Chapter 238: Conflict
When the referee announced the result of this round, the entire match also came to an end.
The Sea Carp Team's current score was 2 to 6. Even if they won the final match, it was impossible to turn defeat into victory.
The competition was effectively over at this point. The outcome of the final match between Luna and Bella had now become unimportant.
After the match, Arthur woodenly followed Elijah to the center of the field, standing in the middle of the arena, which now had a giant pit from the explosion, to shake hands with the players from the Demon King Team.
He was very unhappy with this loss.
Not just because it was his first league defeat so far, but more so because he felt a particular repulsion to everything about the opponent, from their playstyle and tactics to their on-the-spot command style.
Simply put, their values were incompatible; their stars were crossed.
After leaving the field, Luna and Bella were still kind enough to console him, but the coaching and analyst teams on the side just gave the two of them a cool glance and said nothing.
That night, after the match ended, Arthur, as was his routine, conducted a debrief of the match.
However, this debrief was relatively short. On one hand, the match itself wasn't very long; on the other hand, the problems were so obvious that there was no need to waste too much breath.
"It's very obvious, Greninja. Next, you have to learn Rest first."
Greninja couldn't learn "Safeguard." The only skill it could learn to cure status conditions was the most common one, "Rest."
Although its effect was rather average, it was better than nothing.
In the past, he hadn't paid attention to this area. The inertial thinking of a real-combat pragmatist hadn't shifted over yet. After this battle, it would definitely not be like this again.
Overall, although Arthur had tasted his first defeat, he was still optimistic about the future.
"The next time we face them, I will definitely give those people from the Demon King Team a surprise!"
He wasn't the only one convinced of this. The bandaged Greninja also nodded with a determined will.
Definitely!
However, the next day, what no one expected was that before they had time to prepare a surprise for the Demon King Team, their own side first gave Arthur a big "surprise."
Looking at the appointment card for a Pokémon breeding center in his hand, Arthur raised his head with a deadpan expression and asked, "What is the meaning of this?"
The chief analyst of the team's analysis department explained with a fawning smile.
"It's like this, Player Arthur. After yesterday's match, I'm sure you've also discovered some of the difficulties you're currently facing in the arena. Regarding this, we suggest that you expand your Pokémon lineup as soon as possible to avoid encountering such a窘境 (jiǒngjìng - predicament/plight) of being targeted so badly again."
Arthur looked coolly at the young analyst in his twenties before him, and calmly and slowly placed the card in his hand back on the table.
"I've only just lost one match. Are you all already this impatient?"
His voice was very cold, which surprised the analyst.
Before this, although this analyst had heard some rumors about Arthur, he really hadn't expected that a mere teenage rookie player would dare to so stubbornly defy the team.
"Player Arthur, there's no need for your tone to be so aggressive. We are not targeting or intentionally criticizing you. It's just that this is a step that every professional player must go through. We hope you can understand."
But Arthur still insisted, "I remember saying when I signed the contract that in the area of Pokémon cultivation, I would stick to my own ideas.
I did indeed expose some problems in yesterday's match, but I feel this can be supplemented by learning subsequent skills. It hasn't reached the point where I must add new Pokémon."
The recent matches had just exposed that there were still many skills Greninja needed to learn. Plus, Mismagius was also in a state of being severely unbalanced and in urgent need of shoring up its weaknesses. During this period, Arthur's energy was already stretched thin, so he resolutely refused to add new Pokémon at this time.
The team's intention was probably for him to entrust some of his Pokémon to the instructors at the training base, but Arthur had explicitly rejected this.
Even if it took more time, even if he himself was a bit more tired and had less rest, his Pokémon must be trained by him personally. To never be a hands-off manager at any time—this was his principle.
However, this time, the team seemed to be dead set on it.
"Then how about this, Player Arthur, would you consider having your Eevee evolve first to fill the gap in the lineup? We can help you purchase an evolution stone."
"No need. I have no plans to evolve Eevee in the near future."
Arthur gave a clear refusal before the other party could even finish.
Little Eevee was still too young right now. Evolving it at this time would be completely forcing its development, drastically overdrawing its future potential.
This was the descendant of his Leafeon; Arthur would never do this!
At this moment, the chief analyst who had come to persuade him even felt a chill down his spine, inexplicably shivering in the March weather.
That was Specter's murderous gaze repeatedly sweeping over the vital points on his back.
Only we get to mess with the fcking dog's descendant. When did it become an outsider's turn to have ideas?*
Specter was even seriously considering whether he should find a dark and windy night to "arrange" for this person.
But Arthur stopped him.
This wasn't about mercy; it was simply because Arthur saw things clearly—the other party coming over today clearly represented the will of the entire club. It wouldn't be useful to just "arrange" for this one person in front of him.
He sighed in his heart.
Why is it that after just one loss, he felt his situation had changed so drastically?
At first, he was still a bit confused.
It wasn't until later, when the team's analysis department came in shifts to repeatedly persuade him, that Arthur gradually figured it out.
Ultimately, the underlying style of their Sea Carp Team was actually the same as the Demon King Team's!
It was just because the team had two misfits, Luna and Bella, and Arthur happened to get to know them first and was most familiar with this pair, that he had had a certain misunderstanding of his own team's style all along.
The Sea Carp Team, in the end, also believed more in tactics than in bonds.
It should be said that the vast majority of professional teams in Kubfu today were like this; it was just that they weren't as rich and arrogant as the old "Big Three."
In so many years, the Alliance had only produced one misfit team like Blaze.
So, it wasn't that the team had immediately turned on him after he lost one match, but rather that from the very beginning, the team had never agreed with his methods at all. It was just that he had been on a winning streak before, so the coaching staff had held their tongues.
And now, these actions by the analysis team were clearly at the behest of the coaching staff.
They believed that a two-pronged approach would be more efficient to supplement his shortcomings.
Skills should be learned quickly, and Pokémon should also be acquired quickly. In their eyes, there was no conflict.
But in Arthur's eyes, there was a conflict. A f*cking big conflict!
(End of Chapter)
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