Chapter 253: The Chuuni Girl's First Battle
Of course, Luna knew Little Eevee wasn't actually planning to force itself on her Vulpix; she was just using the opportunity to tease Arthur.
Arthur knew it too, but he still took the time that day to pull Little Eevee aside for a serious, heart-to-heart talk.
Can't you have a little more self-respect?
Don't be a simp!
You need to conquer the opposite sex with your own strength, fair and square!
Taking the opportunity, Arthur recounted some of his old Leafeon's glorious exploits to Little Eevee.
Naturally, he tried to pick the more "family-friendly" stories to spare Little Eevee's young and innocent heart.
After listening, Little Eevee was completely stunned, as if the door to a whole new world had just been opened.
After that, its training did indeed become much more serious!
While Arthur was gratified, he could only pray silently that this pure-hearted child wouldn't be led astray by a blind admiration for its ancestor.
After all, as much as he missed his old Leafeon, he really didn't want to raise another flirtatious womanizer…
On another note, Little Eevee's sudden foray into romance had led to another unexpected, positive outcome—
Little Eevee and Little Lapras's relationship had improved, and their friendship had deepened significantly.
In the past, Little Eevee had kept its distance from Little Lapras because of her overly dramatic, "chuuni" personality.
The young Eevee simply couldn't comprehend the embarrassing ambition of a chuuni girl wanting to "conquer the five seas."
It didn't even know which five seas she was talking about…
But after returning from the trip, Little Eevee started spending a lot more time with Little Lapras in order to practice Ice-type moves and learn how to sculpt more beautiful ice flowers.
After some in-depth conversation, Little Eevee discovered that this "big sister" wasn't so hard to understand or approach after all.
She probably just missed her grandmother very much.
Moreover, Little Lapras's story of losing her mother at a young age resonated with the kind-hearted Eevee, who still had its parents and siblings, and it felt a great deal of sympathy for her.
Over time, the rebellious chuuni girl and the infatuated, silly little brother forged a deep friendship.
Occasionally, Arthur would even see Little Lapras giving Eevee rides on her back as they surfed in the pool.
It was a heartwarming sight.
As a certain anime taught us: perhaps friendship is the best cure for chuunibyou.
And so, like any proud father, Arthur thoughtfully prepared something special for both of them—
New, intensified training!
Don't misunderstand; this wasn't because he was some kind of sadistic demon.
It was because the next match presented what was likely the best opportunity for Little Lapras to make her debut.
In the first match of the second half of the season, the Sea Carp Team was scheduled to face a much weaker team, the Wildgrass Team, who were currently ranked last in the league.
This team was interesting because their captain was a foreigner.
As mentioned before, the Kubfu Alliance took great pride in its local talent. It was rare for teams to hire foreign players, let alone make one a captain.
The Wildgrass Team was the only team in the entire league with a foreign captain.
Their captain's name was Alpha, and he hailed from the Hoenn League.
He came from the same league as the reigning world champions, the Grand Master Team, who had successfully defended their title at the previous Champions Cup.
Unfortunately, despite hiring a player from Hoenn, the Wildgrass Team had failed to reach the same heights as the Grand Master Team. Forget competing in the Champions Cup; they were struggling to even climb out of last place…
Such a weak opponent was perfect for giving backup Pokémon some real-world battle experience.
This was the most suitable match-up Arthur could hope for to debut Little Lapras.
He had never forgotten about his little chuuni girl. Back on Coral Island during their special training, while Frogadier was practicing Water Pulse against the ocean waves, Little Lapras was right there practicing Ice Beam.
While Frogadier ran laps around the island with Arthur, Little Lapras was on the beach practicing its wave-riding movements.
While Frogadier was jumping off cliffs, wrestling, and sparring with the Azumarill, Little Lapras was right there beside them, training, observing, and learning.
Little Eevee was the descendant of his old Leafeon, and Little Lapras was the descendant of his old Lapras. They were both the children of his past companions.
Since Arthur had promised to help this chuuni girl become stronger and conquer the five seas, he had to do his best to keep his word.
In the future, Arthur might even travel north to the arctic seas to help Little Lapras search for her mother who had left home and headed north.
When it came to raising his Pokémon, Arthur never showed favoritism.
Of course, the club definitely wouldn't support his decision to use Lapras.
However, Luna had already given him a great example: sometimes, as long as you get your partner on board, the club's opinion doesn't really matter once you're on the field.
To that end, Arthur had recently been "casually" doing some physical training and combat drills within Asher's line of sight. He even occasionally invited him to practice sword-fighting.
It nearly scared Asher into packing his bags and running away overnight!
Bro, if you're unhappy with my performance, just say so, okay? I can change, I promise! Can we please stop with the sword? I'm easily scared, don't do this to me…
When Arthur then "casually" asked for his help in covering for him, Asher nodded frantically, agreeing in a heartbeat.
The club could, at worst, mess with his contract and salary. But Arthur looked like he was about to mess with his life!
Arthur was very satisfied with this "friendly and successful" negotiation.
And so, right up until the day of the match, the club's analyst team was still busy calculating Arthur's win rates using Greninja against the opponent's two doubles pairs.
It wasn't until the day of their home game against the Wildgrass Team that Arthur, in the first round of the doubles match, unexpectedly sent out Lapras, stunning the Sea Carp fans in the stadium.
The commentators were also filled with disbelief and uncertainty.
"Arthur has unexpectedly sent out a new Pokémon: a Lapras! This is a Pokémon he has never before shown on the competitive stage. It's simply incredible! Does a rookie in his very first year in the pro league really have three main combat-ready Pokémon?"
The commentator's tone held a hint of skepticism.
He was lucky that commentators couldn't show too much personal bias during an official broadcast. Otherwise, he probably would have started swearing.
What the hell is this?!
It was normal for a rookie in their first year to have one or two main Pokémon.
They might have more, but those wouldn't necessarily meet the standards for professional play.
This wasn't an amateur tournament. Bringing out a Pokémon that lacked strength or had a glaring weakness in its moveset was just asking for a free loss.
To be honest, neither the commentators nor the audience could believe that Arthur's Lapras was also at a professional level.
After all, the first two Pokémon he had shown were incredibly strong.
Two was already the limit. You couldn't possibly have another one, right?
The opposing players were thinking the exact same thing.
In that moment, they felt disrespected. A fire ignited in their hearts.
Kid, you're getting way too arrogant!
However, Arthur's expression remained calm.
He dared to send Little Lapras out because he was confident she had trained enough to be battle-ready!
His decision might contain a hint of looking down on his opponent, but it was absolutely not born from blind arrogance.
Lapras had already, step by step, reached the professional level.
If the other team was still doubting that, they might just end up eating their own words.
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