The Path of a Genius to Becoming a Pokémon Champion

The rest of the match unfolded basically as the commentators and players had analyzed—

Zhuge Feng used his Infernape in a kamikaze play to wear down the opponent, after which it honorably fainted. His Serperior then came in to finish off Luna's Empoleon and her heavily damaged Beedrill, securing the final victory.

The score was 3-2. It seemed close, but Zhuge Feng's squinting eyes had never once fully opened.

"Is that guy really as terrifying as you say? But didn't the reports say he was studying postpartum care for Mamoswine just before this?"

To his teammate's question, Arthur couldn't offer an explanation.

All he could say was that time would tell.

After that, the battle between the Otter Team and the Blaze Team continued!

For the second match, the Otter Team sent out the former All-Star captain, Serena, captain of the now-defunct Serenity Team, who was hailed as the current number one female player in the Kubfu Alliance.

Speaking of All-Star captains, it was an interesting situation.

Each year, eight captains and twelve main players are selected for the All-Stars, and there are exactly eight playoff spots.

So, here's the question: when an All-Star captain's team doesn't make the playoffs, who is the most embarrassed?

This year, the answer was clearly Arthur's old team: the Sea Carp Team…

Because they were the only team that had made it to the playoffs whose captain was not selected as an All-Star.

You could only say that the Sea Carp Team's lackluster performance in the singles matches this year was plain for all to see. Not even having four All-Star doubles players could save the team…

And because Arthur's performance in the doubles circuit had been so brilliant, it had only served to make the Sea Carp main players look even more pathetic. So, the fans had voted with their feet and kicked the Sea Carp captain out of the All-Stars.

And the one who took the Sea Carp's All-Star captain spot was the Serenity Team.

This team had been known as a "one-woman army" for years.

Their captain, Serena's, skill was undeniable, but the rest of her team was… also undeniable…

After this year's professional season, in the League Cup singles tournament, Serena had fought her way to a third-place finish, beating out many powerhouses from stronger playoff teams.

After so many years of carrying her team, Serena was probably just tired.

So, during the transfer period in the latter half of this year, she finally abandoned her old team and joined the Otter Team.

She had even voluntarily demoted herself, giving up her captain's title.

But while you can give up a title, you can't give up skill.

In the second match, Serena, with three captain-level Pokémon, powerfully smashed through Simon's Shuckle defense, taking a clean 3-1 victory and tying the score for her team!

Her霸气, offensive style was a stark contrast to her intellectual and gentle demeanor, creating a strangely thrilling feeling!

"Having two captains is just so dominant. They can go all out from the start without holding anything back," many players and spectators couldn't help but exclaim.

In the past, to guard against a potential captain's tiebreaker, most team captains, unless they were confident of a 3-0 sweep to gain an extra point, would choose to conserve their Pokémon's stamina as much as possible.

This was to avoid the embarrassing situation of all their main Pokémon being in the infirmary and unable to compete if a tiebreaker occurred.

There was a time when Serena had to consider a million things every time she stepped onto the singles stage—

Can I get an extra point? Should I guard against a tiebreaker? Should I go for a quick win to boost team morale, or stall to conserve my Pokémon's stamina?

Back then, the pressure on her was immense, and she often played too cautiously.

Now, without the burden of being a captain, she had completely let loose. With a three-ace charge, she fought with a wild and unrestrained style, pressing the Blaze Team's Simon for the entire match until he could barely breathe.

Even Shuckle, with its title of "strongest defense," couldn't withstand such an onslaught.

After this match, the halftime break was exceptionally long—

Because the field had been too severely damaged.

All three of Serena's Pokémon were captain-level, and they had all been fighting without holding back. The staff responsible for repairing the field during the break were on the verge of tears…

Then came the third match: the Blaze Team's "traitor" versus her old teammates.

The crowd's enthusiasm for this match was, without a doubt, the highest!

Regardless of the skill level, in terms of sheer hype, this round was a main event!

At least half of the drama on this opening day was concentrated in this one match.

Over two-thirds of the dozen or so cameras on site were focused on capturing the players' expressions. They often ignored the Pokémon battle entirely, just trying to catch every smirk and moment of disappointment.

The images on the big screen were so dramatic that even Arthur couldn't keep a straight face.

This director was a pure troll!

The audience collectively decried the cheap drama!

But then they took another look, and another… and said they wanted more…

In the end, it was the Blaze Team who slayed the traitor, scoring another two points!

Then came the doubles matches. In the first round, the rain-and-thunder combo took the stage and secured a clean win.

"This new weather-setter is very seasoned. Much more reliable than last season's Pelipper," many people commented, including Arthur.

He himself had personally faced the rain-and-thunder combo, so he had every right to comment.

The core problem exposed in last season's rain-and-thunder combo was actually just one thing: a lack of other offensive options during Thunderbolt's cooldown. They had no conventional attacks or finishing moves.

If they had a finisher, back in that match, Raichu could have just followed up its two shocks on Weavile with a couple of quick hits and ended it. They wouldn't have had to drag it out to a third Thunderbolt, which led to a whole cascade of subsequent events.

But you couldn't entirely blame Raichu. It had already done more than enough.

At the end of the day, the partner, Pelipper, had been too limited.

"This Politoed is easily in the mid-to-upper tier of professional-level Pokémon. Next season, it should be able to take a lot of the offensive pressure off Raichu," Arthur's assessment was similar to his teammates'.

He glanced over at Ivy and Bianca.

Now that he was no longer in the doubles scene, he wondered if they could handle this evolved rain-and-thunder 2.0 Plus combo.

In the second doubles match, the couple duo, Harry and Andrew, took the stage, and Andrew's Togekiss once again amazed everyone.

Generally, the Togekiss that appear in the professional circuit are mostly taunters. After all, the move Follow Me is just a bit broken in doubles.

However, Andrew's Togekiss had a completely different style—

Its Air Slash repeatedly triggered the flinch effect.

Its Tri Attack inflicted a status condition every single time.

Its Ancient Power triggered the all-stats-boost effect after just three uses!

By this point, the result of the match no longer mattered. After this round, the two Blaze Team players on the other side had taken a massive amount of psychological damage. They looked completely broken…

Arthur couldn't help but cover his face.

He understood this feeling all too well.

Because he had once been hurt in the same way. Beside him, Justin felt the same.

As the old saying goes: sometimes, you just can't beat a dog…

This one match was likely enough to make every competitive fan watching remember the name Andrew.

As a rookie, in a way, she had succeeded…

Then came the newly added captain's tiebreaker.

Although the Blaze Team won this final match, the final score was 6-5. According to the score-difference system, they only received one point.

The final overall score was 6-5!

It was the Otter Team who took this hard-fought first victory of the Devon Cup!

The Blaze Team, which had been on a dominant streak since the end of last year's Champions Cup, had suddenly suffered an unexpected setback.

This was an outcome that few people could have predicted before the match.

But the audience quickly collected themselves.

Because the schedule was tight, and the next match was about to begin—

Up next was the Sea Carp Team versus the Starlight and Frost Team

♧♧♧

-> 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