NOVEL NEXT Chapter 320: A New Team and Free Will
After this year's transfer period, the Otter Team had undergone a near-complete restructuring!
Last year, the team had been eliminated in the first round of the Champions Cup. This year, they had another poor showing in the playoffs, only managing a top-six finish. The online backlash was immense, and the team's social media was shredded by criticism.
The Otter Team's fanbase had always been one of the more zealous ones. Because of the team's strong marketing, their fan conversion rate and influence were among the best in the league!
This had even earned them the nickname of the "influencer team" in their early years.
But as the saying goes, the water that bears the boat is the same that swallows it up.
In their early years, the Otter Team had built its success on fan solidarity, dominating every battlefield outside the arena. But their success was their fans, and so was their failure.
When their record was good, their strong marketing sent their fan conversion rates soaring. But in the past two years, as their performance declined, those same fans had turned on them, flaming them so hard their ancestors' graves were probably smoking.
You could only say that what goes around, comes around…
The fans in this world were incredibly proactive. It was said that not long ago, the Otter Team's head coach was even attacked with a "Meteor Mash" on his way out, and a meteorite had nearly cracked his skull open.
Under this immense pressure, at the end of this season, the Otter Team underwent a massive overhaul from top to bottom!
Both the singles and doubles division head coaches were replaced!
In the singles division, only the captain remained. The other two starting main players and two substitutes were all kicked!
A new team was then rebuilt around this veteran captain—
They spent a fortune to buy the All-Star captain of the former Serenity Team, Serena. They signed the former All-Star doubles player, Luna, who had now been promoted to a main singles player. They promoted one of their own former All-Star doubles players to be a main substitute.
Finally, at the end of the transfer period, they poached a player from the Blaze Team, snatching up one of their All-Star main players, Melody.
Now, the singles division of this new Otter Team was a true All-Star lineup!
All five of their main players were this year's All-Stars!
Two All-Star captains, one All-Star main player, and two former All-Star doubles players.
Their doubles division also saw significant changes this year. The weather-setter for their rain-and-thunder combo was replaced. The underperforming Pelipper was kicked out, chair and all, and they promoted a rookie from their youth camp with a Drizzle Politoed.
The other doubles pair was also broken up. The more outstanding player was promoted to a substitute main, while the other two rotational players were both kicked, replaced by two new rookies as starters.
Surprisingly, Arthur even knew these two.
Harry and Andrew.
He had faced them in the youth camp graduation tournament last year. That tournament was a joint venture between the Otter and Sea Carp youth camps, with the two sides as opponents.
At the time, Arthur had teamed up with Justin and had lost to these two once, but they had come back strong in the second round.
What had left the deepest impression on Arthur about this pair was their ridiculously lucky use of Ancient Power!
Perhaps because their victory had involved too much luck, despite their excellent results in the graduation tournament that year, no team had signed them, and they had failed to graduate.
So they spent another year honing their skills in the youth camp, and after some soul-searching, they made a change—
Andrew had raised a Togekiss with the Super Luck ability!
In a way, they were staying true to their roots.
People thought their victories were too dependent on luck, so they just went ahead and raised a Pokémon whose entire strategy, from its ability to its tactics, was based on luck.
It left you speechless…
And so, this year, the two of them finally graduated from the youth camp successfully, and they were immediately given a starting position on the main team.
The biggest impression the current Otter Team gave was that of newness!
Across all positions, only the captain and the "thunder" part of the rain-and-thunder combo were old faces. Everyone else was new!
A completely brand-new team. No one could predict how they would perform.
And their opponent on the first day, the Blaze Team, was an equally unpredictable team!
Four years ago, this team had undergone a massive overhaul similar to this year's Otter Team, completely changing from top to bottom. From then on, they had walked a different path, one that was completely out of step with the rest of the circuit.
At a time when the mainstream thought in the Kubfu competitive scene was all about data and deferring to instructors, the reorganized Blaze Team was the first to take the power of Pokémon selection back from the instructors and give it to the players!
Not only that, but they also made many moves that were considered baffling at the time. For example, a year after their reorganization, they signed Chloe, who used a "comedian" Pokémon like a Metronome Clefable as her main, and even built a whole system around it.
Their choice of main singles players had always been a bit… quirky.
Besides Melody, who had "defected" to the Otter Team this year, their other All-Star main player, Simon, was also considered a bit of a weirdo at the time, because his most famous main Pokémon was a Shuckle…
In short, this was a team that exuded an air of freedom in every aspect, from their choice of players to their choice of Pokémon. It felt like nothing in this world could stop them from being themselves.
And this year was no different. After one of their founding veterans retired due to age, this team—the reigning playoff champions, who could have had their pick of anyone in the circuit—once again shocked everyone by turning around and signing an outsider who had never played a professional match to be their new starting main player.
This outsider's name was Zhuge Feng. To this day, no one had been able to find out his specific background or what Pokémon he had. All that was known was that he had once enlisted in the army. Due to a confidentiality agreement, his service record could not be made public. After being discharged, he had returned home and opened a Pokémon nursery.
The day before he was called to play, he was reportedly providing postpartum care for a Mamoswine at his own nursery…
This information left people with only one expression—
The "subway, old man, phone" meme…
You could say this was another very "Blaze Team" roster change. The will of the free needs no explanation.
A matchup between these two teams, even if it wasn't an official professional league match, was still full of things to watch!
Even Arthur and the others, who were about to play next, were looking on with anticipation.
Bella, in particular, was excitedly chattering beside Arthur.
"Go, Luna! You got this!"
That's right. In the roster announced by the Otter Team, Luna was a starting main player! Not a substitute!
So, unless there was a tactical change, Luna should be playing today!
This would also be her official debut as a main singles player on the professional stage.
Arthur was also looking forward to her performance.
The host finally finished his lengthy commercial break, and the two teams for the first match entered the arena.
The singles segment began!
In the first match, both sides sent out their newcomers as a feeler—
Luna versus Zhuge Feng
♧♧♧
-> SUPPORT ME WITH POWER STONE
-> FOR EVERY 200 PS = BOUNS CHAPTER
♧♧♧
-> 35 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.patreon.com/c/Segais
(Just remove the hyphen to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you