Candice's face appeared in Luther's field of vision. She slowly crouched down, leaning in close, her eyes fixed intently on him. Luther felt extremely uneasy under her gaze, every muscle stiff, but he couldn't bring himself to look away.
After a few moments, Candice reached into her coat, pulled out the Glacier Badge, and gently placed it in Luther's palm.
"Would you be interested in staying here, in Snowpoint City?"
Luther froze, the words catching him off guard. He had just been about to celebrate his victory with his Pokémon when the question stopped him cold.
He opened his mouth to respond, but Candice smiled softly, patted the frost off her clothes, and stood up.
"Then again, with your abilities, I suppose you'll go far. Snowpoint City's too cold, too quiet… it could never hold someone like you."
She looked at him thoughtfully, her voice gentler now.
"Hakuya once told me that I might end up being a witness to your rise. I didn't believe him then; I was just happy to finally have an exciting battle again after so long. But now, I think he was right. I really did witness something remarkable today."
"Go on now, celebrate with your Pokémon."
Candice glanced at the newly awakened Marill, then hugged the fainted Spheal in her arms and started toward the locker room.
"The person getting in the way will take her leave."
When Marill woke up, she found herself nestled inside Chansey's pouch. Normally, whenever she tried to climb in, Chansey would mercilessly kick her out, but this time, she was actually being allowed to stay. It felt… wonderfully strange.
Jumpluff offered her some chips, tossing a few into the pouch. Espurr pushed his drink toward her for a sip.
The whole team gathered around her in a cheerful circle. For the first time ever, Marill felt like her status had officially gone up.
Darkrai, meanwhile, stood off to the side, watching Marill and Luther with a complicated look.
In his eyes, Marill should have lost the moment she was frozen by Spheal's attack. The terrain was unfavorable, her condition poor, by all logic, it was a hopeless situation. And yet… she had won.
It was hard to believe.
He couldn't understand how a Pokémon with its stamina completely spent could still unleash that kind of strength.
Was it hunger? In the wild, creatures sometimes fight ferociously for food, drawing out impossible reserves of power, but Marill would always be fed by Luther. That couldn't be the reason.
In Darkrai's experience, only the instinct to survive could awaken such a force, the same instinct that had once let him withstand Evergreen's ambush and barely escape alive.
But this didn't fit. None of it did. The more he thought about it, the less sense it made. And that unsettled him deeply.
Unexpectedly, Luther could feel Darkrai's agitation through the shadows at his feet. He looked down, curious, wondering what had gotten into the dark Pokémon all of a sudden.
Marill, surrounded by her teammates, was soon scooped up out of Chansey's pouch by Luther. He didn't say anything, just pressed his face against hers, rubbing her cheek affectionately.
This time, Marill didn't play around. She obediently rubbed back, face to face with him.
After a long moment, Luther finally let out a satisfied sigh and patted her on the head.
"Extra dinner tonight."
That single line worked better than any praise. The exhausted Marill instantly perked up, tail wagging, eyes shining, clinging happily to Luther.
When Luther walked into the rest area, the academy trainees who had come down from the stands were all staring at him, their eyes practically glowing. It felt like being hit with a dozen flashlights at once.
"Can we touch your Marill?"
"And Houndoom too!"
"I wanna see your Espurr up close!"
"Please, can I hug your Kirlia?"
"Could Chansey take a picture with me?"
There was no way to turn them down. After all, they were fellow Pokémon Trainers, and none of their requests were unreasonable.
The students' sheer enthusiasm left Luther a little overwhelmed. It was his first time facing a situation like this, and his Pokémon's first time being treated like celebrities.
As soon as Luther said, "I don't really mind," the crowd surged forward all at once.
There were especially many people lining up to take photos with Chansey. Normally, they only ever saw Chansey in Pokémon Centers, and out of respect for the Joys at work, no one dared approach, so this was their first real chance to meet one up close.
Chansey adapted to the attention surprisingly fast. She quickly learned to strike cute poses, and her sense of timing for the camera was perfect.
Espurr, on the other hand, had a blank, frozen look. When she raised her tiny paw to ward off the people approaching, Luther thought she didn't want to be touched and started to go pick her up.
But Espurr instead handed the Milcery she'd just received from Mai over to Chikorita for safekeeping, then obediently sat back down and let the students pet her. Her face looked stiff, but her darting eyes gave her away, she was loving the attention.
Over on Houndoom's side, the people lining up for photos were all huge, muscular guys, the kind who clearly lived on protein shakes and gym time. They struck Bulk Up poses alongside Houndoom, flexing and grinning for the camera, tossing around fitness jargon Luther couldn't even follow.
"Now this is the kind of Pokémon a real man should have!"
A question mark practically appeared above Luther's head.
Well said… but what about my muscles, huh? Maybe I should start working out too?
Kirlia was universally popular, men, women, kids, it didn't matter, but she was a bit reserved. She politely declined the request for photos holding flowers, keeping her usual composed grace.
Of course, the biggest star was Marill, no surprise there, after her spectacular performance in the battle.
Watching Marill gleefully wander through the crowd, collecting snacks from every direction and stuffing them into her mouth, Luther began to question whether extra dinner was still necessary tonight.
Jumpluff, on the other hand, looked like she was about to explode, literally. Standing on Luther's shoulder, she seemed one step away from learning Explosion out of sheer frustration.
"Hey, don't be upset. Even though Spheal caught you off guard, you helped me figure out three of its moves. That was a huge help!"
Luther quickly reached up to smooth down her fluffy cotton puffs.
Jumpluff gave a huffy hmph and turned her head away, clearly saying, "I don't need this kind of attention anyway."
It couldn't be helped. She hadn't been on the field for long, and everything she'd trained so hard to master got nullified by Spheal's Sheer Cold. The students, inexperienced as they were, hadn't recognized her contribution and overlooked her entirely.
Luther offered her some snacks, which finally made her feel a little better.
"Um… excuse me, could I maybe… hug Jumpluff?"
A small girl looked up at Luther, asking shyly.
Before Luther could even respond, Jumpluff leapt straight into the girl's arms.
The girl, overjoyed, realized she had Jumpluff all to herself and quickly asked her friends to take a photo for her.
Apparently, Jumpluff's soft, round design was deadly to little girls. Before long, a whole crowd of them had gathered, cooing and giggling as they surrounded her.
When the girl finally, and a bit reluctantly, returned Jumpluff to him, Luther chuckled and said with a teasing grin:
"I could've sworn you were just making that 'I don't care for this kind of thing' face. You say no with your mouth, but your body's being awfully honest, huh?"
Jumpluff calmly reached into Luther's backpack, fished out a Poké Ball, and kicked it straight into his face.
As Luther clutched his nose in pain, he suddenly remembered, this was exactly how their very first meeting had gone.
(End of Chapter)
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