Would Liko forgive Cynthia?
Of course she would. Liko wasn't the kind of kid who held grudges over small mistakes. She wasn't the sort who'd keep tugging at someone's little flaws forever. Naturally, she wasn't going to keep blaming Cynthia.
But would Liko let Cynthia off the hook that easily?
Absolutely not!
Ever since her "awakening," Liko's head had been filled with all sorts of interesting ideas.
She hadn't yet decided exactly how to issue "orders" to Miss Cynthia, but one thing was for sure—there was bound to be some mischief mixed into the process.
Still, Liko wasn't in any rush to start "interrogating" Cynthia.
Until Cynthia came to her of her own accord, Liko intended to keep up her image as the good girl.
Hmm… no, wait—she was a good girl all along!
And while Haru had vaguely noticed that something was off…
…in the end, he never gave Cynthia any reminder. He just let the topic drift away.
So, Cynthia, finally reassured, left Haru's place.
Though the impression Haru left on her this time had shifted once again.
As she departed, the Sinnoh Champion found herself thinking, "He's actually kind of nice, isn't he?"
Of course, what none of them realized was that everything that happened that night had been watched from start to finish—by a certain Psychic-type Legendary.
She didn't yet understand exactly what Haru and the others were doing, but that didn't stop her from recording everything in detail.
Mew No. 2 fancied herself a Pokémon scholar dedicated to studying humans—or at least, that's what she believed.
---
The Next Day
Cynthia once again knocked on Haru's door. Now that she had laid down her greatest burden, her whole demeanor looked noticeably brighter.
Today, she had originally planned to sit down with Liko in Haru's presence and talk through some kind of resolution to the whole "Cynthia-gate," and hopefully win her forgiveness.
But Liko refused to settle things in public. She said she preferred to discuss it privately at some later time.
Still, Liko reassured Cynthia that she wouldn't spread the matter further. That alone was enough to finally put Cynthia's mind at ease.
With "serious business" off the table, Cynthia shifted gears and invited Haru, Korrina, and the others to meet the legendary king of mining himself—Steven Stone.
She remembered quite clearly that Haru once claimed his Mewtwo was capable of Mega Evolution.
And, of course, the Mega Stones required for such a rare ability were notoriously difficult to obtain. No matter how she thought about it, the only person to approach was rock fanatic Steven.
That "Super Stone Man" was without doubt the single greatest collector of Mega Stones in the entire world.
Not only that—besides Mewtwo, several of Haru's recently caught Pokémon would inevitably need Mega Stones in the future. Trying to gather so many stones would be no simple task.
Out of a sense of reciprocation, Cynthia felt it only right to lend Haru a hand.
But when she reached out, she discovered that Mr. Steven had recently been invited to Galar for some ruin excavations or archaeology work.
Archaeology wasn't really the draw, of course. What really lured him across the sea were Galar's "peculiar ores."
As a diehard stone enthusiast, he wasn't about to pass up such a rare opportunity.
And who knew—what if he dug up some fascinating new Pokémon fossils there?
As for Mewtwo's Mega Stone…
On the phone, Steven admitted he did have a few unconfirmed Mega Stones, though he couldn't say for sure if any of them would work for the Pokémon Cynthia described.
But if they did turn out to be compatible with Mewtwo, he certainly wouldn't be stingy about handing over one or two.
Being both a rich heir and a mining fanatic, Steven was never a miser.
In fact, he sometimes even gave Mega Stones outright to promising Trainers, just to encourage the younger generation.
Cynthia relayed everything she'd learned from Steven to Haru—and then suggested they just head to Galar themselves to "nab" him in person. Who knew? They might even be able to snag all the Mega Stones they needed in one go.
And if Steven refused? Well, they'd just take them by force! "You do the rough work, I'll take the blame!"
Haru, curious, then asked Cynthia a question:
"So… what about Caitlin? Weren't we supposed to help her learn to control her psychic powers?"
Cynthia froze mid-sentence, just as she was drawing Haru deeper into her grand promises. After a moment of thought, she flusteredly nodded:
"Ah—Caitlin… right, there's that too."
"But I don't think that's something we need to rush. We can look for her after we return. It won't be too late."
"Besides, this gives us more time to properly test out that 'treatment method' of ours."
Haru grew more intrigued. "But if the 'patient' isn't around, how am I supposed to test whether the 'treatment' works?"
"You can keep experimenting on me! Testing is testing, isn't it? If I take part personally, it'll give Caitlin more accurate data."
Cynthia blurted this out without a second thought.
"…I… see," Haru muttered, his expression shifting.
Wasn't Cynthia supposed to be the cool, intellectual adult woman type? Why did he keep getting the feeling that, deep down, she just… wanted it?
And it wasn't just Haru. Even Liko nodded thoughtfully:
"…I see."
She began to wonder if she ought to make her own demands a little more… entertaining.
This "good girl" was starting to think she had underestimated Cynthia.
Still, neither of them pressed the issue any further.
Though Haru still had some unfinished business in Kanto, he figured a trip to Galar wouldn't take too long anyway. Might as well go early and come back early.
And while he was there, he could finally meet Leon—the one who'd sent him an invitation.
The Leon from the anime and the Leon from the games might be the "same" person from different timelines, but their behavior and personalities had some clear differences.
For instance, the Leon of the games truly fulfilled his Champion duties. Besides organizing and participating in battles, whenever trouble broke out anywhere, Leon was always the first one on the scene—so long as he wasn't lost, that is.
Whether it was a Pokémon going berserk after Dynamaxing, or Eternatus breaking free of containment, Leon had personally confronted them all.
But that also led to a certain problem.
The Sword & Shield story often felt like the adults handled all the adult problems, leaving the kids to quietly focus on gym challenges.
So when the Legendary suddenly showed up at the end, it felt jarring—almost like Leon had failed, forcing the protagonist to personally face Eternatus.
Of course, Galar wasn't short on strong Trainers. Female Trainers especially seemed to appear in endless variety.
Still, Haru wasn't worried about suddenly attracting some random girl he shouldn't.
Gloria, Marnie, and the like? He really didn't know them.
Besides, his loyalty to Lillie was absolute. There was no question of betrayal.
This time, the group didn't bother with ordinary transportation.
After all, Galar was too far from Kanto, and conventional travel would be too much trouble. Better to rely on Pokémon.
At first, they considered riding Cynthia's Garchomp. Its design was based on an airplane, so it seemed like a fitting mode of travel.
But once Haru tried touching its skin, he immediately dropped the idea.
With Rough Skin as an ability, sitting on its back all the way to Galar would probably shred his pants to tatters. Definitely not ideal.
So, in the end, they opted to use Necrozma's Ultra Space to warp across.
It was far riskier than normal flight, but Haru trusted that Lunala, being native to Ultra Space, wouldn't let anything happen to them.
And indeed, the journey went surprisingly smoothly.
Not a single Ultra Beast dared mess with them. They all stayed well out of range, wary of being blasted into nothingness by Lunala.
There was a small incident, though—they ran into Solgaleo again, the same golden lion that had once been beaten down by Necrozma.
Apparently healed and cocky again, the beast actually dared to roar at Lunala.
And its end result? Well, no surprise there. Let's just say it was lucky Necrozma's temper had improved since last time. Otherwise, Solgaleo would've gotten the full "energy drain special."
In the end, the group arrived safely in Galar—the region modeled after the U.K.
This was a land steeped in a love of battles. Almost every Galar resident, even ordinary folks who weren't professional Trainers, followed Pokémon battles passionately. Many even fought battles themselves for fun.
While Galar had no formal Elite Four, its Gym Leaders were every bit as strong, and each one was treated like a celebrity.
Even Piers of Spikemuth, who refused to use Dynamax and rarely took part in League activities, still held considerable popularity.
As Haru saw it, if some of these Gym Leaders went to weaker regions, they could easily become part of the Elite Four—or even Champions.
Their destination was a town called Postwick. It was Leon's hometown, and also the home of the Sword & Shield protagonist, Gloria.
According to Leon, he happened to be at home now, so Haru could just come straight over.
A rare opportunity indeed—Champion Leon was so busy, he probably had fewer days off in a year than Haru had turns of using Play Rough.
By pure luck, Haru's visit had coincided with Leon's break.
Postwick had another unique feature as well.
Next door, in the Slumbering Weald, slumbered Galar's twin Legendary wolves—Zacian and Zamazenta.
So really, Zacian was the Sword version's official "starter dog."
Since it was Cynthia's first time in Galar too, Haru, despite Leon's invitation, spent quite a while searching before they finally found the right place: a lone house with a small battle court out front.
Reality, after all, wasn't like the game. Postwick wasn't just Leon and Gloria's families. So locating his home took some effort.
But at last, they found it.
In the wide, open fields stood a solitary house, its cream-colored walls and large glass windows blending modern design with natural beauty.
A neat wooden fence enclosed a spacious yard, with a small marked-out battle area beside it.
And standing right out front, waving at Haru, was a man draped in a cape.
His skin was dark—not unhealthy, but bronzed with the look of long hours of work, like a badge of honor.
That cape of his, though—up close, you could see it was plastered with mismatched sponsor logos.
Every one of them was from local Galar companies, most tied to Rose's massive conglomerate.
There was no need for words. From the moment Haru laid eyes on him, he knew exactly who he was.
Yes—this was Leon.
As Haru drew closer, Leon strode forward to meet him, flashing a gleaming smile as he reached out his hand.
"Hello! You must be the famous Haru—I've been following your battles online for quite some time.
"After you defeated Blue, I even thought about coming to Kanto myself to find you. But I was tied up with too many things here.
"I never imagined you'd accept my invitation instead.
"Welcome to Galar! I hope you'll find the joy of battling here—especially in the thrill of Dynamax battles. You really must try them if you get the chance."
Dynamax was Galar's unique battle phenomenon. With a Dynamax Band and Dynamax energy, a Trainer could enlarge their Pokémon to colossal size, letting them unleash powerful Max Moves they couldn't normally use.
Like Max Airstream. Or Max Airstream. Or, uh, Max Airstream…
It was simple, flashy, and had no special requirements—perfectly suited to the tastes of the Galar crowd.
The only catch was that Dynamax could only be used in places rich with Dynamax energy.
Which meant, unless you carried Eternatus around with you, you couldn't use it outside of Galar.
And even within Galar, not everywhere had Dynamax zones. Piers's Spikemuth Gym, for example, had none.
So in practice, the battle style was quite limited. Galar Trainers outside their home turf could end up as little more than pushovers…
Even so, Haru was very interested. After all, it was basically like playing with giant super robots.
Supersized Pokémon were just too cool.
"Yeah. I do have other business here," Haru replied, "but if I get the chance, I'd love to try getting a Dynamax Band."
"That's easy," Leon said warmly. "I'll mention it to Professor Magnolia later—I'm sure she has spares."
He was so enthusiastic about Haru's arrival that he didn't even notice there was a Sinnoh Champion standing right beside him.
Not that Cynthia minded. Ever since arriving in Galar, she'd been deep in thought about what she saw in Ultra Space.
That Pokémon, shining like the sun—clearly harboring a grudge against Haru's Necrozma, attacking it on sight.
But in the end…
What struck Cynthia most was Haru's attitude.
He didn't seem to care about this clash of gods at all. He just told Necrozma to take care of the Solgaleo quickly.
As if battles between gods were nothing more than everyday occurrences.
"Ah, that reminds me," Leon said suddenly. "I had been planning to challenge you to a battle the moment you arrived.
"But my little brother Hop and his neighbor Gloria should be coming back soon. I still need to get their starter Pokémon ready.
"They're finally old enough to begin their Gym Challenge."
"Gloria, huh…"
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