When Ash arrived at the spectator stands, Muk was still with him and hadn't gone back into its Poké Ball.
There was no stench; it seemed similar to Milcery. Abilities like this could be controlled. But even without the smell, there were still other problems, like being clingy.
When Brock went up to greet them, Muk immediately hugged him and rubbed all over him, instantly killing Dawn's desire to say hello.
"Where's Luther?" Someone asked.
Candice shook the empty bottle in her hand while saying. "He went to buy drinks."
Because the Battle Stadium was so huge, the vendors selling snacks and drinks couldn't easily be found. Luther had no choice but to go outside the stadium to buy them.
He really wished Team Rocket was already inside selling this kind of stuff, but at this time, they were probably still outside setting up their stand.
Just as he was carrying a bag of drinks, Luther was suddenly stopped by a ten-year-old boy.
Luther looked at him in confusion. As far as he could remember, he didn't know this kid.
"What is it?"
Right after asking, Luther noticed the boy's gaze was locked on Marill, who was eating an ice cream.
"I just watched your match. Can I take a photo with Marill?"
The boy shyly pointed behind him at a couple holding a camera. It was obvious that they were his parents.
Luther glanced at Marill and nudged her lightly with his foot.
Marill didn't stop eating. She kept licking the ice cream, and her tail swayed once, clearly telling Luther to decide for himself.
The boy picked up Marill, who was still licking her ice cream, and happily faced his parents. The man took several photos in a row, completely satisfied.
Luther sipped his drink and realized that Marill hadn't cooperated with the camera at all. She had been eating her ice cream the whole time. He could only sigh helplessly.
Fortunately, the boy didn't seem to mind. After the photos were taken, he patted Marill, thanked them, and left happily with his parents.
"Next time someone wants a photo with you, at least react a little," they said.
Marill held the ice cream stick in her mouth and nodded slightly. It was unclear if she was actually listening or just savoring the taste.
Just as Luther was about to enter, he saw Ash and the others walking out of the stands.
"What's wrong? You're not watching Etorre's match?" Luther quickly asked upon realizing this.
Next was the battle between Etorre and Dakota. Weren't they supposed to watch it together and then go eat lunch?
"It's over. We can wait here for them to come out of the Competitor's Passage."
Mao took drinks out of Luther's bag and handed them to Mai and the others.
"Over already?"
Luther had only gone out to buy drinks. Even with the photo taking about a minute, it should have only taken five or six minutes.
Pre-match prep and registration took time. How could it be over so fast?
Luther raised his head. On the electronic screen outside the Battle Stadium, Dakota's match information had just disappeared, replaced by a new set of competitors.
Inside the Battle Arena, other Pokémon trainers were already battling.
Soon after, Etorre and Dakota emerged from the Competitor's Passage, laughing and chatting.
Behind them followed two Pokémon trainers with utterly defeated expressions.
Their eyes held a mix of unwillingness, fear, and even spite as they looked at Etorre and Dakota.
Luther had already learned what happened from Candice.
Ettore used three Pokémon in three battles: Nidoking, Kingdra, and Ferrothorn.
After evading several of Carnivine's attacks, Nidoking used a single Megahorn to swiftly vanquish Carnivine.
Kingdra was the same. After dodging Flaaffy's Thunderbolt, Kingdra defeated Flaaffy with a single Hydro Pump.
Ferrothorn was probably the only exception. Against Magcargo, it used the disgusting combination of three moves, Leech Seed, Giga Drain, and Protect, to slowly torment Magcargo to death, despite Magcargo's type advantage.
Just seeing that combination of moves made Luther break out in a cold sweat. It was no wonder that one of the Pokémon trainers hadn't left yet and was standing in the distance, glaring at Etorre.
Ettore used his ability to seize weak points and perfect timing to score instant knockouts with Nidoking and Kingdra.
Naturally, Etorre's opponents assumed that Ferrothorn had the same ability.
The reason he didn't finish quickly was simply because he wanted to torture them.
Luther clearly remembered this guy as one of the trainers who had surrounded them in the lounge and caused trouble earlier. Could Etorre's Ferrothorn have crushed Luther instantly? Or did Etorre just want to make Luther suffer this time?
As for Dakota, Candice said he only used three moves during the entire match:
Dark Pulse, Ice Beam, and Shadow Claw.
One move to take down one Pokémon. Aside from the ten or so seconds when the opposing Pokémon Trainer was too stunned to react, the total battle time was less than ten seconds.
Mai said that after the match ended, the noisy stadium fell silent for several seconds.
It was the first time they had ever seen a referee shout, "Battle start!" In less than three seconds, the opponent's Pokémon had lost the ability to fight.
In livestreams and replays, Dakota's opponents were destined to have less than a minute of screen time. Honestly, it was kind of cruel.
As Luther walked, he scrolled through the forum and found that people were already discussing Etorre and Dakota.
In the general discussion thread for the preliminary round, Dakota's name flooded the comments.
"Someone brought a Darkrai to the tournament."
"That's terrifying. Did the match last ten seconds total?"
"Dakota's Gym Battle records only show Darkrai. Did he really beat all eight Gyms with only a Darkrai?"
Aren't all three of the trainers who appeared consecutively insane? I remember there was another match earlier with a trainer named Ash. All three of his Pokémon were tanky and strong. Scary, scary..."
"Etorre was even worse. In the last match, Ferrothorn literally tanked a Fire Blast and didn't go down. Type advantage is fake, isn't it?"
Today's matches make me feel like common sense isn't enough anymore.
Hoping to see some evaluation, Luther scrolled through all the posts he had made after his match started.
But the discussion about him basically went like this:
"Did you guys see that Pokémon Trainer named Luther just now? That Espurr is so cute! Is that a Kalos Pokémon?"
"I want to hold Espurr in my arms and rub her fur."
"That Marill is adorable, too. I want to hug her and squeeze her cheeks."
"I heard that Marill can eat a lot. If I bring food, will she let me hug her and take a picture with her?"
This was ridiculous.
When people talked about Ash, Etorre, and Dakota, they said how strong their Pokémon were and how powerful they were in battle.
But when it came to Luther, all the comments were people wanting to pet his Espurr and Marill.
Was the difference in comments really that huge?
"Well, speaking of which, the one who seemed to have the hardest fight today was probably..." Etorre clearly wanted to bring Luther into the conversation.
Luther accepted it immediately. "Yep, yep. That was me.
You guys all had great luck with your matchups. You got to warm up, show off, and mess around on the spot."
Meanwhile, I got matched with someone who specifically gathered data and countered me…
(End of Chapter)
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