Chapter 392: Facing the Sea Carp Again
In the end, Starlight and Frost defeated the Tigris Team without much trouble.
Unfortunately, Sage Hwang was too scared to make a single prediction for the entire match. Otherwise, he might have had a chance to wash away his "jinx" reputation today.
But who's to say this isn't a form of karma?
The fans only dared to tease afterward: "The Sage has chickened out. My youth is over…"
But if you had actually asked them to let the Sage make an optimistic prediction for Starlight and Frost during the match, the fans probably wouldn't have dared…
It's better for your youth to be over than for your youth to be over.
After this match against the Tigris Team, Arthur and the others got a six-day break, a nice little holiday.
This schedule was mainly related to their next match—the organizers had specially arranged for their next match to be in the prime time slot this Sunday.
Because this one was full of drama.
It was Arthur and Bella against their old team: the Sea Carp Team!
This battle had been highly anticipated since the beginning of the season.
Firstly, Arthur's popularity was high enough, and his debut in the Devon Cup preseason had already confirmed his transition to a main singles player. It was clear that the Sea Carp team had likely lost out in the previous trade.
Secondly, both teams had performed well last season, both making it to the playoffs, which deserved a weekend slot.
However, so far this year, Starlight and Frost's dominance had continued, and their record was even better than last year's.
But the Sea Carp team was not doing so well.
The main singles player they had traded for from Starlight and Frost was performing adequately. Although he was a bit stronger than their previous main player, he hadn't brought about a qualitative change to the team.
And this year, the entire landscape of the Kubfu League could be said to have undergone a major transformation—
Blaze, Otter, and Starlight and Frost, as the new "big three" of the new era, had officially raised the banner of rebellion against the old guard that had long been entrenched on the throne!
Roman, who had been the dark horse that won the League Cup singles tournament last year, was now leading his Metro Team, closely following the first tier!
At the same time, a new generation of main players, represented by Arthur, Luna, and Zhuge Feng, was incredibly active this year, frequently beating down their seniors and stirring up countless storms!
The sky over the Kubfu League had clearly changed!
Against this chaotic and unpredictable backdrop, the Sea Carp Team, which had shown no significant improvement compared to previous years and had even lost a miracle engine like Arthur, seemed particularly plain.
As plain as a blank sheet of paper, with nothing interesting to be found…
In previous years, they might have been able to hold their position in the upper-middle of the league, acting as the gatekeepers of the playoffs. But this year, the pressure was a bit too much.
Now, the points gap between them and the new big three, the old guard, and the Metro Team had widened considerably. Their chances of making the playoffs were in jeopardy.
Thinking back to last year, when Arthur was still there, although the Sea Carp team had been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, their regular season had gone smoothly. They had even broken into the top three at one point in the middle of the season.
Only a single year had passed, and yet, the stars had shifted, the world had changed.
This made the Sea Carp fans miss Arthur even more.
In the Sea Carp team's pre-match strategy meeting—
"How do we play this match?"
"How about… we consider giving up the singles matches and focus our bets on the doubles."
Last year, this was how most of their discussions had gone. But back then, it was because they had Arthur, as well as Luna and Bella, in their doubles lineup. Their win rate was enough to give the entire team confidence!
But now, it was because the other side had Arthur…
The win rate of their singles division also gave them a lot of confidence—the confidence to give up on the singles matches.
At the same time, in the Starlight and Frost's pre-match discussion, the headmistress-like head coach had come to the same conclusion.
"The Sea Carp's singles division has never been strong. They will most likely consider giving up the singles and betting on the doubles. We need to secure the points we should in the singles, and then prepare for any changes they might make in the doubles. We can win this!"
Just then, Ivy proposed, "Then should we take the initiative to make a change in this match?"
The headmistress turned to look at the coaching staff, exchanged a look with the coach in charge of the doubles division, and then nodded.
"Alright. Let me see the results of your recent training!"
Ever since the battle against the Demon King Team, where Arthur had single-handedly turned the tide, the training enthusiasm of the rest of the team had been exceptionally high. They were all thinking that they couldn't just let Arthur/Brother Arthur carry the burden alone anymore.
Since Ivy's Ninetales had successfully evolved, everyone's backup Pokémon had also successively reached the professional level and were ready to make their debut!
So they decided: it was time to expand Arthur's "Intelligence Black Hole" reputation to the entire team!
Today, everyone was rubbing their hands together in anticipation!
Today, they had decided that they would not leave the spotlight to Arthur alone.
The match began!
As usual, Arthur was the first to take the stage.
Most of the time recently, he had been the starter for the first match because he was stable enough to reliably secure an opening victory for the team and boost morale!
And the Sea Carp team had probably guessed that they would arrange their lineup this way. In the first match, they directly showed a posture of lying flat and letting themselves be beaten.
The player they sent out exuded an air of giving up right from the Pokémon registration phase.
A completely defensive lineup!
Almost no consideration for winning!
The goal was to just score one small point. Not being shut out was a success!
After the battle started, they would first throw out debuffs, and at the first sign of trouble, they would turtle up and defend. They wouldn't consider attacking first; their first thought was Protect.
They played as cowardly as possible.
Unfortunately, in the end, all their schemes couldn't stop Arthur's offense. With a reasonable rotation, Arthur still secured a three-win victory, continuing his legend!
Another clean and decisive shutout!
Taking three points in the first match. Merciless!
In the second match, Alex took the stage and also secured a relatively easy victory over his opponent, though he couldn't get a shutout, finishing with a normal 3-2 score.
This extended their points advantage to 5-0.
Then, for the third match, it was a showdown between old teammates—
Aaron versus the main player that Starlight and Frost had traded to the Sea Carp team: Juri.
Last year at Starlight and Frost, Juri was a starter, while Aaron was just a substitute holding a thermos, watching the water cooler every day.
In the Devon Cup group stage, it was also Aaron versus Juri. At that time, Aaron had not won, suffering a regrettable defeat.
Today, as luck would have it, they were facing each other again. You could only say it was fate.
Before he went on stage, everyone was encouraging Aaron.
"You got this! Show them the results of your training! Avenge yourself today!"
"Alright!"
Aaron also nodded confidently, giving his teammates a fist bump in response to their expectations.
He had put down his thermos a long time ago.
And the change in him was the beginning of the change in the entire Starlight and Frost team's attitude!
Today, his thoughts were the same as Ivy's and the others'—he couldn't just let Arthur carry all the burdens and steal all the spotlight anymore
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