The Path of a Genius to Becoming a Pokémon Champion

Chapter 233: Kindred Spirits, Misfits

Afterward, the captain's tie-breaker match began.

This was the highest level of duel in professional competitions, using the same "twelve pick six" rule as the T1-level League Cup.

This was an extreme test of a player's Pokémon reserves!

However, it was regrettable that the Sea Carp Team's captain was clearly far inferior in this aspect compared to last year's world top-three Blaze Team…

Within the first thirty minutes, he had already been beaten to a small score of 4-0…

And at least half of that time was spent by the staff preparing the field between each round.

Asher, who had just managed to help his teammate win a life-or-death match through a foul tactic, could only sigh helplessly.

"Sigh, this is tough."

A single sentence conveyed endless bitterness.

Luna and Bella watched silently from the side, saying nothing.

They were already used to it.

After another twenty-plus minutes, the match ended. The final score of the captain's battle was 2 to 6. In the end, the Sea Carp Team still failed to make a successful comeback in their away game.

However, their doubles group's performance in this match had won the recognition of most of the audience!

Facing last year's third-best team in the world, Sea Carp's doubles division had won both their matches, making everyone see them in a new light.

What was even more commendable was that their team's two doubles pairs had yet to be defeated in this year's new season!

Although the team had tasted its first defeat, the doubles division continued its winning streak!

At least for the doubles division, their strength was as formidable as ever!

This caused Sea Carp, a team that had hovered in the middle of the league for years and generally received little attention, to become a frequent focus of topics and public opinion at the beginning of the season, contrary to their norm.

After the match, the Blaze Team's Starbo super-topic was naturally a sea of jubilation. However, the search index for the Sea Carp side was not low either, and it was mostly filled with praise and encouragement.

The phrase most often on the fans' lips nowadays was: "The future is bright!"

Of course, this time it was a positive expectation, not the sarcastic kind.

In a sense, for a mid-tier team like Sea Carp, this was already a remarkable breakthrough.

After the match, Arthur and his team took the high-speed rail back to Skyspire City that same day.

On the way back, Arthur's phone kept ringing. When he took it out, he saw that someone had already added him on WeChill.

It was Chloe.

Arthur was very curious how she had found him.

The other party sent him a rolling-eyes emoji sticker, then said.

"Isn't that simple? I just went through that shota-con Bella's friend circle and found you. And you even used your real name."

"..."

Arthur had always used his real name for his WeChill account because when he first registered, he didn't know that you could just make one up…

Glancing at Bella sitting opposite him on the high-speed train, Arthur, for some reason, felt a sense of guilt.

It must be an illusion! he comforted himself.

Subsequently, Chloe took the initiative to explain why she had sought him out.

"I noticed during the match today, your Greninja trusts you a lot. The fact that it could persevere for so long must have been all to live up to your expectations, right?"

Arthur's mouth curved up slightly as he read this.

Just because he was cool-headed during training didn't mean he was truly devoid of emotion. He was also very proud and happy that Greninja had reached this stage today, filled with the pride of seeing his own child finally succeed.

If you were to really go by on-paper stats, Greninja probably should have been defeated even before Blaziken, but it had stood until the very end and won the victory!

Arthur then replied with two words, using a slightly clumsy typing style.

"Yes."

Then, Chloe immediately sent another long paragraph.

I'm so envious of these fast typers…

"Haha, that's great! I can't believe I found another kindred spirit~ Did you become like this because you were influenced by Luna and Bella? Or were you already relying heavily on this Greninja back in the youth training camp?"

Arthur was a bit puzzled.

Kindred spirit? What does that refer to?

Why does she seem so excited just because Greninja trusts me a lot?

Just as he was wondering, a few strands of hair suddenly hung down over his phone screen.

Arthur looked up with a start, only to find Bella leaning over from her seat, having been looking at his phone the whole time.

After being discovered, Bella sat back down, a pure smile on her face. "Having a nice chat with another girl, Little Artie?"

"Ahem, ahem."

Arthur coughed twice, inexplicably feeling a bit guilty and averting his gaze. But then he thought again, and it didn't seem right.

Wait, why should I feel guilty?

There's no reason!

By the time he came back to his senses and looked over again, he heard Bella had already laughingly moved past the topic.

"Well, if it's Chloe you're talking to, then it's fine."

Then she added to herself, "That girl is into older women."

"..."

Arthur felt a bit disoriented.

Wait, what does her preference have to do with me?!

Bella then sighed and said, "Actually, she's had it pretty tough. She entered the youth training camp much earlier than I did, but no team wanted her for a long time. Even though she was quite strong, she could never graduate.

A Metronome Clefable... back then, many people thought she was a joke, but she herself was particularly fond of that Clefable and refused to give it up no matter what.

Later, if the Blaze Team hadn't taken a chance on her, she probably would have gone back to inherit her family's business."

Arthur was actually quite moved listening to the story Bella told, but for some reason, when he heard "inherit the family business" at the end, he had the feeling that all his感动 (gǎndòng - moved feelings) were misplaced.

Just how much do you people look down on your own family businesses!

Go apologize to your parents, now!

Jokes aside, Bella's words had cleared up a lot of Arthur's confusion.

No wonder the other party had been so excited and taken the initiative to add him on WeChill after seeing the deep bond between him and Greninja.

Perhaps she had seen a reflection of herself in Arthur.

Just as she had said: she had finally found a kindred spirit.

But Arthur was a bit puzzled: "It's pretty normal to like your own Pokémon, right? Is it really that big of a deal?"

Hearing this, Bella couldn't help but show a playful smile.

Luna, sitting next to Bella, also spoke up.

"You might understand Pokémon very well, but you don't understand the current professional circle."

"?"

Seeing Arthur's confused expression, Bella smiled and explained, "Don't look at the two of us and think that all players in the professional circle are like this. Remember Lucas from the Demon King Team during the Champions Cup?"

Arthur had to think for a moment before he remembered. This name referred to the main player from the Demon King Team who couldn't command his own Dragonite.

That was the match he had discussed the most with Bella and Luna during the Champions Cup, so he had a rather deep impression of it.

"In this circle now, trainers like Chloe who are willing to stick with a 'Metronome' Clefable and never abandon it are actually the misfits. More players will always use whichever Pokémon is good, not adapting their tactics to fit the Pokémon, but making the Pokémon cater to the tactics."

Arthur was silent for a moment.

At the same time, on his phone, a message from Chloe came through.

"You're playing the Demon King Team next. Don't you dare lose to them!"

Arthur was still puzzled, but the next moment he heard Luna, sitting in front of him, say, "And the league's three old 'Big Three' teams are the prime examples of this kind of tactical execution."

And so, Arthur instantly understood.

The old "Big Three" of Kubfu referred to the Demon King, Yankee, and Jinchan teams.

The Demon King Team was first on the list!

(End of Chapter)

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