[Excellent pre-read! BP+50]
[Substitute-Protect-Toxic successfully executed! BP+50]
[...]
[Victory achieved — rating: Outstanding! (BP+100)]
[Remaining BP: 470]
Over 400 BP off a single match — genuinely more than Luke had expected. He'd gone in assuming Gastly was heading for a loss; instead, Swellow had folded harder than anyone anticipated.
"Did I... actually train it too well?" Luke muttered, rubbing his chin.
Across the field, Swellow's Trainer, Jordan, was spiraling into a full crisis of confidence. "How does it just keep Protecting like that," he mumbled. "That's not in any training manual I've ever read."
Reporters swarmed the sidelines, flashbulbs going off, microphones shoved practically into Luke's mouth.
"Can you share how you're feeling right now?"
"Word is you're also a popular battle streamer — any tips for our viewers?"
"Teacher Luke! My daughter's a huge fan!"
With the quarterfinals still ongoing, Luke managed to slip away, Gastly in tow, back toward the contestant tunnel.
"I'm actually in the semifinals now?" Luke scratched his head. "I don't feel like we've even trained that much."
______________________________
Next up was Tyler — the fan-turned-rival Luke had met once before. Having watched Luke's entire match, Tyler's understanding of the Substitute-Protect-Toxic combo had deepened considerably.
"Of course Teacher Luke would come to a tournament like this and just bully the field," Tyler murmured to himself. "And deliberately holding Gastly back from evolving too — that's so on-brand it hurts."
Most Trainers pushed for early evolution to maximize combat strength heading into later rounds. Teacher Luke had done the opposite — deliberately equipped an Everstone. The only explanation Tyler could land on was pure, unshakable confidence.
"Wasn't Gastly literally just caught, though?" Tyler frowned. "Training it to this level inside two months... is Teacher Luke secretly a professional breeder too?"
He shook the thought off and refocused. If he could reach the semis and actually spar against Teacher Luke, that alone would be worth the whole tournament.
The evening's final match pitted Tyler's Ivysaur against a sharp-fanged Golbat, one clearly well-trained — it had already picked up the 80-power Leech Seed ahead of schedule. But Tyler, trained under Luke's influence himself, ran his own Leech Seed and Sleep Powder combo with real precision. The two Pokémon traded blows down to the wire, health bars nearly swapping outright, with Ivysaur scraping out the win by the narrowest margin.
______________________________
The quarterfinals wrapped, and word of Luke's semifinal run tore through the entire grade. His phone wouldn't stop buzzing — even Coach Whitman circled back with another team invitation.
Right now, though, Luke was busy turning down an entirely different offer: a sponsorship contract from the Piplup Cup organizers themselves. Signing on would mean $14,000 in annual training funds, plus free equipment and Pokéblock supplies.
None of it held much appeal. Beyond that, contract terms varied wildly depending on standing — a Champion's deal looked nothing like a semifinalist's. With zero intention of pursuing the Trainer path long-term, signing simply wasn't on the table.
The other three semifinalists: Tyler, Hannah, and Crestwood University's Owen. Two out of three, notably, were already fans of his.
"This isn't a semifinal," Luke said, mildly bewildered. "This is basically a fan meetup."
"If I lose to one of my own fans, that's just embarrassing on a whole new level."
He rubbed his chin. "No — time to actually push Gastly's training."
After the Swellow match, faint white light had already started flickering around Gastly's body mid-battle, only held back by the Everstone. Between Green's evolution data and Luke's ongoing Pokéblock regimen, evolution was basically inevitable at this point — just a matter of time.
______________________________
Back home, Gastly finally untied the Everstone from its forehead and let out a long, relieved breath. Luke opened his laptop, turning his attention to planning the next video.
Sitting at 970,000 subscribers off just three videos was, by any measure, an absurd growth curve. He had no shortage of ideas for the "Teacher Luke Teaches You Battling" series — an Anger Point team, a Spikes-stacking team, a Weakness Policy Palossand build — but without fresh footage to back any of it up, quality would suffer.
Then the system dropped a new task, nudging him in a different direction entirely.
[Quest: "I'm Really Not an All-Around Creator"
Objective: Hit #1 on any trending chart (excluding Gaming)
Reward: 2000 BP, 1x Random Skill (Lv3), 1x Random Purple Item
Note: Repeatable quest.]
"This is supposed to be a Trainer-cultivation system," Luke muttered, mouth twitching. "Feels a little unfocused, honestly." A pause. "...Kind of exactly my speed, though."
He mulled over which category to branch into. The Battling section was already dominated by heavyweights like Red. Music and Dance both carried brutal skill floors. After some thought, Lifestyle content seemed like the realistic play.
"Perfect. Gives me an excuse to actually eat better."
A few attempts later, his Cooking skill ticked up a level.
[Cooking Lv2: Significantly improves cooking ability, including knife work and heat control. (You could run a legitimate restaurant with this.)]
Lv3 was still a ways off from actual star-chef territory, but easily enough to carry a food-content channel.
"Gastly, come help me out!" Luke called from the kitchen.
Gastly floated over obediently, watching with open curiosity.
"Keep an eye on the potatoes — pull them off heat after twenty minutes. I'll get the oven ready."
The dish on the menu: a recreation of the very first plate from Food Wars! — crispy bacon-wrapped roast. Golden, tender mashed potato folded with sautéed king oyster mushroom and onion, wrapped tight in bacon, tied off with string, finished with rosemary and a mix of aromatics.
"Gastly, slide this into the oven for half an hour!"
"Kojie!" Gastly guided the tray in with a tendril of Haze.
Sizzle—
Red wine and butter bloomed into a rich, boozy aroma in the pan, thickening into a deep red sauce as the seasonings reduced. Gastly leaned in, inhaling deeply, watching Luke's every move with open anticipation.
Ding—
Timer done. Gastly yanked the oven open before Luke could stop it, and the whole kitchen filled with the smell of roasted meat. Luke plated it on clean white china, drizzled the dark red sauce over the top, and finished with a sprig of rosemary.
He studied the finished plate, satisfied. "Looks pretty solid."
"Kojie (﹃)"
"Want to try it?"
"Kojie!" Gastly nodded so fast it nearly spun in place.
"Careful, it's hot." Luke set up the tripod. "You're officially the first Pokémon food reviewer, by the way."
Gastly grinned, floating the plate in front of the camera with Haze. It blew on the food carefully, tested the sauce with a tentative lick first — and its eyes went straight to slits.
"Kojie~www!"
Knife and fork were, predictably, useless in its case — Gastly just went straight in, tearing off a huge bite of roast. The smell alone was enough to make Luke's mouth water.
"How is it?"
No answer — just Gastly, cheeks fully stuffed, chewing with total commitment, sauce running down its chin, radiating pure contentment.
Gastly: (′▽`〃)
Curious, Luke cut himself a small piece of bacon too.
His eyes lit up instantly. For one vivid second, it was like watching a herd of Tauros thunder off into a golden sunset, red wine fermenting slow in some old wooden cellar, and the two of them — straw hats and all — sitting quietly in an open field, letting the wind roll past.
"Please, excuse the humble hospitality," Luke murmured.
"Kojie!" Gastly looked up from its plate, sauce smeared across its face, grinning wide.
And in that exact moment, a blinding burst of white light erupted from Gastly's entire body.