The Path of a Genius to Becoming a Pokémon Champion

Chapter 193: I Can Empathize Now

Facing Arthur's statement, Luna bluntly spread her hands.

"This kind of thing is always easier said than done.

When you've been a pro for a few more years, watching your peers constantly buying new Pokémon and doing commercial gigs, leaving their Pokémon with coaches most of the time but still seeing their strength steadily improve, while you tinker around for two years yourself and find it harder and harder to even keep your starting position—at that point, staying true to your original intentions won't be as easy as just saying it."

Arthur was silent for a moment after she said this.

Indeed, while leaving a Pokémon with a coach would create distance between the Pokémon and the trainer, the coaches were, after all, professionals. At the very least, they could guarantee the Pokémon's steady improvement. But if a trainer were to tinker on their own, not every trainer truly had the skill to train a Pokémon well.

To choose the bond or to choose stable, guaranteed strength—this was a choice every trainer entering this circle had to make.

At this moment, another point occurred to Arthur.

"I previously sensed a prevailing attitude in the youth training camp, that one must buy expensive, good Pokémon for training, and that it's better to not have a Pokémon with poor potential at all. Is this also a requirement from the coaches?"

He asked this, of course, because he was once again thinking of his former roommate, Galen.

That guy had immediately given up on the Scyther he had trained during his amateur days as soon as he entered the youth training camp, instead saving up money to quickly buy a new Magby.

"Of course," Luna continued, maintaining her hand-spreading posture. "As coaches, they would definitely prefer to teach Pokémon with good potential. It's easier to get results that way, and they have KPIs to meet in the club. Besides, coaches don't have emotional attachments to the Pokémon. Isn't it only natural for them to advise people to give up on Pokémon with poor potential?"

At this point, Arthur finally and completely understood where that prevailing attitude in the youth training camp came from.

But understanding did not mean agreeing.

After seeing the full picture, he still disliked the atmosphere of the current era.

At least for him, not proactively abandoning any Pokémon willing to follow him was the most basic bottom line for a trainer!

Just then, taking advantage of the opportunity while Luna was talking with her hands spread, Bella leapt up, lunged from the sofa, and finally caught the Luxray that had escaped from her lap again.

"Meow, meow, meow!!"

Luxray struggled for a bit, dragging Bella with it as they rolled onto the living room floor. The human and cat immediately began wrestling in a tangled heap.

At first, Arthur was a little worried.

But after watching for a while and confirming that Luxray never had any intention of releasing electricity, he slowly relaxed and stopped paying attention.

Feline Pokémon inevitably had a bit of a proud and fickle temper; otherwise, how would the term "cat slave" have come into existence?

But seeing that Luxray, despite making such a fuss, was still controlling itself and not using its electricity, he knew that the bond between this human and cat was actually quite good. At most, they were just playing around.

Before long, Bella successfully subdued the disobedient black cat, flipping over to press down on it, re-establishing her status as its master.

"Hmph, hmph~"

Bella smugly tossed her head, flipping her long hair behind her, and let out a victorious laugh.

The Luxray underneath her wore an expression of utter dejection.

It probably felt that this childish master was a lost cause.

Don't be fooled by the "cat" in Luxray's name. In reality, as a final-form beast-like Pokémon, their average size was close to that of a leopard, and the largest individuals could grow to the size of a lion or tiger. If it were to fight seriously, it could pin Bella under its claws in minutes, rendering her immobile.

Who knows what this childish master was so proud of every day.

This cat just can't be bothered with you, hmph!

It wasn't until Luna, at the side, reminded her in a flat, emotionless tone, "You're exposed," that Bella yelped and jumped up in a panic.

Arthur silently averted his gaze.

That cat cushion is very white... ah no, I mean, that cat pillow is very large…

During the time the few of them were fooling around, the mid-game break in the live stream also ended.

The match was still going on.

However, after Lucas's strongest Dragonite was traded for the opponent's Noivern, the rhythm of the entire match began to shift in the opponent's favor.

Afterward, the two sides went back and forth, constantly jockeying for position.

In the end, Lucas was still defeated, losing by a narrow margin and dropping the first round of the opening match.

In an instant, the live stream's comment screen was flooded with a vast swath of fainted Cyndaquils.jpg

There were also trolling comments roaring from the perspective of the live audience:

"Is this how you repay us?! RNM, REFUND!!"

Losing the first round, and with the points dropped by a core player of the team, was a huge blow to morale.

In the second match, the Mowang Team was forced to send out their captain, hoping to quickly stabilize morale by having the team's soul figure take the stage.

As a result, this move was completely predicted by the opponent!

The opposing team directly sent out a player widely acknowledged to be the weakest on their team for the second match, clearly playing a hand of Tian Ji's Horse Race.

Now, the live comments were once again filled with wails. The camera accidentally cut to the Mowang Team's player bench, and every team member's expression was grim.

In the living room, Bella, having composed herself and returned to the sofa, was now fanning the flames, clearly enjoying the drama.

"Oh boy, it's over. They used their inferior horse to bait out the superior horse. Sigh, in the end, it all comes down to not winning the first round that should have been won. For the post-match blame game, I cast my vote for Lucas."

Arthur glanced sideways at her.

He really wanted to ask, Miss, why are you so skilled at assigning blame? It's only the start of the second round, isn't it?

Just how many times have you done this…

Of course, this was purely a sarcastic thought.

But in reality, the current situation was indeed unfavorable for the Mowang Team.

In the end, the captain won his match cleanly, even achieving a 3-0 sweep, earning an extra point according to the rules.

The current overall score was now Mowang Team leading 3 to 2!

But since each round win was worth two points, this meant that a single 3-0 victory was actually not that significant.

You would need to get two 3-0 victories to make up for the deficit of one round loss.

And the opponent had clearly come prepared. In the third 1v1 match, they decisively sent out a kamikaze-style player. All of this player's Pokémon went all-out the moment they hit the field, leaving themselves no way out, with the sole objective of trading for one of the opponent's Pokémon to avoid being swept 3-0.

In the end, although the Mowang Team won this round, they only got two points.

Then, they entered the double battle phase, and the opponent finally revealed their hidden dagger!

The opposing team's captain was very young, only twenty-eight this year.

So, they had actually moved their captain to play in the 2v2 matches!

Forfeiting two 1v1 "pick 3 out of 6" matchups, the opponent had bet everything on the 2v2 double battles.

In the end, the opponent won both 2v2 matches.

The final overall score was 6 to 5!

The Mowang Team captain's 3-0 victory ultimately couldn't turn the tide.

In the first match on the opening day for the Kubfu teams, it ended in a regrettable defeat.

This result undoubtedly left many netizens feeling disappointed and regretful.

It also allowed Arthur to gradually understand how Old Master Everhart had felt watching Kubfu's Pokémon matches all these years—

Perhaps the only thing they never disappointed in was their ability to disappoint…

(End of Chapter)

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