Chapter 401: The Battle for Number One
After winning their battle against the Sea Carp team, the confidence of the entire Starlight and Frost team soared!
Firstly, they had swept away the decline from their preseason performance, avenging their previous crushing defeat to the Sea Carp team in the Devon Cup group stage.
Secondly, every single member of their team had experienced a transformation from this battle!
Aaron had broken through his inner demons, defeating his former teammate who had always kept him on the bench.
Ivy's new Ninetales had proven itself, so Ivy no longer had to worry about a drop-off in strength during the transition between her old and new aces.
Bianca's Pachirisu had become a star in a single battle, proving that with enough training, even a little squirrel can be a powerhouse!
Although this had set a bad precedent in the amateur circuit, leading to countless starry-eyed young people bringing their own cute Pokémon to battles, causing all sorts of chaos and misery in the doubles divisions of local battle clubs!
Many amateur doubles players and even youth camp trainees voiced their condemnation—
Stop bringing Pachirisu to ruin your teammates' games! Pachirisu is tired! Pachirisu just wants to be a quiet, cute Pokémon…
It turns out that not every Pachirisu is a white devil.
This type of Pokémon is normally very difficult to use in high-intensity competitive battles. They often get intimidated by a Scary Face and just hunker down in a defensive posture, their big white tails waving like a white flag of surrender.
Everyone on the Starlight and Frost team had gained confidence from this battle.
Only the world of the Sea Carp team had been successfully hurt…
After that, Starlight and Frost, riding this wave of transformation, continued to soar. They went on to defeat the Ghost Dragon Team and one of the old "big three," the Yankee Team!
Their winning streak continued to grow, now reaching eleven wins!
With this, they had already locked in a playoff spot, ensuring that they would at least match last year's team record.
But after that, the following weekend, the members of the Starlight and Frost team would face a new challenge.
This would likely also be the ultimate challenge they would face this year—
A match against the Blaze Team, who were currently 10-1 and ranked second in the league, just behind them!
The Blaze Team's journey had been completely different from Starlight and Frost's.
Starlight and Frost had staged a powerful comeback from a B+ team to the top of the leaderboard!
And the Blaze Team had been one of the only two S-tier demon kings since the very beginning of the league!
It was just that their own team culture was a bit too free-spirited, and their performance was often either god-like or ghostly.
Online, it was often joked that fans of the Blaze Team needed to keep a ready supply of heart medication.
Currently, besides a match against one of the "big three," the Jinchan Team, where they had been a bit too free-spirited and had dropped a match, they had won all their other games.
It's worth mentioning that the Jinchan Team has been the fastest-declining of the "big three" in the past two years.
Two years ago, they were the only one of the "big three" not to make it to the Champions Cup. Last year, they only made it to the top six in the playoffs. And this year, in the regular season so far, they are once again at the bottom of the "big three," ranked seventh overall…
And yet, the Blaze Team had beaten the number one, the Demon King, and the number two, the Yankee, of the "big three," and had won against the third-ranked Metro team. But they had chosen to give a little warmth to the Jinchan Team.
You could only say, as expected of the free-spirited Blaze Team.
But even so, this didn't stop them from being crowned this year's new league demon king!
At most, a demon king with a slightly goofy look in his eye…
For this match, Arthur and his team were also actively preparing.
The headmistress-like head coach was even brandishing her teaching pointer every day to supervise everyone.
"This is your toughest challenge of the regular season this year! If you can get past this hurdle, the road ahead will be smooth sailing!"
Although saying this was a bit dismissive of the other teams, it was the truth.
The Blaze Team was indeed this year's number one enemy!
On a side note, the voting for the Best Rookie award had also concluded, and the Blaze Team had even put on a show of courteous deference.
Zhuge Feng, who had unusually debuted as a main singles player this year, had successfully won the first place in the vote.
Arthur, mainly because he had already won this honor last year, and the organizers are generally unwilling to give the award to the same person twice.
But who would have thought that Zhuge Feng would voluntarily give it up, citing that he was too old to be considered a rookie, and passed on the award.
But after he had passed on it, excluding Arthur who had won it last year, the second place in the vote was still a member of the Blaze Team.
This was very dramatic!
A large number of very outstanding rookies had emerged in this year's professional league.
One commentator had joked that Arthur's arrival last year had flipped a strange switch in the Kubfu professional league, and the league could never go back.
Although it was a joke, there was some truth to it.
In the past, most rookies in their first year in the league were responsible for warming the bench, and could only occasionally be rotated in.
But last year, Arthur's miracle had made people re-evaluate the creativity of rookies!
And so this year, the opportunities for rookies to play had酌情 increased.
The Blaze Team's Shawn had ridden this new wave. From being a complete unknown at the beginning of the season, he had, step by step, climbed to the second place in the Best Rookie vote!
He had beaten out the "money-power" young lady Flora with her Dragonite, and Justin and Kevin from the Starlight and Frost team!
And so, with the Blaze Team passing the award back and forth, the Best Rookie title was still firmly in their own team's hands, which made everyone else's teeth ache with envy.
On the day the voting ended, Justin looked at the final results and said with regret, "If you don't want it, you can give it to me. I think I could have won it too."
Beside him, Kevin nodded silently.
Then, the headmistress came over and gave each of them a whack with her paper fan.
"Still looking?! Don't you know you should be training?! Look at how self-disciplined Arthur is! All you guys know how to do is be sour! If you're not happy, then go and win it!"
Justin and Kevin clutched their heads, which had just been smacked by the paper fan, and fled for their lives.
"We're going to train now! Stop hitting us, Headmistress!"
The headmistress's eyes were fierce, her gaze murderous as she chased after them.
"What did you just call me?! Don't run! Stand still!!"
Arthur watched from a distance as Justin and the others were once again being chased by the head coach with her paper fan. He smiled faintly and remarked.
"So full of energy."
Beside him, Aaron gave him a silent, sideways glance.
Are you sure that's the main point here?
But the headmistress's encouragement was very reasonable—
If you're not happy, then go and win!
In sports, results speak for themselves!
Even if Shawn had a slight edge over Justin and the others thanks to his team's reputation, the most important outcome would still be decided in the direct confrontation between the two teams!
Another weekend arrived in a flash!
This time, it was at the Starlight and Frost's own home stadium.
With the iconic voice of Sage Hwang.
"Welcome, everyone, to the live broadcast of the Kubfu Professional League!"
Another heavyweight match was about to begin!
The battle for the number one spot in the regular season leaderboard—
Starlight and Frost versus the Blaze Team
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