In the livestream room, many netizens couldn't see these details and shook their heads one after another, thinking Adrian's operation was lacking.
"Is the Streamer kidding? If the opponent is Arcanine, why didn't you send out Gyarados? Do you even know how to battle pokémon?"
"Exactly, exactly! From a type perspective, Gyarados clearly has the advantage. Just start with Waterfall, and they won't even be able to make a sound."
"As far as I know, a pokémon like Arcanine has almost no weaknesses in any aspect and is very tricky to deal with. If a fragile pokémon like Pikachu is sent out, the difficulty is indeed not small; just one hit and it might not be able to take it."
In the real world, perhaps not everyone is a Trainer.
But in the online world, everyone is a pokémon Master!
Even though Adrian's track record was plain for all to see, in front of these many'spiritual pokémon masters,' Adrian still needed to practice!
Meanwhile, in a courtyard in Levincia within the Paldea Region, the playful and cute Iono was still streaming.
Behind her, the adorably silly Bellibolt still played the role of the atmosphere maker, twisting its round belly from time to time.
If no one mentioned it, who could guess that this was the ace pokémon of the Levincia Gym?
——
It's so silly!!!
The livestream was coming to an end, and Iono was waving goodbye, preparing to go offline.
But just then, her rotom phone issued a notification: 'The Streamer you follow, Fishing Dreamer, is conducting a live battle.'
"Hmm? Adrian is doing a live battle?"
Iono immediately became interested, then thinking of Adrian's pitiful few hundred thousand followers, she decided to give him a boost.
So she quickly said to the fans in the livestream room, "A Trainer Streamer I know is doing a live battle; his Pikachu is quite well-trained. Let me see what surprises he can bring today."
Saying this, Iono clicked directly into Adrian's livestream room and began to shamelessly filler-stream.
Regarding this, Iono's fans were not dissatisfied.
Because Iono was just about to end the stream, and now that she could stream a bit longer, they felt it was a win.
"Eh? Pikachu vs. Arcanine? Isn't the gap between these two pokémon a bit large?"
"Streamer, Streamer, which of these two guys is your friend?"
"I guess it's the one using Pikachu."
Most of the fans in Iono's livestream room were there for Iono's looks and playfulness; they weren't very interested in these two smelly men, Adrian and Gary.
But Iono was, after all, a top global super-influencer; her traffic was terrifying.
Her streaming Adrian's stream directly caused the popularity of Adrian's livestream room to soar.
Of course, Adrian himself didn't notice this; he was currently fully focused on preparing for the battle.
After all, the opponent was Gary, 'The Breeder (Youth Version),' and the opponent was Arcanine, a pokémon universally recognized as powerful; he had to go all out.
"Awooo~"
The majestic Arcanine let out a howl; even its Growl was full of dignity.
Immediately after, everyone saw Pikachu as if it had been startled, its expression changing slightly while its body involuntarily took a step back.
Adrian curled his lip: "The Intimidate ability again!"
When playing games, Adrian really liked Intimidate users.
But now that he was constantly being intimidated, it wasn't so funny anymore.
"The match begins!"
As the mechanical electronic voice of the rotom phone sounded, the battle officially commenced.
Gary waved his hand and launched the first attack: "Arcanine, Extreme Speed!"
"Holy crap! This Arcanine actually knows Extreme Speed? This move is very hard to learn!"
"Starting with Extreme Speed? Given Arcanine's attack capability and the power of Extreme Speed, is he planning to one-shot Pikachu?"
""
In Iono's livestream room, most fans were just surprised that Gary's Arcanine knew 'Extreme Speed' and didn't care much about winning or losing.
But the fans in Adrian's livestream room were different; they had watched Pikachu's progress step by step and naturally didn't want to see it get one-shot.
After all, Pikachu was a universally recognized fragile pokémon!
Even Iono herself couldn't help but close her eyes, seemingly unable to bear watching the tragic sight of Pikachu being sent flying.
According to Iono's experience, a Priority Move like Extreme Speed was usually a setup, inevitably followed by a high-output move to form a combo.
If it were Arcanine, it would very likely be Flamethrower or even Fire Blast.
And for this kind of combo, as long as the first move hits successfully, the second move is usually very difficult to dodge.
But at that moment, a sudden change occurred on the field.
Slap!
The dull sound of a hit suddenly rang out, but the source of the sound wasn't Pikachu; it was Arcanine.
Arcanine, who was just about to use 'Extreme Speed,' hadn't even charged out when it took a solid slap to the head.
"Awooo~"
After being hit, Arcanine only felt its head buzzing, its courage seemingly slapped away, and its head involuntarily shrank back.
Arcanine has flinched!
Gary's pupils constricted as he said in shock, "Fake Out!!!"
Extreme Speed is considered 'upper-middle' among Priority Moves, but it's not top-tier.
In terms of execution speed, Fake Out is clearly faster.
It was just that Gary hadn't expected Adrian's Pikachu to have mastered the Fake Out move.
But Adrian's Pikachu had only been trained for a month at most, right?
"While it's down, Thunder Wave!"
Seeing that Fake Out had succeeded, Adrian wanted to expand his lead.
If Arcanine were paralyzed, the rest of the fight would be easier.
"Pika~"
Using the recoil to jump into mid-air, the electricity in Pikachu's cheek pouches surged continuously, and a strange electric wave shot out from between its ears.
"I won't let you have your way."
Gary snorted coldly and shouted, "Flame Wheel!"
"Awooo~"
Arcanine let out a cry, its body suddenly covered in terrifying flames, turning into a wheel of fire to meet the Thunder Wave.
Boom!
Under the impact of the ultra-high temperature Flame Wheel, the Thunder Wave was directly neutralized.
Immediately after, Arcanine's Flame Wheel spun faster and faster, the flames burning brighter as it charged toward Pikachu, who had nowhere to maneuver in mid-air.
"Pikachu, Protect!"
Adrian grit his teeth and issued the command.
He thought Fake Out had given him the initiative, but in the blink of an eye, he was at a disadvantage and even had to use a defensive skill.
It could only be said that Pikachu's physical attack capability was still a bit too weak, and the Flinch effect of Fake Out was too brief.
Otherwise, the subsequent Thunder Wave would never have been neutralized so easily.
Hum!
A translucent shield appeared, blocking the flames of Arcanine's Flame Wheel.
But Arcanine's power was too great; even with the protection of the shield, Pikachu was knocked back several meters, nearly losing its footing upon landing.
"Flame Charge!"
Not wanting to give Adrian and Pikachu a chance to breathe, Gary launched another attack.
"Awooo~"
Arcanine manipulated fire-type energy, its whole body covered in flames once more as it crashed like a fireball toward the newly landed Pikachu.
"This guy Gary is too greedy!"
Adrian snorted coldly.
Flame Charge is somewhat similar to Power-Up Punch; it can strengthen while attacking, getting stronger the more it's used.
Except Flame Charge doesn't strengthen the pokémon's attack power, but its speed.
But to be fair, in many cases, a boost to a pokémon's speed is more troublesome than a boost to its attack power.
Consequently, Adrian quickly countered: "Pikachu, Agility!"
Since you want to boost while attacking, I'll boost while dodging.
Let's see whose speed increases faster!
۞۞۞۞
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