Xia Chi’s lead Pokemon are Incineroar and Garchomp, while Raihan chooses Tyranitar and Archaludon as his starting duo.
T-Tar immediately whips up a sandstorm, while Archaludon stands ready as a countermeasure against a potential Sylveon.
It is a very solid opening.
But Xia Chi is incredibly crafty.
He is not about to reveal his Sylveon so easily.
He knows full well that keeping Sylveon on the bench as a deterrent is far more effective than leading with it.
The battle officially begins.
With a flash of light, the great tiger, Incineroar, takes the stage.
Its Intimidate ability naturally radiates outward, instantly shaking the attack power of the newly sent-out Tyranitar and Archaludon.
Archaludon is relatively unaffected, as it relies primarily on Special Attacks.
For Tyranitar, however, the impact is massive—it is no exaggeration to say its physical damage output has been neutered by an entire tier.
At the same time, Tyranitar’s [Sand Stream] ability activates, instantly kicking up a raging sandstorm across the battlefield.
Raihan’s lineup may seem chaotic, but in truth, Archaludon, Flygon, and even his Kommo-o with its [Overcoat] ability can completely ignore the effects of the sandstorm.
“Incineroar, use Fake Out on Tyranitar!
Garchomp, come back!” As soon as the turn begins, Xia Chi quickly issues a command that leaves the entire audience utterly baffled.
Withdrawing Garchomp on the very first turn?
What kind of move is that?
The state of the board immediately explains Xia Chi’s decision.
Incineroar lunges forward with blistering speed, slapping Tyranitar right in the face just as it is about to unleash a Rock Slide, flinching it.
Meanwhile, the purple energy flaring up in Archaludon’s mouth signals its impending move—Draco Meteor!
Fortunately, Xia Chi predicted all of this.
The threatened Garchomp is switched out.
Sylveon takes the field in its place, using its Fairy typing to completely immune the Dragon-type move, absorbing a terrifying attack that would have otherwise devastated Garchomp with zero damage!
Xia Chi says with lingering apprehension, “Whew, as expected, you were trying to read my immediate Earthquake.
Raihan, you sly dog!” At the same time, inside a villa in Hammerlocke, Galar.
A dark-skinned athletic young man lying on his sofa stares at the game screen on his TV and scoffs.
“Tch.
Did Iono not only change her team composition, but get a brain transplant too?” Galar and Paldea are geographically close, and people travel frequently between them.
On top of that, both Iono and Raihan are Gym Leaders and major online influencers, making them very close friends.
No one is going to take a harmless little joke like this seriously.
Indeed, the chat in his live stream is reacting the same way.
Most of them are laughing and teasing Iono, while a small portion reminds him that the person playing on the other side is actually an anti-smurf streamer piloting Iono’s account.
In a way, she really did get a “brain transplant.” But despite all the chat activity, no one can foresee what is about to happen.
In just a few minutes, Raihan will no longer be this relaxed and carefree.
*** Donghuang region, inside a student dormitory at Hushi University.
The person currently piloting the account quickly explains to his viewers: “The mind game here is this: If Raihan is on the first level of thinking, he will have Archaludon use Draco Meteor, a high-damage, super-effective move, to suppress Garchomp.
Combined with Tyranitar’s Rock Slide, it’s highly likely they could cripple my main damage dealer, Garchomp, right at the start.” “My counterplay is very simple: pivot directly into Sylveon.” “But if Raihan had predicted that level and used a super-effective Flash Cannon instead, the incoming Sylveon would have taken a devastating blow.” “However, if I predicted his prediction of my prediction, I would just let Garchomp use Earthquake.
We’d tank a minor, non-STAB Flash Cannon, and then hit two Ground-weak Pokemon with Earthquake.
Pure profit!” “But if Raihan predicted my prediction of his…” Well, it is not actually that convoluted.
It is simply that Raihan cannot afford to take Garchomp’s STAB Earthquake.
He would rather accept the massive Special Attack drop from Archaludon’s Draco Meteor just to force Garchomp off the field and prevent the Earthquake.
Of course, if Xia Chi had stubbornly stayed in, it would have been even better for Raihan.
“Unfortunately, I was one step ahead!” Xia Chi chuckles.
“Incineroar, use Parting Shot on Tyranitar!
Sylveon, Hyper Voice!” Although Archaludon and Tyranitar are not pseudo-legendaries known for their speed, they are still slightly faster than Incineroar and Sylveon, who are practically speed-handicapped.
Before Xia Chi’s moves can execute, Archaludon’s Flash Cannon and Tyranitar’s Rock Slide rain down.
Both attacks are aimed squarely at Sylveon, the only Pokemon capable of posing a major threat to Raihan’s entire team!
Normally, a Sylveon with its mediocre Physical Defense would find it incredibly difficult to survive a combined assault from two pseudo-legendaries.
This is true even though the HP pools of all Pokemon in *Path of Champions* are significantly higher than in the original games.
But under the combined influence of Incineroar’s Intimidate and the self-inflicted Special Attack drop from Archaludon’s Draco Meteor, Sylveon barely manages to hang on.
Then, it fires back with a Hyper Voice.
The Sylveon Xia Chi brought has the [Pixilate] ability, which not only converts Normal-type moves like [Hyper Voice] into Fairy-type, but also boosts their power by 20%!
However, the durability of those two massive beasts is terrifying, not to mention Archaludon’s Steel typing which resists the hit.
Thus, even under the impact of the boosted Hyper Voice, the HP of both targets only drops by a bit less than half.
Xia Chi shakes his head in regret.
“This is the beauty of raw stats.” Meanwhile, Incineroar makes its move.
A few matches ago, Xia Chi swapped out [U-turn] for the even more toxic [Parting Shot], and it is now showing brilliant results.
After a volley of insults, Incineroar leaves Tyranitar with a parting gift—reducing both of its attack stats by one stage—and smoothly returns to its Poke Ball.
The Pokemon sent out to replace it is none other than the final member of Xia Chi’s bench—Pachirisu!
*** Galar region, Hammerlocke.
Watching the tiny Pachirisu pop out of the Poke Ball on his TV screen, Raihan is so shocked he spits out his cola.
“She really brought Pachirisu?
Is she looking down on me that much?” His loud voice causes Archaludon and Flygon, who are sleeping in the yard, to look at each other in confusion.
In the dozen or so years they have been with Raihan, they have never seen him yell at a video game like this.
Inside the living room, however, Raihan quickly calms down.
A man needs to keep his pride.
Having been so “humiliated” by “Iono” in his very first stream match of the day, the highly competitive Raihan is determined to win this battle.
Under such a disadvantage, “Iono’s” arrogance actually presents a perfect opportunity for a comeback.
Raihan strokes his chin and mutters to himself, “What can a Pachirisu do?
Pachirisu can’t do anything!” He decides to ignore the little squirrel, whose purpose he cannot fathom, and first eliminate the heavily damaged Sylveon.
“Target Sylveon!
Archaludon, Flash Cannon!
Tyranitar, Rock Slide!”