"Cynthia, that…" Steven raised a finger and pointed at her. This time, it was his turn to go red in the face.
"Hmm?"
Cynthia glanced sideways at the frosted glass panel she had been leaning against. It was frosted, yes — but at such a close distance, the effect was nearly useless.
"Ah!!!"
"Steven, you pervert!"
Cynthia's face flushed a deep, burning red. She pulled the door shut with a sharp click.
Steven simply shrugged, spreading his hands with a helpless smile.
You were the one who chose this room. You were the one who poked your head out to question me. I gave you a fair warning — so how exactly does that make me the bad guy here?
He sighed inwardly. Someone please tell her she's got it backwards.
"Hmph!"
Steven watched helplessly as Cynthia emerged a short while later, still shooting him pointed glares from across the room.
"That was Phoebe on the phone," he said, deciding to get ahead of it. "Before I left for Sinnoh, I gave her a Sableye Mega Stone and asked her to help me with a few things."
"Professor Sycamore recently published his research paper on Mega Evolution. Since then, Mega Stones and Key Stones have started appearing in shops across Hoenn and Kalos." He paused. "Phoebe didn't have the funds to get a Key Stone on her own, so I told her to keep helping me and I'd cover the cost."
Steven finished his explanation and waited.
Cynthia's expression didn't soften quite the way he expected. She was still looking at him with narrowed eyes — but it wasn't about Phoebe anymore. That much was clear.
She was still annoyed about the other thing.
"Ahem." Steven cleared his throat and clenched his fist against his mouth. "About earlier… I genuinely didn't see anything."
Cynthia's eyes flicked toward him. "So you're saying there's nothing worth seeing?"
"That's — no, that's not what I meant."
"So you did see something?"
Steven opened his mouth. Closed it. He ruffled the back of his hair and looked away.
Cynthia held her expression for exactly three more seconds before a quiet giggle slipped out.
"Alright, I'll stop. Come here — help me dry my hair."
"Sure."
As long as Cynthia wasn't genuinely upset, Steven was happy to help with anything.
He picked up the hotel's hairdryer and set to work, carefully running it through Cynthia's long golden hair. Cynthia sat with her back to him, turning a small blue-haired doll over in her hands.
"Hey, Cynthia — why does this doll have a smile on it?" Steven asked, tilting his head slightly as he worked. He remembered the original version having a rather grumpy little frown. But the doll she was holding now had a faint, gentle smile stitched across its face with needle and thread.
"Because Steven smiles like that the most." Cynthia's lips curved upward without her meaning them to. Her eyes softened, drifting somewhere distant, like she was pulling up an old memory.
"Really? I thought I had a grumpy face back then," Steven mumbled, half to himself.
Cynthia said nothing, only smiled a little wider.
The next morning, Steven gently shook Cynthia awake.
"Just… ten more minutes…" she murmured, her voice still thick with sleep. Before he could respond, her arm looped lazily around his neck, pulling him closer. "Please…?"
Steven smiled despite himself. "That's fine — but could you let go of me first?"
"No."
He reached out and lightly pinched her nose between two fingers.
"Up."
"Steven!"
That did it.
Cynthia was out of bed faster than he expected. He wisely didn't comment on that.
After changing and checking out of the hotel, the two set off. Steven rode on Metagross, and Cynthia on Garchomp. They crossed the sky toward the northeastern part of the Alola region, touching down on Akala Island.
The villa was right on the beachfront, quiet and private, exactly as promised. Steven picked up the keys from the front desk, and after a quick look around the property, his face broke into a wide grin.
"Alright, everyone — come on out!"
Before Metagross had even fully landed, Steven had thrown open every Poké Ball on his belt. Cynthia followed his lead a beat later, releasing her own team onto the warm sand.
"Take a good rest, all of you!"
Metagross settled onto the beach as Steven called out to the assembled Pokémon.
"Larvi!" Larvitar immediately scooped up a handful of sand and shoved it into its mouth. It chewed thoughtfully.
Barely passable.
"Agg…" Aggron crossed its thick arms and stared down at the tiny Larvitar with a look of quiet exasperation.
You absolute disaster of a Pokémon.
"Woo~"
Milotic slipped gracefully into the sea the moment it was released, its long tail sweeping wide arcs through the water, sending gentle waves rolling outward.
Steven unlocked the villa's front door and did a brief walk-through. The ground floor had the living room and kitchen. The second floor held the bedrooms. The third floor opened up into a semi-open-air terrace with lounge chairs that looked out over the ocean — the kind of place made for doing absolutely nothing useful.
Before going in, Cynthia fixed Steven with a firm look.
"No peeking."
Garchomp stepped into position beside the door on cue, arms folded, eyes locked onto Steven.
Steven raised both hands in surrender, a small smile on his face. He gave a slight tilt of his head — and his sunglasses, which had been resting on top of his hair, slid smoothly down the bridge of his nose and settled into place.
A moment later, he was standing on Empoleon's back out in the shallows, using the Emperor Pokémon as a living surfboard.
Empoleon kept half its face submerged beneath the surface, peering up at Steven with an expression of profound dignity — which was difficult to maintain with its legs kicking frantically beneath the waterline.
If I had this much free time, Empoleon thought darkly, I'd rather go spar with Honedge.
Steven laughed and leaned back. Empoleon immediately executed a sharp, sweeping drift turn.
For all its complaints, Empoleon's body was quite cooperative.
Pfft.
Milotic had followed them into the water at some point. When it surfaced beside Steven, it flicked its tail and sent a clean spray of seawater directly into his face.
Steven sputtered, wiped his face, and grinned anyway.
"You know, Empoleon, this reminds me of the first time we met," he said, looking down at his partner. "You spat a jet of water right in my face."
"Awo-bo!"
Say the word and I'll give you an encore. Right now.
"Let's head back in! Go!"
Empoleon pursed its beak and surged toward the beach, carrying Steven along at speed.
Meanwhile, Scizor stood at the shoreline with its legs in the surf, arms crossed. It charged briefly — then released a burst of energy toward the water.
Puff — puff — puff!
The impact sent waves several meters high crashing upward in every direction.
"Empoleon, take off!" Steven called out, his grin widening.
"Awo-bo!"
You and your demands.
Empoleon grumbled internally but slapped both arms against the water, launching the two of them clean into the air. They sailed up and over the crest of the waves Scizor had thrown up.
Try and stop us.
As they came back down, Steven judged the moment and leaped free, landing on the sand with both feet planted.
The landing sent a spray of sand directly into Larvitar's face.
Larvitar had been crouching over a carefully constructed sandcastle.
Had been.
"Yo-ji…"
Larvitar looked at the ruins of its work. Then it looked up at Steven. Its eyes were very wide and very red around the edges.
It wanted to be furious.
It was furious.
But it said nothing.
Only the grievance remained.
"Oh — Larvitar, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there!" Steven crouched down immediately, looking genuinely apologetic.
Larvitar held its expression together through sheer force of stubbornness.
"Don't cry. I'll help you build it back."
Steven sat down on the beach and got to work, and after a moment, Larvitar sat beside him.
Steven was mid-pat on a sandcastle tower when something caught his eye — a glint of light from somewhere off to his left.
He turned his head to look.
Cynthia was walking slowly across the sand toward them, wearing a black one-piece swimsuit. Her long, fair legs caught the sunlight with every step. Two thin straps ran from her neck downward, framing her collarbones. Her long golden hair, usually left loose, was gathered and pinned at the back of her head.
She noticed him looking.
With her hands clasped loosely behind her back, she tilted her head slightly and asked, in a voice that was just a little quieter than usual:
"Do I look good?"