Salt Cure, the exclusive move of Garganacl.
The effect can be summed up in a brutally simple sentence:
Deals damage while inflicting the opponent with Salt Cure status, causing continuous damage similar to poison.
If that were all, then Salt Cure might not be anything special, differing from poison only in being a status condition rather than an abnormal state.
What makes this move stand out is that when the opponent is a Steel or Water-type Pokémon, it becomes even more painful.
In terms of numbers, the damage directly doubles.
This brutally simple exclusive move, combined with an extremely lopsided and powerful stat distribution, makes this Pokémon incredibly deadly in singles battles.
On Paldea's must-try list, it ranks at least in the top three.
At the same time, it is also the star of today's live stream.
As viewers continued to pour into the live stream, Aiden quickly opened the game and instantly locked in Garganacl in the team editor.
Then, the smile on his face gradually became uncontrollable.
[Is the streamer not playing doubles today?]
[With Azure's recent style, this episode probably has another set of high-quality tactics...]
[Your laughter is so creepy, Mom asked me why I'm watching a PDF stream!]
[Has Azure been getting more and more unrestrained lately?]
Ignoring the barrage of comments, Aiden quickly assembled a lineup that seemed to have no offensive output and returned to singles to start his "rank climbing" journey for the day.
By the way, his lineup was:
Garganacl, Gliscor, Toxapex, Clodsire, Glimmora, and Chansey.
For Aiden, from the moment this lineup was chosen, winning or losing didn't matter anymore.
Either he or his opponent had to be able to smile, and most likely, it would be him.
Due to his high elo and win rate, it now took at least five minutes to match a ranked game.
So while waiting, Aiden took the opportunity to showcase his mini-game talent.
After a swift defeat in Solitaire, viewers who were just about to take a break immediately trolled him, filling the live stream with laughter.
[RIP no wonder it's Azure, all his talent points are in battles!]
[Seeing that look on his face is the best!]
[The absolute fkn greed of this man LOL]
Aiden couldn't help but scratch his head.
I remember this game should be very simple, right?
After a quick game session ended and the rankings came out, Aiden stood straight up.
Wow, the ID of the first place "Steven Stone" already had nine-digit scores...
Nearly twice as much as the second place.
Even some casual online games have to compete for first place, truly deserving of the title of hardcore...
Just before starting the second game, coincidentally, he matched with an opponent in Pokémon Champions.
Having just glimpsed Steven's ID in the mini-game, could it really be possible to encounter this Devon Prince in ranked matches?
For some reason, Aiden faintly sensed something off.
Upon entering the game interface, the opponent's information immediately popped up.
Because this opponent's features were so distinctive, Aiden recognized his identity at a glance.
Good news: It's not Steven.
Bad news: Not much different.
A young man wearing a white sailor hat, dressed extremely revealingly, exuding a somewhat demonic yet mysteriously noble aura appeared on the screen.
He had his hands behind his head, smiling confidently, looking full of self-assurance.
Trainer ID: Aiming for the Triple Champ in the Grand Festival!
Gazing at the handsome man before him, Aiden couldn't help but inwardly whistle.
There might be only one man in the world who dares to dress like this, who wouldn't recognize you...
The Water Prince of Hoenn, inheritor of the ancient Luster lineage, the hidden Gym Leader of the Oceanic Gym.
Also, Steven's good friend.
Wallace!
...
Hoenn region, Pokémon League.
It was late at night.
"So you mean, you're going to Paldea for the next month, and I'll have to continue handling the daily work here?"
In the office belonging solely to the Champion, Wallace's voice echoed through the room, laughing bitterly.
"If you're willing, you can also hand over the work to the other Elite Four members; you don't need to worry about their work capabilities."
"Of course, if anything major happens in the Hoenn region, I will definitely appear by your side immediately."
An elegant nobleman's image was projected from the Rotom Phone, and his nonchalant words instantly made Wallace's blood pressure soar as he listened patiently.
"You shouldn't have become the Champion in the first place."
Wallace covered his forehead, looking quite troubled.
Since he knew from the beginning that this guy was unreliable, even to the point of leaving the Champion's duties to others for mining, he should have worked harder to decisively defeat him on the Champion Road back then.
"Unfortunately, I was the better one that day,"
Steven flashed a bright smile and was startled after glancing at the Rotom Phone.
"Oh no, my phone is about to run out of battery, let's leave it at that!"
"..."
Such a clumsy lie, even Wallace felt too lazy to retort.
As the chief agent of Rotom Phones in the Hoenn region and the eldest son of Devon Corporation, could Steven really not know that these things are fully self-sufficient?
"Letting such a guy become the Champion is everyone's fault in Hoenn..."
After a long while, Wallace finally sighed and muttered.
Of course, he wasn't unaware that Steven, as an almost unparalleled powerhouse in Hoenn over the past few decades, was absolutely reliable in combat and deserved the title of Champion.
But which Champion spends less than a month in their own region in a year?
Even himself, when participating in the Grand Festival, would have Master Juan helping take care of the Gym!
Wait...
Isn't it himself who helps Steven fulfill the Champion's duties?
Realizing this, Wallace couldn't help but smile wryly.
"Never mind, since there isn't much workload for the Champion anyway, I'll help him one last time."
The work of being an acting Champion had already ended. What followed was his personal late-night decompression time.
To achieve a triple crown in next year's Grand Festival, he planned to use the game to discover more moves that could showcase the beauty of Water-type Pokémon.
In a way, losing to Steven back then turned out to be a blessing.
If he had become the Champion, he probably wouldn't have had time to participate in the Grand Festival, nor achieve the highest peaks and longest rivers in his true passion.
Of course, even though his focus wasn't on Pokémon training now, his strength hadn't declined either.
Wallace opened the game and quickly started the long matchmaking process.
After about ten minutes, the matchmaking interface stopped spinning, and the opponent's information quickly appeared.
Trainer ID: Azure Wings.
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