Chapter 588: Flying to Regal
However, no matter what everyone thought of Leo's decision to make one last stand, it was already in the past.
Arthur had spent over two months in the desert, and by the time he returned, the ship had already sailed.
The preliminary rounds for the wild card team Leo had joined were already over, and the outcome was set.
Here, it's necessary to mention the wild card system of the Champions Cup.
The so-called wild card regions are regions outside the scope of the seven major leagues.
In this world, there are seven alliances with relatively top-tier competitive levels, each with its own professional league, mature development, and a wide audience.
These leagues have fixed quotas for the Champions Cup every year. Among them, the Kubfu, White Eagle, Sinnoh, and Hoenn alliances each have four spots; the Sakura and Regal alliances each have three spots; and the Siren Alliance has fared the worst, having been reduced to only two spots in recent years.
The seven major leagues account for a total of 24 teams, making up three-quarters of the total participating teams in the Champions Cup!
This shows the transcendental status of the seven major leagues worldwide!
In addition to the seven major leagues, other regions will produce 8 more teams. These 8 teams are the so-called wild card teams.
Some of these regions merge several small alliances to hold a league, while others simply don't have a professional league at all. Often, an investor will temporarily fund a team just before the Champions Cup starts, and they fight their way up from the preliminaries.
So the teams in the wild card regions are different every year. Many teams disband as soon as they finish the preliminaries or the Champions Cup, waiting to be re-formed two years later.
Many consortiums and individuals are happy to make this kind of investment.
Without a secondary professional league, it means there's no need to bear the costs of daily team training, maintenance, and club operations. Throwing money to build a team before the competition is a gamble. If they make it to the Champions Cup, they profit big; if not, they disband on the spot. Results come in as fast as a month. High risk, high reward—it's all about the thrill.
For investors in the wild card regions, this is like a high-stakes gamble played once every two years, tense and exciting!
Occasionally, a dark horse that stuns the world really does emerge from the wild card regions, because you never know from which corner of the world these investors have dug up their players.
Of course, no wild card team has won the championship in the nine Champions Cups over the past eighteen years.
Currently, the universally recognized number one region is still the Hoenn League, home to the Grand Master Team.
However, this year, the Nine-Tailed Fox Team from Sakura, Starlight and Frost from Kubfu, the Royal Rapidash Team from Sinnoh, and the Red Moon Team from Regal all have high hopes of winning.
At least before the competition, the alliances everywhere are full of confidence in their own participating teams.
But this is an old tradition.
Remembering two years ago when Arthur first entered the professional circle, he heard the domestic slogan of four teams meeting in the semi-finals.
After all, boasting isn't illegal before the fight starts...
At this time, the head coach walked in and announced, "The last team to emerge from the wild card region was also determined this morning. Everyone get ready. We should set off for Regal in two days. Remember not to train too hard these next two days."
The end of the wild card preliminaries meant the Champions Cup was really about to begin!
This year's Champions Cup location was in the Regal League.
That was also one of the seven major leagues, and the champion team of their league this year, the Red Moon Team, also had a highly topical genius rookie!
This world never only had stories about teams from Kubfu; the champions of every league were not simple.
"The Regal League... I remember it's on the West Continent?" Arthur asked.
Bella glanced at him helplessly. "Congratulations, you passed middle school geography~"
"..."
There was no helping it. Arthur generally had no impression of alliances not on the East Continent and with little presence during the war era back then.
Now, probably only he would ask where the Regal League was.
The departure date was set for two days later.
After arriving at the destination, they would first participate in the draw ceremony.
And this time was different from the past. Even before the competition started, just the upcoming draw ceremony was enough to make many players nervous and restless on the plane.
This was the Champions Cup, after all!
A T1-level international event!
A few days later, Arthur and his group arrived in Regal and met the Otter Team group, who had arrived earlier than them, at the player hotel.
As soon as they met, Bella hugged her good sister Luna tightly.
"Sister Luna, boohoo, I'm so nervous, what should I do?"
Luna flicked her forehead exasperatedly.
"How old are you? Look at Arthur from your team. He's so calm, and he's several years younger than you."
"Boohoo, Sister Luna, you've changed! Now even you despise me!"
"..."
Luna looked helplessly at Arthur, her eyes saying: Quick, drag your player away.
Arthur also looked helpless.
Two days ago, Bella was teasing him about passing geography, and unexpectedly, just two days later, the tables turned, and it was his turn to drag away this unreliable teammate.
Participating in the Champions Cup for the first time, it was actually normal for Bella to be nervous.
To be precise, it was abnormal for Arthur to be so calm!
But everyone around him was used to it.
After all, he was Arthur!
This was very reasonable...
"There's a large open-air Pokémon training ground behind the hotel. Arthur, want to go train with me? It's been a long time since I asked for your advice."
Having finally broken free from her best friend Bella's entanglement, Luna immediately issued a training invitation to Arthur.
This immediately made the rest of the Otter and Starlight and Frost teams look at the two in unison, their eyes full of suspicion.
Just got off the plane and arrived at the hotel, and you want to start training?
Are your brains wired wrong?
And Arthur accepted readily. "Sure."
Everyone's chin lifted in unison, necks leaning back involuntarily.
Hiss!
You guys really aren't normal!
Serena from the Otter Team muttered, "These two look more like colleagues from the same team, don't they?"
This immediately received unanimous nods from everyone in both teams.
Having been guided by Arthur for half a year back in the Sea Carp Team, Luna had completely gone past the point of no return—referring to her Pokémon training style.
Even within the Otter Team, which had transformed somewhat this year, Luna's diligence often made her teammates feel immense pressure.
And Arthur needed no mention. Starlight and Frost had been almost single-handedly led astray by him this year.
Now that the two had met again after a long time, not as opponents but as comrades representing the same alliance, Arthur and Luna's passion for training collided again, burning like a raging fire!
Soon after, participating teams from various alliances around the world arrived at this hotel one after another.
And soon, in less than a day, a legend began to circulate here—
There is a pair of men and women from Kubfu whose training intensity is heinous!
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