After a beat, the commentator finally found his voice. "Oh my god! Number 6 Rapidash and defending champ number 1 Tauros were one-shot!"
"So this is the level gap?"
Using what looked like an earthquake of a Stomping Tantrum to instantly KO two Pokémon weak to Ground, Mudsdale kept up its top speed, showing no fatigue.
Lucas wasn't worried about those two and their Pokémon, because—
The rumble of van engines snapped Jenny and Arcanine from their daze.
She glanced at the EMTs piling out of a van, then at the sprawled Rapidash and Tauros, and finally at Lucas and Mudsdale's receding backs.
Jenny bit her lip and patted Arcanine. "Let's go, Arcanine!"
Even if Rapidash and Tauros had lost to a sheer level gap, she couldn't stop here.
"Warr!"
Arcanine answered, muscles rippling, wide pads thudding as it sprinted.
Because Mudsdale's serious running left many potholes, Arcanine had to pick intact ground to avoid missteps or a broken leg.
That greatly lowered Arcanine's speed, drained its stamina, and—indirectly—boosted Mudsdale's relative pace.
After all, those thick muddy boots on Mudsdale's hooves weren't for show. No matter the ground, it wouldn't lose balance—even in holes it made itself.
Twenty kilometers to go, back on city asphalt.
Each Mudsdale step into its own earlier craters made the road quake; Lady Aisha and the roadworks folks winced every time, hearts bleeding.
Even with League funding, the rebuild would be costly…
Soon, Lucas could hear faint cheers.
The finish was near.
He looked down at Mudsdale—breathing even, as if five hundred kilometers were a casual stroll—and said softly, "Just the home stretch now, Mudsdale."
For once, the steady Mudsdale couldn't help but whinny brightly, excitement bubbling. Its hoofbeat cadence quickened.
A few minutes later, the commentator's voice boomed from the speakers in their ears.
"Number 26 Lucas and Mudsdale are less than a kilometer from the finish!"
"Eh!?"
"That figure—could it be number 25, Officer Jenny and Arcanine? They've clawed back over the rough terrain!"
The commentator could hardly hide his surprise.
Hearing it, Lucas glanced back.
Arcanine blazed, sprinting at full tilt.
Jenny's face was all focus, her gaze locked on the finish and nothing else.
But even with Arcanine in full burst, almost leaving afterimages—
With the accumulated gap, Mudsdale's top speed, and the ravaged ground, Jenny still fell just short of that scarlet ribbon.
Amid thunderous cheers and the commentator's excited cries, Mudsdale's heavy body broke the tape—victory sealed.
Seconds later, Jenny and Arcanine crossed an already-broken finish.
She was silent for a while. Seeing Arcanine's self-reproach and worry, she rubbed its head, then looked at Lucas and Mudsdale making a victory lap, eyes settling on the bracelet at his wrist. She smiled, relieved.
"We showed everything we had in this marathon."
"Lucas and Mudsdale look like they still weren't going all out. In that sense, I almost feel sorry toward him."
"In any case, their method surprised me—but this loss… I accept it wholeheartedly."
As Jenny spoke with Arcanine, number 7 Grace and Rhyhorn arrived late but finished.
Seeing the star of the moment, she took off her helmet, pulled out a Polaroid, and snapped a selfie with Rhyhorn at the finish. Smiling, she wrote on the back in neat script:
"500-km Pokémon Marathon: Full-ride achievement—complete!"
The Los Platos Town Pokémon Marathon concluded successfully. To cheers, Lucas and Mudsdale stepped onto the podium.
The event was really about community happiness. The gilded trophy was symbolic, and the prize money meant little to Lucas.
As said, nearly the whole town plus many travelers packed the central square.
Taking the endurance trophy and medal from Lady Aisha, Lucas promptly placed them on Mudsdale's head amid gasps.
Mudsdale, steady as the earth, didn't disappoint—standing tall with trophy and medal balanced, posing alongside a smiling-but-slightly-stiff Lady Aisha for the commemorative photo.
Click. Time froze.
Afterward, Lucas winked at Mudsdale, conveying silently:
Lucas: See? I said we'd take photos today. Good thing I washed those mud-caked braids.
Mudsdale: …
Next came short interviews—softball questions. Lucas handled them like a pro.
Then the customary champion's speech.
With a shy smile, he somehow produced stacks of flyers and several sample bottles of Moomoo Milk—and, like a socially anxious salesman, launched into a pitch for his farm's new subscription service, inviting everyone to order the freshest Moomoo Milk.
As he talked, an Oranguru outside precisely handed a flyer to every person—none left on the ground to litter the town.
Down below, waiting for the runner-up ceremony, Officer Jenny was stunned.
They asked for a speech about bonds with your Pokémon, and you… did an ad?
"What do you mean Mudsdale got this strong by drinking Moomoo Milk?"
Jenny glanced at her Arcanine—slimmer than some of its peers—wavered, then quietly took a flyer.
Fresh Moomoo Milk is supposed to be way more nutritious when chilled…
While Lucas spoke, returning customer Naruto outed himself as having subscribed for a month already.
When he mentioned deliveries by Corviknight and Dragonite, the crowd gasped—those who'd wanted to wait now jumped in or wavered.
As for Lady Aisha beside him, her smile had frozen. She was in shock.
Wait—people can advertise like this here?
…
July 25, that night.
Late at night, the small house still blazed with light.
In the living room, the Pokémon split into teams to handle a mountain of mail.
Victini, Alcremie, and Vulpix fetched letters, passing them to Ceruledge, Mimikyu, and Serperior to slice seals with blades or moves.
Swampert delicately picked up a letter, terrified of accidentally ripping it to shreds.
It passed the letter to Luxray. Under the lamp, Luxray's sharp claws gleamed as if to cut the light itself.
Luxray swore it hadn't focused this hard since battling Geeta.
Eyes locked, it brought the claw down—neatly splitting the cute Teddiursa sticker.
Seeing the intact letter, Luxray and Swampert exchanged a look and exhaled in relief.
Meanwhile, since returning to the farm, Lucas hadn't left his seat for hours.
The landline he'd installed for subscriptions hadn't stopped ringing since the event ended.
And not just calls—the mailbox was bursting too.
As noted, lots of people preferred old-fashioned long-distance comms in this world. Hence the packed farm mailbox.
In a way, Professor Oak leaving online comments was the rarer case.
Oranguru was recording orders so frantically its fan almost smoked; even its vast psychic reserves ran dry several times and needed Victini to recharge.
Since Lucas was the only one who could speak aloud without telepathy, he played operator—exhausted but happy.
Time flies when you're busy.
At one point Lucas even had Victini give him a recharge.
Late at night, with all orders finally logged, Lucas and the Pokémon sighed in relief.
Even Victini, the little power bank, was worn out from multiple charges and flopped on Lucas's head, refusing to move.
But the payoff was obvious.
These orders practically sold out a day's entire Moomoo Milk.
Many were sample orders of one or two bottles, but Lucas believed that after tasting Miltank and Skiddo's milk, many would become regulars.
After a short sleep, they worked until the Corviknight lifted off with full crates of milk. Watching Dragonite and the Dragonite leader escort them, Lucas wore a farmer's harvest grin.
The last days of summer vacation felt unusually long.
The marathon win plus the personal ad had huge impact.
With orders flying in, Lucas was ready.
The Corviknight team performed flawlessly, delivering every bottle to doorsteps.
The next day, the mailbox was stuffed again; the phone never stopped.
As Lucas expected, many renewed: Oranguru's stats said about 80% continued for half a month, a month—some even for half a year or a year.
Big orders came from the mayor's residence and the police station.
A single marathon ad made the milk subscriptions bloom all over Los Platos Town.
At Nurse Joy's suggestion, Lucas also visited Mesagoza.
He went to Naranja Academy—now fully renovated and renamed Uva Academy for the next half-year—and borrowed professional texts from the library to study medicine.
Per Nurse Joy's prescription, he bought several gentle herbs. He loaded one set of herbs with Sour Herba Mystica into the younger Shuckle's shell.
Two more sets plus Sour Herba Mystica went into the elder sister Shuckle's shell.
In Johto's Cianwood methods, Shuckle-based brewing takes half a month to a month.
That sounded long, but given how the sister Shuckle halved the fermentation time for juice, this was fine.
As for whether the younger Shuckle would feel inferior to his sister, Lucas had a plan.
He'd start the younger Shuckle on Pokémon battles.
Once he understood he wasn't inferior on another path, Nurse Joy's worries would be resolved.
Lucas's confidence came from the younger Shuckle's broader movepool and finer move control!