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After the meeting ended, no one else in the chat room wanted to log back in and play games. After saying goodnight, everyone hurried off.
Lance called Luther separately.
"I really did suspect you in the beginning. I was worried you'd go down the wrong path. It was only after getting to know you better that I finally understood your difficulties."
"I'm sorry."
Luther replied calmly. "I told Mai when we first became friends that saying 'sorry' only makes things feel distant between friends."
Cynthia sat in a corner of the courtyard, watching Mai hug Togekiss like a pillow and sleep soundly. Then she looked over at Luther, who was laughing loudly with Lance on the phone.
"He really has become more confident."
Cynthia murmured to herself, signaling to Togekiss to be careful.
Togekiss looked helplessly at Mai, who was treating him like a pillow. Cynthia's gesture left him with no choice but to lie down obediently and continue playing along.
Cynthia carefully stepped around the sleeping Pokémon and went to another corner of the courtyard. She waited for Luther and Lance to finish their talk.
After hanging up, Luther stretched hard.
"All done?"
Luther nodded. "He didn't need to tell me any of that. If I cared, I wouldn't have brought it up in the first place."
Cynthia motioned for him to walk with her.
"It's better to talk things out. Lance just wanted to clear the knot in his heart. Now that he recognizes you as a friend, he can't get over the fact that he once doubted you unless he says it aloud. Even between friends, some things should be made clear. Don't you think so?"
Luther nodded. His whole body felt lighter. Deciding how he would deal with that band of rabble tonight was actually more important than anything else.
"Next, how do you think we should achieve a breakthrough?" Cynthia asked.
"Wait."
Cynthia tilted her head. "Wait?"
"Oleander messaged me earlier. She found something significant within the International Police. Someone sent her some data and told her to investigate it. She should have results soon."
"Also, I think that after Sunday, we'll get more information from Evergreen's recent movements."
At the mention of Sunday, Cynthia looked troubled.
"But I've never been on a date before. I don't know how! Should we just stroll around and muddle through it?"
Luther gave a bitter laugh. "That's what I was thinking, too. But what if Evergreen is putting on a show to see if I influenced you and sends someone to spy on us?"
Two people with zero dating experience naturally couldn't come up with anything good. The only idea Luther could offer was to go watch a movie... a cliché so old that even he felt embarrassed.
Fortunately, during breakfast, Mai saw right through Luther's awkwardness and told him and Cynthia to wait for her.
As he watched Mai act mysterious and suddenly leave the dining room, Luther was completely baffled.
Gastrodon was equally baffled.
Right now, Espurr, Milcery, Chikorita, and Jumpluff were hanging off his body. When Chansey tried to climb on, too, Gastrodon shook his head frantically.
Since Milotic was asleep at the bottom of the big pond in the courtyard, Gastrodon had become the Pokémon's boat.
Gastrodon was exhausted from carrying Luther's Pokémon around on the water. Chikorita was energetic, and Milcery kept trying to touch the water. Gastrodon had to watch over them nervously. If Espurr didn't keep those two under control...
Sigh. Why don't they bother Garchomp instead? Why bully an honest Pokémon like me?
Garchomp felt wronged, too. Marill had eaten half the food in his feeding bowl.
Cynthia kept telling herself, "Guests are guests. We must be hospitable."
But Marill had absolutely no awareness of being a guest.
After eating all the food in Garchomp's bowl, he asked where the rest was stored so that she could help himself, no need for Garchomp to make another trip!
That "considerate" remark made Garchomp want to smack Marill with a Dragon Rush. But he held back.
Although Marill could eat a lot, the storage room was full of food. How much could he really finish? As long as he wasn't bothered, it didn't matter.
After pointing Marill toward the storage room, Garchomp could finally relax and take a nap.
Togekiss's eyelids were heavy. Last night, while Mai was sleeping, she kept calling Luther's name and tugging on him.
Togekiss had been woken up twice while half-asleep, so he was in poor spirits and desperately wanted to catch up on sleep. However, Pachirisu and Corsola were playing right beside him.
Sleeping naturally was impossible, so Togekiss simply used the Sleep move and forced himself to go to sleep.
Chansey followed behind Blissey, listening carefully as she taught her about taking care of Pokémon.
Cynthia placed half of the villa's Pokémon under Blissey's care, she was basically the old housekeeper. Her experience was especially important to Chansey.
Ever since Chansey had learned from Delibird, she had felt that she could contribute much more. As she passed the two Pokémon deep in discussion, Cynthia led Luther into the courtyard and walked over to Garchomp.
Just as he was about to fall asleep, Garchomp raised his head and looked at Cynthia. Reluctantly, he stood up.
"About that move conversion technique you mentioned last time, Garchomp has mastered many combinations. I take back what I said about it being unreliable and only useful if you gamble on luck. With proper training, it's extremely practical."
Cynthia called Blissey over to serve as a punching bag while Garchomp demonstrated its moves.
"Let me show you 'Dragon Rush' converted into 'Giga Impact'," She said.
Luther's eyes widened. He had always had his Pokémon practice Moves that didn't require too much power in their spare time.
In his mind, a Move conversion required the first Move to be more powerful and the second to require less, making the switch easier.
But no matter how you looked at it, 'Dragon Rush' required less power than 'Giga Impact'.
Yet, midair, Garchomp clearly performed 'Dragon Rush', but right before hitting Blissey, it transformed into 'Giga Impact'.
Luther was stunned speechless.
He had only provided the initial idea. Cynthia herself had said this technique would be impractical. But now... what was this?
It was opening up an entirely new battle style.
If it were just one move, one could argue that it was the result of specialized training and accumulated experience leading to a natural breakthrough. But Cynthia's demonstration wasn't over.
Dragon Claw → Shadow Claw,
Rock Slide → Stomping Tantrum,
Brick Break → Metal Claw.
With each successful conversion, Luther felt more and more cold sweat. This ability to infer, cross-apply, and put theory into practice...
Cynthia had completely broken past the Pokémon League's battle rules.
Currently, there is no regulation that addresses this technique.
Trying to counter Cynthia with predictions or consecutive defenses would be a thing of the past from now on. If Cynthia could change moves mid-execution, how could anyone react in time?
For example, Dragon Rush → Giga Impact.
The final move was Giga Impact. In an unrestricted battle, that was fine. But in the Limit Four format, how would it be counted?
Was it counted as using Dragon Rush? Or was it counted as using Giga Impact?
Or both?
Luther could already foresee the chaos. Cynthia's first time showing this technique would absolutely give the regulatory officials of the Pokémon League a massive headache. There would be no end to the arguments.
But who told them their Champion was so good at breaking ceilings…
(End of Chapter)