Gurdurr’s Mach Punch flashed across the battlefield and erased the last sliver of Mightyena’s HP.
[Mightyena fainted!]
Cynthia immediately sent out Combusken and went on the offensive.
The good news was that although Gurdurr hit every bit as hard as Hariyama, it was slower than Combusken.
Without Speed boosts passed over from its teammate, Cynthia finally had the initiative.
Combusken struck first with Aerial Ace.
[It’s super effective!]
The attack nearly knocked Gurdurr out in a single blow, leaving only a thin strip of HP.
Gurdurr retaliated with Force Palm.
Combusken went down from full health.
[Combusken fainted!]
At this point, Cynthia had only Dottler, Shroomish, and Diglett remaining.
Brawly, meanwhile, had two known Pokémon left: his nearly defeated Gurdurr and the Combusken he had withdrawn earlier.
After a moment’s thought, Cynthia sent out Diglett.
It was the fastest Pokémon on her team.
If Combusken had been able to outspeed Gurdurr, then Diglett certainly could.
[Diglett used Bulldoze!]
Diglett moved first and finished off the weakened Gurdurr.
That left the final confrontation: three of Cynthia’s Pokémon against Brawly’s Combusken.
Or rather, the other two never needed to get involved.
Diglett handled Combusken by itself with two Magnitudes.
And just like that, Cynthia’s second Gym challenge finally ended in victory!
…
[Brawly: “I never thought all the training my Pokémon and I put ourselves through would lose to a kid like you.
You’ve got real talent!”]
[“Keep pushing yourself and don’t give up.
You’ve earned this.”]
Brawly handed Cynthia the Knuckle Badge along with a TM.
[You obtained TM08 — Bulk Up!]
Cynthia opened her Bag and checked the move description.
In simple terms, Bulk Up raised both Attack and Defense by one stage.
Her expression became rather complicated.
The chat immediately understood why.
[KeyboardWarrior: Streamer right now: “This bastard gets Guts + Flame Orb, Swords Dance, Baton Pass, Focus Sash…
and after I beat him, he gives ME Bulk Up?
Do you have no shame?”]
[OldSaveFile: HAHAHAHA, seriously.
His own chicken has Swords Dance, but does he give you Swords Dance?
Nope.
Enjoy Bulk Up.]
[DadJokeEnjoyer: It’s fine, streamer.
Bulk Up is good for you.
Stay healthy, stay strong.]
Cynthia shook her head slightly.
They had more or less guessed exactly what she was thinking.
Still, she had won the Gym battle, and Bulk Up was at least usable.
She should also be able to use Flash outside battle now, which would make exploring dark caves considerably easier in the future.
As that thought passed, Cynthia found herself reflecting on something else.
From Paul to Brawly, the biggest surprise had consistently been the combination of Guts and Flame Orb.
The synergy was extraordinarily powerful.
Yet before today, Cynthia had never even heard of an Ability like Guts.
Did Pokémon with Guts actually exist in the real world?
She could not help wondering.
Once today’s session ended, perhaps she should contact Professor Oak and ask him to examine a few Hariyama or Gurdurr.
If this Ability genuinely existed…
The entire competitive landscape for Fighting-type Trainers could change.
…
After a brief period of thought, Cynthia returned her attention to the game.
There was also Speed Boost.
Brawly’s Combusken had increased its Speed automatically at the end of every turn.
According to the chat, that was a Hidden Ability, and there would apparently be ways for Cynthia to obtain Hidden Abilities herself later.
Did that mean her own Combusken might eventually be able to acquire Speed Boost as well?
Cynthia looked toward the camera.
“Everyone, how do you obtain Hidden Abilities like that?
Back in the forest, I remember someone mentioning a special type of Poké Ball.”
The viewers responded immediately.
[GuideReader: If you catch a wild Pokémon with a Dream Ball, it’ll have its Hidden Ability.
But Dream Balls don’t become available until much later.
I think there’s a Devon-related event where the president gives you some, so don’t waste them.]
[MechanicsGeek: Yeah.
Some Hidden Abilities are useless, but others completely transform the Pokémon.
Speed Boost Blaziken is definitely one of the crazy ones.]
[TrollFace87: Streamer wants to turn her own chicken into a Speed Boost menace now, doesn’t she?
Saw Brawly doing Swords Dance + Baton Pass and got jealous lol.]
[MetaSlave: You can change Abilities later too, but that’s late-game stuff.
You’ll need to grind tournaments and eventually get things like Ability Capsules and Ability Patches.
Long way to go.]
Cynthia carefully read through the replies.
This game had far more content than she had initially expected.
Every time she reached a new town, she seemed to encounter several new mechanics, items, or concepts she had never heard of before.
Strangely enough, she was beginning to enjoy that feeling.
Exploring the unknown had always appealed to her.
Cynthia pulled out her notebook and recorded everything the viewers had just explained.
Guts, Focus Sash, Hidden Abilities, Dream Balls—every new mechanic she considered potentially useful went onto the page.
Then she left the Gym, intending to figure out how to reach the next city.
Before she could take more than a few steps, however, the screen abruptly went black.
[Today’s available session time has ended.]
…
The livestream cut out just as suddenly.
More than a hundred viewers who had been happily watching immediately started flooding the chat.
[JustJoined123: Where did she go?!]
[LateToEverything: Why is the screen black?
I JUST GOT HERE!]
…
The viewers who had watched Cynthia yesterday were considerably calmer.
[NightOwl99: It didn’t crash.
She ended stream.
She said earlier she was only streaming for two hours today.]
[WeekendGamer: I thought she was exaggerating, but nope.
Exactly two hours and she’s gone!]
[OldSaveFile: See you tomorrow, I guess.
At this pace she’ll probably clear the Electric Gym next stream.]
[RentIsDue: @RedPikachu BRO I’M BEGGING YOU, STOP GIVING HER MONEY.
She gets paid and still clocks out on schedule.
What are the rest of us supposed to watch?!]
[KeyboardWarrior: Welp.
Pack it up folks.
Tomorrow it is.]
The newer viewers clearly did not believe the stream had truly ended.
After waiting for several minutes and seeing that the channel remained completely offline, however, they reluctantly began leaving as well.
…
Inside the internet café, Cynthia stared at the darkened screen before quickly realizing what had happened.
Two hours were already over?
That had felt incredibly fast.
She remained seated and watched the monitor expectantly.
Sure enough, the same settlement window from yesterday soon appeared.
[This session has ended.]
[Session Duration: 2 hours]
[Total Viewers: 120]
[New Followers: 40]
[Total Gifts Received: 0]
[Session Rating: C]
[Evaluation: First-cast Shiny Feebas and a top-tier Super Chat?
Ridiculous luck.]
[Tomorrow’s available session time: 2 hours 15 minutes]
[Rewards obtained this session:]
[Internet Café Points ×4]
[Internet Café Reward Mystery Box — Blue]
[Note: The lowest-grade Internet Café reward box.
It may still contain certain extraordinary items.]