Is This Seriously Not Brave Bird?

While Garchomp was still bewildered, Cynthia had already turned her attention back to the screen.

She opened yesterday's game, and as the interface finished loading, the livestream instantly began.

Almost the very second she went live, the viewer count began climbing from zero at a visible pace, quickly reaching seven or eight people. The chat also began scrolling rapidly.

[Holy shit, the streamer's live again!]

[Up this early? You're way too diligent, aren't you?]

[Diligent my ass. You streamed for less than an hour yesterday and bailed. Streamer, can you explain why you didn't even tell us before ending the stream?]

[Did the power suddenly go out where the streamer lives? Did it only come back now?]

Cynthia's expression was a little complicated as she watched the scrolling chat fill the screen.

Was it as if she didn't want to keep playing?

Wasn't she only allowed to play for one hour...

"Sorry, something came up yesterday. I'll stream a little longer today, around two hours."

Cynthia looked at the screen and spoke.

What she got in return was even more chat messages.

[Two hours? You might as well go home and plant Oran Berries. You only stream two hours a day!]

[We asked you to cosplay Cynthia, not pretend you're actually as busy as Cynthia!!]

[The streamer is the Sinnoh Champion. It's perfectly reasonable for her to have tons of things to do and only stream two hours a day, right?]

Meanwhile, Cynthia did not exchange any more pleasantries with the viewers. Her fingers were already on the keyboard, and her eyes sharpened once more.

Continue!

She loaded the save. The screen flashed, and her character returned to the entrance of Rustboro Gym.

With her previous experience, the first two trainers could not stop Cynthia at all without a lineup as absurd as the Gym Leader's.

Soon, she was standing before the girl in the gray umbrella skirt again.

[Welcome to Rustboro Gym. I'm the Gym Leader, Roxanne!]

[Let me show you the sturdy and powerful hearts of Rock-type Pokémon!]

Familiar lines, familiar electronic music.

The battle began!

This time, Cynthia led with Dottler, while Roxanne still led with that Carracosta.

Cynthia did not hesitate and immediately selected Reflect. The Pokémon in this Gym all seemed to specialize in physical attacks, so this was undoubtedly the first screen she needed to set up.

But in the very next moment, the opposing Carracosta, which moved first on the screen, suddenly shuddered. A red glow erupted from its body.

[Carracosta used Shell Smash!]

Onscreen, Carracosta's shell suddenly exploded apart.

[Carracosta's Attack rose! Carracosta's Speed rose! Carracosta's Defense fell!]

Only then did Dottler's Reflect arrive belatedly.

At that moment, Cynthia suddenly realized there was a huge problem.

She had already checked Dottler's typing. It leaned toward defense, its offensive capabilities were not outstanding, and it relied on Special Attack.

Now that Carracosta had boosted itself with Shell Smash and lowered its Defense, Dottler still did not seem capable of dealing much damage to it.

But Carracosta could keep boosting.

Even if she switched Pokémon this turn... after a second boost, it would hardly matter whether Reflect was up or not, would it?

What... should she do now?

Sure enough, what followed was practically a one-sided massacre.

Dottler stayed on the field for one turn and used Swarm, but it did not deal much damage.

Carracosta used Shell Smash again.

Dottler used Swarm once more, bringing its opponent down to half health.

But after three Shell Smashes, Carracosta was like a rabid dog. One Ancient Power took out Dottler, and then, against the Shroomish that came in, it moved first thanks to its enormous Speed and instantly killed it with Rock Slide!

Torchic could not take it either and was one-shot as well.

[SHIRONA's vision went dark!]

The screen turned gray again.

Then came the chat's gleeful laughter.

[Who said the turtle wasn't as good as the flower before? This turtle seems pretty damn good to me.]

[Shell Smash at level sixteen? Roxanne, is that turtle even legal?]

[Hahahaha, the streamer got swept again...]

[Shell Smash! Shell Smash! Great Jade Shatter!]

Cynthia stared at the screen, her brows tightly furrowed.

Unlike last time, she did not immediately start thinking about what new Pokémon to catch. Instead, she replayed the entire process of how her team had just been swept.

Shell Smash... sacrificing Defense in exchange for massive boosts to both offenses and Speed.

What concerned her even more was that, unlike last time, Roxanne had immediately chosen to use Shell Smash when facing her Amaterasu Bug, as though Roxanne knew she was going to set up Reflect.

The NPCs in this game... actually had battle awareness?

Cynthia took a deep breath and loaded the save again.

This time, setting up a screen right away was clearly not going to work. She had to try a different approach.

After only a few seconds of thought, she had a new idea.

The battle began again.

Roxanne still led with Carracosta, but Cynthia changed her lead back to Shroomish.

When the turn began, just like in their first battle, Roxanne chose to switch because Shroomish could instantly kill Carracosta!

[Roxanne withdrew Carracosta!]

[Roxanne sent out Skiddo!]

Cynthia frowned as she looked at Skiddo.

Last time, she had attacked with a Grass-type move, only to trigger Sap Sipper. It gave the opponent five stages of Attack, and her entire team was swept.

But this time, that definitely would not happen again!

As the opposing Skiddo came out, Shroomish did not use any move. It, too, turned into a streak of white light and vanished!

[Come back, Shroomish!]

[Go, Dottler!]

Dottler appeared on the battlefield.

At the start of the first turn, Cynthia had chosen to switch as well!

Since both sides had switched on the same turn, neither side used a move. Dottler entered the field unscathed and faced Skiddo!

Cynthia nodded slightly as she looked at the situation before her.

Sure enough, her guess had been correct.

If she sent out Dottler directly at the start, she would have no way to deal with Carracosta's Shell Smash.

But if Shroomish led, the opponent would fear Shroomish and proactively switch to Skiddo. If she then switched to Dottler as well, she could create the perfect opportunity to set up Reflect!

The chat reacted enthusiastically when they saw Cynthia's play.

[Is the streamer really not just pretending to be a newbie? She already knows how to double-switch?]

[Holy shit, that had to be a complete accident, right? She figured out a technique like that so quickly?]

[Not really. She just double-switched against an NPC with a predictable train of thought. It's not like she actually hard-read the opponent.]

[Her prediction skills... are worse than the real Cynthia's.]

Meanwhile, a new turn began.

Skiddo moved first. It stomped its front hoof, forming a massive rock that came crashing down on Dottler.

[Skiddo used Rock Slide!]

"Bang!"

The rock shattered, and Dottler's HP bar immediately dropped by two-thirds!

The damage was not low, but it was still within Cynthia's expectations.

The Oran Berry Dottler was holding activated, restoring a large chunk of its lost health.

Light flashed before Dottler, and an invisible golden barrier instantly unfolded, covering the entire field!

[Dottler used Reflect!]

For five turns, physical damage taken by her team would be halved!

Another new turn began.

Cynthia immediately selected Struggle Bug!

Skiddo moved again. It repeated its old trick, sending another Rock Slide crashing down!

This time, however, when the rocks struck Dottler, the damage was greatly reduced, taking away less than a third of its HP!

With Reflect protecting it, along with the healing from the Berry that had just activated, Dottler's HP remained firmly in the orange zone.

A powerful Bug-type energy erupted from Dottler's body, transforming into a dark red shockwave that slammed into the opposing Skiddo!

[Dottler used Struggle Bug!]

At the instant the shockwave struck, a blinding burst of light suddenly exploded across the screen!

[A critical hit!]

[It's super effective!]

Cynthia froze for a moment. Then, in the next second, the opposing Skiddo let out a wail, and its HP bar instantly dropped to zero!

[Skiddo fainted!]

Everyone in the livestream began commenting at once.

[Another crit? Isn't your crit rate a little too high?]

[Awesome. It was the same when she was grinding wild Pokémon earlier—constant crits. The streamer's Ability must be Super Luck.]

Meanwhile, Cynthia looked thoughtful as she watched the prompt onscreen.

This "crit" the chat mentioned was probably a "critical hit." She had occasionally seen that prompt while leveling up before. It seemed to trigger randomly, and once it did, it greatly increased the damage of that attack.

But she did not know whether there was a way to increase the chance of this additional effect occurring...

Still, now was not the time to dwell on that.

Because Roxanne had already withdrawn Skiddo, and immediately afterward, her second Pokémon entered the field.

[Roxanne sent out Carracosta Lv. 16!]

Cynthia's gaze sharpened, her mind racing.

This was the Carracosta whose Shell Smash had swept her team last time. Its core strategy was boosting with Shell Smash.

Since this NPC had battle awareness, then with Dottler having already set up Reflect, it would most likely judge that she could not quickly defeat it and choose to use Shell Smash!

In that case!

"Come back, Dottler!"

Cynthia chose to switch again!

[Go, Shroomish!]

Dottler retreated, and Shroomish entered the field!

The instant Shroomish landed, Carracosta's shell suddenly exploded apart, just as she had expected!

[Carracosta used Shell Smash!]

Red light shot skyward as its Attack, Special Attack, and Speed soared wildly!

But it paid a price for it—its Defense fell as well!

And now, Shroomish stood before it with Reflect active.

One Shell Smash was absolutely not enough for Carracosta to knock out a full-health Shroomish through Reflect!

"Bullet Seed!" Cynthia made her decision without hesitation.

After Shell Smash, Carracosta's Speed had surpassed Shroomish's. It moved first, and countless rocks rained down from above!

[Carracosta used Rock Slide!]

The rocks struck Shroomish, instantly vaporizing two-thirds of its HP bar!

Cynthia frowned.

That damage... even reduced by Reflect, it was still this high.

Without Reflect, that attack would absolutely have emptied Shroomish's HP bar!

But there were no what-ifs in battle.

It was time for her counterattack!

Shroomish opened its mouth and furiously fired golden seeds!

[Shroomish used Bullet Seed!]

The first seed hit!

Carracosta's HP bar instantly lost half its health!

The second seed followed immediately after!

[Hit 2 times! It's super effective!]

[Carracosta fainted!]

The chat began scrolling wildly again.

And one particular message made Cynthia pause slightly.

[Good thing the streamer picked Bullet Seed. It counted as a multi-hit move; otherwise, Sturdy would have kept it at 1 HP. I think Roxanne didn't switch because the turtle had Sturdy.]

So, while waiting for Roxanne's next Pokémon to take the field, she asked the chat:

"What... is Sturdy?"

The chat immediately launched into a chorus of explanations.

[Sturdy means that as long as it's at full HP, no matter how much damage it takes, it'll always be left with its last sliver of health and won't get one-shot. Multi-hit moves can break through that.]

[Right, so Roxanne's AI probably thought the turtle could take two hits, which was why she didn't switch it out.]

Cynthia nodded in realization, committing that information to memory.

Just then, Roxanne sent out her final Pokémon.

[This is quite unexpected, but I won't admit defeat just yet!]

[Roxanne sent out: Archen Lv.17!]

The Poké Ball on the screen opened, and a strange-looking Pokémon landed on the field.

It had colorful feathers and a sharp beak, but its body was covered in rock-like scales. It looked like both a bird and some kind of ancient reptile.

The chat exploded again.

[Here it comes! Holy shit, I thought this one wasn't in the game!]

[Dun dun dooon!]

[Do you understand the romance of a base 110 Attack stat in its basic form? The kindergarten battle god is here.]

Meanwhile, Cynthia's heart sank as she looked at the Pokémon.

Another Pokémon she had never seen before.

Judging from its appearance, it had wings and feathers, which meant it was most likely part Flying type.

That was very bad for her team. Neither Dottler nor Shroomish was good at dealing with Flying types...

Shroomish had less than a third of its health left. It was definitely at a disadvantage against a Flying type, but she couldn't let it go down for nothing. She had to use its remaining health to probe the opponent a little.

After thinking for a second, Cynthia selected the move—Stun Spore.

This move should have some kind of control effect. She didn't know exactly how it worked, but under the circumstances, it was the best choice. At least she wouldn't be using a Grass-type move on a Flying-type Pokémon.

However, before Shroomish could act, the opposing Archen had already flapped its wings and charged forward!

[Archen used Peck!!]

[Archen's Choice Band boosted the move's power!]

[It's super effective!]

The last sliver of HP above Shroomish's head vanished instantly under that blow.

[Shroomish fainted!]

Cynthia wasn't particularly surprised by that result.

Even with Reflect up, Shroomish's Defense was low to begin with. With so little health left and a type disadvantage on top of that, getting taken out was only natural.

But Reflect still had two turns left. That was more than enough!

"Go, Torchic!"

Cynthia switched in Torchic.

The showdown between the last two Pokémon had arrived!

"Use Ember!"

She directly selected the highest-power move.

However, Archen moved first again!

That golden beak turned into an afterimage once more as it shot straight toward Torchic!

[Archen used Peck!]

Cynthia wasn't nervous—Peck was merely one of the weakest Flying-type moves, and Torchic wasn't weak to Flying. By all rights, that hit shouldn't even take off half its health.

However... in the next instant—

Torchic's HP bar plummeted, turning red in an instant and leaving only the tiniest sliver!

Cynthia: ??

What the hell was that damage???

Without a type advantage, and even with Reflect up, Torchic could lose that much health?

Then without Reflect, wouldn't she have to owe it half a health bar??

...Are you sure that was Peck??

Wasn't that damn thing actually Brave Bird?