"Of course, no problem. I'm really looking forward to our next battle."
Grey slipped the badge back into his pants pocket. He didn't try to push Ash into accepting it.
Still, this was already the second time someone had refused his badge.
And both of them were Trainers from Pallet Town.
Sure enough, Trainers from Pallet Town were a little "stubborn" in certain ways.
If they said they weren't taking it, then they really weren't taking it.
One after another, they were all like this.
First Gary, now Ash— anyone who didn't know better might think they were looking down on Grey.
"Ash, do your best. I hope I'll see you at the Indigo Conference."
Grey cheered Ash on, then handed him a Wiki Berry and told him to feed it to Gengar.
"Mm! I'll definitely win the Indigo Conference!"
Ash nodded hard. With Grey's encouragement, he felt like he was ridiculously strong.
Maybe, by the time the Indigo Conference came around, he'd really have a shot at taking the whole thing!
Let's go, let's give it our all!
"Haah~ after fighting for so long, it's finally lunchtime!"
Grey glanced at the clock— it was already close to eleven-thirty.
This three-on-three had gone on for almost an hour, but to him it felt about the same as fighting for three days straight.
When you really immerse yourself in battle, your sense of time really does start to slip away.
"Ash, why don't you and your partners stay for lunch? The more people we have, the livelier it'll be."
Grey brought up food, and the viewers happened to catch that as well.
[??? Huh? You can challenge a dojo and also have lunch with the streamer?!]
[No way! I'm actually jealous of this, guys!]
[That's it, next time I'm going at this exact time. Maybe the streamer will invite me to eat too.]
[Or—and hear me out—maybe only Trainers recognized by Grey get to stay for lunch? I'm afraid if you guys go, you'll just get wiped in a couple moves. Would you even have the face to sit down and eat after that?]
[The hell…]
[You dare shake my cultivation like this, cur?!]
A bunch of people in chat were completely tilted by that wall of text.
Because yeah, Ash had at least fought Grey on even footing for a while. He'd really thrown everything he had into it and had a proper, satisfying battle.
What about them?
They probably wouldn't even qualify as appetizers.
Might not even be able to get past a Farfetch'd, if we're being honest.
[Remember to check your DMs.]
A "SC" (Super Chat) popped up at the top of the stream window, the golden frame around it set with several Poké Balls, looking pretty fancy.
"Thanks to Boss 'Sleeping Beauty' for the Great Ball! Boss, you really don't need to drop such a big SC. I do check LINE after stream, you know. If I haven't replied, just poke me again. This thing is too expensive."
Grey glanced at the one-hour-long highlighted comment— five short characters that cost a small fortune.
Even if the sponsor didn't feel it, Grey's own heart ached for the money.
[It's fine. I was just in a bit of a rush just now, that's why I sent the SC. I'm calm now, no rush anymore.]
Another one-hour Super Chat floated up to the top. Even the viewers in chat were blown away by Boss Sleeping Beauty.
That was a lot.
Dropping a couple thousand just to say two sentences— this boss was seriously loaded.
"Got it, Boss Sleeping Beauty~"
[Grey-baby, promise me one thing: when you meet up with that Governor-tier sponsor in person, protect your kidneys.]
[Which Governor sponsor, Giovanni?]
[hhhhhc, we still don't know why Giovanni bought the streamer two full months of Governor-tier membership.]
[Spit it out— is there something going on between you two?!]
[I know— that day Grey carried in two whole crates of Moomoo Milk…]
[Grey: I want to be a Gym Leader. Giovanni: Oh~ the official Gym Leader of Saffron City, huh~]
[Pop quiz time: who's the Gym Leader of Saffron City?]
[Think her name starts with Sa… something? Whatever, it's Grey!]
[LMAO you guys really aren't scared Sabrina's gonna use her Psychic powers to turn you into dolls?]
"Hey, hey, hey, that's not the kind of thing you can just joke about. Miss Sabrina's calmed down a lot these days, she doesn't just randomly turn people into dolls anymore. Don't spread rumors. Ending forced slander starts with me."
Grey skimmed the barrage, zeroed in on the message about Sabrina, and called it out on the spot.
[For real, there was a period where Grey wasn't at the dojo and Miss Sabrina was filling in as acting Gym Leader. She was super cold during battles, but she's actually really gentle as a person. She's just not good at dealing with people.]
[Yeah yeah! I even had little cakes with Gym Leader Sabrina once— she smelled really nice, and she looked so cute when she was eating cake! I've got a selfie with her on my profile~]
[Huh? There are selfies now too? Am I seriously the only one who just got kicked out and sent home after losing?!]
[+1]
[+2]
[+10086]
"If you come challenge the dojo, you can get a photo with me after the battle no matter if you win or lose. It's just a picture. We're all buddies from the stream here— that kind of thing is nothing, just a little service, no big deal~"
Grey smiled and made a heart gesture toward the camera, not putting on any airs at all.
[Grey-baby, suki!]
[From today on, I'm a Grey solo main!]
[Alright, I'm changing my ID to 'NoOranBerries (Saw-Grey-Once ver.)' too.]
"Okay, that's it for today's stream. Thanks for watching, everyone! If I go live this afternoon, you'll see me again!"
Grey pressed his palms together and said goodbye to the viewers.
Stream over— and today's earnings were pretty good.
Just from this one session, he'd made a good ten, twenty thousand.
He especially had to thank Giovanni for that Governor-tier sub; most of the revenue came from him.
Before opening LINE, Grey skimmed through his DMs.
To his surprise, there actually weren't that many messages.
Nowhere near as crazy as the chat made it sound.
Among them, there was a DM from a member whose ID was "Ralts Little Angel."
Sent just after he wrapped up the stream.
[Ralts Little Angel: Hi, streamer! I'm a Trainer from the Hoenn region. I caught a Ralts a few days ago. Could I ask you for some advice?]
[DojoDeadbeatApe: Of course, no problem. But I'll say this up front: my Ralts might be a bit different from yours, so my advice might be a little one-sided. I'll do my best to clear out the obvious "landmines" before I say anything, though.]
[Ralts Little Angel: That's totally fine! My Ralts is a boy— which way should I have him evolve in the future?]
The question made Grey fall silent.
He had trouble with decisions too.
But if he really had to choose, then since it was a boy, he'd lean a little more toward Gallade.
If it were him, he'd have it evolve into Gallade.
Of course, he wasn't about to say that outright.
[DojoDeadbeatApe: For something like that, I think your partner's wishes should come first. See what your Ralts wants. If you ever want to hop on a call, DM me and we'll set up a time—then I can have some of the seniors at the dojo give your partner a bit of advice.]
//Check out my P@tre0n for 20 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810