During the quarter-final preparation period, the four remaining contestants never met again. Even their mealtimes seemed to be deliberately scheduled so as not to overlap.
Luther happened to bump into Barry in the restaurant. Barry, who was travelling with Empoleon, hurried over to Luther's table at a trot, carrying his tray.
Luther glanced at Barry, then at Mai beside him, and finally at the piece of cake that he had been about to feed to Mai. At that moment, Luther was certain that Barry wasn't very good at reading the atmosphere.
Although he didn't say something like, 'Finally got to see a living Luther again,'
The way he excitedly declared that he had watched all of Luther's matches, analyzed him thoroughly, and would definitely win tomorrow's battle reminded Luther of the expression Paul always wore when facing Barry.
Luther guessed that beneath that gloomy face was the same helplessness that he himself was feeling right now.
After politely replying, "I'm looking forward to it too," Barry spun around excitedly, wrapped an arm around Empoleon and went off to search for more food.
His impatient personality, showing up suddenly and leaving just as suddenly... along with his ability to completely immerse himself in his own world without caring about others, was certainly unique.
Seeing that Mai was still sitting there with her mouth open and softly making an 'ah' sound, Luther picked up the cake again, ready to feed her, when Ash suddenly sat down opposite him.
After putting down his tray, he immediately said, "I just saw you and Barry chatting really happily. Looks like both of you are pretty confident about tomorrow's match."
Mai's face instantly turned red. She was just about to pull her hand away when Luther grabbed it and smoothly stuffed the cake into her mouth.
Compared to Barry, Ash wasn't much better. While Barry merely lacked the ability to read the atmosphere, Ash completely failed to understand romantic tension.
To him, Luther feeding cake to Mai probably looked no different to him feeding cake to one of his Pokémon.
"How are things between you and Paul?"
Acting as though nothing had happened, Luther handed Mai some juice and casually tossed the topic to Ash.
"I've already decided. I'm going to defeat him using my own style. This time, I absolutely won't lose.'
Luther took a sip of orange juice and smiled as he watched Pikachu share food with Espurr at the table.
He knew exactly what Ash meant by defeating Paul using his own style.
Up until now, Ash had learned many new and unusual battle methods from Dakota, Etorre and Luther. Throughout the Lily of the Valley Conference, he had continuously experimented and steadily improved.
In the previous round, Charizard had completely crushed its opponent by itself using the weak-point targeting technique that Ash had learned from Etorre.
But Ash was still Ash. The moment he said those words, his intentions were clear.
The conflict between him and Paul would end with the same battle style he had always used against him.
He would avenge his defeat in exactly the same way.
Ash wanted to prove it to his Pokémon.
"Hmph. Such a stubborn idiot."
Luther chuckled softly.
Ash looked up, having not heard what Luther had said clearly. However, Luther had no intention of repeating himself and simply brushed it off with a smile.
He really was thick-headed. If Ash had let go of his obsessions and chosen to call back his old Pokémon, Charizard and Snorlax alone would have been enough to defeat Paul and remind him exactly how Ash had conquered the Battle Pyramid all those years ago.
But Ash stubbornly refused, displaying a level of foolishness that left people speechless, and yet, precisely because of that, he was the Ash that Luther remembered.
To Ash, the result itself wasn't important. As long as he proved himself during the battle, that alone counted as success.
So he insisted on sending out the six Pokémon that had been defeated during the Lake Acuity disaster in his battle against Paul.
On reflection, it wasn't that Ash was foolish.
They had simply grown up.
Compared to Ash, they had lost some of their youthful passion.
"Win using your own method. After my match ends, your battle with Paul will begin. I'll be cheering for you."
Hearing this, Ash was filled with motivation, and even Pikachu's eyes sharpened with determination, as if to say that they would not suffer such a miserable defeat again this time.
While Ash and Luther were chatting, Riolu tried to bond with Larvitar.
However, Riolu quickly discovered that Larvitar was very busy.
Soaking in a metal tub filled with mud, it munched on dirt and crushed rocks, asking a waiter to bring over some berries.
With mud smeared all over his face, Larvitar responded to Riolu perfunctorily, nodding no matter what he said.
"If you nod one more time, I'm going to hit you."
Riolu sipped his juice. Seeing that Larvitar was still nodding absentmindedly, Riolu jumped up and kicked him.
Thanks to Brock's training and Ash's good care, Riolu had developed rapidly.
Out of the corner of his eye, Luther saw Larvitar and the metal tub full of mud begin to tilt sideways. Before the waiter could stop it, all the mud spilled out, burying Larvitar underneath.
Pikachu rushed towards the collapsed mound of mud in a state of panic, while Riolu hurried over to help dig Larvitar out after realising he had gone a bit too far.
Ash and Luther had just arrived on the scene when they spotted a grey, angular shape protruding from the dirt.
Riolu pulled out the grey, metallic-looking shape, revealing a pair of small red eyes staring blankly around.
The creature wasn't angry about Riolu's sneak attack. To him, this kind of roughhousing was everyday life.
It was just that his body suddenly felt strange and unfamiliar.
"Pupitar, the Hard Shell Pokémon. Encased in a tough shell, it can still leap around freely. Its hardness and speed give it tremendous destructive power."
Hearing the Pokédex announcement from Ash's device, Larvitar suddenly realized what the sudden heat surging through his body had meant when he was buried under the dirt.
Riolu stared blankly at Pupitar.
Wasn't it Larvitar that had been buried under the dirt? How had digging him out produced this weird-looking guy instead?
Even Pikachu had stopped digging, yet Riolu continued frantically clawing through the dirt, trying to rescue the 'real' Larvitar underneath. It was only when Ash stopped him that he finally realized that Larvitar had evolved.
Riolu was even more stunned. He looked at the foot he had just used to kick Larvitar, completely unable to comprehend how one kick could have turned Larvitar into this.
Only Luther understood.
After a month of constant eating, stuffing himself at every meal until his belly bulged, combined with sparring against all kinds of Pokémon to toughen him up; Professor Oak had said that Larvitar was only one final push away from evolving.
Now it seemed...
It really had been a literal final kick.
The evolution had happened so suddenly that Luther had been completely unprepared for it.
As expected, Professor Oak described the Pokémon as one that could grow rapidly as long as it was fed well enough.
Although the journey from Pupitar to Tyranitar would be extremely long, Luther had already prepared himself mentally for that.
(End of Chapter)
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