Cynthia’s own Combusken had Blaze.
That much was obvious.
But according to the battle notification, Brawly’s Combusken had a completely different Ability.
Speed Boost?
When in doubt, ask the chat.
Cynthia thought for a moment before speaking.
“Everyone, why does his Combusken have a different Ability from mine?”
The viewers immediately began explaining from every direction.
[MechanicsGeek: Of course it’s different.
His Combusken has its Hidden Ability.
Speed Boost raises its Speed at the end of every turn.
We already told you about Hidden Abilities back in the forest, remember?]
[GuideReader: Saying “Hidden Ability” would probably help more than calling it a HA when she barely knows the mechanics.]
[MetaSlave: Speed Boost + Swords Dance + Baton Pass.
Classic.
Streamer, you are in for a wonderful time.]
[OldSaveFile: Wait, doesn’t Brawly’s Hariyama normally run something other than Flame Orb in this version?
Did they change that too?]
Cynthia carefully processed what they were telling her.
So Speed Boost automatically raised the user’s Speed by one stage at the end of every turn.
And it did not consume the Pokémon’s action for that turn.
Her brow furrowed.
Wasn’t that Ability a little absurd?
Within the game, becoming faster every turn meant Brawly’s Combusken would quickly gain complete control over move order.
That alone was troublesome enough.
But if an Ability like that existed in reality…
Cynthia pictured the possibilities.
A Pokémon that could simply become faster and faster as a battle continued, without needing to consciously use a move or technique to do so?
That would be terrifying.
Real-world Speed was not merely a number that decided who attacked first.
Greater speed made it easier to evade attacks, close distance, disengage, create openings, control positioning, and dictate the entire rhythm of a fight.
And for a Pokémon like Combusken, which excelled at close-range combat, continually accelerating as a battle went on would be an enormous advantage.
‘Can an Ability like that really exist…?’
Countless thoughts flashed through Cynthia’s mind before she forced her attention back to the battle.
Whatever the implications for reality, she had an immediate problem to solve.
Brawly’s Combusken was gaining Speed for free every turn.
By the second or third turn, even Diglett—the fastest Pokémon on Cynthia’s team—would probably be unable to outspeed it.
She could not let the battle drag on.
Cynthia immediately withdrew Dottler and switched to Mightyena.
White light flashed.
Mightyena entered the battlefield, and Intimidate activated at once.
[Mightyena’s Intimidate activated!]
[Combusken’s Attack fell!]
But instead of attacking, Brawly’s Combusken repeated the exact same movement as before.
A crimson sword-shaped aura surged around its body.
[Combusken used Swords Dance!]
[Combusken’s Attack rose sharply!]
Even after Intimidate lowered its Attack by one stage, the second Swords Dance left it sitting at a net +3 Attack.
Cynthia’s expression grew more serious.
Even if she used Growl on the next turn, Combusken could simply use Swords Dance again.
She could never lower its Attack as quickly as it could increase it.
A battle of attrition would get her nowhere.
She needed to attack.
Cynthia immediately selected Crunch.
The next turn began.
Before Mightyena could move, Combusken acted first again.
But this time, instead of using Swords Dance or attacking, it adopted a strange pose and raised one claw.
A baton suddenly appeared above it in a brief animation.
Then Combusken dissolved into white light and returned to Brawly’s party.
[Combusken used Baton Pass!]
[Gym Leader Brawly sent out a new Pokémon!]
Another Poké Ball opened.
A huge, broad-bodied Pokémon appeared on the battlefield, built like a sumo wrestler.
[Hariyama!
Lv.
24]
Cynthia’s expression darkened.
‘Baton Pass…’
She knew the technique.
Baton Pass allowed another Pokémon to inherit the stat changes accumulated by the user before switching out.
In reality, however, Baton Pass was extraordinarily difficult to master.
Transferring momentum and enhanced states between two Pokémon required an almost perfect degree of synchronization.
A small mistake could cause the entire transfer to fail, or even interfere with the receiving Pokémon instead.
The difference in strength between the two Pokémon could not be too great either.
For those reasons, very few Trainers deliberately built strategies around Baton Pass.
Even among top-level support Pokémon, most Trainers preferred more reliable team-support techniques.
When Baton Pass did appear, it was usually in coordinated team battles or doubles.
Yet in this game…
Combusken had just used it effortlessly.
And if Cynthia remembered correctly, Hariyama was the evolved form of Makuhita.
Looking at the massive figure across the field, she immediately felt a familiar sense of dread.
Sure enough, flames flickered across Hariyama’s body.
A string of notifications appeared.
[Hariyama was burned by its Flame Orb!]
Cynthia said nothing.
“…”
Of course.
So she was now facing a Guts-boosted Hariyama carrying a Flame Orb…
With +3 Attack and +2 Speed passed to it?
Mightyena’s Crunch landed as Hariyama entered, but the attack barely took away half its HP.
Hariyama answered with a single punch.
Mightyena went down.
From there, Cynthia’s team completely collapsed.
Every Pokémon entered the field, selected a move, and was immediately flattened by Force Palm before it could do anything.
No exceptions.
When even her own Combusken went down from full health in a single hit, leaving only Feebas in the back, Cynthia stopped wasting time and reloaded.
…
Her second attempt began almost immediately.
This time, Cynthia changed her lead.
Combusken went first.
Her reasoning was straightforward.
Her Combusken knew Aerial Ace, a Flying-type move that was super effective against Fighting-types.
In theory, Brawly’s Combusken should not be able to simply ignore that threat.
If it stayed in and fought, Cynthia had a type advantage.
If it switched out, she would gain initiative and prevent the same Baton Pass setup from happening uncontested.
There was only one obvious risk.
Brawly’s Combusken might also know Aerial Ace.
Still, Cynthia considered that unlikely.
A Pokémon only had four move slots in this game.
Swords Dance and Baton Pass already occupied two.
A Fire-type move and a Fighting-type move would logically fill the remaining slots.
Aerial Ace did not receive a same-type bonus, so there was little reason for it to be prioritized over those options.
‘Either way, I need to test it.’
The battle began again.
Cynthia sent out Combusken and immediately selected Aerial Ace.
Brawly’s Combusken moved first.
It neither switched nor attacked.
Instead—
[Combusken used Swords Dance!]
The crimson aura surged upward.
Then Cynthia’s Combusken struck.
A white arc flashed across the screen.
[It’s super effective!]
Brawly’s Combusken’s HP plummeted straight into the red.
Cynthia’s eyes sharpened.
There was an opening.
Perhaps the AI had failed to account for her Combusken carrying a Flying-type move and had chosen Swords Dance under the assumption that it could safely Baton Pass on the following turn.
If Cynthia could knock it out now, she would gain an enormous advantage.
But just as its HP was about to hit zero, the bar suddenly stopped.
One point remained.
Two notifications appeared.
[Combusken hung on using its Focus Sash!]
[Combusken endured the hit with 1 HP!]
Cynthia stared at the screen.
“…?”
What was that?
…
The chat’s reaction was every bit as strong.
[OldSaveFile: Speed Boost.
Baton Pass.
Swords Dance.
Focus Sash.
Oh God, the memories are coming back.
Fuck me!]
[GuideReader: I can tell from the streamer’s face she has absolutely no idea what just happened, so allow me to explain.
Focus Sash keeps a Pokémon at 1 HP if it takes a fatal hit while at full health.
Very common competitive item.
People call it “Sash.”]
[TrollFace87: And streamer, you don’t get one until later, so for now you can just enjoy watching NPCs use it against you.
😏]
Once Cynthia recovered from her surprise, she read the explanations carefully.
In less than two days of playing this game, she had reached the point where she genuinely could not predict what ridiculous mechanic would appear next.
On the battlefield, Brawly’s Combusken glowed again.
[Combusken’s Speed Boost activated!]
[Combusken’s Speed rose!]
The next turn began.
The Baton Pass animation immediately appeared.
Hariyama returned to the field.
This time, it inherited +2 Attack and +1 Speed.
The good news was that it had one less Attack boost than before.
The bad news was that one fewer Attack boost made absolutely no meaningful difference to Cynthia’s team getting flattened.
She had already predicted the Baton Pass and selected Aerial Ace again.
The super effective hit slammed into Hariyama as it entered, immediately reducing it to less than half HP.
Then the next turn began.
Hariyama used Force Palm.
Cynthia’s Combusken was knocked out from full health.
The battle had returned to essentially the same unwinnable position.
Cynthia was silent for a second.
Then—
Reload.
Again!
…
Less than half a minute later, another attempt began.
This time, Cynthia led with Diglett.
It was the conclusion she had reached after reconsidering the previous battles.
Diglett possessed Arena Trap, which prevented opposing Pokémon from switching out.
It also had a favorable Ground-type matchup against Combusken.
If Arena Trap could keep Brawly’s Combusken on the field, then it would be unable to switch normally or escape through Baton Pass.
Cynthia could simply eliminate the problem before it ever reached Hariyama.
The battle began.
Diglett appeared.
Cynthia immediately selected its newly learned move.
Magnitude.
The move generated a random magnitude level each time it was used, with higher numbers producing more powerful earthquakes.
Cynthia believed the scale ranged from one to ten.
As long as she did not get particularly unlucky, the damage should be substantial.
Brawly’s Combusken used Swords Dance again.
Diglett’s body trembled.
[Magnitude 9!]
[It’s super effective!]
The screen shook violently.
Combusken’s HP plummeted.
Once again, Focus Sash activated and left it clinging to life with a single point remaining.
The turn ended.
[Combusken’s Speed Boost activated!]
[Combusken’s Speed rose!]
Cynthia barely glanced at the notification before selecting Magnitude again.
Even after one Swords Dance, Combusken should not be capable of knocking Diglett out in a single hit.
If she could trade Diglett for this incredibly troublesome setup Pokémon, that was a favorable exchange.
The next turn began.
The Baton Pass icon appeared over Combusken’s head.
[Combusken used Baton Pass!]
Cynthia’s lips curved into the faintest smile.
‘Arena Trap.’
There was nowhere to run.
Then Combusken dissolved into white light.
It vanished from the battlefield without resistance.
Hariyama appeared in its place.
Cynthia froze.
Baton Pass worked?
Arena Trap was supposed to prevent switching!
As if that were not enough, Diglett began shaking the ground beneath Hariyama.
[Magnitude 1…]
The floor gave the weakest possible tremor.
Hariyama’s HP bar moved by less than one-eighth.
Cynthia stared at the screen.
“…”
The chat was having the time of its life.
[NightOwl99: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.]
[MechanicsGeek: Streamer, Baton Pass ignores Arena Trap.
Please remember that for the exam.]
[ProbabilityNerd: MAGNITUDE ONE.
There it is.
The universe finally collected all the luck it loaned you earlier.]
[GuideReader: By the way, Mightyena can learn Roar, which forces the opposing Pokémon to switch out.
But when you were leveling Poochyena, I’m pretty sure you skipped it.
And you can’t relearn moves yet.
Hahahaha.]
[XovelisTheDragon: From first-cast shiny Feebas to Magnitude 1.
Probability has restored balance!]
The battle continued, but Cynthia had already leaned back in her chair and opened her party menu.
This attempt was finished.
Once Brawly successfully passed those boosts to Hariyama, there was almost nothing she could do.
The real problem was not the Attack increase by itself.
Hariyama was not naturally a particularly fast Pokémon.
Without the Speed boosts, Mightyena, Combusken, and Diglett might all have opportunities to move before it.
But Speed Boost Combusken patched that weakness perfectly before handing the accumulated Speed to Hariyama through Baton Pass.
That was what made the combination so difficult.
Cynthia began sorting through the possibilities again.
Setting Reflect immediately did not work.
Trying to knock Combusken out directly was stopped by Focus Sash.
Arena Trap could not prevent Baton Pass.
Leading with Shroomish and trying to paralyze Combusken was not promising either.
If she sent Shroomish out first, Brawly would probably abandon the setup entirely and simply knock it out, gaining another Speed boost in the process.
Looking back, Cynthia realized something else.
She had assumed earlier that Brawly’s AI had misjudged her Combusken and failed to account for Aerial Ace.
That was not what happened.
The AI had known Combusken could not be knocked out in one hit because of Focus Sash.
In that case…
What could she do?
Give Combusken the Quick Claw and gamble on moving first during the second turn?
Based on what she had seen while grinding, the activation rate was extremely low.
Still, theoretically, it might be her best available option.
If Quick Claw triggered, she could finish Brawly’s Combusken before it used Baton Pass.
Cynthia was about to reorganize her held items when something suddenly appeared across the livestream.
A huge red message box filled a prominent section of the screen, accompanied by an elaborate burst of fireworks.
It was a paid highlighted message.
And judging from the display, it was the most expensive tier available.
The sender was the same viewer who had donated the Super Rocket yesterday.
[RedPikachu: Streamer, one reminder.
Baton Pass doesn’t only transfer positive stat boosts.
The Pokémon switching in also inherits stat reductions and other transferable effects.
Think about that for a second.]
Cynthia stopped.
Negative stat changes…
So if Combusken had been weakened before using Baton Pass, Hariyama would inherit those reductions too.
She fell silent for several seconds.
Then her eyes moved toward the party screen.
‘I’ve got it.’