Joseph had a problem — well, aside from the fact that Tyrunt still tried to eat anything that moved and Rotom had developed an obsession with adding fart sound effects to every single clip.
The problem was that every comment on his EeTvee VODs said the same thing:
"When's your first badge battle?"
"Is Tyrunt strong enough?"
"You need to train more, dude!"
He knew they were right. As hilarious as Tyrunt was, the little fossil lizard was all brute force and zero finesse. If Joseph ever wanted to stand in front of a Gym Leader — especially one in Lumiose — they needed to get serious. Or, at least, his version of serious.
Which is why, two days later, Joseph found himself in the sprawling backyard garden, dressed in a bright red headband, oversized sunglasses, and a "#1 Coach" t-shirt he found in a closet. Tyrunt was perched on a yoga mat, looking extremely confused. Rotom hovered above them, already adding goofy text overlays to the live feed.
"Alright, EeTvee fam!" Joseph shouted at the PokéGear camera. "Today's the start of our epic, unstoppable, very professional training arc! By the time we're done, Tyrunt's gonna be so strong that Prism Tower will just hand us the badge out of fear!"
Tyrunt blinked slowly and burped.
Rotom slapped a "MOTIVATION LEVEL: ZERO" graphic on screen.
Joseph cracked his knuckles. "Okay, big guy. Warm-ups! Let's do… push-ups?"
Tyrunt tilted his big head. Joseph lay down next to him and demonstrated, arms straining as he managed three wobbly push-ups. Tyrunt watched intently — then flopped on his stomach and tried to mimic the motion. He managed exactly half a push-up before he rolled sideways into a bush.
Joseph stifled a laugh. "Okay! Not your thing. No problem. Sit-ups!"
He showed Tyrunt how to curl up. Tyrunt tried. His tiny arms were way too short. He mostly looked like a confused turtle flailing on its back.
Rotom zoomed in dramatically, adding a "FAIL" stamp each time Tyrunt tipped over.
The chat went nuts:
"I can't breathe 😂"
"This is the worst training ever"
"Tyrunt is all vibes, no gains"
Thirty minutes later, Joseph had run through every generic exercise he could remember from middle school gym class. Tyrunt attempted jumping jacks (disastrous), burpees (don't ask), and even some shadow boxing (he punched himself in the jaw).
Finally, they gave up and settled for a good old-fashioned practice battle. Joseph tossed an old, stuffed doll onto the grass — a goofy plush in the shape of a Team Rocket grunt.
"Alright, Tyrunt! Crunch attack! Intimidate your enemy!" Joseph shouted, dramatically pointing like a budget anime protagonist.
Tyrunt stared at the doll, tail flicking. Then he lunged — a perfect Crunch that tore the doll's head off in one chomp. Fluff flew everywhere. Rotom added a slow-motion replay with "DESTRUCTION 100%" in neon letters.
Joseph doubled over laughing. "Good boy! Now imagine that's a Gym Leader's Pokémon. Except they'll probably hit back."
Tyrunt roared proudly, fluff still dangling from his teeth.
The training "arc" — if you could call it that — went on for three days. Joseph woke up early, threw on his "Coach" shirt, and did increasingly ridiculous drills with Tyrunt:
Day 1: Endurance runs around the estate. Tyrunt kept chasing a Butterfree instead.
Day 2: Target practice with pebbles and water balloons. Tyrunt tried to eat the balloons.
Day 3: "Agility" training with cones set up on the lawn. Tyrunt bowled through the cones like a bowling ball every single time.
Rotom made the entire ordeal ten times funnier. It started adding live commentary in a fake sportscaster voice:
"And here comes Tyrunt! He's making a daring move — oh! He's eaten the cones! Back to you, Joseph!"
Joseph didn't mind the chaos. Every night, he'd scroll through his EeTvee stats — views climbing steadily. Clips of Tyrunt's failed sit-ups and Rotom's 'sports highlights' had been shared by other trainers. A few people even DM'd asking if they could cameo on his stream sometime.
He was building something. It wasn't clean or pro-level — but it was his.
And that felt good.
One afternoon, Joseph sprawled out on the grass next to Tyrunt, who was snoring away after a "successful" training session that ended with him chasing his tail for fifteen minutes straight.
Rotom hovered above them, playing back clips and adding goofy mustaches to Joseph's face whenever he yawned.
"Good job today, guys," Joseph said, voice soft. He ran his hand along Tyrunt's rocky scales. "We'll get there. Someday."
Rotom buzzed out of the PokéGear and gave him a ghostly high-five.
It was then — lying there in the golden afternoon sun — that Joseph realized something: Tyrunt was great, Rotom was a genius editor, but two Pokémon did not a champion make.
He needed a third teammate. Someone to round them out. Someone who could actually do what Tyrunt couldn't — maybe a speedster, or a clever type to balance Tyrunt's brute force.
He sat up, mind racing. "What do you think, Rotom? Should we do a 'Catch That Pokémon!' stream next?"
Rotom made a mini animation on the PokéGear: Joseph, Tyrunt, and Rotom dramatically posing with a giant question mark behind them.
[Chat]
"New Pokémon???"
"Pls get a derpy one."
"Catch a Magikarp lol."
Joseph smirked. "Not a Magikarp. I need someone who can actually help balance the team. Maybe an Electric-type? Or a Fighting-type?"
Rotom immediately projected an image of a wild Hawlucha flexing dramatically. Tyrunt, half-awake, growled in his sleep like he was wrestling the imaginary bird.
Joseph burst out laughing. "Okay, maybe not a Hawlucha yet. But we'll see what we find."
That night, he set up a poll on his EeTvee channel:
"Where should we go next for our first real catch stream?"
Route 5?
Santalune Forest?
Or maybe just the outskirts of Lumiose City?
His chat lit up with suggestions. Some people begged for him to catch something cute. Others wanted him to grab something totally weird. A few begged him to catch six Tyrunt and call it a day.
Joseph lay back on his bed, grinning at the chaos on screen. He'd started with a fossil dino and a prank ghost. Now he was planning real catches, real battles, real adventures — all live, all for the world to see.
He couldn't wait.
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