The next day.
Qingyu blinked his sleepy eyes, stretched lazily, and let out a comfortable yawn as he walked into the bathroom.
"Being a streamer really has its perks. You can set your own working hours—sleep in as late as you want without ever worrying about being late."
While washing up and tidying his handsome face in the mirror, Qingyu quietly mused to himself.
"In my previous life, when I was just a small-time streamer, I still had to worry about whether I'd be able to make a living in the future. There was always some pressure."
"But now…"
"Unless I deliberately screw myself over, I really can't imagine starving to death in a utopian society like the Pokémon world."
Thinking of this, Qingyu briefly recalled some of the other games he had played in his previous life. None of them really felt like worlds where you could survive properly…
Sure enough, being able to come to such a friendly world like Pokémon was truly wonderful!
After finishing his morning routine, Qingyu, in a great mood, sat down on the sofa, ready to lie back and play on his phone for a bit.
After unlocking the screen, just before opening PokéTV, he suddenly noticed a red notification icon on another app.
Navigator.
"?"
Qingyu slowly typed a question mark in his mind.
If PokéTV was the equivalent of a combination of video platforms like Bilibili, TikTok, and YouTube from his previous life, then Navigator was a super app that combined all social media and other phone functions.
In fact, as early as the Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire era, Navigator had already appeared.
And its developer was none other than Devon Corporation of the Hoenn region, founded by Mr. Stone, Steven Stone's father.
Aside from refining minerals and developing energy as its main business, Navigator was also one of Devon's core products.
It was only natural for such a world-class social app to exist on Qingyu's phone.
The only problem was—he didn't really use it anymore. He barely had any friends. So who would bother contacting him?
Still somewhat confused, Qingyu quickly tapped into the app.
Inside, it turned out to be a friend request.
A social app that had been "dead" for half a year suddenly getting a new request—now that was surprising.
If Qingyu hadn't known for sure that this world absolutely didn't have those annoying scam accounts, he probably would have rejected it without a second thought.
He focused his gaze.
[User: Who's Talking Nonsense? It's Me, Iono!Verification message: I already know you're "Azure Feather"! Hurry up and accept Lady Iono's friend request!Accept / Reject]
"Holy crap, I got doxxed!"
Qingyu froze for a moment and blurted it out.
At that instant, he suddenly felt that people in the Pokémon world might not be as gentle as he had imagined.
Even without knowing how she got his Navigator ID, why would Iono add him…
You didn't even need to think—he'd only ever interacted with her once, and that was during a single battle.
Was it because he used footage of their match as material without her permission?
Or was she dissatisfied with the loss and wanted a rematch?
Either way, the only way to find out her intentions was to accept the request.
In the end, Qingyu tapped Accept.
After all, they were both Gym Leaders in Paldea. They were bound to interact sooner or later—building a good relationship early wouldn't hurt.
[Qingyu: Hello. 🙂]
After proactively sending an emoji, he waited for a while but didn't see a reply from Iono.
Hmm…
Full-time streamers usually have pretty nocturnal schedules. Someone like him, who went to bed early and woke up early, was probably the odd one out.
Qingyu understood this perfectly and decisively swiped away to open PokéTV.
Two tutorial videos updated in two days—truly worthy of me, the most hardworking battle streamer on the entire platform!
After another night had passed, the new video's view count was about the same as the previous one—just over 500,000 views.
It was probably even the exact same group of viewers.
This time, Qingyu went straight into the comments section, and sure enough, he once again saw a familiar name sitting firmly at the top.
"Fossil Maniac Steven" was still going strong!
Having learned from last time, Qingyu wasn't particularly surprised by Steven's reappearance.
Thinking about it carefully, this video was almost entirely filled with Steel-type Pokémon, and the tactical ideas were somewhat similar to Steven's usual opening style.
Only then did Qingyu belatedly realize—
Wasn't this entire video basically a Steven Stone magnet?
No wonder Steven was so active here.
User "Fossil Maniac Steven", posted at 05:15.
[I'm really lucky—I almost missed this high-quality video.Judging from the creator's proficiency with Skarmory and Metagross, you're probably a Gym Leader who specializes in Steel-types as well. Your ideas are somewhat similar to another Gym Leader, Roxanne.Although this is still more game-oriented tactical content, it truly brings out all the strengths of Steel-type Pokémon. Calling it a comprehensive beginner's textbook for Steel-types wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Now that the praise is out of the way, I'll play the role of class representative again today and share my understanding of entry hazards and hazard removal…]
What followed was a long explanation by Steven, detailing his understanding of hazard setters and hazard removal.
Qingyu nodded repeatedly as he read.
As expected of a Champion—his understanding was indeed solid.
Although limited by regional factors and not fully familiar with Pokémon from other regions, he had basically gotten the answer right.
Generally speaking, Pokémon battles are a constantly spiraling duality.
If hazard setters run rampant in the meta, then naturally there will be corresponding methods to remove those hazards and neutralize the threat.
In the past, however, most trainers who used hazard strategies were elite trainers at or above the Gym Leader level, so the usage rate wasn't particularly high.
As a result, very few people seriously thought about how to remove those annoying hazards.
But now that Qingyu had openly shared this knowledge, the development of hazard-based teams would likely flourish in the future.
The "homework" he left this time wasn't anything complicated—just an exercise to broaden one's thinking.
Excluding moves like Maushold's Tidy Up, Glimmora's Mortal Spin, or switching moves, there were really only two universal solutions for hazard removal:
Rapid Spin and Defog.
As long as you knew which Pokémon could use these moves, you'd know how to deal with hazard setters in the future.
And if all else failed, there were still Heavy-Duty Boots, which directly negate hazard damage.
For Pokémon that were especially afraid of Stealth Rock, this was nothing short of a god-tier item.
Of course, there was also an even more brutal solution.
The Magic Bounce Ability.
Simply reflect the opponent's hazards right back onto their own field—no wasted actions, maximum efficiency.
After posting the correct answers in text form in the comments section, Qingyu was just about to put his phone down.
But at that moment, something suddenly occurred to him.
As if guided by instinct, he swiped the screen and switched back to the Navigator app.
Aside from the newly added Iono, he only had three friends on Navigator in total.
Two of them were his parents… who had been missing for half a year.
As for the last friend slot—that one was something else entirely.
With the memories of two lives being too cluttered, combined with the original body's half-year of escapism—
If not for Iono's friend request earlier sparking that fleeting realization, he might not have remembered this at all.
Qingyu's hometown was Celestic Town, where he had lived until the age of thirteen.
It wasn't until five years ago that he moved to the Paldea region together with his parents.
Before leaving Celestic Town, he had added his so-called legendary childhood sweetheart on Navigator.
That person was none other than the newly crowned Champion of Sinnoh—
Cynthia.
And the last conversation between the two of them…
Had been frozen in time, five months ago.
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