"Huh? They surrendered already?"
When the word Victory lit up on the screen, Xia Chi stretched lazily, still not quite satisfied.
To be honest, the quality and intensity of this match were more than a tier higher than the previous ones.
A Gym Leader was a Gym Leader for more than just having strong Pokémon.
Their understanding of Pokémon battles was indeed on a level above ordinary Trainers.
If Xia Chi hadn't read Iono's plan—to burst down Hatterene with a combo of Volt Switch and Shadow Ball—
Even if he still won in the end, it wouldn't have been nearly this easy.
After capturing the famous streamer and Gym Leader Miss Iono for the second time, the popularity of Xia Chi's stream skyrocketed to an unbelievable level.
A large number of passersby, as well as some pure chaos-loving viewers from Iono's stream, all flooded in together.
The dense barrage of comments was nothing short of demonic revelry.
"Report! Iono got beaten into a rage and ended her stream again!"
"I'm dying—getting destroyed by a Trapinch. Forget Iono, any normal person wouldn't be able to sleep tonight."
"I'm sorry, Great Lord Trapinch, for not letting you enjoy yourself."
"Wait, how was he even able to switch Trapinch in at that moment? That had to be pure robbery!"
"I hereby announce that I will no longer watch Iono's stream, and will instead join Shui Ye's—clearly the more authoritative one!"
"Cute girl streamer meets Lao Leaf in ranked, space tactics monstrously strong, gives it her all yet still can't win!"
"Not full strength."
"Not a monster."
"Not a cute girl."
"."
Along with the rolling flood of comments came a massive wave of new follows and quite a few high-value donations.
After all, defeating an ultra-popular streamer like Iono head-on—and doing it with such peak entertainment value—how could it not explode in popularity?
"Thanks to boss [Iono Exploded Today] for the ten Luxury Balls—boss is generous!"
While thanking donors, Xia Chi also answered some of the chat's questions.
"How do you view the famous Gym Leader Iono being captured again after a week by the unknown small streamer Shui Ye?"
"My evaluation is—little haters, stop stirring trouble. You all know this: Teacher Iono has always been the Trainer I respect the most!"
Some jokes were fine for the audience to make—but it was best if the person involved didn't play along.
That was something Xia Chi understood very well.
Besides, his stream had taken off largely thanks to these two servings of "Iono's blood buns."
Toward Iono, Xia Chi felt nothing but respect—pure respect.
He picked another frequently asked question from the chat.
"Was that final switch into Trapinch just luck?"
"Not really."
Xia Chi replied seriously, "Given the situation at the time, it was extremely dangerous for Teacher Iono. Her only real win condition was to instantly burst down Hatterene with a Volt Switch + Shadow Ball combo. Even taking a step back—if my read had been wrong—the advantage would still have been on my side."
"."
Paldea Region, Levincia City—inside a luxury apartment.
Having rage-quit her stream, Iono lay sprawled on her bed with unfocused eyes, her mind still filled with the image of that big-headed ant racing across the battlefield.
It wasn't that she couldn't accept losing to a Trapinch anymore.
What was there to dwell on over a simple ranked game?
"But that tactic… it really does seem kind of strong."
Rolling over on the bed, Iono stripped off her slightly oversized, oddly styled punk outfit. Her fair, smooth bare feet bounced lightly at the edge of the bed.
She scrolled on her phone and muttered, "Shui Ye… Shui Ye… found him!"
Seeing the glaring Trending tag next to the stream, Iono snorted. "Already in the top twenty of the battle category, huh? This guy… hmph."
Although she knew that a large part of that popularity came from herself, Iono didn't resent it.
She streamed purely out of interest, and toward outstanding juniors like Xia Chi, she was quite happy to lend a hand.
Well… she'd probably be even happier if it weren't for those two direct captures.
So coming to watch after ending her stream wasn't about picking a fight or settling scores—she genuinely wanted to learn this new tactic.
With that thought, Iono tapped into [Shui Ye's Stream] with anticipation.
"Why are there still people saying Mimikyu is useless? Just because it didn't deal damage, it's useless? Why are you all so obsessed with damage output? Do you know that this kind of thinking alienates Pokémon's contributions? Do you even know what alienation versus concretization is?"
Seeing many comments still dismissing Mimikyu, Xia Chi looked helpless.
"Let me give you an example. You all love Sunny Day teams, right? Six Pokémon in the team—you've got a weather setter like Torkoal and a damage dealer like Charizard. Then Charizard just spams Heat Wave and Blast Burn, pumping out damage, while Torkoal sets Drought, maybe throws out a Yawn or Stealth Rock, and then goes down without dealing any damage."
"Then after the match, you look at the results—ah, Teacher Zard knocked out three Pokémon! Teacher Zard gets MVP!"
"And Torkoal? 'You dealt no damage, freeloading dog! Torkoal, you're a freeloader!' Can you really calculate it like that?"
Xia Chi's spot-on analogy and highly infectious voice made Iono—who hadn't been in the best mood—burst out laughing, and she directly sent the most expensive gift on the entire platform: a Master Ball.
The gorgeous gift animation instantly filled the entire screen.
Xia Chi froze for a good moment before reading it out loud. "Thank you… [Qi Shu Qi Shu] boss for the Master Ball? Eh? Is this ID actually Teacher Iono herself?"
The chat's reaction to Iono's gift was even more explosive.
"Over ten million followers? It really is Iono herself!"
"Iono doesn't even ask Shui Ye to pay medical fees and still comes over to donate? That's some serious M-attribute behavior."
"Rage-quit stream but still comes to give Lao Leaf gifts? Hashiki Tree, you're something else."
"Feels like she's here to secretly learn the streamer's techniques—suggest changing name to [Qi Shu Qi Shu (Mentor Shui Ye)]."
Seeing the direction of the chat going off the rails, Xia Chi quickly cleared his throat and changed the topic.
"Don't talk nonsense—this is the most Iono-respecting stream on the entire internet. Mods, give those troublemakers a 365-day package."
The reality was—there were currently no mods in the stream at all.
Iono herself didn't mind the teasing. She spoke candidly: "That tactic really is kind of interesting."
Normally, Xia Chi wouldn't be able to pinpoint Iono's comment amid the sea of messages.
But there were simply too many "message relayers" spamming it across the chat.
Seeing that the Master Ball really was "tuition," Xia Chi explained seriously:
"That tactic is what I call a heavy Trick Room team. It's a lineup with very clear strengths and weaknesses. I won't talk about the strengths—Teacher Iono, you should've felt them personally."
Iono, staring at the screen: "."
Was that really necessary to say out loud?
Xia Chi continued, "Of course, this tactic isn't unbeatable. The most typical counters are Taunt, Roar, or any moves that prevent the opponent from setting up Trick Room."
Far away in Paldea, Iono let out a sudden "Oh."
Indeed—Taunt prevented the use of status moves, which naturally included Trick Room.
It wasn't a particularly hard counter to think of.
Even if Xia Chi hadn't mentioned it, once Trick Room teams became popular on the ladder, someone would have figured it out soon enough.
Then Xia Chi smoothly shifted gears again:
"Of course, there are counter-counters to Taunt as well—like switching the Trick Room setter to Indeedee with the Psychic Surge Ability. But that's already the next layer of mind games."
"In short, because of the four-move limit and various other constraints, this game still differs from real-life Pokémon battles. Tactics like Trick Room will have a very large stage here."
"Going forward, I'll be bringing everyone even more tactical breakdowns."