Chapter 425: The Playoffs Begin
As Little Eevee's accuracy with Sand Attack grew higher and higher, the Toxicroak's skill attacks were wasted several times in a row.
And when its skills were on cooldown, Little Eevee's combination of Baby-Doll Eyes and Icy Wind, both weakening and slowing it, was pure torture.
Now, the arguments in the live stream chat gradually died down.
Because at first, the people who disliked Arthur were dissing him for being disrespectful to his opponent. But now, even with him playing like this, his opponent was still on the verge of collapsing. So there was no disrespect to speak of.
These people could only turn their fire on the Yankee Team player who had come to challenge him.
"We gave you a chance and you couldn't take it!"
In the end, after dragging it out for more than five minutes, Little Eevee was still going strong, but the Toxicroak was panting like a dog…
Then, Arthur switched Pokémon, bringing in his proper heavy-hitter, Greninja.
His opponent also had no choice but to switch, recalling the Toxicroak.
He had said he wanted a duel between frogs, but in the end, it was not to be…
But the Toxicroak was already his main Pokémon. As a doubles player who hadn't officially been promoted to the main singles scene, the challenger didn't have many counter-picks.
In the end, he could only send out a Vileplume he primarily used for doubles.
The challenger's Vileplume had the Healer ability, which could cure the status conditions of its nearby allies. But in a singles environment, this ability was a bit awkward.
Moreover, the Misty Terrain that Little Eevee had set up before leaving had already nullified all status conditions anyway.
Afterward, Greninja got in close, dodged the opponent's Gastro Acid, and with a clean and decisive combo of punches, quickly took down the Vileplume.
Before the end, it even got in two Power-Up Punches, boosting its own strength while attacking!
In the end, not only had the opponent's Vileplume failed to wear down Greninja, but it had even helped it get a buff…
It couldn't have been more tragic!
When, in the second round, his opponent was forced to send out his main, Toxicroak, again, the Greninja was not the same as it had been at the start.
The strength boost from Power-Up Punch had made its physique temporarily much more imposing!
It bent down, picked up a cracked piece of stone, and with a firm grip, easily crushed it into dust.
The Toxicroak watched this scene, and it felt as if it had countless curses it wanted to shout!
Originally, I thought I could still trade blows with this fellow frog. But how am I supposed to fight this? Master, you can't screw me over like this!
The challenger on the other side was also helpless.
He had never expected that Arthur, by just casually sending out a Little Eevee, could play such a crucial role.
His ace, Toxicroak, had been worn down too much. The counter-pick he had prepared, Vileplume, was not strong enough and had even helped the opponent get a buff.
A complete disaster!
By the time the Toxicroak fell, he realized he had absolutely no chance…
Even without sending out Old Flame or Specter, Arthur had still steadily defended the arena and cleanly defeated this challenger!
Now, the chat had nothing to argue about.
From the results, it seemed that Arthur sending out Little Eevee and repeatedly trying Sand Attack had actually been effective.
If it was effective, then you couldn't really call it disrespectful to the opponent.
The angry, self-righteous critics could only focus their fire on the challenger.
"We gave you a chance and you couldn't take it!"
After this challenge was over, for the rest of the All-Star Weekend, Arthur received no other challenges.
Without even deploying his ace Pokémon, he had beaten the first challenger with just Little Eevee and Greninja. This show of force was enough to make the subsequent players who took the stage think twice.
In the end, Arthur didn't even get a chance to test Greninja's Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist.
You can only say that the level of the sparring partners still has a lot of room for improvement.
After the All-Star Weekend activities concluded, Arthur and his team had a big meal in the city of delicacies. The next morning, they took a private plane back to the club base.
After that, there were no more major events that required his presence during the off-season.
As for the smaller commercial activities, Arthur didn't even have to bring it up. Ivy and Bianca had already turned them all down.
As the team managers, they didn't care for the small profits from those events.
This made Arthur sigh: coming to Starlight and Frost was really the right choice.
Another week of high-intensity training. Specter's Mega form became more and more stable, and the power of Greninja's Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist had finally reached its current limit!
The strength of the other teammates on the team had also improved to varying degrees during this period. Everyone was training very seriously.
Including the newcomer, Elara, who had also integrated very smoothly.
And so, with full preparations and high spirits, Starlight and Frost was finally about to face the crucial playoffs of this season!
The playoffs have no home or away games. All matches are held in the same city.
This year's location was once again the major southern city of the Kubfu Alliance, and also the location of the Competitive Association and the event organizers: Saffron City!
The first day of competition would be the loser's bracket matches. The four loser's bracket teams would face each other. The losing side would be directly eliminated, a one-round trip home!
This was the same script Arthur had experienced last year with his old team.
Fortunately, this year, their position was no longer in the loser's bracket. On the first day of competition, all they had to do was watch the matches.
This year's playoff format was unprecedented!
Because the veteran "big three" teams had all fallen into the loser's bracket in the first round, including the Demon King Team, which had been ranked quite high at the beginning of the season!
The reign of the old "big three" over the Kubfu League could, at this point, finally be considered over.
And this year, in the winner's bracket were the new generation's "big three" as voted by the netizens: Blaze, Otter, and Starlight and Frost, followed closely by the Metro Team!
If they could continue to maintain their advantage, then it could be said that the changing of the guard in the league's power structure would happen this year!
Soon, the two matches on the first day were over.
The Demon King and Yankee teams advanced to the next round.
And the Jinchan Team, the fastest-declining of the "big three," had achieved an unprecedented reverse-breakthrough, suffering their first first-round playoff exit in the team's history.
The rise of the new giants is inevitably accompanied by the decay of the old.
And the Jinchan Team had undoubtedly become the first piece of rotten wood to fall!
On the second day of competition, it was the winner's bracket's turn!
Also four teams facing each other. The two winning teams would advance to the second round of the winner's bracket, while the two losing teams would drop to the loser's bracket to face the Demon King and Yankee teams who had advanced the day before, in a life-or-death battle!
The first match of the winner's bracket was the Blaze Team versus the Otter Team.
The two teams had already faced each other twice in the preseason Devon Cup, once in the group stage and once in the finals.
At that time, they had a 1-1 record, with the Otter Team losing first and then winning, taking the Devon Cup championship.
And this time, it was the Blaze Team's turn to be the master!
In the end, the Blaze Team defeated the Otter Team and advanced to the next round.
And then, the second match of the day—
It was finally Arthur's turn to take the stage
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