NOVEL NEXT Chapter 358: Driving People into Depression
After the match ended, the commentator shouted with excitement, "Another thrilling shutout!!"
Although saying this might offend the home fans, at this moment, the commentator's excitement was simply uncontrollable.
Since the rules had changed in the new season, team captains generally no longer participated in the early 6-on-3 singles matches, preferring to conserve their Pokémon's stamina for the final captain's battle. As a result, there hadn't been many shutouts so far this season.
And among them, Arthur himself had already contributed three. Counting this one, it was his fourth!
A 3-0 every single time!
Brutal and merciless!
It was so dominant that people unfamiliar with Arthur couldn't believe this was a boy who was only in his second year as a pro, his first year as a main singles player, and who had just turned eighteen!
His achievements were too shocking, his aura too brilliant. Even in someone else's home stadium, people couldn't help but focus on him first!
During the halftime break, the two commentators didn't even talk about the match anymore. They both started talking about Arthur.
"It's truly breathtaking. Arthur has secured another shutout. His legend continues!"
"Indeed! And in this match, Arthur also showcased another Pokémon that is ready for professional competition. After this, I'm sure the analysis departments of all the major teams will be working overtime again."
"Absolutely! Since his debut last year, Arthur has been constantly shattering our understanding of what's possible! Last season, I heard someone in the professional circuit gave him the strange nickname 'Intelligence Black Hole.' Since the start of this season, that title will probably have to be upgraded!"
"Can it even be upgraded? What would you call it then? Intelligence Galaxy? Or Intelligence Quit-Trying?"
"You're just trying to be cringey now, aren't you?"
The two commentators went back and forth, practically performing a comedy routine on stage.
Although the jokes were a bit old, what they were saying was true.
The match wasn't even over yet, and the analysis teams from professional clubs all over the country who were watching the live broadcast were already starting to feel a slight depression setting in.
Arthur had, once again, pulled out a new Pokémon and a new strategy!
Can't this guy just be normal for a bit?!
Last season, by the time the regular season was halfway through, Arthur had already been blacklisted by most of the major teams' analysis departments!
There was no other reason than the fact that intelligence on this guy had an extremely short shelf life!
In his first year on the professional stage, he had pulled out three main Pokémon that required close attention. And that wasn't all. The subsequent rate of his Pokémon's improvement was also ridiculously fast!
The intel gathered at the beginning of the season that his Greninja didn't know any Ground-type moves was obsolete by the middle of the season.
The later intel that his Greninja couldn't cure poison was only valid for a short two months, and then this jerk had even used it to bait his opponents. A truly wicked mind!
At the end of the season, just as the analysis teams were preparing to summarize their intel for the year, dreaming that the next year might be a little easier, more bad news arrived—this jerk had gone to play as a main singles player in the preseason! And he had several more Pokémon, all of which were quite strong and couldn't be ignored!
The mood of a group of analysts at that time was as if they had just been screwed over.
And then, with the opening of the new season, Arthur became even more ridiculous, as if he were gleefully tap-dancing on the last shred of their sanity!
In the very first match of the regular season, he had pulled out Mega Evolution, something that hadn't been seen in the Kubfu Alliance for over a decade.
At the same time, he had a Gengar with a completely blank intelligence report, who was suspected to be at least at the peak of the captain level!
At that moment, outsiders could truly not imagine what the group of analysts who were specifically assigned to watch Arthur were feeling.
Are you freaking kidding me?!
Then, as Arthur's winning streak grew, with one shutout after another, the level of attention the various teams paid to this rookie was raised again and again. This was followed by the coaching staff of each team asking their own analysis departments—
"Where's the intel? Where's the intel on this guy? Analyze it!! Do you have any leads on his Pokémon?"
The analysts were at a complete loss, scratching their heads until they were bald.
Intel?
Where were they supposed to get intel?
I could sacrifice my entire head of hair and still not get any intel on this jerk! Not to mention, I'm almost out of hair as it is…
Arthur's two Charizard and his Gengar were like old monsters with no childhood, as if they had suddenly popped out of a crack in history. They had absolutely no leads!
"Can't he just use some normal, traceable Pokémon?!"
Who knows if the complaints of some severely balding analysts were heard. Great. In this match, Arthur decisively pulled out a Pokémon with a clear and verifiable growth trajectory—Little Eevee.
But when the time came, the analysis teams from the major teams still wanted to flip a table.
What the hell is this?!
This is even worse than the Pokémon with no childhood!
Little Eevee's growth trajectory was indeed public and transparent. Its birth record, capture record were all detailed and verifiable. It had even made an appearance before. There was no hidden history.
But—
But isn't it not even two years old? You just used it in a fan tournament last year! At that time, it was clearly only at a fan-tournament level!! How did it suddenly evolve this year?! And how does it know Leech Seed, Work Up, and Baton Pass?
Can a two-year-old Eevee even compete professionally? And in a main-singles-level professional match at that?!
Game designers, are you even watching this?!!
Unfortunately, this sport has no game designers. Even if they called upon Arceus, it would be useless…
What worried them most was: the league had only been going for a month so far. Had Arthur played all his cards?
Did he still have other things hidden?
This Eevee had evolved at just two years old, and its strength was already at least at the professional level. Otherwise, it couldn't have withstood a full combo from a main-singles-level Weezing!
Did it have other moves?
Was it just a Baton Pass tool used to transfer buffs?
Or did it have other, more varied tactical uses?
All of this was unknown!
The analysts watching the live broadcast looked more and more pained.
The only thing that could compare to this pain was probably watching the Blaze Team's rookie, Zhuge Feng, compete.
That guy was also an intelligence shredder, a hair-pulling, liver-aching headache!
Now, the most common lament among the club analysts was—what had they done to deserve seeing both of these legendary rookies on the Kubfu stage at the same time!
Depression!
In short, it was very depressing!
To this, Arthur could only throw up his hands, a little bear shrug, and say that he wouldn't take the blame.
He had actually held back. In this match, he had only let Little Eevee show one of its evolutionary forms.
Before long, when he had the chance to use Little Eevee again, and these analysts saw the Leafeon that had just evolved on the stage revert back to its initial Eevee form, they would probably understand what true depression feels like…
♧♧♧
-> 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