The second round of the Piplup Cup group stage had every major outlet scrambling. Word had gotten around fast: Gastly's mystery Trainer was finally about to show his face.
Outside the player's tunnel, reporters packed in shoulder to shoulder, cameras slung and ready. Not even the semifinals in past years had drawn a crowd like this. Between the organizers' relentless hype and the rumor mill, Gastly had become the tournament's undisputed favorite dark horse.
"There — is that him?"
"Yeah, that's the Gastly!"
A tall, lean young man in a white shirt walked out, Poké Ball clipped to his hip, Gastly floating faintly overhead. Cameras converged on him instantly.
"How confident are you going into this match?"
"Why'd you skip the earlier rounds?"
"What's your target ranking?"
Luke offered the cameras a polite smile. "Just hoping for no regrets."
What he actually wanted: it's hot as hell out here, I want to go home and sit in front of the AC.
"Sijie!" Gastly snickered quietly, watching Luke sweat it out. Fool. Ghost-type. Heat doesn't touch me.
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The brackets went up: Luke was matched against a high school senior out of Brightwater High. Students on the Trainer track like this one could parlay tournament results, interviews, and a decent record into early admission at Pokémon Academy — a solid opportunity, on paper. The gap in command experience between a high schooler and Luke, though, wasn't subtle.
Luke pre-read the entire match, calling every move before it landed.
"Wait, is Gastly seeing through every single one of Butterfree's moves?"
"That's just the speed gap, Butterfree can't keep pace."
"No, it's the timing — Luke's calls are landing exactly right."
Wreathed in Will-O-Wisp, Butterfree let out a mournful cry and dropped out of the sky. The referee's flag went up a heartbeat later.
"Where did this dark horse even come from?!"
"Heard he's out of Metro City University — not even Fighting Department?"
"The other field just wrapped too!"
Next door, Elena had steamrolled her Union Tech opponent without breaking a sweat, her Granbull once again proving the Fairy family's reputation earned. Anxious in front of her own classmates, but merciless against strangers.
"How am I still winning..." Luke muttered, recalling Gastly, thoroughly baffled.
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As he headed out of the tunnel, someone stepped directly into his path — tall, thin, Poké Ball clipped to his shorts, practically vibrating with excitement.
"Teacher Luke! Teacher Luke!"
"I'm Tyler! Huge fan! Level ten member on your channel!"
Luke thought it over — no recognition at all. Level ten, though, meant this guy had probably been around a while.
"Ah, right, you." Luke smiled easily. "Go ahead, no rush."
"My stream handle's 'How Does Bulbasaur Substitute-Protect-Toxic.'" Tyler scratched his head, grinning sheepishly. "Thanks to your advice, it's already evolved!"
"That's genuinely impressive — running a starter as your lead." Luke raised an eyebrow. "You're competing here too?"
"Yeah! Already made the top sixteen."
Something clicked in Luke's memory — Bob had mentioned this guy before. A Fighting Department freshman out of Crestwood University, parents both seasoned Grass-type Trainers, and he'd made the school team in his first year, no less. Family pedigree that put him right up there with Elena — arguably a notch stronger.
"That's great, keep it up — go win the whole thing," Luke said, clapping him on the shoulder.
"No, no, no." Tyler shook his head fast. "With you in the field, second place is the ceiling for the rest of us."
"My Gastly might not even beat your Ivysaur," Luke said, half laughing, half exasperated.
"Don't joke around! If you actually brought out your real team, none of us combined would stand a chance."
Tyler had watched Luke's tactical work firsthand — sharp enough to match a Sinnoh Grass-type Gym Leader blow for blow. In his mind, the logic was airtight: no ordinary Trainer commanded like that. Which meant Teacher Luke had to already be a serious Trainer who just happened to pick up a Gastly right as the Piplup Cup kicked off — someone who normally wouldn't bother with a rookie tournament at all, only entering to help level up his new catch. The fact that he'd skipped the first two rounds entirely and let Gastly fight solo? Case closed, as far as Tyler was concerned.
"Just getting to compete in the same tournament as you is enough for me," Tyler said, bowing deep.
In a certain sense, his theory wasn't completely unreasonable. A Trainer's real strength came down to command skill plus their Pokémon's raw power — and someone who could go toe-to-toe with Master-tier Trainers surely couldn't only have one Gastly to his name. Impossible. And he was so young, too.
Tyler's admiration ran like a river with no end in sight. Someone at that level, entering the Piplup Cup with a freshly caught Gastly? That's not a competition, that's a massacre waiting to happen. Please, please don't let me draw Teacher Luke.
Luke clicked his tongue. He's not wrong, technically. Except the actual problem is I genuinely don't have another Pokémon.
"It's just the one Gastly," Luke said, thoughtful.
"You only brought one?" Tyler's eyes lit up even further.
"...Sure, we can call it that."
Luke waved, tired. "Catch you on stream tonight."
"Don't worry, Teacher Luke, I'm sending a gift the second I get home!"
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Back at the apartment, the group chat was already lit up over some new video on YouTube. Since this particular crowd tended to post in Japanese out of sync with everyone else, Luke had split them off into their own smaller chat. Current members: World Champion Red, Kanto Champion and Viridian Gym Leader Blue, Sinnoh's Grass-type Gym Leader Gardenia, Viridian power-user Yellow, the perpetually upbeat Hoenn Electric-type Gym Leader Wattson (still sore about losing to Luke last time and constantly angling for a rematch), and the currently unemployed Gold.
Gold's self-appointed title was "The Hatcher" — which Luke genuinely respected as one of the more broken abilities among the Pokémon Adventures cast. Every egg he hatched came out at minimum 5V, a stat dream most breeders would kill for.
Gold: Oh my GOD the top video on YouTube is insane right now
Yellow: (ω) watched it too, so cool
Blue: Lucian made way too many mistakes. He actually had a shot if he'd played it cleaner.
Wattson: Hah! Watching this makes an old man want to get back in the ring!
Red: ...
Red, typing painfully slowly as always, had only managed an ellipsis and was clearly stewing over something.
Teacher Luke: what video
Gold: just go watch it yourself! get online early tonight, I'm crushing you this time
Teacher Luke: ?
Gardenia: ahh, Cynthia is just too cool...
Cynthia?
Luke scratched his head and pulled up the video, still confused. Sitting right at the top of the trending page:
"Sinnoh League Champion Challenge: Cynthia vs. Lucian."