It had already been several days since the ceremony where Julian was officially inaugurated as Champion and received his Champion's cape, yet discussions about him continued to dominate the top trending searches.
A graduating senior from Imperial University, a monstrous prodigy of a trainer, a 22-year-old Champion, exhibition match—when you put all these buzzwords together, the resulting "chemical reaction" was enormous.
If you were in the news media or ran a personal media outlet, and your topic didn't involve Julian, you weren't even fit to be in this industry.
These days, any news even remotely related to Julian attracted significant attention.
Many news organizations hadn't been able to secure an interview with Julian himself, and they certainly didn't dare disturb the newly crowned Champion. So instead, they had turned to interviewing his high school classmates, university peers, and the teachers who once taught him.
When Julian's high school homeroom teacher, Sam Nott, was interviewed by reporters, his face flushed red, and he even became somewhat incoherent with excitement. As a pseudo-Elite level Trainer, he was genuinely thrilled.
After all, he had taught a student who went on to become a Champion.
Even if his direct contribution to Julian's growth was minimal, the teacher-student relationship was undeniable—a fact Julian himself couldn't refute.
For a teacher, the greatest pride came from seeing their students become successful and achieve remarkable success.
Julian's accomplishments were nothing short of a royal flush for Sam.
A Champion! An actual Champion! He, a mere pseudo-Elite, had taught a Champion. This was something he could boast about for generations.
Now, everyone in Lake City knew that Sam was Julian's homeroom teacher during high school. Many local families in Lake City had started reaching out to him, hoping to somehow connect with Julian through him, even if the chance was slim.
Sam, of course, was no fool—he declined them all. Still, he had already been promoted to Vice Principal of Lake City No. 1 High School, and when the old principal retired, he would take over the position.
Thanks to Julian, the school's history had now gained a glorious new chapter.
Not only were his high school teachers being interviewed, but his high school classmates weren't spared either.
These resourceful reporters somehow unearthed the story that during high school, Julian had helped a female classmate named Chase, and she was currently studying at South Lake University.
So the reporters rushed to South Lake University to ask her if she and Julian had been in a romantic relationship during high school.
Chase, who had always had a crush on Julian and was introverted and shy by nature, blushed furiously at the question and stumbled over her words, unsure how to respond.
Fortunately, her close friend Taylor stepped in boldly and said, "Chase and Julian were just ordinary classmates."
Though the word "ordinary" seemed to carry a little extra weight.
Later, South Lake University directly awarded Chase the title of "Outstanding Graduate" and invited her to stay on as a freshman advisor.
As for Julian's university classmates and professors, they became the real main targets of interviews.
Any of the Special Recruitment Class students, as long as they weren't in a secret realm or out in the wild, were caught by reporters and grilled with questions all day long.
Especially Luis and Dalton, who had boldly claimed to be Julian's "little brothers" during interviews, received particularly intense attention from the press.
And the two were Elite-level trainers themselves.
Being an Elite trainer as seniors in university was already an extraordinary feat—if it wasn't for Julian shining even brighter, their achievement would have been news too.
Although Julian had never publicly confirmed whether he had a girlfriend, many at Imperial University knew he had a relationship with Nicole, one of the university's top ten campus belles.
But Nicole stayed in the research lab most of the time, so reporters couldn't get an interview with her.
News about Julian was everywhere, but not a single outlet dared to fabricate or maliciously slander him.
He was a Champion—and even if he wasn't, the influence behind him was not something these media outlets could risk provoking.
Meanwhile, our protagonist was spending time in his backyard tending to his Pokémon.
Holding a specially made steel brush, he was carefully cleaning the dust out of the crevices of Aggron's armor, sparks occasionally flying from the friction.
Aggron lay on the ground, occasionally emitting contented rumbles.
Steelix stood right next to it, staring at Julian, clearly waiting for its turn—its tail wagging slightly behind it.
Arcanine gave an expression as if wondering whether there was about to be a new addition to the "pampered brotherhood."
Magearna emerged from the back door of the house carrying a tray of watermelon, and called the others over to come enjoy the treat.
On a hot day, nothing was better than chilled watermelon.
Magearna took the heart of the watermelon—the sweetest, most prized section—and brought it over to Julian, offering it directly to his mouth.
"Thank you, Magearna."
Julian smiled, took a bite, and proudly announced to the surrounding Pokémon, "See? Magearna is the one who loves me the most—saving the best part just for me."
"Mage~"
Magearna smiled shyly.
It was currently level 63. Since it had once lost its Soul-Heart and had to be reactivated by Julian, its level had been reset to zero.
Magearna didn't particularly enjoy battling, so Julian mostly had it study under Slowking. It had since become Slowking's student—and its kitchen assistant.
For simple dishes, Slowking already let Magearna handle them independently.
And the results were delicious. Every time Julian finished eating, he would praise Magearna, which only motivated it to learn even more.
As for what kind of praise he gave—
Of course it was things like, "Magearna, you're amazing! When Slowking isn't around, I'll be counting on you to take care of me. You'll surpass Slowking sooner or later—you're going to be my chief steward," and so on.
The promises grew grander each time, and Magearna, pure-hearted as it was, was utterly fired up by Julian's sweet words.
"By the way, where's Celebi?"
Julian suddenly realized that Celebi wasn't perched on his head as usual, and he couldn't quite recall when it had disappeared.
"Mage~"
Magearna: "A new fried chicken shop has opened near Lake No. 1 High School, and Celebi went there to buy some."
"Half of my haters exist because of that gluttonous little thing…" Julian said helplessly.
For every person who liked Julian, there was also someone who criticized him.
And what his anti-fans loved most was using Celebi to attack him.
"Look at this once-pristine Mythical Pokémon, hailed as 'Nature's Child'—and see what it has become under Julian's care."
"Fried chicken, french fries, ice-cold soda, even playing Pokémon Glory… This isn't a Mythical Pokémon; it's a full-blown otaku!"
In their eyes, Celebi had turned out this way entirely because of Julian's indulgence—he had "ruined" Celebi.
Hence, Julian said that half of his haters were brought on by Celebi itself.
"Mage~"
Seeing its Trainer's resigned expression, Magearna let out a soft, understanding laugh.
*****
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