Compared to Wallace and Lance, Cynthia's mindset still had room for improvement.
After all, among them, only Cynthia—Sinnoh's representative Champion—had never tasted defeat in her past battles. This was the first time she had experienced such an overwhelming, crushing loss.
As for Steven, although he had rarely lost before and carried countless buffs as the heir of Devon Corporation and the former Hoenn Champion, he wasn't technically the current regional Champion anymore. Losing didn't hurt as much—after all, it was Wallace who would take the real hit to reputation, so Steven wasn't particularly concerned.
Next, Spiritomb, Roserade, and finally Gastrodon all entered the battlefield, yet they were still decisively defeated by Rayquaza.
One versus six. Total annihilation.
Under such circumstances, Cynthia's mental state finally collapsed completely.
Watching Cynthia standing there in a daze after being utterly crushed by Aiden in a one-versus-six battle, her eyes reddened and her nose stung, as if she were on the verge of tears.
"How can a Legendary Pokémon be this strong…? Does that mean that as long as someone captures a Legendary Pokémon, they can stand above all Trainers?"
"Then were all my years of effort… meaningless?"
Perhaps before this, Cynthia had always regarded Legendary Pokémon with a rather indifferent attitude.
Because she had never truly fought one, she subconsciously believed she might already be capable of challenging them.
That was why she felt no particular excitement when facing Regirock earlier.
But after battling Aiden and experiencing Rayquaza's absolute suppression, she finally understood what true Legendary pressure meant.
Then, as if her world had shattered, Cynthia collapsed onto the ground, looking utterly broken.
Seeing this, Aiden recalled Rayquaza. His powerful psychic ability surged into Cynthia's mind, forcefully jolting her back to clarity.
"Cynthia, you're the Sinnoh Champion. After suffering a single crushing defeat, are you really going to abandon everything you've built along the way?"
"The Pokémon who traveled with you all this time followed you because they believed in you. Losing to a Legendary Pokémon is just losing."
"Honestly, plenty of Champion-level Trainers have challenged me, but none of them were as fragile as you. One defeat, and you completely lost your composure."
Hearing Aiden's words and feeling the pain in her mind, Cynthia clenched her teeth and slumped weakly on the ground, stubbornly retorting:
"I—I'm not as fragile as you say!"
Stimulated by Aiden's words and his deliberate provocation, her condition improved slightly.
After all, from what Aiden said, it wasn't just her who had lost. Other regional Champions had also been defeated by him—Steven and Wallace, for example.
Thinking this way, her mood improved considerably.
Steven and Wallace: "?"
Indeed, she had overthought things earlier. If all her efforts over the years were truly meaningless, how could she have become the Sinnoh Champion in the first place?
But speaking of it, Aiden had used the wrong approach in this battle.
He had assumed Cynthia was like Wallace, Steven, and Lance.
Yet in the fight, he never let her taste even a hint of victory, which was why her emotions spiraled into extremity.
A miscalculation.
Perhaps this was also a manifestation of Cynthia's intense competitive spirit.
From that perspective, the fact that Norman, Winona, and others hadn't collapsed earlier showed how strong their mental fortitude actually was.
After all, for a Trainer who had never lost before, experiencing a crushing defeat for the first time was bound to destabilize their mindset. Aiden could understand that.
After probing Cynthia's thoughts further, Aiden spoke again:
"If you feel like you've lost your goal, then strive to become stronger. Strong enough that one day, your Garchomp can stand against Legendary Pokémon—even if it takes your entire life to achieve it."
Because he was speaking through psychic power, Cynthia felt as if Aiden's voice was speaking directly inside her mind. The impression was extraordinarily deep, almost like it was her own inner voice.
It felt strangely different.
After a long while, Cynthia slowly regained her composure. She took a deep breath and walked up to Aiden. She wanted to glare at him fiercely, but couldn't quite manage it, which only made her look unexpectedly adorable.
"You're not allowed to tell anyone that I lost to you."
"If you do, you're finished."
As she spoke, she raised her fist in a threatening gesture.
Then Cynthia turned her gaze toward Shelly. Under the pressure of a regional Champion, Shelly looked at Aiden. Only after seeing that he had no objections did she nod.
"Fine. Since you defeated me, I'll travel with you from now on. I'm going to treat you as the target I must surpass. If I'm going to beat you one day, I need to understand how you train your Pokémon."
"And besides, I don't trust you. What if you tell Steven or Wallace about this? My undefeated legend as the Sinnoh Champion would be shattered."
"When I go back to Sinnoh, I won't even have the face to meet Flint and the others."
As she spoke, Cynthia's cheeks flushed slightly.
Aiden understood—it was embarrassment.
After all, being utterly crushed by a rookie Trainer who hadn't even debuted for long, while being the symbolic Champion of a region… anyone would feel mortified thinking about it.
He couldn't help but wonder how Lance, Steven, and Wallace had felt back then.
Unfortunately, those three had left too quickly. He hadn't gotten to see their reactions.
What a pity.
Maybe they had cried secretly after leaving.
Just as Aiden was thinking this, far away in other places, the three Champions sneezed simultaneously.
…
And so, Cynthia became Aiden's traveling companion, heading toward Sootopolis City together.
As for Shelly, she tactfully found an excuse to leave, returning to the organization and giving her boss and the Sinnoh "beautiful fool" enough space.
When she left, her gaze carried a faint hint of resentment.
After Shelly departed, Cynthia actually felt a little awkward, as if her appearance had caused the two of them to separate.
But when she thought about the possibility of her humiliating defeat being exposed, she gritted her teeth and decided to stay anyway.
After all, the Sinnoh Elite Four could handle regional affairs for the time being. It wasn't a big problem.
After spending a few days together and gradually growing more familiar, Aiden took out his Pokédex one day. He flipped through it and pulled up a photo he had secretly taken earlier, then looked at Cynthia with a mischievous smile.
"Champion of Sinnoh, you wouldn't want everyone to know what you looked like when you broke down after losing, would you?"
Cynthia clenched her teeth.
"Aiden Flint, you bastard…"
…
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