You're Treating Me Like Team Rocket, Huh?

"Hello, hello? Moshi moshi? Aloha? Can you hear me?"

That classic, bizarre four-language opener instantly brought the viewers who had been waiting in the stream to life.

"Thank goodness, it's Mr. Shui! The flight I've been waiting for all day can finally take off!"

"Aaaaaah! Bro, you've got some nerve saying that!"

"Opening with the classic Noble Roar. Wouldn't you explode if I whipped out Golden Whiskers?"

"Tell us, what were you doing on your day off yesterday?"

"Update, update, update! Can you hurry up and post the second half of Arceus's Genesis?!"

"Never watched this kind of video before, but it's legit good. You have my permission to take another day off to finish the next episode."

"A whole day? Half a day! I want the update waiting for me when I wake up!"

"..."

Once the drama surrounding Iono and Raihan died down, most of the trolls disappeared, and the stream returned to its usual cheerful atmosphere.

He certainly wasn't making as much money as he had then, but Xia Chi preferred streaming like this.

"My day off yesterday? Obviously I was fooling around at the Jynx Club. What else would I have been doing, editing videos?"

"You want an update when you wake up? No problem. Find a Hypno to hypnotize you for a month, and there'll definitely be an update when you wake up."

As he bantered with chat, Xia Chi launched Pokémon: Champion's Path.

"Today's program is still ranking up for Admiral subscribers."

The recent surge in popularity had converted some passersby into fans, and Xia Chi had gained two more Admiral subscribers.

Unless something unusual came up, his streams would be spent helping them climb the ranks.

Generally, fans willing to pay for an Admiral subscription weren't short on money, and their accounts were well stocked.

But the account belonging to this Admiral, "Kanto's Most Devoted Lover," was ridiculously stacked.

Aside from Legendary Pokémon that weren't included in the game's Pokédex, it had everything, all with top-tier individual values and effort values. They were fully battle-ready.

Clearly, quite a fortune had gone into it.

Of course, Kanto's Most Devoted Lover wasn't low-ranked either. This was yet another high-rated player in the Great Ball tier.

But Xia Chi wasn't remotely intimidated by even the very top-ranked matches, let alone high-rated ones.

Just as he was about to assemble a lineup and start running circles around people, the account owner sent a paid message worth 1,000.

"Mr. Shui, can I request a specific Pokémon?"

Xia Chi readily agreed. "Of course! Request whatever you want!"

They were Trainers, after all. It was perfectly normal to have a favorite Pokémon or want to learn how to play one.

As a streamer who doted on his fans, Xia Chi naturally wouldn't turn down such a reasonable request.

Then "Kanto's Most Devoted Lover" sent another paid message.

"Really, streamer? I want to see Psyduck!"

Xia Chi: "..."

Come on, man. You're in the Great Ball tier, just below Master Ball. Do you not want your rating anymore?

You bastard, now you're bringing Psyduck into this?!

I figured anyone paying for an Admiral subscription had to be a loyal fan. Turns out, underneath that disguise, you're still just a chaos-loving troll!

Looking thoroughly exasperated, Xia Chi grumbled, "Bro, you're treating me like Team Rocket here, aren't you?"

But there was nothing he could do. He had already agreed, so amid chat's gleeful laughter, he could only start thinking through possible team compositions.

Psyduck was a prime example of a largely useless baby Pokémon.

Sure, Misty's Duck God could unleash terrifying psychic powers when a headache struck.

But that was one exceptional individual, not something that could be replicated in the game.

And unlike Trapinch, with its naturally low Speed and high Attack, or Pachirisu, with its abundance of support moves,

Psyduck was thoroughly mediocre in both stats and movepool.

Building a genuinely strong team around Psyduck was impossible. He would have to take another approach and see if he could pull off something dirty.

The moment dirty tricks came to mind, Xia Chi perked up. His brain raced, and he soon came up with a strategy that should work in theory.

As he selected Pokémon and assigned their moves, the screen remained flooded with bewildered question marks.

A handful of passersby unfamiliar with Xia Chi, along with trolls eager to stir up trouble, continued posting skeptical, pessimistic comments.

Xia Chi said nothing. He simply put together this pick-three-from-six Single Battle team at speed-

Garchomp, Dudunsparce, Blaziken, Whimsicott, Grimmsnarl,

and that vacant-looking yellow duck clutching its head.

Any Pokémon battle enthusiast from his previous life would have recognized it immediately. Wasn't this just a Blaziken Speed Boost setup-and-Baton Pass team?

Whimsicott or Grimmsnarl would set up screens first, then Blaziken would massively boost its Speed and Attack through its Ability, [Speed Boost], and the move [Swords Dance], before using [Baton Pass] to transfer those boosts to Garchomp for a sweep.

Only Dudunsparce and Psyduck's inclusion seemed a little puzzling.

But to most viewers in this world, it was another bizarre lineup of completely unrelated Pokémon, nearly all obscure picks aside from Garchomp and Blaziken.

Actually, that wasn't quite right. Ever since Xia Chi had shaken up the ranked meta, more and more players had started taking support-oriented status moves seriously.

Whimsicott and Grimmsnarl, both possessing the [Prankster] Ability, no longer had particularly low usage rates.

Regardless, Xia Chi ignored the viewers' reactions and pressed the matchmaking button once he had finalized his lineup.

The queue was as quick as ever during prime time.

A second later, "Match found" appeared on-screen.

Kanto's Most Devoted Lover VS Women Only Slow Down My Poké Ball Throws!

Good grief, that's pure sigma male energy. The battle hasn't even started, and this hopeless-romantic heartthrob username has already lost half the fight.

Naturally, Xia Chi kept remarks that might offend the account owner strictly to himself.

He glanced at the opposing lineup-Torkoal, Venusaur, Charizard, Chandelure, Arcanine, and Incineroar.

It was a hard-hitting sun team, a very standard and popular composition in this world, with the addition of the Tiger God that had recently exploded in popularity thanks to Xia Chi.

Without hesitation, Xia Chi selected Grimmsnarl, Blaziken, and Garchomp.

Although the viewers hoping for a spectacle were somewhat disappointed that Psyduck wouldn't be appearing, Xia Chi's Baton Pass strategy soon seized their attention.

Grimmsnarl led, set up both screens, then lay down and waited to die.

After taking down Grimmsnarl, Torkoal grew more confident and continued hammering the Blaziken that came out next.

What looked set to become a thrilling slugfest quickly turned into Blaziken backing down.

After using Swords Dance, Blaziken inexplicably began stalling with Protect.

The opponent thought nothing of it and had Torkoal keep blasting away with sun-boosted Eruption.

Even as a fellow Fire-type protected by [Light Screen], Blaziken struggled to hold on, its HP bar dropping rapidly.

Just as the opponent thought victory was assured,

the masterstroke that reversed the battle appeared-Baton Pass!

Blaziken had used Swords Dance three times, with [Speed Boost] continuously taking effect for at least half a minute.

Before its last sliver of HP could run out, Blaziken transferred every stat boost to Garchomp.

The tables had turned.

Earthquake! Dragon Claw! Rock Slide!

There was no Trick Room to contend with, no other factors interfering.

Having inherited Blaziken's terrifying boosts, Garchomp became a bulldozer, flattening every opponent with a single hit.

Torkoal, Charizard, and even the astonishingly bulky Venusaur couldn't survive a single move.

The first game was a clean win!