In the living room Mew held a fist-sized chunk of ice in each paw, pressing them to her swollen, reddened cheeks to cool them down.
You ungrateful daughter…
Tears shimmered in Mew's eyes. She felt like she'd run into the worst misfortune in history.
This wasn't the first time Mewtwo had ruined her plans.
Mew had heard plenty of stories about people "helping outsiders over their own," but she'd never seen anyone take it as far as Mewtwo.
At this point, Mew seriously suspected that, with zero real life experience, Mewtwo did everything by one simple principle: do the opposite of her.
"Mew…"
The more she thought about it, the harder Mew's little paws clenched around the ice.
Not far away Elias, freshly awake, was already surrounded by a swarm of Pokémon.
This time it wasn't just Gardevoir and the others; Gengar and Lucario had also come rushing over the moment they heard.
"Gardevoir!"
Gardevoir gently held Elias's arm, but there was a sharp edge to her voice.
"Sorry, sorry. This time took a bit longer. I kept everyone waiting."
Elias immediately understood what she was upset about and apologized at once.
The Simulation running this long had surprised him, too.
After all, in the previous runs he'd died young—practically a tragic prodigy.
In his mind, even if he managed to die of old age, it would still only be a few decades.
But this time he'd become a ghost—and received Xerneas's blessing.
His lifespan had naturally shot up.
After checking him over and confirming he was fine, the Pokémon finally relaxed.
At the same time, after nearly ten days apart, Gardevoir was starting to fidget.
A kiss was a human gesture used to express longing and affection.
That was the "official explanation" Gardevoir had etched into her memory.
Right now, she felt it couldn't be more fitting.
But her intent was apparently a little too obvious. Latias reached out first and tugged at the hem of Gardevoir's dress.
"Lati!"
Latias puffed out her cheeks at Gardevoir.
Something like a kiss… shouldn't the Mom go first?
She said it with her eyes.
With the two troublemakers keeping each other in check, Zoroark narrowed her eyes and quietly lowered her presence.
Mew's attempt had failed, but the idea itself was worth learning from.
Just as she lowered herself, preparing to slip in close to Elias—
"Ghaa!"
A big purple blob abruptly sprang out of the air in front of Elias.
Thump—!
A heavy impact. Gengar had already bared his white teeth and pounced onto Elias, using Lick at the same time.
Schlurp…
"Gengar!"
Elias's expression shifted as he was pinned down.
Gengar was a Ghost-type Pokémon, but his weight was anything but light.
At the very least, he had to be a hundred pounds.
"Ge… ge… ge!"
His prank a success, Gengar cackled with his mouth stretched wide.
But halfway through the laugh, his grin suddenly froze.
Several gazes stabbed into his back like needles, and in that instant, he felt like he could already see Mew's fate waiting for him.
...
"Gardevoir, where's Cynthia?"
While handing Gengar some ice to help with the swelling, Elias asked Gardevoir, who was now sitting primly on the sofa.
Since he woke up, only the Pokémon had been in the room.
And right now, he was still in the Hisui Region.
It was daytime, so Irida and the others being out was normal—but Cynthia ought to be home.
Unless she'd gone diving into ruins again?
Considering how obsessed she was with archaeology, Elias thought it was very possible.
Hearing his question, Gardevoir spread her hands and produced a letter she'd set aside.
"Gardevoir. (That woman left it.)"
Gardevoir explained.
Elias took the letter, opened it, and read.
It was short, dated two days ago.
The gist was simple, as a Champion, disappearing for too long would throw everything into chaos, so she'd asked Dialga to send her back first.
On top of that, she seemed worried about Diantha, and planned to drop in and help out as well.
"Diantha?"
Seeing the familiar name, a white-clad figure immediately surfaced in Elias's mind.
He'd died in the Simulation a few years back; he didn't know whether Diancie had kept in contact with Diantha afterward.
But from the look of it, Sinnoh's Champion had a very good relationship with Diantha, too.
"Gardevoir? (Are we going back?)"
Gardevoir asked softly from the side.
They'd been out for over ten days. Her Masked Corps likely had plenty piled up that needed handling.
"We are."
Elias nodded.
He'd spent long enough in Hisui—it was time to return to the Kalos Region.
And Diancie and Dianna were definitely still in Kalos.
Besides that, a certain Pyroar was probably still carrying out his plan.
All of that would take time to check in on.
But before that…
"Go ask Irida and the others if they've finished what they needed to do in Hisui."
Elias remembered clearly: before the Simulation, they'd said they wanted to take a look at the future.
This return trip would be the perfect chance to grant that wish.
...
"Diantha, the administrative efficiency in Kalos is… pretty low."
"Honestly, it's giving me Lance's vibes."
Holding a thick stack of documents, Cynthia frowned as she spoke to Diantha.
Two days ago, she'd hurried back from the Hisui Region.
At the time, the attacks by the space and time Legendaries hadn't fully died down, and all of Kalos was still on alert.
And with Sinnoh's Champion missing for days, people had practically gone mad searching for her.
Fortunately, she'd returned in time. Over the past two days, she'd helped Diantha—another Champion—deal with a lot of trouble.
But at the same time, she'd discovered that Kalos's Pokémon League moved at a pace that was downright alarming.
A single suspicious-person inspection report—
Starting from Officer Jenny, it had to pass through six layers of procedures before it finally reached Diantha's hands as Champion.
Along the way, it felt like several different forces kept blocking it.
She'd only ever seen this kind of bizarre workflow in the Kanto region.
"Thanks for your help, Cynthia."
Hearing her friend's complaints, Diantha looked a little awkward.
But as her gaze swept over the report in Cynthia's hand, she narrowed her eyes—and a flicker of recognition flashed through them.
---
bonus chaps
100 stones → 1 bonus chap
200 stones → 2 bonus chaps
300 stones → 3 bonus chaps
and so on :3
100+ new chaps a week across all my TLs on the P website :)
hehe every 100 followers on either instagram or twitter = 5 bonus chaps...?
(for all ongoing tls)
discord.gg/wisetl
patreon.com/wisetl
instagram: hanbaowise
twitter: WiseKingOfUruk_