I can't take it anymore-I'm blowing up on you!

Paldea Region, Levincia Gym.

"I need to look up who this guy actually is. I don't think I've even heard of his Gym..."

After losing to Qingyu and having her winning streak snapped, Iono naturally lost the mood to keep streaming.

But once she ended her stream, she became even more curious about the identity of this "Azure Feather."

At least she could be certain that none of Paldea Region's eight major Gyms had anyone like him, so he could only belong to some other amateur Gym.

"But someone who came up with two highly polished strategies that are definitely original has to be an experienced Trainer..."

"So how come I've never heard of him before?"

Although she had only recently taken over the position of Gym Leader from her parents, she was still very familiar with the Paldea League's well-known veterans.

The more she thought about it, the more curious this puzzle made her.

Iono had always been someone who took action. Once a question arose, she would inevitably find a way to answer it.

And the way to get that answer was very simple-

As a Gym Leader, she naturally had access to the League's internal network. Finding out exactly who this Gym Leader unwilling to reveal his name was wouldn't be difficult.

Yet her search nearly left her too stunned to speak.

"Sunshine Gym... So there really are League Gyms that aren't named after cities? It's in Cabo Poco in the South Province? That's pretty out of the way..."

"Huh? This Gym suspended operations six months ago?"

"The reason was..."

"The Gym Leader couple went missing during survey work in Area Zero???"

Staring at the file bearing the Paldea League's official seal, Iono was dumbfounded.

Every Paldean knew about the major incident in Area Zero six months ago.

Exploration of the mysterious Area Zero had been a major focus of the League for nearly a decade.

Under the direction of the region's married professors, Sada and Turo, the previous expeditions had achieved promising results, successfully establishing several research stations within it.

They had even uncovered the principles behind the wondrous phenomenon of Terastallization, allowing the Tera Orbs used to control it to be mass-produced.

However, six months ago, the professors had overruled all objections and ventured deep into Area Zero's Terastal mines to build a time machine, only for an accident to occur.

To this day, no one knew what had actually happened in Area Zero.

But after so much time, the people who had gone missing back then had probably already...

Iono sighed. If she had known beforehand that the news would be this grim, she probably wouldn't have wanted to look into it.

Since the Gym Leader couple had gone missing, surely the only person who could have inherited the Sunshine Gym was their child?

Sure enough, the information on the Gym's current successor had already been updated.

Qingyu, age 18, Sunshine Gym Leader.

His identity also matched that of the streamer named "Azure Feather." It really was him.

So the guy who just beat me was actually this young?

The same age as me?

Iono's pupils widened several times over.

This world had never lacked geniuses. There were plenty of people who had become Champions at eighteen.

But compared with those distant legends from other regions, this boy her own age named Qingyu was the closest one to her.

An eighteen-year-old tactical master.

If none of these accidents had happened, he'd probably already be competing for this year's Champion title, wouldn't he?

What a shame...

Just recovering from the blow of his parents going missing had probably taken everything he had.

Maybe this attempt at streaming was also his first step out of that darkness?

Iono suddenly felt a little remorseful. Remembering how she had planned to use him as a stepping stone to gain some traffic not long ago, she felt an inexplicable pang of shame.

He's already had it so rough. I really can't bring myself to compete with him...

After losing to Qingyu, her outlook had indeed changed a little.

Once she learned this "Azure Feather's" real identity through official channels, she felt genuine admiration for this resilient young man.

Should I give him a hand?

Just as she sighed and prepared to shut down her computer and stop thinking about the news, something appeared.

It was a notification from Poké TV.

"The video creator you follow, 'Azure Feather,' just uploaded a new video!"

At midnight, Qingyu was sleeping soundly with Eevee in his arms.

The video he had edited earlier appeared on Poké TV right on time as a scheduled upload.

The moment it went live, plenty of viewers hungry for more flooded in.

[Ohhh, it's here, it's here!]

[It's only midnight. You didn't think I'd gone to bed, did you?]

[I actually watched it live this time. The streamer used a Self-Destruct and entry hazard strategy to make Iono surrender. I've never seen a strategy this diabolical!]

Most of those waiting on Poké TV right on time were fans from Qingyu's stream, hoping for a more comprehensive, detailed lesson they could take straight into ranked battles to climb.

Especially after Qingyu said in the video that this strategy had a limited window of effectiveness and wouldn't work as well once everyone knew about it, the viewers fell silent for quite a while.

Everyone focused intently on Qingyu's video lesson, and the density of on-screen comments dropped noticeably.

Since he had actually used this strategy only once, the footage for this episode clearly came from his battle against Iono.

Whether it was Skarmory, which entered despite an unfavorable type matchup and laid down the crucial entry hazards;

Or Bronzong, which turned the entire battle around with Trick Room before making one final contribution with Explosion;

Or even Metagross, which put on a display of brutal beauty by knocking out an opponent with every punch.

All of them had undoubtedly left a deep impression on the viewers.

And Iono's decisive surrender at the end also seemed to confirm the strategy's viability.

Soon, the video reached its conclusion, and Qingyu gave his final summary:

"Simply put, use entry hazards to chip away at their HP and establish an HP advantage. Once you've taken out one of your opponent's Pokémon, use Explosion to widen that advantage further."

"'I can't take it anymore-I'm blowing up on you!' That's the core of this strategy."

"Besides the Pokémon used in the video, there are plenty of other options you can add to the team. You can adjust those according to your own ideas, class."

[So you can use entry hazards like this... Got it. Time to climb the ranks!]

[Guys, I suggest you bring more Pokémon with the Damp Ability on your teams over the next few days. Don't ask how I know!]

[I hardly ever ran into them before, so I never noticed. Can laying down some entry hazards really have this much impact on the whole battle?]

Qingyu had actually put a little thought into his last two streams. The strategies he chose were relatively simple, and as long as viewers understood the principles, they could pick them up quickly.

After watching the video, many viewers declared that they were ready to take on anyone again. They were rubbing their hands together, preparing to enter ranked battles and exploit this information gap to climb.

As the progress bar reached the end, Qingyu anticipated exactly what the viewers were thinking and posed a soul-searching question:

"After watching this video, I'm sure you've all gained some understanding of how important entry hazards are in Single Battles."

"So today's homework will help you broaden your thinking-"

"Since entry hazards are so nasty, what methods can we use to clear away the ones our opponents set?"

The viewers were clearly stumped by this question.

What should they do when they didn't know the answer?

Head to the comments and find the class representative, of course~