Chapter 276: A Trip to Cerulean City
This year's All-Star Weekend was being held in Cerulean City, the second-largest city in the Kubfu Alliance.
Cerulean City also had its own professional club, the Metro Team, who had also qualified for this year's playoffs.
As luck would have it, they were the Sea Carp Team's first-round opponents in the playoffs.
The Metro Team was the exact opposite of the Sea Carp Team. Their doubles division had always underperformed, with the roster being completely overhauled almost every year, yet they never quite hit the mark.
However, their main singles players were consistently top-tier. Two of them had been selected for the All-Stars this year, and their captain, Roman, was a strong contender for the "Best Captain" award this season.
Although he ultimately lost out to the Blaze Team's captain, Mason—whose team had a better record and the prestige of a third-place finish in last year's Champions Cup—for a captain of a team starting in the loser's bracket to even be a finalist was a testament to his exceptional individual skill.
Arthur and the others arrived in Cerulean City around noon the day before the event, on Saturday.
After lunch, they were fortunate enough to visit Cerulean City's most famous aquarium.
"Did you know? The Cerulean Aquarium has a whole series of urban legends! If you're in the Wailord exhibit and you suddenly see a drowned Mamoswine, it means you're getting close to the legend! At that moment, if a man in blue appears and tells you there's a zoo nearby, invites you for a free tour, and tries to sell you Scorbunny earrings, you will—"
During the tour, Elijah was mysteriously trying to share a "rules-based" internet creepypasta he had recently read with Arthur. But he had barely started when Luna, who was walking with them, slapped him on the back of the head, forcefully cutting him off.
Bella and Arthur both turned to look at Luna.
Neither of them was particularly scared.
Arthur had spent over a decade on the battlefield and had slain countless real ghosts, so he certainly wasn't going to be frightened by an internet ghost story.
Bella, on the other hand, was simply fearless.
They both looked at Luna, who awkwardly averted her gaze.
"The… the tour guide is talking. Don't interrupt. Look how beautiful those Primarina are."
The tour guide walking ahead of them was innocently caught in the crossfire.
He hadn't said a word yet.
Everyone could see that Luna was scared, but no one called her out on it.
Bella's smile was the most obvious, the upward curve of her lips almost turning into a comical emoji.
But you had to admit, seeing the usually strong and resilient Luna looking flustered and trying to hide her fear was actually quite cute.
After watching for a moment, Arthur, out of kindness, helped her out.
"Yeah, let's not talk about it. It's a rare chance to visit the Cerulean Aquarium, let's watch more of the Pokémon performances."
The rookie, Elijah, shrank his neck, naturally not daring to disobey.
Luna shot Arthur a grateful look, then glared fiercely at Bella.
The meaning was clear: I'll deal with you later!
Bella stuck out her tongue, completely unafraid.
Instantly backing down and never learning her lesson were her two life mottos. The concept of "learning from one's mistakes" did not exist in her dictionary. Until she was truly taught a lesson, she was fearless~
A little while later, she approached Elijah again and whispered, "Hey, Elijah, tell me more. What happens next in that legend? What's in the zoo?"
Walking ahead, Luna didn't turn around, but you could almost see a vein pop on the back of her head!
Arthur, standing to the side, silently took a large gulp of his canned iced tea.
He had a feeling there was a good show coming up.
Sure enough, a short while later, using the excuse of a bathroom break, Arthur noticed that Bella was gone for a particularly long time.
"Where's Bella?" he asked Luna, who was with him.
"She probably has an upset stomach. Let's just wait a bit longer."
But Arthur keenly noticed that the order of the Poké Balls on Luna's belt had changed.
At the same time, from the women's restroom not far away, he could vaguely hear the sound of a Kabutops sharpening its scythes…
Arthur pretended he didn't know anything and looked around at the scenery.
A moment later, Luna calmly added, "She does seem to have been gone for a while. I'll go check on her."
Then, Luna turned and went back into the women's restroom, a Poké Ball clutched in her hand.
"Pfft."
After she left, Arthur let out an unkind laugh.
After this little episode, Bella was much more well-behaved for the rest of the tour.
They then went to see the water ballet performance that had made the Cerulean Aquarium famous.
Swanna and Primarina danced gracefully alongside human ballerinas.
Luvdisc and Corsola, together with Lanturn, adorned the stage, creating a dazzling, iridescent spectacle!
Both the stage and the dance were exquisitely beautiful. Humans and Pokémon complemented each other, making it impossible to tell which was more beautiful.
"So pretty! What an amazing performance!! If I hadn't become a professional player, I would have wanted to work here!"
After one ballet performance, Bella's energy was fully restored.
Her recovery speed, Arthur estimated, was worth an ability of its own.
Luna gave her a sideways glance. "Do you know how to dance?"
Bella proudly puffed out her chest. "Nope! But I could take care of the Luvdisc and Primarina. They're so beautiful too~"
Elijah, standing to the side, pushed up his glasses with a profound look.
"I still think the lead dancer was the prettiest. Her figure was especially amazing. Her legs were so long and fair! I just bought a set of her photo books."
Because the ballet was performed in a pool, the Cerulean dancers wore tight-fitting school-style swimsuits that accentuated their figures and showed off their long, beautiful legs.
Elijah's comment earned him disgusted looks from both female players.
Arthur gave his socially awkward companion, who had been a shut-in for too long, a sympathetic look.
You really shouldn't say such lewd things so directly in front of ladies.
After the two seniors were done scolding Elijah, Arthur, who had been maintaining a righteous distance, secretly approached him.
"Where did you buy the photo books? Is there only one set? Can you have them mailed instead of picking them up on the spot?"
Elijah looked at Arthur in shock.
What the—, you look younger than me, so why are you so experienced and smooth when talking about this stuff?
How many times have you done this before?!
He suddenly realized that even off the battlefield, he was far behind Arthur…
After their half-day trip to the aquarium, the group returned to the hotel in the evening.
Arthur, as always, insisted on taking Greninja to the hotel gym for training, so he didn't participate in any other activities after dinner.
The next morning, they followed the organizers to Cerulean City's largest indoor stadium, which was also the largest in the eastern Kubfu Alliance and the second-largest in the entire league.
This would be the main venue for this year's All-Star Weekend.
The morning started with entertainment-focused events, such as challenge games where pro players and their Pokémon worked together, and segments where fans could come on stage and create tasks for the players and their Pokémon to complete.
The first two hours had no intense competitive content. The main focus was on fun and humor, to warm up the atmosphere.
During this time, Arthur, as this year's breakout miracle rookie, was frequently called up on stage by fans to participate in pranks and games.
Amidst a lively atmosphere of laughter and cheers, the initial warm-up segment came to an end.
Next, it was finally time for the first competitive event of the day—
Fans would come on stage to team up with professional players for 2v2 doubles exhibition matches.
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