From the day Theo fished up the Feebas, the title of his livestream changed to "Training Diary of the Shiny Feebas."
He gave the Feebas a simple and affectionate nickname "Belle."
This name was ridiculed in the chatroom for a long while, because many viewers felt it didn't quite match Feebas's rather… unique appearance.
Every morning, Theo would bring Feebas to the shallow waters that emerged after low tide on the outskirts of Slateport City to train.
During the very first training livestream, riding on the surge of trending popularity, the number of viewers online quickly surpassed three thousand.
"So, this is what a Feebas looks like?! I didn't expect it to look like this!"
"It looks… compared side-by-side, even Magikarp seems a bit more attractive. (No offense)"
"I disagree, Feebas is more interesting! It's kind of ugly-cute in a weirdly adorable way!"
"Will it evolve into Gyarados too?"
"Upstairs buddy, even if it evolves, shouldn't it be called Ugly-dos instead?"
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Theo held the camera steady, aiming at the little figure in the water who was desperately wagging its tail.
Feebas was practicing its Tackle move, aiming at a rock partly buried beneath the water.
It gathered all its strength and rushed forward—but perhaps because the move was only at Basic level, Feebas suddenly veered off course when it was still one foot away from the rock, plunging headfirst into a mound of sand underwater, leaving only its wiggling tail exposed.
The barrage chat instantly exploded with laughter.
"Feebas: I just wanted to dig a hole! I totally didn't mean to miss!"
"With this level of accuracy, maybe it should switch to training Dig instead."
"It may be weak, but you can tell it's working really hard. Big thumbs-up to both the streamer and Feebas!"
Theo waded over quickly and carefully dug Feebas out from the sand pile, rinsing off the mud with clean water.
Feebas flicked its tail, splashing him in the face. But in its tiny eyes shone a stubborn determination. It turned around and charged at the rock once more—
This time, even though it still didn't hit the rock, it managed to get much closer than before.
"That's progress!" Theo grinned at the camera. "Come on, Belle, let's keep trying."
And so this kind of training became a daily routine.
Theo and Feebas spent their days practicing skills. The training proved far more difficult than he had expected.
When Feebas practiced Splash, it took ages before it could increase its jumping height even by a tiny bit.
When practicing Tackle, it veered off course six or seven times out of ten. On the rare occasion it succeeded, Feebas would get so excited that it swam three happy loops in the water.
As the initial wave of popularity faded, viewer numbers slowly decreased, eventually settling at around two to three hundred loyal regulars.
They became the "supervisors" who showed up punctually every day, quietly watching Feebas grow a little bit stronger day by day.
"It actually didn't miss that Tackle just now! I'm tearing up, family!"
"The streamer is so patient… If it were me, I probably would've given up long ago. (whispers)"
After each livestream, once he collected enough popularity points, Theo would open the lottery interface for a Basic Draw.
Each draw cost thousand points. He had won energy orbs, Pokémon food, Poké Balls, and once, a TM dics: Tackle ×1, a move Feebas already knew.
[Technical Machine (TM): A miraculous item that can quickly help a Pokémon master a move or increase its proficiency, as long as the Pokémon is capable of learning that move.]
Though Theo had suspected such items might exist, actually drawing one left him stunned.
After all, in the games, Technical Machines were exclusive items.
In reality, for a Pokémon to learn a new move, it had to undergo extensive training before it even had the chance to learn it. And it required relentless practice afterward to master it.
But this Technical Machine was different.
With just a single use, it directly enhanced a move's proficiency, bypassing countless hours of repetitive training. This efficiency completely overturned Theo's understanding of how a Pokémon grew.
With both energy orbs and TM dics, his Pokémon could absolutely grow at tremendous speed.
When Theo used the Tackle TM on Feebas, it paused slightly in the water, eyes closed as if digesting some newly gained insight. Then it suddenly flicked its tail, its movements becoming noticeably more agile.
The move list on its panel updated instantly:
[Moves: Splash (Proficient), Tackle (Proficient)]
When Feebas performed Tackle again, the accuracy that once troubled it improved dramatically, and its impact force noticeably increased.
The little creature stared at Theo proudly, showing off by performing several tackles in a row—each one more forceful than the last.
Day by day, time passed.
One day, when Theo gave Feebas a Basic Energy Orb as usual, the green light seeped into its body—
But Feebas only wiggled its tail without even blinking, showing no reaction at all.
"Is it… useless now?" Theo muttered. He repeated the process several times, but the result was the same.
After that, Theo stopped doing Basic Draws. Instead, he saved up 10,000 points for the Intermediate Draw.
Although saving took much longer, the rewards were significantly better.
On his very first Intermediate Draw, the roulette wheel stopped on a TM—
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained: (Water Pulse ×1)]
Theo immediately used it on Feebas. A moment later, Feebas gently swayed its tail in the water, and the surrounding surface began to ripple in perfectly circular waves, like stones dropped into a calm lake.
The ripples were still faint, but enough to show that Feebas had learned the move.
The next day, when Feebas showcased this new move on stream, the chat exploded.
"!!! What move is THAT?! Feebas trains by headbutting rocks every day and actually learned something new?!"
"Amazing! I told you, didn't I? Shiny Pokémon definitely have something special!"
"Streamer, let it do it again! I want to record it!"
Theo laughed and had Feebas demonstrate again.
This time, the ripples were even clearer and even pushed a small rock backward by a few centimeters.
The donation alerts popped nonstop, and viewer numbers shot upward.
In the following two months, Theo even drew a TM: Icy Wind.
When a stream of frigid air sprayed from Feebas's mouth, instantly forming a thin layer of frost over the water's surface, the livestream's viewer count surged past six thousand.
…
Fragments of memory scattered like seashells in the tide, gradually settling as the lively noises of the seaside washed over him.
Theo snapped back to reality, smiling at the Feebas splashing in the water before him.
Its status panel now looked nothing like it had eight months ago:
[Pokémon: Feebas (Shiny)]
Type: Water
Category: Fish Pokémon
Ability: Swift Swim (Speed increases during rain)
Moves: Splash (Mastered), Tackle (Mastered), Flail (Expert), Water Pulse (Expert), Icy Wind (Proficient)
[Today's Livestream Duration: 32 minutes]
[Peak Concurrent Viewers: 5,164]
[Total Popularity Points: 8,574]
[Items: Basic Energy Orbs ×3, Luxury Ball ×1, Stealth Rock ×1, Ice Fang ×1, …]
Theo gazed at the panel, pride swelling in his chest. The little fish that once floundered clumsily in shallow waters had grown into something extraordinary. And this was only the beginning.
(End of Chapter)
TN: The nickname I might change later if Feebas turn out to be a guy instead.