"Arthur, your next opponent's been announced."
In the waiting area, a woman in a black suit and thick-rimmed glasses hurried over to the teenager and handed him her phone.
This was Lisa, Arthur's agent and manager—he also happened to be one of the hottest rising stars at the moment.
But Arthur himself seemed totally uninterested, idly toying with the Poké Ball in his hand.
Lisa's expression turned stern. She snapped, "Are you even listening to me?!"
Arthur merely lifted his head slightly and responded lazily, "Yeah, yeah, I got it. You nag too much…"
Then he went right back to fiddling with the Poké Ball.
Lisa let out a helpless sigh. After composing herself a bit, she continued, "I've seen a few of his matches from the last few days. His tactics are… unexpected, to say the least. But it's also clear he's not just some ordinary newbie. You can't underestimate him—"
Before she could finish, Arthur waved his hand dismissively. "Alright, alright."
Despite his arrogant demeanor, Arthur had already done his homework behind the scenes. Any potential threats, he'd thoroughly researched—including his upcoming opponent, Caleb.
He'd watched Caleb's battles. Toxic stalling, Substitute, Protect—just a slow, suffocating strategy that chipped away at the enemy.
Hah. Cheap tricks.
Arthur smirked.
Then he chuckled. "Don't forget—my Scizor isn't affected by Poison-type moves."
With that reminder, Lisa quickly recalled: Arthur's starter, Scyther, had recently evolved into a Bug/Steel-type Scizor thanks to a Metal Coat.
And as everyone knew, Steel-types were completely immune to Poison.
Which meant Chansey's Toxic stall strategy was useless against Scizor.
What could a Chansey do without Toxic? Heal Scizor?
Lisa looked at Arthur's confident face and decided not to press the issue. Technically, he wasn't wrong. But she still had a sinking feeling in her gut.
She hoped it was just nerves.
...
Main event of the Little Ho-Oh Cup. After three straight days of preliminaries, most contestants had already been eliminated. The rest of the tournament could probably finish in two more days.
Caleb had just stepped out from the waiting area when he noticed the audience was way bigger than usual today.
Wait a minute—was he already that famous?
There were even TV stations here!
Not even the finals had crowds like this, right?
Caleb muttered under his breath.
Just then, from the stands came a loud cheer—rows of cheerleaders in skimpy outfits raised banners and shouted in unison.
"Go Arthur! Arthur for the win!"
Mixed among them were some personal voices:
"Arthyyyy~ daisuki~"
...Never mind. Not for me.
While Caleb grumbled to himself, his opponent Arthur also stepped onto the battlefield. The two locked eyes as TV cameras zoomed in.
In the stands, Lisa was visibly on edge. She had told the production team not to bring in the TV crew, but clearly they didn't listen.
And now, the closer the match got, the stronger her bad feeling grew.
If Arthur lost, it would completely shatter the image they'd been building for him!
Sure, the company hadn't insisted on a perfect undefeated streak like Champion Leon's, but losing in the first round of the main tournament? That would be humiliating.
The more she thought about it, the more anxious she became.
"Scizor, go!"
"Go, Chansey."
Both trainers sent out their Pokémon at the same time. Scizor appeared—broad-shouldered, segmented limbs, and crimson armor gleaming.
An impressive presence—but its level was clearly a bit low.
After several days of battles, Caleb had racked up a ton of emotional energy and used it for a ten-pull.
This time his luck wasn't as great—only pulled one purple-grade talent.
Breeding Technique LV3: Mastery of advanced Pokémon breeding knowledge—able to assess a Pokémon's condition and level just by appearance.
Using that, Caleb saw Scizor had only just evolved recently.
It had been polished with rare metals—expensive ones at that. Without expert-level breeding knowledge, it'd be hard to notice.
Man, celebs really are loaded. One of those rare metal blocks costs more than a day's worth of Pachirisu's food.
"Scizor, Fury Cutter!"
Arthur made the first move.
While Scizor lost speed after evolving from Scyther, its explosive power was nothing to scoff at. In a flash, it was right in front of Chansey.
Its metallic pincers, glowing with a green Bug-type energy, slammed downward.
"Lucky~ (￣▽￣～)~"
Damn, that thing's tanky.
Seeing that Fury Cutter barely made a dent, Arthur didn't back down.
"Again—Fury Cutter!"
If Fury Cutter hit multiple times in a row, the damage would double each time, up to a max power of 160.
"You really think we're just a sitting target? Chansey, Minimize," Caleb commanded.
"Lucky~ (?＞?＜)☆"
Chansey's body shimmered white as it shrank—smaller and smaller by the second.
Scizor's Fury Cutter missed completely.
Arthur: "?!"
Minimize?! Chansey can use that dirty move too?!
He already thought Toxic was annoying, but this? This was next level.
Still, no big deal. It's just evasion.
"Scizor, keep using Fury Cutter!"
If I attack enough times, I'm bound to land a hit!
"Chansey, keep using Minimize."
If I Minimize enough, you'll never hit me.
Both trainers had the exact same idea.
After three uses, Chansey had practically vanished from Scizor's line of sight.
With every miss, Arthur's face grew more and more twisted—completely different from the confident idol who had walked onto the field moments ago.
"Fix your face, fix your face!"
From the stands, Lisa noticed Arthur's expression changing and shot to her feet in a panic.
She barely stopped herself from rushing down to the field to remind him. All she could do was whisper frantically under her breath.
Even if Arthur couldn't hear her, she had to try. As a proper manager, protecting his public image was her job.
But the camera definitely caught that.
Her heart sank. Terrifying scenarios started playing out in her mind.
"It's over, it's over! Tomorrow's headline is definitely gonna be something like: 'Shocking! Popular Star Arthur Loses Control of His Facial Expressions During Battle!'"
If that really happened, Arthur's popularity would nosedive. The company would be furious—maybe even freeze all his projects and pull his resources completely...
Lisa muttered nervously to herself, her imagination spiraling further and further out of control.
She could already picture Arthur's carefully built fanbase vanishing overnight, crazed supporters turning their backs, and Arthur slowly fading from the spotlight… until he was just another forgotten nobody…
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