You're Not Allowed to Play Pokémon!

"Explosion!"

On the livestream, Iono visibly froze for a moment when she heard her opponent's decisive command.

"Huh?"

Of course, even if she had reacted in time, she had no chance to act during the switch.

Onscreen, Iono's trainer avatar had already thrown a Poké Ball.

A red light flashed, and an affable-looking Bellibolt flew out of the Poké Ball.

As it landed, the Stealth Rock and two layers of Spikes that Skarmory had left on the field before leaving took effect.

Although the hazards weren't fully stacked, their effect was still considerable, shaving off a chunk of its HP right away.

After stepping on the spikes, the slow-witted Bellibolt belatedly registered the pain. A fierce gleam soon appeared in its eyes as it raised its head.

But the moment it looked up, it was dumbfounded again.

Whoa, why was the Pokémon across from it glowing?

And why was there a beeping sound that kept getting faster...?

Oh, crap!

"Bellibolt, Protect!"

Iono immediately shouted, but it was already too late.

Within Trick Room, Bronzong wore an evil grin as it moved like lightning.

As it approached Bellibolt, white light gradually engulfed its body. Even through the screen, everyone could sense the tremendous burst of energy about to hit.

BOOOOM!

Blinding white light burst out of the screen. The livestream viewers heard a thunderous blast and instinctively shut their eyes.

When the light gradually faded and they looked back at the stream, Bellibolt and Bronzong were both lying on the field, knocked out.

[Who invited the paladin? That nearly blinded me! Kick them!]

[Huh? We're using Explosion now?]

[Come on, dude, are you even human? That move is so disgusting...]

[Can someone calculate how traumatized poor Iono is right now? lol]

Explosion-as its name alone suggested-was an extraordinarily powerful finishing move.

But it was just as Qingyu had said earlier.

Powerful moves often came with equally unbearable side effects.

Because Explosion's energy made no distinction between friend and foe, the Pokémon using it would immediately faint.

On the surface, Bronzong and Bellibolt had taken each other out, leaving the score evenly matched at 2-2.

In reality, however, the momentum had swung entirely in Qingyu's favor.

Bronzong had already been low on HP, good for nothing but death fodder. Trading it for another Pokémon was an enormous win.

And there were still those even more troublesome entry hazards on the field.

"Good thing I was one step ahead."

Qingyu recalled Bronzong, whose eyes had already turned into spirals, and smiled faintly.

"I thought I might not get the chance today, but I actually ran into an expert at the end. Perfect timing to show you how this team really works."

"Just to be clear, that play doesn't reflect my personal wishes as a streamer. It's purely a little gaming trick. I'd also advise everyone never to use moves like Explosion in actual battles. They can damage the bond between Trainers and Pokémon."

"I'm a devoted Pokémon lover, and I would never hurt Pokémon in real life!"

Only after leading with that sweeping disclaimer did Qingyu leisurely throw his next Poké Ball.

Now that he had shown his hand, Iono would probably be on guard.

So his next choice should ideally be able to take down that Mismagius quickly.

The answer was obvious.

"Go, Metagross."

At his words, some of the more perceptive viewers instinctively looked at his team.

After a brief moment of thought, they all slapped their thighs.

[Holy shit, dude, what do you do for a living? Are you taking revenge on society here?!]

[Is this what I think it is...? No wonder the streamer's team looked so weird. Is he seriously about to blow up in his opponent's face?]

[He's literally blowing up in their face. Could a human being even come up with a team this cursed?]

[You're not allowed to play Pokémon!]

Qingyu's team appeared to revolve around entry hazards, lowering the threshold for knockouts to enable a fast offensive.

But until now, every viewer had overlooked one thing-

Once the hazards had chipped away at their HP, what could finish opponents off better than Explosion?

And more than half of this unassuming team consisted of "demolition experts" capable of using Explosion???

Apart from Bronzong, which had already burned itself out, Forretress, Metagross, and Magnezone were all heavy hitters, each an expert at blowing itself up.

This was a literal suicide squad!

"Go, Mismagius."

Although Qingyu's play had thoroughly disgusted her, Iono's discipline as a Gym Leader allowed her to regain her composure quickly and face the rest of the battle.

Mismagius's Levitate Ability let it avoid the Spikes, so its HP was still fairly healthy after entering the field.

You like blowing yourself up, huh? Let's see you blow up this Mismagius too!

Explosion was a Normal-type attack. Unless the opponent had the Scrappy Ability, it would have no effect on the Ghost-type Mismagius.

"Shadow Ball!"

"Knock Off!"

Their commands rang out simultaneously. The viewers who had been roasting Qingyu in chat instinctively stopped typing and returned their attention to the battle.

Since Trick Room was still in effect, Mismagius's ability to act quickly was hampered to some extent.

As a result, Metagross struck first instead, winding up its iron fist and landing a blow squarely on Mismagius's head.

Not only did it knock off Mismagius's Life Orb, it nearly emptied its HP bar outright.

Mismagius's retaliatory Shadow Ball did, admittedly, deal substantial damage to Metagross.

"But that doesn't matter. It won't get another chance to attack!"

As a veteran pseudo-legendary and a perennial competitive staple, Metagross had combat prowess that Mismagius simply couldn't match.

A smile spread across Qingyu's face as he delivered his final verdict-

"Metagross, Bullet Punch!"

A fist flashed out as fast as the wind. Mismagius, the only Pokémon on Iono's side that could withstand Explosion, fell unconscious on the spot.

At that point, the outcome was settled.

[How are you supposed to fight this? You can't beat him head-on, and when you finally wear him down, he just fires off an Explosion and takes another one with him...]

[You can't attack, and you can't not attack. This is way too dirty!]

[Psyduck frowned, sensing there was more to this than met the eye.jpg]

"I've won."

A confident smile lit up Qingyu's face.

He wasn't in the habit of popping champagne at halftime.

Unless he was one hundred percent certain, he would never tempt fate by declaring victory early.

But with a full field of hazards bearing down on them, Iono's three remaining Pokémon could no longer put up a fight. He was guaranteed to win even without Explosion.

Meanwhile, in Iono's livestream.

Iono's face was ashen, her eyes vacant. She looked utterly broken.

"I lost..."

Finally, she sighed. Rather than continue struggling pointlessly, she decisively surrendered.

His tactics were way too twisted, and he'd timed Explosion perfectly. There hadn't been any time to react and block it with Protect...

Whether it was tactics, commands, or predicting the next move, she'd lost to her opponent in every respect.

This guy was definitely no rookie. He was an absolute monster!

But precisely because of that, Iono started grumbling to herself again:

With skills like yours, why aren't you competing for one of Paldea's vacant Elite Four seats? Why come to Poké TV and compete with a newbie like me?!

Are you trying to ruin the competitive scene?!

Thanks to "Freeloader Who's Been Reading Novels for 11 Years" for the tip.