Paldea Region, Levincia Gym.
"Alright! That concludes today's Iono Zone stream!"
Accompanied by an energetic music track, a young girl wearing a loose, electric-colored oversized jacket and a Magnemite-like bow hair accessory fired off an Electric-type wink toward the screen. With a wave of her large sleeves, she flawlessly delivered her signature sign-off.
"To all my viewers around the world, I'll catch you next time on the Iono Zone channel!"
"Byeeeee~ Byebye~~~"
Amidst a barrage of comments spamming "Iono-chan is so cute!", the girl cleanly ended the broadcast.
Battling challengers at the Gym and providing guidance, while simultaneously hyping up her livestreams to boost her popularity. This was the daily routine of the Levincia Gym Leader, Iono.
"Ugh~ It's finally over—"
Walking all the way from the Gym's battlefield back to her room, Iono glanced out the window at the setting sun. Spreading her arms wide, she collapsed face-first onto her bed, completely out of energy.
Having live-streamed Pokémon battles for an entire day, even though she didn't consider her stamina to be low-tier, the energy consumed by broadcasting, coupled with the massive amount of brain cells burned commanding actual battles, left her in a state of temporary exhaustion.
After taking off her heavy Magnemite hair accessory, the Levincia Gym Leader's hair fanned out across the bedspread like a large, colorful palm leaf.
Even though her legs were crossed somewhat ungracefully as she lay on her side, one could still faintly see the exquisite shape of her slender legs. Plump, slightly meaty thighs perfectly paired with straight, beautifully contoured calves. A little less would look sickly; a little more would look bloated. The overall curves were balanced and alluring. The eye-catching black thigh strap on her left leg only accentuated her lively, beautiful idol aura.
But before Iono could even hug her pillow and take a short nap, her nightstand began vibrating violently.
Brushing her messy hair out of her face, Iono rolled over. With a displeased glare, she picked up the furiously buzzing PokéNav.
Who is sending me messages to bother me this late?!
I seriously need to give this annoying person a brutal Ten Million Volt Thunderbolt—
But the moment she saw who the message was from, Iono instantly bolted upright on her bed.
—It's Lisia-chan!!!
"I see... so your shopping trip with your partner went perfectly today, Lisia-chan~"
Having switched from texting to a video call, Iono leaned against her headboard. Listening to Lisia vividly narrating the day's events through the video feed, the Magnemite accessory she had put back on her head bobbed up and down. She seemed to be in a very good mood.
"Yes! We went to the Grand Music Theater, the underwater tunnel at the aquarium, the plushie shop... Overall, it was a very relaxing and genuinely fun shopping experience~"
Currently sitting on the soft, large bed in her own room, Lisia counted off the locations on her fingers like treasured items. Her slender legs dangling off the edge of the bed swung gently, and a bright smile was plastered across her face.
Although she still hadn't achieved her goal of getting Hakuya to debut with her as a Contest Idol duo, through this shopping trip, Lisia could clearly feel their relationship taking a step forward. They had gone from ordinary friends to good friends who could chat freely about anything. Furthermore, getting out and having fun really did alleviate the stress she had been under from rushing between commercial schedules recently.
After finishing recounting the afternoon's events, Lisia clasped her hands together, blinked playfully, and expressed her gratitude.
"It's all thanks to your off-site coaching, Iono-chan! Thank you so much! I'll definitely treat you to a meal when I get the chance~"
"Hehe~"
Hearing Lisia's praise, Iono touched her cheek and giggled somewhat foolishly.
Just a few days ago, this good friend she had known online for over a year suddenly came to her, asking if she knew any methods to get closer to a boy. Hearing Lisia's plea for help, Iono—armed with years of experience playing Galges—immediately patted her chest and confidently took charge of the situation.
Now, recalling the little tips she had given Lisia today, Iono's face filled with pride.
—Before officially starting the date, you should specifically bring the other person to your home. On one hand, a girl's private residence easily piques a boy's interest. On the other hand, after changing into a beautiful outfit, you can casually ask him if it looks good on you.
—Next, for the first shopping trip together, the girl must try her best to restrain her desire to buy things. You can't let the boy be reduced to a bag-carrying pack mule. Instead, you need to pick sightseeing spots that have a romantic atmosphere and are suitable for two people.
—Finally, when ending the trip, you shouldn't just say you had a lot of fun today. You also need to naturally drop the time and place for the next 'date', setting up the prerequisites for further advancing the relationship.
Backed by nearly a decade of experience playing Pokémon Galges, although she had never actually dated anyone in reality, Iono felt she was an absolute master when it came to quickly getting closer to boys!
Let alone simply closing the distance to become good friends, even fast-forwarding straight to lovers wouldn't be a problem at all!
Thinking of this, Iono couldn't help but feel a bit curious. She leaned her face closer to the camera and asked:
"By the way, Lisia-chan... that boy isn't someone you have a crush on, is he?"
"Eh? EHHH?!"
The girl on the other side of the screen froze for a moment.
Being asked so bluntly by her best friend, she was undoubtedly a bit flustered.
Having absolutely no experience with romance, and only feeling that her heart was beating slightly faster than normal right now, Lisia frantically shook her head and explained, "I-It's not like that! I just want to get closer to him so I can convince him to become a Contest Idol... that's all." Lisia's voice trailed off slightly at the end.
"Oh~ Really?"
Faced with the idol girl's stammering excuse, Iono cupped her cheeks in her hands and drew out the last syllable with a suspicious tone.
When it came to her close friendship with Lisia, it could be traced back to a certain online collaboration event over a year ago.
One was a highly popular streamer famous across all League regions, while the other was a Contest Idol who dominated the Hoenn region with a massive fanbase. Furthermore, both were girls of the "cute and adorable" archetype. After chatting for a bit when the event ended, Iono and Lisia hit it off immediately, quickly becoming very close friends.
Besides frequently sharing the daily routines of streaming or Contests, occasionally chatting about more private topics was completely normal.
Therefore, Iono was now bluntly expressing her genuine curiosity.
"Really, truly..." The normally lively and cheerful Lisia—who could even be considered an extroverted chatterbox—actually blushed slightly when faced with Iono's crackling, electric gaze. She opted to prematurely end their best-friend chat, saying, "Alright, Iono-chan, I'm a bit tired after walking around all afternoon. I'm going to lie down and sleep for a bit."
"Alright. Even though I'm really frustrated I didn't get a straight answer out of you, Lisia-chan..."
Failing to extract the juicy gossip she wanted, Iono instantly seemed to lose all her energy. The eyes of the two Magnemite accessories on her head turned into swirly coils. But even so, she still offered a caring remark at the end.
"But since you're tired, go get some good rest, Lisia-chan~"
"Mhm."
The call ended, and the room returned to the silence it held at the beginning.
However, not long after lying back down on her bed, Iono sat up again, a look of utter despair on her face.
"Dammit! Now I can't sleep at all!"
The highly curious, popular streamer girl now had her head completely filled with the romantic gossip she had failed to pry out.
To the point where the drowsiness she had initially built up from Gym duties and livestreaming had completely vanished.
Getting out of bed to feed a late-night snack to her Bellibolt—whose stomach had started 'gumo-gumo'-ing after sunset—Iono rubbed her chin. The Magnemite accessory on her head seemingly tangled together just like her furrowed brows.
To be honest, this was the very first time she had ever seen the lively and cheerful Lisia act like this.
That shy little expression... it gave her an intense sense of déjà vu. It felt exactly like the heroine in a Pokémon Galge facing the male lead, her heart inevitably fluttering, yet finding it hard to put into words whether she had truly developed romantic feelings for him.
Innocent and inexperienced... I can slightly smell the sour stench of romance~
"To make Lisia-chan take the initiative to suggest a date/shopping trip, and to make her show such an uncharacteristically shy expression..."
"Hmm... What kind of person is this Trainer exactly?"
For a moment, Iono couldn't help but feel a strong surge of interest in the young man Lisia had been talking about.
"Mr. Hakuya, I'm sorry to trouble you to come to the Gym this late."
Inside the Rustboro Gym, seeing the black-haired young man push open the door, Roxanne gave a slight bow.
Even though they had spent many days together and their relationship was much closer than at the beginning, this Rustboro Gym Leader—as rigid and steady as a rock—still cared deeply about boundaries between friends. She worried that bothering him so late might bring him unnecessary trouble.
"It's no problem. I wouldn't normally be sleeping at this hour anyway. Thank you for acting as the middleman, Ms. Roxanne." Hakuya shook his head and replied with a smile.
While it was true that after seeing Lisia off, he was fully prepared to head back to the dorm to lay flat until midnight before diving into Randomized Emerald for his daily 'elbowing' routine... he had barely reached the ground floor when his PokéNav received a message from Roxanne.
—The Trainer who was willing to buy the fossil you wanted to sell has arrived at the Rustboro Gym. In addition, Mr. Steven Stone of the Hoenn region, as mentioned previously, asked me to introduce you to him.
Hmm... I can play Randomized Emerald anytime, but it's not every day you get a chance to meet a real-world Pokémon Champion.
Although these Champions all had their own specific "spawn points"—Cynthia would most likely spawn in front of a street-side ice cream parlor, agonizing over which flavor to choose; Alder would spawn on top of a twenty-meter-high cliff, eager to jump down and jumpscare passing Trainers... compared to the first two, encountering Steven in the wild was significantly harder. His spawn points were usually inside desolate, unpopulated rocky caves. Unless you shared his hobby of digging for rocks, it was quite difficult to bump into him.
Therefore, remembering that he still needed to test the power of his Mega-evolved little jet plane, Hakuya immediately rushed over from the dorm.
My Mega Stone was prepared specifically for challenging strong opponents like this—
Just as Hakuya was led into the reception room inside the Gym by Roxanne, a silver-haired young man—who had been holding a magnifying glass and marveling at the fossil in his hands—noticed the commotion behind him.
His eyes lit up, and he set down the fossil, quickly walking over to Hakuya.
"A pleasure to meet you for the first time, Hakuya. My name is Steven Stone."
"The pleasure is mine. I've long looked forward to meeting you, Champion Steven." Meeting Steven's enthusiastically extended hand, Hakuya smiled and shook it.
The two men tacitly appraised each other.
With just one glance at Hakuya, Steven felt that coming here had been the absolute right choice.
"Even though his physique isn't particularly muscular, he unexpectedly radiates an incredibly terrifying and powerful aura."
"Everyone who possesses this kind of aura is, without exception, either a veteran Trainer who has experienced truly massive, high-stakes battles, or an exceptionally gifted genius whose talent on the path of Pokémon battling far surpasses ordinary people."
The so-called "veteran Trainers" naturally referred to people like Unova Champion Alder.
And when it came to geniuses, looking across all League regions, Steven didn't think anyone could compare to the Kanto Dragon-type Elite Four member and Johto Champion, the eldest son of the Dragon Clan, Lance. The only one who could possibly match him was the undefeated Champion Leon, who won the Galar Championship in his debut year and proceeded to secure victory in all official tournaments.
But right in front of him, according to what Steven knew, Hakuya was merely a rookie Trainer who had started his journey with a starter Pokémon less than a month ago.
To have a track record of completely sweeping a Gym Leader's main team in just a single month... his level of genius undoubtedly surpassed even Lance.
"Although I don't know exactly what he has experienced since setting out on his journey as a rookie Trainer... to possess such a terrifying and powerful aura, he must have encountered and battled some truly horrifying enemies within this extremely short period. And he even won."
Feeling the oppressive aura radiating from Hakuya, Steven ultimately arrived at this astonishing conclusion.
Just as he was about to end the handshake, his gaze suddenly caught something on Hakuya's wrist.
"...Is that a Key Stone?"
Noticing the Mega Bracelet slightly exposed beneath Hakuya's sleeve, Steven's pupils contracted slightly.
As the Hoenn Champion, he naturally knew the name of this item.
When a Trainer used a Key Stone in tandem with a Pokémon's Mega Stone, it allowed the corresponding Pokémon to temporarily attain a higher realm of power. This was currently a topic of extreme interest among the Trainer community in the Kalos region.
So, Hakuya has already mastered Mega Evolution?
Recalling the other crucial objective of his trip to Rustboro City, his mind began to race.
Meanwhile, unaware of what the Hoenn Champion was thinking, Hakuya was similarly appraising the Steven before him.
Just like his design in the games and anime, even though it was approaching late evening when people usually rested, he was still wearing a formal suit. His aura of a wealthy heir was palpable. Furthermore, his personality and demeanor were as gentle as a humble gentleman. He treated others with composure and politeness, making people feel as comfortable as a spring breeze and rain.
Setting aside the fact that this kind of polite etiquette naturally generated a lot of goodwill, cyber-Steven's 'sugar daddy' behavior of gifting the Mega Stone in the randomized game made Hakuya feel a sense of 'love me, love my dog' affection toward him.
Their appraisals complete, both men smiled, having made their internal evaluations.
He feels like he'd be a good friend and a great opponent.