You can read ahead up to 30 chapters on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darkshadow6395
After the match ended, Luther didn’t leave the venue. Instead, the two of them stayed in the lounge and chatted for nearly an hour about everything from their personal experiences to their views on training Pokémon.
Misaki had just sent her Metagross away by teleportation.
She was due to leave Lily of the Valley Island that very night.
“So soon? Are you leaving already? Aren’t you going to talk to Cynthia?” Luther asked curiously.
“No time. Metagross’s trainer has just been admitted to the hospital. His family said the situation was serious. After I’ve finished checking Metagross’s condition, I need to head over there immediately.”
Luther froze for a moment before finally understanding what she meant by ‘Metagross’s trainer.’
“That Metagross… isn’t yours?”
Misaki pulled a pair of earphones out of her bag and hung them around her neck as she explained, “Not exactly. It belongs to a wealthy family and has served their household for three generations.”
“Metagross wanted to participate in the League Conference a long time ago… well, it wasn’t called that back then. The League Conference was formalized later. Anyway, the original trainer’s dream was to become an excellent Pokémon trainer and bring Metagross onto the tournament stage.”
“Unfortunately, none of his descendants had the ability to achieve that.”
Misaki smiled helplessly; regret filled her tone.
“The promise that man made to Metagross kept getting delayed. Then, about six months ago, I happened to pass through their town while traveling, and for various reasons, they chose me.”
“Take Metagross into the Main Tournament and fulfill the ancestor’s wish… It sounds clichéd, and I’m not interested in taking over someone else’s Pokémon. But they offered me some help, so in the end, I agreed.”
From the sound of it, the person who entrusted Misaki with this task had kept their word.
The bond between Pokémon and trainer was remembered all along. Yet the descendants either lacked the passion or talent required for battling.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have made that decision.
Luther thought for a moment. “So you got a decent amount of money out of it?”
“More or less. But not that much. I don’t like overly comfortable conditions; it kills my drive to work hard. Most of the time, I support my team through part-time jobs.”
Misaki showed the Poké Balls in her bag and said with a smile, “Just like you, I’m basically a kindergarten principal.”
Luther glanced at the Poké Balls; the stickers on them were indeed all cute little Pokémon that hadn’t evolved yet.
“They’ve helped me quite a bit, so I have to go and visit the old man,” Misaki said, looking at Luther. “The loser steps off the stage for now. How far you go from here is up to you.”
It was only when Misaki said that Luther truly felt that she had lost the match that her calm and composed demeanor had been too misleading. As she reached the door, Luther was about to say something, but Misaki suddenly turned around.
“I can tell; the reason you fought so hard is because you haven’t had enough time to grow. You want to fight freely and forget all those complicated strategies, but at your current level, you can’t quite manage it.”
Luther fell silent for a moment, then nodded.
“If you had the ability to overwhelm your opponent head-on, why make things so complicated?”
“In two years, your team should be fully formed, right?” Misaki tossed a hairpin to Luther. “You won’t be seeing a ponytail anytime soon. But in two years, you might see a different hairstyle.”
“By the way, I’d like to ask, don’t you have any higher ambitions?” Misaki seemed eager for a different answer this time. “You’re not actually planning to just live a lazy life after the tournament, are you?”
Luther chuckled, playing with the hairpin in his hand. “That’s exactly what I plan to do. Sitting around and waiting to die, that’s my ultimate dream.”
He had expected such a disappointing answer to anger Misaki.
Instead, she simply said, “Oh,” added, “Let’s hope you’re still worth fighting for in two years,” and pushed the door open to leave.
Luther was still sitting alone in the lounge when Darkrai emerged from the shadows. It looked as though it wanted to say something but hesitated.
“It’s fine. You fought well and adapted nicely.”
Darkrai didn’t believe a word of it. When it had been forced into close combat, it could only engage in a melee brawl against a Tyranitar that had used Dragon Dance, which had shaken it deeply.
Many of its moves were suppressed in that situation and couldn’t be executed smoothly, which made Darkrai begin to doubt itself.
“Didn’t you join the team to become stronger?” Luther could read Darkrai’s thoughts. “It hasn’t been that long… Forget it, I’m just too weak. The training I tailored for you hasn’t been very useful. It’s not your fault.”
Although Mismagius had defeated Darkrai by trickery, this had enabled Luther to identify Darkrai’s current limitations. Most of Darkrai’s battles had been one-sided slaughters, which made it difficult for Luther to identify areas for improvement.
But this battle with Mismagius had given him some direction.
After calming Darkrai down, several people in formal suits with work badges suddenly barged into the lounge. This left Luther, who had been planning to go to the center to check on Marill after its evolution, completely dumbfounded.
The expressions on these people’s faces were difficult to read. Rather than the usual perfunctory attitude, there was an awkward mix of helplessness and enthusiasm.
The Pokémon League organizers were indeed in a difficult position. Although Chairman Charles Goodshow and Cynthia had both voiced their opinions, there was still debate over whether to implement them.
Some believed that the unrestricted six-on-six battle had been decided upon by Luther and Misaki themselves. They should have been mentally prepared for ending up in a mutually damaging situation, and it had nothing to do with the Pokémon League.
A League official tentatively posted this viewpoint on the forums using an alternate account, hoping to gauge public opinion.
The result? They were immediately swarmed and heavily criticized by hundreds of users.
“So the Pokémon League pairing these two together wasn’t a problem? But two evenly matched competitors who respect each other are somehow wrong?”
“Across all regions, this is the first time that the Lily of the Valley Conference preliminary round has used a ranking tournament after the reform. It’s understandable that there were some oversights, but trying to spin it like this is just ridiculous.”
“Even ignoring the six-on-six, wouldn’t both trainers still have to use their main line-up in a three-on-three? Wouldn’t that affect their later matches?”
“Pokémon League organizers, use your main account!”
Fans of Misaki and Luther piled on, and even bystanders joined in after understanding the situation. There were even officials from other regions who had come to observe the reformed Lily of the Valley Conference, watching the drama unfold.
The event organizers for the Lily of the Valley Conference were under immense pressure.
If things continued to escalate like this, who knew what narrative might emerge by the next day?
So, the Pokémon League finally stepped in and put pressure on the event management department.
Summarize experience. Learn from mistakes. Calm public opinion. Provide an explanation to the two trainers involved.
With these four directives issued, there was no room left for discussion.
When Luther heard that several high-ranking officials from the event management department had come specifically to hear his opinion, and to apologize, he became even more confused.
He scratched his head awkwardly and exchanged a bewildered glance with Darkrai.
He had absolutely no idea what was going on.
For this chapter number, I chose to avoid the taboo.
(End of Chapter)
You can read ahead up to 30 chapters on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darkshadow6395