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Before going to bed, Luther sent out all of the New Year's greetings that he had carefully written.
Cynthia's message said that she was having a late-night snack with the four Elite Four members. She complained that, after the New Year's Eve event each year, the Pokémon League never provides food.
Lance had just gotten home. The Indigo Pokémon League's New Year's party ended quickly and wasn't elaborate. Once it was over, he took his Pokémon back to rest. For him, the new year simply meant a rare chance to relax for a while.
Diantha's message was automated, which was understandable. Someone like her would definitely spend this time networking, and being busy was inevitable.
Still, Luther was happy that Diantha had taken the initiative to send a recent photo of Mismagius.
The latest health checks showed that Mismagius's data was normal. The breeder and the doctor responsible for her care both agreed that the enhancement device hadn't significantly affected her body.
That was probably Luther's first true New Year's gift. Diantha was planning to schedule another examination after the holidays. If everything checked out, Mismagius would finally be allowed to return to the team.
Professor Rowan's message was a mass email, no surprise there. His workload didn't decrease, even during the New Year, and his daily research continued as usual.
Gardenia shared some of her recent news as well and mentioned that Basil had run away from home.
Despite her guardian's objections, Basil insisted on setting out on a journey. After being grounded, she snuck out in the middle of the night with her luggage and some cash.
Luther rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on.
"Did she say anything before she left?"
There was no reply to his message. It was close to 1 a.m., and Gardenia was probably asleep. Luther could only wait until tomorrow for an answer.
After washing up and lying down on his hotel bed, ready to sleep, Luther suddenly felt like he had forgotten something.
He picked up his phone and checked; it turned out that he hadn't sent Oleander a New Year's message. Her chat window was flashing.
A flood of unread messages had pushed her simple "Happy New Year!" to the bottom of the list, so Luther hadn't seen it right away.
He quickly typed a reply, sent it, and then, feeling exhausted, sank into the soft bed. Just as he was drifting off, his phone buzzed.
Was Oleander still awake?
"Read."
What was that? It sounded like a teacher marking papers.
Luther didn't feel like replying, but before he could put the phone down, another message came through.
"What do you usually do when you can't sleep?"
Luther scratched his head. He wanted to tell her plainly, "If you can't sleep, just lie there. Eventually, you'll doze off anyway."
But that obviously wasn't the kind of answer Oleander was looking for.
"I usually turn on my computer and play some games or use my console. After playing for a while, I get tired enough to fall asleep naturally."
Luther waited a bit, but it seemed his answer had sunk into the void. With no further replies from Oleander, Luther drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, when Luther woke up and checked his phone, he saw that Oleander had replied after all.
"Oh."
A classic, concise Oleander answer. Luther was used to it by now.
Gardenia's message had also arrived.
"She said she wanted to travel around catching Pokémon. Once she has six, she plans to challenge gyms and earn her spot in the league tournament."
"I've heard before that her family isn't exactly kind to her. So this time, it's probably less about rebellion and more about running away from things she's tired of."
What a headache! If only Basil had taken a Pokédex! Then, at least, they could track her coordinates. But now, they could only rely on the Pokémon League's search efforts.
Wandering around in this cold weather during the New Year, Basil sure picked her timing.
Still, there wasn't much Luther could do. This was Gardenia's matter to handle. Worrying about it from here wouldn't help.
Today, Luther had arranged to spar with Hakuya at the Gym while Mai and Junna mixed Berries, discussing ratios and effects.
Unlike an official Gym Battle, Luther and Hakuya's sparring sessions were strictly controlled. The moment either trainer made a hand signal, their Pokémon would stop immediately. During those pauses, Luther and Hakuya took the opportunity to ask each other questions.
For instance: "Why did you choose to release that move just now?" What was your goal? What kind of situation were you trying to create?
They would also ask, "Would using that move this way affect your Pokémon's rhythm?"
This kind of back-and-forth training was a new experience for their Pokémon. Espurr and Ursaring, meeting for the umpteenth time, were the first pair to practice. They had already been sparring for half an hour.
After so many stops and starts, Ursaring sighed when he saw the two trainers still debating intensely on the sidelines. He picked up a berry, took a bite, and casually handed one to Espurr.
In return, Espurr tossed over a milk candy that it had swiped earlier from Marill.
This kind of battle wasn't particularly exhausting; it just felt unsatisfying.
After a long discussion, both trainers stepped back into position. Ursaring and Espurr quickly wiped their mouths and stood ready to face each other again.
Espurr's command was to use Psychic; then, after channeling its energy, it was to immediately switch to Dark Pulse.
Ursaring was commanded to use Hammer Arm but midway through the motion, he was to shift the energy type, cycling through Fire Punch, Ice Punch, and Thunder Punch.
Espurr barely managed to complete the task. Ursaring, however, was a mess. He had never attempted to switch moves mid-execution before.
This required converting the power already gathered into a different energy type instantly.
This was something Luther was still experimenting with in his training.
In normal battles, most Pokémon trainers issue a move command, wait for the Pokémon to execute it completely, and then call for a change. After all, channeling the body's internal energy takes time, and changing from one elemental type to another requires immense focus and strength.
However, Luther thought that if a Pokémon could alter its move mid-execution in response to the situation, it would have a decisive tactical advantage.
The idea sounded great. Reality, however, was far less forgiving.
There's a reason it's so hard to pull off. During a type shift, how can a Pokémon quickly stabilize and adjust its energy flow?
When Cynthia heard about Luther's concept, she asked her Garchomp to switch between Brick Break and Dragon Claw. Since the two moves had similar motions, the chance of success was theoretically increased.
The result? It worked, but with a high failure rate.
Even with Garchomp's skill and control, he succeeded only once in seven or eight tries. During failed attempts, his moves would "jam," leaving him vulnerable to counterattacks.
Cynthia's evaluation of the idea was that it was worth experimenting with but not worth obsessing over.
This kind of technique could serve as a surprise tactic, but relying on such tricks in direct confrontation was less practical than focusing on cleanly landing the next move. Worse yet, it put a heavy strain on the Pokémon's stamina, ultimately rendering it not worth the trade-off.
At best, its real value lay in catching the opponent off guard during certain Move clashes.
Still, after giving her assessment, Cynthia personally kept testing for another half a month. In the end, she confirmed her initial judgment, but at the same time, she successfully trained Garchomp to perform high-success-rate switches between Dragon Claw and Brick Break, and was now trying to extend the concept to other Moves.
Luther had shared this line of thinking with Hakuya, too. Hakuya was stunned by Luther's creativity, and so, today, both of them were focused on refining and perfecting their own Pokémon's Move Conversion technique.
(End of Chapter)