It sure knows how to read the room.
The stars shine brightly.
Baimu and Aggron enjoy the gentle breeze of the quiet night.
"Next is your main stage."
"Roar."
"Let's make all of Hoenn echo with our names!"
He stretches out his five fingers to the sky, as if to grasp all the stars within his palm.
"Roar!"
Aggron couldn't help but respond loudly.
Crash!
The loud noise startled the two of them, turning to find Mawile clinging to the floor-to-ceiling window, its expression a mix of grievance and annoyance, clutching a stuffed doll.
"Tsk—Oh—"
"No more noise, no more noise."
"Roar~"
Baimu and Aggron quickly put on a smiling face and went back to the room to sleep.
An uneventful night passed.
——
The day after the Gorgeous Festival ended.
Morning.
Baimu is woken up by continuous noise and Pokémon calls.
"Hmm..."
Yawning as he got up, he moved the Galarian Corsola, which somehow crawled onto his face, to the top of his head.
"Hss~"
Hydreigon drowsily narrowed its eyes, biting his hem and being pulled along into the bathroom.
Bang, bang!
The outermost room door thumps, as the early-awoken Dreepy Siblings fly over to open the door, while Dragapult hides invisibly in the corner, peeking out.
"Plonk!"
Porygon II sees the siblings' actions and jumps in shock, trying to stop their reckless behavior.
But the door is already open.
Luckily, the entrance is not filled with countless reporters and fanatic fans, but just the hotel's manager, looking both helpless and anxious.
"Mr. Baimu, your fans—Oh?"
"Hee yah~" "Hee yah!"
Brother Dragapult cheerfully raises its little claw in greeting, while Sister Dragapult sees a stranger and is extra cautious.
The hotel manager instinctively steps back, but his gaze still peers into the room.
"Baimu... sir?"
"I'm here, is there something I can help with?"
Baimu walks out from the bathroom, with Hydreigon biting his clothes still in a half-asleep state, its three mouths forming a wave pattern.
Seeing him in person, the hotel manager breathes a sigh of relief and quickly says, "Your fans are surrounding the hotel outside completely, could you help guide them away? Lots of guests have complained!"
"Fans? Surrounding?"
He pauses for a moment, quickly running to the balcony to look down.
Indeed.
Outside, a crowd of men and women, either holding banners high or dressed in Mawile and other Pokémon gear, spot him peeking out and scream.
Curiously followed by Dragapult, trembling all over.
It thought if it were Baimu and couldn't go invisible, surrounded by so many people, it might just drop dead on the spot?
Eek.
Scary, scary.
Baimu, sweating, remarks, "Whoa... it's like a replica of Mr. Mikoli's fans."
Mikoli is always surrounded by people outside his hotel, recently even planning to surround the Gym.
He's curious who leaked his exact whereabouts, paparazzi maybe? Are there paparazzi in Pokémon World too?
"It was one of the fan club members invited yesterday who leaked the location."
Porygon II, seemingly knowing what he's thinking, emits a sound from the phone, "After returning yesterday, she couldn't resist posting photos from the celebration that gave away the location via the background."
Goodness gracious!
Pokémon World's Leeuwenhoek!
Baimu turns back to apologize to the hotel manager and assures he'll find a way to clear out the fans disrupting their normal business.
Only then does the hotel manager turn away relieved.
"Top-tier title and number one trending is really scary..."
He sighs, fans used to only block the venue doors, but now they're even blocking the hotels.
Does greater fame mean greater burden?
After some consideration, Baimu decides to contact Mikoli, who, as the Master of the Gorgeous Competition, should have plenty of experience in this area.
Why not contact Liuqia?
With her stable eight-hour sleep rule, she's probably unresponsive at this hour.
"Hey, Mr Mikoli, sorry to disturb you so early..."
Half an hour later.
Baimu is still in the room, while down below, with Bei Lingyin and other fan club core members guiding the fans away, most have dispersed, leaving only a few scattered here and there.
Exactly.
Mikoli's strategy is to let fans manage fans.
And this tactic surprisingly worked, making him ponder whether the people of Pokémon World are just well-mannered or easy to deal with.
After clearing out the fans, Bei Lingyin brings up the girl who uploaded the photo to apologize, but since Baimu himself wasn't greatly affected, he casually waved it off.
"The real apology should be to the hotel and its guests; disturbing people so early is not good."
He contemplated for a moment and took the two of them to apologize to the hotel and those who complained, promising to compensate for any reasonable losses.
Though the incident wasn't started by him, it's due to his personal influence that it escalated, so as the person involved, he must take responsibility.
Baimu never believed holding a top title made him superior to others.
But unexpectedly.
Among those apologized to was someone who was about to switch from being a fan to just a passerby, intending to post on a blog about the fandom affecting people's lives.
But his approach not only successfully retained them as a fan but turned them into a fervent admirer.
The post turned from a rant to a praise.
Once published, it quickly accumulated shares.
Such coincidental events coupled with the promotion from the festival made Baimu's popularity soar, with some already calling him "Xiaomikel."
"Pretty scary."
Upon learning about this from Porygon II, he couldn't help but shiver.
Awakened Liuqia exclaimed that even with a year of marketing by her and her company, they can't match the hype he's generated in just a day; it's terrifying!
She even asked, "Are you sure you don't want to sign with the agency I know? Once you do, you won't have to worry about many things."
"If I sign, someone will kill me."
Baimu quickly shakes his head, unable to bear Shanren's wrath.
He's been away for so long, continuously leaving problems for Shanren to solve, all of which require future hard work to repay.
He shouldn't forget the handshake outside the villa.
Liuqia then inquires when he plans to return to Glazed Gym.
There's around two weeks left until the Ever Grande Conference; he can't stay in Larus City all the time, especially since the Gorgeous Festival attracted a lot of tourists.
Many foreigners don't plan to leave after the festival and want to stay and explore the high-tech city for a couple of days.
——Baimu also wants to stay for a few days.
He's mainly very interested in the real Battle Tower, which has returned to its original function after the festival and is rumored to feature many interesting Pokémon.
Liuqia has no interest, and since she won't have any work for a while after the festival, she plans to retreat for intensified preparation.
Aiming for the next top-tier!
Baimu feels if no one of his level appears next time, the top-tier title should undoubtedly be hers.
After discussing their plans with others, most decide to go home and rest for a bit; after traveling for a year, it's time to go back and visit.
However, Xiaoguang and Xiaogang inexplicably decide to go with him to the Ever Grande Conference.
"You're coming with me?"
Baimu points at himself.
"Ah! I forgot you don't really enjoy group travel."
Xiaoguang and Xiaogang exchange a look and cautiously asked, "Does it bother you a lot? We want to support you at the Ever Grande Conference..."
He scratches his head, helplessly saying, "Not that extreme, I'm really moved by your gesture... It's just that my lifestyle might be very different from yours."
Xiaogang replies, "We know you, Baimu, are extremely serious and diligent in raising Pokémon."
Compared to Ash Ketchum, who loves trekking in the wild and encountering various people and events.
Baimu spends most of his time training Pokémon, rarely engaging with those little stories that waste his time, which might not make traveling with him particularly exciting.
Of course, Xiaoguang and Xiaogang's main goal is to support him at the Ever Grande Conference, so what happens on the journey doesn't really matter.
It doesn't even matter if they skip directly to the destination.
"Then I'll leave it to you guys."
He nods and agrees.
Come to think of it, am I replacing Ash Ketchum?