You're Banned From Playing Pokémon

[Why is your Aron Level 1?!]

Aiden wasn't surprised by the appearance of this comment.

After briefly glancing at the team editor earlier, he immediately noticed that Pokémon Champions had a level system that didn't exist in real-world Pokémon games—similar to what he was used to from his past life.

Perhaps it was implemented to simulate power gaps and balance battles.

In ranked matches, Pokémon were usually set to the highest level by default, but Aiden had tested it out and found that you could manually lower their levels.

This discovery was what made him confident that the strategy he'd built around Aron was entirely feasible.

And it wasn't just Aron—Hippopotas was also Level 1.

"Relax, I've got a plan!"

Aiden quickly locked in his starting Pokémon and hit confirm, finalizing his lineup for the match.

The battle began.

The two starting Pokémon were Charizard and Hippopotas.

As soon as Hippopotas appeared, its Sand Stream ability triggered immediately, engulfing the once-sunny battlefield in a thick sandstorm.

Pokémon with the Sand Stream ability automatically create a sandstorm upon entering the field.

It was only then that the chat belatedly realized something strange: Aiden's Hippopotas was also Level 1…

One Level 1 Pokémon could be chalked up to a misclick, but two? That was definitely intentional!

Perhaps because they were facing a Level 1 Hippopotas, the opponent sent an emote of a confused Slowpoke.

After all, the game defaulted to equal levels for both sides. Suddenly encountering such an underwhelming opponent left them bewildered.

Aiden, not one to back down, countered with an emote of Psyduck scratching its head.

His strategy relied on the opponent attacking first, so he willingly handed over the initiative, focusing instead on playful banter with the opponent.

——Even if he'd wanted to seize the momentum, there was no way his sluggish Hippopotas could outspeed the more agile Charizard.

The level gap was simply too vast.

Before issuing commands, both players exchanged emotes back and forth, neither willing to back down.

"Charizard, Flamethrower!"

Just as Aiden was spamming emotes, the opponent finally lost patience and commanded their Charizard to unleash a jet of flames.

[Bruh, are you seriously interacting with them? Don't you know why they're confused?]

[Fraud still pretending to be some silent pro? This Flamethrower will take ten thousand lives to tank!]

[What a noob! Doesn't he know this game uses voice commands? This is stressing me out so much!!!!]

[I'll give it one more minute. Bro is making my blood pressure skyrocket!]

Aiden's absurd behavior earned him a flood of sarcastic comments, but he remained completely unfazed.

He had no intention of issuing commands, merely watching as the roaring flames surged toward his Hippopotas.

Sometimes, a Pokémon exiting early could serve a greater purpose than staying on the field.

The moment the attack connected, Hippopotas' face was instantly charred black, and its HP bar emptied in an instant as it collapsed heavily onto the ground.

"Thank you, Hippopotas!"

Aiden wiped away nonexistent tears and immediately recalled Hippopotas.

Though it had only been a supporting player in this battle, by setting up the sandstorm, Hippopotas had already fulfilled its mission.

Hippopotas was the MVP!

After the first exchange, the raging sandstorm began to slowly chip away at Charizard's health.

In a sandstorm, Pokémon that aren't Rock-, Ground-, or Steel-type take continuous, minor damage.

Meanwhile, Aiden made his next move:

"Go, Aron!"

The small steel-headed monster appeared, looking especially tiny amidst the swirling sandstorm.

"Flamethrower!"

This time, the opponent didn't hesitate at all, decisively commanding another Flamethrower.

Another torrent of flames erupted from Charizard's mouth, hurtling toward Aron.

[I'm done. Another Level 1? If you don't want to win, just say so...]

[So here's the question: How do you plan to win?]

[It's probably the Sturdy ability, right? Though I'm not sure... Why do I suddenly feel like he might actually pull off something insane?]

[Aight fortuneteller, if there's a plot twist later, I'm coming for you first!]

Chat was correct—Aron in Aiden's team did indeed have the Sturdy ability.

Sturdy worked similarly to Focus Sash: when at full HP, Pokémon with Sturdy couldn't be knocked out by a single hit.

This gave Aiden an opportunity to act.

Before the opponent could react, a faint smirk tugged at the corners of Aiden's lips as he immediately called out:

"Aron, charge forward!"

Facing the blazing inferno erupting from Charizard's mouth, the diminutive steel-plated Aron showed no fear, its eyes gleaming with determination.

Without hesitation, it charged straight at Charizard the moment Aiden issued the command.

The instant its steel head touched the Flamethrower, Aron's green HP bar nearly emptied completely.

A Level 1 Pokémon was essentially a newborn—it was asking too much of Aron to take on a Charizard clearly leagues above it in strength.

Seeing this scene, the chat froze in disbelief.

What was the point of sending Aron to charge forward like that? Wasn't it just a suicide mission?

Some viewers were about to type their reactions when they saw the next moment in the livestream—and were instantly stunned.

Despite its flickering HP bar, Aron broke through the wall of flames, its last sliver of red health glaringly obvious.

Even the opponent hesitated for a split second—a moment Aiden seized immediately.

"Endeavor!"

The little steel-bodied monster summoned every ounce of strength, slamming its head into Charizard's unprepared abdomen.

A sudden, unexpected strike nearly emptied Charizard's HP bar in an instant.

Though Charizard hadn't fallen yet, its HP bar was almost entirely black, leaving only the faintest trace of red at the very end.

Meanwhile, Aron, whose HP had been on the brink of extinction, saw its red health bar rocket back to full after landing the attack.

This miraculous recovery left the entire livestream audience dumbfounded.

[What just happened?!]

[Where did my Charizard's massive HP bar go? How was it emptied so quickly???]

[Yo what hack is this? Something's off with this Aron—how did it recover full HP? What kind of move has such an OP effect?]

[If it's not off, then it's on? What do you think this is, a light?]

The game had only been out for a month, and most players were still newbies who barely understood Pokémon battles. None of them had ever seen anything like this before.

How could Aron's tiny body deliver a single blow that nearly depleted Charizard's HP bar as well?

Wait—though Charizard's HP was almost invisible, it hadn't fainted yet!

Some viewers quickly caught on.

But...

At that exact moment, the sandstorm left behind by Hippopotas delivered its final blow.

The already-struggling Charizard stumbled under the relentless assault of the sandstorm, its last bit of stamina drained as it collapsed, completely unable to continue battling.

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