Lionel was holding Feebas, basking in the tidal wave of cheers and applause from the Gym audience, when his phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated violently.
The continuous notification sounds were as dense as beads strung on a line, and the buzzing vibration almost made the phone jump out of his pocket.
He instinctively freed a hand to pull out his phone, and the moment the screen lit up, the dense stream of messages almost made him drop it.
They were all notifications from the live streaming platform: "Popularity Soaring," "Large Donations Received," with red numbers constantly refreshing, making his eyes dizzy.
The most eye-catching pop-up, however, was "Your live stream has been officially pinned to the homepage recommendation spot."
"This is..."
Lionel stood stunned. He slid his finger across the screen and saw two golden-glowing bullet comments hovering motionlessly at the top of the live stream interface. Next to the online viewer count, the bright red number "1,023,567" was clearly visible and still rapidly increasing.
"The number of viewers has exceeded a million!"
Lionel then belatedly realized that Champion Steven and Master Wallace had unexpectedly appeared in his live stream and even sent praises and donations.
He quickly turned towards the camera, holding Feebas, and bowed deeply, his voice barely concealing his excitement:
"Thank you, Champion Steven and Master Wallace, for your praises, encouragement, and donations! This is truly a wonderful surprise!"
As soon as Lionel finished speaking, the bullet comments in the live stream instantly erupted into a new wave of celebration, with dense comments almost overwhelming the screen:
"What kind of status does the streamer have?! Champion Steven and Master Wallace donating to the streamer together? This is too impressive!"
"Yeah, yeah, the two Hoenn Champions watching a rookie trainer challenge a Gym, I must be dreaming!"
"Don't get excited, don't get excited, the one upstairs must be a new fan! The streamer's Tyrunt was given by Champion Steven, it's normal, normal!"
"I'm also a bit curious, Champion Steven appearing in the streamer's live stream doesn't surprise me, but why is Master Wallace also here?"
"The two Champions sending messages together... I think I've picked up some peculiar information!"
"Could the two Champions be together right now?!"
"..."
Just as the audience was speculating endlessly, Wallace's golden bullet comment slowly drifted across the screen again, with its own dazzling light effect, instantly attracting everyone's attention:
[Wallace: I'd like to take this opportunity to announce that I will be serving as a special judge for the Rustboro City Pokémon Contest. There are still two days left until the registration deadline. I look forward to all trainers bringing their partners to show off their best style~]
"!!! Mr. Wallace is going to be a special judge?!"
"Rustboro City, Pokémon Contest, here I come!"
"Streamer! Feebas must sign up! Even Master Wallace praised its skill control!"
"You absolutely have to go for it! To get personal feedback from Master Wallace, this opportunity is simply once in a blue moon!"
"I want to go to the scene and see Master Wallace with my own eyes!"
"..."
The atmosphere in the live stream completely boiled over. The audience, who had been focused on the battle, instantly shifted their collective attention to the topic of the Pokémon Contest. The discussion soared, and related keywords rapidly climbed to the top of the platform's trending searches.
Lionel looked at the screen filled with scrolling expectations, then lowered his head to look at the Feebas in his arms. He gently scratched its head with his fingertip, his eyes full of smiles:
"See, the stage is set. Now, it's time for your brilliant performance!"
Feebas, as if understanding, wagged its tail. Its purple scales reflected fragmented light under the Gym's lighting, and it excitedly rubbed its head against Lionel's palm.
At this moment, Gym Leader Roxanne turned and walked out from behind the Gym, holding a palm-sized, silver-white stone.
The stone was smooth and lustrous, its surface covered with fine crystalline patterns, faintly shimmering with flowing light under illumination, appearing exceptionally exquisite.
"Take this," she handed the stone to Lionel, her tone sincere and gentle:
"This is a Hard Stone. It contains pure Rock-type energy. When a Pokémon holds it, it can enhance their sensitivity to Rock energy.
Besides making it easier for Pokémon to learn Rock-type moves, it can also increase the power of Rock-type moves."
Lionel quickly waved his hand in refusal, his voice tinged with flattery: "Gym Leader, this is too valuable, I can't accept it..."
"Take it. It's not that valuable; it's an item to assist Rock Pokémon in skill training. In Gym challenges, I give additional rewards, besides badges, to some trainers who particularly impress me."
Roxanne interrupted Lionel's refusal, her tone firm yet gentle: "Moreover, Lionel, the battle recording with you today holds extraordinary value for me.
Many students in our Pokémon Academy often fall into a misconception, believing that only naturally powerful Pokémon have training value, placing too much emphasis on winning and losing, even becoming overly eager for quick success.
Yet they forget that the most core and crucial thing for a trainer to uphold is to establish an unbreakable, deep bond with their Pokémon, and to calmly and wholeheartedly discover their hidden, infinite potential."
As she spoke, Roxanne's gaze gently fell upon the Feebas in Lionel's arms, her eyes filled with undisguised approval and satisfaction:
"And you and your Pokémon perfectly exemplify this.
Even Pokémon like Feebas, which are overlooked and even treated with prejudice by many, can break through prejudice and shine brightly if a trainer is willing to genuinely accompany them and wholeheartedly guide and train them.
This battle recording is the best possible teaching material for me. Please accept it!"
Lionel held the cool, smooth Hard Stone, feeling the energy slowly flowing within it with his fingertips. His heart was full of warmth, so he no longer refused and solemnly said:
"Then... thank you, Gym Leader Roxanne, for your kindness and gift. Feebas and I are truly grateful for your recognition and praise. We will definitely work harder in the future and live up to your expectations!"
"Oh, right," Roxanne seemed to suddenly remember something, smiling as she pulled out her phone and suggested, "Let's exchange contact information? If you have any questions about Rock-type Pokémon training or battle techniques in the future, you can always reach out to me."
Lionel quickly nodded in agreement, took out his phone, and exchanged contact information with Roxanne. Looking at the new name in his contact list, his heart was filled with satisfaction... After finishing today's Gym challenge, he returned to the hotel.
Lionel's gaze fell upon his system panel, where lines of numbers flickered with light and shadow, clearly articulating the brilliant results of today's live stream:
[Live Stream Duration Today: 58 minutes]
[Peak Online Viewers: 1,441,645 people]
[Total popularity points: 1,127,896]
In less than an hour, he had accumulated nearly a million popularity points, enough for ten advanced draws.
Lionel gazed at the flickering red numbers on the panel, an indescribable surge of excitement and fervor welling up in his heart.
This rapid increase in popularity meant that his live streaming system had finally broken free from its previous constraints, fully revealing its true splendor.
Before this, he could only slowly accumulate popularity points through scattered snippets of Pokémon daily training, a slow growth rate that was indeed concerning.
It wasn't until he encountered Champion Steven and revived Tyrunt that the number of viewers in his live stream finally saw a turning point, beginning to climb steadily.
Although it was a world of difference from the initial desolation, it still took a considerable amount of time to accumulate the 100,000 popularity points required for a single advanced draw.
And today, during the battle with Gym Leader Roxanne, the unexpected appearance and donations from the two top Champions, Steven and Wallace, acted like two powerful boosts, instantly igniting the popularity and sending the live stream to its peak traffic.
The name "Lionel" became known to many trainers in a very short time, and his popularity points surged, breaking through previously unimaginable numbers.
Lionel became even more convinced that his future plans were indeed correct:
Daily, monotonous, and unexciting training live streams were inherently meaningless. It would be better to appropriately lengthen the live stream intervals and use short videos of Pokémon training routines to build up audience anticipation.
Then, in competitive settings like Gym battles and Pokémon Contests, he would showcase his training results, using his Pokémon's brilliant performances to capture the hearts of the live stream audience.
Now, the tactical display in his first Gym battle had successfully gathered a group of viewers who loved Pokémon battles. Next, his goal was set on the Pokémon Contest.
As a rookie Pokémon Coordinator, he planned to let Feebas fully display the dazzling splendor of its Water-Ice combination moves in the Pokémon Contest, using brilliant techniques to attract viewers who preferred aesthetics and creativity, further expanding the audience base of his live stream.
Now, Lionel's live streaming system was on the right track. What he needed to do next was to firmly grasp the upcoming Pokémon Contest opportunity and steadily seize this wave of traffic dividends.
He wanted to make his live stream known and loved by more viewers, accumulating sufficient popularity points for subsequent Advanced System Draws.
"Finally, I don't have to worry about popularity points for Intermediate draws anymore."
Lionel's lips curved into a relieved smile as he muttered to himself.
His fingertip swiftly glided across the glowing "Intermediate draw" button on the virtual panel, and without hesitation, he decisively performed a ten-consecutive draws.