Who says the mouse clan has no emperor?

Just as Iono had reminded him, the main Pokémon Qingyu had used in his last two streams weren't all that common locally.

So this time, he decided to use a few Pokémon that could be found all over Paldea.

Generally speaking, besides the usual starter Pokémon, every region also had Pokémon such as a Route 1 Bird, a Route 1 Mouse, and a Route 1 Bug.

Their ceiling might not be high, but they at least offered a reliable baseline and could evolve very early.

That made them well suited for novice Trainers to catch and raise.

As for Paldea's Route 1 Mouse, now that was an interesting one.

On the stream, Qingyu quickly opened the team editor and dragged Maushold into his team.

"Anyone from Paldea should recognize this Pokémon, right?"

Calling it a single Pokémon wasn't quite accurate, though.

Maushold usually consisted of a family unit of two large mice and two small mice, with the rare combination of two adults and one child appearing occasionally.

An entire family crammed into one Poké Ball was a fairly rare sight in the Pokémon world.

Unfortunately, despite being parents and children, they didn't have the Parental Bond Ability like the big boss did.

Shaking with rage here! When would the mice finally get their day?!

[???]

[Isn't that Maushold? You can find loads of them pretty much anywhere in Paldea, right?]

[No fancy tricks this time? Are we getting a lesson on using ordinary Pokémon now? But I don't feel like there's much to say about Maushold...]

[I might suck, but surely I'm not so bad that I can't even use a Route 1 Mouse!]

Since today's star seemed a little too plain and unremarkable, some Paldean viewers had already started spamming question marks.

Qingyu merely smiled and ignored them.

"Who says the mouse clan has no emperor? Today, I'll show you just how oppressive Maushold can be!"

Come on. Did they really think a Route 1 Mouse couldn't be strong?

Easy-to-obtain Pokémon did generally share one common flaw-

Their low position in the ecosystem meant their potential strength was limited.

In other words, their base stats in the Pokédex weren't high.

But base stats were only one of the factors affecting Pokémon battles. They didn't necessarily mean a Pokémon was weak.

Take a certain Smeargle with a base stat total of 250. Would anyone call that weak? (Laughs.)

So...

Time for us mice to get serious!

Besides Maushold, Qingyu quickly added a few more Pokémon commonly found in Paldea to his team.

Meowscarada, Jumpluff, Talonflame, Corviknight, and Clodsire.

Going strictly by Pokédex order, Paldea's Route 1 Bird should have been Squawkabilly.

But Talonflame's first form, Fletchling, was so widespread that Qingyu could see flocks of them just by stepping outside.

Even Galar's Route 1 Bird, Corviknight, had a much stronger presence in Paldea than Squawkabilly did...

So Qingyu had optimized it out.

This lineup had a distinctly Paldean feel, with no obvious imbalance in its types, and it was reasonably capable in battle.

[Is today a Paldea special?]

[Professor Yu never seems to bring it up himself, so I'd almost forgotten you're a Paldea Gym Leader...]

[Huh? He is?]

[You could make a name for yourself as a big streamer on Poké TV, but you're holed up in Paldea running a little Gym?]

After clicking the matchmaking button, Qingyu noticed the chat's remarks, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

"Let me emphasize this again: I'm the Gym Leader of the Sunshine Gym in Cabo Poco, in the Paldea Region. I'm officially certified by the League!"

"If any local novice Trainers want to improve, you're welcome to challenge the Sunshine Gym~"

After giving his Gym another plug, Qingyu soon met his first opponent of the day.

Perhaps because of his winning streak, although he was only in the Great Ball tier, he had been matched against an opponent in the Great Ball tier above him, with a fairly high rating at that.

But why did the opposing lineup look so familiar at first glance...?

"Isn't this the Spikes team I taught everyone?"

After checking repeatedly to make sure, Qingyu broke into a grin.

[LMAO, they ran into the original creator. It'll be embarrassing if the streamer loses.]

[You've unleashed pure evil. Ranked is full of hazard setters now, and they all learned it from you!]

[Shouldn't proper Pokémon battles be passionate, head-on clashes? All I can say about these underhanded tricks is... coast's clear, give us more!]

[Since Professor Yu invented this strategy, he should know how to counter it too, right? Anyway, I've already quietly taken out my notebook.]

Judging by the chat's reaction, just one day of exposure had sent entry hazards running rampant in single battles?

Qingyu raised an eyebrow, though he wasn't surprised.

After all, entry hazards offered an enormous advantage in single battles. The locals simply hadn't explored these strategies before; that didn't mean they were idiots.

Once he showed them even a little of this lineup's advantages, plenty of people would naturally see the light and join the hazard-setting army. Some might even improve on Qingyu's lineup.

Qingyu was very much looking forward to that.

Wasn't that exactly how the standard of Pokémon battles had improved in his previous life?

Still, given the current overall level of play, he could continue running circles around everyone.

"Well, well, well. Using the strategy I taught you against me, huh? You've got some nerve!"

"And didn't chat say you can't break a technique taught by the same master? Today, Professor Yu will teach you how to counter entry hazard strategies!"

Qingyu said that with a smile, then locked in his lead without hesitation.

Soon, the screen flashed, and Qingyu's Trainer avatar appeared on the battlefield.

Both sides threw out their Poké Balls simultaneously.

Maushold VS Skarmory.

As a Normal-type Pokémon, Maushold had no type advantage against Skarmory.

The moment both Pokémon appeared, the opponent ordered Skarmory to set up Stealth Rock without hesitation.

With Maushold's speed, moving before the heavy-bodied Skarmory would have been easy, but Qingyu didn't rush to give an order.

"That little command formula Professor Yu taught you works pretty well, doesn't it?"

Qingyu chuckled.

"But after this, opponents will probably think twice before using it again."

"The formula's good, but you can't just apply it blindly!"

"Maushold, Encore!"

Having just scattered Stealth Rock across the field, Skarmory couldn't dodge in time and was struck by the energy Maushold released.

Under the move's effects, Skarmory could only keep using Stealth Rock for the next few turns.

And no matter how many times Stealth Rock was set up, it posed no threat to Qingyu's side.

"They aren't planning to switch. They must think Maushold can't hurt Skarmory, and once Encore ends, one Roost will put them right back in business..."

After briefly watching his opponent and finding that he made no move, Qingyu smiled.

"You're still too green, buddy!"

Even if it weren't Maushold, another Route 1 Mouse could practically gnaw Skarmory to death with Hyper Fang alone.

Not to mention, he had a special move specifically for countering entry hazards.

"Maushold, use Tidy Up!"

A struggling writer's diary, 4/27

The book went up for another round of recommendations today. The results seem pretty decent?

A reader brought up how the protagonist has too few Pokémon for a Gym Leader. I actually considered that when I started this book, and my final decision was-

If I can't highlight the personalities and special traits-the cheats-of the protagonist's Pokémon, catching more of them doesn't mean much. They'd just be tools, and that's a lesson I learned from my last book -.-

So at the moment, the Sunshine Gym only has one Pokémon, Eevee. He should be catching his second in the next story arc.

As for the Gym having too few Pokémon, that's easy enough to explain. Just make the Gym's rules 1v1 for now~

That's all. Thank you, everyone, for supporting this book. And once again, dear readers, please keep up with the latest chapters on Tuesday qwq