Chapter 239: A New Inspiration
On the third day after the match against the Demon King Team, the club's relentless bombardment of Arthur had not stopped.
Ultimately, in the current professional circle, teams generally did not believe in things like bonds and miracles; they were more willing to believe in data and tactics.
In their view, acquiring new Pokémon was just a very common form of trial and error. If the cultivation was successful, it would increase their tactical reserves; if not, they could just shelve the Pokémon.
After the Great Reconciliation, the number of Pokémon in the human world had increased significantly, and the selling price of most Pokémon was no longer expensive. Shelving one wouldn't cost much money.
This was the most honest inner thought of most people in this circle.
They didn't feel there was anything wrong with artificially ripening, overdrawing the potential of, or even abandoning a Pokémon. As long as it didn't starve to death, it was fine.
But Arthur didn't think so.
In his view, to force a Pokémon's development for the sake of short-term tactical needs, destroying the future possibilities it should have had, was an extremely excessive thing to do.
Every domesticated Pokémon willing to follow a human should be cherished!
This was a value that could never be erased from a trainer who had walked out of that war-torn era when Pokémon were scarce!
Thus, the tug-of-war between the two sides continued.
On one occasion, the head coach even angrily said, "Can't you accept a single suggestion? Have I been too gentle in the past, or have you reached your rebellious phase?!"
But Arthur's attitude remained unchanged, as hard as a Golem withdrawn into its shell.
Helpless, the analyst had to come out afterward to smooth things over.
At the same time, this time he explained another layer of reasoning to Arthur, half-comforting and half-making an empty promise.
"Little Arthur, don't always be so defiant and argue with the coach. Actually, the team is also planning to cultivate you as a doubles core, so our requirements for you are unavoidably a bit higher.
You see, with those two rookies, Elijah and Fang Shiwei, we've never pushed them this hard."
To be honest, Arthur didn't believe this kind of promise.
He wasn't really seventeen years old.
"Hehe, me, a rookie, as the core? Isn't it a bit early? Why don't you just lower your requirements for me? I think being treated the same as the other rookies is just fine."
"Hey, how could that be possible!"
The analyst put on an expression of exaggerated praise and then continued, "Actually, there's something you don't know. The team has its own difficulties. You probably don't know yet, right? Next year, both Luna's and Bella's contracts are set to expire. Right now, the team is in great need of a new, competitive ace pair for the doubles division!
So, Little Arthur, don't be stubborn. We all have high hopes for you."
The analyst was still patiently and persuasively painting a grand blueprint for Arthur.
As it turned out, Arthur didn't hear a word of what he said after that.
The first thing he said had passed through Arthur's mind like a laser beam.
Luna's and Bella's contracts are both expiring next year?
He quickly used a few perfunctory excuses to deal with the analyst and then turned to find Luna.
At this time, Luna was still insisting on using the schedule he had helped her make to train her four backup Pokémon.
Although she complained bitterly every day, she had always persisted without interruption.
So, Arthur easily found her on the outdoor training grounds.
"Are you and Bella leaving Sea Carp next year?"
The moment they met, Arthur asked, getting straight to the point without any reservations.
Luna looked around, first shot him a look, and then scolded him in a low voice, "You idiot, don't discuss this kind of thing publicly at the base!"
However, after confirming that no one was around, she also said frankly, "Both of our contracts are up next year. I'm not too sure about Bella, but I myself will most likely be leaving.
I want to find a team that will allow me to play as a main player, so I can accumulate experience in singles matches. I don't mind even if it's a weak team."
This answer was what Arthur had expected.
It wasn't surprising.
From the team's perspective, they certainly hoped Luna would continue to shine in the doubles division, preferably until she hit the thirty-year-old deadline.
After all, her current strength in the doubles field was for all to see. But if she were to switch to singles, with the average level of her current lineup, it was really hard for people to feel at ease.
However, from Luna's own perspective, she certainly didn't want to waste her time in the doubles division!
Accumulating experience in singles matches in advance was very necessary; otherwise, who could say that they could seamlessly switch to being a qualified main player the moment they turned thirty?
This conflict was difficult to reconcile.
So, Luna had long been mentally prepared for the fact that she wouldn't be able to renew her contract and had even planned to try her luck with a weaker team next year.
For a player of her age, results were no longer the top priority.
Whether she could continue her professional career after the age of thirty was the most crucial thing!
And this seemed to have given Arthur a lot of new and different inspiration.
"What's wrong? Why did you suddenly ask about this? You seem a bit strange today," Luna asked with concern.
Arthur shook his head, smiled at her, and didn't answer directly.
Right now, an idea had just sprouted in his heart, and there were many things he hadn't thought through yet.
Besides, just as Luna had said: some things were probably not convenient to discuss publicly at the base.
Luna then stared at him fixedly for two seconds and, very considerately, didn't press further.
But after a while, she still couldn't help but advise him in the tone of an older sister, "Your professional career has only just begun. You still have a long road ahead of you. There's no need to worry about many things right now.
For the time being, just focus on playing your own matches well. No matter what you plan to do in the future, winning this year's Best Rookie award will be very helpful to you."
"Best Rookie?" Arthur asked in return.
To be honest, he really hadn't paid attention to this before.
"Yes, Best Rookie. Only players in their first two years of debut have a chance to compete for this honor, and it won't be awarded to the same player twice.
Don't look at it as just a rookie award; its weight is very significant. Bella's annual salary is higher than mine now because she won it.
Winning it will be a great help to your future professional career. Don't miss out on it because of a small conflict now."
Luna's words were actually a gentle admonishment to Arthur.
Everyone had more or less heard about his recent conflict with the club. Luna's meaning was actually to advise him not to make his relationship with the team too tense, and at the very least, not to lose his starting position.
Otherwise, if he couldn't even get on the field as a starter, how could he even talk about competing for Best Rookie?
Arthur was silent for a moment.
It wasn't until Luna added another sentence that it instantly prompted him to make up his mind.
She said, "Also, after winning Best Rookie, if you can casually share some of your training insights, you can also receive a sum of Alliance Merits."
Honor, salary—Arthur wasn't particularly moved by these things. But Alliance Merits were different. This truly moved him!
Because this was related to finding the whereabouts of his past partners!
Querying the location of meritorious Pokémon and their descendants in the Alliance database, and even entering those locations, required either paying with merits or holding a security clearance!
(End of Chapter)
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