"Alright, victory!"
As the opponent's last Pokémon fainted while still trapped in sleep, Ai Xia secured yet another battle win.
"Woo-hoo!"
Clapping his hands excitedly, Ai Xia let out a cheer—the kind of hype that Groudon could never, ever pull off in its entire life.
From start to finish, Ai Xia had only sent out Butterfree and its damage-dealing partner in these double battles. With flawless teamwork, the two Pokémon effortlessly wiped out every opponent's team.
Normally, a battle victory should be a joyous occasion—whether for the streamer playing the game or the audience watching the live broadcast.
But... right now, the atmosphere in Ai Xia's stream was a little... weird.
[That's so scummy. How is Butterfree even allowed to be this dirty?]
[The opponent's Pokémon barely got to use any moves before getting wiped. Brutal. Ai-Master, you're truly merciless.]
[The battle can be lost, but that Butterfree MUST DIE.]
[It's not Butterfree's fault—clearly, Ai-Bao's just got a twisted mind.]
The barrage of comments unanimously condemned this guy who'd been tormenting opponents with his underhanded tactics.
"Phew... close call, honestly."
Seeing his viewers' messages, Ai Xia kept his smug grin but still pretended to downplay his victory with fake modesty.
Instantly, his handsome face became even more punchable in the eyes of the chat.
That said... not all of Ai Xia's battles had been one-sided stomps.
In the final match, his Butterfree seemed to have been hit by some kind of illusion—despite having Compound Eyes boosting its accuracy to 97.5%, its Sleep Powder somehow missed twice in a row, giving the opponent's Pokémon a brief window to counterattack.
If not for Ai Xia's quick reflexes and some clutch plays to keep Butterfree alive, today's stream would've had quite the unexpected twist. Of course, even if Butterfree had gone down, he still could've cleaned up with his remaining Pokémon.
This was the sheer dimensional gap between a Pokémon battle veteran and a native of the Pokémon world.
Having been in this world for a while now, Ai Xia had a pretty good grasp on the local trainers' strength and battle styles. Limited by their own energy and the number of Pokémon they could raise, most trainers couldn't possibly memorize every Pokémon's stats and moves like players from his past life. As a result, they rarely pulled off truly hardcore strategies—team composition and tactics were mostly self-taught through trial and error.
It couldn't be helped.
Even someone like Professor Oak couldn't just hand trainers a full breakdown of every Pokémon's base stats, moves, and exact data. Compared to hardcore competitive players, most teams in this world still felt... primitive.
Not to mention, real Pokémon battles weren't turn-based. A constantly shifting battlefield tested a trainer's instincts and a Pokémon's raw skill far more than any pre-planned strategy.
Most of the time, what actually decided battles were the trainer's reflexes and the Pokémon's training. Textbook tactics were secondary...
And so, many trainers ended up stuck in a cycle of brute-forcing their way through battles with sheer power.
Which, of course, gave Ai Xia the perfect opportunity to flex his online battle skills and casually stack his reputation by taking on Misty.
"Hmm, thank you to 'When is Ai-Master gonna debut as a trainer?' for the Super Chat..."
Before Ai Xia could even answer the question, the chat had already taken it upon themselves to speculate wildly.
[Ai-Master's probably been a trainer for ages. Not every region has strict age limits like the Dayan region.]
[Right, like in Kanto, kids can start their journey at ten. Ai-Master's eighteen—he's gotta be a veteran by now.]
[A veteran trainer returning to Dayan as a college freshman? Damn, talk about a 'Dragon King's Return' moment.]
Truth be told, ever since Ai Xia had faced off against Misty, the chat had already recognized her as the Cerulean City Gym Leader.
It was inevitable. After all, in terms of fame—Misty had been a well-known trainer for years, doubling as a water performer and basically being half-idol. Her popularity dwarfed Ai Xia's.
The eight Gym Leaders of Kanto were practically household names, standing just shy of Elite Four level and serving as role models for trainers everywhere.
By beating Misty, Ai Xia had effectively stolen her spot in the unofficial power rankings, vaulting himself straight to Gym Leader-tier status...
Not to mention, the clip of him dismantling Misty with his filthy Butterfree tactics was already being saved by viewers. By tomorrow, it'd be everywhere—with very clickbaity titles.
"Tch, why's the glazing getting so intense?"
Watching the chat's praise spiral into absurdity, Ai Xia rubbed his temples and decided to clear things up.
"Ai-Master's is still a college freshman, not a trainer. If anything, after graduation, I might travel to Kanto."
But the chat wasn't having it.
[You're THIS good at battles and NOT a trainer?]
[Misty lost to our Ai-Bao. Stop lying.]
[Round it up—Ai-Master's Gym Leader-level now.]
While most viewers didn't have the sharp eyes of Red or Yellow, they still understood one thing: If you weren't a skilled trainer in real life, you wouldn't be pulling off complex strategies in online battles either.
[So Ai-Master wasn't just talking big—he's the real deal.]
[Pfft, I always knew the 'Human Emperor' wouldn't just spew nonsense.]
At this point, the chat had collectively decided: Ai Xia was absolutely some high-level trainer slumming it for fun.
If you're not a trainer, why are you studying battle tactics all day?
If you're not a trainer, how could you even come up with strategies like this?
"Ugh, I'm really not a trainer."
Having won so easily that he barely even felt Misty's strength, Ai Xia waved a hand dismissively. "Don't go slandering me. Which 'veteran trainer' only has a single Caterpie?"
"Besides, in the Dayan region, you can't even get a starter Pokémon until after high school. I'm a proud Dayan patriot—you think I'd exploit some age loophole in another region?"
Slamming his desk, Ai Xia prepared to righteously purge all the false accusations in chat.
"All evil shall be—oh! Thank you to 'The Battler' for the Master Ball! Big spender energy!"
But as soon as that gloriously golden username sent a gift, the entire stream's mood froze for a split second.
"Huh?"
Blinking at the name—edgy? No, no, this was pure dominance—Ai Xia's brain short-circuited.
Holy shit.
Red.
Red had an officially verified Bilibili account, long since surpassing ten million followers. The Champion was famously active in Pokémon battle and training discussions, making him impossible to mistake.
With just one gift, Ai Xia's stream exploded in popularity. The chat, already chaotic, ascended to a whole new level of madness.
[RED! MY IDOL! RED!]
[RED'S HERE?! HOW FAR HAS AI-MASTER'S SCUMMINESS SPREAD?!]
[LMAO, Ai-Master just bullied Misty, and now Red's tipping him? The Kanto Champion and Gym Leaders' friendship is FAKE.]
[BREAKING: RED BETRAYS MISTY FOR AI-MASTER!]
Being the battle-obsessed airhead he was, Red had zero clue how his fans would interpret a simple gift from the most famous trainer alive.
Following the chat's logic, he'd already convinced himself that Ai Xia had to be a veteran trainer. And that thought only made him more excited.
"Ah... Red's popularity really is something else."
Sitting beside Red, Yellow couldn't help but chuckle at the chaos unfolding on-screen.
"Uh..."
Realizing her implication, Red scratched his head awkwardly. "Haven't seen a trainer this good at strategy in a while. Couldn't help myself—just wanted to send a little something."
As he spoke, he conveniently ignored the furious DM from Misty: "THIS GUY JUST CHEESED ME AND YOU'RE REWARDING HIM?!"
Instead, he clicked into Ai Xia's profile.
"I've followed him for a bit, but we've never talked. Maybe it's time to change that... could be a good sparring partner down the line."
Typing out a private message, Red smiled.
If Ai Xia was willing to stream his battles and tactics so openly, he had to be someone who thrived on competition.
And Red loved trainers like that.
It never even crossed his mind that he might lose to Ai Xia.
That was just the confidence of the 'Fighting Spirit'—the unbeatable Champion of Kanto.
--+--