa instead, complete with a massive ecological preserve stretching across the land behind the mansion.
Bruce served not only as the estate’s butler, but also as an experienced Pokémon Breeder.
Whenever Lacey wasn’t personally traveling with her Pokémon, Bruce was usually the one responsible for their care.
And that was exactly why she had brought Aiden here.
Lacey had been thinking constantly about ways to help both Aiden and Sprigatito.
Eventually, she had decided that allowing Aiden to leave some of his Pokémon here whenever necessary might be one practical solution.
With excellent living conditions, professional care, and proper medical support, his Pokémon could remain in peak condition between journeys.
Even now, Lacey still didn’t truly believe Aiden could defeat Togo.
She simply hadn’t said that concern aloud.
Instead, she was doing everything she could think of to help Aiden become stronger.
If the two of them really did meet at the Vertress Conference someday, Lacey sincerely hoped Aiden would win.
She wanted him to defeat Togo like the protagonist of some story finally confronting the person responsible for everything, while giving Sprigatito the chance to put her past behind her for good.
If there was anything she could do to increase Aiden’s chances of victory, even slightly, Lacey would do it without hesitation.
Aiden had no idea what was going through her mind.
What he did know was that he must have stepped in the world’s luckiest pile of Tauros crap today.
Elesa’s commission.
Shauntal’s invitation.
Lacey’s generosity.
Aiden folded his arms across his chest and gazed toward the heavens with deep emotion.
“My brothers back on Earth…
I think I’ve finally entered my lucky streak with women.”
He could only hope all those single bastards back home somehow got to witness his current life.
Preferably so they could be consumed by jealousy.