The battle ended, the streamer fled, and the livestream room was consequently shut down.
However, because of Caleb's earlier statement, the number of threads discussing his name on the player forum skyrocketed rapidly:
{..The arrogance! Who exactly does Caleb think he is?!..}
{..Assuming Caleb didn't have Mewtwo, would he still be number 1?..}
{..Does he truly has the capital to be arrogant or is he just bluffing? Why didn't he accept the challenge?..}
{..Am I the only one who thinks Caleb is really handsome?..}
{..Just a passerby, not sure what everyone is so curious about. If you want to know Caleb's actual strength, won't the upcoming Battle Royale event reveal it? He probably won't miss such a richly rewarded event, right?..}
Terrence lay on his bed, alternately clicking on analysis posts and then rushing into hate threads to argue with the original posters.
After sparring with other players for a while, he closed the panel, stared at the ceiling, and the agitated mood from the arguments lingering for some time.
He thought for a moment, opened the friends interface, selected Caleb's name, and sent a message over to clear his confusion:
{Terrence: Dude, you could clearly beat him, so why didn't you use Dragonite to fight him? Wouldn't it have been better to humiliate that streamer with Dragonite and shut those people up?}
Soon, he received a reply from the other side.
It contained only five brief words:
{Caleb: I'm starving, let's have some lunch.}
Terrence: "??"
He was somewhat dazed, but immediately after, he received a notification inviting him into a friend's room.
After accepting the invitation, Terrence's location instantly changed.
Caleb and his Pokémon were gathered around the dining table. While eating, he glanced up at Terrence and asked, "Have you eaten? Want to join us for a bit?"
Terrence didn't react at first, answering rigidly, "I've eaten."
But soon, he snapped out of it.
'With such a big commotion on the forum, the person responsible was actually busy stuffing himself?! How could he even manage to eat at a time like this?' An expression of disbelief appeared on Terrence's face, but upon reflection, it seemed reasonable.
Caleb was truly the kind of person who would stop a battle because he was hungry and run home to eat. Having lived with him for three years, Terrence was well aware of this.
"No need to argue with them," Caleb said, finishing the last bite of rice. Feeling the satisfaction of a full stomach, he instantly felt much more relaxed.
Terrence was about to say something else, but just then, Hatsumi teleported over.
Her gaze shifted between the two, and she said with a smile, "I was actually planning to mooch a meal off you today, but it looks like I missed my chance."
Caleb: "..."
He simply cleared the tableware and handed it over to Gardevoir to handle.
Terrence blinked and turned to sit on the sofa.
Hatsumi sat on the other side, surveying the surroundings, and said, "I didn't expect your taste to be so unique. With a living room this big, you'd need to ride a motorcycle just to get to the bathroom, right?"
"That's too exaggerated." Caleb retorted.
The room had a teleportation function, allowing players to directly teleport from point A to point B, though Caleb hadn't used it much.
After the harmless joke, Hatsumi got down to business, "In past battle royale events, the locations have always been random. Four prevalent terrains; islands, rainforests, deserts, and snowfields have appeared. The locations of the events aren't the Pokémon-verse Instances that we're familiar with. They're more like a small, pocket dimensions..."
"They have no NPCs and no wild Pokémon, only various terrains and structures. And within those structures, all sorts of magical items are hidden for players to pick up and use." Hatsumi paused and said, "That's all I know."
Although she had been here for a long time, she hadn't participated in the previous events due to special reasons.
Caleb nodded, thought for a moment, then asked, "Have you found the fourth teammate yet?"
"No," she shook her head, "I'm still looking for candidates."
Caleb nodded, "Then I'll leave it to you."
He didn't know many people in the Infinite World, and even those he did know already had their groups.
After discussing business, the three went their separate ways.
Hatsumi was responsible for finding the remaining teammate, and after sitting for a while, Terrence also said he wanted to return to the arena to train his Pokémon through battles.
After all, only one day remained before the event started.
After seeing them off, the virtual sky outside darkened.
Caleb spent some time with his Pokémon enjoying the evening breeze on the plains before returning to his room to rest...
....
The next morning, Caleb initially planned to continue PvP in the arena, but after careful consideration, he ultimately decided to tackle the second tier of the Extreme Realm.
The reason was simple... fighting in the arena wouldn't improve his strength and offered no help for the upcoming battle royale. But the Extreme Realm was different; every tier cleared provided tangible benefits.
This time, he chose to challenge it alongside Mewtwo.
Then, everything before them rapidly changed, and in the blink of an eye, they arrived in a shattered world.
Like the first tier, the second tier's backdrop was also a crimson sky. Below was a deep blue ocean, with water pouring over the world's edge into the void, creating a bizarre spectacle.
In this ocean stood three deep, mysterious islands, arranged in a triangle across the sea.
A mechanical voice rang out:
[Welcome, player, to the Extreme Realm Tier 2: Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon! Attack, Legendary Birds!]
Caleb recognized this place at a glance.
This was where the events of the film 'Pokémon The Movie 2000' took place.
Those three islands were precisely the habitats of Moltres, Articuno, and Zapdos... the legendary birds known as the Fire, Ice, and Lightning deities.
Just then, Mewtwo suddenly spoke: >..Something's coming..<
His eyes glowed with a blue light, adopting an offensive stance, prepared to use a move at any moment.
As Moltres drew closer, Caleb used Appraise on it:
[Moltres: Deity of Fire, a legendary Pokémon inhabiting Fire Island. It uses scorching flames to attack enemies. After defeating it, players have a chance to obtain the following rewards:
- Character Card (Moltres): 1%
- Pokémon Egg (Moltres): 0.01%
- Gacha draw: 1%
- Fire-type TM (any): 10%
- Fire Stone: 10%
- Charcoal: 15%
- Random S-grade item: 20%]
"Screech!"
Moltres let out a sharp cry at the sight of enemies, opening its red beak to spew forth blazing flames.
Seeing this, Mewtwo extended an arm before Caleb could even speak, using his psychic power to form a transparent barrier in front of them...