Luther, who had planned to return to Sandgem Town, didn't leave immediately; he still had a couple of days of promised activities with Candice.
At the moment, the Pokémon were panting hard, sitting by the field with their heads plunged into water buckets, desperately gulping to rehydrate.
Luther and Candice wiped their sweat as well, drinking cold water to quench their own thirst.
During their recent battle, Luther had discovered two major flaws in his team's overall strategy.
First, his strategy of using Espurr to seize control of the weather was ineffective against dedicated weather teams.
The battle with Candice had completely exposed the weakness of Luther's approach to command. When a focused weather team's Trainer could manipulate conditions through multiple coordinated Pokémon, Luther's Espurr, lacking a strong follow-up ability, was simply wasting stamina trying to wrest control.
This problem was glaringly obvious during their sparring today. When Candice brought out her full Ice-type lineup and built her entire strategy around weather control, she locked down Luther's rhythm completely, leaving him unable to manage the situation.
That was why, in the first two rounds of their sparring, Luther had been thoroughly defeated.
Second, there was the issue of how to keep Chansey on the field for longer periods.
Once Candice recognized Chansey's crucial role in Luther's lineup, she immediately switched to an all-out offensive approach, deliberately abandoning tactical finesse to disrupt Luther's battle rhythm. And she succeeded.
In Candice's words:
"If Chansey's duty is to create breathing room for the rest of the team, then another Pokémon should help her with defense. Or... you need to make Chansey more aggressive. Strengthen her offense and carve out more time that way."
Candice believed that with how durable Chansey already was, adding a bit more offensive pressure would force opponents to struggle much more.
But currently, Luther's use of Chansey leaned toward the conservative.
His training had instilled in Chansey the mindset of "hold the line until the next Pokémon can enter safely." That mental cue, though useful, was also a burden, it made Chansey overly cautious during the battle.
During her fight against Abomasnow, Chansey was clearly at a disadvantage because she had prioritized consistent damage output over raw power, choosing to pull her punches with Fire Punch instead of striking at full force.
While the result, Abomasnow being burned, seemed favorable, Candice quickly pointed out that this was simply luck.
"Luck may count as part of one's strength," Candice said as she sipped her cold water, "but if you can take solid control of a fight, why rely on luck at all?"
Luther pondered deeply. He had to admit that Candice, as an outsider, saw his team much more clearly than he did.
He knew he would need to rethink both his method of using Chansey and his entire approach to weather control.
"So, about what you promised, spending a whole day teaching the academy students…"
"Do I look like someone who'd break their word?" Luther grinned.
"And also…"
Luther blinked. "Also?" Had he promised something else?
"If you make it to greater heights someday," Candice said with a wistful sigh, "just mention me and Snowpoint City. I don't mind being just the background."
She exhaled softly. "This city is too quiet. It's not that quietness is bad, I just wish it had a little more life. I want more Pokémon Trainers to come here."
Luther was silent for a while before smiling and asking,
"Why be the background?"
"I'll tell everyone instead: Candice is a fantastic Gym Leader. Battling her taught me so much. Any Trainer looking to improve should come here and challenge her."
Candice froze for a moment, then suddenly stepped closer, grasping Luther's hand tightly and staring straight into his eyes, her gaze intense and burning.
At that moment, Luther finally understood what it meant for eyes to speak. He could read everything she wanted to say just from that look.
"I want to ask one more time," she said softly. "You really don't want to stay in Snowpoint City?"
Luther met her gaze seriously.
"You already know the answer. Do you really need me to say it?"
Candice's eyes dimmed with disappointment. After a moment, she released his hand and forced a small smile.
"Forget it. Better not to say it out loud."
"By the way, don't forget to come to the academy tomorrow. Be on time."
Waving to him, Candice turned and led her Pokémon back toward the rest area.
Some questions, once asked aloud, lose their beauty. Candice, as a seasoned Gym Leader, understood this, she had the emotional intelligence to know when silence spoke better than words.
For many travelers, Snowpoint City was merely a stop along their journey. To Luther, it was the same, he was just a passerby here. Perhaps one day, he would return to reminisce about the hard-fought battle he had once won, but he would never truly stay.
Just like the Stantler Candice once saw in the mountain cave, when someone offers you shelter from the storm and a bite to eat, you repay them with the fruit you've foraged in the wild. A simple, natural exchange.
The encounters and farewells between people are no different from those between humans and Pokémon. They appear suddenly, without warning, and depart just as quietly.
It doesn't matter who dazzled whose time; what matters are the memories themselves.
The next day, Luther kept his promise. Together with Candice, he gave a practical battle class to the students of the Pokémon Trainer Academy.
The class was essentially an in-depth analysis of the battle between him and Candice, dissecting strategies, timing, and decision-making in real fights.
Although both of them tried to explain in simple terms, much of the high-level strategy was difficult for the students to truly grasp without experience. By the end of the day, most of them looked lost and dazed, and Candice could tell that the full value of the lesson hadn't been realized.
Before leaving, Luther visited the Snowpoint Temple under the guidance of Candice and the temple's maiden.
He knew that within the temple slept Regigigas, the so-called "Toilet King" (a nickname he was quite fond of). In the not-so-distant future, Hunter J and Brandon would battle fiercely here.
Since Brandon and Ash would handle that event perfectly well, Luther saw no need to get involved.
After wandering around the temple with Mai, taking photos as keepsakes, Luther boarded a shuttle bus heading toward Hearthome City.
He had no choice but to hurry, Saigu was waiting for him to evaluate his commitment, and the other trainers who had received their Pokédexes alongside him had already begun their journeys with their starter Pokémon.
The restless heart of a rookie Pokémon Trainer deserved to be understood.
After Luther's departure, Delibird looked around the now-empty Snowpoint Gym and felt a sudden pang of loneliness.
Training Chansey had made her feel like a mentor, and Chansey had been an excellent student, quickly mastering every skill Delibird had taught her.
"Didn't even graduate yet, and she's already vanished," Delibird muttered wistfully.
Inside the rest room, Candice printed out a photo and placed it in a frame.
It was the group picture taken near the end of the academy class, a snapshot of everyone smiling together.
The Core Gym Leaders' chatroom was still buzzing with lively messages.
As she watched the notifications pop up, Candice found herself wondering if maybe she should try harder too.
Perhaps the Elite Four weren't as unreachable as she had once thought. At the very least, Luther had taught her that lesson.
If Luther, who had started with such a weak foundation, could grow at extreme speed, then why couldn't she push herself a little more?
"It's decided," she said aloud, smiling with renewed resolve. "Starting tomorrow, Snowpoint Gym will begin extra training!"
(End of Chapter)
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