A quiet night, after a hearty dinner.
Sylveon rolled cutely on the sofa, wagging its ribbon.
"Sylveon~(ヾ)`ω′(ヾ)"
Since Sylveon's Ability was 「Pixilate」, its strength was proportional to its size… probably.
Of course, this was mainly thanks to the overly generous meals at Natsume's household.
At least Sylveon had a hamster wheel for exercise.
As for Arcanine… since house-wrecking was forbidden, it had to settle for playing 'roll the yarn ball' with Togepi.
"Togepi~" Togepi pushed the yarn ball toward Arcanine.
"Arcanine~" Arcanine nudged it back with a hind paw, grinning.
Togepi puffed its cheeks, tears welling up:
"Togepi doo-ee~"
"Awoo!?"
Such a mischievous doggo!
"Beep, dishwasher Rotom, ini—"
Before the sentence finished, Gengar yanked out the power plug, smugly spreading its hands.
"Gengar!︿(￣︶￣)︿"
Rotom connected to the backup power, glitching blankly:
"System Overload, Rotom!(⊙x⊙;)"
According to Natsume's plan, tonight was a live stream for a new strategy.
But virtual commands differed from pure turn-based games.
Before testing the new strategy, he needed to warm up.
With some time left before going live,
Natsume checked the chat group to see who was volunteering for a beating.
Natsume-sensei: "Anyone up for "Pokémon: Battle"? Testing tonight's rank-climbing team."
"Oh! Season's ending soon, huh?"
Old Man Wattson, in a floral shirt, stroked his chin:
"Heard rankings reset next patch… Lots of my friends are grinding."
Natsume-sensei blinked. "That's a thing?"
Devon Corporation's "Pokémon: Battle" was one of the Pokémon world's black-tech marvels.
Using VR and AR to simulate real-time battles, it also incorporated research from Lysandre Labs.
Its player base ranged from internet-addict Mustard (Isle of Armor) to a certain Sinnoh Champion and the unemployed Gold…
With the update looming, the leaderboard bloodbath was especially fierce.
"@Natsume-sensei!"
Gold shouted: "Mustard's already world #2! Natsume-sensei, you slacking!"
"What?!"
Natsume-sensei was shocked: "@Steven, Mustard has become so powerful"
"Mustard said…" Steven smiled helplessly, "his Charizard was a gift from a friend."
Natsume's heart shook.
Time to ask Leon for a 6V Charizard!
Most of Natsume-sensei's Pokémon data came from public databases… though some trainers uploaded their own to Devon Corp.
Whitney's Miltank, for instance, was noticeably rounder than others.
Ultimately, Natsume-sensei relied on dirty strategies—not stats—to win.
"Slack any longer, and you'll lose third place."
Lt. Surge said with a smile, "There's a hardcore guy named Volkner in Sunyshore City... He stays at the gym every day playing games, and he's already reached world #4!"
Natsume-sensei: "You know so much… Did you lose to him?"
"Lose?! Electric-type mirrors don't count! Just a fluke!" Lt. Surge fumed.
Natsume looked skyward.
Volkner—that guy who resembled the Fourth Hokage—was supposedly stronger than the Elite Four.
On the "Pokémon: Battle" ladder, between him and Caitlin (who kept crashing servers), slacking meant matching with Gold…
Natsume coughed and logged into his main account.
The moment he went online, "Gold the Fifth" from his friends list spammed:
"I made Master tier too!"
Gold bragged: "Sun teams are easy… Just use Explosion Taro and Torkoal!"
Natsume's heart grew heavy.
Even Gold reached Master…
Forgive me. I've neglected bullying him at cards lately.
Natsume-sensei: "Let's play a few. Need to warm up."
Gold: "Using a new team right away? You're underestimating me, Natsume-sensei!"
Ten minutes later.
Natsume-sensei: "Welp, got unlucky. Missed a few moves."
"Gold, you offline? Why so quiet, Gold?"
"Oh, not offline—just dropped from Master tier. Can't queue anymore…"
Natsume muttered, saving the replay.
Sun teams were common in both games and reality.
Testing the new strategy against one would help explain the details to fans later.
This was the true reason Natsume "sparred" with Gold so often.
"As expected of me."
Natsume sighed, glancing at his phone.
Right on time.
Natsume opened the streaming app.
...
Sinnoh, Oreburgh City.
"This Marill. Take it."
Paul coldly held out a Poké Ball to the child before him.
"R-really?"
The boy's eyes sparkled.
"Weak Pokémon are worthless to me." Paul turned away.
Unfazed, the boy clutched the ball like treasure, beaming:
"Thank you, big bro!"
"I… I always wanted a Pokémon."
He stammered, "But Mom said training's dangerous… That Pokémon are scary."
"But! If it's a Marill, it'll be nice like you, right?!"
Hands in pockets, Paul recalled a certain Pikachu-toting youth and stayed silent.
"Pathetic."
As he walked off, the boy yelled after him:
"Thank you, big bro!!"
Buzz—
Once alone, Paul checked his buzzing phone and muttered:
"Natsume-sensei's stream…"
He'd always admired Natsume-sensei's ruthless strategies as gospel.
His own team—Spikes Drapion, Poison Heal Gliscor—were battle-hardened essentials.
Yet the one Natsume-sensei acknowledged was that Ash…
Paul gritted his teeth, opening the stream.
"Another new strategy?"
His eyes widened at the team preview.
"Impossible."
"With… just these two?!"
...
The moment Natsume-sensei opened his live stream, fans rushed into the "dining hall" in droves.
The stream's title read: "Today is a serious grind day."
"Food's here, food's here!"
"Just reading that title made me down three bowls of rice!"
"Natsume-sensei, slow down! My takeout hasn't arrived yet!"
As everyone knew, the real star of Natsume-sensei's live stream was always Sylveon.
When Sylveon swayed its soft pink ears in front of the camera,
the chat instantly flooded with "AWSL!"
Gift effects bloomed across the stream like fireworks.
Natsume-sensei glanced at the screen:
"Thanks to 'Want to Hatch a Gardevoir Egg' for the Rocket… Dude, you can't—no, you really shouldn't."
"Thanks to 'Where's the Moe-Moe Today?!' for the Plane… Soon. I'll drag her on stream in a few days."
The chat instantly turned bitter as fans wept in despair.
"A man at the peak of Pokémon shouldn't be dating! o(╥﹏╥)o"
"No wonder he didn't stream the other day—he was out with Moe-Moe!"
"Hah, Natsume-sensei, you think I'd be jealous? (Lemon Yellow)"
Since the matchmaking was taking too long,
Natsume-sensei switched to casual chat while waiting.
"Is Snorlax a couch potato? No way, Snorlax is way too cute for that."
"Was Leon actually the one playing last time?… The truth is complicated. If you know, you know. If you don't, it's hard to explain."
While fans happily interacted, none of them noticed Natsume-sensei's team configuration—
until he double-checked his held items, and someone finally screamed:
"Holy crap! What's an Onix gonna do?!"
"Natsume-sensei, you didn't bring the wrong team, did you?!"
"This rookie comp… Can it even handle SubProtect Toxic?!"
In Natsume-sensei's team:
The adorable Cinccino stretched its silky white fur, its big eyes sparkling with charm.
Beside it stood the roaring Onix, looking somewhat… clueless.
"Is this a faith-based match?"
"No way! These Pokémon's base stats are so low… They'll get stomped by a pseudo-legendary!"
Even Paul, watching from the stream, furrowed his brow in doubt.
Can… this really win?
With just two Pokémon—weak in stats and lacking synergy…
Is Natsume-sensei trying to prove something?
"Impossible."
Paul muttered under his breath.
"This is too reckless!"
At the same time, the matchmaking interface finally stopped.
Fans' eyes widened in horror.
"HOLY CRAP!!!"
"It's him—the final boss!"
"He's bringing this garbage team against the big bad?!"
"It's over. Total disaster. Natsume-sensei is doomed!!"
Natsume's expression twisted.
Just how bad is my luck?!
I finally decide to use a passion team…
And THIS is who I run into?!
On-screen:
A blue-haired man in a sleek black suit smiled faintly, his deep eyes glinting like polished gemstones.
A breeze ruffled his hair, and the grass at his feet swayed as if rendered in high-end CGI—
Natsume: "Why does YOUR cutscene get special effects?! (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻"
Just because you own the game company, you think you can do whatever you want?!
"Yo!"
Steven greeted him in public chat, grinning. "Natsume-sensei, what a coincidence."
Instantly, the live stream erupted.
"It's happening—the ultimate showdown between demons!"
"Natsume-sensei's luck is cursed… He finally tries to climb, and instantly queues into the world champ?!"
"Steven, Mommy loves you~ Ｏ(≧▽≦)Ｏ"
"??? Male simps, get out!"
At this point, there was no turning back.
Natsume took a deep breath, locking eyes with Steven, his gaze sharpening.
Time to get lucky, Togepi!
If nothing misses, even Steven will fall!
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