Even though he was confused, Nathan would never give up on being the other party's "dad"!
This was love!
"Huh? You don't know yet? Let me tell you..."
Hearing Nathan's confused tone, Lily immediately started listing things like a treasure trove.
He talked about how many videos had popped up online, how insanely high the view counts were...
And how, in just a few hours, the number of live comments had exploded.
It was only then that Nathan, laughing helplessly, realized he had been secretly filmed!
After chatting with Lily for a while longer, Nathan looked at his phone.
His fingers moved on their own, logging into several major websites.
As expected!
On three different sites, news about Nathan had been pushed straight to the front page!
Clicking into one of the videos at random, he saw live comments flooding the screen with things like "The Strongest!" and "That sliding tackle!"
The video was quite complete — you could even hear the amazed reactions of people around the one recording.
There wasn't much editing, though the uploader had added some BGM and post-production work.
Overall, the effect was really good, and even Nathan found himself watching with great interest.
In just two short hours, the video's data had exploded!
By comparison, the videos on the other two sites were lower quality.
Most of them were just raw reuploads — no telling how many times they'd been pirated.
"Not bad, not bad."
After watching, Nathan rubbed his chin and casually commented.
He didn't really mind people filming and posting online — after all, he was the biggest beneficiary.
If nothing else, his almost-stagnant follower growth on Weibo had suddenly skyrocketed again.
"Well, whatever. Training Pokémon is more important."
After booking a plane ticket on his phone, Nathan shook his head and said.
The online world was exciting, but also ugly.
In comparison, he still preferred building real bonds with his Pokémon.
As long as you put in the effort, Pokémon would always respond!
Heading to the training room,
Nathan first took out a Pokéball and released Treecko.
"Treecko?"
Looking around at the unfamiliar surroundings, Treecko gave Nathan a questioning look.
"I'm going to train your seniors. As for you, just watch for now!"
"Here's some food for you — eat up and recover your strength. I'll check on you afterward."
Nathan gently patted Treecko's head, speaking with a warm tone, completely different from his battle voice.
'Maybe this isn't so bad after all?'
Prepared to face a brutal new life, Treecko scratched the back of its head, thinking to itself.
Even it hadn't noticed — its affection for Nathan had already far exceeded that of a newly captured Pokémon.
Though there was no way to quantify it in numbers, the bond was real.
When Nathan took out the Pokéblocks, Treecko's eyes immediately lit up red, exhausted as it was!
"Treecko!"
It cried out urgently but didn't immediately pounce on the cubes.
Nathan smiled slightly and handed over some basic Pokéblocks he had made the night before, mixed with a little rainbow Pokéblock material.
Watching Treecko eagerly devour the Pokéblocks, Nathan couldn't resist patting its head again and said,
"Slow down — don't choke."
Seeing this normally composed wild Treecko now gobbling food like this gave Nathan an odd sense of cuteness.
Moving over to a nearby dummy,
Nathan pulled out another Pokéball and released Metagross.
Ever since capturing Zeraora and returning from the Wandering Mountain Range, Nathan had been doing group training.
This method had its benefits — no one Pokémon got neglected, and Nathan could handle the intensity.
But now, with Treecko and Sceptile's Mega Stones in hand, and with the upcoming national tournament where Mega Evolution would be announced,
Nathan decided to focus on building a strong bond with Metagross first, mastering Mega Evolution with it.
It's worth noting —
Because Nathan tailored specific training methods for each of his Pokémon, they gained experience points quite quickly.
Metagross, being a pseudo-legendary Pokémon, had the slowest growth by training alone.
Currently, it was at level 42.
Flygon and others were around level 43.
Just through training alone, further growth was becoming hard.
For a powerhouse like Volcarona, growth in experience was even slower — like a turtle crawl.
To speed it up, Volcarona needed to battle lots of elite-level opponents!
"Metagross, try using your psychic power to link with my own psychic abilities!"
Facing Metagross' seemingly emotionless eyes, Nathan said with a smile.
Maybe others saw Metagross as a mechanical being without feelings,
but to Nathan, he always saw it as a deadpan-faced companion.
All Pokémon had emotions — even Metagross was no exception.
"Meta..."
With a low rumble, Metagross cautiously linked its mind to Nathan's.
With the aid of Nathan's Viridian Power, their minds felt synchronized!
Nathan could sense Metagross' thoughts, and Metagross could sense his.
"Exactly! Keep it like this and start the training!"
"Metagross, speed up your Meteor Mash attacks!
If you can't use the 'Shave' technique yet, then practice under gravity instead!"
Eyes flashing brightly, Nathan suppressed his excitement and commanded loudly.
Soon, Metagross was immersed in intense training.
If things like bond levels or affection could be quantified,
then without a doubt, the bond between Nathan and Metagross was growing at an explosive rate!
Not only that —
their mutual understanding, synchronization, and familiarity were skyrocketing as well!
Even Nathan's psychic power, constantly linking with Metagross, was growing at a near-breakneck pace.
The most direct sign —
even without Metagross physically training, its psychic abilities still showed some improvement.
This was the privilege of a psychic trainer —
a privilege that no competition would ever lock you away for.
After about two hours of training, when Nathan's mind felt pushed to its limit,
he finally recalled Metagross.
Then, he began training Treecko.
For Treecko, Nathan wasn't asking for too much yet.
He just had it do some basic physical training and began cultivating its control over Energy Ball.
Honestly, Nathan hoped to train Treecko with the goal of reaching something like Hashirama from Naruto.
Thus, for Treecko, he prioritized skill-damage amplification.
Meanwhile, for Pangoro, the focus was on physical stats enhancement.
Although Pangoro's skills also received boosts, they weren't as dramatic as the improvements in its physical strength.
"No, don't gather destructive force. Don't let it become chaotic.
Try to maintain a peaceful and stable energy flow!"
…
Dragging his exhausted body,
watching Treecko gradually transition from clumsy movements to the form he envisioned,
Nathan recalled Treecko to its Pokéball.
He returned to his room, made more Pokéblocks, and collapsed onto his bed, falling asleep instantly.
The next morning —
Nathan was woken by the endless ding ding notifications from his phone.
Groaning, he grabbed his phone to check —
his screen was absolutely flooded with messages.
At the very top were ones from Vice Chairman Cloud, his homeroom teacher, and Sister Lee.
Besides them, there were also messages from Dyson, Anna, Wendy, and Evelyn.
Vice Chairman Cloud: [Good kid, you've made Yangcheng proud!]
Miss Evelyn: [Congratulations. Looks like the gap between us has widened again...]
Sister Lee: [Not bad at all! If I were younger, I might have chased after you!]
(TN: My god the raw's names change again)
...
Seeing these messages, Nathan realized the videos from yesterday must have gone fully viral.
He patiently replied to each one before heading to the bathroom to wash up.
"Looks like I can't push Metagross as hard as yesterday anymore."
"But after a few more rounds like that, we might just pull off a Mega Evolution."
Staring at the bloodshot veins in his eyes, Nathan thought to himself.
After washing up and eating breakfast with his Pokémon,
Nathan headed to the airport.
Technically, there were secret realms in Spring City,
but none that would be helpful for Volcarona at its current stage.
Now that Pangoro had reached Elite-level,
the next ones Nathan needed to focus on were Volcarona and Metagross.
And to achieve his goals,
besides the "mysterious mystic realm" that Vice Chairman Cloud had mentioned,
there was no other way.
After a few hours on the plane,
Nathan returned to Poplar City.
But he didn't immediately go find Vice Chairman Cloud.
Instead, he first visited his parents' restaurant.
That evening, he met up with a few classmates still in Poplar City for a meal.
Even though Lily wasn't home,
Nathan stayed at home for two days.
It wasn't until Vice Chairman Cloud urged him several times that Nathan finally agreed to meet at his parents' restaurant.
…
(The f**king raws are killing me.)