The next morning, Johan was woken up by Gastly's excited cries.
"Ka-kah, Ka-kah!"
Johan opened his eyes to find Gastly hugging his old, beat-up laptop, which seemed to be streaming a live Pokémon battle.
Johan rubbed his head and dragged himself out of bed. After pouring himself a glass of water and taking a sip, he felt much more awake. Curious, he walked over to see what Gastly was watching.
"Pffft—"
Even though Johan was prepared for anything—be it Gastly watching a horror movie to study scare techniques, or complaining about a boring battle—what he saw on the screen was not what he expected.
On the screen... was a milker milking a Miltank!
"Ka-kah!"
Gastly squealed in surprise as Johan spat out his water in a burst of laughter, drenching it.
Yet again, he had been attacked from behind!
Gastly glared at Johan with mock fury.
"Wait, hold up," Johan said, wiping his mouth. "Is this really what you're into?"
"Moo—"
The sound of a very content Miltank echoed from the laptop.
Time seemed to freeze for a few seconds.
"Ka-kah! Ka-kah!"
Gastly pointed to the corner of the screen, where a line of text appeared: "Moomoo Milk—Make Your Pokémon Healthier!"
So it was just a Moomoo Milk commercial.
"Uh… my bad, I didn't notice," Johan said, sounding anything but apologetic.
Even if it was an ad, why was Gastly so hyped?
Gastly looked frustrated and clicked the refresh button, replaying the commercial.
Since they didn't have a membership, every time they watched a video, they had to sit through ads.
Just as Gastly was getting to the good part, the episode had ended, and the ad popped up out of nowhere.
"Ahem," Johan coughed. "You know, it's funny how people with money pay for premium, while the rest of us have to waste time on ads. Isn't that a waste of time for those without money?"
"Ka-kah, Ka-kah!"
Gastly immediately latched onto the new topic, nodding seriously in agreement.
Exactly, exactly!
But then, being the crafty Pokémon it was, Gastly quickly redirected the conversation.
"Ka-kah!"
It made a dramatic spitting motion, "criticizing" Johan for spitting water on it without brushing his teeth first.
"Alright, alright," Johan raised his hands in surrender. "You just want to try Moomoo Milk, right? I'll order some for you."
After spending so much time with Gastly, Johan knew its little tricks by now.
Gastly: (˙ω˙)
Shaking his head, Johan pulled out his phone and quickly scrolled through some options, stopping when he reached his bank account.
"Guess I gave Steven too much credit—he couldn't even catch the obvious hint."
Yesterday, he had praised Steven for understanding others, but when he "accidentally" let Steven dine and dash, it was his way of hinting that he was broke and could barely afford food!
"Ka-kah?"
Why didn't you just tell him directly?
Johan chuckled. "I'm still a teacher, you know. Asking my student for money would be… disgraceful."
Gastly rolled its eyes.
It wasn't sure if Johan had too much pride or not enough.
"Good morning, Johan."
"Good morning, Professor Johan—"
"…"
As Johan walked through the academy with Gastly, he couldn't help but notice that far more people were greeting him today than usual.
Still, he smiled and greeted everyone back.
But by the time he returned to his counseling office, Johan's confusion had only grown deeper.
He knew where he stood: as a Pokémon psychology professor, he was basically invisible at Rustboro Academy, a teacher that most people didn't even know existed. So why were so many people greeting him today?
Apparently, even returning to his office didn't solve this mystery.
Gastly, equally puzzled, didn't dwell on it. After all, it was too busy pacing excitedly around the room.
Earlier that morning, after some cute pleading (and a bit of manipulation), Gastly had convinced Johan to order a case of Moomoo Milk, which would arrive that evening. Now, all it wanted was for time to pass faster.
"Ka-kah, Ka-kah—"
Meanwhile, Johan made himself a cup of coffee, sat at his desk, and opened his laptop.
He navigated to the Pokémon League's official site, skimmed a few news headlines, and logged into his account.
He wanted to see if Mewtwo had replied.
However…
As soon as he logged in, his computer started beeping wildly, as though it was about to crash.
"Ka-kah?"
Gastly floated over to take a look.
Johan was equally surprised.
Did Mewtwo actually trace him through the network?
But when he clicked on the notifications, he realized it wasn't a response from Mewtwo at all—it was a flood of comments on the research paper he had published!
"Huh?"
Now that he thought about it, his paper had been published for some time, but it had mostly gone unnoticed, with very few comments.
That was expected. Johan wasn't a well-known professor or even an official researcher yet, so it wasn't surprising that few people had seen his work.
But now, the comment count was stuck at "999+," and the number kept climbing.
What on earth was going on?
First, Johan muted the notification sound, which had been blaring non-stop.
Feeling even more confused, he didn't rush to check the comments. Instead, he went straight to the researchers' forum.
To his astonishment, his paper had been pinned to the front page, listed as the sixth most popular paper—The Potential Link Between Pokémon Personalities and Stat Growth.
Did I get a boost?
Otherwise, how could an unnoticed paper suddenly shoot up to become one of the most popular?
This also explained why so many people had greeted him that morning. It was likely because of the paper's newfound fame.
Johan clicked on the paper.
As he scrolled through the page, he soon saw the top comment, which had been highlighted due to its high number of likes.
"This is an interesting direction, but the paper lacks solid numerical evidence to back it up. If the issue is access to equipment, I may be able to help. —Samuel Oak"
What?
Johan blinked.
Professor Oak?
No wonder the paper had suddenly gained so much traction.
The renowned Professor Oak had left a positive comment on his paper, sparking a flood of discussions among trainers and researchers alike.
As one of the most influential figures in the Pokémon world, Professor Oak's words carried immense weight. Even a simple comment from him had caused a surge in attention.
The sudden popularity of the paper also drew more attention to Johan's previously obscure "Johan's Pokémon Psychology Consultation Room," which had previously seen only Mewtwo as a visitor.
Suddenly, more people were asking questions:
[Lil Growlithe]: My Pokémon isn't eating… is this a psychological problem?
[EeveeLovesCabbage]: Hello, sorry to bother you. How do I help my Pokémon overcome its deep-seated insecurity?
[MathMagician]: Should humans really coexist with Pokémon?
Questions like these were popping up left and right.