"Huh, she forfeited?"
When "Victory" lit up on the screen, Xia Chi stretched, still hungry for more.
Honestly, both the quality and intensity of this battle had been several notches above the previous ones.
Gym Leaders had never earned their positions solely through the strength of their Pokémon.
Their understanding of Pokémon battles was indeed a cut above that of ordinary Trainers.
If Xia Chi hadn't predicted Iono's attempt to knock out Hatterene with a combination of [Volt Switch] and [Shadow Ball], things would have gone differently.
Even if he had still won afterward, it wouldn't have been nearly so easy.
And after Xia Chi took the famous streamer and Gym Leader Iono prisoner for the second time, his stream's popularity had reached an unbelievable level.
Plenty of passersby, and even some viewers from Iono's stream who were just there for the laughs, had come over to join the crowd.
The densely packed chat was utter chaos.
"Breaking news! Iono got beaten so badly she rage-quit her stream again!"
"LMAO, getting wrecked by a Trapinch. Forget Iono, even a normal person wouldn't be able to sleep tonight."
"I'm sorry, Lord Trapinch. We couldn't give you a satisfying fight."
"Wait, you could actually switch Trapinch in under those circumstances? Surely that was a bluff?"
"I hereby announce that I will no longer watch Iono's streams. I'm joining Shuiye's more authoritative stream instead!"
"Pretty girl streamer encounters Prison Warden Shui in ranked! His Trick Room tactics were monstrous. Even giving it her all, she couldn't win!"
"She wasn't giving it her all."
"He wasn't monstrous."
"She wasn't a pretty girl."
"."
Along with the flood of chat came a huge number of follows and quite a few hefty donations.
After all, he had beaten the wildly popular streamer Iono head-on, and done it with maximum entertainment value. It would have been hard not to blow up.
"Thanks to our generous donor [Iono Exploded Today] for the ten Luxury Balls! You're too kind!"
As he thanked viewers for their gifts, Xia Chi answered some questions from chat.
"What are your thoughts on the famous Gym Leader Iono being taken prisoner again by the unknown small-time streamer Shuiye after just one week?"
"My take is, quit stirring things up, haters. As you all know, Iono has always been the Trainer I respect most!"
Some jokes were fine for chat to make, but the person involved was better off staying out of them.
Xia Chi understood that principle.
Besides, his stream had only taken off thanks to those two times he had profited from Iono's suffering.
Toward Iono, Xia Chi felt nothing but respect.
He picked another frequently asked question from chat. "Was that last switch into Trapinch just luck?"
"Not at all."
Xia Chi answered seriously, "Iono was in a very dangerous position then. Her only chance of winning was to burst Hatterene down with a combination like [Volt Switch] and [Shadow Ball]. And even if my prediction had been wrong, I would still have had the advantage."
"."
Inside an upscale apartment in Levincia, in the Paldea region.
After ending her stream in a rage, Iono lay on her bed with vacant eyes, that big-headed ant's lightning-fast figure still racing through her mind.
It wasn't as though she still couldn't accept the fact that she had lost to a Trapinch.
What was there to agonize over in an ordinary ranked game?
"But those tactics really did seem pretty strong."
Iono rolled over on the bed and took off her rather oversized, bizarre punk outfit, her two clean, pale feet bobbing over the edge of the mattress.
She scrolled through her phone, muttering, "Shuiye... Shuiye... found him!"
Looking at the prominent "Trending" label beside his stream, Iono huffed. "Already in the top twenty of the battle category? This guy... hmph."
Although she knew much of that popularity had come from her, Iono didn't resent it.
She streamed because she enjoyed it in the first place, and she was quite happy to give a talented newcomer like Xia Chi a helping hand.
Well... she probably would have been happier about it without those two head-on defeats.
So she hadn't come to watch him after ending her stream to pick a fight or settle scores. She simply wanted to learn this new strategy.
With that thought, Iono eagerly tapped into [Shuiye's stream].
"Why are people still saying Mimikyu was useless? Does not dealing damage make a Pokémon useless? Why are you all so obsessed with damage? That alienates the Pokémon's contributions. Do you even know what alienation and concretization mean?"
Seeing that plenty of people in chat were still dismissing Mimikyu, Xia Chi looked exasperated.
"Let me give you an example. Take the sun teams you all love playing. You've got six Pokémon on the team, including Torkoal as your weather setter and Charizard as your damage dealer. Charizard keeps blasting away with Heat Wave and Fire Blast, while Torkoal activates [Drought], uses [Yawn] or [Stealth Rock], then goes down without dealing any damage."
"Then the battle ends, you check the damage stats, and-oh, Professor Charizard knocked out three Pokémon! Professor Charizard got MVP!"
"Torkoal, you didn't deal any damage! You got carried, you freeloader! Torkoal, you're a freeloader! Is that really how you should judge it?"
Xia Chi's apt analogy and infectious delivery made Iono laugh despite her less-than-stellar mood, and she immediately sent him the most expensive gift on the entire platform: a Master Ball.
The lavish gift animation instantly filled the screen.
Xia Chi froze for a moment before reading it out. "Thanks to... Iono's Tall Tales for the Master Ball? Huh? Is that Iono herself?"
Chat's response to Iono's gift was even more enthusiastic.
"Over ten million followers? It really is Iono!"
"Instead of making Shuiye pay her medical bills, Iono came over to send gifts? That's a little masochistic, isn't it?"
"She got so mad she ended her stream, and she still came to send Prison Warden Shui a gift? Iono, you little rascal."
"I think she's here to steal the streamer's techniques. I suggest changing her name to [Iono's Tall Tales (Mentor: Shuiye)] immediately."
Seeing chat head in the wrong direction, Xia Chi quickly cleared his throat and changed the subject.
"Don't talk nonsense. This is the stream that respects Iono most on the entire internet. Mods, give those troublemakers the 365-day package."
The truth, however, was that his stream currently had no moderators.
Iono didn't mind the teasing in chat. She spoke frankly. "That strategy really was pretty interesting."
Ordinarily, Xia Chi wouldn't have been able to pick out Iono's message from that vast sea of chat.
Unfortunately, there were far too many self-appointed messengers in his stream, and they spammed it across the screen.
Realizing that the Master Ball really was "tuition," Xia Chi explained seriously, "I call that strategy a hard Trick Room team. Its strengths and weaknesses are both very clear. I won't go into its strengths. Iono, you should have experienced those firsthand."
Iono, in front of her screen: "."
Did you really have to add that last part?
Xia Chi continued, "Of course, this strategy isn't invincible. The most typical counters are [Taunt] and [Whirlwind], or similar moves that stop your opponent from setting up [Trick Room]."
Far away in Paldea, Iono let out an enlightened "Oh."
Indeed, [Taunt] prevented an opponent from using status moves, which naturally included [Trick Room].
It wasn't a particularly difficult countermeasure to think of.
Even if Xia Chi hadn't explained it, someone would soon come up with it once Trick Room teams became popular on the game's ranked ladder.
Then Xia Chi shifted gears again. "Of course, there are ways to counter [Taunt] in turn. For example, you could replace your Trick Room setter with an Indeedee that has the [Psychic Surge] Ability. But that's the next layer of mind games."
"In short, because of the four-move limit and various other restrictions, this game is still different from our real-life Pokémon battles. Strategies like Trick Room will have plenty of room to shine."
"I'll also be bringing you more strategy guides in the future."
"All right, that's it for today's stream. See you tomorrow!"
Before you continue