Chapter 426: From Passerby to Fan
The one unavoidable question when facing the Metro Team is how to deal with their captain, Roman.
This young man, who was once a seaside boy from Cerulean City, has a growth story that is a living legend in the league.
But unlike the early fame of players like Arthur, Luna, or even Leo, Roman was the complete opposite, a classic late bloomer.
He never won Best Rookie. His performance on the doubles stage back in the day was, at best, mediocre. He struggled until the age of twenty-nine before finally making the cut to become a main singles player, right at the deadline.
In his early years as a main player, his performance was also unremarkable. At that time, he was on the same path as Alex on the current Starlight and Frost team: specializing in one type of Pokémon, focusing on one type to strive for perfection.
The type he focused on was Water, a choice that has left its clear mark on him to this day—all three of his captain-level ace Pokémon are Water-types.
However, a single type also limited his tactical options.
In that era, when the Demon King Team still ruled the Kubfu League, a player who lacked tactical depth was generally not favored by the public or their team.
Therefore, in his first few years as a main player, Roman was largely unknown, often spending half the season sitting on the bench in a daze.
But even so, this former seaside boy never became lost or lazy because of it. He never went with the flow, blindly following his club's arrangements to acquire a large number of Pokémon to fit into the mainstream of that era.
He just quietly remained in the corners, away from the spotlight, day after day, year after year, training the few starter Pokémon he had raised since he was a child.
Later, even when the club took the initiative to offer him a pseudo-legendary Pokémon, he refused.
This person's story is like that of a sweeping monk in an ancient mountain temple, quietly guarding his own little world, not competing, not showing off, silently accumulating strength.
Until one day, when he burst into the public eye, his skills were already perfected, and he was invincible!
Of course, the difference between Roman and a sweeping monk is that he didn't appear that late. He didn't wait until his hair was white and he was past seventy.
In his seventh year as a main singles player, he finally began to make a name for himself.
In that year, he was appointed in a time of crisis to take over as the captain of the Metro Team. And with great authority, the moment he took office, he kicked out the previous head coach whose philosophy was severely at odds with his.
From then on, the Metro Team was completely transformed, officially entering the ranks of the strong teams!
Although this first step was just the beginning, and the Metro Team's rise after that was not a smooth one, with many bumps along the way, Roman's own ascent was destined to be unstoppable!
And so last year, Roman, after a long period of accumulation, finally burst forth. On the stage of the League Cup singles tournament, he was in a league of his own, taking the championship and successfully ascending to become the current number one singles player in the Kubfu Alliance!
That year, Roman was thirty-nine years old.
He had debuted and started playing professionally at the age of twenty-two. Last year was the seventeenth year of his professional career.
In those seventeen years, he had only been selected as an All-Star five times. Looking at this number and ratio, it's hard to define his professional career as "glorious."
But now, no one can ignore the deterrent force he brings to the captain's battle!
The Metro Team's captain's battle is currently the one with the highest win rate and average score in the entire league!
He even contributed the first captain's battle shutout of the regular season after the rule change!
The new point-difference rule for the captain's battle undoubtedly gave this late-blooming league number one a huge stage to shine!
In the final stage of the regular season, in the match between Starlight and Frost and the Metro Team, it was Roman who single-handedly turned the tide, leading to Starlight and Frost's regrettable defeat.
At that time, they had been leading throughout the regular singles and doubles stages. Arthur had even scored a shutout at the beginning, giving them an extra point. They were ahead of the Metro Team by a full three points before the captain's battle!
But in the final battle, Roman had a god-like performance, brutally defeating Leo 6-2. The point-difference system directly gave him 4 points, and in one fell swoop, he staged a comeback and helped his team win!
Today, facing each other again, if Starlight and Frost wanted to win, how to deal with the pressure brought by Roman was still a problem that everyone on the team had to solve.
But what no one expected was that in the very first round of the match, Starlight and Frost had already presented their answer!
The commentator cried out with excitement, "My heavens! Has the Starlight and Frost team put their captain up front again today?! We see that in the first round, Starlight and Frost has sent out their captain, Leo! In that case, any spectator who watched their regular season battle against the Demon King Team has probably already pictured the same scene as us—that's right!! They're planning to have the miracle rookie, Arthur, guard the final captain's battle again!! Will we see the birth of another miracle today, or the fall of a rookie?!"
The commentator was excited, and the audience and fans were even more so!
Crazy! Everyone has gone crazy!
For a moment, the stands were filled with all sorts of arguments and discussions.
"My heavens, are they really letting a rookie challenge the number one in the league? Aren't they afraid his mentality will be crushed?"
"Huh? What are you talking about?! That's Arthur!! You're saying Arthur's mentality will be crushed? I think you're too young, too simple!"
"But Roman is last year's League Cup singles champion! A powerhouse with an average of 3.8 points per match in the regular season!"
"Hah, then let me ask you: who were the runner-up and third-place finisher in last year's League Cup singles tournament?"
The other person, after being asked this, wiped his nose and said proudly, "Are you trying to say that besides the champion, no one remembers the runner-up and third-place? Hah! I'm sorry, but I'm a senior competitive fan. I do remember! Last year's runner-up was Captain Leo, and the third-place finisher was Serena, who went to the Otter Team this season!"
Who would have thought that the person arguing with him would suddenly give a sly smile.
"No, I need you to remember, because I want to tell you: Arthur has already beaten both the runner-up and the third-place finisher in the regular season. Why isn't he qualified to challenge the champion?"
"Uh…"
The person who had just wiped his nose was speechless, completely shut down.
He had originally disliked Arthur, feeling indifferent to these so-called "genius youths" who were too young and had too few achievements. But now, after being reminded by the other person, he finally realized: it seems that besides his age, Arthur had long since surpassed the conventional definition of a "youth" in every other aspect!
His record had long surpassed the rookie tier!
Even among all the league players of all ages, Arthur's record was one of the best!
He had already taken down the third-place and runner-up of last year's League Cup singles tournament!
So, just as that fan who was supporting Arthur had said: after beating number two and number three, why isn't he qualified to challenge number one?
It wasn't until this moment that the passerby who had first refuted that Arthur was not qualified to challenge Roman had a sudden realization: "What the hell! He's only eighteen this year?! And he's already capable of challenging the number one in the league?!"
Beside him, the other person gave a cold sneer, contemptuously.
"Tch, what did you think?!"
"..."
This time, this passerby, who had always been indifferent to the so-called "genius youths" hyped up by marketing, finally understood what a true genius is!
"Arthur is a beast!!"
So, sometimes, the journey from a passerby to a fan happens in an instant!
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