Five minutes earlier, at the Sinnoh League.
"So, that's all we have to do as Elite Four members?"
Flint scratched his striking red afro and looked at the two young men standing beside him with their arms folded.
"Understandable. It takes time to adjust to the duties of an Elite Four member."
Lucian adjusted his glasses. His long blue hair draped over his shoulders, lending him an air of quiet elegance.
"Besides, today's workload has already overloaded your brain, hasn't it?"
"You little-!"
Flint immediately flared up, but just as he was about to argue, he slumped back into his seat.
Because Lucian wasn't wrong.
Compared with the League's complicated paperwork, battling really was more his forte.
Fiery battles overflowing with passion!
"Ahaha... hey, don't start fighting inside the League!"
Aaron, wearing a tank top with a tuft of green hair sticking straight up, patted their shoulders with a helpless expression.
As Sinnoh Trainers of roughly the same age, the three had met during their journeys long ago. They had never expected to become members of Sinnoh's Elite Four at the same time.
Still, given how Flint and Lucian got along, that might not necessarily be a good thing...
"Instead of bickering with Lucian, Flint, you should work on climbing the ranks. Cynthia's right-your tactical skills are nowhere near your Pokémon-raising skills!"
The three newly appointed Elite Four members each had a very distinct personal style.
The Psychic-type specialist Lucian was mature and steady. As a Psychic, he excelled at planning ahead and seizing the advantage;
The Bug-type specialist Aaron excelled at putting every Pokémon on his team to use, and his team composition was highly systematic;
The Fire-type specialist Flint had poured every ounce of his talent into all-out offense. He was a pure hothead, always embodying the Fire type's blazing aggression in battle.
The last member, the elderly Ground-type specialist Bertha, was more like an adviser to these youngsters than a fellow Elite Four member.
Then there was Champion Cynthia, with her balanced team and unfathomable strength.
A storm of youthful energy was about to sweep through the Sinnoh League.
"But I run a sun team. Do I really need tactics...?"
Flint scratched his head.
Ever since becoming a Trainer, he had relied on the simple, unpretentious strategy of going all out against his opponent. Being asked to use his brain now really didn't sit well with him.
Still, since the boss had said so, he could only give it a try if he wanted to get stronger.
It was also thanks to Cynthia taking the lead that Flint could slack off during work hours and use Pokémon Champions to improve his understanding of team composition.
Wait, how could this count as slacking off?
He was clearly putting in overtime to improve his fighting strength as an Elite Four member!
"Hey, quit spacing out! You've found an opponent!"
Aaron's reminder interrupted Flint's thoughts.
At the same time, Lucian adjusted his glasses again and examined the opponent's team.
"A very mixed team. I can't tell which Pokémon is the centerpiece. A Trainer who uses multiple types, then..."
"Wait, what's that Chansey doing there?"
Halfway through his analysis, Lucian suddenly raised an eyebrow, realizing there was more to this than met the eye.
When an odd Pokémon appeared in battle, it was usually the opponent's specialty.
They had to treat it cautiously.
"Huh? Someone made it to Great Ball rank with a Chansey? I'll wipe the floor with them!"
Still oblivious to the seriousness of the situation, Flint followed his usual tactical style and locked in Ninetales as his lead.
As soon as the match was found, energetic music began to play.
Meanwhile, the opposing Trainer's avatar and team appeared one after another in the center of Qingyu's large screen.
"Flint?"
Qingyu paused.
That unmistakable afro, combined with a sun team belonging to a diehard Fire-type fanatic...
Ninetales, Houndoom, Arcanine, Rapidash, Magmortar, and Infernape.
There was no doubt about it. This was Sinnoh's Fire-type Elite Four member.
Yet even though Qingyu had recognized his opponent, the chat was surprisingly quiet about it.
He had probably only just joined the Elite Four and wasn't very well known yet.
After giving Flint's team a quick once-over, Qingyu's lips soon curved into a smile.
"A sun team, huh? That makes things easy."
"His lead is a thousand percent going to be Ninetales. It'll trigger Drought when it comes out to set the weather, then he'll switch as needed to keep his weather setter healthy."
"So..."
As Qingyu finished speaking, the game finished loading.
"Chansey, I choose you!"
Qingyu, a handsome black-haired young man with a smile on his lips, stepped onto the Battle Court opposite Flint and his comical red afro.
Both threw their Poké Balls at the same time.
Chansey versus Ninetales.
As Ninetales appeared, the sunlight above the field instantly grew brighter.
Pokémon with Drought would temporarily change the weather to harsh sunlight upon entering battle.
Everything went just as Qingyu had predicted.
[??? This is getting more ridiculous by the minute. The streamer's not even pretending anymore!]
[It's pretty reasonable, actually. That team might as well announce it's setting up sun. But the streamer catching on instantly is seriously impressive...]
[Master Qingyu's got layers upon layers of plans!]
"Chansey, Charm!"
Rather than immediately ordering Minimize, Qingyu played it safe and weakened his opponent's offense first.
Although Ninetales was unquestionably a special attacker, an Elite Four opponent should know that it could learn the physical move Flare Blitz.
If Chansey got knocked out instantly, this match wouldn't make usable footage.
Chansey winked, trying to kill its opponent with cuteness, while Flint immediately made a switch.
The nine-tailed fox with its fluffy tails was recalled, replaced by Infernape, which had a clear advantage against Chansey.
Yet by sheer coincidence, this switch sent Infernape straight into Chansey's Charm.
Its eagerness to attack was instantly doused with cold water.
[Did you predict that too, Master Qingyu?]
[Your opponent's on the second level, but you're on the fifth?]
"That was definitely good luck, but honestly, it wouldn't make much difference what the opponent did."
"Chansey's physical defense is extremely low, and it really struggles against physical attackers, but..."
"No big deal!"
Qingyu hadn't expected that little bonus either, and immediately gave another command:
"Chansey, Minimize!"
Just as in the previous match, Chansey immediately began shrinking its body.
"Infernape, Close Combat!"
Flint reacted quickly too, ordering Infernape to launch a fierce assault.
As one of the Fighting type's ultimate attacks, Close Combat packed considerable power, and it was super effective against the Normal-type Chansey.
While shrinking, Chansey took a solid elbow strike from Infernape.
However...
It didn't knock its opponent out in a single hit, as most people had expected.
It only took off around thirty percent of Chansey's health.
Everyone watching the stream sucked in a sharp breath-
[Master Qingyu, you liar! You call that low physical defense???]
[A super-effective move with a same-type bonus, and it barely scratched Chansey?]
[How can a Pokémon be this broken?!]
If Alakazam barely scratching Chansey was understandable, Infernape failing to break through its defenses made no sense at all.
"Chansey, Minimize!"
After shrinking its body again, Chansey was unlucky enough to fail to dodge Infernape's second Close Combat.
After taking two Fighting-type attacks in succession, its health finally dropped into a fairly dangerous range.
But Qingyu wasn't worried. He calmly issued another command:
"Soft-Boiled!"
Under the eyes of every viewer watching the stream, Chansey leisurely took a small egg out of its belly pouch.
It swallowed the egg in one bite and digested it in an instant.
Its health immediately returned to a healthy level.
[Holy shit?? All that chipping away, and one bite heals it all back? How the hell do you fight this?!]
[Hmm... the little eggs Chansey lays are indeed nutritious, so this makes perfect sense... like hell it does!]
[Chansey was this disgusting all along?]
"Hehe, now that's a pink demon!"
Hearing the shock in his viewers' comments, Qingyu couldn't help chuckling smugly.
A struggling writer's diary, May 6.
I think I wrote a little too much Pokémon-raising content over the last few days. The number of readers keeping up has dropped a bit -.-
But all the early groundwork is done now, and there won't be any new Pokémon for a while after Riolu is caught. I can safely pick up the pace a little and get more plot developments rolling!
I'll do everything I can to make this book exciting, so please don't save up chapters, dear readers! Boohoo qwq
Before you continue