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Perhaps because the scene moments ago had been so visually shocking, even after the referee announced the result of the battle, the entire stadium remained silent.
Luther and Dakota were also somewhat stunned.
Neither of them moved.
For a moment, it felt as though time itself had frozen inside the battle arena.
After a brief moment of daze, Mismagius suddenly lunged toward the exhausted Gardevoir, who was swaying slightly from fatigue.
Then came Azumarill.
Then Jumpluff.
Then Darkrai.
Once the frozen scene was broken, the audience watched as Gardevoir was surrounded by her teammates, who rubbed against her affectionately from every direction.
Gradually, applause began to spread throughout the stadium.
Pulled back to reality by the cheers coming from all sides, Dakota glanced at Gardevoir, then at Luther, who had only just recovered from his own daze, before quietly leaving the field.
There would be plenty of time to talk later.
For now, Luther should enjoy this moment on his own.
In the spectator stands, Ash stood up.
Tournament officials were already reminding him to prepare for his upcoming match.
Luther had once made a promise to him: If Ash defeated him in the finals, he would reveal the secret behind how he knew so much about Ash.
Just as Luther had said, he had advanced to the final stage ahead of time and was now waiting there for Ash.
Now it was Ash's turn to fulfill his part of the promise, defeat his opponent and reach the finals.
Pikachu's fighting spirit burned brightly.
Watching the previous battle had filled him with enthusiasm. As one of the witnesses to that promise, he was also curious about Luther's secret.
Today, he intended to perform at his very best, help Ash reach the final stage, and hear that secret from Luther's own mouth.
Back in the spacious and now-empty contestants' lounge, Luther was extremely excited.
Aside from winning the battle itself, the thing that made him happiest was naturally Kirlia's evolution into Gardevoir.
With Mismagius's assistance, Chansey had finally thawed out.
Thanks to her astonishing recovery abilities, Chansey was suffering from nothing more than exhaustion.
Besides Gardevoir, the other five Pokémon that had participated in the battle were curiously examining her.
Everyone had been too excited after the victory, cheering and celebrating without restraint.
Now that things had finally calmed down, it was only natural that they wanted to get acquainted with Gardevoir all over again.
Mismagius floated around Gardevoir in a circle.
After staring at the hem of Gardevoir's dress for a moment, she suddenly dove straight underneath it.
Darkrai reacted instantly and grabbed Mismagius before she could succeed, ruining her prank.
A moment later, the slow-to-realize Gardevoir noticed Jumpluff emerging from beneath her skirt and finally understood what had happened.
She immediately glared at Jumpluff.
Jumpluff, however, was completely unconcerned.
Back when Ralts had been a tiny little thing, Jumpluff had already seen everything.
The same had been true during Kirlia's stage.
Naturally, Gardevoir should be no exception.
Luther coughed loudly.
Jumpluff turned around at the sound.
Mai, Etorre, and the others had been standing outside the lounge and had witnessed the entire scene.
Now they were all staring at Jumpluff.
Jumpluff's expression changed instantly.
Being very concerned about how outsiders viewed her, she suddenly realized that Luther had done this on purpose. He had clearly heard people approaching, yet he hadn't stopped her, allowing her to embarrass herself in front of everyone.
With a series of angry cries, Jumpluff leaped into the air and launched a flying kick straight at Luther's face.
Only to discover that Psychic power had stopped her in midair.
Furious and panting heavily but unable to do anything about it, Jumpluff turned her head away and refused to look at Luther or anyone else.
Etorre extended his fist toward Luther.
"Honestly, before the match started, I thought Dakota had a better chance of winning than you."
Luther answered candidly.
"Your feeling wasn't wrong. He really did have a great chance of winning. It was a very difficult battle for me, and I relied on a few tricks."
"There was no trickery involved. You won. That's all there is to it." Dakota's voice came from outside.
Mai, Mao, and the others stepped aside, allowing Dakota to walk through and stop in front of Luther.
"You won, and I lost. That's the result." Dakota's voice was calm.
"The moment you won that match, you became stronger than me. There's no doubt about that."
"Winning through tricks? Nothing like that."
Dakota stroked the Girafarig beside him as he continued,
"If my strength had been greater, if my thinking had been clearer, I wouldn't have fallen for so many traps. The fact that I lost is proof that my own strength wasn't enough."
Dakota had always been very indifferent toward victory and defeat.
He was the kind of person who could accept a loss.
He never looked for excuses.
Making excuses was nothing more than avoidance—a sign of weakness—and he despised such behavior.
"I have a few questions."
Dakota took a deep breath.
"Go ahead," Luther replied.
Dakota looked toward Gardevoir.
"During the battle with Slaking, what was that technique that dismantled the outer layer of energy surrounding Giga Impact?"
"I've seen many outstanding Psychic-type Pokémon and battled quite a few of them myself. I've never heard of or witnessed anything like that. The remaining energy was even redirected back at Slaking by your Gardevoir. That's not something that can be explained by a move."
Etorre rubbed his chin.
"I've sparred with Miss Caitlin before, and I've also seen Cynthia spar with her. Not only is she an exceptional Psychic-type Trainer, she's also a rare psychic herself. Yet even she doesn't seem capable of a technique like that."
Seeing Luther hesitate, Dakota immediately said,
"It seems to be a very unique technique. I was being presumptuous. My apologies."
Hearing Dakota apologize surprised everyone.
For him to say sorry meant that he believed his question had crossed a line.
Even Etorre couldn't help but apologize as well.
In the world of Pokémon Trainers, certain special techniques were deeply personal.
They were often considered a trainer's signature methods and were not casually shared with others.
Even though the four of them frequently exchanged information, they all understood where the boundaries lay and chose not to press the matter further.
However, the reason Luther was hesitating wasn't because he was deciding whether to reveal the secret.
It was because he genuinely had no idea how to explain it.
"I don't know what that technique was either."
The entire lounge fell silent.
Everyone froze.
At the moment when Slaking and Kirlia had collided, if not for that mysterious technique, the Kirlia who had not yet evolved into Gardevoir would most likely have been severely injured.
Whether she could have continued battling afterward was questionable.
That desperate, all-or-nothing maneuver…
Wasn't it Luther's command?
Wasn't it something he had planned in advance?
"I really don't know."
Luther spread his hands helplessly.
"I just vaguely heard Kirlia's voice telling me to trust her. So I let her make her own decision."
Dakota's body trembled slightly.
He stared into Luther's eyes.
After a long moment, he let out a deep sigh and laughed bitterly.
"Looks like that's exactly why I lost."
One dared to gamble.
One dared to trust.
At the decisive moment of the battle, Luther had entrusted the choice to his Pokémon based solely on a single sentence, despite not understanding the situation himself.
It sounded absurd.
Yet Luther and Gardevoir had proven everything with their victory.
"I have one more question."
Dakota continued.
"Were all those techniques specifically prepared to deal with me?"
It wasn't a strange assumption.
After all, before today's battle, Luther had never displayed any of them.
"Not exactly prepared for you..."
Luther scratched his head.
"It's just that none of my previous matches required them. There was no need to use them. But battling you was different. I had to go all out if I wanted any chance of winning."
Being acknowledged by an opponent felt pretty good.
A faint smile appeared at the corner of Dakota's mouth.
Although...
The battle experience itself hadn't been very enjoyable.
Those techniques were really dirty.
Especially Jumpluff's nonstop trash talk.
Even after the match ended, according to Nurse Joy at the Pokémon Center, Froslass had still been sulking angrily.
No one knew what exactly Jumpluff had said.
(End of Chapter)