{The next day}
The gang were in Eterna City finally, and after a good night's sleep and dinner, they were now finally looking around town. They didn't do it yesterday since Dawn insisted on bathing for a few hours, and by the time she was satisfied, most shops were closed.
So they are here now, and obviously, they didn't immediately go after Gardenia right away. She could wait. They were in no rush here; they could go after Gardenia later in the day. Instead, they took to the town and started looking around.
Dawn was the first one to get distracted, "Ooooh, look at that!"
Ash and Verity both looked over to see Dawn pointing toward a storefront.
Ash sighed, "And there it is."
"What?" Dawn asked, already walking toward it.
"The first thing you see."
Dawn ignored him and walked up to the window, staring at the display inside, "They have all kinds of accessories!"
Verity walked over beside her, "You just got a bunch of flower accessories in Floaroma."
"That was days ago!"
"Yes."
"And today is a completely different day."
Verity stared at her, "That doesn't make it better."
"It makes perfect sense to me."
Ash walked up behind them and looked through the window, "What are you even looking at?"
"Contest stuff!"
Ash looked at the display. There were ribbons, hair clips, scarves, little decorative bows, and several other accessories meant for Pokémon Contests.
Dawn's eyes practically sparkled.
Ash immediately knew they were going to be here for a while, "Okay," Ash said, "You two have fun. I'm gonna go find food."
Dawn turned around, "Wait, you're leaving us?"
"I know how this works. If I stay, I'm gonna get dragged along, then I'm gonna have to carry all of your bags for you, then you're probably gonna try to get me to buy a new jacket," Ash said matter-of-factly, while Pikachu sat on his shoulder and he nodded seriously.
Dawn blinked, "You make it sound like that's a bad thing."
"First, I like my jacket. It was a gift from my mom," Ash said, flicking the collar, "And second, I know by the time you're done dragging Verity around, you're gonna be hungry, then you're gonna get cranky, so might as well get ahead of the game now."
Dawn crossed her arms, "I do not get cranky."
Verity slowly looked at Ash. Ash slowly looked at Verity, then they both looked at Dawn.
Dawn narrowed her eyes, "What?"
"Nothing," Ash said.
"Exactly," Verity added.
Dawn puffed her cheeks, "I don't get cranky!"
Ash pointed at her, "You're doing the cheeks thing."
"What cheeks thing?"
"The thing you do when you're getting cranky."
Dawn immediately stopped puffing her cheeks, "I am not cranky."
"So you don't want me to bring you anything?" Ash asked.
Dawn opened her mouth, then closed it, and she looked away, "Fine," she huffed as she grabbed Verity's wrist and dragged her along.
"Wait, I wanted to go with Ash!" Verity cried out as Dawn dragged her into the nearest dress store.
Ash chuckled and turned on his heel, walking off. As he did, he poked his bag, and Vee poked his head out after getting woken up from his nap.
"Come on, bud. You get to choose today. Where does the nose take us~" Ash said with a smirk.
Vee yawned and nodded, jumping out. He took a sniff in the air, then smelled something he liked, and he waved his tail and started running off.
Ash followed along, taking a sigh of relief that things were simple right now. He knew full well that things would not stay this simple forever while he was here in Sinnoh. With the Cyrus stuff and the Meteor, it's just a whole bag of worms that he is gonna have to deal with. He might as well enjoy Eterna City for a day or two.
Although, now that he was here, he was reminded of a certain blonde Champion that he knew who was allegedly supposed to show up here, and that also got him thinking. It's been like, what, more than a year since the last time they spoke? He wonders how things are going for her.
—
{A few minutes earlier}
Inside a conference room, Cynthia sat behind a mountain of paperwork. Over in the corner of the room, there was a TV that played matches that were important enough to receive coverage, and the one that was currently playing, and had been playing for the past month, was the battle of her vs. Lucian for her Championship title.
You'd think after defending her title she would be happy, right? Well, nope, because immediately after losing, Lucian said that he needed to go for a 'training' vacation and left, and the others could only have known he was going to do this because immediately after, Flint and Aaron also submitted their paid leave and left her to the Mightyenas.
And you know, at first Cynthia understood, and she even foolishly approved their leave. However, that was before all the paperwork started stacking up and up until it was at absurd levels.
Even with Bertha here helping where she could, it wasn't even close to enough. For someone like Cynthia who wanted to avoid paperwork as much as possible, this was the worst.
She hasn't even had a proper vacation in over a year, and that said vacation ended up with her having to fight some Arceus statue thing that wanted to destroy the world. She didn't even get the chance to go try Johto's ice cream.
And what made things worse was when she couldn't bear to look at the pile and she changed it, she saw a news report that Lucian was planning on hosting a meet and greet for fans.
That was the straw that broke the Camerupt's back. She stood up and huffed. She was only 17 this year. Why should she have to rot behind a desk, especially when she hasn't gotten a vacation?
She grabbed the paperwork and went to plop it into the missing Elite Four's desks, and just for spite, she went over to Bertha's desk and took the paperwork she was working on and put it on Lucian's desk too.
Then she walked out, pulling out her phone. She texted in the group chat to the missing Elite Four that they've used up all their vacation days, so they need to get back, or she will personally go get them.
Then she put her phone away, looking satisfied with herself. Before she left, she looked over at Bertha and told her to take an extended vacation, then she walked out.
When she got out of the building, she took a breath and relaxed before pulling out a Poké Ball and throwing it out, letting out her Garchomp.
She reached up and rubbed Garchomp's head, and Garchomp nuzzled into it happily. Then Cynthia got on her, and Garchomp immediately took off flying.
Cynthia happily let her hair flutter in the wind, "Vacation, here I come!"
And as she took off, Bertha was sitting at her desk, still drinking a cup of tea. She sighed. This was pretty normal. It technically happened the same way last year, with the Elite Four trying to get out of paperwork and Cynthia dragging them back.
Oh well, not like she was going to help them dig themselves out of the hole they got themselves into. She stood up and grabbed her jacket and walked out. Maybe she should go visit her sister this time. We'll see.
—
Ash was holding a bag in his left hand while in his right he had his phone. He was texting Dawn and Verity to come meet up with him for lunch before they go to the Gym, then he sent them his location.
He put his phone away and looked down at Pikachu and Vee, who were both happily enjoying the food he had bought them.
Pikachu was sitting on his shoulder, happily munching away, then taking a full-on sip of ketchup as a drink, while Vee was sitting beside Ash on the bench, his tail wagging as he ate.
Ash looked at Pikachu, "I still don't know how you can chug that down like water."
Pikachu looked up, blinked, then hugged the bottle, "Pika [You can't have any.]"
"B-but I bought it. What do you mean I can't have any?" Ash asked exasperatedly, but he sighed and didn't bother taking it back.
Then Pikachu suddenly stopped mid-chew, and his nose twitched.
Ash noticed immediately, "What?"
Pikachu sniffed the air again, and his tail slowly rose. Vee looked at Pikachu, confused by the sudden change.
Pikachu's eyes widened, then his entire face lit up, "Pika!"
Pikachu suddenly jumped off Ash's shoulder and took off running.
Ash and Vee blinked in unison. They both looked at each other, "…Okay?"
Vee shrugged before hopping down and following Pikachu.
Ash sighed and stood up, "And there goes the peaceful part."
He quickly followed after them, "Pikachu! Vee! Where are you going?"
Ash jogged after them, wondering what had gotten into Pikachu, but as he was thinking, Pikachu turned a corner.
Ash followed and then he saw where Pikachu was heading: an ice cream shop.
Ash slowed down, "Oh?"
He looked down at Vee, "Seriously?"
Vee looked at the shop, then at Ash and shrugged.
Ash sighed, "Fine. I guess Pikachu smelled ice cream."
He walked into the shop and called out, "Hey, Pikachu, if you wanted ice cream, you could have just asked—" but he stopped in his tracks.
Inside the shop, he saw someone he recognized standing in front of the counter, looking at all the ice cream flavors. She had long cream-colored hair and was wearing a very familiar black jacket. Standing beside the girl was a Garchomp, while a Lucario stood nearby, both waiting patiently beside her.
It was Cynthia.
As Ash was taking a second to process this, Pikachu ran up, "PIKA!"
Pikachu sprinted forward and jumped up. Cynthia turned at the sudden cry, and she managed to catch Pikachu.
Cynthia barely had time to react before she caught him. Pikachu immediately wrapped his arms around her and happily nuzzled against her chest, "Pika pika!"
Cynthia's surprised expression quickly turned into a huge smile, "Oh my goodness!" She hugged Pikachu back, laughing softly as he continued rubbing his face against her, "Hey, Pikachu, it's been a while."
Of course, she recognized this Pikachu. After all, there was only one Pikachu like this, and where Pikachu was, you know who isn't far behind.
So she turned and, lo and behold, Ash was there. Ash scratched the back of his head slightly as he walked up, "Hey, Cynthia."
"Ash, it's been a while. I didn't think I'd run into you here," Cynthia smiled, then she held Pikachu out, "Have you been doing well too, Pikachu?"
Pikachu happily let out a 'Pika' as Cynthia gave him back to Ash, and as she did, she also rubbed Vee's head, and that made Vee wag his tail happily.
Cynthia giggled, "Still energetic, I see."
"Unfortunately."
Vee immediately looked offended.
"I'm kidding," Ash said, scratching his head.
Pikachu climbed back onto Ash's other shoulder, still looking extremely pleased with himself.
Cynthia smiled at the sight of the two Pokémon sitting on Ash's shoulders, "It really has been a while. I haven't seen you since 'the incident.'"
Ash scratched his cheek, "Ah...yeah, let's not talk about that in public." Ash gestured with his eyes that they were still in public, and since this was a public spot where the Champion of Sinnoh was just buying ice cream, it was hard to not get attention drawn to them.
"Oh," Cynthia covered her mouth slightly, "That's a good point."
Pikachu, meanwhile, was still staring at Cynthia.
Cynthia blinked when she noticed, "Hm?"
Pikachu pointed toward the counter.
Cynthia looked over at the ice cream display, then back at Pikachu, "Oh! Right. I was actually in the middle of choosing my ice cream."
Ash glanced at the clock on the wall, then he looked at Cynthia, "…How long have you been here?"
Cynthia looked slightly embarrassed, "About ten minutes."
"Ten minutes?"
"Yes."
"You've been standing here for ten minutes trying to decide what flavor you want?"
Cynthia nodded.
Ash stared at her.
Cynthia smiled politely.
Ash slowly looked over at the ice cream display. There were probably twenty different flavors, "…What's so hard about this?"
Cynthia turned toward the display again, "There are simply so many options."
Ash walked up beside her and looked over the flavors, "Vanilla."
Cynthia looked at him, "Yes, but chocolate is also an option."
"Then get chocolate."
"But strawberry looks delicious."
"Then get strawberry."
Cynthia frowned slightly, "But what if I regret not getting vanilla?"
Ash rubbed his temple. After way too much time, Cynthia finally chose vanilla, the first option, and Ash just bought Pikachu and Vee a cup each. Then they walked out of the shop.
Cynthia looked at Ash, "So, what brings you to Eterna City?"
"Traveling."
Cynthia smiled, "I figured as much."
Ash raised an eyebrow, "What gave it away?"
"Just a guess," Cynthia hummed, as Garchomp leaned in, resting her head on her shoulder like a big dog.
Cynthia smiled as she gently scratched Garchomp behind the head. Garchomp happily leaned into her hand, "I've been traveling as well."
Ash looked at her, "Wait, you're on vacation?"
Cynthia nodded, "Yes. I decided that I needed a little time away from my usual responsibilities."
Ash smiled, "Good for you."
"Thank you."
Ash glanced toward the empty hallway outside the shop, "So where are you headed?"
Cynthia paused, "I hadn't really decided yet."
Ash stared at her, "You're not good at planning vacations either, are you?"
Cynthia laughed softly, "Perhaps not."
Ash shook his head, "Man, Cynthia, you're the Champion of Sinnoh. How are you this bad at making decisions?" he said.
Cynthia laughed. She didn't even take any offense to what he said, since she has to admit, she is pretty bad at this, "I suppose there are some things that are easier for me than others."
"Like battling?"
"Yes."
"How about paperwork?" Ash said with a grin.
Cynthia's smile immediately disappeared, "…No."
Ash laughed, "Thought so."
Cynthia sighed, "It's been a difficult few weeks."
"Elite Four?"
Her eyes narrowed slightly, "How did you know?"
"You have the look."
"The look?"
"The look of someone who has been abandoned by their coworkers."
Cynthia stared at him, "…That is disturbingly accurate."
"I hang out with Lance sometimes. I know that look. Trust me, no matter how bad you think it can get, just remember you didn't choose to be Champion of two regions."
Cynthia blinked, then slowly chuckled again, "That is certainly one way of looking at it."
Ash shrugged, "I'm just saying, you've got it rough, but Lance still hates life over in Kanto, and I ain't taking that position."
Garchomp, meanwhile, was still resting her head against Cynthia's shoulder, completely comfortable.
Ash glanced at Garchomp, "She looks pretty happy about the vacation."
"She is." Cynthia gently scratched the side of Garchomp's head, "She enjoys traveling with me, even when we aren't traveling for anything important."
Garchomp gave a happy growl.
Ash smiled, "So you decided on what you're gonna do here?"
Cynthia paused again, "…I haven't decided yet."
Ash slowly nodded, "Yeah, that checks out."
Cynthia laughed softly, "I suppose I'm not very good at making plans when I don't have a goal in mind."
"So you just kinda showed up in Eterna City?"
"Pretty much."
Ash grinned, "Honestly, I respect it."
Cynthia looked around the city, "I thought I might explore for a while. Perhaps visit some of the historical sites. Eterna City has quite a bit of history, after all."
Ash nodded, "There's the museum."
"Yes, I was thinking about visiting that."
"Yeah, that place is pretty cool," Ash said casually, looking away.
Cynthia smiled, "Have you already visited?"
"Nope."
"Then perhaps we could—"
She stopped herself.
Ash raised an eyebrow, "What?"
Cynthia smiled awkwardly, "Nothing. I was just thinking that perhaps we could visit it together."
Ash blinked.
Cynthia looked slightly embarrassed, "If you aren't busy, of course."
Ash scratched his cheek, "I mean, I wouldn't mind, but I already have plans, unfortunately."
"Oh?"
"I have some friends I'm traveling with. We were planning on going after Gardenia later."
Cynthia's eyes brightened slightly, "Gardenia? You're challenging the Eterna Gym?"
"Why not? I'm already here, and I promised we'd do something after, so I'll have to take a rain check."
Cynthia nodded once, "Hm, I understand. Then perhaps next time."
Ash smiled, "Definitely. It was good seeing you again, though."
"Likewise." Cynthia smiled back, "It really has been a while."
Before Ash could say anything else, he heard a familiar voice coming from down the street.
"Ash!"
Ash looked over his shoulder.
Dawn and Verity were walking toward them, both carrying bags from their shopping trip. Dawn was holding several bags in both hands, while Verity only had a couple.
Dawn waved as they approached, "There you are! We've been looking all over for you!"
Ash blinked, "Already?"
"Yes! We finished shopping."
Verity nodded, "Well, Dawn finished shopping. I mostly just followed her around."
Dawn looked offended, "Hey! You got something too!"
"I got one thing."
"You got three things."
"Those three things were related."
Ash chuckled, "So you guys ready to eat?"
Dawn stopped. Her eyes slowly moved from Ash to the person standing beside him. She froze. Verity also stopped, and her eyes widened. Both girls stared at Cynthia.
Cynthia noticed their expressions and gave them a polite smile, "Hello."
Dawn's mouth opened slightly. Verity slowly looked at Ash, then back at Cynthia, then back at Ash, "…Ash."
"Yeah?"
"Why are you talking to Cynthia?"
"Because we ran into each other," Ash said innocently.
Dawn stared at him, "You just...ran into Cynthia?"
"Yep."
"The Champion of Sinnoh?"
"Yep."
"You're just casually talking to her?"
Ash shrugged, "I mean, yeah."
Dawn looked like her brain was struggling to process this.
Verity leaned slightly toward Dawn and whispered, "Does Ash know how important she is?"
Dawn whispered back, "I think he does."
"Then why is he acting like this?"
"I don't know!"
Ash looked between them, "You two okay?"
Dawn immediately straightened up, "Yes!"
Verity nodded rapidly, "Totally!"
Cynthia covered her mouth slightly, hiding a small laugh.
Ash glanced at Cynthia, "They do this sometimes."
Dawn's eyes widened, "We do not!"
"You kinda do."
Verity nodded, "He's right."
Dawn looked at her, "Whose side are you on?"
"Whoever isn't getting yelled at."
Ash chuckled.
Cynthia smiled at the three of them, "You must be the friends Ash mentioned."
Dawn immediately stepped forward, "Yes! I'm Dawn!"
Verity followed, "And I'm Verity."
"It's nice to meet you both." Cynthia smiled warmly, "Ash mentioned traveling with some friends."
Dawn slowly turned toward Ash.
Ash simply shrugged, "What?"
"You talked about us to Cynthia?"
"Yeah?"
Dawn stared at him for a few seconds before looking back at Cynthia, still trying to process everything. Verity wasn't doing much better, though she was at least managing to keep her composure.
"So…" Dawn started carefully, "You and Ash know each other?"
Cynthia smiled, "We've known each other for a while."
Ash nodded, "Yeah. She's an old friend."
Dawn's eyes widened.
Verity's eyebrows shot up.
"Old friend?" Dawn repeated.
"Yep."
"You're friends with the Champion of Sinnoh?"
Ash looked at her like she had just asked him whether water was wet, "Yeah."
Dawn opened her mouth, then she closed it, then opened it again, "You just said that so casually!"
Ash frowned, "How am I supposed to say it?"
"I don't know! Maybe with a little more excitement?!"
Cynthia covered her mouth, trying not to laugh.
Ash glanced at her, "See? You're laughing at them too."
"I'm sorry," Cynthia said, though the smile on her face made it obvious she wasn't, "It's just amusing watching them realize how long you've known me."
Verity looked between the two of them, "So...how did you two even meet?"
Ash scratched his cheek, "Long story."
Cynthia nodded, "A very long story."
Dawn narrowed her eyes, "That sounds suspicious."
"It was a complicated situation," Cynthia said.
"Heh heh…" Ash laughed as Pikachu and Vee also had a deadpan look on their faces, since they also remembered 'the incident.'
Dawn wanted to ask, but both Ash and Cynthia gave her a 'You don't want to know' look.
Dawn sighed, "Fine. I won't ask."
"Thank you."
"For now."
Ash groaned, "Of course."
Cynthia smiled, "I suppose I should let you three get going. You said you were planning to challenge Gardenia?"
"Eventually," Ash said, "We're exploring Eterna first."
"Then good luck. Gardenia can be quite the opponent." Cynthia looked toward the street before turning back to Ash, "It was good seeing you again."
"Yeah. You too."
Pikachu raised a paw toward Cynthia.
Cynthia smiled and gently waved back, "Take care, Pikachu."
"Pika!"
Vee gave a small happy cry as well.
Cynthia crouched down and gave Vee a quick scratch behind the ears, "And you too, Vee."
"Vee!"
Garchomp gave a low, friendly rumble from beside Cynthia.
Ash looked up at her, "Guess we'll probably see each other again."
"I'm sure we will."
Ash gave her a small wave, "Later, Cynthia."
"Goodbye, Ash."
Cynthia, Garchomp, and Lucario then headed down another street, leaving Ash, Dawn, and Verity standing there.
The second Cynthia was far enough away, Dawn slowly turned toward Ash.
Ash immediately knew what was coming.
"So."
Ash sighed, "Here we go."
"You're friends with Cynthia?!"
Verity joined in, "You never mentioned that!"
Ash blinked, "I never had a reason to."
"She's the Champion!"
"I know."
"The Champion of Sinnoh!"
"I know."
"You just stood there talking to her like she was some random person you bumped into at the store!"
Ash shrugged, "Ice cream store, actually."
"That doesn't make it better," Dawn said.
Ash laughed, "Why are you two acting like I just met some legendary Pokémon?"
"Because you're friends with the Champion!" Dawn shouted.
Ash rubbed the back of his head, "She's still just Cynthia."
Verity shook her head, "Only you could say that."
"Well, you could keep interrogating me or…" Ash held up the bag, "We could have lunch."
"I'm tempted, but fine, let's go. I'm too hungry to care," Verity muttered.
"Cool. There is a nice spot by the statue," Ash said cheerfully, as he turned, then started leading the way.
As he got ahead, he stopped for a moment, then spun on his heel, "Oh, by the way, Lucas and Barry are about to get to town, so I invited them for lunch."
Dawn blinked, "And you think Barry is gonna even agree instead of running to the Gym?"
"Oh, I thought about that. That's why I mentioned food. As soon as I said that, Lucas said he would drag Barry here if he had to~" Ash winked, "Now come on before it gets cold. You can yell at me later."
"I will hold you to that," Verity muttered under her breath, still not believing she just saw Cynthia in a situation like this, but then she remembered Ash was a freak of nature, so it did even out a bit.
—
Meanwhile, Cynthia walked down the town casually, licking her ice cream without a care in the world. Then she happened to walk by the Bike Shop, where she didn't notice anything. However, her Lucario stopped and tapped Cynthia's shoulder.
Cynthia stopped and looked back, where Lucario was pointing into the shop. Cynthia blinked and looked inside. She saw the building was empty, but there were also clearly signs of a struggle.
She narrowed her eyes. With one glance, she looked over to Lucario. Lucario understood and used its Aura sense, then found a path.
It led Cynthia and Garchomp down a path where eventually they found an abandoned bicycle hidden away that someone clearly didn't want anyone finding.
Cynthia frowned as she inspected the bike. Slowly, she traced her fingers along the edge, and she could tell this was done recently.
Lucario stepped closer again and started meditating slowly, using the bike as a catalyst.
Lucario opened its eyes and nodded, leading them back out, running through the streets until finally it stopped and pointed at a building.
Cynthia caught up and looked at where Lucario was pointing, and her eyes narrowed. It was none other than the T.G. Eterna Building.
Cynthia sighed one more time, "Why can I never have a normal vacation…"