Pokémon: Dreams Come True Starting in Sinnoh

Chapter 240 The Disaster-Filming Set

"Don't be nervous, don't be nervous, just relax."

Led by Yuka and the others, Ash and his friends quickly followed behind her and arrived at the Sinnoh Now program filming location.

Upon seeing that the main characters of the show had arrived, the director and others showed them the utmost enthusiasm. After all the preparations were completed, the director, sitting in a chair, called out to Ash and Dawn through a megaphone:

"This isn't a live broadcast, so you'll have plenty of opportunities to try and fail. Just follow the program's rules."

The director said this while looking at Yuka:

"Are you ready?"

"Yes, yes! Everything is ready."

Although Yuka seemed unreliable in the private room of the coffee shop, she still demonstrated the professionalism expected of a well-known host on the set of the program.

"Are you sure everything's okay...? I have this bad feeling about this..."

Hikari and Satoshi were sitting side by side when she whispered this to Satoshi just before filming was about to begin.

"It's probably just my imagination."

After all, this was Xiao Zhi's first time participating in a program like this, and he couldn't guarantee that nothing would go wrong. But for now, he had to follow the production team's instructions.

"Alright! All crews, prepare! 3...2...1...action!"

At the director's command, Yu Xiang also showed a professional smile and began to introduce their program to the camera.

"Hello everyone, this is a special program from Sinnoh Now – [Best Partner Interview]. Our guests today are these two most famous people in the Sinnoh region recently. Please introduce yourselves first."

As he spoke, the camera turned to Ash and Dawn standing to the side.

"I am Ash from Pallet Town, and this is my partner Pikachu."

"Pikachu~"

“I…I am Hikari from Futaba Town.”

After Xiaozhi and Xiaoguang each gave a brief self-introduction, the camera began to gradually move back, eventually taking in the entire shooting scene.

"Thank you both for introducing yourselves."

Yu Xiang then took control of the pace of the event. She moved the microphone to the side and then produced a number of small cards in her hand.

"Next up is the Q&A session. Many viewers have been following Sinnoh Now from their first doubles match filming to the recent team tournament. All viewers have witnessed the growth of the two partners together. Do you two usually train for doubles matches?"

After Yuka finished asking her first question, the camera focused on Ash and Dawn again.

"This..." Xiao Guang frowned, unsure how to answer.

At this moment, Ash seemed indifferent; he simply spoke the truth:

“When we are training Pokémon, we sometimes use simulated battles.”

"A simulated battle?" Yuka asked, somewhat surprised. "That's a one-on-one Pokémon battle, right? So, you two haven't formally trained for doubles matches?"

"I did practice for doubles matches, but that was during the Tournament of Fate," Ash said.

"Ah~ the Contest of Fate? You two certainly gave us a wonderful performance in that grand contest. Did you two spend a long time preparing for that special grand contest?"

Yuka continued to ask the same question.

But the director sitting in front just nodded silently and didn't give the "cut" instruction.

Although Yuka had many questions on the small cards in her hand, she didn't intend for him to ask them all on the show.

Most of them are just simple references.

Since the program has limited time, it's impossible to ask all kinds of questions. Therefore, during the actual filming process, many questions had to be asked by Yuka on the spot, which required a high level of professionalism from the host.

And it is quite clear that Yuka did indeed ask targeted questions.

"We haven't been training for very long," Ash continued, speaking so frankly.

"Originally, Hikari had plenty of training time, but she didn't know that the Contest of Fate was a doubles competition. At that time, she wasn't good at only knowing two Pokémon at the same time, so she asked me to participate with her."

"?! Hey! Ash!"

"Okay, thank you for your reply, Mr. Ash. I really didn't expect that such a high-quality doubles performance was only decided at the last minute. Just from this point alone, you can see that the tacit understanding between the two of you is truly amazing."

Where is it?!

Xiao Guang's face turned red, and his hands, which had been hanging naturally on his legs, unconsciously clenched into fists.

The fist hardened.

She never expected such a question during the interview, and she certainly didn't expect Xiaozhi to answer so frankly.

Well, what she said is true, but can't we at least say a few good words for her in front of the audience in the entire Sinnoh region?

Xiao Guang smiled with a hint of despair. Her only hope now was that the questions coming up wouldn't be anything strange.

"Next is the second question."

Yuka continued to pretend that the card in her hand was a submission from an enthusiastic viewer, and then asked...

"Hello, Brother Xiaozhi and Sister Xiaoguang! My name is Xiangyang, and I'm seven years old. I've always dreamed of traveling alone in three years. After seeing Brother Xiaozhi and Sister Xiaoguang's wonderful performance, I'm even more eager to travel! Could you share some interesting things that happened to each other during your travels?"

"?!"

This is bad, this is bad, this is bad!

Xiao Guang's bad premonition was growing stronger.

Just as she was about to speak first, hinting that Xiao Zhi should say more nice things, Xiao Zhi had already naturally entered interview mode, as if he was already used to this kind of segment.

"Ah, there are so many interesting things."

Xiao Zhi explained it all.

"For example, doesn't everyone know that you should battle wild Pokémon before catching them, so that you can deplete their stamina before catching them?"

Xiao Guang: "?!"

Ash was completely oblivious to Dawn's changed expression; he simply continued speaking to himself:

"But one morning when Xiaoguang was catching a Bumblebee, she threw a Poké Ball at it, and the wild Bumblebee knocked the Poké Ball right onto my head."

"Eh~ Is that so? I didn't expect that Hikari-san, who performed so well at the Mikuri Cup, would start out like this—"

"Ah! I already told you I accidentally forgot back then! Isn't this a common thing for rookie trainers?"

Finally, Hikari could no longer maintain her image in front of the camera and reverted to her usual self, starting to confront Ash head-on.

"Speaking of which, isn't someone else the same? Do you remember who told me that in the beginning, in order to capture Pidgey, they actually tried to wrap it in clothes, and then Pidgey used Gale Force to throw it away?"

"I had no choice back then!" Ash immediately retorted. "It's because Pikachu wouldn't listen to my commands! If Pikachu had fought as I said, I would have definitely taken down that Pidgey!"

"Pikachu?! Pikachu!!"

Pikachu originally thought its responsibility was just to be cute in front of the camera, but who would have thought that the topic would shift to itself?

So Pikachu joined the argument.

"...Um..." Seeing that things were getting out of control, Xiao Gang quietly moved closer to the director, leaned down, and whispered, "Is this really okay? Shouldn't we call 'cut' at this point..."

Xiao Gang gave the director his advice.

But to his surprise, the director just chuckled and slowly began to speak.

"That shows you're too uninformed."

"Huh?" Xiao Gang asked, puzzled.

"What the audience wants to see most is not a serious question-and-answer session, but rather a genuine argument. After all, travel companions can't always be respectful to each other."

Whether it's mutual respect, help, and gratitude; or even disputes, frustrations, and arguments... only when both sides are satisfied can it be considered a genuine travel scene, and only such scenes can resonate with the audience.

"……Too."

Xiao Gang thought about it briefly and then felt relieved.

Indeed, as the director said, the essence of travel has always been filled with both conflict and friendship.

If one day Ash and Dawn meet and immediately bow to each other, addressing each other with polite formalities, then Brock should probably take them to see a neurologist.

……

After their argument, Ash and Dawn calmed down and returned to their initial composure, as if the argument had never happened.

"Well... let's move on to the second part!"

Yuka, who was sitting in front of Satoshi and Hikari, was already greatly affected by their argument.

Having finally regained her composure, she quickly and hesitantly moved on to the second part.

With a slightly hesitant tone, she spoke again:

"Next, please write down one or more words on the whiteboard that can highly summarize the other person, then show them to each other and explain your reasoning. Then, please write down one of the most memorable things from your trip on a piece of paper. Of course, the most memorable thing refers to your impression of the other person."

Xiao Gang: "......"

After hearing Yuka explain the rules, Xiaogang started to feel increasingly strange.

He hadn't thought about it before, but now that he's really paying attention, he's starting to feel that the content of this show... doesn't seem to be targeting his partner.

Of course, it's still in an ambiguous stage, so he can't make a direct judgment.

.......

"Such highly concise language..."

"The most memorable thing..."

Ash and Dawn seem to be stuck in completely different stalemates.

Ash is struggling with how to summarize Dawn's story, while Dawn is struggling with how to choose the most memorable event.

And so, the event passed by, and no one urged Ash and Dawn to hurry up. After all, the workload in this segment was quite heavy, and in the end, these blank moments could be removed by editing.

Finally, after twenty minutes, Ash and Dawn completed their tasks.

"Okay~ It seems you two have finished writing. Now, please show everyone on the screen your evaluations of each other that you wrote on the whiteboard."

After Yuka finished speaking, Satoshi and Hikari stood the whiteboard upright one after the other.

First is Xiao Guang.

On Xiaoguang's whiteboard, the following words were written:

Passionate, foolish, low emotional intelligence, caring.

Hmm, it's a bit subtle, I think I can understand it, but it's a little difficult.

Next up is Ash.

The number of words written on Xiaozhi's whiteboard was about the same, namely—

No problem? Worrying. Amazing. Idiot.

Hmm... a very subtle feeling as well.

After seeing the two people's evaluations of each other, Yuka's smile froze for a moment.

Based on past experience, after seeing each other's comments, the two people should...

Just as Yuka gestured for the two to look at each other's evaluations, as she expected, both expressed extreme dissatisfaction.

"Ha! What's that! If there's no problem, then there's no problem! What's with the question mark? And I won't make people worry, will I!"

"Because you always encounter problems when you say there are no problems, that's why I wrote it this way! And what do you mean by 'not causing worry'?! You're very worrying, okay?! Just like in the beginning—"

"Stop talking! You're the one who's making us worry, Ash! Don't you even realize it?! Every time there's danger, you always like to walk in front by yourself! You never consider what we think! And it's not just me who thinks like that! Even... cough cough, never mind!"

Xiao Guang was so aggressive that she almost revealed Xiao Yao's identity, but then she remembered and her voice softened instantly.

"Um... well... then what about low emotional intelligence?! It's not that I'm arrogant, I've always thought my emotional intelligence is very high! If you don't believe me, go ask Pikachu and the others! Even my companions at Professor Oak's lab can vouch for me that my emotional intelligence isn't low!"

"So it's not what you think! Speaking of which, what's with the 'idiot' thing? Why did you write 'I'm an idiot' on the whiteboard?!"

"Huh? Didn't you also write that I'm an idiot? I haven't even said anything yet!"

.......

Seeing the two of them arguing again, Yu Xiang's face instantly darkened. She gave the director a pitiful look, but the director just gave her a thumbs up.

What a disaster...

Xiao Gang covered his face and couldn't help but think this.

Is it really okay for viewers in the Sinnoh region to see this?

.......