The instant Xia Chi spoke, the chat exploded.
"Cutie? Which cutie?"
"So we can't hide it anymore? Yes, Shuiye and I have a child!"
"Bro Shuiye, what have you done?! Remember, your career is on the rise right now. Romance will only hold you back!"
"It's over. Bro Shuiye's image is ruined. Tragic!"
Facing the outraged chat, Xia Chi calmly explained, "Don't worry, everyone. My reputation was already a pile of rubble. There's nothing left to bring down. Cutie is a friend of mine, and someone you all know very well."
As he spoke, a Piplup voice call invitation popped up in the bottom-right corner of his desktop. The contact name read: Iono.
Chat: "???"
Xia Chi answered, and Iono's bright, energetic voice came through. "Ciao~ Hello! Good afternoon, everyone! Wait, it should be good evening over in Donghuang, right? Isn't it a fun surprise to see Iono here in Shuiye's stream?"
The chat erupted even more fiercely.
"No, Iono, don't play with Shuiye! Tactics players are all dirty schemers, and Bro Shuiye is the sneakiest of them all!"
"Yamero! Iono dating someone? That can't happen until at least ten years after I'm dead!"
"Waaah, Shuiye, you really deserve to die!"
"..."
Before Xia Chi could respond to those comments, Iono spoke from the other end of the call. "Iono is watching the stream too, you know. If you're an Iono fan, please don't say things that make both me and Shuiye uncomfortable~"
Xia Chi gave a little snort. "Don't bother with them. They're just the regular haters in my chat, jealous that we're close. I'll just restrict chat to people with level-five fan badges."
With one playing good cop and the other bad cop, the uproar in the chat quickly subsided.
Plenty of Iono's fans still wanted to take a few shots at Xia Chi, but with the badge restriction in place, they would have to send quite a few gifts before they could speak.
If they didn't send gifts, keeping those words bottled up would feel awful.
If they did, giving gifts to someone they hated would feel even worse.
Xia Chi's "Dark Psychology" had those haters' little schemes completely under his thumb.
With the chat drama settled, the two officially launched Pokémon: Champion's Path.
The game had a duo queue mode, which was essentially a two-on-two Double Battle.
However, the mode demanded excellent teamwork and coordination from the two players. One wrong move could easily turn it into Overcooked, so hardly anyone played it.
But the more complicated things were, the more fun they became. Xia Chi and Iono hit it off immediately, deciding to ditch one-on-one solo matches and play ranked Double Battles instead.
Since there were two players, team building followed a three-plus-three format. Each player picked three Pokémon, then chose two of those three to bring, with each commanding one Pokémon as they battled together.
Xia Chi let Iono choose her three Pokémon first, planning to fill in whatever her team needed afterward.
"Can I really pick anything?"
"Sure. You can even pick Magikarp."
Xia Chi chuckled. "I just can't guarantee we'll win."
"Hehe~"
For the sake of a good gaming experience, Iono finally settled on Pawmot, Kilowattrel, and Wash Rotom.
Xia Chi asked curiously, "Oh, you picked Washing Machine? I haven't seen you use that before."
"Of course I've got to try something new," Iono said matter-of-factly. "Your Pachirisu inspired me that time. So, Shuiye, how would you rate this Pokémon?"
"It's great. Its [Levitate] ability leaves it with only one weakness, Grass-type, while giving it plenty of resistances. It's also incredibly versatile. It can run Taunt and Thunder Wave for support, or Hydro Pump and Thunderbolt for damage. Aside from a small health pool, it hardly has any flaws. I've always thought it was a seriously underrated Electric-type Pokémon, both in the game and in real life."
That wasn't flattery for his wealthy top donor. Xia Chi meant every word.
In his previous life, Washing Machine had been a staple of competitive play ever since its debut. In two words: really useful.
Xia Chi had planned to introduce it to his viewers in a later stream, but Iono had started using it first.
A Gym Leader's instincts and talent really weren't to be underestimated.
With that thought in mind, Xia Chi considered his options, then selected his three Pokémon: Rillaboom, Indeedee, and Shedinja.
The first two picks were fairly standard. Thanks to Xia Chi's "heavy promotion," support Pokémon like Indeedee were now everywhere on the ranked ladder.
But his final pick, Shedinja, left the audience baffled again.
Twenty percent of the viewers were asking, "What is Shedinja even good for?"
The remaining eighty percent were asking:
"Who is Shedinja?"
Honestly, while his earlier picks like Trapinch, Pachirisu, and Psyduck had been obscure, people at least knew those Pokémon existed.
But Shedinja went beyond being obscure.
Wasn't this a little too bizarre?
As usual, Xia Chi simply smiled without saying a word. Explain?
Wouldn't demonstrating it in an actual battle be easier?
After choosing his Pokémon and their moves, Xia Chi hit the matchmaking button.
Both Xia Chi's and Iono's accounts were ranked highly, and they spent quite a while in the queue without finding opponents.
Still, with Xia Chi performing his "stand-up routine," the stream never grew dull. Only after more than ten minutes did the match-found alert finally sound.
Xia Chi took a closer look. Well now, that long wait hadn't been for nothing. Their opponents were none other than the best-buddy duo of Steven and Wallace.
One was the wealthy heir of the Devon Corporation and Hoenn's former Champion; the other was the Water Artist and Hoenn's current Champion.
And Steven hadn't lost his Champion title in battle. He had willingly given it up because he was too obsessed with digging up rocks.
The appearance of these two Hoenn Champions instantly made the match a top-tier event. Xia Chi hurried to replace his stream thumbnail with a screenshot showing their usernames.
If you wanted the money to roll in, you had to seize every little opportunity.
Naturally, the chat stopped teasing Xia Chi and Iono and focused on the two superstars they had matched against instead.
"Whoa, two Champions from one region! Is this good luck or bad luck?"
"Good luck, obviously! As long as he makes it entertaining, Bro Shuiye gets to rake in the cash again!"
"Bro Shuiye, Bro Shuiye! Only one of you four isn't at Gym Leader level. Who could it possibly be? Such a tough guess!"
"Never mind anything else, this match has a looks requirement. Bro Shuiye might not be as strong as the other three, but he definitely isn't losing in looks."
"..."
Iono was as energetic as ever. "Don't worry, everyone! Our opponents might be strong, but Iono will give it her all!"
"Time to get crackling~ Get ready for a shock!"
Wait, where have I ended up?
Is this still my stream?
Why do I feel like I'm the viewer here?
Xia Chi couldn't help grumbling inwardly.
After finishing her pep talk, Iono didn't forget to include Xia Chi. "We're going to win, right, Shuiye?"
The corner of Xia Chi's mouth twitched, and he nodded. "...Right. We're going to win!"
Steven and Wallace's six Pokémon were Metagross, Skarmory, Steelix, Milotic, Primarina, and Whiscash.
They were mostly the pair's signature Pokémon.
Xia Chi had originally wanted to give Shedinja its debut and let his viewers experience the magic of "Wonder Guard."
But remembering that the opposing team had an obnoxious Spikes setter like Skarmory, he abandoned the idea.
After discussing it with Iono, the two settled on Kilowattrel, Pawmot, Rillaboom, and Indeedee.
With both teams locked in, the battle officially began.
(Please send a monthly vote, la la la~)
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