I stared at Cynthia with horror as she sipped at a cup of mulled wine.

  She wasn’t wearing her normal black outfit, instead she had gone for a many-layered kimono in pastel blues, and a knitted cap that was made to look like a Gible was biting her head.

  If I hadn’t seen and talked to her before, I probably wouldn’t have recognized her.

  “Cynth-”

  “Cindy!” She said happily. “I can’t believe it’s been so long you forgot my name!”

  She smiled over her drink with a conspiratorial glint in her eye.

  “I… right.”

  A nervous look around showed me that nobody was paying attention to us.

  “Are you supposed to be here?” I whispered. “Can you be here?”

  Cynthia rolled her eyes. “Of course I can be here. If I am who you think I am, the Champion of Sinnoh can go anywhere she wants.”

  “Then why the fake name and the subterfuge?”

  “Because it gets awfully boring if I always show up as the Champion. Everybody fawns over me and either wants to give me something, or see if I can do something for them. Going around as Cindy makes me able to get a better look at what the people of Sinnoh are feeling and doing.”

  That made some sense, I supposed.

  “But don’t you have better things to be doing?”

  “I’m making sure that the region is safe.” She said primly. “It’s part of my duties as Champion, after all. The Ice Festival is well known throughout Sinnoh, so its a good chance for me to stretch my legs. Oh! Is that a go board? I didn’t know you played.”

  “I just started today.”

  “Want to play a game?”

  “You know how?”

  Cynthia nearly spat out her drink with laughter. “Alina, I love history and digging up old relics, and Go is one of the oldest games in existence. It would be surprising if I didn’t know how to play.”

  I blushed. “Ah, right.”

  Clearing off the small side table I was eating at, I quickly set up the board.

  “Leave Luck to Heaven!” I said, and Cynthia burst out laughing once more.

  “What?” She said, barely managing to catch her breath.

  “I… I was told you were supposed to say that?”

  “No, not at all. I’m sorry, but whomever told you that was pulling your leg.”

  That old- I looked around for the old man, but he was long gone.

  Sighing, I turned back to Cindy, who was gamely trying to act more professional.

  “Oh this trip was already worth it. I’ll be black if you don’t mind.” She winked and I felt my heart speed up a bit. “It’s my color, you understand.”

  “But they’re red?” I squeaked. “The stones, I mean.”

  “Now they are, yes. Traditionally, they were black stones.”

  “Oh. Okay. Sure.”

  The stone made a satisfying clack as she put it down.

  “So, how are you enjoying Sinnoh?”

  Clack. I placed my stone near the corner.

  “I’m loving it. It’s such a beautiful region, and the people are so friendly too.”

  “That’s good.” Clack. “Good job dealing with Kane, by the way. He’s been a thorn in our side for too long - never doing enough to make a big splash, and always one step ahead of us.”

  “I… Thank you.”

  Clack.

  “You might not be aware, but you’re making a little bit of a name for yourself. Not a big name, and you’re still pretty quiet in the grand scheme of things, but you’ve helped us out a lot.”

  I tried to hide the deepening blush by taking a sip of warm tea.

  “I’m just trying to make the world a better place.”

  “And if we had more Trainers like you, then I would be out of a job.” Clack. “Where is your favorite place you’ve been to so far?”

  “Wow, that’s a tough question.” I leaned back in my chair and frowned. “Floaroma was pretty, but the flowers always made me sneeze. Iron Island was kinda depressing, uh, no offense.”

  “None taken, it is sad to see the island wither away, but we’re working on it.”

  “Sandgem Town was nice, very quiet. Snowpoint is gorgeous, I love the cold and the way the snowflakes shimmer in the breeze. Oreburgh and Canalave were nice, but I don’t really think I loved them, if that makes sense.”

  She nodded, and I placed down another stone as I thought. Clack.

  “Jubilife has a bunch of cool shops, but I think the city is too busy for me.” For a moment, I thought of Granny Sayori and the guitar in my bag, and felt a pang.

  Someday soon I’ll get back there and play for her again.

  “And I wish I could have seen Eterna City in all of its glory.”

  “Ah yes, the storms. Arceus damn that Archie.” Clack. “We’re going to be rebuilding from that for years. Poor Steven has been having a Giratina of a time. He’s thinking of retiring for a little bit and letting Wallace take over - it looks better to have a new face in charge for the reconstruction.”

  I frowned down at the board. I knew I was just a beginner, but I had no idea what Cynthia was trying to do, and I gently placed down another stone.

  Clack.

  “I just wish I could spend more time in these places.” I eventually said. “I enjoy seeing them, but I haven’t had the chance to really explore all of them.”

  “You should visit Celestic Town sometime. I think you would really enjoy it.”

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  Clack.

  “I think I’d like that. Lots of history there, right?”

  Clack.

  “Oh yes.”

  Clack.

  I stopped, my hand over the board.

  Cynthia smiled. “Ah, you finally spotted it.”

  “Did you…”

  The entire time she had been moving both her own stones as well as mine so they formed the shape of a Poké Ball.

  “That’s impressive.

  “Thank you.”

  “I’ve lost this one entirely, haven’t I?”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  I placed down another stone. Clack.

  Her smile deepened. “Good choice.”

  Clack.

  Clack.

  Clack.

  We stopped talking, focusing on the board. Well, I was focused entirely on the board, while Cynthia kept looking out at the dance floor and taking sips of her drink.

  Eventually the end came despite my struggle, and I bowed slightly.

  She bowed back.

  “Good game.”

  “It was nice to play again. Thank you.”

  “I’m not sure how much of a challenge I actually offered you.”

  “It’s not about the challenge. It’s about the company.”

  I nodded, and began to pack up the board.

  “I hope you know how difficult it is for me not to pick your brain apart.” Cynthia said, with a casualness that sent chills down my spine. “You’re fascinating. According to Rowan, you have knowledge far beyond that of any other recorded Faller. You’ve already done so much for not just Sinnoh, but the world.”

  “It’s what anybody would have done.” I demurred.

  “Is it?”

  I thought for a long moment as my hands continued to pick up the pieces.

  “It’s just a suggestion, but I would make sure an eye is kept on the three Lakes.” I offered.

  “Already done.”

  “What about the Veilstone Meteorites?” That was part of the anime, right?

  “I didn’t know that they were important.”

  “They might be, I’m not sure.”

  “Where are you thinking of going after Snowpoint City?”

  “Hm? Veilstone, why do you-”

  I stared flatly at her as her smile widened.

  Sighing, I nodded. “I’ll check on them.”

  “Wonderful! Well, now that that’s settled.” She brushed off her hands. “Do you know if they have any ice cream?”

  “Cyn- Cindy, it’s freezing out here.”

  “So? It’s never too cold for ice cream.”

  Shaking my head, I pointed. “In the next plaza over, they have a food truck with some ice cream. I think it's five hundred for a cone?”

  “Great! Can I offer two pieces of advice?”

  “Sure.” I perked up a little bit.

  Advice from a Champion could be a god-send.

  “First - you say yes too easily.”

  I blinked.

  “Huh?”

  “You say ‘yes’ to things too easily. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad we have a Trainer like you out there who can keep an eye on things, but you shouldn’t say yes to everybody who asks you to do something. Like just now, you could have said ‘no’ to me asking you to go to Veilstone.”

  “You’re literally the most powerful Trainer in all of Sinnoh.”

  “Aw, thank you.”

  “No, I mean- I don’t know if I can say no to you. Both as a Trainer and as a Lab Assistant for Professor Rowan.”

  Cynthia shrugged. “I’m an exception to the rule. But you really need to stop running off and doing everything somebody asks you to do.”

  My breath made a cloud as I sighed.

  “And the second thing?”

  “You’re going too fast. You need to slow down and decide what you want to do, and whether it's the best thing for you at the time. I know it’s tempting to rush forward and get everything done as soon as possible, especially when other people say you need to go fast. But slow down. Think about what you want, and do that instead.”

  I stared at her, mouth open.

  “I’m talking about go.” She said with a wink.

  “Oh. Oh! Right.”

  “Why, did you think I was talking about something else?”

  “Um, maybe?”

  Cynthia shrugged. “Well, maybe you need to slow down there too. Now. Ice cream!”

  She turned and started walking, then stopped and came back with a sheepish look on her face.

  “I don’t normally wear kimonos,” she said. “And I don’t have any money on me. Could you spare me some money? I promise I’ll pay you back.”

  I gave her another flat look. “Weren’t you the one who was just saying I should say no to more people?”

  “I meant after this?”

  I sighed, and looked out at the dance floor. Ted, Lucas, and Kevin were all dancing away merrily.

  “Sure.” I got up and brushed off my hanten. “Let’s go.”

  Cynthia beamed and clapped her hands.

  The Champion of the entire Sinnoh Region and one of the strongest Pokémon Trainers in the entire world, I thought as we went to go get some ice cream, is rather cute when she’s not the scariest thing in the room.

  /^\

  Eventually the celebrations had to come to an end.

  At some point Cynthia had slipped away and I meandered back to the dance plaza, where Ted, Lucas, and Kevin were all sitting by a table off to the side, each of them looking more exhausted than the one before them.

  “Where were you?” Kevin asked as I slipped into the last chair.

  “Just catching up with a friend.”

  That got strange looks from Ted and Lucas, but I waved their unspoken questions off with a quiet “later.”

  Kevin probably didn’t need to know about the fact that I was on speaking terms with the Champion. Or that she owed me two thousand dollars worth of ice cream. Where she put it all I had no idea, but I was very jealous regardless.

  “So, what next?” I asked.

  Ted shrugged. “We do what Trainers always do. I figure it’ll take a day to make sure we’re all packed up and ready for the next leg of our journey, then we’ll be headed to Veilstone City.”

  “Yeah! Then from there I was thinking we should go to Sunnyshore! We can stop by Crown City on the way!”

  Kevin scoffed, but it was less harsh than normal.

  “Wouldn’t it make more sense to go to Solaceon Town and then Hearthome? Then you can cut down to Pastoria and then up to Sunnyshore that way.”

  “Well,” Lucas gave me a small look. “We still need to try fighting the Oreburgh Gym again if Alina wants to make it to the Conference. It’d be better to swing around Sunnyshore first, so it’s a lot faster to cross the mountains to get to Oreburgh from Hearthome.”

  Kevin frowned. “I guess…”

  “If we’re fast, not spending a lot of time dawdling in each city, we might be able to do it this way.” Ted said, leaning into the conversation. “We could go to Veilstone, of course, and then to Hearthome, then just go straight back to challenging the Oreburgh Gym. From there we could go down to Sandgem and catch a ferry to Pastoria - that would cut down on a lot of walking.”

  Both Kevin and Lucas started nodding.

  “And go straight from Pastoria City to Sunnyshore.” Kevin said.

  “Where we can get a ferry to Lily of the Valley Island!” Lucas finished. “Brilliant!”

  “Like I said, if we hurry, we could probably knock out the rest of the badges in a month - two, max. That would leave us plenty of time to train and collect the rest of our Pokémon for the conference.”

  The three of them continued their conversation, eagerly talking about their plans for their teams, and how they were going to train for the conference, but I tuned them out.

  Leaning back in my chair, I stared up at the night sky. It was a beautiful night, with barely any clouds in the sky at all, and even with the lights from the city, I could still make out the stars.

  It was just so beautiful here. It was beautiful everywhere I’d gone, and I wanted to see more of it, and take the time to enjoy it.

  You need to slow down and decide what you want to do.

  Cynthia’s words came back to me, and I had to wonder:

  What did I want to do?

  I’d been going around and challenging the Gyms because… well. That’s what you did in the games. You collected Pokémon, fought Gym Battles, and defeated the villainous team of the area. Then you beat the Elite Four, and became the Champion.

  Then that was it. There was post-game content, sure, but it was mostly new areas to explore and Pokémon to catch, usually along with a much more difficult challenge in the form of a Battle Tower or something.

  But that was in the game, and as I’d learned and re-learned so many times: this wasn’t just a game anymore.

  This was going to be the rest of my life. I had three Gym Badges already, one more and I’d be able to use my Trainer ID as a passport. I could go to Hoenn, to Kanto and Johto, or even cross the ocean and visit Galar and Kalos.

  I didn’t have to complete the entire Gym Circuit. Most people didn’t, as a matter of fact.

  My breath made small puffs of vapor as I slowly exhaled. The others kept excitedly chatting around me, but the night sky was just too beautiful to ignore.