"Mr. Lorze, please wait a mont. Could we briefly take up so of your break ti for a quick interview?"
Just as Lorze won his match and was about to head back to the competitor's lounge, a comntator suddenly blocked his path, eagerly inviting him for an interview.
Lorze wasn't entirely surprised by this. The hype surrounding the pure white Ralts was even higher than he anticipated. He had just casually checked the online trending topics, and the words 'Pure White Ralts' had already skyrocketed to the very top of the trending list.
As a result, even though his match was already over, a massive influx of new viewers kept flooding into the livestream, desperately spamming the chat asking about the pure white Ralts. Obviously, the officials wanted to aggressively milk this hype and milk it dry by squeezing in an interview.
This made the other competitors wildly jealous. In a rookie tournant like this, usually only the absolute final Champion was ever granted a dedicated interview.
But right now, the officials were treating Lorze as if he had already been preemptively crowned the Champion. It felt as if this entire tournant was staged specifically for him. How could everyone else not be drowning in sour envy?
But what could their envy accomplish?
Could they bla the officials for being unfair?
This was an era where viral traffic was absolute king. Traffic equaled fat stacks of cash, and who the fuck was going to say no to cash?
Think about it: if the Torchic Challenger Tournant offered zero prize money or sponsorships, do you think anyone would even bother competing?
Everyone was ultimately just chasing the bag.
"Sure, I don't mind. As long as it's not any overly troubleso questions." Lorze nodded and accepted the interview. Since he was desperately trying to attract massive corporate investnts anyway, how could he possibly pass up such a golden opportunity to violently boost his public exposure?
"You have absolutely nothing to worry about; it's just a few simple questions. Then, let's head back to the arena." The comntator hurriedly gestured for Lorze to lead the way, and the two walked back onto the stage.
The mont the audience realized there was a dedicated interview segnt specifically for the pure white Ralts, the live chat instantly exploded into a chaotic frenzy once again.
This was probably the first ti in history that a tournant's interview segnt generated infinitely more hype and traffic than the actual fucking matches...
"I'm sure many of the viewers who just tuned in are incredibly curious about whether the viral rumors regarding the pure white Ralts are actually true. To clear up everyone's doubts, we specifically arranged this brief interview. We'll be taking up a bit of the tournant's scheduled ti, so we ask for everyone's understanding." The comntator skillfully hyped up the atmosphere, hooking the curiosity of all the newcors.
Then, turning to Lorze with a professional smile, he asked, "Mr. Lorze, would it be possible for you to let your Ralts out to say hello to everyone?"
Lorze gave a faint nod and summoned Ralts from her Poké Ball.
A flash of white light materialized, and Ralts instantly teleported straight into Lorze's embrace. Thinking she had been recalled to the safety of the competitor's lounge, she was just about to affectionately nuzzle Lorze. But noticing she was actually still in the middle of the massive arena, she tilted her tiny head in adorable confusion.
"Ralts, say hello to the cara first." Lorze gestured toward the lens and used their telepathic link to inform her that they were being interviewed.
"Ralt." Ralts instantly understood. Acting exactly like a well-mannered, adorable little lady, she gave a polite, elegant nod toward the cara.
Unlike when she was in combat mode, Ralts currently looked incredibly soft, innocent, and undeniably cute. Coupled with the way she affectionately clung to her Trainer's chest, it left the entire audience absolutely... dying of sour, toxic jealousy.
The most fatal blow was that Ralts's voice was unmistakably female. This completely shattered the coping chanisms of the male viewers who were desperately convincing themselves that this Ralts had to be a guy.
How could it be a girl?! It absolutely cannot be a girl!
We must have misheard! It's definitely a male Ralts deliberately mimicking a female voice!
For a mont, the entire live chat reeked of absolute, concentrated despair and envy.
"Mr. Lorze, everyone seems to be incredibly curious about your Ralts's gender. Is it convenient to reveal it?" The comntator was a master of reading the audience's psychology, instantly asking the one question everyone was hyper-fixated on.
In reality, the chat was violently spamming 'SHUT THE FUCK UP'. Who said they wanted to know Ralts's gender?!
They didn't want to fucking know at all!
As long as it remained unconfird, they could cope and pretend the Ralts was a guy! It's definitely a guy!
"Well, I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint everyone. My Ralts is a proper little lady," Lorze said with a faint, highly satisfied smirk, deeply and affectionately stroking Ralts's tiny head.
Ralts blissfully snuggled deeper into his embrace. No matter how you looked at it, the scene practically scread "mutual, unconditional love."
They absolutely could not fucking bear to watch this!!!
Please, for the love of God, stop the interview and let him leave!
"It's obvious she's an incredibly adorable little lady, and this pure white coloration suits her perfectly. I think everyone is dying to know: is this pure white color naturally innate? Could Mr. Lorze clear this up for us?" The comntator quickly signaled the cara crew to get a high-definition close-up of Ralts's face.
"Honestly, I don't know if she was born this exact color. But from the very first mont I t this child, she already looked exactly like this," Lorze answered truthfully.
"Has Mr. Lorze researched the underlying cause for this?"
"As for the cause... I suspect it has sothing to do with her innate abilities. As we all know, Ralts possesses the innate talent to sense the emotions of others. However, due to certain traumatic reasons, my Ralts has entirely lost her ability to sense emotions. Perhaps her sensory horns losing their color is a direct consequence of that."
"Such a phenonon actually exists? That certainly sounds like a research topic worthy of deep, extensive study," the comntator quickly agreed.
Hearing this, the audience instantly understood. Oh, so she's a defective, disabled Ralts! Instantly, they felt significantly better about their own pathetic lives...
Boo-hoo! Better my ass!
You call that a fucking defect?!
I want a pure white loli waifu too, damn it!!!
If this is what a 'defective' Ralts looks like, please give a fucking dozen of them!
If Lorze knew what they were thinking, he would only shake his head in silent disgust. These people had absolutely zero comprehension of the sheer agony and soul-crushing despair Ralts had to endure to beco like this.
Lorze would gladly sacrifice her unique pure white coloration if it ant she could live happily every single day, instead of being so deeply terrified of strangers like she was now.
You have to realize, other people's Pokémon loved following their Trainers around outdoors. His Ralts was the exact opposite; she preferred hiding inside her Poké Ball and completely despised encountering strangers. One could easily imagine just how horrifically that colorless, traumatic past had permanently scarred her psyche.
...
Regardless, Lorze's interview continued, though the subsequent questions were mostly trivial filler, completely missing the actually critical points—such as the exact chanics of Ralts's Ability, which Xue Tong was highly fixated on.
anwhile, due to Xue Tong's unexpected appearance at the venue, her insanely busy mother, Mother Xue, also took the ti to tune in to the Torchic Challenger Tournant. She was currently watching the livestream in the living room alongside her youngest daughter and Anna Lee.
Seeing the teenage boy on screen possessing the exact sa Starter Pokémon as her eldest daughter—and an even rarer, pure white Shiny variant at that—Mother Xue genuinely felt a rare flicker of optimistic approval.
After all, the explosive, teoric rise of the Snowhide Corporation in recent years was inextricably linked to her eldest daughter's fa.
As Xue Tong's popularity and undeniable dominance skyrocketed, the Snowhide Corporation's brand exposure reached unprecedented heights.
And the Shiny Gardevoir played an absolutely vital role in Xue Tong's fa. The two of them were completely symbiotic; they elevated each other to legendary status.
This was precisely why Mother Xue held the Ralts evolutionary line in such incredibly high regard.
Now, this pure white Ralts had already demonstrated astronomical viral popularity. Given ti, her Trainer was practically guaranteed to beco a superstar competitor. If they could successfully bind this future superstar to the Snowhide Corporation, the resulting economic profits would be utterly incalculable.
Anyone who has watched major esports tournants understands perfectly well the absolute marketing dominance of a superstar player.
Especially after hearing what Xue Yi said next, Mother Xue's desire to recruit this prodigy burned even stronger.
"Mother, do you rember the classmate I ntioned before, the one who possesses the highly classified intel on Umbreon?" Xue Yi was also staring at the universally admired boy on the screen, her emotions an incredibly tangled ss.
Who could have possibly predicted that the guy who was essentially invisible and nonexistent at school could shine so brilliantly on the battlefield?
"I rember. Are you telling he is the one?" Mother Xue looked genuinely surprised.
"Yes, that's him. But no matter how hard I interrogated him, he absolutely refused to leak the intel to ," Xue Yi smiled bitterly.
"Intel that is casually leaked is rarely reliable. If you want to acquire sothing of genuine, absolute value, you must pay the equivalent price—whether in emotional investnt or cold, hard cash. If you are unwilling to invest your emotions into him, then simply offer him a price." As a seasoned matriarch who had navigated the brutal corporate world, Mother Xue understood these fundantal truths perfectly.
"Offer him a price? I'll give it a try." Xue Yi looked deeply thoughtful; she had genuinely learned sothing valuable.
Why the hell did she completely forget she could just throw money at the problem?
Perhaps because she had never lacked money her entire life, she subconsciously didn't view it as a critical bargaining chip?
But considering Lorze's background as an ordinary commoner, fat stacks of cash would undoubtedly be insanely attractive to him, right?
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