The Path of a Genius to Becoming a Pokémon Champion

Chapter 195: A Journey, A Trust

Seeing Arthur being so stubborn, Luna even let out a sigh.

"You shouldn't have openly sung a contrary tune with the club so early. You should at least secure your starting position first.

It's our fault, too. We shouldn't have complained about these things in front of you so early."

Luna mistakenly thought that her and Bella's conversations these past few days had influenced Arthur, awakening his rebellious spirit and making him act so willfully.

However, Arthur, in turn, comforted her.

"This has nothing to do with you guys. It's always been my own way of thinking. I was like this in the youth training camp too. Of course, I should be the one to make decisions for my own Pokémon."

This was not an excuse to comfort her, but the truth.

Ever since Arthur had returned and started to show his talent, instructors in the youth training camp had been constantly giving him suggestions.

For example, advising him to give up on Little Lapras first because its type was redundant;

Or advising him to artificially ripen Little Eevee, to evolve it with an evolution stone as soon as possible to quickly fill the attribute gaps in his lineup.

Arthur ignored all of it!

He had his own principle: no one could make decisions for his Pokémon for him!

It wasn't that Arthur had never given up on a Pokémon before.

He wasn't the son of destiny; it was impossible for every Pokémon he met to be strong-willed. In the past, he would occasionally catch some Pokémon with weak wills that couldn't handle the pressure of his high-intensity training.

But only when the Pokémon itself clearly expressed its refusal, willing to become a slacker and give up on getting stronger, would Arthur stop the training or transfer the Pokémon to other logistical staff.

Other than that, as long as the Pokémon itself still had the spirit, Arthur would never give up on a partner in his team, regardless of their aptitude or potential!

Little Lapras and Little Eevee both clearly still retained the will to become stronger—

Little Lapras was still dreaming of inheriting its grandmother's will and dominating the five seas, and Little Eevee had always aspired to be the top dog of its generation of Everhart family Eevees!

To ask Arthur to give up on them or force their development at this time was something Arthur couldn't do!

This was his attitude towards the youth training camp, and it remained his attitude towards the professional teams' coaches!

This was not a creed that could be casually discarded just to get a starting position on a good team; this was a principle!

After hearing his confession, both Bella and Luna had strange expressions.

Luna said frankly, "If you're serious, I quite admire you. But if you can't consistently stay ahead of your peers like this, you'll easily be at a disadvantage."

Bella, at the side, showed her true colors as a fan, throwing her arms around him. "Emm~ My little brother is the handsomest after all! It's okay, if Otter Team doesn't want you, come to Sea Carp. Big sister will team up with you then, help you act cool and fly you to victory~"

As she spoke, she even rubbed her cheek vigorously against Arthur's, making him roll his lifeless, dead-fish eyes again.

Luna, next to them, rapped Bella on the back of the head irritably.

"I'm your current 2v2 partner! Are you saying you're tired of me?"

Bella hurriedly begged for mercy, "I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare. Great immortal, quell your anger. It was this little woman who got carried away."

This goofball's performance made Arthur chuckle.

This Best Rookie who had amazed everyone in last year's professional league was truly a goofball in daily life…

However, Arthur was still very touched by their support.

Their clowning around also helped to dispel much of his disappointment.

To be honest, giving up on Otter Team was indeed a small regret.

Ever since he had sent that reply, the team coach on the other end of WeChill had not replied for a long time.

Unexpectedly, Andrew's joke at the graduation tournament had become a self-fulfilling prophecy—

The clubs really didn't like rebellious trainees like Arthur.

Afterward, as time went on, the invitation from Otter Team gradually faded into nothing, fizzling out.

By the time the Champions Cup was over and the transfer window was approaching, this matter had somehow leaked and quickly spread within the circle.

Later, it was even posted online, the title once again in the familiar clickbait style of the "UC Copywriting Department"—

It was truly a case of "withered vines, old trees, evening crows; a huge scoop appears online." It gave Arthur a headache. It was nothing but a bunch of weirdos…

The fans of both sides even had a flame war online for quite a while over this.

Arthur already had a considerable number of fans: getting lost in Star Brilliance and appearing in the news had given him a lot of exposure. Especially later, when Suicune appeared at the Pokémon Center in her stunningly beautiful human form, it had inexplicably earned him a bunch of "godfather fans" online…

Whenever these people opened their mouths, it was always, "Son, when is your mom coming again?"

However, compared to the famous and popular Otter Team, his number of fans was still far from enough.

The direction of this flame war quickly shifted from "Arthur rejected Otter" to "Arthur disrespected Otter," and then to "What right does a rookie like Arthur have to disrespect Otter?"

It truly left Arthur baffled.

But it was Luna who pointed things out to him.

"This is normal. Otter Team, along with Mowang Team, got knocked out in the first round of the Champions Cup this year. Meanwhile, the Blaze Team, which was the least favored before the tournament, has now rushed into the top four. They're just using you as a scapegoat to divert attention."

Only then did Arthur realize.

He could only say that while these commercial clubs might be inferior on the battlefield, they were all masters when it came to playing the marketing game.

Arthur could only take it as a lesson learned.

Subsequently, as October approached and no other teams came looking for him, Arthur first signed a letter of intent with his home club, Sea Carp.

Then, while countless online onlookers were still waiting for him to stir up a storm, Arthur silently updated his status on Starbo—

"Going out to train. Will be back in two months. Don't miss me."

The moment this status was posted, others didn't know what was going on, but his agent, Eleanor Vance, was the first to slap her palm heavily against her face.

Great, no need to think about it anymore. For the next two months, she'll have to help manage his account all by herself again.

This little bunny bastard, this time he didn't even say goodbye before... oh, wait, this time he did sort of say goodbye, but the result was still that he slipped away without a word.

It made Eleanor Vance's liver ache with anger.

Afterward, Arthur packed his bags, took all his Pokémon, and this time even brought Justin along, preparing to set out to sea to train again.

And this time, his objective was very clear: to help Frogadier evolve!

Arthur truly had no plans to expand his team for the time being. In his view, once you catch a Pokémon, you should be responsible for it. Blindly expanding one's team was scummy behavior.

If he wasn't going to expand his team, Little Eevee was still too young, Specter hadn't recovered from his injuries, and Little Lapras's strength was still a notch below the professional level. Right now, the most feasible way to increase his strength was to have Frogadier evolve!

Arthur didn't want to follow the club's arrangements and hastily "ripen" Frogadier.

That's why he had rejected the Otter Team's demand that he evolve Frogadier before the October transfer window.

But this didn't mean he wasn't preparing to evolve Frogadier.

Signing the letter of intent meant he had already prepared a fallback for himself.

So, the period from now until the league started in January of next year was the training and accumulation period he had prepared for Frogadier!

If the accumulation was insufficient, he would still let Frogadier maintain its current state and go to play in next year's professional league.

Anyway, with the letter of intent, Sea Carp couldn't refuse him on this point.

For this, he had even prepared himself for the possibility of not getting a starting position when he first joined the league.

In his view, his Pokémon's future growth was far more important than a starting position in the first few months of his professional career.

But similarly, he also hoped that Frogadier could break through its limits and complete its transformation in these few months.

This was a journey,

and also, a trust!

(End of Chapter)

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