It wasn't really strange that Iono felt puzzled hearing those words.
After all, she had personally witnessed just how incredibly powerful Norman's Mega Kangaskhan was, and had experienced it firsthand.
Iono had asked herself at the time: if she faced Norman's gym battle again, knowing the composition of his team, could she find a way to defeat that Mega Kangaskhan through multiple attempts?
But the conclusion she reached was: it would be very difficult, extremely difficult.
She couldn't even guarantee whether she could pull it off.
She had also watched the recording from Cynthia's stream.
Cynthia had accidentally triggered the Mega evolution mechanic and only managed to defeat the Mega Kangaskhan thanks to her Sceptile's final burst of power.
In contrast, she had been lectured by Norman about "not having a strong enough bond with your Pokémon."
Thinking about this made Iono blush with embarrassment.
She had been so focused on playing the game that she'd almost forgotten that even in a game, she needed to properly interact with her Pokémon.
But since then, she had been paying attention to this. Now after every battle with wild NPCs, or periodically, she would interact with the Pokémon on her team.
...
Not only did Iono find the words of this streamer called "Decent Person" strange, but the viewers in her chat who hadn't encountered this streamer before naturally felt the same way.
[Who is this Decent Person anyway? All-Bug challenge, you've got to be kidding, right?]
[Yeah, didn't he just get kicked to death by Norman's Mega Kangaskhan like a stray dog? Now he's being stubborn saying he could win, just doesn't want to.]
[Streamer, streamer, go play the game, don't waste time watching him.]
...
Facing these less-than-friendly comments, Iono coughed lightly with a smile on her face.
"Everyone, you don't need to be so unfriendly when you speak. We should be a bit more polite."
"I just took a look, and actually his team composition is quite well thought out. Beautifly and Butterfree should be the important Pokémon helping him get through the early game, while the late game relies on Leavanny and whatever that Wimpod evolves into to carry him through the endgame—I bet those two Pokémon are about to evolve soon."
"Under this game's difficulty level, daring to do an all-Bug challenge is actually pretty impressive. As for what he just said, while I don't entirely believe it either, maybe he really does have some method?"
Though she said this, Iono actually thought that with this streamer's current team composition, trying to defeat Norman's Mega Kangaskhan would probably be even harder than with her own team.
But there was no need to keep picking on this streamer over something he said casually.
The fact that he had 500,000 concurrent viewers was already proof enough that this streamer had some real skills.
With this thought, Iono was about to close his stream and continue her own broadcast.
However, just then, she noticed that the chat atmosphere in "Decent Person's" stream was completely different.
[Streamer, streamer, you're going to reach the latest progress soon anyway, why don't you show everyone how to take down that Mega Kangaskhan?]
[Yeah, yeah, rather than watching you clear the game, we'd much rather see you put on a show.]
[I'm sending gifts to this point now, consider it advance payment for the entertainment.]
[Me too, me too, streamer, give us a tutorial.]
...
The chat in his stream was flooding with messages, accompanied by a constant stream of flashy gift effects.
Iono's eyes widened slightly—the popularity value in his stream had even exceeded her own, which was proof of just how crazy the gift spending was right now.
Although as a gym leader she didn't care about this small amount of gift money, the problem was that from the sheer volume of gifts being sent, you could tell that these people genuinely believed this streamer could do what he claimed and clear Norman's gym.
Moreover, a steady, calm male voice in his stream responded with a hint of helplessness.
"Alright, since everyone wants to see it, I'll give you all a demonstration."
With that, he actually clicked the close button in the upper right corner, chose to load a save, returned to the moment before challenging Norman, and then initiated the battle.
...
Fifteen minutes later.
The silver whirlwind tore across the battlefield, striking the opposing Mega Kangaskhan with pinpoint accuracy. Caught in the raging gusts, the massive Pokémon staggered, then collapsed.
That same steady, calm male voice spoke again.
"Alright, just like I said. That's how you clear it. You just need a few tries, since there's always a bit of luck involved."
"The key factors are timing Reflect properly, landing Butterfree's Sleep Powder, and hoping Beautifly's Silver Wind triggers its stat boost more than once."
"Beautifly's physical defense has to reach at least two stages to survive a Fire Punch from Mega Kangaskhan, and it needs to be at full health. That's why we save the sleeping Slaking for the second-to-last turn. With the two-stage attack boost and carefully managed HP, we can trigger Swarm, then heal back to full with Absorb. Only then can we possibly stand up to Mega Kangaskhan. Since it's guaranteed to get at least one attack in, a simple speed-based sweep won't work."
"These techniques are nothing new. Screen setups, HP control, predicting double switches, baiting moves, managing health—it's all standard stuff."
...
At that moment, Iono, who had witnessed the entire process in front of her computer screen, was completely stunned.
The chat in her stream, which had also witnessed everything alongside her, began flying by.
[—Wait, dude, I thought you were just talking, but you can actually do it?]
[No wonder this guy's stream has such high popularity, turns out he really has some serious skills, damn.]
[Streamer, streamer, what's your take on this?]
...
Among the flood of comments, Iono also snapped out of her surprised state.
She had to admit, even from her perspective as a gym leader-level trainer, this person's battle could be described as "spectacular."
Almost no mistakes, perfectly executed, as if the entire flow of the match was firmly under his control.
And without any single step, the final outcome would have been completely different.
She hadn't seen this level of commanding ability in a long time.
The last time she had this feeling was when she personally witnessed a battle between two Champions at a certain tournament.
Iono couldn't help but become curious.
—So who exactly is this streamer called "Decent Person"?
Could he really be some Bug-type Elite Four member's streaming account?!
While there was certainly some luck involved, she had to say his tactical setup and execution were both perfect.
Looking back at every gym battle she'd experienced, while her performance wasn't particularly bad, she definitely wasn't as composed and thoroughly planned as him—instead, she seemed rather reckless.
It seemed like she needed to think more and plan better before making decisions in future gym challenges.
As Iono was reflecting, a brand new question suddenly arose in her mind: this streamer had now finished the Normal-type gym, which meant he was more than halfway through the entire game.
But she had never heard of a streamer called "Decent Person" broadcasting before?
And considering his clearing speed... taking down Norman's gym Mega Kangaskhan in just 15 minutes, wouldn't his usual clearing speed be even more terrifying?
After suddenly realizing this issue, Iono immediately asked her stream viewers.
"Um... does anyone know when this streamer started broadcasting? I mean, when did he start playing this game?"
To her question, the chat quickly provided answers.
[Huh, don't you know, streamer? It was just yesterday afternoon.]
[Yeah, he only streamed for two hours total, cleared the first three gyms in one go each. We all thought he was going to clear the whole game on his first day, but then he just went offline...]
[If I remember correctly, he only started streaming about an hour and a half ago, right? Can't believe he's already cleared two more gyms, what incredible speed...]
[You know what the most enjoyable thing in life is? Having one screen watching Iono's stream on the left and another watching his stream on the right, haha...]
...
The chat continued scrolling frantically, but Iono could no longer see it at that moment.
"Only streamed for three and a half hours total?"
She felt something explode in her head with a buzzing sound.
The next moment, she slammed Decent Person's stream closed and dove straight into Emerald.
—You've got to be kidding me. She had been playing since the very first day the game launched, spending at least seven to eight hours a day in this game, and had finally managed to make it onto the leaderboard in third place, even closely trailing Cynthia's progress.
—Now where did this "Decent Person" suddenly come from to steal her spot?
An unprecedented sense of crisis suddenly washed over Iono—even when Chargestone Gym was declining and failing back in the day, it had never felt this intense.
Iono controlled her character and rushed all the way to the Flying-type gym entrance in Fortree City, took a deep breath, and made a bold declaration to her stream viewers.
"Everyone, we're now going to tackle the Flying-type gym and finish the battle with the gym leader within ten minutes—we're going for a one-shot clear too!"
—If someone else could clear gyms that fast, then so could she!
Besides, this was a Flying-type gym, and with her all-Electric team against Flying-types, it would be like cutting through butter with a hot knife.
Although knowing this game's nature, there would still be some difficulty even then, but at the very least, she was an Electric-type gym leader.
She couldn't possibly do worse than someone else's all-Bug team, could she?
After saying this, Iono took a deep breath and boldly controlled her character toward the gym interior, full of confidence.
However, the next moment, her character got stuck right at the entrance, and every time she moved, it made a ridiculous collision sound with empty air.
"Der!"
Iono was stunned.
"???"
"Wait, why won't this gym let me in?"
...
Fifteen minutes later, Iono finally returned to the entrance of the Flying-type Gym in Fortree City.
Thanks to the in-game storyline, she had figured out what had blocked her path earlier—an invisible Kecleon had been standing in the way the whole time.
The game hadn't made this obvious, though. There were no clear hints or guidance, which led her to wander aimlessly around Fortree City for quite a while. Eventually, she ran into a Devon Corporation researcher on the bridge to the right. He gave her an item that could reveal hidden Pokémon.
After a quick battle, she successfully drove off the invisible Kecleon from the gym entrance. Only then did Iono, triumphant, guide her character into the Flying-type Gym.
As expected, the situation inside was just as she'd predicted: the NPC trainers were high-level, but all of them used Flying-type Pokémon.
With her all-Electric team, she breezed through the battles—her Pokémon didn't even lose a single hit point.
Chat exploded with comments:
[If we ignore the 15 minutes she spent wandering around, this might be her smoothest gym challenge yet.]
[Obviously. What's hard about Electric vs. Flying? I bet this'll be her fastest gym clear.]
[Haha, is the streamer getting nervous about that Decent Person guy? Afraid he'll steal your leaderboard rewards?]
[I don't get it. The leaderboard only gives a Thunder Stone and some Rare Candy, right? Not exactly game-breaking items.]
[You don't get it—it's not about the rewards. It's about honor.]
...
Iono glanced at the chat, a thought suddenly surfacing.
Right—the game announcement had said that starting with the next leaderboard reset, the rewards would be much more generous.
She couldn't help but think back to that mysterious candy she'd received recently—and the unusually high-quality Thunder Stone.
Even more generous than those?
Iono gulped.
She definitely couldn't afford to lose her second-place spot.
Time to go full offensive mode.
The Fortree Gym also had puzzle-like challenges involving rotating mechanisms that needed to be placed precisely to open a path forward.
But Iono had solved countless puzzles before. With practiced ease, she breezed through the obstacles and stood before the Fortree Gym Leader.
She pressed the interact button.
Stirring battle music began to play. Poké Balls flew across the screen. The battle was about to begin.
...
Meanwhile, in a different stream, the very person Iono had been thinking about—the one known online as "Decent Person," or Kairos—was stroking his chin, deep in thought.
In the Normal-type Gym, Norman's Mega Kangaskhan had served to showcase the power of Mega Evolution to players, without blocking their progress too much.
But now...
Kairos was considering putting a Mega Altaria in the Flying-type Gym.
Was that going too far?