Hey all new chapter here. Thanks for the overwhelming support so far. Honestly I wasn't expecting it to take off like this so I'm glad everyone is enjoying it. Thanks to all my reviewers and everyone who left a follow/favorite.

CH 7 Get Your Game On

Mesagoza, Ash's Dorm

Ash, Arven and Iono had headed back to Mesagoza to unwind after the first gym battle. Arven was off doing his own research leaving Ash and Iono to their own devices. The two were currently in his dorm room at the academy, Iono standing in front of a large white board.

"Now then I'm gonna take this chance to give you a crash course on the basics of streaming,"Iono explained writing rather sloppily on the board,"streaming is much different than recording videos. You joined me for a special stream but we need to discuss how my standard streams go, or streams in general."

"Will there be a test?" Ash asked jokingly.

"No, but you'll need this info for future streams we do together,"Iono answered with a giggle," so I suggest you pay close attention. So do you know what a pre-stream is?"

"Is it like a stream before a stream?"

"Think of it as an introduction, I use pre-streams as a chance to take care of housekeeping stuff like contests, donation campaigns, Q&As about my streaming plans. That kind of stuff."

"How long do they usually last?" Ash asked, taking notes.

Iono thought a minute before answering,"that kinda depends how many items are on the agenda, minimum is ten minutes and maximum is twenty. I don't like to make them too long, don't wanna make people bored before the stream even starts."

"What do you normally do in your streams anyway Iono?"

"Depends, anything from gaming, video reactions, Q&A streams, you name it and I can do it."

"That's a pretty big variety, how do you decide what to stream?"

"I dedicate each stream to a different activity, variety is the spice of life. If you want to do well in this collab you'll have to get used to it."

Ash sighed, this seemed like a lot of work and she had yet to even give him the full details of her plan. He had no clue what the scope of the partnership even was. He had a class to teach in the morning so he couldn't be here all night.

"How about I give you some homework Ash, I want you to watch a few of my last streams. You don't need to watch the whole thing, just enough to get a taste of each of my content styles."

"That doesn't sound too bad I guess,"Ash agreed,"but are we doing any stream tonight?"

"Of course we are, how about something simple, especially after yesterday's intense gym battle stream."

"What did you have in mind Iono?"

"Let's play a game, a simple one you can run on any computer."

Iono moved over to the desktop the school had provided Ash with. He was curious what kind of game she was planning on booting up.

"Don't worry it won't be anything too tough,"Iono reassured Ash as she navigated the web,"it's normally a paid game but I can log in with my credentials until you decide if ya like it or not."

Ash could see a webpage with the game she was downloading,"PokeMuse?"

"Yes it's a rhythm game that's gotten really popular, the computer they gave you is surprisingly high powered so we should be able to stream and play no problemo."

"You'll show me how to play right?"

"Of course, though it's easy to learn. Hard to master though,"Iono answered as the game client finished downloading.

"Considering all the traveling I did I never really had a chance to play many games."

"You're missing out but being a world champ is more impressive anyways."

Ash was a bit surprised, Iono seemed a lot less hyper than usual, though he decided to keep that observation to himself. Iono booted up the game and started her stream.

"Hello my peeps!" Iono practically shouted, her hyperactive side kicking back in. "Welcome back to the Iono Zone, today I'm gonna be showing the world champ how to game!"

"Ash here and excited to learn something new." He was a lot less nervous than last time but he was still not totally comfortable yet.

"Tonight we'll be playing PokeMuse, everyone's new favorite rhythm game. This is his first time so let's all be kind to him. Hell yes we got one thousand fans already! Go grab some soda, popcorn, whatever you want to keep yourself snacking!"

Ash took a seat in the chair next to Iono's,"so do we need anything like a console controller?"

"Hahah get a load of this console peasant chat,"Iono laughed,"nah we're kicking it PC style, keyboard is all we need, well that and four fingers."

"Console peasant?" Ash asked unsure what it meant.

"See chat he's a total noob at this, but don't worry, I'm gonna turn him into an MLG pro gamer boy or die trying!"

Ash had no clue gaming was this big of a deal. Iono tinkered with the game setting before pushing the keyboard towards Ash. He could see the controls on the screen and it was only five keys.

"Basically the way the game works is that there are ground notes and air notes you hit in time to the music. Z and X for ground notes and the one and two on the number pad for the air notes. Just hit all the notes, the stars you gotta hold them down and the spacebar activates the fever mode."

"There's a tutorial right?"

"Yep there is, but we gotta make things interesting right stream chat?" Ash watched as Iono got up and left the room a second. She came back with a giant wheel, he had no clue where she had gotten it from.

"Uhh what is that?"

"This is my Wheel of Fun, I'll spin the wheel and that'll determine what songs in the game we play. The songs on the wheel were all chosen by the fans prior to this viewer engagement is key and this is one way to achieve that."

"Where did you get the wheel from, you didn't have that when we got here."

"Oh don't worry about that Ash, let's do the tutorial first then we'll try the wheel. Right first let's pick your character."

Ash navigated to the character select screen and saw a Pikachu dressed like a rocker and holding a guitar. He knew this was the one he wanted to go with. He saw that this one had a special ability too. Ash settled on that one and went to the tutorial.

"Okay now remember, the corresponding keys we set up before to hit the enemies as they appear. Blue notes get you bonus points and hearts heal you."

Ash started up the tutorial which featured a rather slow song. Watching the screen he used the keys to hit the enemies as they appeared. It wasn't as difficult as he thought it would be at first. All the enemies were various Pokemon that he knocked away to the music. He saw his score go up with every enemy he beat or note he collected, he could see how people could sink so much time into a game like this. The song came to an end and he saw he had earned a grade of an "S".

"Oh not bad for your first time, that's the highest grade you can get."

"Wait really so I did really well?"

"Yep, granted that was the easiest stage but that's still a good start,"Iono praised,"but now it's time to spin the wheel. Remember chat , this wheel will determine the next song!"

Later:

"Alright chat that's a wrap for tonight, we've been at it for like two hours and the champ has school in the morning so we'll see you all tomorrow night!"

Iono shut off the stream with a content sigh. Towards the end of the stream they had reached a few hundred thousand viewers, PokeDash was a pretty popular game after all. It had been a major success, considering it was Ash's first gaming stream. She already knew what she had planned for his next experience, the start of a bi-weekly podcast. Her plan was going well so far, Ash was getting more comfortable and she was getting a lot of new fans.

Ash flopped down onto the bed feeling exhausted. The game had gotten way more intense than he thought it would but he did enjoy it. More importantly the viewers enjoyed it too. This whole streaming deal was going a lot better than expected. It was something new to try and he was starting to enjoy it. In fact he could see himself streaming the game again in the future.

"So what's on the agenda for tomorrow Ash?"

"Class in the morning, not sure about the afternoon. I may see if Arven or Nemona need help with anything."

"Guessing that means your evening is free?"

Ash nodded,"did you have something you wanted to do?"

"Yeah, I wanted us to try out a podcast, we'd do it every other week."

"Would it be about anything specific?"

"I'm thinking about something related to the Pokemon League, I'll have more exact plans before tomorrow night,"Iono answered as she looked through her bag,"you mind if I crash here tonight?"

This caught Ash off-guard, he had no idea if it was a good idea, especially since it was something he hadn't really done before. Most of the time when he was traveling, everyone had a separate room or tent. He was not used to sharing a single room with a girl. He saw she had a sleeping bag with her.

"You sure that's a good idea, what if Director Clavell finds out?"

"Oh don't worry bout him, he and I are like two peas in a pod."

"Well if you're sure, if you want the bed I can use your sleeping bag?"

Iono flashed him a smile,"I appreciate that but I'm fine using my sleeping bag. I'm only asking to stay as I'd rather not fly home at night."

"Oh right that's true, well I guess it should be fine then."

"Great, don't worry it'll be like I'm not even here."

The Next Morning

Ash walked through the halls of Uva Academy, headed to his class for the day. It wasn't as typical class, it was more of a study hall where students could do their work, socialize and more. Walking into the classroom he was met with loud applause. Something he had not been expecting.

"What's with the celebrating?"

"That's for getting your first badge and for the start of your streaming career,"one of the students called out.

Ash settled into the class talking with all the students about the recent events, his plans for the future and their progress in school.

The time passed by and he decided to use it to do some research on Paldea as the students studied. Most of the books he had were from the school library along with ones from Arven's personal collection. He got so absorbed in his reading that he didn't notice Penny approaching his desk.

"Ash, can I ask you for a favor?"

Ash was startled by her sudden appearance,"Penny sorry I didn't see you there. What do you need?"

"Not here, meet me in town later and we'll talk somewhere more private."

"Sure but is everything okay"

"Everything is okay, yes, I just need your help with something."

Ash had only briefly interacted with Penny as she wasn't in any of his classes. Based on their very brief interaction she was very reserved so he was surprised to hear her ask for his help. Penny walked back to her seat before he could ask her anything else, he'd have to wait till later.

He continued his reading till the bell rang and the class filed out. He saw Penny leave with the others and figured he should follow her sooner rather than later. Gathering his stuff, he headed out of the room, locking the door behind him.

Walking through the crowded halls, he headed towards the main entrance until he stopped when he saw Arven.

"Hey Arven, how'd your research go?"

Arven shook his head as he walked over,"another dead end I'm afraid. I still can't seem to figure out the reason behind Miraidon's injuries. I've exhausted most of my leads at this point."

"Has Professor Turo offered any advice?"

"No,I'm afraid he has been rather tight-lipped. I admit our relationship has been on the rocks for a long time. I have a feeling he's hiding something but what it is I do not know."

"Arven you said that Miraidon is physically wounded right?"

"Yes it is, what about it?"

"Well it's just that whenever I've been injured I remember that it affected me both physically and mentally."

"Wait so you mean that there might be mental trauma too?"

"Yeah if it was so badly wounded I think that'd be expected."

"You have a point, something really traumatic must have happened. The Herba Mystica can help with the physical damage, but I doubt it can fix the mental damage."

"Yeah so we'll have to work on that part too."

"Thanks for the input, it gives me something to think about, I'll talk to you later." Arven rushed off with that, bumping into people in his rush.

Ash waved before he headed out of the academy and into Mesagoza. He saw Penny further ahead walking towards the nearby bookstore. He decided to follow her and see what she wanted. Ash had never been to the bookstore before so he was surprised how big it was as he stepped inside. He could see Penny heading to an area at the back of the store so he followed. Walking through the store he saw there was a small lounge at the back with a bunch of tables and sofas. Penny was sitting at one in the back of the lounge.

"Hey Penny, you needed something?"

Penny looked up from her book,"yeah have a seat."

Ash took a seat across from Penny,"so what can I help with?"

"Have you heard of Team Star?"

"A bit, Director Clavell mentioned them, mostly to avoid them."

Penny nodded,"yeah they've been trying to recruit a lot of students lately and cousin problems for the school."

"Nothing can be done about it?"

"They don't respect the school authority so administration is powerless. If they don't stop they're on a one way trip to expulsion."

"That's unfortunate, but what does this have to do with me?"

"Well normally I wouldn't ask a teacher but you're more of an assistant teacher. Perhaps you can help deal with Team Star."

"You want me to take them down?"

"That or get them to stop what they're doing. Taking down their bosses would do the trick, they have multiple crews scattered across Paldea. Each crew boss focuses on a different type of Pokemon."

"What about the big boss?"

"Taking down the crew leaders should flush their true leader out. Based on what I heard not even the crew bosses know what their leader looks like."

Ash was no stranger to taking down evil teams, but this one seemed more like troublemakers than the likes of Team Galactic. If anything they sounded a lot like Team Skull. He was happy to help though.

"I'm on board Penny."

"Great, I'll send you the locations of the crew bases. Feel free to handle them whenever time permits, I know you're busy with the gyms, helping Arven and streaming with Iono. Each time you take one down I'll compensate you for your help."

"Okay, is there anything else?"

Penny thought for a moment,"yeah if you get any inside information let me know."

"I will yes, and I'm happy to help you however I can."

"Great, I look forward to working with you."

Ash and Penny walked out of the store together before going in different directions. Ash had to meet with Iono to go over their new podcast. He,however, had no clue what he was getting himself into.