The next day, as the sun rose.
A significant portion of the viewers who had battled through Pokémon Champions all night were still wide awake.
The reason was simple—
Anyone who could look at that sea of red in their match history and sleep soundly must have nerves of steel.
They're practically ready to date Flash Machamp, the girlfriend from Pokémon's famous film My Muscle Girlfriend.
The overnight defeats brought tears of regret to countless viewers.
If only they hadn't opened the game!
Teacher Azure, you tricked us again! Why is it so different when I try it compared to your gameplay?
At first, it seemed pretty easy. With Slaking's overwhelming power, they effortlessly climbed the ranks.
But as the night wore on, things started feeling off.
What's going on?
Why does every opponent know to Taunt Medicham?
There's no way for it to swap Abilities with Slaking, and they lock it down with Shadow Tag or Frisk Gothitelle, preventing it from switching out…
Even after getting smarter and switching to Alolan Raichu and Galarian Weezing as leads, opponents still seem to predict their moves and counter almost instantly.
It feels like they're the ones being read like a book—how are we supposed to play this?!
Sighing as he looked at the rising sun, one of Aiden's live stream viewers stretched lazily and reached for his phone to check the time.
Then, he suddenly noticed—
Holy crap, Teacher Azure already uploaded a new video yesterday?
No wonder these bastards knew how to counter this tactic—they were here to exploit it!
Pokémon battles can be cruel.
Some clever viewers thought they'd strike while the iron was hot and jumped into ranked matches right after Aiden's stream ended, hoping to climb the ranks before everyone caught on.
However, they underestimated Aiden—or rather, the influence of the name "Azure Wings."
The smarter players had already waited for Teacher Azure's video update at midnight, using his counter-tactics to ambush these "clever ghosts."
The title of this new video was 'The Slaking Overhaul Plan: How to Revive a Flawed Pokémon?'
It was published at midnight, just six hours ago.
But its view count had skyrocketed past a million, with nearly five-digit simultaneous viewers…
With such a massive user base, it's no wonder he encountered many teams specifically targeting his Slaking tactics all night.
After stretching lazily, he quickly clicked into the video.
[Spoiler alert: the entertainment value of this video is absolutely explosive, hahaha]
[Teacher Azure's latest masterpiece races down the highway of dirty tactics without looking back!]
[Today's victim: Sinnoh Elite Four member Lucian!]
"Hello, students. I'm your newbie streamer, Azure Wings."
Ignoring the frenzied barrage of comments, the familiar opening line rang out once more.
Even though he already had millions of followers, he was still pretending to be a rookie.
Shameless, ugh!
Wait…
Come to think of it, Teacher Azure's streaming career really has only been two months long. From a time perspective, calling him a newbie isn't wrong?
The video quickly continued, and Aiden's voice returned.
"How to modify Slaking's Truant Ability and make it an undisputed core in Doubles—that's what we'll explore today."
Next, Aiden briefly outlined the roles of each Pokémon in his team and how they supported Slaking.
Medicham and Alolan Raichu for swapping Abilities with Slaking;
Galarian Weezing, using its Neutralizing Gas Ability to nullify both Slaking's and the opponent's Ability effects simultaneously;
Kilowattrel, manually setting up Electric Terrain and Tailwind while dealing some damage;
And Indeedee, with its Psychic Surge Ability providing Psychic Terrain, preventing opponents from using priority moves on Slaking.
"Right, isn't this the exact lineup?"
The viewer scratched his head. Isn't this exactly how I played?
The lineup was almost identical to the one in the live stream, with no changes in strategy.
Even the battle footage used for demonstration came straight from the stream. Those who camped in the live room had already learned everything by watching.
But seeing that there was still nearly half the video left, he decided to keep watching.
"This tactic may look simple, and it really isn't complicated—it's a very beginner-friendly fun lineup."
"Why do I emphasize it's a fun lineup? Because…"
Aiden paused.
"As long as you understand the mechanics, you'll realize that Slaking is actually very easy to counter."
"If there's a fast enough Taunter, they can interrupt Medicham's Skill Swap before it happens, rendering Slaking useless on the field."
"Even if Alolan Raichu is faster and harder to interrupt, it's similar to Weezing—you just need to find a way to keep them on the field and focus fire."
In the video, Aiden's lineup soon changed, listing several options for Taunting opponents.
"For example… Shadow Tag or Frisk?"
"Shadow Tag might be a niche Ability since there aren't many Pokémon with it, but its effect is absolutely powerful."
Hearing this, the viewer finally understood—
So his opponents weren't random players; they were using Teacher Azure's counter-strategy!
No wonder he faced so many Gothitelles in the second half of the night.
It was indeed effective. Since Alolan Raichu needed to use Skill Swap, it would inevitably be affected by Truant afterward.
Thus, it couldn't set up Electric Terrain for Slaking and, under Shadow Tag's effect, couldn't switch out to reset its Ability.
As expected of Teacher Azure—he even calculated this layer ahead of time!
In the video, Aiden also listed the effects of Shadow Tag and the Pokémon that possessed it.
Preventing opponents from rotating normally and forcing them to rely on moves like U-turn or Baton Pass to escape made it a terrifying Ability in battle.
Especially in Doubles, locking down two Pokémon effectively neutralized half of the opponent's forces.
Perhaps because its effect was so powerful, there were currently only three known Pokémon with Shadow Tag:
Wobbuffet, Gothitelle, and Mega Gengar.
So there wasn't much choice. After all, Mega Evolution hadn't been implemented in the game yet, and Wobbuffet's direct combat power was almost negligible.
Gothitelle was the best option.
By using Shadow Tag to force the opponent's swapped Pokémon to stay on the field and rest, whether to quickly focus fire on Slaking or continue restricting the opponent was entirely up to them.
This lucky viewer suddenly felt that his loss wasn't unjustified.
Turns out, his tactics were already outdated!
Who was he fighting against? Not ordinary trainers, but Teacher Azure, who broke down counter-strategies to teach his audience.
What's the point of fighting anymore?
Thinking this, the viewer suddenly smiled in relief.
He realized he could finally sleep again. After all, losing to Teacher Azure was basically rounding up—it wasn't shameful at all!
As he studied and mentally processed the information, the video quickly approached its conclusion.
Aside from introducing the Slaking doubles tactic and counter-strategy, Aiden casually added a few words at the end of the video.
"Finally, let me give a little advertisement to my fellow students~"
In the phone screen, Aiden's tone suddenly became playful, reverting to his live-streaming persona.
"The Christmas and New Year holidays are over, and Paldea is about to welcome a new semester and new students."
"This year, the Sunshine Gym in Cabo Poco, where I'm the Gym Leader, will be one of the Eight gyms on the Victory Road. Please prepare thoroughly before challenging the gym!"
"Since we're tasked with selecting outstanding trainers to advance to the League's next round of exams, the difficulty of Sunshine Gym's challenges will increase 'just a little bit.' Please prepare accordingly, genius youths."
On-screen, Aiden made a pinching gesture with his fingers.
"That's all. Please take care of me this year too~"
With that, the barrage at the end of the video erupted in cries of despair—
[What? Teacher Azure is one of the Eight Gym Leaders? Will the pass rate be incredibly low this year…?]
[Forget it. Since Paldea doesn't have a regional tournament system, not many newcomers earn all eight badges each year. Basically, fewer than ten make it to the League's second round of exams.]
[After all, there's only one Champion per year. I heard Chairman Geeta goes easy during battles, but only if you clear the Eight Gyms and the Elite Four first!]
[On the bright side, at least Teacher Azure is just a Gym Leader and not an Elite Four member yet. Otherwise, who could pass the Champion's exam…?]
[Crying face.jpg. Why don't I believe this 'just a little bit' increase in difficulty at all…?]
The sleep-deprived viewers who had hoped to catch some rest now felt utterly hopeless.
What, you mean…
You want me to challenge the hardest mode version of Teacher Azure?
He's also a new student at Naranja Academy this year, originally planning to dominate Paldea's Victory Road and become Champion with the knowledge he gained from Teacher Azure.
But after pulling an all-nighter, he discovered that his teacher had become the gatekeeping boss of the Victory Road.
Now who can sleep?!
That day, the students finally recalled the terror of Sunshine Gym!
Moreover, with their deep understanding of Teacher Azure from watching his streams daily…
A stricter Teacher Azure would never let people pass easily. The difficulty of earning a badge was clear as day!
Therefore, to break through the Victory Road, all they could do was give it their all, showcasing their strength or tactical thinking to earn Teacher Azure's recognition!
Will they win?
They will win!
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