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Luther's Pokémon wanted to stop Junna and Hakuya from entering, but Junna was faster; she lightly pushed the door open.
"We're bac-- " She began cheerfully, but then blinked in confusion. She leaned close to Mai, looking her up and down. "Why are you staring at those chopped potatoes like that? And why's your face so red?"
Luther forced himself to act calm, continuing to slice the ingredients in front of him, though his heart was pounding furiously.
"I'm angry!" Mai blurted, a little too forcefully.
Junna nodded in solidarity. "Me too! Even though Hakuya and the other judges already stripped Hiroshi of his title, I still feel like marching down there and teaching him a lesson myself."
"Come on, let's go cool off," she said, linking arms with Mai. "We'll grab some snacks. Hakuya said he'd cook tonight anyway, so let's leave the kitchen to them and take a break."
With that, Junna led Mai out of the kitchen.
The Pokémon standing outside all exchanged helpless looks before crowding in to check on Luther.
Luther couldn't quite describe what he was feeling, a tangled mix of relief, disappointment, and frustration. It was too complicated for words.
When Hakuya came in, he silently joined Luther in meal prep. It was obvious Luther had regained his composure; his mood had leveled out into calm. Hakuya couldn't help but wonder how Luther managed to process emotions so quickly, to throw off negativity in such a short time.
He'd have to ask about that sometime… otherwise Junna would keep using "stress relief" as an excuse to randomly hug him.
During dinner, Hakuya filled Luther in on how Whitewind Town had officially handled the Hiroshi incident.
Their response was fair and well-balanced. Luther wasn't from Whitewind Town himself, so his advice had naturally been limited, just enough to make a point. But the locals had acted far more decisively than he ever could.
"When are you planning to leave?" Junna suddenly asked.
This time, she didn't snatch away the little notebook Hakuya was holding. She simply set her chopsticks down and looked at Luther and Mai.
Two years ago, the Whitewind Gym had only Hakuya and two Pokémon League staff members running it. It wasn't until Junna, insisting on following Hakuya from the orphanage, joined them that the Gym began to feel alive again.
And ever since Luther and Mai had arrived, the Gym had been bustling with laughter and activity every day. There was always something fun happening. Mai and Junna, being about the same age, had shared countless ideas and techniques on Pokémon care and breeding.
Junna truly wished Luther and Mai could just stay.
But she knew that was only a dream.
Hakuya had told her before: Luther was still walking his own path as a Pokémon Trainer. The time he'd spent here had given him inspiration and partial answers, but from here on out, he needed to test and refine those ideas through his own journey.
"In about a week," Luther said. "Junna, I'll be battling Hakuya at high frequency until then, so don't blame me if things get a little intense."
Junna choked on her radish, coughed, pounded her chest, and then, cheeks flushed, protested, "Why are you telling me that? If you're going to battle Hakuya, just do it!"
"Hmph!" she snorted, turning away. "Actually, Mai and I were thinking of going out during the New Year opening period anyway. You two can stay here and guard the Gym."
Hakuya understood that Luther's upcoming matches were crucial. Luther needed to validate the Battle Rhythm he'd been developing, a rhythm that connected Trainer, team, and tempo.
Anyone who aimed to control battle rhythm first had to find their own, and then test whether that rhythm truly matched their current team composition.
The challenge, of course, was that most Trainers could never find an opponent evenly matched enough to properly test it.
Thanks to Bertha, this trip to Whitewind Town had solved that problem for both Hakuya and Luther.
As Luther had said, in the days that followed, the two battled almost nonstop, pausing only long enough for their Pokémon to rest and recover before starting again.
Luther didn't win a single match.
Hakuya's mastery over Battle Rhythm was absolute. Even after adding Houndoom to his team, Luther's odds of victory didn't improve at all.
Sitting on the battlefield, Luther and Hakuya drank soda and wiped the sweat from their necks with towels.
Hakuya's Ursaring and Kangaskhan were gulping down water to quench their thirst. When they finished, they carried a bucket of fresh water around the field, pouring some for the other Pokémon.
Luther's Pokémon were sharing snacks among themselves, since they'd be battling again soon, a mid-break energy boost was absolutely necessary.
"By the way," Luther said curiously, "out of all the Pokémon Types out there, why did you end up specializing in Normal Type?"
That question had been bugging him for a long time. After all, Hakuya didn't only raise Normal-types, in his courtyard, Luther had seen Magnezone, Shuckle, and several others.
Hakuya rubbed his face, looking a little embarrassed, then started writing on his notepad.
"Other than the fact that Dunsparce and Kangaskhan were my very first Pokémon," he wrote, "it's also because… I wanted to be an ordinary person."
Luther blinked, momentarily taken aback, then stared at him in surprise as he realized what that meant.
"I wanted to be like everyone else, to become a Pokémon Trainer," Hakuya continued, smiling faintly. "But back then, I didn't have that kind of confidence. So I formed my team from the Pokémon I already had.
A lot of people say Normal-types are… well, normal. Not particularly strong or weak, not flashy, not unique.
But that's exactly what I wanted, to be that kind of ordinary, normal person."
He smiled as he wrote.
"To be able to command my own Pokémon, battle others, compete, win victories… to find Pokémon who understand me and share my heart, that simple wish was all I wanted."
It was a wish he made during his most uncertain, lost, and helpless days, when he still couldn't properly communicate with his Pokémon.
It was as if raising Normal-type Pokémon could make him just like everyone else. That simple, almost self-comforting thought carried him through the hardest part of his life, and ultimately shaped who he became.
"Bertha probably hopes you'll go out and gain more experience through travel," Luther said quietly.
Hakuya gave a wry smile, gently stroking the little Kangaskhan in its mother's pouch. After a pause, he wrote again.
"Of course I know that. But right now, I can't leave the Gym, there's no one to take over Whitewind Gym." He sighed. "Still, I'll think about it. I know this much, I really am lacking the kind of experience that comes from traveling and seeing the world. That's my weakness."
"Thank you, Luther. Come to think of it, you're probably the first real friend I've ever made."
Luther remembered the girl Bertha had once mentioned, Chiaki.
"Then you should be thanking a girl named Chiaki," he said with a grin. "If it weren't for her, Bertha might not have found such a good excuse to lure me to Whitewind Town."
At that exact moment, the Chiaki being thanked was sneezing repeatedly while standing on her Steelix, joined by Diglett and Sandslash, facing Bertha's latest trial.
The challenge: inflict damage on a Rhyperior.
Chiaki rubbed her nose, groaning. She'd been battling that Rhyperior the entire day.
"So what if my Sandshrew suddenly evolved?" she muttered miserably. "Why did Senior Bertha suddenly decide I'm some kind of prodigy who needs to be tested?!"
That damn Rhyperior, couldn't it go easy on her just a little?!
(End of Chapter)