Watching Evergreen take his seat, Luther smiled. "You really have nine lives. The underground base exploded into that state, and you still managed to survive."
"Just the old saying, a cunning rabbit has three burrows." Evergreen shrugged. "The escape tunnel I'd prepared ahead of time finally came in handy. Without it, I would've either suffocated from the smoke or burned to death."
Even now, recalling the experience left him visibly shaken.
"Then most people probably think you died down there," Luther remarked.
"Doesn't that make things a lot safer for you?"
He waved over a waiter from a nearby food stall and ordered a set meal for Evergreen.
"Thanks. I actually haven't eaten yet." Evergreen once again wore that gentle, harmless smile.
"Safer? You have no idea. The whole world is hunting me down right now. My wanted posters have probably been plastered all over the neighboring regions by now. Even Champions don't get this much publicity."
If Cynthia and the others had been present, they would have been stunned. Two people who should have been trying to kill each other on sight were calmly chatting over dinner.
Luther was even ordering food for Evergreen, and Evergreen accepted without hesitation, even adding a glass of lemonade to the order, and buying one for Luther as well.
"So you've become immune to the suggestion already." Luther took a sip of the lemonade.
While chewing his food, Evergreen answered casually, "It was just a psychological suggestion. You weren't actually expecting it to keep working on me forever, were you? That's giving me too little credit."
"Not at all." Luther smiled faintly. "I can underestimate a lot of people, but never you. The losses you caused me... I'll never forget them."
Although Luther spoke calmly, the hatred hidden beneath his words was impossible to conceal.
"You weren't exactly easy on me either." Evergreen looked directly into Luther's eyes. "There's something I've wanted to ask you for a long time."
Luther gestured for him to go ahead.
"That day at Moonbow Commerce... were you acting? Or is that really who you are?"
Evergreen took another drink of lemonade, his eyes filled with genuine confusion. He almost had the urge to reach out and touch Luther's face to know whether it concealed a Ditto, or whether he had been wearing a perfectly crafted mask all along.
Evergreen had replayed that day in his mind countless times. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't help admiring Luther's flawless performance. It had been so convincing, so lifelike, that it could have deceived anyone.
Even Evergreen himself had been frightened by it. Although he had later concluded that Luther had only been acting, he still wanted to hear the answer from the source.
"I was acting," Luther answered without hesitation. "I know what you're really asking. You're wondering how I managed to act so convincingly."
Luther picked up his lemonade and held it toward Evergreen. Only then did Evergreen realize Luther was asking him to clink glasses.
'Clink.'
The two of them each took a sip.
"You forced it out of me," Luther said. "If you hadn't cornered me like that, I never could've done it. But I didn't want to die, and I didn't want Mai to die. I wanted to live."
Luther's icy gaze pierced straight through Evergreen, making the hand holding his glass tremble slightly. "You didn't just force out my acting ability..."
Luther reached over and gently lifted Gardevoir's chin.
"My dream used to be simple. I wanted to grow stronger at my own pace and then spend the rest of my life taking it easy. You were the one who pushed me onto a completely different path. You made me become stronger because I was afraid of losing the people I loved. I wanted to protect them... to tell her 'I love you' as soon as possible. I kept driving myself forward because of that. Reaching the Lily of the Valley Conference's main tournament wasn't enough. The Top Eight wasn't enough. I wanted to become Champion."
Luther unconsciously tightened his grip on the glass. "Because only becoming Champion would give me enough money."
"Only then could I realize my dreams."
"Only then could my Pokémon, the woman I love, and I live better lives."
"Only by becoming Champion would my value in the eyes of the Pokémon League become high enough, so high that vermin like you, crawling around in the sewers, would have no choice but to look up at me."
"You wouldn't even dare stretch your filthy claws toward Mai or me."
He paused, a mocking edge slipping into his voice.
"The Hodgepodge Organization truly lives up to its name. You dared ignore Champions and prey on the weak version of me because you relied on your ability to stay hidden. You knew the Champions couldn't track you down. You were nothing but bullies who preyed on the weak. But the moment the Pokémon League merely sneezed, your entire organization panicked. You all scrambled together to figure out what to do, only to be wiped out in a single stroke."
He laughed quietly.
"Can you really call yourselves a villainous organization?"
Luther stood up. Leaning close to Evergreen's ear, he smiled as he whispered, "Don't you think... you're all just rats crawling through filthy sewers... living alongside garbage?"
He sat back down. Watching Evergreen's expression shift from pale to livid, before finally turning bright red with rage, Luther found that the lemonade somehow tasted even better than before.
'So... this is what it feels like.'
Back at Moonbow Commerce, when Evergreen had held his and Mai's lives in the palm of his hand, was this the same feeling of superiority, the same intoxicating sense of satisfaction he had experienced?
No wonder Evergreen was so fond of doing this. It really did feel satisfying.
"So you're saying..." Evergreen asked slowly, "...the reason you've improved so quickly is because of me?"
"You can thank yourself for that," Luther emphasized. Looking back, the old Luther had been completely unmotivated. He had no long-term ambitions, drifting through life at his own leisurely, lazy pace. The reason he had changed so dramatically was because he had met Evergreen.
Evergreen pressed a hand against his temple. For the first time, he found himself wishing he could go back to that afternoon, grab his past self, and drag him away before he ever stepped into Moonbow Commerce. He closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, his composure had completely returned.
"Actually... I wanted to tell you not to underestimate the Hodgepodge Organization."
"Oh, come on." Luther let out a scornful laugh. "How many people in the Hodgepodge Organization are actually worth worrying about anymore? Looking at all of you, the only one with any real fighting ability was Mira. With nothing but a pot full of useless scraps being stirred together, do you seriously think you're going to produce a royal banquet?"
Evergreen had no idea what a "royal banquet" was, Luther frequently used strange expressions that made absolutely no sense to him, but by now, he was used to it. The mockery on Luther's face, together with his sarcastic tone, made the insult unmistakable.
Yet, Evergreen smiled. "Some time ago, I told someone that if public opinion could be guided correctly, if society's attitudes were gradually changed, and the right environment was created... then the Hodgepodge Organization could one day stand openly in the sunlight."
Luther's eyebrows immediately furrowed, a growing sense of unease washing over him. Whether or not such an idea could truly succeed in a world where the overwhelming majority of people genuinely cared about Pokémon, it still represented a fundamental, terrifying change.
Until now, every organization that sought to rival the Pokémon League had relied on military strength. No one had ever seriously tried to change the world by reshaping people's beliefs. That was an extremely dangerous seed to plant.
"He told me…"
Evergreen continued, bursting into self-mocking laughter,
"...that I understood neither the Pokémon League nor the Hodgepodge Organization. At the time, I couldn't understand what he meant. But after the underground mining base exploded, after I escaped with my life, after becoming the world's most wanted fugitive... I finally understood. From beginning to end, I was nothing more than a chess piece in someone else's hand. A disposable one. When I confidently spoke about all those grand ideas, he must have been laughing at how stupid I was."
Evergreen's low growl sent a chill down Luther's spine. From those words, Luther caught hold of a terrifying implication.
"On my way back, I saw the news saying that nearly every leader of the Hodgepodge Organization had been wiped out,"
Evergreen let out a cold laugh.
"The only one still at large was Leader Zero. Now do you understand? My only purpose was to shoulder every last one of his crimes... to become the scapegoat."
---
(End of Chapter)
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