"Explosion!"
On the livestream screen, the moment she heard her opponent issue such a decisive command, Iono very clearly froze for a split second.
"Huh?"
Of course, even if she managed to react, the switch window gave her no chance to do anything anyway.
On the screen, Iono's trainer avatar had already thrown out a Poké Ball.
A flash of red light burst forth, and the simple-looking Bellibolt popped out of the red-and-white ball.
The instant it landed, the Stealth Rock and two layers of Spikes that Skarmory had left behind before fainting immediately took effect.
Although the field wasn't fully stacked, the result was still very noticeable, shaving off a chunk of HP right away.
After stepping on the Spikes, Bellibolt reacted a beat too late, belatedly feeling the pain. As it raised its head, its eyes quickly filled with ferocity.
But the moment it looked up, it froze again.
Whoa—why is the opposing Pokémon glowing?
And what's with that beep beep beep sound speeding up nonstop…?
This is bad!
"Bellibolt, Protect!"
Iono shouted immediately—but it was already too late.
Within Trick Room, Bronzong, wearing a wicked grin, moved with lightning speed.
As it closed in on Bellibolt, its body gradually became enveloped in white light. Even through the screen, one could feel an overwhelming surge of energy about to erupt.
"BOOM—!"
A blinding white flash seemed to burst straight out of the screen. All the viewers heard was a deafening explosion and instinctively shut their eyes.
When the light finally faded and they looked back at the stream, both Bellibolt and Bronzong were lying on the field, having lost the ability to battle at the same time.
[Who summoned a Holy Knight?! My eyes almost got blinded—kick him out, now!]
[Huh? Explosion already?!]
[Bro, are you possessed by a poet or something? This move is way too disgusting…]
[Praying for Miss Iono's psychological trauma, lol]
Just hearing the name Explosion was enough to know it was a terrifyingly powerful finisher.
But just as Qingyu had said before—
Powerful moves often came with equally unbearable side effects.
Because the energy of Explosion didn't distinguish between friend and foe, the Pokémon using it would immediately fall into a near-fainting state.
On the surface, Bronzong and Bellibolt had taken each other out, leaving the score still tied at 2–2.
But in reality, the tempo had completely swung in Qingyu's favor.
Because Bronzong had already been on low HP, it was basically destined to be a sacrifice anyway—trading for one more Pokémon was already pure profit.
Not to mention the far more troublesome hazards still covering the field.
"Good thing I was one step ahead."
Qingyu casually smiled as he recalled Bronzong, its eyes already spinning.
"I thought I might not get the chance today, but I didn't expect to run into a real expert at the end. Perfect timing—I'll show you the true way to play this lineup."
"Let me state this in advance: that operation just now had nothing to do with the streamer's personal intentions. It was purely a small in-game trick. I also strongly advise everyone not to use Explosion in real battles—it's bad for the relationship between Trainer and Pokémon."
"I am a loyal Pokémon fan and would never do anything to harm Pokémon in real life!"
After opening with a full 'universal disclaimer,' Qingyu leisurely tossed out his next Poké Ball.
Since his hand had already been revealed, Iono would surely be on guard now.
So the next Pokémon needed to be one that could quickly deal with Mismagius.
The answer was obvious.
"Go—Metagross."
At his words, a portion of the more perceptive viewers subconsciously glanced at his team.
After a brief moment of thought, they all slapped their thighs at once.
[Holy crap, what do you do for a living? Why does this feel like revenge on society?!]
[Is this what I think it is…? No wonder this team always felt weird—are you really about to blow everything up with her?]
[Literal mutual explosion. Who even comes up with this kind of cursed lineup?!]
[You are forbidden from playing Pokémon!]
At first glance, Qingyu's team seemed to revolve around hazards, using Spikes to lower KO thresholds and enable fast offense.
But before this point, everyone had overlooked one thing—
After hazards chip away HP, what's better at securing KOs than Explosion?
And in this plain-looking team of his, more than half of the members were actually capable of using Explosion—literal demolition experts.
Aside from the already-burned-out Bronzong, Forretress, Metagross, and Magnezone were all heavy hitters, every one of them a master of self-destruction.
Wasn't this basically a suicide squad?!
"Go, Mismagius."
Although Qingyu's move had disgusted her to no end, Iono's professionalism as a Gym Leader let her quickly regain composure and continue the battle.
Thanks to its Levitate Ability, Mismagius avoided the Spikes, so its HP was still fairly healthy upon entering.
You like exploding, huh? Then go ahead—try exploding this Mismagius!
Explosion was a Normal-type move. Unless the opponent had the Scrappy Ability, it would do absolutely nothing to the Ghost-type Mismagius.
"Shadow Ball!""Knock Off!"
Both commands rang out simultaneously. The chat, which had been busy roasting Qingyu, instinctively paused to watch how the battle would unfold.
Because Trick Room was still in effect, Mismagius's move speed was somewhat disrupted.
As a result, Metagross struck first, swinging its iron fist in a brutal overhead smash.
Not only did it knock off the Life Orb Mismagius was holding, it nearly wiped out its entire HP bar in one blow.
As for Mismagius's counterattack, Shadow Ball did indeed deal significant damage to Metagross.
"But it doesn't matter."
"It won't get another chance to move!"
As a veteran pseudo-legendary that had stood the test of time, Metagross's combat power was something Mismagius simply couldn't withstand.
A faint smile curved on Qingyu's lips as he delivered the final verdict—
"Metagross, Bullet Punch!"
A lightning-fast punch shot out, and Iono's only Pokémon that could resist Explosion collapsed on the spot, unconscious.
At this point, the outcome was already decided.
[How are you supposed to play this? You can't win head-on, and even if you barely wear them down, they just turn around and take another one with Explosion…]
[Fight or don't fight, either way you lose—this is way too dirty!]
[Psyduck frowns, feeling that things are not simple.jpg]
"I win."
A confident smile appeared on Qingyu's face.
He didn't have the bad habit of celebrating early.
If he didn't have a 100% grasp on victory, he would never plant a flag ahead of time.
But under the pressure of a field full of hazards, the three Pokémon Iono had left were already powerless to resist. Even without Explosion, it was a guaranteed win.
On the other side, in Iono's livestream.
Her face was pale, her eyes dull—she looked completely broken.
"I lost…"
In the end, she sighed. Instead of continuing meaningless resistance, she decisively chose to surrender.
That strategy was just too insane. The timing of Explosion was perfectly executed—there was no time at all to react with Protect…
Whether in tactical planning or predictive command, she had been completely outplayed.
This guy was absolutely not a newbie—he was a full-blown monster!
And yet, precisely because of that, a new thought began nagging at Iono's mind again:
With this level of strength, why aren't you competing for the still-vacant Paldea Elite Four seat?!
Why are you coming here to fight me, a rookie, on Pokémon TV?!
Are you trying to destroy the competitive environment or what?!
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