The next morning, Joseph was up at dawn — though "up" was a generous word for lying face-down on his bed while Riolu bounced on his back.
"Alright, alright, I'm awake! Get off my spine, you furry dumbbell," he groaned.
Riolu yipped, hopping to the floor. Tyrunt cracked one eye open from his corner, burping up a tiny spark (his new party trick since the Power Plant).
Joseph sat up and stretched, feeling that familiar, goofy thrill buzz through him. Today was the day: the Rotom twins were finally ready for their first real test run. Double cameras, double chaos. His follower count had jumped overnight just from the announcement.
His bedroom looked like a mad scientist's lab — wires, tiny drones, sticky notes that read things like "DON'T CROSS THE STREAMS???" and "ROTOM #1 = LEFT ANGLE, ROTOM #2 = ZOOM CAM."
The original Rotom, floating near the ceiling fan, projected a smug emoji with sunglasses. The new Rotom hovered beside it, running test shots — the feed kept flickering between perfectly smooth HD footage and "oops, upside down."
Joseph threw his arms wide for his first "Good morning, EeTvee!" greeting. "Alright, chat, today we're going deep into the forest! Local rumor is there's a secret clearing full of wild Pokémon. Perfect for training, filming, and — hopefully — not getting pranked to oblivion."
The chat blew up:
"LOL good luck with TWO Rotoms" "Prediction: 5 jump scares, 2 slip-ups, 1 accidental pantsing" "Tyrunt gonna eat a tree"
He pointed dramatically at Tyrunt, who was still half-asleep. "You hear that, big guy? No eating trees. Or wild Pokémon. Or my bag."
Tyrunt yawned so wide you could see every pointy tooth — then he belched out a tiny spark and flopped over.
"Close enough," Joseph said with a sigh.
They set off mid-morning, trekking into the local forest trail just past the edge of town. Riolu marched ahead, pretending to be a scout. Tyrunt trundled behind, crunching twigs under his big feet. The Rotom twins zoomed above Joseph's head, swapping angles every five seconds.
"Hey, Rotom 2, keep it steady, okay?" Joseph whispered.
Rotom 2 projected a devilish grin emoji, then flipped its lens upside down again.
Chat spammed:
"CAMERAMAN DRUNK ALREADY" "LOL I'M GONNA PUKE" "I love this chaos"
Joseph grimaced but kept walking. The trail dipped into a shady, mossy clearing where the sunlight filtered through the trees in beams. It was beautiful — and suspiciously quiet.
"Look at this place!" he told the stream. "Perfect for a training montage, right?"
He barely finished speaking when a twig snapped — and a flock of Pidgey dive-bombed out of the canopy like a tiny feathery army.
"DUCK!" Joseph shrieked, flailing. Riolu leapt up, karate-chopping one Pidgey away. Tyrunt roared, scaring the rest into a flurry of flapping wings.
Both Rotoms hovered above the chaos, slow-motion replaying Joseph's flailing arms with captions like "DANCE MOVE UNLOCKED" and "PIGEON FURY ATTACK!"
The chat went feral:
"REPLAY THAT 50 TIMES" "I'M CRYING" "New emote: Joseph getting wrecked by birds???"
Eventually, the Pidgey scattered, and Joseph was left picking leaves out of his hair.
"Okay. So maybe the forest has some surprises," he wheezed, trying to look dignified for the camera. "But we came here to train! Right guys?"
Riolu saluted. Tyrunt belched up another spark. Rotom 1 projected an applause gif. Rotom 2 projected… a whoopee cushion emoji.
Joseph glared. "I see you."
He set up a little practice course between the trees. "Alright — Tyrunt, Rock Tomb those marked logs. Riolu, Quick Attack through the cones. Rotoms, don't you dare—"
Too late. Rotom 2 flicked the camera down just in time to capture Tyrunt missing his target entirely, crashing through the wrong log, and rolling in a pile of old leaves.
Rotom 1 projected a sticker: "CLOSE ENOUGH!"
Chat spammed:
"HE'S TRYING HIS BEST" "POOR DINO" "10/10 form"
Riolu, meanwhile, zigzagged through the cones like a pro — until a passing Seedot startled him, and he bounced headfirst into Tyrunt's tail. Tyrunt yelped, launching Joseph's spare Poképuff stash into the air like confetti.
Both Rotoms filmed the entire disaster from two angles, then projected a slow-mo replay titled "TEAMWORK 101."
After an hour of tripping, shouting, and Tyrunt accidentally knocking over an entire dead tree (it fell harmlessly, thank Arceus), Joseph called it quits.
He flopped onto a patch of moss while Riolu curled up next to him and Tyrunt drooled, happily chewing a stick that looked suspiciously like a broken training cone.
Rotom 1 drifted down, projecting the follower count in giant sparkly numbers: 25,000! Rotom 2 added a big sticker: "#1 TRENDING — IDIOT GETS BIRD SLAPPED."
Joseph squinted. "Wait. That went viral?"
Chat confirmed it:
"Dude you got clipped by Pidgey army, that's GOLD." "It's already a meme, sorry." "You're trending next to some guy who tried to juggle Poké Balls and knocked out his own Zigzagoon."
Joseph buried his face in Riolu's fur. "I can't even be cool for five minutes."
They trudged back toward town, all three Pokémon tired but weirdly happy. Joseph was scrolling through the chat when Rotom 1 pinged him with an alert.
A pop-up video started playing on the Rotom's side screen: a group of teenagers standing in the same clearing Joseph just left. They had a battered drone, some old Pokédex apps, and a single Beedrill perched ominously behind them.
"Yo yo yo! We're the Beedrill Bros! We're taking on the forest challenge too — and if we get stung, we get stung! Make sure to like and follow! EETVEE WHO??"
Joseph stopped walking. Riolu peeked at the video, ears drooping. Tyrunt tried to poke the Beedrill on screen with a claw.
"'EETVEE WHO?' EXCUSE ME?" Joseph spluttered. "Rotoms, do we have a rivalry now?!"
Rotom 1 projected "YEP." Rotom 2 added a sticker: "DRAMA UNLOCKED."
By the time they stumbled back home, Joseph had so many new followers that the chat was a constant waterfall of emojis and "PLAY THAT AGAIN!" messages. Riolu fell asleep on the bed, curled up in Joseph's hoodie. Tyrunt collapsed on the floor, snoring with his legs twitching like he was chasing Pidgey in his dreams.
The Rotom twins hovered over Joseph's desk, re-editing the Pidgey clip into a dozen goofy formats — one with dramatic music, one with fart noises, one with Riolu's head edited to spin like a Beyblade.
Joseph buried his face in his hands. "I am never living this down."
Rotom 1 patted him on the head with a tiny static poke. Rotom 2 projected a sparkly banner: "EETVEE FOREVER!"
He peeked through his fingers and started laughing. "Alright, fine. If I'm gonna be the accidental King of Pokémon Streaming Drama… I might as well own it."
He leaned back, stretched, and peeked at the next big question in chat: "WHEN'S YOUR NEXT POKÉMON?"
Joseph grinned. "Soon, EeTvee fam. Real soon. Let's see who else wants to join this mess."
ADVANCED CHAPTERS:
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