Pokémon: I picked up a reborn Eevee at the start of the game.

As Xia Chen had predicted, Ming Yi, whose appearance was no less than Qi Shu's and even surpassed it in some aspects, attracted a group of perverts in the comments section as soon as she appeared.

Many people also recognized her as a fellow Pixiv up-loader, since the following lists of perverts often overlap.

Thus, even before the spectacular performance was finished, the program monitoring the live stream data gave a result indicating that the test had been passed.

Then came the main event: the gym challenge.

Without even thinking, it's obvious that Mingyi's lineup will consist of Serpent Lord, Flame Ace, and Earth King.

Grass Snake is immune to Electric, Earth King is immune to Electric, and Cinderace with the [Free Spirit] ability can also change its type to Ground by using Ground-type moves.

Gym Leader Qi Shufang's team consists of the local bird of the Padina region, the Electric-Flying hybrid Electivire, the pure Electric-type Feraligatr, and the only non-Electric-type Pokémon, Mirage.

In fact, Qishu's lineup isn't too afraid of Ground-types.

Both the Flying-type Electivire and the [Levitate] ability Mismagius are immune to Ground-type Pokémon, so Mei doesn't actually have any Pokémon that are particularly good at defeating Electivire.

In most gym battles, Qishu will choose to start with Giant Electric Seagull and play a tailwind strategy.

The Earth King is inherently slow, and without the ability to open a magic space, it is difficult for it to deal with the incredibly fast Electric Swallow when it is tailwinded.

Considering this situation, Mingyi took a different approach, choosing Cinderace as its starting Pokémon and using the move [Garbage Shot] to lock its type to Poison.

It has an attribute that has no mutual restraint relationship with any of the spirits of the Strange Tree.

It would have been better if Cinderace had moves like Rock Slide or Rock Spike that countered Electric Petrify, but unfortunately, it can't learn them.

Mingyi's idea was good; Qishu had not anticipated the poison-type Flame Ace.

However, the problem lies in the fact that Cinderace's skill level in using trash shots is too low, and its accuracy is frighteningly low. Giant Electric Petrifier can almost always easily dodge the moves and then retaliate with Thunderbolt or even Thunder.

In the high-speed offensive battle, Flame Ace was clearly at a disadvantage, so Naruto had no choice but to switch to Earth Ace.

But this still cannot change the situation.

It's just that the move Giant Electric Pelican has changed from Thunderbolt to Hurricane.

If they couldn't deal with the key element of the Qishu lineup, the Great Electric Sea Swallow, then the subsequent battles were even less likely to succeed.

Throughout the match, Mingyi struggled immensely, and in the end, he only managed to bring the score to 1:3 by forcing a substitution of Da Dian Haiyan through attrition warfare.

…………

Mingyi looked terrible after losing the gym battle, but that's obvious; who wouldn't feel good after losing a match?

During the ten-minute break in the dojo challenge, Xia Chen quickly comforted her, "Don't be discouraged. It's normal not to win your first dojo challenge."

Mingyi asked with a dejected pursed lips, "And what about you?"

Xia Chen scratched his head. "That's because I was challenging the Fairy-type's favorite, the Hidden Dragon Gym."

Mingyi was even more upset. "Ground-type is also effective against Electric-type, and that was more than half a year ago. I'm not even as good as you were half a year ago now."

So you still want to compare yourself to me? But all my Pokémon are overpowered!

Xia Chen felt somewhat helpless and didn't know what to say for a moment.

Fortunately, Mingyi isn't the type to wallow in self-pity; she calmed down after a while.

Forcing herself to cheer up, she looked at Xia Chen and asked, "Okay, I'm fine now. By the way, did you watch the match just now? Can you help me analyze the problems?"

Xia Chen touched Mingyi's bun and smiled, "This is the Mingyi I know. As for the problems..."

After a moment's thought, Xia Chen said, "There's not much to say, because you simply couldn't break Qi Shu's tactics and his tailwind system."

"As you know, Qishu's Electric Pelican has the ability [Wind Power]. After using Tailwind, it can enter a recharge state, doubling the power of the next Electric-type move. It's the icing on the cake for the Tailwind system. So the most direct way to defeat Qishu is to prevent Electric Pelican from using Tailwind."

Mingyi immediately replied, "So you provoked them first?"

The words had barely left her mouth when she immediately dismissed the idea. "But that would mean Cinderace would have to use a Dark-type move to fight Electric-type Boomerang, and my Cinderace doesn't have [Sucker Punch] inherited, nor does it have any suitable Dark-type moves."

Xia Chen replied, "It's okay. Just use high-level fire-type moves. There's no need to pursue the power boost of your own type of moves. Or, roaring loudly is also a good option."

Seeing Mingyi lost in thought, Xia Chen said softly, "The gym challenge is a mechanism set up by the League to train trainers. Just enjoy the process. If you can't beat it, just try a few more times. I'll accompany you."

"Um"

As if she had heard some touching words of love, Mingyi blushed and nodded gently.

The boy next to Xia Chen nodded thoughtfully and opened the small notebook he used to record battle tactics.

Turning to the last blank page, he wrote the words "love tactics" on the first line.

Then, on a new line, write "Example of a sweet nothing: I will be with you."

His friend, who came with him, shook his head and reminded him, "Don't bother remembering it. It's all about looks. If you look like him, you could get a girl just by saying you drink more hot water."

After thinking for a long time, the passerby closed his notebook and sighed, "Fine, I'll just focus on admiring my Miss Qishu."

"Next up, challenger number thirty-one, please prepare!"

Inside the preparation room, Rotom began the introductions.

"Alright, I'm going to the match now. Watch how I deal with the tailwind strategy."

"Yeah, come on!"

Mingyi cheered Xia Chen on with great enthusiasm.

Xia Chen smiled, waved, and walked out of the preparation room, stepping into the main battlefield of the Brewmaster Dojo.

------

The battlefield layout of the Niangguang Dojo is different from other places.

Under the spotlights from all directions, the entire battlefield resembled a stage.

A dozen or so Magnetons or Magneton-3 devices equipped with cameras float in the air, aiming at the area from all angles.

This is what makes the Brewmaster Dojo so special: from the dojo's testing to the actual battles, the entire process is broadcast live on Pilipili in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers.

On this unremarkable Tuesday afternoon, fans of Qishu from all over the world opened the live stream as usual, and were greeted by a handsome guy making an appearance.

"This guy is good-looking; he's definitely one of the best among this month's challengers. He just looks kind of familiar."

"Holy crap, isn't that Master Pigeon? He actually went on a trip to Padiya?"

"You secretly went looking for Mengmeng as soon as you arrived in Padiya, you're really something, Master Pigeon!"

"You're still traveling with Mingyi? That's great, you don't carry people on your back anymore."

"Where's Cynthia? You think you can't do anything to me just because the Sinnoh region is far away?"

"World-famous painting: Bamboo and Orchid Exploring Ruins (laughs)"

"Wait, who is this 'Master Pigeon' you guys are talking about? Is he also a streamer? Is he just trying to ride on Qishu's popularity?"

"Tsk, I, the most sentimental streamer from Donghuang, need to ride on the coattails of other streamers' popularity to go on a trip? Hey bro, give me a show of reciting a menu!"

"Standing before you now is Xia Chen, a top 100 content creator on Pixiv, champion of the Donghuang Youth Trainer Competition, friend of Kalos, inventor of the Beauty Cube, discoverer of Sylveon and Ghost Zoroark, father of the Grand Contest, rumored boyfriend of Cynthia, and trainer of Master Yi!"

"Damn, could this comment have been posted by Pigeon Master himself? He remembered it so well!"

As expected, Xia Chen's appearance immediately ignited the atmosphere in the entire live broadcast room.

Top content creators on Pixiv already have high popularity among Pixiv users, so it's not surprising that Xia Chen and Qi Shu have a large overlap in their fanbase.

So, in just ten seconds, before Xia Chen could even tell the lame joke he had prepared for the dojo test, the backend program determined that he had successfully passed the test.

If there were speedrun records, Xia Chen would most likely be at the top.

Unless someone of Cynthia or Karen's caliber comes to challenge the gym and fry fish.

…………

With the gym test over, the next step is naturally the gym challenge.

No one is pessimistic about whether Xia Chen can win the Brewing Light Badge, unless Qi Shu really sends out her main Pokémon.

Although the result was not in any suspense, everyone was still quite looking forward to this match.

Compared to other ordinary dojo challenges, the fact that the challenger is Xia Chen naturally generates much more buzz.

The live stream's backend operations team also cleverly changed the live stream title to "Xia Chen is here to challenge us, a great battle is about to begin!"

Before long, the door to Xia Chen's room opened, and a spirited girl wearing her signature baggy clothes, with two Magneton on her head, made a dashing entrance riding a giant electric seagull.

After striking her signature pose in front of the camera, Kiju began to greet the audience.

"Using an electric grid to capture your attention, who will tell the extraordinary story? The extraordinary tree has arrived!"

"Good morning, good afternoon, good evening! Hello~ This is Qishu's gym challenge live stream!"

"Our opponent in this match is Xia Chen, a genius young trainer from the Eastern Region! He's also my colleague on Pixiv~"

The camera focused on Xia Chen, who waved briefly in greeting, and then nothing more.

No matter how much the Magneton carrying the camera hovered around him, he pretended not to see it and waited for the match to begin.

It wasn't that Xia Chen was arrogant; he simply didn't have any goodwill towards the capital behind Qi Shu.

The dojo is open for nearly eight hours a day, during which time Qishu needs to focus on battles and live streaming. According to Mingyi, he also occasionally does some talk shows or other live streaming programs.

Pokémon battles are already a high-intensity activity that requires concentration, and to also take into account the live streaming effect, is this even a human job?

Qi Shu appeared full of energy when she came out, but Xia Chen, with his amazing observation skills, could clearly see the fatigue in her eyes.

Clearly, this seemingly perpetually energetic girl was exhausted.

Xia Chen was puzzled. How could a gym leader with such a promising future be swayed by capital?

In the exchange of glances, Qi Shu seemed to sense Xia Chen's confusion and hidden pity. She paused for a moment, unusually interrupting her interaction with the audience.

The host quickly intervened to salvage the situation, saying, "Both sides have noticed the fighting spirit in each other's eyes! The air is thick with fighting spirit, so let's begin the gym challenge!"

…………

Two flashes of white light appeared, and the starting Pokémon of both sides appeared on the battlefield.

They are Xia Chen's shiny Gardevoir and, as expected, Qi Shu's Electric Petal.

"Please deliver a thrilling and entertaining match!"

Qishu, now back to his usual energetic self, said this as usual before the formal confrontation.

Xia Chen, true to his martial spirit, did not seize the opportunity to launch a sneak attack. Instead, he waited until Qi Shu began to give commands before immediately shouting, "Gardedoll, Provoke!"

It was Kiju's voice that spoke first, followed by, "Great Electric Petr, tailwind!"