[Brilliant Predi, BP+50]

  [Successful use of 'SubProtect Toxic' Strategy, BP+50]

  [...]

  [Victory in Battle, Evaluation: Absolutely Spectacur! (BP+100)]

  [Remaining BP: 470]

  Natsume was surprised to gain over 400 BP points from a sitle.

  He had already assumed Gastly was destio lose, but who knew Swellow would underperform so badly?

  "Could it be... that I trained Gastly too well?" Natsume muttered, rubbing his thoughtfully.

  Meanwhile, Yuta, Swellow's trainer, was in a state of existential crisis.

  "How someone just keep using Protect like that?" Yuta mumbled. "My teacher aught me you could fight like this!"

  Reporters swarmed the sidelines, camera fshes flickering, microphones shoved right into Natsume's face.

  "How do you feel about your victory?"

  "We heard you're also a popur Pokémon battle streamer. Any tips or strategies you'd like to share?"

  "Natsume-sensei! My daughter is a huge fan of yours!"

  Sihe quarterfinals weren't over yet, Natsume mao slip away, taking Gastly bato the testant hallway.

  "So... we're in the semifinals now?" Natsume scratched his head."I don't think I even traihat much, did I?"

  The match featured Kazuki, who had crossed paths with Natsume before.

  After witnessing Natsume's etle, Kazuki had gained a deeper uanding of Natsume's 'SubProtect Toxic' strategy.

  "As expected of Natsume-sensei," Kazuki muttered. "ing to a tour like this to bully newers, and even holding back Gastly from evolving...

  "That's just so like him!"

  Most trainers would be eager to evolve their Pokémon as soon as possible to gain an edge in battles.

  But Natsume-sensei had deliberately equipped Gastly with aone.

  Kazuki couldn't think of any expnation other than Natsume-sensei havireme fiden himself.

  "I remember Natsume-sensei only retly caught Gastly, right?" Kazuki pondered, puzzled.

  "To train it to this level ihan two months... Could Natsume-sensei also be a breeder?"

  Shaking his head, Kazuki refocused.

  If he could make it to the semifinals and faatsume-sensei, it would be a win no matter what!

  The final match of the evening pitted Kazuki's Ivysaur against a sharp-fanged Golbat.

  This Golbat was exceptionally well-bred, even mastering the powerful "Leech Life" move with a base power of 80.

  But Kazuki, having learned from Natsume, expertly executed a strategy bining Leech Seed and Sleep Powder.

  The two Pokémon fought fiercely, almost sing blood types, but in the end, Ivysaur narrowly cimed victory.

  With the quarterfinals cluded, the news of Natsume advang to the semifinals sent shockwaves through the entire grade.

  Natsume's phone buzzed incessantly, and even Coach Takashi, whom he had met before, extended another invitation to join the school team.

  At the moment, however, Natsume was busy turning down another tract.

  The tract, offered by the Piplup Cup anizers, promised annual training funds of 100,000 Pokémon s, along with free training equipment and Pokéblocks.

  But the offer held little appeal for Natsume.

  Besides, there were many nuances in such tracts—

  championship tracts were undoubtedly different from those for semifinalists.

  Natsume had no iion of pursuing a career as a trainer, so signing was out of the question.

  The other semifinalists were Kazuki, Reina, and Ryosuke from Osaka Uy.

  Of these three, two were Natsume's followers.

  "This isn't a semifinal," Natsume remarked with a strange expression. "This is a fa!"

  "What if I lose to my own fans? That'd be so embarrassing!"

  Natsume stroked his , muttering, "No, I o keep training Gastly!"

  After defeating Swellow, Gastly had begun to emit a faint glow of evolution, though it was suppressed by the Everstone.

  With the evolution materials provided by Green and Natsume's Pokéblocks, evolution was just a matter of time.

  Back at home, Gastly uhe Everstone from its forehead a out a rexed sigh.

  Natsume, meanwhile, booted up his puter and started brainst ideas for his video.

  Natsume's current follower t stood at 970,000—a rare feat for just three videos.

  The "Natsume-seeaches Battling" series had plenty of potential ideas, such as Anger Point teams, Spikes teams, Weakness Policy Palossand, and more.

  But without suffit material, the quality of the videos wouldn't be great.

  Aask issued by the system also prompted Natsume to sider brang out.

  [Task: "I'm Not a Jack-of-All-Trades tent Creator"

  Objective: Reach the top of any video category's rankings (excluding Gaming)

  Reward: 2000 BP Points, Random Skill Lv3, Random Purple Item *1

  his task be repeated.]

  "Even though this is a Trainer Development System... these tasks are way off track," Natsume muttered, his lips twitg.

  But he nodded anyway.

  "Still, it suits me just fine."

  As for which category to branto, Natsume was still deliberating.

  The Battle category was dominated by big names like Red, while the Musid Daegories were highly petitive.

  After some thought, Natsume decided to try his hand at the Lifestyle category.

  "Perfect, I improve my cooking skills while I'm at it."

  After several attempts, Natsume's [Cooking Lv1] had successfully leveled up.

  [Cooking Lv2: Greatly enhances your ary skills, including knife work a trol. (With your skills, running a restaurant would be a breeze.)]

  While reag Lv3 would put him on par with a star chef, being a food tent creator was already well within his reach.

  "Gastly, e help!" Natsume called out from the kit.

  Gastly obediently floated over, curiously watg Natsume's movements.

  "Steam the potatoes for twenty mihen turn off the heat. I'll get the oven ready!"

  This time, Natsume reparing the first dish from "Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma": imitation crispy roast pork.

  He mixed golden, soft mashed potatoes with sautéed mushrooms and onions, ed them in ba, tied it all up with string, and gar with rosemary and other spices.

  "Gastly, help me put this in the oven for half an hour!"

  "Gastly!" Gastly drooled, using its bck mist to carefully pce the dish into the oven.

  "Sizzle—"

  The rich aroma of red wine and butter filled the kit as Natsume reduced the sauce, adding seasonings until it thied into a deep red gze.

  Gastly inhaled deeply, its eyes fixed on Natsume's every move.

  "Ding—"

  The roast was done. Gastly eagerly opehe oven, and a wave of savory meatiness wafted out.

  Natsume pted the ba-ed potato roast on a pristine white dish, drizzling it with the fragrant, deep red sauce.

  He even gar with a sprig of rosemary for presentation.

  Looking at the beautifully pted dish, Natsume nodded in satisfa. "Not bad at all."

  "Gastly (ˉ﹃ˉ)"

  "Want to give it a try?"

  "Gastly!" Gastly nodded vigorously.

  "Careful, it's hot." Natsume set up a tripod.

  "From now on, you'll be the first Pokémon food tent creator!"

  Gastly grinned, using its bck mist to carry the pte in front of the camera.

  After cautiously blowing o dish, Gastly tentatively licked the sauce, its eyes narrowing in delight.

  "Gastly!"

  Despite the presence of a knife and fastly didn't bother with them. Instead, it opes mouth wide and took a massive bite of the roast.

  The aroma filled the room, and Natsume couldn't help but swallow hard.

  "How is it?"

  Gastly didn't answer, its cheeks stuffed to the brim as it chewed enthusiastically. Sauce dripped from the ers of its mouth, and its expression was one of pure bliss.

  Gastly: (′▽`〃)

  Curious, Natsume cut off a small piece of ba for himself.

  Instantly, his eyes lit up.

  It was as if a herd of Tauros were galloping across a su-lit pin, red wine fermenting in a wooden celr, and Natsume and Gastly were sitting in a field, straw hats on their heads, basking in the gentle breeze.

  "A humble feast!"

  "Gastly!" Gastly looked up from the pte, its face smeared with sauce, and grinned.

  At the same time, a brilliant white light began to emanate from Gastly's body!

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