After dinner, dusk had already fallen.
By the time Rei Akagi and Cynthia arrived at the Lost Tower , the plaza was already filled with all kinds of people.
There was a heavily made-up girl with a Murkrow perched on her shoulder, a blond teenager with a Lampent floating beside him, and several street punks accompanied by Pokémon like Zubat and Ekans…
Rei Akagi roughly counted the crowd—around eighty people in total. The atmosphere felt more like a ragtag mob than any serious organization.
Cynthia was about to step forward when Rei Akagi quickly reached out and stopped her.
"Miss Cynthia… you seem to have absolutely no awareness of your own beauty and fame. If you walk over there like that, and they don't run away, then they're truly something else."
Rei Akagi raised his thumb for emphasis.
"But…"
Cynthia parted her lips, ready to argue, but suddenly realized that what Rei Akagi said… actually made sense.
For a moment she was speechless, and could only shoot him a somewhat annoyed glance.
"Stay right here and don't move. I'll go buy—" he coughed lightly, "—I mean, I'll be right back."
With that, Rei Akagi strode toward the crowd.
Noticing the approach of a stranger, the group stirred. The people instinctively parted to either side, revealing a boy standing at the center as if surrounded by stars.
The boy wore expensive clothes, had a flamboyant hairstyle, and a lively Misdreavus floating beside him.
He looked like the stereotypical rich second-generation kid.
About seventeen or eighteen years old.
"So you're the kid who contacted us earlier, saying you wanted to pay respects and join the gang?" the boy said with a toothy grin as he walked up to Rei Akagi and slapped his shoulder. "Name's Fantina. I'm the boss of the Mismagius Gang , one of the Four Major Underground Groups in Eterna City."
He puffed out his chest proudly.
"So? Pretty impressive, right?"
delusional.
A little self-important.
His temperament was restless and impulsive. Rather than a true underground boss, he looked more like the leader of a newly formed delinquent group eager to prove himself.
After a quick personality analysis of Fantina, Rei Akagi immediately slipped into character, pretending to be an inexperienced punk desperate to join.
He forced an appropriately admiring and excited expression onto his face and eagerly played along.
"I-Impressive! That's amazing, Boss! Could you tell me—within the underground forces of Eterna City, what kind of status does the Mismagius Gang hold? How powerful are you guys?"
"Underground forces?"
Fantina looked confused. He turned to a green-haired lackey beside him.
"Hey, you there—Green Turtle! Tell me something. Besides our Four Major Gangs, have any other trainer groups dared to set up shop in Eterna City recently?"
Rei Akagi: "..."
He sighed expressionlessly.
Alright.
These people really were the so-called "local forces" he'd contacted through various channels.
Originally, he planned to infiltrate them and gather some useful intelligence.
But it seemed…
This was just kids playing gang wars.
In that case, there was no need to keep acting.
"Gaa—ss—!"
With a low, eerie hiss, Gastly suddenly rose from the shadow beneath Rei Akagi's feet. Its huge grin stretched ear to ear as it floated beside him.
"We received a report about an illegal gathering here. Everyone squat down with your hands on your heads and cooperate with the investigation."
"Huh?"
Fantina frowned. Rei Akagi's casual tone made his temper flare.
"Who the hell are you?!"
After all, this was the Sinnoh Region., where people valued martial prowess.
The loafers and their Pokémon gradually formed a loose circle around Rei Akagi.
The moon hung bright in the sky.
The stars were sparse.
Someone shouted.
Rei Akagi rarely had the chance to stretch his muscles, so he took the opportunity to loosen up a bit.
Meanwhile, Gastly conveniently completed some real-combat training with all of its moves.
A happy ending all around.
No matter how you looked at it, the outcome was good.
After dispersing the groaning delinquents lying all over the ground, Rei Akagi returned to Cynthia with a bitter expression, Gastly floating beside him looking thoroughly satisfied.
"The plan's ruined. Investigating underground forces really isn't that simple. Looks like I'll have to visit the local Gym Leader next weekend."
He let out a long sigh.
"My precious day off…"
"Pfft."
Seeing Rei Akagi's depressed expression, Cynthia couldn't hold back and burst out laughing.
Realizing she might look a bit like she was enjoying his misfortune, she quickly covered her lips with the back of her fair hand.
But the smile in her eyes couldn't be hidden.
She didn't say anything.
Instead, she gracefully turned around.
The slender heels of her shoes tapped lightly against the ground as she walked toward the moonlit path leading out of the park.
Moonlight poured down.
Through the trees.
Through the night breeze.
And through the cascade of brilliant golden hair flowing behind her.
Suddenly, she stopped.
Then she looked back.
"So… see you next week?"
What happened afterward was a bit blurry in Rei Akagi's memory.
But one thing he remembered very clearly.
That night, the moon was full.
And the stars were beautiful.
The wonderful weekend quietly slipped away.
With online advertisements, endorsement from Professor Oak, and official recommendations from both the Kanto League and the Sinnoh League …
In just over a week, the name Pokémon Studio spread like a swarm of locusts, firmly planting itself into households across both regions.
Even in other regions, it stirred up quite a wave.
The gameplay demonstration PV in particular went viral.
The fresh and gentle art style, the expansive map for free exploration, and the lively Pokémon appearing everywhere…
Everything perfectly struck players' expectations.
Even elementary school students walking home from school could be heard discussing things like "What are the starter Pokémon?" and "What exactly are Pokémon?"
Back to Rei Akagi.
He was currently fiddling anxiously with his computer and streaming equipment.
The hype for Pokémon: FireRed & LeafGreen had reached an all-time high, and today was the scheduled pre-launch livestream.
To say he wasn't nervous would definitely be a lie.
After all, he had never livestreamed before.
But he wasn't that nervous either.
He wasn't showing his face anyway—letting Gastly appear on camera would work just fine.
After setting up the equipment and logging into the League's official livestream platform, Rei Akagi grabbed Gastly—who was still studying a military strategy book—and said with utmost seriousness:
"My son, your Boss has an extremely important task for you. I hope you won't disappoint me."
"Gaa… gass? (An… extremely important task?)"
Gastly was intimidated by Rei Akagi's solemn attitude. It swallowed a gulp of imaginary saliva, then steeled its expression.
"Gass! (Leave it to me, Boss!)"
"Great! You'll be the one on camera for the livestream. I'll just do the commentary—you just follow my cues and act!"
Rei Akagi was overjoyed. He picked up the fired-up Gastly and sat down in front of the computer, adjusting the camera so it pointed directly at Gastly's big face.
"GAAASS!!!"
Gastly suddenly felt incredibly motivated.
It had no idea what a livestream was.
It only knew that it was extremely important to its Boss.
Rei Akagi rubbed Gastly's head and glanced at the username input box on the streaming platform, wondering whether he should change his username.
"Pokéfan Kricketune Knight?"
After thinking about it, he decided against it. If viewers started making Kricketune memes in the chat, that might be awkward.
He actually liked Kricketune quite a lot.
He uploaded a Red avatar as the channel icon and typed in the livestream title:
"The No.1 Brothers of the Pokémon Gaming Circle."
After sending the livestream link to Professor Oak, Rei Akagi confirmed the broadcast.
Thanks to the promotional campaign for Pokémon, the livestream had drawn massive attention.
The moment the stream opened, viewers flooded in.
The view count instantly surpassed 100,000, and the number kept rising.
Clearly, many people had been waiting in the room for a long time.
Soon, the screen filled with a storm of bullet comments.
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