Chapter 266: The Master of Humble-Bragging
Seeing Little Eevee's sudden flash of movement, all three of them froze.
While it's true that Substitute is a relatively common move that, like Rest, almost any Pokémon can learn, it's still an advanced skill. To learn it at such a young age was a sign of truly astonishing talent!
Bianca stared blankly at Little Eevee, who had teleported over and was now diligently trying to cheer up Vulpix, finding it hard to accept.
"I remember you said before the match that this little guy only knew basic moves. You're not calling this a basic move, are you?"
She now had reason to suspect that Arthur had been humble-bragging earlier.
No matter how common Substitute was, it could never be classified as a basic skill.
It was, at the very least, an advanced extension of Double Team and Teleport.
At this moment, their gazes towards Arthur turned a bit hostile—
For an Eevee of this age, learning Substitute was indeed something worth boasting about.
Even the normally cunning Ivy momentarily shared this thought.
However, the reality was far more outrageous than they could have imagined!
Because Arthur was certain: he had never taught Little Eevee the move Substitute before.
His personally developed training method for that move was too direct and brutal. Luna's backup Pokémon had all gone through it, and at the time, it had nearly driven one of the Sea Carp Team's Pokémon medics to quit in a rage.
Little Eevee was still too young, so Arthur hadn't had the heart to put it through that kind of training.
But who would have thought that Little Eevee would just learn it on its own?
If the two sisters knew this, their minds would probably explode.
"Uh… haha, that was just a slip of the tongue. A misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding."
Arthur first went along with Bianca's words while quickly using his telepathic link to confirm with Little Eevee.
"When did you learn Substitute?"
Little Eevee lifted its head.
Arthur quickly added, "Just reply with your thoughts!"
So, Little Eevee obediently held back its cry and replied telepathically.
"It was… just now, while I was watching the match. I saw Ninetales use it. Vulpix was really unhappy because you were fighting her great-aunt, Master, so she was ignoring me. I had nothing else to do, so I practiced it myself with Copycat, and… it turned out it wasn't that hard."
It wasn't that hard…
Thank goodness Arthur had stopped Little Eevee from replying out loud. If Vulpix had relayed those words to Ivy, Arthur's status as a master of humble-bragging would be cemented forever.
To be honest, even he found it ridiculous.
Even counting his previous life and all the years it took him to become a Champion, he had never seen a Pokémon with such monstrous talent!
His old Leafeon's talent had been astonishing, but Arthur was certain that before it was a year old, it was nowhere near as outrageous as this Little Eevee!
Just because its crush was ignoring it, it got depressed, watched a match for a bit, and learned an advanced skill—if this were two hundred years ago, Arthur might have suspected he had adopted the illegitimate child of a Legendary Pokémon!
Should I ask Celebi when I get back if any of the Legendary Beasts from that era were particularly close with an Eevee?
Or maybe I should find time to go back to the Everhart estate and ask if they've ever had such a freakishly talented Eevee in their lineage?
But Arthur guessed that was unlikely. Otherwise, the Everhart Eevee line would have been famous throughout the Kubfu Alliance, and people would be fighting over them.
At this moment, both Ivy and Bianca were staring at him with suspicious eyes.
Although the direction of their suspicion was wrong, their sharp intuition was spot on.
"I feel like you reek of lies," Bianca said.
"Ahem, not at all."
Then, Arthur awkwardly changed the subject. "By the way… don't you guys need to send your Pokémon for treatment?"
Bianca shot him a look, seeing right through his attempt to deflect.
"We already handed them over to our private physician."
"..."
We're both professional players, so why have I never heard of something like a private physician?
Arthur suddenly felt that this change of topic had backfired and hit him where it hurt.
Is the life of the rich really this simple, unadorned, and tedious?
"Oh, right, I was just about to ask you," the gently smiling Ivy spoke up. "When did your Little Lapras learn Smart Strike? Don't tell me it was specifically to counter us?"
"Haha, not really."
Arthur laughed it off.
The truth was, when he was teaching Little Lapras close-combat moves, it just so happened to learn that one the fastest.
Arthur's original intention was to teach it Headbutt first, then advance to Zen Headbutt. But perhaps because Little Lapras was just that stubborn, it seemed to have a better affinity for Steel-type moves.
Thinking about its obsession with conquering the five seas, being a "steel-headed kid" seemed to fit perfectly…
Ivy stared at him for a long time.
"Really? I feel like your Lapras's move pool is very problematic. You didn't teach it Rain Dance, did you? And it probably doesn't know Confuse Ray either, right?"
Ivy's intention was just to poke at Arthur a bit to regain some psychological balance.
She never expected Arthur to admit it so readily.
"Yeah, it doesn't know any of those yet."
Beside them, Bianca was stunned.
"Are you an idiot? Is it really okay to just tell me that kind of information?"
Arthur just shrugged nonchalantly.
"I trust you guys not to spread it around. Besides, I'll fill in those gaps in the future."
Ivy said, "I really envy your confidence. But I am curious, why didn't your previous instructor teach it these basic moves before letting you use it in the pro league? Although your Lapras's fundamentals and move proficiency are solid, this teaching method seems way too specialized. What was your old instructor thinking?"
Bianca nodded in agreement. "Yeah, yeah, shouldn't all these common moves be prepared before entering the professional circuit?"
"Emm…"
Arthur paused in thought.
You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you, but my Lapras has barely ever seen an instructor. It's mostly self-taught…
"Actually, I've been the main one training her. I might have overlooked this aspect, focusing too much on improving her basic combat strength and forgetting to supplement her with some common arena skills."
Now, both Ivy and Bianca were completely dumbfounded.
They asked in unison, "You're saying… you taught her yourself?"
Startled by their sudden approach, Arthur took a step back and held up his hands innocently.
"Yeah. If an instructor can teach, then naturally I can too. It's not that big of a deal, is it?"
The two sisters looked at each other, and in each other's eyes, they saw the exact same thought—
This damn master of humble-bragging! He's insufferable!
Of course, ordinary people could also train Pokémon. In the amateur circle, self-reliant trainers were the vast majority.
But that was the amateur circle!
In the professional world, how many people would dare say their own methods were better than a club's professional instructor?
Many pro players didn't care about this.
After all, a Pokémon trained by an instructor was still their own.
But Ivy and Bianca were different!
They weren't in the professional scene for fame or money.
When their first year in the league didn't go well and they had some disagreements with the team's management, their family immediately stepped in and bought the entire club outright!
With that kind of family background, why would the sisters need the income from being professional players?
They were in the professional circuit because they genuinely loved Pokémon and Pokémon battles.
They had always only raised the Pokémon they loved, even if it meant having multiple repeats in species and types. They were players driven by pure passion.
And because of that, they especially hoped for, and were especially envious of, the ability to personally train a powerful Pokémon.
At this moment, Ivy even shed her gentle facade, her eyes locking onto Arthur with a sharp intensity.
"When does your contract expire? How about you come to our team next season?"
Her fiery gaze was filled with one clear message—
I want to learn. Come and teach me!
♧♧♧
-> 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