Pokémon: Starting with a Dragon Dance Gible [12]

“Let’s check out the leaderboards first, see what tips the popular streamers have up their sleeves.”

Kaiba made his final preparations before launching his own battle livestream.

When it came to the most popular streams on Poke-TV, a few always topped the charts.

Of course, there was Miss Iono, the Gym Trainer and influencer from Levincia City in Paldea, with her Electro-Electro Stream.

And in Galar, Raihan—the Hammerlocke Gym Leader, famous for his Dragon-types and weather teams, and a true streaming celebrity.

Neither of them could be called the single strongest Trainer out there—at best, they were among the elite.

But running a successful battle stream involved far more than just a Trainer’s skills or battle record.

Whether they could work the mic, how good-looking they—and their Pokémon—were, how often they streamed… All those little things played a crucial role.

For example: if Champion Alder from Unova and Gym Trainer Elesa from Nimbasa City held streams at the same time, or if a top Pokémon Trainer came to Shanghai University to give a talk, naturally, Kaiba would choose to attend a champion’s tactical seminar.

Mysterious Voice: No, Kaiba, you wouldn’t actually do that.

Kaiba: Who…? Who’s talking?

Oh, it’s just my inner critic. Never mind, then.

And when your inner voices disagree, sometimes you just have to trust the second opinion!

“The more I think about how to become a popular streamer, the harder it seems,” Kaiba muttered.

“How do those isekai veterans do it—just breeze past a million followers like it’s nothing?!”

“It just feels impossible to attract that much attention.”

“Whatever. No matter how much I scheme, the only way to get noticed is to just hit that Go Live button and battle!”

With a headache brewing, Kaiba massaged his temples and sighed.

There’s a saying, “Getting started is hard… and then it just keeps being hard… and the ending’s even harder.”

...

Pokémon Masters EX was a top-tier, hyper-realistic competitive game.

Players could choose between matchmaking, ranked battles, or set up their own team for simulated or free battles.

Some teams you’d earn the old-fashioned way—training, collecting, or even renting a squad.

And then there were… less legal methods.
Like, say, getting your “wizard friend” back from “Hogwarts” to just magically slip a few illegal Pokémon onto your team.

—Back before he transmigrated, Kaiba was that “not-so-legal wizard friend.”

Other players could directly import the Pokémon they’d registered with the official Pokémon League right into the game.

Especially the ace Pokémon of Champions: Lance’s Dragonite, Steven Stone’s Shiny Metagross, Cynthia’s Garchomp, Diantha’s Gardevoir… and of course, Leon’s Charizard.
All utterly unique, high-value, champion-certified Pokémon.

With the world’s advanced tech—and gadgets like Rotom smartphones, Rotom Pokédexes, and even budget-friendly Porygon accessories—errors in scanning or registering Pokémon were nearly impossible.

There was no way the massive Pokémon League could mess up something so basic.
You just had to trust the wonders of Pokémon-world tech!

As a rookie Trainer, Kaiba had his own Rotom Pokédex, too.

His didn’t house a real, living Rotom—just a stripped-down AI version designed by the Malocomon Corporation, modeled after Rotom’s abilities.

But even the budget Rotom Pokédex was more than enough to scan his current team and import them into Pokémon Masters EX.

“Alright, then—I’ll make '[Dragon Dance] Gible’ my hook, and start my debut stream on Poke-TV.”

Pokémon Masters EX—let’s go!

This time, for real.

As for why “[Dragon Dance] Gible” instead of the more impressive “[Dragon Dance] Garchomp” or even “Mega Garchomp”?

Simple reason:
Kaiba’s starter was just a Gible—a baby Pokémon, still in its first form.

Unless his hacking skills were god-tier enough to crack the Rotom Pokédex and the official League servers, “[Dragon Dance] Gible” was the only way to go.

No way to cheat his way to the more attention-grabbing, “proper” headline of “[Dragon Dance] Garchomp.”

...

“Charmander, use [Ember]!”

“Gible, [Sand Tomb]!”

In a true rookie Trainer free-for-all—just a low-stakes “Fish Pond” or “Baby Cup” match—

Kaiba’s Gible was absolutely unstoppable.

Crushing it like a boss.

Taking on the retirement home with one fist and the kindergarten with the other.

First, she locked down the opponent’s lead Charmander with [Sand Tomb], then—since Charmander could barely scratch the real “ground king,” Gible—

A couple of [Dragon Dances] for a quick buff, then one [Dragon Claw] was all it took to flatten Charmander.

The other Trainer’s Pidgey and Tyrantrum?
No match for a Gible with stacked speed and attack from [Dragon Dance].

A clean sweep—one Gible versus three Pokémon.

With just his starter, Kaiba’s Gible easily pulled off a 1v3.

“Kapu—!”

Gible, watching herself battle on the stream, posed with her tiny arms on her hips.

Just look at how awesome I am!

The Gible on screen was her—her avatar in the digital world.

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This is a fan translation of 宝可梦，开局龙舞圆陆鲨 by 眼含泪光 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!