"Hmm? You don't look so good. Didn't sleep well last night?"
Early morning. Cynthia looked at Sato's slightly pale face and couldn't help but ask.
"Eh? I'm fine, really!" Sato beamed. He still hadn't come down from the excitement of Gengar's breakthrough 'Fufufu~'.
With Gardevoir, Tyranitar, and Zoroark added in, Sato now officially had four genuine Elite Four level Pokémon; not ones temporarily boosted by Dark Energy.
And now, he had finally caught up to Cynthia… in number!
Watching Sato giggling nonstop in front of her, Cynthia began to wonder what kind of shock he had gone through. Maybe she should ask Nurse Joy to come take a look…?
"…Ahem!"
Finally regaining his composure, Sato noticed Cynthia's doubtful gaze. He quietly suppressed his smugness and tried to keep a straight face!
Three seconds later…
"Sehehe…"
"…"
---◓---
When Sato and Cynthia arrived at the dining table, they found two people already seated.
One was Volkner. The other was someone Sato knew very well…
"Yo! Hehehehehe, we meet again! Let's have a man-to-man battle!"
Red afro, baggy hip-hop jeans, and a fiery personality… who else could it be but Flint?
"Long time no see!"
Sato smiled and bumped fists with Flint, but didn't respond directly to his challenge. Instead, he turned toward Cynthia.
"Let me introduce. This is my friend, Cynthia.
This is Flint, currently the top-ranked Elite Four candidate in the Sinnoh League!"
"Hello." Cynthia nodded politely.
"Hiya! Elite Four Bertha mentioned you to me. You're strong!" Flint's eyes gleamed, almost sparkling.
Cynthia smiled and extended an invitation. "I know who you are too. Let's battle sometime!"
"All right!!"
Flint slapped the table in excitement!
…Only to be met with a chilling glare from beside him.
Volkner gave him a side glance, then subtly raised his chin and said, "Eat first."
"Oh~"
Flint obediently sat down, picked up a steaming hot ham-and-egg sandwich, and began devouring it in huge bites.
So good!
---◓---
After the meal, Flint stopped Sato and Cynthia as they prepared to head to Lily of the Valley Island.
"The President already heard about what happened at the Sunyshore Power Plant. He said you can decide what to do with Magmortar. You'll know best where it should go.
Also, the reward for this mission has been converted into points as usual. You can redeem your rewards anytime on the internal system."
"Got it." Cynthia nodded to show she understood.
Then Flint flipped out a mission assignment form and handed it to both Cynthia and Sato.
"This one's from the Kanto Headquarters. Direct order from President Charles Goodshow. Take a look…"
As he said this, Flint's tone and expression shifted subtly.
Sato and Cynthia exchanged a glance, then looked at the mission form together.
…A minute later, both lifted their heads, exchanged an awkward look, and then turned their eyes away.
"So…! I'm just the messenger. You two carry on with whatever you need to do. I'm gonna go hang with Volkner now!"
With that, Flint dashed off before either of them could say a word, apparently forgetting all about the battle he just asked for.
Now only Sato and Cynthia were left standing there, silently awkward.
Finally, Sato broke the silence.
"The President was probably just joking. A public-funded vacation or whatever… It's not like we're short on money…"
"Sounds good."
"…Hm? What did you say?"
"I said, a 'vacation' sounds great. We haven't taken a break in a while, so let's treat this as some time to relax!"
Sato blinked as he looked at Cynthia's bright, smiling face, and his heart skipped a beat… then another.
"Alright… where do you want to go?"
Cynthia took out the Heavy Ball containing Magmortar and said softly, "Let's deal with this trouble first."
"Yeah!"
As they left the dining hall, Sato discreetly slipped the mission assignment form into his backpack.
Written clearly on the form:
[In light of their recent efforts, Yuga Sato and Cynthia are granted a one-month public-funded vacation. All expenses incurred during this period will be covered by the League.
Signed: President Charles Goodshow]
And the very first thought that crossed Sato's mind when he saw the form…
'That old man… is so sneaky!'
And then… he took it all back.
Bidding farewell to Flint and Volkner, who were still goofing around, Sato and Cynthia each sent out Togekiss and Honchkrow, preparing to depart.
"Keep up!"
As soon as Cynthia finished speaking, Togekiss flapped its wings once and soared into the sky. Another flap, and it had already become a white dot.
"Honchkrow!"
"KROOOW!"
Not to be outdone, Honchkrow let out a loud cry, spread its massive wings, and also launched upward with a powerful flap.
In the next moment, the sky held only one black and one white speck; both quickly shrinking until they disappeared.
---◓---
Less than a week later, Sato and Cynthia once again arrived at Sinnoh's tallest and most mysterious mountain range: Mt. Coronet.
Mt. Coronet divides Sinnoh into east and west. Due to the stark environmental differences on both sides, Sinnoh even developed two color variants of Gastrodon, blue and pink.
This time, Cynthia brought Sato to the northwestern region of the range, an even more desolate and remote area.
Along the way, Cynthia offered no explanations. She simply pressed ahead, seemingly giving them both some time to adjust.
Finally, Cynthia had Togekiss stop and land on a small hill.
Sato patted Honchkrow, who immediately understood and slowed its descent to land beside Togekiss.
Once on the ground, Sato noticed the place was unexpectedly hot; even though, based on the location, it should have been colder.
But he quickly realized the reason.
"This is… an active volcano?"
"Sure, something like that. It's coming!"
Just as Cynthia spoke, the little mountain began to tremble slightly, and the temperature rapidly started to rise.
Moments later, a massive four-legged beast slowly emerged from the churning molten earth.
A brown body, silver-gray outer shell, and glowing red-orange spots flaring up across its body like a furnace on the verge of explosion.
Yeah… pretty ugly.
But no matter how ugly it looked, this Pokémon was clearly an extremely rare… Legendary Pokémon!
Heatran!
Sato hadn't expected Cynthia to have a Legendary "friend". Judging by the familiarity between them, it was obviously more than a casual acquaintance.
Had he ever seen a Legendary Pokémon waddle up and tilt its chin so someone could scratch it…?
Watching Heatran's face filled with blissful enjoyment, Sato felt a strange sting in his eyes.
'…That thing's this ugly and still acts cute? No self-awareness at all!'
Cynthia twitched her nose. She could faintly smell… Nomel in the air.