After wrapping up his stream in triumph, Qingyu soon received a message from Cynthia.
[I watched the recording of your battle with Flint. That Minimize strategy was really interesting.]
[Though it looks like you put our Sinnoh Elite Four member through quite the wringer. (Piplup smirking.jpg)]
A screenshot was attached as well.
In the picture, the young Elite Four member Flint was slumped in his chair, his eyes vacant and lifeless.
It looked as though his own strategy had broken him.
Qingyu scratched his head.
It was just a Minimize team. He hadn't even cranked up the intensity yet. Surely that wasn't enough to make an Elite Four-level Trainer question his entire existence?
"Still, for a Fire-type Trainer used to playing hyper offense, I guess it really is pretty cruel?"
All that explosive damage he took such pride in landed as harmlessly as punches into cotton, while his opponent dragged things out and wore him down to death...
Whoa. That's kind of terrifying, man.
At that thought, Qingyu immediately typed out a message.
[The lad's mental game needs work. I recommend upping the dose. Let Professor Yu show him how brutal battling can be!]
[As an Elite Four member, how's he supposed to guard Victory Road if he can't even get past a stall team?]
[Besides, however you look at it, I'm helping train our Sinnoh forces here!]
[My body is in Paldea, but my heart belongs to Sinnoh!]
Loyal! And true!
On the other end of the PokéNav, Cynthia couldn't help smiling at Qingyu's messages.
She could tell at a glance that his reasoning was nonsense, but it was rather cute.
[Then, Mr. Qingyu, our most loyal man, whose body is in Paldea but whose heart belongs to Sinnoh-]
[Would you be interested in letting me experience your new strategy too?]
"Huh?"
Qingyu froze for a moment.
As soon as he recovered, he opened Pokémon Champions and went straight to the ranked ladder to check the standings.
He didn't even have to scroll down. A familiar Trainer avatar stood right there on the first page.
Trainer ID: Ice Cream Indecisive Ladder tier: Master Ball Current ranking: 2
"Hiss-"
Qingyu sucked in a breath.
Wait, me against Cynthia?
Seriously?
A small-time streamer who debuted less than a week ago versus Sinnoh's strongest Champion...
Would I win?
But if he really battled Cynthia, couldn't that also provide some ideas for countering his strategy?
Qingyu had always wanted to include lessons on countering his own strategies in his videos.
Actually pulling that off, however, was pretty difficult.
A purely verbal explanation was hard to follow, and ranked matchmaking rarely gave him opponents who could see through his intentions.
With Cynthia, though, it might actually work.
Besides, her account hadn't been verified under her real name, so nobody knew who she was...
"Let's do it!"
Qingyu gritted his teeth and typed a short, direct message:
[Log in!]
November 7, the beginning of winter.
The video about Chansey-or, more precisely, the Minimize strategy-swept across the internet overnight.
[Never seen a strategy this cursed in my life. Type 1 to check on Professor Yu's mental state!]
[I was there. The streamer's Chansey went on an absolute rampage!]
[You're not allowed to play Pokémon!]
Plenty of viewers who had caught the stream immediately flocked to the video, leaving bullet comments brimming with "goodwill."
"A Scientific Minimize Team is a strategy built around the move Minimize."
"While it leans toward stall, with enough setup, it also has the potential to sweep an entire team."
Qingyu's rich voice rang out. After briefly outlining the Minimize team's strategy, the video quickly moved into a recorded Great Ball-tier match.
Against a sun team's explosive firepower, Qingyu's Chansey not only tanked every attack but even shrank right in front of her opponent until she was barely visible to the naked eye.
After that, almost none of the opponent's moves landed again.
Finally, using Seismic Toss and Toxic-two moves that could only be described as the ultimate insult-he drove his opponent into angrily unplugging their network cable.
[Is... is this right? Is this how you're supposed to play Pokémon battles?]
[Humanity understands less than 1% of just how dirty Professor Yu's mind really is!]
[Stop slaughtering everyone, streamer! Mommy's scared!]
After watching him sweep through a team as effortlessly as ever, the satisfied viewers were just about to close the video.
Just then, Qingyu's voice rang out again:
"Now, some of you in the bullet comments might be asking-"
"Professor Yu, Professor Yu! What should I do if I run into this Minimize team?"
"Well, keep watching and you'll find out~"
[Whoa, the progress bar isn't at the end yet? Am I under an illusion?]
[The streamer's actually not short today. Never thought I'd live to see it!]
The second half of the main video was another recorded battle.
This time, however, Qingyu was the one getting wrecked.
Once Chansey's Minimize strategy went off as planned, she should have been free to make her opponent miserable.
Yet the opposing Trainer remained perfectly calm.
"Garchomp, Dragon Rush!"
While Chansey was using Minimize, Garchomp had already seized the opportunity to use Swords Dance once.
Garchomp's gaze sharpened. With his power boosted, he immediately soared high into the air, then pinpointed Chansey's general location and slammed down, kicking up clouds of dust.
By the time the haze cleared, Chansey was already lying on the field with spirals in her eyes.
[Huh? Where's my tiny little Chansey? How did she get one-shot?]
[Hold on... that opponent's ID... isn't that the superstrong Trainer currently ranked second?!]
[So these are Professor Yu's connections? Love it, love it!]
"If your opponent is in a minimized state, moves that crush the target work extremely well. That's another useful way to counter Minimize teams."
As the bullet comments gradually drifted off topic, Qingyu's commentary rang out again.
"Alternatively, you can boost your own stats while your opponent uses Minimize, then knock them out in one hit with a move that can't be evaded."
"All right, that's it for today's introduction. Class dismissed!"
The progress bar soon reached the end.
"This one's getting pretty popular, huh?"
After checking the video's view count, Qingyu nodded in satisfaction.
That's me for you. I'm bound to become a big-time streamer sooner or later!
It seemed that Nurse Joy from Flat Dish Town really had shared this video in the Joy family's group chat, just as she'd said in the bullet comments.
More than half of the top comments below came from Nurse Joys across various regions.
[Professor Yu's strategy works so well! Now I can use Chansey to punish poachers who cause trouble!]
[My Chansey really loves Professor Yu's videos. Though I can't help feeling that her smile looks a little strange after watching them...]
A single video had earned him plenty of goodwill from Nurse Joys. Qingyu felt as though he'd inadvertently done something quite meaningful.
Medical staff are easy targets for troublemakers?
Then just tackle the problem at its source and deal with the bad people causing trouble. Problem solved!
I'm such a kindhearted soul.
Qingyu smiled faintly, keeping his accomplishments to himself.
Just then, someone knocked on the Gym's front door.
"Is Professor Yu here? I'm Nurse Joy from Flat Dish Town. I've come to challenge the Gym~"
Nurse Joy's sweet, lively voice reached Qingyu through the door.
A visitor?
And it's that Nurse Joy?
Qingyu was a little puzzled, but he was still delighted that another challenger had finally come to his Gym.
[Nurse Joy has come to challenge you!]
If this were a game, a notification like that would probably pop up, right?
A Flop's Diary, 5.7
Today's the last day of double monthly votes! Dear readers, if you still have any votes left, now's the time to use them (expectant gaze)~
Before you continue