Chapter 211: The Starting Position

Chapter 211: The Starting Position

Lost…

Afterward, Greninja lasted for less than half a minute before collapsing…

A professional pair was a professional pair, after all. When they truly coordinated and schemed, it was one link after another, making it impossible to defend against.

Greninja was already in a bad state to begin with, and in a two-on-one situation, it couldn't gain any advantage.

Not to mention that Luxray's typing also countered it.

The Protean ability wasn't invincible. Greninja didn't dare to casually use Water-type moves in front of Luxray, because after using one, it would be weak to Electric-type.

But it also didn't dare to not use moves, because its original base type was also weak to Electric.

Furthermore, there was still a little time left on Empoleon's "Swords Dance," so its defensive focus couldn't even be on Luxray.

In the end, once its cooldown period was over, it ultimately couldn't hold on.

The moment Greninja fell, Elijah surrendered at the speed of light.

At the instant the referee finally raised his flag to declare the result, the "Swords Dance" aura on Empoleon coincidentally disappeared.

Arthur and his team had fought a good battle for over a minute, but in the final tens of seconds, they fell short at the last hurdle, taken out by the opponent catching the last little tail of their buff's duration.

It was lamentable, a true pity.

After the match, both sides went to the center of the field to shake hands. By this time, Arthur had already figured it out.

"Your Luxray marked Empoleon after Greninja's first bare-handed block, didn't it?" he asked Bella calmly.

The match was already over, so the other side had nothing to hide. Moreover, the certain shota-con had been coveting his body for a while now.

"That's right. You were tricked, weren't you?"

Arthur gave a wry smile.

"It's impressive you guys could hold back for over a minute after that."

They had completed the marking setup not long after the buff time started, yet they waited until the buff was almost over to reveal their dagger. One had to admit, they had incredible patience.

Were they really not afraid that with a slight error, the "Swords Dance" duration would be dragged out and wasted?

Without "Swords Dance," it really might not have been so simple for Empoleon to quickly defeat him and Elijah.

This question was answered by Luna: "You have to strike when you see the dawn is about to arrive, that's when your attention is most lax."

"..."

Elijah was very upset.

His admiration for the two beautiful seniors in front of him suddenly wasn't so fervent anymore.

The hearts of those who play mind games are all dirty!

Arthur was also taken aback for a moment.

Fortunately, he adjusted his mentality very well. He shrugged and quickly let it go.

Victory and defeat are common occurrences for a soldier.

Losing to a professional pair was not shameful.

Subsequently, after leaving the field, he handed Greninja's Poké Ball to the team staff, asking them to take it for treatment.

Both his and Elijah's Pokémon were in bad shape; it was unlikely the two of them would be drawn to compete in the next match.

But at this moment, Bella quickly sidled over again.

Arthur had thought she was coming to gloat or to take advantage of him under the guise of comforting him, but unexpectedly, this improper senior came over with a serious expression.

"The head coach wants to see you."

"?"

A question mark floated above Arthur's head.

Without much time to think, he quickly followed Bella and Luna to the spectator stands and met a man in his forties with a world-weary face, dressed in a suit.

This was the Sea Carp Team's head coach!

He was also a former Pokémon competitive player.

He looked at Arthur, then turned his gaze back to the arena, not appearing very enthusiastic.

Arthur suspected he was just posturing, but he had no proof…

"You are an outstanding rookie, more outstanding than I expected. I originally thought that signing you would mainly bring benefits in terms of online traffic, but I didn't expect you to give me a surprise."

The coach was blunt about the team needing online traffic, which made Arthur frown slightly.

Honestly, he really disliked this kind of atmosphere in the current Kubfu professional circle, but for now, he was powerless to change anything.

"Your skill is up to par, and with your commercial value in other areas, a starting position will be reserved for you. But you may have to rotate with others; you won't form a fixed pair like Bella and Luna."

Arthur nodded, his expression rather cool.

He didn't like the reason the head coach gave, but he had no reason to have a problem with a starting position.

There was no need to go and sit on the cold bench over something like this.

He still had to aim for the league championship to get Rare Candies to pay off his debt to Suicune.

"I hear you have another Mismagius?"

"Yes."

"Then in the next few matches, use Mismagius to fight a few rounds for me to see. I've already seen what Greninja can do."

"Okay."

Arthur agreed simply, saying nothing more.

The head coach also gave a cool wave of his hand, signaling that he could leave.

Arthur decisively took off, not staying a moment longer.

Bella and Luna then caught up, and Bella even complained to him, "Aren't you going to take the opportunity to chat more with the head coach? Your performance in these two matches clearly satisfied him. He's even promised you a starting position. If you chat more, maybe you'll become a fixed starter in the future."

Although Arthur had lost the second match, it was a glorious defeat; he had still put on a praiseworthy performance.

After all, it was perfectly normal for two rookies fresh from the youth training camp to lose to one of the top three doubles pairs in the league by win rate. No one would blame them.

On the contrary, the fact that Greninja could go toe-to-toe with a "Swords Dance"-buffed Empoleon for over a minute, and without using a shameless defensive move like "Protect," was enough for many people to look at him with new eyes.

In the two matches so far, Arthur could be said to have been the sharpest kid on the field. Even Bella's two-game winning streak was not as eye-catching as his performance.

The head coach clearly thought highly of him.

However, Arthur was still not happy about having to curry favor with the head coach for this.

He felt it was beneath him.

But there was no need to deliberately show off this kind of restrained pride.

"Ultimately, skill is the number one priority for a starting lineup. If chatting were useful, Asher would have gone to chat long ago."

Bella shot him a look, still wanting to complain about his low EQ, but thankfully, Luna changed the subject at this moment, not dwelling on it.

She wanted to continue the topic they hadn't finished during the last break between matches.

"You went to train without taking a coach, so does that mean you have your own methods for raising Pokémon? Do you plan to train your Pokémon like this yourself in the future?"

Luna's eyes burned as she looked at him.

After having fought a match against him personally, she felt even more keenly how solid Arthur's Pokémon's strength was.

It didn't have a particularly large number of skills, perhaps not even considered top-notch in the youth training camp.

But its combat power was abnormally solid!

The masterful technique with which it had suppressed her Empoleon for the entire match, preventing it from building momentum, had deeply moved her.

If she hadn't known Arthur since he was with Bella last year, she really wouldn't believe that this was the combat skill a Pokémon that was still in its initial form a year ago could have honed.

Luna didn't know how to describe it, but she instinctively felt that Arthur and his Pokémon didn't seem to belong to the competitive arena.

They were as if they had walked out of the most real and cruel battlefield of life and death!

This style and temperament indeed didn't seem like something a club coach could teach.

"What if I say yes?" Arthur smiled as he looked back at this "big sister" of the professional circle.

Taking a deep breath, Luna seemed to have mustered up her courage, her eyes burning as she looked at him.

"Um... can you teach me?"

Bella, at the side, stared at her with wide "Carslan" eyes, dumbfounded.

What's going on here?

She had been on guard against her best friend also coveting her little shota's body, but she never expected that what she was coveting was... not quite what she had thought?

(End of Chapter)

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