The barbecue ended, but daily life continued as usual.
Mai started a new job at a supermarket near the Gym. In her own words: employees get discounts, there's plenty of food to buy after its "best taste" period, and even after that period, as long as it's inspected, she can pick up leftovers with others, it's a very enjoyable new job.
During this time, Kleia arrived at Luther's hotel with her Poliwag. This was a journey of apology.
Kleia blamed herself for Mai losing her previous job and felt deeply remorseful.
After Mai explained the situation clearly, Kleia decided to leave Poliwag with Mai instead of sending it to a Day Care. Compared to a Day Care, she had more faith in Mai's ability.
After Kleia left, Mai trembled all over as she hugged Poliwag tightly.
Luther understood how Mai felt. When someone runs alone toward their dream in the vast wilderness, with no one around, the intense loneliness can make one question themselves, and the passion starts to fade.
Luther was her companion, so his words didn't carry as much weight. But Kleia was different.
Kleia's words were an affirmation of her ability. For Mai, this was a brand new experience. That kind of encouragement was bound to become a powerful new source of motivation.
Day after day passed. The heat of early autumn gradually dissipated. Cold autumn winds began to blow, and the breath of winter crept closer.
Two months had passed. Luther never imagined he'd stay in Eterna City for this long. What was supposed to be a spontaneous journey now seemed to have been gently anchored by Hearthome City's kindness.
The advance payment Cynthia gave for the hotel had long since run out. But instead of moving into the Pokémon Center, Luther, with Gardenia's permission, moved into the Gym.
Basil, who had stubbornly aimed to begin her journey only after achieving fifty straight wins, finally lost. In her final match on that path, she was overwhelmingly defeated by a powerful young Pokémon Trainer.
By the time Basil returned, dejected, to the back courtyard of Gym, Luther had already gathered quite a few new apprentice Pokémon Trainers around him.
After realizing she could win match after match, Basil grew more confident and began showing up less and less around Gardenia and Luther.
Luther once ran into her on the road and offered her a simple reminder: don't get too fixated on winning or losing. But it seemed Basil didn't take it to heart.
Since Luther's name had spread due to Basil's actions, the arrogant rookies eventually couldn't stand the humiliation of constant defeat and finally lowered their proud heads.
In the past, it was Gardenia who had to ask others. Now, others came to her. This reversal gave Gardenia a sense of relief and satisfaction. Though she still told defeated rookie Trainers, "You can go train more in the backyard," the urgency in her voice had vanished.
Now that she had a solid reputation, she had more chances to correct the misguided paths of these wayward kids. Spending her own money to reach this point gave her a strong sense of accomplishment. Even in the Gym Leader group chats, her tone had become noticeably more boastful.
The only pity was that Luther wouldn't stay in this city forever, Gardenia knew this well.
She and Luther had a full-power battle once a week. From the early days of being completely overwhelmed to now, where her own Pokémon felt threatened during the fight, Gardenia could clearly see how much Luther had improved.
So, half a month ago, Gym's Badge was officially awarded to Luther.
It wasn't charity, it was a recognition of his strength.
The moment Gardenia had to go all-out and still only narrowly beat him, she knew Luther had already earned the qualification for the Badge.
But that jerk… when she kindly complimented his progress, he thought she was being sarcastic, argued with her, and then smugly claimed the Badge was just a "reward" for teaching her how to cook.
Only when she phrased it like that did Luther finally understand what Gardenia actually meant.
Last week, Gardenia barely "graduated" under Luther's guidance. According to Luther's view, cooking isn't complicated, just don't burn the pan, make sure the food is thoroughly cooked, and with the right seasonings, you can cover up lack of skill. Considering how busy Gardenia is, if the taste is similar to takeout, that should be good enough.
But Gardenia was picky, she insisted on a better culinary experience. She pushed Luther so hard that he ended up teaching her every little bit of knowledge he knew.
Gardenia's graduation dish was braised beef with potatoes. The beef was tender and juicy, not overcooked and dry; the potatoes were soft and creamy, having soaked up the flavors of the beef and sauce, perfect with rice. Luther had three bowls, and even Mai ate until she was stuffed.
Luther and Mai's enthusiastic eating made Gardenia breathe a sigh of relief. This was just how she worked, either she didn't do something at all, or she gave it her best.
Luther's casual remark, "It's fine if it just tastes like takeout", made Gardenia grab his hand and demand he teach her properly. Even if he only had half a bucket's worth of knowledge, she wanted all of it. And if that wasn't enough, she'd find other ways to learn!
Seeing her "teacher" Luther and Mai eating so happily, she knew she had passed.
Meanwhile, Marill was still stuck at the threshold of learning Ice Punch, unable to break through. This was strange, because during this period of training with Luther and Mai, Marill had already mastered Aqua Tail, Hail, and Blizzard in succession.
Especially with Hail and Blizzard, those Ice-type moves came to her naturally, almost effortlessly. In battle, she used them smoothly, without hesitation.
All of them were Ice-type moves and required the same kind of elemental energy. So why was Ice Punch the only one that remained out of reach?
Gardenia couldn't explain it either. Luther even contacted Cynthia, but she was just as baffled. According to Luther's understanding, Ice-type moves should be especially compatible with Marill. She had already learned Blizzard and even the high-powered Superpower, so why was Ice Punch the exception?
Marill had the strength for it. After long-term strength training, tests confirmed her physical power had reached a new level. She had the strength, she had the Ice energy needed for Ice Punch, even the punching form and movement were correct, so where was the problem?
Luther decided to stop fixating on Ice Punch and shifted Marill's focus to battle training with Chansey. He was worried that Marill would get stuck obsessing over it and lose confidence.
On Chansey's side, progress had been remarkable. Luther hadn't asked her to learn any new moves, instead, they simply worked on defense and evasion. This had caused Chansey's growth to skyrocket.
Faced with the storm of moves from Espurr, Kirlia, and Jumpluff, the round little Chansey stood firm with both hands on her egg, dodging more and more moves by the day. Sometimes she could even anticipate incoming attacks and step gracefully to the side, letting the move graze past her with effortless elegance, demonstrating some serious technique.
This, in turn, forced Luther's sparring Pokémon to improve their accuracy, otherwise, their attacks were wasted energy.
Training had started to resemble a military arms race: as Chansey became more agile, Kirlia and the others improved their precision. With precision going up, power dropped, so Chansey just tanked the moves. Now both sides were advancing in tandem: one side refining accuracy and power, the other defense and speed.
The effect of this kind of healthy competition was obvious. While Kirlia and the others were showing slower results, Chansey was transforming rapidly, she'd practically become a nimble tank. She ran clutching her egg, moving fast and light, and unlike before, she didn't start panting after picking up speed or collapse from stamina issues.
Everything was going well. The only slight regret was… Luther's Pokémon egg still hadn't shown any signs of hatching.
Cynthia's first Pokémon egg had already hatched into a Cottonee, a Grass/Fairy-type. Her second egg was also showing signs of life.
But the egg in Luther's hands remained completely still.
(End of Chapter)
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