Bonus Chapter ^_^
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As Beautifly's Swarm ability activated, the chat in the livestream naturally began discussing.
[There's actually an ability like that?]
[Isn't this just the Bug-type version of Blaze?]
Seeing these messages, Kairos couldn't help but twitch his mouth slightly. Just as he had thought, this world's understanding of Bug-type Pokémon was indeed quite limited—you could even say impoverished.
He patiently explained in detail the activation conditions and specific effects of the Swarm ability. The livestream chat was once again surprised.
Some had already figured out the current situation.
[So if the streamer gets lucky and triggers the low-HP effect, wouldn't he get this ability's boost too?]
[Wait, guys, I just realized—if there's also the ability's power boost, can't Beautifly sweep the team now?]
[Holy crap, did the streamer already calculate the HP amounts, so he deliberately used Reflect instead of Light Screen? Because if he'd used Light Screen earlier, that Thunderbolt couldn't have taken away so much of Beautifly's HP.]
Watching the livestream audience's discussion, Kairos nodded.
"For Pokémon with abilities that provide damage boosts when HP drops below certain conditions, you must calculate their HP carefully to utilize the ability well."
"Often you need to calculate the opponent's damage to achieve the goal of lowering your HP line for the damage boost, just like with that Electabuzz."
"By the way, Electabuzz's Special Attack base stats aren't particularly high because some points were allocated to Attack. If it were another Pokémon with powerful Special Attack, Beautifly wouldn't have any HP left, so I'd need to find another method to achieve this effect."
After Kairos finished explaining, Gym Leader Wattson on the battlefield had already sent out a new Pokémon: brown body, large ears, wave-like tail, chubby and mouse-like in appearance.
This was clearly a Raichu, but unlike ordinary Raichu, this was an Alolan Raichu!
Many viewers in the livestream were seeing this Pokémon for the first time, naturally sparking a new wave of discussion.
Some who had previously watched Iono or Cynthia's streams and recognized this Pokémon began discussing rapidly.
[Wait, even with Swarm's boost effect and Silver Wind's all-stat boost, I don't think it can still sweep Wattson's team.]
[Just this Raichu alone—it can't handle it, right? If I remember correctly, this guy's ability doubles its Speed in Electric Terrain, and it's already fast to begin with. Even Cynthia's Ludicolo couldn't outspeed it back then!]
[Right! If I saw the streamer's team info correctly earlier, Beautifly's Speed base stat seems lower than Ludicolo's. Even with a 50% Speed boost now, it definitely can't outrun this Raichu. Can the remaining HP really tank one of Raichu's moves?]
As the livestream audience frantically discussed with chat messages, as if to confirm their words, with electrical energy crackling beneath the battlefield, a notification appeared on screen.
[Feeling the surging electricity around it, Raichu's Surge Surfer ability activated! Raichu's Speed was greatly boosted.]
Looking at the Raichu flickering with gray speed-boost aura, Kairos didn't even blink.
Kairos naturally knew Wattson's team composition by heart. None of his Pokémon had priority moves.
And the only Pokémon fast enough to outspeed a Beautifly that had used Silver Wind and gained one Speed stage was this Raichu.
In fact, this Raichu had a base Speed stat of 110. Even without its ability triggering, a Beautifly with one Speed boost couldn't possibly outspeed it!
So everything seemed to circle back to the original problem: without two consecutive Silver Wind boosts, Beautifly had no possibility of sweeping.
But that wasn't actually the case.
In this game, besides the player's team composition and skill, luck was the second most important factor.
And luck could be pursued—what's commonly called "fishing" for good RNG.
If triggering Silver Wind's boost was the most crucial first RNG point of this battle, then now was the second and final one!
Amid the chat's discussion and doubt, Kairos didn't switch to another Pokémon. Instead, he unhesitatingly chose his move—still Silver Wind.
This behavior naturally confused the chat.
[Is he throwing?]
[He should retreat, right? After finally getting the HP line right and triggering Swarm, now the streamer's being greedy for boosts and not withdrawing—really unwise.]
However, as the livestream viewers discussed, when the turn began, a sharp light suddenly flashed from Beautifly's body, accompanied by a notification.
[Beautifly seized the moment!]
[Beautifly used Silver Wind!]
Such a reversal naturally caused the chat to spam question marks.
[What's happening?]
[How did Beautifly go first??]
"Beautifly is holding the Quick Claw that we got earlier in Rustboro City. When equipped, the Pokémon has a 10% chance to perform a priority attack."
"Hmm, pretty lucky this time—it actually triggered."
As Kairos explained, on the battlefield, Beautifly, who should have moved second, suddenly flapped its wings vigorously. Silver whirlwinds flashed across the sky like a raging torrent, precisely hitting Raichu's body and enveloping it in repeated high-speed impacts!
With Swarm's power boost plus Silver Wind's one-stage Special Attack enhancement, even though Raichu's bulk wasn't particularly low, its HP bar began rapidly plummeting and emptied instantly in that surging silver whirlwind!
Not only that, what surprised everyone even more was that rainbow light burst from Beautifly's body once again—Silver Wind's 10% stat boost chance had triggered yet again!
"It's over."
Kairos leaned back in his computer chair, looking at the screen full of flying question marks while touching his nose with a complex expression.
He was actually a bit surprised, too.
What's up with his luck today?
—I don't think I modified the game's probability rates...
As Kairos felt surprised and puzzled, with Silver Wind's sweep, Alolan Raichu's defeat also meant the end of this Gym battle.
Wattson's remaining Pokémon had no priority moves to finish off Beautifly's remaining HP, and with two consecutive stat boosts, Beautifly could now use Silver Wind to one-shot anyone it faced.
Wild whirlwinds continuously swept across the battlefield, ruthlessly crushing every Pokémon that Wattson sent out.
Several turns later, when Wattson's final Pokémon, Magneton, was also directly one-shotted despite Silver Wind's minimal effectiveness against it, the final result of this Gym battle was announced.
—Kairos wins!
As the battle interface exited in the game, Wattson approached, praising Kairos with surprise and admiration in his voice, awarding him the badge and the Gym victory reward—TM Thunderbolt.
But at this moment, the livestream viewers' attention was completely away from the game. Everyone felt somewhat dazed.
When this streamer said he'd clear the game with an all-Bug team, they all thought it was absurd and incredible.
But now it seemed... this streamer actually had some real skills?
Rock Gym cleared in one try, Fighting Gym cleared in one try, and now even the Electric Gym... cleared in one try!
[Holy crap, the streamer is actually amazing. I'll never doubt the streamer again.]
[Although this win definitely had luck involved, I have to say that following the streamer's deduction and plan, trying multiple times would eventually work.]
[How did the streamer do it? Did he already plan the strategy when he played to this point before? But the streamer couldn't have predicted before this stream that he'd challenge with an all-Bug team, right?]
[Yeah, that's what I find most terrifying. The streamer's tactics and thinking were completely improvised on the spot. Even Silver Wind seems like he secretly switched it in before the battle started. I didn't even see when Beautifly equipped the Quick Claw.]
[I suspect the streamer is a Champion from some region, playing on a side account for fun, and probably a Bug-type Champion. Do you know any regions with Bug-type Champions?]
[There really don't seem to be any. Elite Four and Champions of other types are common, but there really aren't any Bug-type Elite Four members...]
[Wait, I think there's one called... Aaron?]
[Never heard of this person. If the streamer isn't a Bug-type Elite Four member, I can't think of anyone else who could fill that position.]
The livestream chat frantically discussed and debated, all praising Kairos. The previous voices of doubt had long disappeared, since he had already slapped those people in the face with actual results.
At the same time, a new batch of chat messages began urging Kairos on.
[Hurry up, streamer! I'm timing you—it's only been 2 hours and 12 minutes and you've already cleared 3 Gyms. At this rate, you could totally reach the latest progress within 5 hours!]
[Holy crap, I forgot until you mentioned it. This has got to be the current speedrun record, right? Hurry up, streamer.]
[Although the next Fire Gym will probably be tough too, I think the streamer will definitely figure out a way.]
[Stream faster, streamer. However long you stream today, I'll watch for that long. I'm literally moving into your livestream and not leaving...]
However, facing the chat's urging, Kairos wasn't in a hurry. He looked up at the time in the computer's bottom right corner—it had been just over two hours since he started streaming.
The viewer count had also grown from the initial 100,000 to just over 200,000 now, still quite a gap from his target of 500,000.
After brief consideration, he decisively made his decision. After clicking the game's save button, he directly exited the game via the top right corner.
"Dear viewers, thank you all for your company. That's all for today's gaming session. Tomorrow at the same time, I'll stream Pokémon Emerald again. I hope you'll all come support me."
"See you all tomorrow."
After speed-running through this announcement, Kairos directly ended the stream amid a sea of question marks in chat.
With his departure, the now-black livestream room had even more chat messages flying around than before.
[??? The streamer just bailed?]
[Come on, bro, you don't want to make money? The gift revenue has got to be tens of thousands already, right?]
[The big shot who challenged you is still waiting in the stream, and you just say you're not streaming and leave?]
[Incredible. I originally thought reaching the latest progress in a week was impossible, but now it seems like a week is way too generous for the streamer. He even just streamed for two hours and bailed.]
Kairos didn't know how the livestream viewers were discussing him. At this moment, he sat in front of his computer and stretched.
If he had continued playing, he could indeed have reached the latest progress within two hours, maybe even beaten the Flying Gym.
But if that had happened, it would go against his original intention. After all, he wasn't really here to play games and do challenges—he was here to build his stream's popularity.
His clearing of the Electric, Rock, and Fighting Gyms should have all been recorded by viewers in his livestream and would soon be made into video clips and uploaded online.
Given Pokémon Emerald's current popularity, these videos going viral was just a matter of time.
And only when these videos' reach hit a certain level could they convert to hype, bringing more and more new viewers to his livestream.
To quickly reach that 500,000 viewer count, streaming again tomorrow and waiting for the videos' hype to ferment was the right choice.
More importantly, Kairos hadn't forgotten that he was here to make games, not compete with other players for leaderboard rankings.
Otherwise, honestly, with his skill level and understanding, it would be way too unfair to other players.
With that thought, Kairos shook his head slightly.
For now, he should get back to making games.
He yawned and waved toward the living room.
"Gengar! Time to get to work!"
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~ Push the story forward with your Power Stones