Ethan Vale sent out Incineroar and Garchomp as his leads, while Raihan chose Tyranitar and Duraludon.
Tyranitar to set sand, and Duraludon as insurance against a possible Sylveon.
A very solid opening.
But Ethan Vale was sly as hell—Sylveon wasn't about to show its face that easily.
He understood perfectly that keeping Sylveon in the back exerted far more pressure than leading with it ever could.
The battle officially began.
Lights flashed—Incineroar took the field.
Its intimidating aura spread naturally, and the moment Tyranitar and Duraludon entered, their Attack stats were immediately suppressed.
Duraludon was fine; it mainly relied on special attacks anyway.
But for Tyranitar, the impact was huge—its offensive power dropped by an entire notch.
At the same time, Tyranitar's Sand Stream ability activated, whipping the battlefield into a raging sandstorm.
Raihan's lineup looked chaotic on the surface.
In reality, Pokémon like Duraludon, Flygon, and even Kommo-o with the Overcoat ability could all ignore sandstorm damage.
"Incineroar, Fake Out on Tyranitar. Garchomp—come back!"
The instant the match began, Ethan Vale issued a command that left the audience completely baffled.
Pull Garchomp back right at the start?
What kind of play was that?
The battlefield immediately provided the answer.
Incineroar lunged forward, slapping Tyranitar square in the face just as it was about to unleash Rock Slide.
Meanwhile, a purple glow gathered in Duraludon's mouth—clearly the sign of Draco Meteor.
Unfortunately for Raihan, Ethan Vale had read all of this in advance.
The Garchomp that would have been brutally countered was withdrawn.
Sylveon switched in—and thanks to its Fairy typing, which completely nullified Dragon-type moves, it took zero damage from the terrifying Draco Meteor that would have heavily crippled Garchomp!
Ethan Vale clicked his tongue and said,
"Tch, figured you were reading my Earthquake. Haki-na, you're a sneaky one!"
At the same time—
In Hammerlocke City, Galar Region, inside a certain villa.
A dark-skinned, athletic young man sprawled on the couch, eyes fixed on the game footage playing on the TV. He clicked his tongue lightly.
"Tch. Did Luna Volt not only change her team, but swap her brain too?"
Galar and Paldea were geographically close, with frequent exchanges of people.
On top of that, both Luna Volt and Raihan were Gym Leaders and major internet celebrities—they were very familiar with each other.
Joking like this was harmless; no one would take it seriously.
And indeed, the atmosphere in Raihan's chat was just that.
Most viewers were joking around and teasing Luna Volt, while a few reminded him that the opponent was actually that substitute-account streamer who'd reverse-fished Luna Volt—so in a sense, yeah, it was a brain upgrade.
But even with all that discussion, no one could have predicted—
That in just a few minutes, Raihan's relaxed composure would completely vanish.
——————
Eastern Radiance Region, Shanghai University, inside a student apartment.
The man currently piloting the account quickly explained:
"The mind game here is that if Raihan is thinking on the first layer, he'll have Duraludon go for Draco Meteor—a high-power, super-effective move—to pressure my Garchomp."
"Combined with Tyranitar's Rock Slide, there's a real chance my main damage dealer, Garchomp, just gets crippled right out of the gate."
"So my response is simple—switch directly into Sylveon."
"But if Raihan reads that layer and uses Flash Cannon instead, then Sylveon gets absolutely nuked the moment it comes in."
"On the other hand, if I read that he's reading me, then I just Earthquake with Garchomp—tank a not-so-painful Flash Cannon, and smash two Ground-weak Pokémon for massive value."
"But if Raihan reads that I read that he read—"
Alright, enough.
The truth was much simpler.
Raihan just couldn't afford to let Garchomp fire off a STAB Earthquake.
He'd rather accept the massive Special Attack drop from using Draco Meteor than allow Garchomp to stay on the field.
Of course, if Ethan Vale stubbornly refused to switch, that would've been even better for Raihan.
"Too bad—I'm still better!"
Ethan Vale chuckled.
"Incineroar, Parting Shot on Tyranitar! Sylveon, Hyper Voice!"
Although Duraludon and Tyranitar weren't known for speed, they were still faster than the practically crippled Incineroar and Sylveon.
Before Ethan Vale's moves could go off, Duraludon's Flash Cannon and Tyranitar's Rock Slide came crashing down—
Both aimed squarely at Sylveon, the Pokémon that posed the greatest threat to Raihan's entire team.
Under normal circumstances, a Sylveon with mediocre physical bulk would have no chance of surviving a double assault from two pseudo-legendaries.
Even in Champion's Path, where all Pokémon had significantly inflated HP compared to the old games.
But between Incineroar's Intimidate, and Duraludon's self-inflicted Special Attack drop from Draco Meteor—
Sylveon barely held on.
And then came the counterattack.
Hyper Voice erupted across the field.
Ethan Vale's Sylveon had the Pixilate ability—not only converting Hyper Voice from a Normal-type move into Fairy-type,
But also boosting its power by 20%!
Unfortunately, both towering monsters had terrifying bulk, and Duraludon in particular benefited from its Steel typing.
So even under super-effective damage, both Pokémon only lost about half their HP.
Ethan Vale shook his head regretfully.
This was the tyranny of raw stats.
At the same time, Incineroar began its move.
A few matches earlier, Ethan Vale had swapped out U-turn for the even more obnoxious Parting Shot—and now it paid off.
After spewing a string of verbal abuse, Incineroar left Tyranitar with a parting gift of –1 to both Attack and Special Attack, then safely returned to its Poké Ball.
The Pokémon taking its place—
Was the final member of Ethan Vale's backline.
Pachirisu.
——————
Hammerlocke City, Galar Region.
The moment Pachirisu popped out of the Poké Ball on the TV screen, Raihan sprayed cola straight out of his mouth.
"She actually brought out Pachirisu? Is she really looking down on me that much?"
The volume spike startled the Duraludon and Flygon sleeping out in the yard, who exchanged puzzled looks.
They'd followed Raihan for over a decade—this was the first time they'd ever seen him get this animated over a game.
But Raihan quickly regained his composure.
Forget pride—this was about saving face.
On the very first match of his stream, getting "humiliated" like this by "Luna Volt" ignited Raihan's fiercely competitive spirit.
If he was already at a disadvantage, then this arrogance was the perfect opening for a comeback.
Raihan rubbed his chin and muttered to himself,
"What can Pachirisu do? Pachirisu can't do anything."
He decided to ignore this mysterious, pointless-looking Pachirisu for now, and focus on finishing off the heavily injured Sylveon.
"Target Sylveon—Duraludon, Flash Cannon. Tyranitar, Rock Slide!"