That fight I struggled with for over ten attempts, and he just... cleared it? That easily?
Cynthia sat there, genuinely stunned. Are we even playing the same game right now?
Luke's voice came through the team chat. "Boss, get over here quick, found some rare drops!"
Cynthia perked up instantly, eyes brightening. "Don't touch anything, I'm coming!"
______________________________
Evening light spilled through the window, a flock of Pidgey chirping their way home outside. Through the headset, Luke's voice came out tired, faintly lazy, like a stretch mid-yawn.
"Logging off."
"Okay."
He yawned again. "Book ahead of time next round, my schedule's packed."
Cynthia considered that for a beat. A Master-tier Trainer can't realistically be free on a whim every time. Reasonable expectation.
"Okay," she said, obedient, brushing her hair back, entirely sincere. "I'll make sure to schedule next time."
Luke chuckled. "By the way — why do you always run Garchomp?"
Cynthia opened her mouth to answer — right before Luke cut back in, teasing.
"Wait, don't tell me you're a Cynthia fan too?"
"...Hm." She hesitated.
What exactly would the reigning Sinnoh Champion look like, constantly badgering a stranger into playing games with her? Even setting aside whether he'd believe it, dropping her real identity online was a foolish move regardless.
She smiled instead and turned it back on him. "Are you a Cynthia fan?"
"Yeah. Genuinely." Something almost wistful crept into Luke's voice. "Been a fan since I first watched Diamond and Pearl."
"What's Diamond and Pearl?"
"Ah, nothing — just a nickname for one of the Master League runs."
"You could always challenge her directly, in the actual League," Cynthia said, tone carefully even.
"Nah. Not trying to be a Trainer."
Luke glanced over at Haunter, currently rubbing its stomach with theatrical, teary-eyed dissatisfaction.
"Kojie..." — feed me, I'm STARVING, look at me.
Luke laughed. "Logging off for real this time — catch you around!"
Cynthia started to say something else, then let it drop into a soft, quiet "...mm."
"One more thing."
"What?"
"Have you ever heard Primarina sing? Your voice reminds me of it a little."
A faint smile crossed her lips. "Thank you. Your Japanese is quite good too."
Luke laughed once more. "See you around!"
Then he was gone.
In her room, Glaceon hopped gracefully into Cynthia's lap, resting its head against her chest. She tucked her hair back and stroked it absently, murmuring to herself.
"A tactical genius... who doesn't want to be a Trainer?"
A small smile settled onto her face, slowly deepening into something genuine.
"How interesting."
______________________________
Luke pulled off his headset and let out a long breath. Called it. There's no way that was actually Cynthia.
The Garchomp had gotten under his skin enough to test the theory — he'd floated her name casually, half-expecting some kind of tell. Instead, her tone hadn't shifted an inch; if anything, she'd played it like meeting a fellow fan.
"Yeah, definitely overthinking this," Luke said, shaking his head. "No way the actual Alliance Champion has this much free time to game every single day."
Whoever this rich woman actually was, though, she was genuinely generous — and even without knowing what she looked like, that voice alone did plenty of the imaginative heavy lifting.
Luke smacked his own cheek, hard.
"You're supposed to be building something real here!"
"Sure, this is easy money... but you can't just coast on charm forever!"
His phone buzzed.
Vegetable Ice Cream: Send me the invoice, don't want to forget.
Teacher Luke: Will do.
Haunter, having watched the entire exchange float by, gave Luke a flat, unimpressed look.
"Kojie?" — that's really it?
"Being a paid companion isn't the same as freeloading," Luke argued back. "This is a legitimate skilled service—"
What followed was a long, only partly coherent rant covering "Pokémon upkeep is genuinely expensive" and "I really don't want to be a Trainer."
"Kojie kojie~!! o(≧▽≦)ツ"* Haunter burst out laughing, filling the room with a brief, warm sort of chaos.
______________________________
Time moved fast, and review week arrived right on schedule. The first episode of "Teacher Luke's Midnight Diner" had climbed to third place on the Lifestyle chart — narrowly trailing Professor Oak's own backyard documentary series at #1.
Oak himself wasn't personally on YouTube, but he kept a dedicated team running daily uploads — high-def footage of the Pokémon roaming his property.
"Pancham is SO cute~~"
"a whole HERD of Tauros, what"
"tens of thousands of acres and you're calling this a 'backyard'??"
Luke watched a solid half hour of Pancham content, hit like, and moved on, thoroughly satisfied.
______________________________
Lunch was bacon and eggs. Haunter, with unexpected elegance, tucked a napkin over itself and worked through the meal with actual knife and fork technique.
Luke raised an eyebrow. "Pack a bag later, we're heading to my hometown."
"Kojie?"
Having skipped a proper trip home over the actual summer break, Luke figured review week was as good a window as any to visit his parents. His hometown sat tucked between mountains and a river, roughly a two-hour trip out from Metro City.
Bags packed, gifts sorted for relatives and neighbors, they boarded the high-speed rail, followed by another thirty minutes on a connecting bus. The air shifted somewhere along the way — earthier, cleaner, the sky opening up wide, the gentle sound of the river carrying in through the windows.
"Behave yourself out there," Luke warned. "Don't go scaring anyone."
"Kojie!" Haunter, hauling a stuffed duffel bag, nodded with total confidence.
At the village entrance, a pigtailed little girl on a scooter spotted Luke and immediately abandoned the scooter mid-ride, sprinting over.
"Big Brother Luke!"
She flashed a gap-toothed grin and threw herself straight into his arms. Luke laughed and ruffled her hair.
"Lucy. Miss your big brother?"
"Mom said you'd definitely bring presents!" Lucy said, suddenly shy.
"You little goblin. Here." Luke pulled a shrunken Poké Ball from his pocket and pressed it into her palm. "Your gift."
"A... a Poké Ball?" Lucy stammered. "Big Brother, isn't this crazy expensive?"
Market price on a standard Poké Ball ran around $70 — no wonder she looked hesitant to even hold it.
"Your mom mentioned you've been wanting to catch a Pidgey," Luke said, smiling. "We'll head up the mountain together this afternoon."
Lucy's whole face lit up, and she flung herself around his neck, planting an enthusiastic kiss on his cheek. "Thank you, Big Brother!"
Haunter, taking the cue, floated out from behind Luke and happily mimicked the gesture, poking its own cheek expectantly.
Lucy froze — then went rigid head to toe and burst into tears.
"MOMMY, THERE'S A GHOST!"
Haunter froze too, frantically digging through the luggage for tissues, but she'd already bolted, sobbing, back toward the house.
"Kojie..."
Haunter's head drooped, its whole complexion fading to a dull grayish-white.
Luke patted it, trying to console it. "Want me to kiss you instead?"
Haunter shot him a look of pure disgust, then floated ahead with the luggage, thoroughly dejected.
A small pang of something wistful hit Luke, watching it go. You've really changed since evolving, haven't you.
Before he could dwell on it further, Haunter had already drifted well ahead, nearly at the village gate.
"Hey — wait up!" Luke called after it. "And don't scare anyone else while you're at it!"