Chapter 179

Chapter 179: Chapter 179

Mike froze for a moment as he suddenly remembered that he was, in fact, supposed to prepare a presentation.

After some hesitation, he opened Cynthia’s chat.

[Mike: Cynthia, good morning.]

Her reply came quickly as a voice message.

"Good morning. Do you need something?"

Mike played it and immediately noticed the heavy wind noise in the background.

[Mike: Are you outside?]

[Cynthia: Yes. I found traces of Hunter J a few days ago, and I’m currently pursuing her.]

Mike was genuinely surprised.

Hunter J was apparently even better at escaping than he had realized.

Cynthia had been chasing her for this long and still hadn’t managed to capture her.

Cynthia sent another message when Mike failed to respond.

[Cynthia: What did you need?]

Mike hesitated, then explained his problem with the PowerPoint.

[Cynthia: So you want me to help make your presentation?]

[Mike: I was thinking that since you’re a world-famous mythology and history scholar, you probably make academic presentations all the time. I’ve never done one, so I wanted to ask for some help.]

[Mike: I really only need a basic structure. I can fill in the actual content myself. You already know I’m much better at practical work than formal written presentations. [Nidoking Scratching His Head.jpg]]

[Cynthia: I can help.]

Mike immediately brightened.

Then her next message arrived.

[Cynthia: But you need to help me with something too.]

[Mike: Name it! I’ll climb mountains and cross oceans if I have to. What do you need?]

[Cynthia: Do a livestream.]

[Mike: A livestream? About what?]

[Cynthia: You really haven’t checked your messages these past few days?]

[Mike: Nope. I’ve been filming constantly.]

[Cynthia: The rain teams you mentioned in the latest episode of The Wide World of Pokémon have become a major topic. Raihan organized some of your ideas, but a lot of Trainers still want to see you demonstrate them personally.]

[Mike: Rain teams? But I don’t actually own a rain team.]

[Cynthia: That’s why I’m asking you to stream through Poké Battle and demonstrate the concepts there.]

[Mike: What if I lose? I’ll embarrass myself in front of everyone.]

[Cynthia: Winning or losing isn’t what matters. I want more Trainers to understand why weather teams are useful again.]

[Cynthia: Pokémon researchers want to restore more lost Pokémon to the modern world. Famous Trainers like us want something similar from battling: more kinds of teams, more tactical styles, and more ways for people to battle.]

Mike still didn’t completely understand.

[Mike: Why?]

By then, the wind noise in Cynthia’s recording had weakened considerably.

[Cynthia: Take me as an example. As Sinnoh’s Champion, I naturally want to battle as many different teams, Pokémon, and strategies as possible instead of facing the same standardized formations over and over again. Do you understand what I mean?]

[Cynthia: I want more Trainers to distinguish themselves, and I want more Trainers to grow strong enough to challenge the League and eventually challenge me.]

Mike smiled after hearing that.

Back in Diamond and Pearl, Cynthia’s own team composition had been absurdly well balanced.

Mike could think of very few teams designed specifically to counter hers, aside from something like Paul constructing a roster around favorable matchups.

Still, one concern remained.

[Mike: What if I lose?]

[Cynthia: Losing is part of being a Trainer, isn’t it?]

Mike sighed and finally sent a voice message.

"All right. I understand. I’ll do my best."

Cynthia answered immediately.

"Thank you. Once I finish putting together your PowerPoint framework, I’ll send it over."

...

Standing on Garchomp’s back, Cynthia smiled as she exited Mike’s chat and called Lucian.

"Hello? Cynthia? What do you need help with?"

"The Academic Summit is coming up soon, and I’m still outside chasing Hunter J, so I don’t have time to return to League headquarters. Put together the basic structure for my presentation. I’ll send you the outline in a moment."

Lucian fell silent.

"But... I’m a Trainer, not a Pokémon researcher."

"You have to give a presentation too, which means you’ll need to make your own slides anyway. Consider this practice. I’ll personally review yours afterward."

Lucian remained quiet for several seconds before reluctantly answering.

"...Understood."

"Good. Work hard. At the moment, all you really need to supervise is Roark’s search for Peat Blocks and Black Augurite, so you have plenty of time to prepare your slides too."

"Yes."

Cynthia ended the call, sent Lucian one of her previous presentations as a reference, then forwarded both her own outline and Mike’s outline.

Why do work yourself when you had perfectly capable subordinates?

In an excellent mood, Cynthia continued riding Garchomp through the mountains in pursuit of Pokémon Hunter J.

...

After finishing his conversation with Cynthia, Mike finally logged into PokéVid and checked the comments.

Sure enough, nearly all of them were discussing rain teams.

Mike sighed helplessly.

Every time he uploaded an episode of The Wide World of Pokémon, the audience somehow ended up obsessing over something that had barely been the main subject of the video.

He didn’t understand it.

The modern internet was becoming increasingly incomprehensible to him.

In the end, Mike pinned a comment beneath the newest video.

[GengarStoleMyDrumstick: I’ll livestream tomorrow so we can experiment with several different possibilities for rain teams together.]

After posting it, he immediately closed PokéVid.

Once breakfast was finished, Mike picked up his camera and headed out with Gengar and the others to continue filming.

By now, he was beginning to understand why wildlife photographers in his previous life had enjoyed their work so much.

Simply using a camera to record Pokémon going about their lives was genuinely fascinating, and because anything could happen in the wild, every shoot carried the possibility of an unexpected discovery.

Mike’s pinned comment immediately pushed the rain-team discussion to another level.

Countless people replied that they already had notebooks and pens prepared.

Even several famous Trainers quietly began paying attention.

...

In Hoenn, Juan was temporarily handling regional affairs at Wallace’s request, and he had become increasingly curious about Mike’s rain-team ideas.

Wallace himself, currently in Sinnoh hosting the Wallace Cup, was paying close attention as well.

Raihan in Galar was naturally interested too.

At that moment, he was sitting across from Champion Leon and explaining the entire situation.

"Rain teams?"

Leon rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"If we’re talking about a purely rain-focused team, the ceiling usually isn’t that high. Strong Trainers know how to deal with them. Why are you so interested?"

Leon had a point.

Raihan himself didn’t rely on only one weather condition; his teams often mixed different forms of weather control precisely because a simple one-dimensional strategy was easier to counter at high levels.

"My own teams aren’t suitable for beginners because they demand too much decision-making and technical control," Raihan said as he picked up a Berry and took a bite. "But I ran through the rain-team structures that guy suggested, and they really are well suited to newer Trainers."

He leaned back slightly.

"There’s actually a chance he could make weather teams popular among beginners again."

"When you put it like that, it does sound interesting."

Leon thought for a moment.

"I’ve heard of him. Cynthia mentioned recently that Sinnoh has been actively promoting that program he films."

"Apparently it includes a lot of practical details about Pokémon behavior and has significantly reduced the chances of Trainers getting into trouble in the wild. I have no idea whether the numbers are actually that dramatic."

"If they are, we should probably promote it in Galar too. Our wilderness-incident numbers are only lower than Paldea’s, and they’re still noticeably higher than Alola’s despite Alola having to deal with Ultra Beasts."

Raihan shrugged.

"Then ask."

Leon hesitated.

"Just ask Cynthia. It’s not a big deal."

Leon considered it and eventually admitted Raihan had a point.

He took out his phone, opened his chat with Cynthia, and sent her a message.

A little while later, Cynthia replied.

Leon opened the response and discovered that she had sent him a contact recommendation.

The person she had recommended was Lucian, Sinnoh’s Psychic-type Elite Four member.

Another message followed.

[Cynthia: I don’t have the exact statistics with me right now. Lucian is responsible for compiling them, so you can ask him directly.]

[Leon: Understood. Thank you, Champion Cynthia.]

[Cynthia: No need. As fellow Champions, we should help each other when it comes to League administration.]

Leon added Lucian.

The request was accepted shortly afterward.

[Lucian: Champion Leon?]

[Leon: Hello, Elite Four Lucian.]

[Lucian: Champion Leon, it’s a pleasure. I’ve heard a great deal about you. What can I help you with?]

Leon explained why he was contacting him.

Lucian read through the message and immediately understood that Cynthia had once again redirected work toward him.

He sent Leon the statistical report anyway, followed by a recommendation.

[Lucian: The numbers have fallen significantly. My recommendation would be to use the videos as the basis for a structured safety program and distribute the educational material to new Trainers preparing to travel, as well as those who are already on the road.]

Leon opened the report.

The improvement was substantial enough to genuinely surprise him.

[Leon: Understood. Thank you.]

He put away his phone and stood up.

"Not staying for dinner?" Honey asked.

"No, I should get going."

Raihan looked up at him.

"You’re walking the wrong way. The exit’s behind you."

Leon silently turned around and headed in the opposite direction.