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Conway always had a way of appearing that was terrifying. Luther was sitting on a bench beside the artificial lake, spacing out, when Conway suddenly appeared at his side, silently.
"Can't you do something normal for once? You keep appearing like a ghost all day long. It's nighttime, you're going to scare people to death!" Luther clutched his chest.
Not just him... even the Chansey sitting by his feet jumped in fright.
He seriously suspected that, since attending the Mt. Coronet summer camp, Conway had somehow become possessed by something strange from the spirit world, giving him this bizarre ability.
Conway let out a sinister chuckle. 'As a Pokémon Trainer, your mentality is pretty weak. I thought you and Ash were used to the way I look."
Luther couldn't be bothered to continue the topic. 'Alright, alright. Why did you suddenly come looking for me? I thought you left after your match ended."
"Leave? This is a rare opportunity to collect data. Why would I leave early?"
Just as Conway had finished speaking, and Luther was about to reply, Mai's Gengar floated over, carrying a platter of fruit. There were all kinds of fruit on it. Mai had carefully sliced and arranged them. The message was clear: she wanted Luther and Conway to enjoy them while chatting.
Luther looked up at the balcony of his room in the Contestant Village and saw the curtains swaying slightly.
Since entering the Main Tournament, Mai had rarely stayed by Luther's side, aside from watching matches.
Aside from being busy working part-time and helping the Team Rocket trio, she also didn't want to distract Luther.
Like just now, Luther had merely been letting his thoughts wander and clearing his mind.
But to Mai, it looked like he was at a critical moment in his thinking about strategies for the upcoming matches.
Conway took a slice of watermelon from the platter. After thanking Gengar, he thanked Mai, too. He had always been tactful.
"What do you think about my match against Dakota?" Conway asked casually. "You've battled me in the Ranking Tournament, and you know Dakota, too. I really want to hear your opinion."
Luther, who was eating a pear, paused for a moment before quickly grasping the true reason for Conway's visit that night.
"How many points would you give yourself for your match against Dakota?" Luther asked, taking a bite of the pear.
Conway hesitated for a moment before answering, "Out of ten, I'd give myself a nine. I think I executed everything as ideally as possible. I'm not sure whether I was truly at my peak that day, so I'll give myself a nine."
"Then do you think Dakota gave it his all that day?"
Conway fell silent for a long time.
Luther sighed as he stroked Chansey's head. "The reason you can't answer is because you're not sure if he was holding back. In other words, you think you failed to draw out all of Dakota's strength."
Some things didn't need to be spelled out too clearly. In fact, they didn't even need to be said directly, sometimes it was enough to let the person involved reflect on it themselves.
Conway's defeat came down to the fact that he and his Pokémon weren't strong enough.
It had nothing to do with his strategy. It was purely a hardware issue.
The fact that he managed to defeat three of Dakota's Pokémon using strategy alone was proof of his excellent command ability.
Asking Luther for answers meant one of two things: he was either doubting his strategy or reflecting on the issue of raw power.
"So, of Etorre and Dakota, who has the better chance of winning?"
Without even turning his head, Luther replied, "If you force me to pick one, I'd choose Dakota. But honestly, I think their odds are fifty-fifty."
"Dakota is someone searching for answers. Even though you didn't defeat him, you managed to unsettle him a bit. So, cheer up! After all, you're the first Pokémon Trainer in this tournament to defeat Darkrai."
After a long silence, Conway let out that eerie laugh of his once again.
"It looks like, for the foreseeable future, I need to downplay the strategic mind games in battle and focus more on pure strength."
What Conway described was exactly what Luther himself was doing.
"Need me to share some information about Barry? Considering how much you talked to me, I'll give it to you for free."
Luther waved his hand dismissively. "Thanks, but I'll just check the Pokémon League database myself tomorrow. You can keep your analysis for your own use."
Luther turned to take a slice of watermelon from Gengar's hands and noticed the confused expression on its face. He glanced towards the spot where Conway had been sitting moments ago.
Conway had disappeared.
"Damn it! I'm begging you... please do something normal for once!"
Luther ate the watermelon to calm down, but he suddenly lost his appetite when he noticed Gengar drooling and staring longingly at the fruit.
He motioned for Gengar to put down the fruit platter and eat some too. Gengar's eyes lit up immediately, and he swept all the grapes off the plate in one go, happily munching away.
Mai's Pokémon got along very well with Luther's. Initially, the two of them had been worried that putting the two groups together might lead to conflict for various reasons.
Mai was especially concerned. Her Pokémon had always lived comfortably at home, so it was uncertain whether they would be able to adapt to a completely new environment.
Yet none of the things she worried about ever happened. Both Dusknoir and Aggron were highly impressed with the Pokémon that Luther had raised, especially after seeing Houndoom and Darkrai. Any doubts they had about Luther disappeared completely.
After all, Dusknoir and Aggron had once genuinely worried that Luther was a useless trainer.
Aggron was most shocked by just how bold Luther's Pokémon were.
Milcery accidentally hit Dusknoir in the face with a ball while they were playing catch. Dusknoir then calmly walked over, apologised, picked up the ball, and happily went back to playing.
Larvitar attacked Aggron on the second day after he arrived at the Contestant Village.
Larvitar, who treated surprise ambushes as a form of training, learned for the first time what it meant to be... an egg striking a rock.
After crashing into Aggron and becoming dizzy, Larvitar was dragged away by Espurr using Psychic Power. Before leaving, Espurr apologised to Aggron on Larvitar's behalf.
After all, Larvitar was becoming increasingly unruly, which made Espurr's job more difficult.
Both Dusknoir and Aggron felt as though they had somehow lost their intimidation factor.
Back when they lived at Mai's home, they naturally carried an aura of silence with them whenever they appeared in wild Pokémon territory.
Unfamiliar wild Pokémon would immediately assume they were terrifying monsters and huddle together in fear.
There was also a reason why Gengar behaved so obediently around Luther.
One night, while wandering around with nothing to do, Gengar tried to sneak off and scare Milcery, only for Darkrai to reach out and drag it into the shadows.
Dusknoir hesitated for a moment before deciding that it hadn't seen anything.
From that night onward, Gengar became Milcery's bodyguard, taking over Espurr's former role.
As for what kind of "friendly conversation" Darkrai and Gengar had inside the shadows that night… Dusknoir had no idea.
(End of Chapter)