Chapter 201: Adjusting the Lineup
Chapter 201: Adjusting the Lineup
With "Water Shuriken" in its arsenal, Greninja could finally bid farewell to bare-handed combat.
Its combat power in its normal state had taken a qualitative leap!
Coupled with the all-around stat boost from the evolution itself—in speed, strength, and durability—it was now like a completely different frog compared to the Frogadier of the past!
The Azumarill, with their relatively simple attack methods, could no longer effectively surround it.
Previously, even if they couldn't take Frogadier down, they could at least keep it suppressed, forcing it to flee all over the beach.
But now, with Greninja, the situation had completely changed!
Two minutes after the battle began, the first Azumarill was caught off guard, taking a full salvo of eight shuriken that Greninja had saved up, followed by a direct hit from "Night Slash," and was promptly knocked out of the match;
Five minutes into the battle, Greninja used "Water Pulse" to forcefully blast away several opponents. The water kunai in its hands, like soul-locking yakshas, latched onto one of the Azumarill and refused to let go, forcibly taking it down amidst the surrounding group and scoring a double kill;
Eight minutes in, two more Azumarill, gradually worn down by the continuous "death by a thousand cuts" attacks from the water kunai, voluntarily left the field. Greninja was on a killing spree!
Ten minutes into the battle, one Azumarill became separated from its teammates and was caught by Greninja, cleanly taken down and kicked off the beach.
Greninja was unstoppable!
At this point, the offensive and defensive roles had been completely reversed!
The remaining Azumarill no longer thought of surrounding it; they could only huddle together defensively.
Greninja's momentum was like splitting bamboo!
Greninja had already dominated the match!
Subsequently, before Greninja could go on a god-like rampage, Arthur decisively called a halt to the duel.
Once the number of Azumarill on the field was less than four, there was no longer any need for the duel to continue.
The rest would just be a one-sided slaughter.
Even though these wild Pokémon had decent physical stats on paper, their experience in this kind of complex, kiting-based combat was still too limited.
In their usual battles in the wild, the first few tens of seconds might be extremely thrilling, with a level not inferior to professional or even T1 league matches. But soon after, either one side would start to flee, or both sides would retreat to call their respective clans. They rarely fought to the death alone.
After all, survival in the wild was not an arena match.
Their experience in this area was far too inferior to Greninja's.
Once Greninja withstood their initial encirclement, their chances of winning would only become slimmer and slimmer.
"Let's end it here for now. You all should get treated quickly too," Arthur advised kindly.
Many of the Azumarill knew the healing skill "Life Dew," so post-battle recovery was not a concern.
But at this moment, the faces of this group of Azumarill were not looking good at all.
Being as smart as they were, they naturally understood that Arthur stopping the match was just to save them some face; in reality, they had already lost this round.
From ganging up to chase that jumping frog all over the place a month ago, to now being counter-killed in a ten-on-one, the change had come too fast, like a tornado, catching them off guard and giving them no time to escape.
At this moment, many of the Azumarill were probably truly filled with regret.
Sigh, why didn't we just brave it and properly beat up that frog back then?
Now it's too late, we can't beat it at all anymore…
So sad!
With this battle of redemption concluded, Greninja's training journey could finally be considered successfully completed.
This sea, this island, had witnessed its growth and evolution!
Afterward, Little Lapras used the agreed-upon method to call her clan. Before long, several Milotic arrived, coiled their tails around Arthur and Justin, and soared into the air, flying towards the mainland.
As for the Azumarill, they waved goodbye to them from below.
After returning to the mainland, Arthur bid farewell to Justin. The kid still had to wait by the sea for a while for a few Azumarill to come and serve as witnesses at the Pokémon Center for him.
On this trip to Crescent Bay, the young, internet-addicted Marill from the clan had finally made up her mind to go with Justin. As a Pokémon from a conservation area, her registration required proof from her clan members.
Arthur was familiar with this process. Before leaving, he even gave Justin pointers on the procedure and things to note, which made Justin exclaim in admiration again.
"Bro Arthur, how are you so skilled at this? Just how many Pokémon have you abducted from conservation areas?"
After knocking the kid on the head one last time, Arthur went back first.
Taking the high-speed rail and transferring to the subway, he went back to wash up and change his clothes. By the time Arthur returned to the club headquarters, many people were already waiting for him.
As soon as he arrived, a senior who looked to be around twenty-seven or twenty-eight sneered at him sarcastically.
"Heh! As expected of the Alliance's hero, the internet celebrity. Making so many people wait for you for over half a month. What grand airs."
Arthur was completely baffled.
Bella, at his side, was just about to explain something to him, but his first sentence nearly angered the person to death.
"Um, who are you?"
That senior immediately flew into a rage.
"Damn it, you punk, you're doing this on purpose, aren't you?!"
Bella let out a "pfft" of laughter and quickly pulled him aside.
After a brief explanation, Arthur finally knew the reason—
It turned out this person was a new team member the club was preparing to poach from another team to fill out next year's roster. His name was Asher, and he was previously from the Firefox Team. He had been playing in the league for several years, and his position as a starter had always been relatively stable. Anyone who frequently watched matches would have some impression of him.
That's why he thought Arthur was deliberately putting him down.
What kind of aspiring trainer doesn't watch matches?
Who could have known that Arthur had been in this era for less than two years in total, and during that time, he had spent several months either floating on the sea or lost in a foreign land. What damn matches would he have watched…
He genuinely didn't recognize him.
So, he could only change the subject and ask, "So? Why does he have such a big problem with me right from the start? Did I offend him somewhere?"
Bella shot him an exasperated look. "I think you're really dense. You probably still don't know how much the club values you, do you? To wait for you to come back, they haven't even signed any official contracts yet, nor have they decided on the starting lineup."
"Huh?"
This, Arthur genuinely did not know.
He had signed the letter of intent, posted on Starbo, and then run off without a second thought, not managing anything. He had no idea that now, back in November, the club had been bitterly waiting for him all this time.
"The team's overall performance this year was very poor; we didn't even make it to the playoffs. The other 2v2 pair's performance was very inconsistent. Now, they've all been temporarily benched. Although you ignoring the Otter Team's offer got you flamed online for many days, it also made our team's coach think even more highly of you. For next year, he plans to build a new doubles lineup with you as the core."
The Sea Carp Team's doubles performance this year was exceptionally stable: one pair was a stable win, the other was a stable loss…
Bella and Luna's pair had a win rate of over 80% for the entire regular season, steadily scoring points even against several strong playoff teams. Meanwhile, the team's other doubles pair had constantly rotating members, but after a whole season of changes, their win rate never exceeded 40%.
Bella saying their performance was "very inconsistent" was already being very polite. To put it bluntly, they were extremely unskilled…
During this transfer window, the two starters from the other pair, plus the two rotating members, were all being replaced.
For this, the team had added four new people—
Including the three promoted from the youth training camp, Arthur among them, and the purchased reinforcement, Asher.
Next year, the Sea Carp Team's starting lineup for 2v2 doubles would be chosen from these four, plus Bella and Luna, for a total of six people.
(End of Chapter)
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