The second round of matches remained uneventful.
Marill's Strength appeared to have increased further. When facing Lanturn today, the power of that 'Brute Force' attack exceeded Luther's expectations.
Ash fielded Charizard, Bulbasaur, and Glalie today.
As in the first round, he continued practicing the vital-point grappling technique that Etorre had mentioned. The three Pokémon split their time on the field evenly, adapting to the rhythm of the battle and fine-tuning their performance.
Afterwards, discussions with Etorre and Dakota revealed that everyone agreed that Charizard exerted tremendous pressure on opponents. Next was Bulbasaur; despite not evolving, its capabilities were astonishing.
Etorre's team lineup was exactly as Luther had predicted: Drifblim, Chandelure, and Excadrill.
Chandelure performed a combination of Curse and Will-O-Wisp, successfully forcing back the opponent's first Pokémon. Then, using Shadow Ball, it finished off the second Pokémon that was forced to enter the field.
Both Drifblim and the Rat-Headed Earth Dragon ended their battles with a single strike.
Seeing this, the commentator no longer seemed as shocked as at the beginning. Luther guessed that Ash and Etorre had already made it onto the commentator's 'watch list'; just seeing their names was enough for them to get mentally prepared.
The most unremarkable match, of course, was Dakota's. Darkrai ended the battle in just three moves, as usual. His opponent was still trembling when he emerged from the players' tunnel.
After the matches, the group hurried to the restaurant. Today, the ranks of the 'big eaters' have gained another member: Charizard. They had to get there early.
Snorlax and Charizard shared a table, and Marill and Larvitar also found a place to sit.
Luther had just reached towards the serving counter to get some food for Mai when a middle-aged man in a white chef's uniform approached him.
"Mr. Luther?"
Luther paused, then nodded.
"Your Marill and Larvitar have enormous appetites, which has increased the restaurant's workload. We've arranged to have quite a bit of seabed soil transported for your Larvitar. You don't mind if we feed it more, do you?"
Luther suddenly understood. Cynthia had messaged him last night, saying that she had found a solution to Larvitar's craving for soil. So this was her solution.
Feeling embarrassed, Luther nodded repeatedly. Although the restaurant was buffet-style and contestants could take as much as they wanted, Luther's Pokémon had truly exceptional appetites. This was probably a rare occurrence in the Sinnoh League's long history.
After receiving Luther's permission, the head chef instructed the staff to bring several special dishes to their table, items that were not available at the self-service counter.
"We didn't order these," Mai quickly said.
"These were ordered by Bertha. She said that since you're letting your Pokémon eat freely, you might be embarrassed to order more food, so she ordered them for you. She told you not to be polite."
Hearing Bertha's name stirred something in everyone's hearts. The information that had been circulating lately was becoming increasingly clear:
Elite Four member Bertha was preparing to resign from the Pokémon League to train her successor for her Ground-type team.
This elder, who had once dethroned the Champion, briefly held the title herself before relinquishing it, thereby creating the opportunity for Cynthia, and then returned to her Elite Four position, about to begin enjoying the rest of her life.
Hakuya and Junna had also sent messages to Luther. They had arrived in Lily of the Valley Island and were staying with Bertha and the other competitors, preparing for Elite Four matches.
For a period of time, they would undergo comprehensive evaluations by the Pokémon League. Only those who passed the first stage would have the opportunity to compete based on battle strength.
Suddenly, the phone and the Pokédex both vibrated. This time, Luther, Etorre, Ash, and Dakota all put down their forks, chopsticks, and food simultaneously.
At this hour, such synchronized vibrations could only mean one thing: the Pokémon League had sent out the next round's battle roster.
This was the final round of direct elimination. Out of 266 contestants, 133 would be eliminated.
Luther took a deep breath and pulled out his phone.
"If none of you are going to check, I'll look first."
Slowly unlocking the screen, he opened the message from the Pokémon League. When he saw that his opponent was from Pastoria City, he let out a sigh of relief.
Seeing Luther's expression, Etorre unlocked his phone and smiled at Dakota beside him.
Dakota turned his screen toward Etorre.
Ash didn't even need to take out his Pokédex. The four of them let out a sigh of relief at the same time and happily resumed eating.
The scariest moment had passed.
Once the direct elimination round ended, the tournament would move into the group points stage. In that format, even if they were placed in the same group, there was no way any of them would be eliminated given their strength.
While Luther and his group were in high spirits, some other Pokémon trainers were far from pleased.
On the forum, Etorre, Ash, and Dakota had already received "special attention." Because of all the discussion about them, the Pokémon League moderators had opened dedicated threads for each of them.
Besides those three, one more person received the same treatment:
Ash's rival, Paul, had also delivered a dazzling performance in the preliminary round, proving himself to be unstoppable as he defeated everything in his path. In two matches, he only used Drapion and Ursaring, winning both with ease.
The Pokémon Trainers who were randomly drawn as these four opponents couldn't laugh at all. Some looked as if their world had ended. Some trembled all over. Others questioned their life choices.
Dakota's thread was the most active. Everyone was speculating about what other trump cards he might have. After all, among all the advancing contestants so far, Dakota was the only one who had used just a single Pokémon.
Ash's thread was filled with discussions about how his unevolved Pokémon could possess such incredible battle strength. How exactly was he pulling it off?
Etorre's thread was the most interesting. Contestants guessed how many well-trained Pokémon Etorre had in reserve.
Someone had secretly taken photos of Etorre's team lineup in the Contestant Village and discovered that he wasn't simply rotating between two lineups; he had additional Pokémon being transferred over.
Luther was extremely curious about this as well. After traveling across multiple regions over the years, just how many Pokémon had Etorre accumulated and trained? Judging from his current lineups, Etorre seemed capable of assembling four rotating teams, perhaps even more.
Ettore simply smiled and said one word: "Secret."
Meanwhile, Luther was still the one being teased.
It was rather strange. Marill had delivered explosive performances in two consecutive matches, yet Luther's discussion popularity remained low.
Searching for "Luther" and "Marill" in the preliminary round thread mostly brought up comments like "Marill is so cute" and "Espurr is so cute."
The discussion never shifted toward battle strength.
Take the match that had just ended, for example; the conversation once again focused on something odd.
"I heard from others that Luther's Marill eats quite a bit."
"That depends on how you define 'quite a bit.' At the very least, when I went to the restaurant, she could finish the equivalent of two food carts."
"By the way, where's Luther's Espurr today?"
Larvitar was also very happy. He had been invited to a private dining room where two restaurant staff members were assigned to feed him.
The room was filled with large metal cans containing soil that made his appetite surge. With berries in one hand and dirt in the other, he could eat whatever he wanted. Larvitar felt as if he had arrived in heaven.
Meanwhile, the Head Chef was congratulating himself for finding the optimal solution the day before.
Watching Larvitar dive headfirst into a huge can of soil and dig around for a few moments, only for the soil level in the entire container to drop visibly at an alarming rate, the head chef broke out in a cold sweat.
'How could that Pokémon Trainer named Luther possibly afford to raise both Marill and Larvitar with that eating speed and appetite? Did his family own a mine?'
'If so, did he also raise an Aggron at home?'
The head chef couldn't help but let his imagination run wild.
(End of Chapter)
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