This account was currently stuck in a Great Ball–tier promotion match, which counted as a mid-to-high level game on the overall ladder.
At this rating, it took barely two seconds to match with an evenly matched opponent.
Upon entering the preparation phase, Ethan Vale began reading his opponent's lineup.
"Charizard, Venusaur, Ninetales, Infernape, Magmar… huh, they even brought the so-called 'Only King' Flareon. I guess I'll go a little easy on them later."
Ethan Vale said, "This is a very common Sunny Day team on the ladder—completely within our effective range."
"When they see our lineup, they'll definitely be confused at first, but they won't be able to make sense of it. In that situation, what can they do? They can only send out the three Pokémon they trust the most—Charizard, Venusaur, and Ninetales."
In Pokémon: Champion's Path, the singles mode was also a six-choose-three format.
As he spoke, Ethan Vale decisively selected his own three Pokémon.
Hatterene, Mimikyu, and the team's core—Trapinch.
The battle began.
As expected, the player named "虐你如呼吸" ("Bullying You Like Breathing") led with Ninetales.
Ethan Vale, meanwhile, chose Mimikyu as his lead.
At this moment, the chat was still arguing intensely.
"I don't get this lineup at all—six completely unrelated Pokémon with zero synergy. What's the point?"
"Even as an old Water Prison Master fan, I don't understand this comp either, but I trust Lao Shui!"
"A Rhyperior that counters Charizard isn't even being brought? Just wait till Big Zard wipes your whole team!"
Thanks to its high popularity and solid combat strength, Charizard in this world still had countless supporters and was respectfully called Teacher Zard.
Ethan Vale said nothing. He casually changed the stream title to
[Trapinch 100% Win Rate to Great Ball — Lose Once and I'll Showcase Your Linguistic Talent].
Then, unhurried, he returned to the game and began issuing commands.
As soon as Ninetales entered the field, its Ability [Drought] predictably changed the weather to harsh sunlight.
Ninetales was faster than Mimikyu in-game, so just as Ethan Vale gave the command to use [Trick Room], a scorching heat wave swept across the field.
It had to be said—there was a reason this game had taken the world by storm. Whether in visual presentation or battle design, it completely outclassed Game Freak.
On screen, a blazing, searing gust of wind surged forward, and Mimikyu's head drooped to the side.
Mimikyu's Ability [Disguise] activated—negating one instance of damage from any source.
And then, Trick Room was successfully set!
It could only be said that Mimikyu was indeed somewhat niche in this world. The opponent actually didn't know about its unique Pokédex-only Ability [Disguise].
Taking that Heat Wave without taking any damage immediately made "Bullying You Like Breathing" type two words into all-chat:
"Cheating?"
Ethan Vale chuckled. "If it's not disabled, does that mean it's enabled? Then what are you going to do when I throw up a Light Screen next?"
Under Trick Room, the turn order was reversed.
Mimikyu, originally the slower side, moved first.
Light Screen rose—a transparent barrier that halved incoming special-attack damage instantly formed.
This caused the second Heat Wave from Ninetales to deal greatly reduced damage.
Even with the damage boost from [Sunny Day], the Fire-type move still failed to deal meaningful damage to Mimikyu.
After being toyed with like this, the opponent's mentality began to subtly shift.
Logically speaking, with [Light Screen] in place, a special attacker like Ninetales no longer had room to operate.
Yet the opponent stubbornly kept Ninetales on the field, adopting a do-or-die stance.
Ethan Vale didn't indulge him either. Relying on the speed advantage and Light Screen, he opted for a Shadow Ball hit-and-run strategy—
As a side note, the battle system of Pokémon: Champion's Path wasn't fully turn-based.
Under voice commands from the player, Pokémon could move freely around the field. While their AI wasn't particularly advanced, they followed their Trainer's instructions perfectly.
This real-time command system gave players more fun, a higher skill ceiling, and made battles feel much closer to real Pokémon combat.
Under complete tactical suppression, the opponent's Sunny Day team never got the chance to display its strengths.
By the time Trick Room ended, both Ninetales and the audience's dearly beloved Teacher Zard were already down.
The final Pokémon, Venusaur, thought it had finally gotten its chance to shine and sweep three in a row.
However, Hatterene's second Trick Room instantly shattered Venusaur's dreams, even with [Harsh Sunlight] active.
Venusaur, which should have had its Speed doubled under the sun thanks to [Chlorophyll], now moved as if one of its legs had been broken—painfully slow.
Before the true Trick Room sweeper, Trapinch, even entered the field, the opponent—already tilting hard—chose to surrender.
"Secured!"
After easily winning the first match, Ethan Vale stretched lazily and then grinned at the chat.
"Holy crap—so that's how Trick Room is supposed to be used?"
"Learned it. Heading to challenge the Viridian Gym right now!"
"Honestly, this playstyle seems really effective against all kinds of fast Pokémon."
Like many tactics, the move Trick Room hadn't received enough attention in this world.
The root cause was that there weren't many Trainers specializing in Psychic types in real life.
And most Psychic-type Pokémon could use Teleport.
They preferred to rely on Teleport—a more flexible and convenient move—to create speed advantages.
Carried over into the game, players naturally didn't develop Trick Room strategies very much.
Amid laughter and excitement, Ethan Vale climbed on a winning streak all the way to the Great Ball–tier promotion match.
This rating was still some distance away from the very top of the ladder, but for ordinary players, it was already the ceiling.
With a bit of luck, you could even get matched against famous Trainers.
Clearly, Ethan Vale's luck today was exceptionally good.
"After this one, I'm ending the stream. Let's see who the final lucky one is."
As he spoke, the opponent's matched nickname made Ethan Vale freeze for a moment.
[Qi Shu Qi Shu]
"Another Luna Volt? Is this the real one?"
The game didn't restrict duplicate nicknames. For a big streamer like Luna Volt, it was perfectly normal for fans to take similar names.
The chat promptly chimed in.
"It's her! I'm watching from Luna Volt's stream!"
"Coming from Luna Volt's stream—brothers, go rush this streamer!"
"Lao Shui, Luna Volt's talking big. She says she's going to make you cry!"
Ethan Vale stroked his chin, his smile bright. "Make me cry? Sounds interesting."
At the same time.
In the Paldea region, Levincia City, inside a luxury apartment.
A cute girl with pink-and-blue twin tails puffed out her cheeks angrily as she stared at the computer screen in front of her.
The huge headpiece atop her head, resembling a Magnemite, blinked its eyes, expressing her current irritation.
"It's this guy again!"
After confirming the situation in Ethan Vale's stream, Luna Volt returned to the game and talked trash.
"Just watch—I've already figured out how to deal with that disgusting strategy of his. This time, I'm washing away my humiliation!"
As she spoke, she grinned at the six Pokémon in her opponent's selection pool and widened her eyes.
"Huh? This guy didn't use those Pokémon?"
Last time, Luna Volt had been toyed with and tortured to death by Ethan Vale's Substitute–Protect Poison strategy, earning him the title of her number-one internet nemesis.
Meeting again, she hadn't expected Ethan Vale to have "turned over a new leaf."
"Did his conscience suddenly awaken? No—what the heck is Trapinch?!"
Staring at the brown, big-headed ant Pokémon in the prep screen, question marks practically popped out of Luna Volt's Magnemite headpiece.
But soon she waved it off, saying indifferently, "Whatever. What can Trapinch even do? Trapinch can't do anything!"
With that, she quickly locked in Kilowattrel, Luxray, and Mismagius.