Just as Iono had reminded him, the main Pokémon Qingyu used in his first two streams weren't all that common locally.
So this time, he decided to use a few Pokémon that could be found basically everywhere in Paldea.
Generally speaking, aside from the region's starter trio, every region also has things like a route-one bird, a route-one rodent, or a route-one bug.
Their ceilings might not be high, but they at least stabilize the floor and evolve early.
Which makes them perfect for new Trainers to catch and raise.
And when it came to Paldea's route-one rodent…
Now that was interesting.
On stream, Qingyu quickly opened the team editor and dragged Maushold into the lineup.
"This Pokémon—locals in Paldea should all recognize it, right?"
Calling it one Pokémon was actually a bit inaccurate.
Maushold was usually a family unit made up of two adult mice and two children, with the rarer configuration being two adults and one child.
A whole family squeezing into a single Poké Ball was still pretty rare in the Pokémon world.
Unfortunately, despite being an actual parent–child relationship, it didn't get the Parental Bond Ability like that guy.
Anger, sadness, chill—When will the mouse clan finally stand up?!
[???][Isn't that just Maushold? You can find a ton of them in literally any Paldea area.][So no fancy tricks today? Just explaining how to use normal Pokémon? But Maushold doesn't seem like there's much to say…][I may be bad, but I'm not so bad I can't even use the route-one mouse!]
Because today's protagonist looked a little too plain and honest, some Paldea viewers had already started spamming question marks.
Qingyu just smiled faintly and ignored them.
"Who says the mouse clan has no Great Emperor? Today, I'll show you the oppressive power of Maushold!"
What—did you really think route-one rodents couldn't be strong?
Pokémon that are easy to obtain usually do share a common flaw—
Because their ecological niche is low, their upper limit tends to be worse.
In other words, their base stats aren't very high.
But base stats are only one part of Pokémon battling.
They don't automatically mean a Pokémon is weak.
For example, Smeargle has a base stat total of 250—does anyone dare say it's weak? (laughs)
So—
This mouse is about to lock in.
Besides Maushold, Qingyu quickly added several other common Paldea Pokémon to the team.
Meowscarada, Jumpluff, Talonflame, Corviknight, Clodsire.
Technically speaking, judging purely by Pokédex number, Paldea's true route-one bird should be Squawkabilly.
But Fletchling's distribution was just way too wide—you could see flocks of them the moment you stepped outside.
Even Galar's route-one bird, Corviknight, had more presence in Paldea than Squawkabilly…
So it got optimized out.
This lineup was extremely Paldea-flavored, had no major type bias, and still possessed solid fighting power.
[Paldea-only stream today?][Teacher Yu never really mentioned it, so I almost forgot you're actually a Paldea Gym Leader…][Huh? That's a thing?][The streamer could be a top Pokémon TV content creator, but instead he's squatting in Paldea as a small-town Gym Leader?]
After clicking the matchmaking button and seeing the chat's roasting, Qingyu's mouth twitched.
"I'll say this again—this streamer is the officially certified Gym Leader of Sunshine Gym in Cabo Poco Town, Paldea!"
"If any local new Trainers want to improve, you're welcome to challenge Sunshine Gym~"
After squeezing in another free ad for the Gym, Qingyu quickly met today's first opponent.
Perhaps because of his win streak, even though he was only in Great Ball tier, the matched opponent was already Ultra Ball, with a pretty high rating.
But the opponent's lineup looked… strangely familiar.
"…Isn't this just the hazard-stacking team I taught?"
After confirming it several times, Qingyu immediately laughed.
[LMAO the opponent ran into the original author—if the streamer loses this, it'll be embarrassing.][Streamer has committed countless sins—ranked is full of hazard teams now, all copied from you!][Real Pokémon battles should be hot-blooded offense, but this kind of dirty trickery… no traitors here, give me more!][Since Teacher Yu invented this tactic, you should also know how to counter it, right? I've already taken out my notebook.]
Judging from the chat, did hazards really start running rampant in singles after just one day of exposure?
Qingyu raised an eyebrow, completely unsurprised.
Hazards had a ridiculous advantage in singles. Locals just hadn't explored these tactics before—it didn't mean they were dumb.
Once the strengths of this lineup were shown, plenty of people were bound to have an epiphany and join the hazard army—some might even optimize Qingyu's original build.
Qingyu looked forward to that.
Wasn't that exactly how competitive Pokémon had evolved in his previous life?
Given the current overall skill level of the game environment, though, he could still roam freely with ease.
"Alright, alright—you're really using the tactics I taught to fight me, huh? You've got guts!"
"Didn't the chat say 'same master taught it, still can't counter it'? Then today, Teacher Yu will teach you how to break hazard strategies!"
With a grin, Qingyu decisively locked in his lead.
The screen flashed, and Qingyu's trainer avatar appeared on the battlefield.
Both sides threw their Poké Balls at the same time.
Maushold vs. Skarmory.
As a Normal-type Pokémon, Maushold had no typing advantage against Skarmory.
The moment both Pokémon hit the field, the opponent immediately commanded Skarmory to set Stealth Rock.
Given Maushold's Speed, it would've been easy to move before the heavy Skarmory—but Qingyu didn't rush to give an order.
"That command formula I taught you works really well, right?"
Qingyu chuckled.
"But next time your opponents use it, they'll probably think twice first."
"The formula is good—but you can't just apply it blindly!"
"Maushold—Encore!"
Skarmory, which had just scattered Stealth Rock across the field, failed to dodge and was hit by Maushold's move.
Under Encore's effect, for the next several turns it could only keep using Stealth Rock.
And no matter how many times Stealth Rock was stacked, it posed absolutely zero threat to Qingyu's side.
"The opponent's not switching… thinking Maushold can't break Skarmory, and once Encore ends they'll just Roost and be fine again, huh?"
After briefly observing and seeing no reaction from the opponent, Qingyu smiled.
"Still too young, my friend!"
Even if it wasn't Maushold—any route-one mouse could nearly chew Skarmory to death with Super Fang alone.
Not to mention, Qingyu had a special anti-hazard secret weapon.
"Maushold—use Tidy Up!"
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