Monday, July 6th. Last exam behind him, Luke's summer break officially began.
Campus buses lined the road, parents streaming in and out of the dorms, a handful of upperclassmen Trainers weaving through the crowd. Somewhere nearby, Bob was on the phone, mortified.
"Dad — seriously, next time don't send Charizard to pick me up, it draws way too much attention—"
He waved at Luke on his way out. "Brother Luke, see you next semester!"
Luke waved back, watching Charizard's wings carry Bob and his luggage up and out of sight.
"Must be nice being rich," Luke sighed. Despite the family money, Bob's high school grades hadn't been strong enough to land him in Metro City's Fighting Department. Fairness didn't always mean equal footing — the college entrance exam remained, in its own way, one of the only real paths into the Trainer world for people without connections. In some other regions, without family backing, an outfit like Team Rocket ended up looking like the only realistic option left.
______________________________
Luke yawned, backpack over one shoulder, Petal Blizzard drifting lazily off a nearby tree-lined path — right as soft footsteps caught up beside him.
"How's finals prep going?"
Elena, hair pulled into a single ponytail, fell into step beside him.
Luke blinked, mildly caught off guard. Said I'd train seriously yesterday and then spent the whole afternoon napping with Eevee instead.
"Should be fine," he said, coughing lightly. "Honestly, doesn't matter either way — Haunter's already given it everything."
Elena nodded, then went quiet for a moment before speaking again. "My dad wants to meet you."
"...Huh?"
"He watched your battle footage. Wants to bring you on as my private tutor." A faint flush crept across her face. "Mostly for command instincts. I'm still... lacking, in that department."
The Shen family ran a substantial Fairy-type business empire — Pokémon luxury goods, beauty products, the works. Luke had seen Elena's social media before; her second Pokémon was a newly hatched Togepi, which said plenty about the family's resources on its own.
"I'll pass, honestly — my skills aren't that refined," Luke said, declining.
I barely scraped past Gold, of all people, he thought privately.
Elena nodded, stopping in place. "See you next semester, then."
______________________________
The morning's final exam ran just two hours. Luke had figured leaving his two Pokémon home alone for that stretch would be fine — he'd even gone as far as returning Eevee to its ball and explicitly instructing Haunter to keep an eye on things.
He had not expected Haunter to sneak out on its own anyway.
The apartment was empty when he got back — no Haunter anywhere. Thinking about its track record lately, Luke rubbed his temples. "I really never learn."
He released Eevee instead. The groggy little creature rubbed its eyes, letting out a sleepy, endearing growl.
*"Vee? (ω-q)"
"Seen Haunter anywhere?"
Eevee shook its head firmly, side to side.
"Forget it. It'll show up whenever food's involved."
Unease still nagging at him, Luke sighed and carried Eevee into the bedroom, opening his laptop. The long-dormant streaming software chimed back to life.
Room title: "Pokémon Battling! Teacher Luke Is Back!"
Viewers flooded in almost instantly, chat scrolling at full speed.
"HE'S ACTUALLY LIVE"
"dinner and a show, let's go"
"my whole youth just came back to me"
Teacher Luke's familiar, teasing tone kicked in. "Sorry about the radio silence, finals week ate my whole schedule. Strategy content's back on track starting this summer, promise."
"Vee?" Eevee blinked at the camera, head tilted with sleepy curiosity.
"AWSL!!!"
"streamer get out of frame, we need the FULL Eevee experience"
"'Teacher Luke' really out here blocking our view of Eevee-chan, name doesn't check out"
Luke laughed, scanning the chat. "Thanks to 'Has Teacher Luke Eaten' for the plane gift — yeah, already ate, fried rice."
"Thanks to 'For Little Eevee' for the rocket — go on, Eevee, say thanks to your uncle."
"Vee?" Eevee poked at the camera lens with one chubby paw, still visibly half-asleep and confused.
"YOU'RE the uncle, Teacher Luke, your entire family tree is uncles at this point"
"I'm deceased"
"please do not switch scenes I am BEGGING for more Eevee-chan screen time"
Luke settled Eevee onto his lap, stroking its fur gently. It flopped down, reluctant but resigned, tail sweeping lazily against his elbow, ears twitching now and then.
"first time catching this stream, is this just the Eevee channel now"
"Teacher Luke, get OUT"
______________________________
He pulled up matchmaking, and while waiting, killed time with a round of Landlord.
"you online rn? are you secretly a card god"
"streamer's slacking off, I motion Eevee takes over hosting duties"
Unbothered, Luke fanned out his seventeen-card hand and raised an eyebrow. "This hand? You think THIS is beating me?"
"oh no it's spring, everybody run"
The chat dissolved into laughter — Teacher Luke's showmanship as reliable as ever.
Once the actual battle content kicked off, the serious viewers had their notebooks out already.
"Today we're running a Spikes stall build," Luke said. "Regulars already know I usually lean stall — and yeah, stall's a completely legitimate part of competitive battling, dirty as it gets. Just — please don't try this on an actual Gym Leader. I've had at least three of you message me asking for help covering hospital bills already."
"Anyway. Let's get into it."
Luke's lineup: Skarmory, Ferrothorn, Cofagrigus, Amoonguss, Blissey, Tentacruel.
His opponent — playing out of Goldenrod City, Johto — brought: Miltank, Clefable, Wigglytuff, Chansey, Lickilicky, Clefairy.
"wait, is the opponent running a Minimize team too??"
"is this an Attract build?"
"is this ANOTHER Gym Leader??"
Luke's eye twitched slightly. Miltank, specifically, brought back some genuinely painful memories — his old GBA days, fighting Goldenrod's infinite-Rollout Miltank, had left a lasting scar.
Scanning the verified handle — [Goldenrod City Gym Leader Whitney] — Luke smiled coldly.
Payback's finally here.
"Go, Skarmory — Spikes."
Skarmory took to the field first, a cold glint flashing as countless razor-sharp barbs scattered across the ground, seeding the field against any future Rollout attempt.
Whitney reacted instantly. "Miltank, charge Rollout in place!"
"Still trying to Rollout? Skarmory, Whirlwind!"
Getting force-switched out counted as a full loss of tempo in a real match — pairing Spikes with Whirlwind meant constantly bleeding the opponent through forced switches. Add Stealth Rock and Toxic Spikes into the mix, and a proper hazard-stall build could grind almost anything into the dirt.
Whirlwind alone wasn't quite enough to budge Miltank — but a sudden, piercing Roar right after startled it into retreating, and Whitney barely managed to recall it in time.
"Teacher Luke are you even human"
"Whirlwind fails so he just... Roars it out instead?"
"THIS is a hazard stall build and I am OBSESSED"
The field was a minefield of jagged rock spikes and glinting toxic barbs by this point — anything stepping onto it paid a price immediately. After grinding down a Lickilicky, Miltank reappeared and took a brutal double hit from both hazard layers, letting out a pained cry.
Whitney gritted her teeth, recalling her battered Miltank. "Go, Clefairy — Minimize!"
"Skarmory, keep up the Whirlwind."
"You are SO ANNOYING!" Whitney snapped. "Clefairy, Attract!"
Minimized and tucked behind a jagged Stealth Rock spike, Clefairy dodged the Whirlwind attempt entirely, launching a heart-shaped beam toward Skarmory — right as Luke recalled Skarmory and swapped in the genderless Cofagrigus instead.
"THAT'S a read. THAT is a legitimate read."
"Teacher Luke's just completely dismantling a Gym Leader in real time..."
"wait, THIS is the Miltank that wrecked my whole team back in the day, I remember this nightmare"
"is this just two dirty-tactics specialists mutually destroying each other"
The match closed out with Luke's Spikes team taking it 6-2, Miltank thoroughly put down for good. Between the hazard chaos and the sheer entertainment value, the system quietly tacked on close to a thousand BP.
Chat exploded.
"Teacher Luke actually didn't throw the match today??"
"that Ferrothorn tanked THREE Rollouts and still closed out the KO on Miltank, that's just unfair"
"okay I'm actually taking notes this time"
"Teacher Luke please have some mercy"
It wasn't that the wider Trainer world lacked skill — it was that most of Luke's regular audience skewed casual, everyday Trainers. His actual edge — team construction paired with genuine tactical depth — was the kind of thing that had already started catching real attention from people much higher up the food chain.