Chapter 90: Mysterious Side Quest
Dragonite Three landed amidst a chorus of gasps, then produced a Milotic scale and handed it to the leader of the Pokémon Center.
"This is a Heart Scale from this young Lapras's direct relative. You can take it to perform a DNA comparison. According to the third edition expanded regulations of your humans' newly compiled Reserve Interaction Principles, holding this scale, I should be able to act as this Little Lapras's temporary guardian and appear to testify. I can prove that her clan is fully aware of and supports her departure."
Dragonite Three stated this very formally, sticking strictly to procedure.
Don't be fooled by this large fellow usually looking goofy; when it comes to understanding the current era, he actually surpasses Arthur.
At the very least, Arthur completely lacked understanding of things like Reserve Interaction Principles and Expanded Regulations.
Of course, he strongly suspected that Dragonite Three didn't actually understand these things either, and had probably just memorized them right before leaving.
But outsiders obviously didn't know Dragonite Three's true temperament. For a moment, the leader of the Pokémon Center before them looked completely stunned, accepting the scale with trembling hands, as if afraid of desecrating it.
Afterward, Arthur soothed Little Lapras and had her cooperate with the staff for blood collection and laboratory tests. After verifying her relationship to the scale held by Dragonite Three, she still needed to be taken for a physical examination, have her body data measured, and receive vaccinations for common diseases found in the human world.
The entire set of procedures dragged on until the sky was nearly dark.
Dragonite Three, on the other hand, left first after the lab results came out and he had confirmed his role as temporary guardian with a photo and fingerprint.
His departure once again caused a crowd of onlookers to gather on the street.
By then, the sky had already grown somewhat dim, and the flashes from cameras on the ground stretched out like a river of stars for miles.
By the time all the procedures were finally completed, Eleanor Vance and Justin, who had received Arthur's message earlier, had just arrived.
As soon as Eleanor Vance arrived, she started teasing him, "You kid are really becoming more and more self-aware as an internet celebrity now. You just got back and you've already created huge news for me."
Arthur scratched his head, wearing an innocent expression, "What big news?"
Eleanor Vance rolled her eyes at him and took out her phone.
She casually opened her WeQiu Moments feed, which was filled with a continuous stream of moving pictures showing the Dragonite landing at the entrance of the Pokémon Center.
"This! The moment you landed, this picture completely flooded my Moments feed."
"Ah, this..."
Arthur could only manage an awkward yet polite smile.
Honestly, this hadn't been his intention.
Before coming here, he hadn't expected Little Lapras's registration to be so much more complicated than Froakie's had been back then, even requiring him to invite Dragonite Three over to help provide testimony.
After all, one had grown up in the human world, with its entire history since birth clearly traceable;
The other had just come from the reserve, with all its data and experiences being a complete blank slate.
Compared to the playful banter between acquaintances like him and Eleanor Vance, Justin's reaction was much more solemn.
"Bro Arthur, it's great that you're back! I just knew you wouldn't be in any trouble!"
"Ah, it must have been hard on you these past few days too. You did a good job."
Earlier at sea, Arthur had heard from the rescue team members that after he was drained by Celebi and taken away, Justin had taken over his program. He stopped broadcasting exploration content and instead actively participated in the subsequent cruise ship rescue efforts, constantly rushing back and forth between the sea and the land.
This wasn't just for the sake of the show's ratings, but more importantly, it was to search for any trace of him.
When Arthur borrowed the rescue team's phone to call this kid earlier today, Justin was in the process of transporting a newly rescued cruise ship passenger to a hospital on the mainland.
Of course, Arthur hadn't called them over just to catch up and report that he was safe.
"Uh... could one of you help me pay for two Poké Balls? I'm broke right now... I'll pay you back later..."
The hero who had just saved a boatload of people being reduced to such a destitute state... besides him, there was likely no one else.
Eleanor Vance rolled her eyes at him again in exasperation.
"I'll get it. And you don't need to pay me back. The popularity of your live stream show exploded this time, and because of it, I received a considerable quarterly bonus from the company. Consider this treat on your big sister."
Eleanor Vance also hadn't expected that simply taking a chance by picking up a homeless, young cute boy fresh from the mountains at the police station entrance back then would result, in the blink of an eye just half a year later, in her actually incubating a top-tier internet celebrity.
Nowadays, Arthur could even achieve a certain milestone: randomly open any video website, and you were guaranteed to find a meme picture featuring him within the first three pages...
In a certain sense, this too was proof of his top-tier status.
After buying the Poké Balls and recalling Little Lapras, who found moving on land inconvenient, Arthur then went with the two of them to get something to eat.
Along the way, Eleanor Vance asked.
"What are you planning to do next? If you ask me, you might as well just quit the youth training camp and become a full-time outdoor streamer. Over the past few days, several producers have already approached our company, proposing to create a dedicated reality exploration program just for you. Besides that, endorsement deals are as numerous as Head hair; enough to keep your hands completely full accepting them."
She genuinely felt that Arthur pursuing a career as a streamer now held a much brighter future than becoming a trainer.
However, this time, before Arthur could even express his opinion, Justin, standing beside them, panicked first.
"Bro Arthur, please, please don't leave!
I don't want my share of the profits from the show this time! I beg you to stay. Recently, I've been training Pidgeotto using the methods you taught me before, and I can really feel her getting stronger every day! Bro Arthur, please, guide me some more! I want to go pro together with you!"
Hearing this, Eleanor Vance looked at Arthur with astonishment.
She only knew that Arthur possessed remarkable talent in exploration, wielding a harpoon with masterful skill and impressive effort. She had no idea Arthur was also this formidable at Pokémon training within the camp.
But hadn't she heard from others before that after entering the youth training camp, most of the Pokémon's daily training was handled by the camp's coaches?
Could a student's own 'messing around' training methods actually be more effective than what professional coaches taught?
Moreover, the kid beside him even shouted about wanting to "go pro together." Did he truly have such blind faith in Arthur's teaching methods?
She found it somewhat difficult to imagine.
Arthur smiled and reassured Justin.
"Relax, I definitely won't quit the youth training camp. There will certainly be opportunities to go pro together in the future. Your share of the profits is yours; no need to refuse it. I'm just facing some temporary difficulties right now."
The gifts the Milotic clan had given him before leaving were still being carried in his hand at this moment; he just hadn't found a channel to sell them yet.
On the other hand, the salary and profit share from the program also hadn't been distributed yet.
He wasn't actually poor; his wealth was just waiting for a delayed arrival.
However, he then changed the subject.
"But, I will need to request another extended leave of absence for some time soon. I have some personal matters that need handling."
Eleanor Vance was the first to express confusion.
"Eh? What personal matters do you have? How come I don't know anything about them?"
Back then, Arthur had just walked out of the police station when she scooped him up and took him home. At that time, he was so naive he didn't even know how to use the internet; every step was taught by Eleanor Vance.
She found it somewhat hard to believe that Arthur actually had personal matters she was unaware of.
The feeling was akin to playing a shota-raising simulation game and suddenly discovering that her character had a mysterious side quest that even she, the player, didn't know when it had been triggered.
The feeling was... quite wondrously peculiar.
(End of Chapter)
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