Sinnoh region, Sandgem Town.
Tucked beside Sandgem Beach, the resort hotel sat wrapped in greenery, sea breeze drifting through open windows. Up on the rooftop pool deck, a soft, round-bodied Gastrodon lazily lapped at the pool water with its tongue. A poised Glaceon dozed under a sun umbrella, eyes narrowed, letting out the occasional small yawn.
Sprawled across a beach chair, a golden-haired beauty lay wrapped in a white towel, damp hair fanned out carelessly behind her. A spoon of ice cream balanced in her mouth, Cynthia's attention stayed locked on the handheld console in front of her.
GAME OVER.
"Ugh, this is brutal."
"Can I just buy more lives? Come on, let me buy more lives... this is so annoying."
She sighed, set the console down, and rose off the chair, stretching long, sun-kissed legs. Pushing through the glass door, she stepped into the cool interior, where a visibly sulking Spiritomb was doing its best impression of a potted plant beneath the air conditioner.
Three days had passed since the Lucian challenge — a rare stretch of true vacation for Cynthia. Not that her actual day-to-day as Champion looked much different: the occasional research trip to Eterna City to study old inscriptions, a visit to the library in Canalave, or shopping with Diantha whenever schedules aligned. Accepting Elite Four challenges was really the only fixed obligation on her plate.
Ever since Team Galactic's leader Cyrus had vanished into the Reverse World following the collapse of his plan, Sinnoh had stayed remarkably quiet — a sharp contrast to Kanto's ongoing Team Rocket problem, or Unova's stubborn Team Plasma remnants. As Champion, Cynthia had it easy by comparison. Word was the Hoenn Champion had it even easier — spent most of his time digging up rocks around the world and had eventually just handed the title off to someone else entirely. Compared to Steven, Cynthia figured her own slacking was practically disciplined.
This vacation ran three days total, and Cynthia intended to burn through every game on her list before it ended — because once she was back, the Type Masters Tournament and the Master Rank Tournament would eat every free hour she had.
She ran a comb through her hair — not a strand out of place — then tied it back with a hair tie held between her teeth. Even Diantha had admitted open envy of her hair, and made a habit of running her fingers through it whenever they met. Cynthia never thought much of it herself; the length had crept up gradually over years of mythology research and a packed early tenure as Champion, until one day it reached her waist and made her instantly recognizable wherever she went. Diantha's careful disguises — sunglasses and all — never stood a chance the moment that golden hair came into view.
"Hmm. What else is there to play..."
Cynthia sat cross-legged on the floor, pale legs folded neatly, scanning the game menu on the screen — she'd cleared nearly every trophy list already. She offered a controller to Garchomp, who politely declined, then kept scrolling for something single-player.
"pokémon: battle... haven't touched this in ages. Let's give it a shot."
Her eyes brightened. She connected her voice-command headset and opened the game — deliberately skipping her verified account, mostly to avoid Lucian or Sinnoh's Fire-type Elite Flint finding out she was playing. Those two were far too weak to make it interesting.
The matchmaking screen spun. Cynthia tilted her head, mildly curious.
"A Trainer from the Orient region — that's unusual."
"Single battle, sudden death?" She scanned the rules, a small smile forming. "Guess I'm bringing out Garchomp again, then."
On screen, her Poké Ball opened and her Garchomp roared into view, scythes gleaming. The real Garchomp, mid-meal nearby, glanced up at the screen with faint disdain before returning to its bowl.
Across the field, a burst of red light resolved into a grinning Gengar, cackling eerily.
"A Ghost-type user? Bold choice." The words had barely left her mouth before her eyes sharpened. "Crunch."
Built almost entirely for speed, her Garchomp shot forward like a cannon round, tail carving a sonic boom through the air, jaws snapping down hard toward Gengar.
"Crunch—!"
A shimmering barrier bloomed in front of Gengar an instant before impact — Protect, throwing Garchomp back several meters. In the same beat, a low, mournful melody drifted from Gengar's mouth, and Garchomp visibly shuddered.
Cynthia's brow furrowed.
Perish Song, in practice, worked through sustained psychological pressure rather than direct damage — a slow erosion of a Pokémon's will to keep fighting. Few Trainers bothered with it in real combat, since it dealt no physical damage at all. But in an official match, losing the will to fight still counted as a loss all the same.
Is this Orient region Trainer some kind of psychological specialist?
A countdown hovered above her Garchomp, ticking down the seconds until Perish Song would force an automatic loss if the match wasn't finished first.
Cynthia considered her options. "Garchomp, Dragon Rush."
Garchomp surged forward again, blazing across the field like a falling star. Even her real Pokémon had wandered over by now, gathered in front of the screen, watching intently.
Right on cue, Gengar's Protect shimmered up again.
Cynthia's smile sharpened. "Now — Dig."
She'd expected the Protect. Riding Dragon Rush's momentum, Garchomp plunged straight underground and reappeared behind Gengar almost instantly.
"Grawr—!!"
It burst up from below, twin scythes tearing clean through Gengar's body — Dig, landing at double damage.
______________________________
On the other end of the match, Teacher Luke was mid-rant to his chat.
"Garchomp? What is this, some trash-tier Pokémon that can actually hit my Gengar?"
"My Gengar has Levitate!"
"WHAT?!"
"There is no way my Levitate is legit if a Ground-type Dig just connected!"
"HAHAHA, Teacher Luke, cursed by the heavens himself!"
"That opponent's commanding is insane, this feels like a straight-up Master-tier match!"
"Bro got predicted for once, are you feeling okay Teacher Luke??"
"Doesn't matter, though." Luke's grin didn't waver. "Because we've got a Focus Sash."