"Beautiful."
Steven smiled at her, warm and unhurried.
"You're the most beautiful, Cynthia."
Cynthia didn't argue. She only stood there with a quiet, slightly flustered smile.
Behind her, Garchomp was holding a beach chair under one arm — and staring at Steven with an expression that needed no translation.
Look again. Go on. Look again and see what happens.
Steven wisely looked away.
"What are you doing?" Cynthia came over and crouched down beside him, tilting her head with mild curiosity.
"I accidentally stepped on a sandcastle Larvitar had built," Steven said, patting down another wall of sand. "I'm helping it rebuild."
"Ah." Cynthia glanced at Larvitar, then back at the work in progress. "Alright — I'm going to go play. Find me when you're done; I'll need sunscreen."
She straightened up and jogged off toward the shoreline.
Steven watched her go — the way the sunlight caught her hair, the easy grace of her stride — until a small, reproachful sound pulled him back.
"Lavitar…"
Master. The sandcastle. Remember the sandcastle?
"Right, sorry." Steven refocused. "Watch this, Larvitar — I've got it."
His hands-on ability, as it turned out, was genuinely impressive. Within a short while, he had shaped the sand into a surprisingly detailed Pokémon Center, complete with a rounded roof and a small entrance arch.
"How's that, Larvitar?"
"Larvitar!"
Incredible.
"So you like building things, huh? That's—"
Steven didn't finish the sentence.
Larvitar lurched forward and took a large, decisive bite out of the side of the Pokémon Center.
Steven stared at it.
"…So you like building them and then eating them." He let out a quiet, helpless laugh and reached over to pat Larvitar gently on the back. "Fair enough. Keep up the good work."
He stood up and went to check on the others.
A moment later, Aggron lumbered over. It stood in front of the half-eaten sandcastle, looked down at it with clear dissatisfaction, and then sat down heavily in the sand beside Larvitar. It began helping rebuild — but with noticeably more ambition, shaping the walls larger, the towers taller.
If you're going to eat, little brother, eat something worth eating.
"Yooji!"
Understood, big brother!
Steven looked further down the beach.
Scizor was shadowboxing at the water's edge. Skarmory was doing aerial circuits overhead. Both of his Lucario were seated in the sand, deep in focused Aura meditation.
And next to them — Cynthia's Lucario.
Steven paused.
Why is Cynthia's Lucario here too?
He rubbed his forehead. "We came here to relax. This isn't exactly relaxing."
Cynthia's Lucario glanced over and gave Steven a brief, composed nod.
Then it turned back and resumed cultivating Aura alongside his own.
Steven sighed. "Alright. Just don't push yourselves too hard."
He turned and found Metagross stretched out on a lounge chair, sunbathing with what appeared to be a book balanced across one of its legs. Nearby, Empoleon had Honedge's blade gripped in one flipper and the sheath in the other. It was moving the sword slowly, deliberately — not sparring, but drawing.
Steven walked closer.
In the sand in front of Empoleon was a detailed scene: itself at the center, sword raised, wearing a small straw hat and a flowing cloak. Beside it stood Honedge. They looked like heroes from an old story.
Empoleon added Aggron next. Then Larvitar.
Steven watched quietly for a moment.
The drawing was fine, technically. But there was something in the way Empoleon had arranged everyone — close together, a proper group — that told a slightly different story. Honedge had been Empoleon's sparring partner since before this trip. Now that Aggron had stepped in as Larvitar's self-appointed big brother, the lineup had shifted, and Empoleon was drawing its own version of events.
Still a little put out, then.
Steven put his hands on his hips and looked out at the water instead.
Cynthia was out there with Milotic, laughing at something. Garchomp had waded in and was now mostly submerged, only its distinctive dorsal fin cutting above the surface.
Steven smiled to himself. Garchomp was technically a Land Dragon — but its design had always carried that shark quality, and it showed. It moved through the water without any trouble at all.
Unlike Flygon, which — somehow, improbably — could manage a butterfly stroke. Steven had seen it once. He still wasn't entirely sure how.
(A scene not unlike this had apparently been documented somewhere in Alola.)
Further out, Gastrodon drifted across the surface with Togepi perched on its back, looking deeply content. Spiritomb was nestled into its Odd Keystone in the shallows. Roserade had found a sunny patch of sand near the treeline and was lying still, quietly performing Synthesis.
All paired off. All settled.
Steven felt unexpectedly like an empty-nest parent.
He pulled Garchomp's chair into a good spot and sat down, fishing out his PokéNav to scroll through the news.
"Lilycove City Contest — Master Coordinator Wallace to attend…"
Steven stopped.
Wallace.
The training camp wrapped up and you didn't even send a message? Fine. That Swampertite is staying in my bag.
He made a mental note — though in truth, he knew Wallace had probably tried to find him at the League first. Knowing the Elite Four, they would have cheerfully told him Steven had left the day after being reinstated. Wallace wouldn't have wanted to intrude on that.
Steven scrolled on.
Far away in Sinnoh, he imagined Gomatsu still at his desk in that large, quiet office, still in his wine-red suit, still buried in paperwork that nobody else was doing.
"Why does the new Champion get a vacation and I don't get one?"
Steven could practically hear him grumbling.
He scrolled to the Sinnoh section.
"Two Sinnoh Elite Four members attend Jubilife City festival event…"
Steven spared Gomatsu three seconds of genuine sympathy.
One. Two. Three.
He moved on.
He switched to Alola news.
"New Totem Pokémon sighted on Mount Hokulani…"
Steven sat up slightly.
Totem Pokémon?
He'd never come across that term before. He tapped on the article and started reading.
"Totem Pokémon are significantly larger than ordinary members of their species… They radiate a powerful field known as the Noble Aura… Totem Pokémon are typically lord-level Pokémon. Trainers entering a Totem Pokémon's territory are advised to retreat immediately…"
Steven grinned.
A newly sighted Totem Pokémon, at that.
He was genuinely curious what species it was. Alola had a way of producing things that didn't exist anywhere else — its climate, its isolation, its own particular energy. It was the same force that had caused Exeggutor to grow so dramatically here, stretching upward until it became something else entirely, picking up a Dragon typing in the process.
He searched for the list of confirmed Totem Pokémon in Alola.
Salazzle. Marowak — Alolan Form. Vikavolt.
He looked at the unidentified one. Unknown species, unknown location on Hokulani.
I'll go see it myself when I get the chance.
Steven put the PokéNav away and leaned back, hands behind his head, letting the sun sit on his face. His thoughts kept moving even as his body stilled.
"Steven…"
A hand rocked his shoulder gently.
He opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Cynthia's face, close and clear, the sunlight behind her turning the edges of her hair to gold.
"Cynthia…" He blinked and slowly pushed himself upright. "How long was I out?"
"About ten minutes," she said. She sat on the edge of the chair and leaned against him, her hand resting lightly at his side. "Were you bored?"
"Not really. I was reading the news and then I just… drifted off." He scratched the back of his head.
Cynthia turned his hand over in hers, tracing the lines of his fingers idly.
"Want to play beach volleyball with the Pokémon?"
Steven glanced down the beach at the assembled team — Scizor still shadowboxing, two Lucario still meditating, Aggron still constructing an increasingly ambitious sandcastle.
"I'd rather not end up on the wrong side of that."
Cynthia laughed softly.
Steven put his arm around her shoulders and looked out at the water.
"I keep thinking…" he started, then took a moment to find the words. "I really wouldn't mind if things stayed like this."
"Like this?"
"Spending time with the Pokémon. Doing things that matter to us." He paused. "And being with you."
Cynthia went still for just a second. Then she stood up abruptly, brushing sand from her swimsuit, her face noticeably warmer than before.
"Come on — let's go play!"
Steven watched her jog off toward the water, his smile fading slowly into something quieter.
He meant it. He'd meant every word of it.
Days like this — full of noise and laughter and Larvitar eating sandcastles and Empoleon drawing little heroes in the sand — were exactly what he wanted. He wanted more of them. He wanted them to be ordinary.
But.
Steven tilted his head back and raised one hand against the brightness of the sky.
There are still things I have to do.
And until those things were done, days like this would remain exceptions rather than the rule.
"Steven, come on!"
Cynthia's voice carried over from the shoreline. She was standing at the water's edge, waving.
The smile came back on its own.
"Coming!"
He got up.
Just a little longer.
Let me have just a little more of this.