MTLNOVEL Chapter 192: Chapter 192: An Idea is Born
Chapter 192: An Idea is Born
"Outrage" could be said to be the ultimate move that best suited Dragonite in this match. After using it, its own strength and speed would be greatly enhanced, and every attack during its duration would carry Dragon-type energy, meaning every hit could inflict a super-effective critical hit on Noivern.
However, as an ultimate move, "Outrage" had its side effects. The moment it was cast, it would cause immense pain to the Dragon-type Pokémon, and after the skill ended, it would fall into a state of confusion.
Arthur had initially thought Lucas was worried about the confusion effect after "Outrage" ended. But after listening to Bella's explanation, he realized that the man was actually afraid of the pain inflicted on the Pokémon at the moment the skill was released.
"To release 'Outrage,' a Dragon-type Pokémon needs to pluck its own reverse scale, liberating its power and completing its rampage. Noivern could do this step without hesitation, but Lucas's Dragonite most likely cannot."
This left Arthur feeling completely baffled.
"Isn't he one of the core players on that team? He can't even do something like this?"
Hearing this, Bella sighed with a seemingly nonchalant air, but the unconsciously increasing force in her hands still accidentally hurt the Luxray in her lap.
The Luxray meowed in pain, leaped out of her arms, and scurried over to Luna next to her.
"You'll find out once you enter the professional circle. This kind of thing isn't strange at all. Capital-driven clubs will always pursue the most efficient method of generating returns. They will constantly urge players to buy more Pokémon and learn more skills.
Anyway, with so many supporting professional coaches and nutritionists, even if you buy ten Pokémon at once, they can help you take care of them. Many people, after entering this circle, start to blindly expand their teams and their Pokémon's skill lists, completely forgetting to take the time to properly cultivate a relationship and build a bond with their Pokémon. In the end, the more 'professionalized' they become, the more distant their Pokémon become from them."
Luna then joined the conversation, adding:
"'Professionalization' used to be a good word in the early years, but now it's increasingly becoming a joke.
After many players join a team, they get their heads turned by the feeling of getting strong quickly, becoming famous quickly, and standing in the spotlight as the protagonist overnight. They gradually lose their way, thinking that as long as they hand everything over to the coaches and pay money, they can become strong. Slowly, their focus shifts away from Pokémon cultivation.
In the early years, you would often hear of players personally sparring with their Pokémon to strengthen their communication and bond. But now, some players in this circle might whine for a long time if they get scratched by a Meowth."
Arthur was left speechless by these words.
He thought back to his own generation of trainers, who were all iron-blooded combatants, facing down Legendary Pokémon without fear, vowing to fight for the expansion of the Alliance and the future of humanity, dying without regrets!
But now, two hundred years later, a mere Meowth could apparently make a trainer cry.
"Then don't the clubs do anything about it? A trainer like that would have no competitiveness at all in top-tier confrontations, right?"
Bella was currently reaching out, trying to coax her Luxray back. Unfortunately, this proud cat master was ignoring her completely, lying comfortably on Luna's lap, stretching its body and throwing its poop-scooping-servant a disdainful look.
This made Bella's shoulders slump in disappointment. She leaned back against the sofa dejectedly and turned to answer Arthur.
"In a highly commercialized competitive circle, the first thing a club considers is always the cost-benefit ratio. Using specialized coaches with clear divisions of labor to guide the Pokémon provides a much more stable return than leaving it to players of varying skill levels to mess around blindly. So, it's impossible for the clubs to take a huge risk and abandon the current model. Besides, do you really think clubs like an all-powerful type of player who can do everything themselves?"
Arthur was taken aback by the question.
"What do you mean?"
Bella smiled. "This is why you're still young. Think about it, if a player can do everything themselves—doesn't need coaches, doesn't need instructors, doesn't need nutritionists, doesn't need breeders—then what does this person need the club for?"
"Er... to be able to participate in competitions?" Arthur asked tentatively.
He suddenly realized that this question seemed to be about himself.
Bella smiled again. "Exactly. Merely to be able to participate. Once such a player becomes famous, how much do you think a club would have to spend to keep him from leaving?
If he's a bit savvier and has his own management agency and packaging team, then how much commercial value can the club even extract from him?
Championships are uncertain. For a player, a championship is certainly greater than everything else, but for a highly commercialized club, uncertain returns can never compare to stable returns."
"Er..."
Arthur was profoundly shaken by Bella's explanation.
In the era he had lived in, commercial capital had certainly begun to operate, but it was far from as mature as it was today.
Besides, as a pure combatant, he knew little about such capitalist operational tactics.
His feeling at this moment was exactly like that sticker meme: I don't understand, but I am greatly shaken.
But in any case, he finally knew what was wrong with Kubfu's Pokémon competitions. So he then asked,
"Then is there no solution? Why haven't other Alliances experienced this phenomenon?"
This time, it was Luna, who was stroking Bella's Luxray—the one who had cuckolded her pet-owning roommate—who answered him.
"Sinnoh and White Eagle actually have this problem too. The more commercialized an Alliance is, the stronger the club's desire to control the players becomes. This is a common characteristic.
Don't just look at Kubfu's poor international results; White Eagle and Sinnoh haven't been doing much better in recent years either. Sinnoh has only won one Champions Cup in the last thirty years. White Eagle has two championships, but the core of their two winning teams were players poached from other Alliances. When it comes to the World Cup, their results are even worse than ours.
The ones who have been charging hard in the Champions Cup these past few years are mostly the smaller, less commercialized Alliances. Their players are wilder, they dare to fight, and they dare to risk it. The Grand Master Team that won last year, they dared to have their Pokémon use 'Destiny Bond' and 'Self-Destruct' in the finals. The players here would never do that anymore."
The effect of the skill Destiny Bond was to transfer the damage one received to the opponent in equal measure.
And the skill Self-Destruct, as the name implied, was to turn oneself into a momentary firework.
This combination of skills was a battlefield kamikaze tactic. Arthur had only seen it in the military back then. To dare to bring this combo onto the arena stage—he had to admit—that was a truly ruthless person.
Arthur knew he couldn't bring himself to use such an extreme sacrificial style, but beyond that, establishing a fundamental bond with his Pokémon, making them obey his commands absolutely, and not hesitating when it was time to pluck the reverse scale—that, Arthur knew he could do!
At this moment, for probably the first time since he heard about Kubfu's poor performance at the Everhart family's birthday banquet, an idea began to sprout in his mind:
Perhaps I can change this situation.
"When it comes to daring to fight and daring to risk it, I don't think our Alliance should be any worse than others."
This was his truest inner voice.
And it was also the honor he had sworn to protect as a "trainer," in a different sense, in his past life!
(End of Chapter)
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