Paldea Region, Sunshine Gym.
"I need to look into who this guy really is. I don't think I've even heard this Gym's name before…"
After losing to Qingyu and having her win streak snapped, Iono naturally lost all interest in continuing her stream.
But after going offline, what bothered her even more was the identity of this mysterious "Azure Feather."
At the very least, she could be sure of one thing—among Paldea's eight official Gyms, there was absolutely no one by that name. Which meant it could only be some other, lesser-known Gym.
"But being able to come up with two tactics that are both extremely polished and clearly original… no matter how you look at it, that has to be a veteran Trainer."
"Then why have I never heard of him before?"
Although she herself had only recently inherited her Gym Leader position from her parents, she was very familiar with Paldea League's well-known senior figures.
The more she thought about it, the more curious Iono became.
She had always been the type to act immediately. Once a question formed, she would definitely try to find the answer.
And the method was actually very simple—
As a Gym Leader, she naturally had access to the League's internal network. Digging up the true identity of this anonymous Gym Leader wasn't difficult at all.
But once she checked… she nearly mentally crashed.
"Sunshine Gym… so there really are League Gyms not named after cities? Location: South Province, Poco Path Town? That's so remote…"
"Huh? This Gym actually suspended operations half a year ago?"
"The reason is…"
"Gym Leader couple went missing during exploration work in Area Zero???"
Staring at the file stamped with the official seal of the Paldea League, Iono was completely stunned.
That major incident in Area Zero half a year ago—any Paldean would know about it.
The mysterious exploration of Area Zero had been a top priority for the League for nearly a decade.
Under the leadership of Professors Sada/Turo, earlier expeditions had achieved significant results, successfully establishing multiple observation stations inside.
They had even uncovered the principles behind the phenomenon of Terastallization, making it possible to mass-produce Tera Orbs that control it.
However, half a year ago, when the professors pushed forward against all objections and ventured deep into Area Zero's Tera crystal mines to construct a time machine, an accident occurred.
To this day, no one knows what truly happened in Area Zero.
But after so much time had passed, those who went missing back then were probably already…
Iono let out a sigh. If she'd known the truth would be this heavy, she might not have wanted to dig into it at all.
Since the Gym Leader couple had gone missing, the one who inherited Sunshine Gym could only be their child, right?
Sure enough, the successor information had already been updated.
Qingyu, 18 years old, Sunshine Gym Leader.
The identity matched perfectly with the streamer known as "Azure Feather." It really was him.
So the guy who just beat her… was actually that young?
The same age as her?
Iono's pupils instantly dilated.
This world never lacked geniuses—there were plenty who became Champions at eighteen.
But compared to the distant, almost mythical legends from other regions, this peer named Qingyu felt far closer to her.
An eighteen-year-old tactical master.
If not for those accidents, he probably would've already been competing for this year's Champion title.
What a shame…
Just recovering from the blow of his parents' disappearance must have already drained all of his strength.
Maybe this attempt at entering the streaming world was his first step out of the shadows?
Iono suddenly felt a bit regretful. Thinking back to how she'd planned to step on him to ride a wave of traffic not long ago, an inexplicable sense of guilt rose in her heart.
With things being this tragic for him, she really couldn't bring herself to think about competing with him anymore…
After losing to Qingyu, her mindset had indeed shifted a little.
Now that she knew the real identity of "Azure Feather" through official channels, she found herself genuinely admiring this resilient young man.
Should she lend him a hand?
Just as she sighed and was about to shut down her computer and stop thinking about all this—
A notification from PokéTV popped up.
"A creator you follow, 'Azure Feather,' has just uploaded a new video!"
…
Midnight, 12:00 a.m. Qingyu was sleeping soundly while hugging Eevee.
The video he had edited earlier was released right on schedule on PokéTV.
The moment it went live, a swarm of hungry viewers flooded in.
[Ohhh, it's here, it's here!][It's only midnight—did you really think I'd be asleep?][I was actually there this time! The streamer's Self-Destruct Spike tactic beat Miss Iono into surrender—never seen such an evil strategy in my life!]
Most of the people camping PokéTV at this hour were fans from Qingyu's stream, waiting for a more thorough, detailed breakdown they could immediately use to climb ranks.
Especially when Qingyu mentioned in the video that this tactic had a limited shelf life—and wouldn't work nearly as well once everyone knew about it—the viewers fell into silence for quite a while.
Everyone focused intently on Qingyu's explanation, and the density of comments dropped noticeably.
Since this tactic had only been used once in practice, the footage clearly came from his battle with Iono.
Whether it was Skarmory tanking type disadvantage to come in and set the crucial entry hazards;
Or Bronzong flipping the entire situation with Trick Room and then squeezing out its final value with Explosion;
Or even Metagross punching through opponents one by one, putting on a show of pure violent aesthetics—
All of it left a deep impression on the viewers.
And Iono's decisive surrender at the end seemed to further validate the tactic's effectiveness.
Soon, the video reached its conclusion, and Qingyu gave his final summary:
"Simply put, you use hazards to chip HP and create a health advantage. After taking out one of your opponent's Pokémon, you use Explosion to further widen that lead."
"'Can't take it anymore—let's blow it up!'—that's the core of this strategy."
"Besides the Pokémon shown in the video, there are plenty of other options that can fit into the team. That part's up to you to adjust."
[So that's how hazards can be used… learned it. Time to climb ranks!][Brothers, I recommend packing more Pokémon with the Damp Ability these next few days. Don't ask how I know!][I never really noticed before, but spreading hazards actually has that much impact on the whole game?]
Qingyu had put a bit of thought into these two streams. The tactics he chose were relatively simple—once you understood the principles, they were easy to pick up.
After watching the video, many viewers confidently declared that they were "back in form" and eagerly prepared to jump into ranked, planning to abuse this information gap for massive gains.
As the progress bar rolled to the very end, Qingyu preemptively read the audience's minds and dropped a soul-searching question:
"After watching this video, I believe everyone now has a basic understanding of how important hazards are in singles battles."
"So today's homework is meant to expand your thinking a bit—"
"Since hazards are this disgusting, what methods do we have to remove the hazards set by our opponents?"
The viewers were clearly stumped by the question.
When you don't know the answer, what should you do?
Of course—go check the comments section for the class rep~
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