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Luther turned his chair around and smiled casually.
"The next match is against Dakota."
Mai's body trembled slightly as she blurted out, "You'll definitely win. I believe in you."
As if to reinforce her words, Mai hugged the Eevee beside her tightly.
"Eevee, don't you think so too?"
Eevee, who had been chasing its own tail just moments ago, nodded vigorously.
Pachirisu and Corsola sensed the atmosphere immediately. Not only did they nod along, but they even jumped onto Slowpoke's head and forced him to express his support, too.
This was basically bullying the honest guy. Slowpoke had been quietly facing the corner, minding his own business, only to be dragged over by Pachirisu.
Luther suddenly remembered the flustered Etorre from earlier, and then thought of Mao.
When Etorre had drawn Dakota as his opponent, Mao had worn the exact same expression as Mai now.
Looking at Mai, who was desperately hiding her worry while cheering him on, Luther wanted to say something. In the end, though, he only pinched her cheek lightly.
"I'm going out for a walk," Luther said.
In truth, Luther just wanted to zone out for a while. He always did this before, and after matches, it had already become a habit.
Luther rarely remembered what he thought about during those moments, but the feeling always helped clear his mind.
Without realizing it, Luther wandered to the beach where he had first met Misaki. Maybe he had subconsciously come here because he believed it would be quiet enough that nobody would disturb him.
Finding a bench, Luther sat down facing the sea.
Espurr floated off Luther's shoulder and lay across Kirlia's head.
Azumarill wasn't eating potato chips for once. Instead, she plopped herself down on the nearby sand, quietly feeling the rhythm of the tides.
Azumarill was still growing. The first time they had measured her height, she had only been at the average of 1.2 meters. Now she had already broken past 1.4 meters.
Though Luther suspected most of that extra height came from her ears...
Azumarill's upright ears twitched as she looked toward the cobblestone path nearby with a puzzled expression.
She hurried over and soon spotted the travel-worn Misaki approaching from afar with a lollipop in her mouth. Azumarill immediately decided to stop her.
"Oh, what a familiar-looking Azumarill," Misaki said, before suddenly realizing something. "Wait a second. If you're here, then your trainer must be nearby too?"
Azumarill nodded.
Just as Misaki was about to continue forward, Azumarill blocked her path.
Misaki seemed to realize something and pulled a few gummy candies out of her backpack.
"Here."
Azumarill stared at the gummies for a while, but eventually shook her head.
"That's really all I've got. I'm not like Luther, carrying around a mountain of snacks for you all the time."
After saying that, Misaki looked seriously at Azumarill, then suddenly understood.
"Ah, I get it. You don't want Luther to be disturbed?"
When Azumarill nodded again, Misaki sighed and simply pulled Azumarill down to sit beside her on the grass.
She wasn't the unreasonable type anyway. Since Azumarill had made it clear, she might as well wait.
Who knew how much time had passed. Misaki was lying on the grass, chewing on the pit of a Berry and staring at the stars when Azumarill poked her.
Luther stood up and stretched, only then realizing Azumarill was nowhere to be seen. After searching for a bit, he finally spotted Azumarill and Misaki walking back together from the distance.
"When did you get back to Lily of the Valley Island?" Luther asked in surprise.
"An hour or two ago, I guess. I was originally staying at Cynthia's place, but your Azumarill blocked me over there..." Misaki said curiously. "What were you doing here all alone acting all mysterious?"
"Spacing out," Luther answered honestly.
"You sure it's not because you're anxious about your match against Dakota?"
Luther was just about to explain when Misaki raised a hand to stop him.
"I get you boys. Always trying to act tough. Got it, got it, not anxiety, just spacing out."
"This means you're not even giving me a chance to explain," Luther said helplessly.
Then he asked back, "So you came back to Lily of the Valley Island to watch the tournament?"
"More or less. I wanted to see who would win the championship, and then officially say goodbye to Cynthia. I'm going to leave Sinnoh for a while and travel through Hoenn and Kalos."
"Back to the tournament topic," Misaki said. "What are you planning to do against Dakota in the next round?"
"My Team Lineup is already set in stone. There's not much room for changes there. As for strategy... I'm going with an aggressive offense."
"You're not using your usual careful, step-by-step style anymore?"
Luther shook his head.
"He knows me very well, and I know him very well too. He'll disrupt my rhythm and stop me from controlling the pace comfortably. And that Eelektross of his..."
Although Misaki had only just returned, she had already seen the tournament summaries on the way back.
"That thing is basically your natural enemy. No matter how perfectly you weave your control-oriented setup, you can't guarantee Eelektross won't wipe out your Pokémon in one hit."
Eelektross was a merciless cleanup machine. Dakota would definitely send it out after both sides' main forces had exhausted each other, allowing it to dominate the match.
That was why Luther had to choose an aggressive strategy, he needed to establish momentum and pressure right from the start, so that when Eelektross entered to clean up the battlefield, it would hesitate.
"Since you beat me, I'll give you an extra piece of analysis from my side," Misaki said as she operated her phone and pulled up two images.
They were screenshots from Dakota's battle against Salamence, apparently taken from recorded match footage.
Luther looked through several of them but still couldn't figure out what Misaki was trying to show him.
"This one is from Dakota's match against Conway. Look carefully, the spot where Salamence was hit by a move was on its left wing."
Misaki zoomed in on the image. A large red mark could clearly be seen on Salamence's left wing.
Something flashed through Luther's mind.
"Now that you mention it... Etorre's Kingdra also attacked Salamence's left wing during the match, didn't it?"
"I'm boldly guessing that Salamence's left wing had already been injured during its back-to-back fights against Conway's two Pokémon, and it was probably the kind of injury that required rest. Salamence relied on its own powerful ability to continue fighting against Etorre, but then Etorre's Kingdra struck the same wound again."
The detail Misaki had discovered gave Luther an entirely new theory regarding Dakota's Team Lineup.
If Salamence was still injured, then, considering how seriously Dakota treated battles, would he replace Salamence altogether?
If that were the case, then the offensive pressure on Luther's first three Pokémon would be much lower, and he would have far more options when dealing with Eelektross.
"Thank you," Luther said sincerely. This information was incredibly important to him.
He had already decided that once he got back, he would rewatch Dakota's last two matches in slow motion.
"Well, you did beat me after all..." Misaki said. "Even though you really don't look very motivated, if the person who defeated me makes it to the finals, then my battle counts as indirectly proving my own strength too."
Unable to suppress the urge to hurry back to the Contestant Village and review the footage, Luther quickly said goodbye to Misaki and rushed off with his Pokémon.
"Good luck, Luther. If you win the championship and then I successfully challenge you afterward, that's basically like earning a finals-level match too."
(End of Chapter)