Chapter 115 (Patreon)

It honestly took a bit for me to get out from under Altaria, especially since he stayed in his Mega Form and kept shifting to prevent me from leaving. The audience seemed to delight in my struggle, with them laughing at such a comedic display of physical affection. Eventually, I was able to escape and return him to his Love Ball, dissipating the Mega Evolution at the same time to stop the drain on my stamina.

Lisia had already left the stage at that point, so all that was left was to actually obtain the ribbon itself.

I had to shift around my position off of the raised trainer box and onto a small stage that extended out over the water. The judges of the contest met me at the base of the staircase that went up that side of the field, and I felt my eye twitch when Wallace walked up next to me.

The master of ceremonies, Marian, went on a long speech basically complimenting everyone who competed in the Contest, and to finish it up, Wallace made a short speech as well. In it, he talked about how the Wallace Cup is both a stage and a learning opportunity for every participating Coordinator, and he also mentioned that to win, a Coordinator needs conviction.

He subtly glanced my way when he said that, and my mind flashed to the “conversation” we had after the semifinals had ended. Thankfully, my mask hid the sour look that appeared on my face afterwards.

When it came to the actual handing over of the ribbon, Wallace didn’t hand it to me directly, but his Milotic, released behind him, used a tiny Water Pulse controlled by her hydrokinesis to lift it up out of his open hand and over to mine. Of course, the audience cheered at that extra display.

The ribbon itself, the Aqua Ribbon, almost looked just like the other ribbons I’d earned, except that the short strips of fabric attached to it were the same color as Wallace’s hair. Additionally, the metal pin part itself was made out of such polished bronze it practically looked like it was pure gold. Its light weight suggested otherwise.

With the ribbon obtained, I walked around to each of the judges to shake their hands with a big smile on my face, mask hiding it regardless. They all gave me polite smiles and congratulations, up until I reached Wallace himself at the end.

“Yeah, we’re talking about what you said to me earlier,” I whispered to him during our handshake.

Thankfully, both our mics were off and my voice changer was still deactivated. Wallace gave me a big smile in response to my “request.”

“A wonderful Coordinator like you wishing to speak with me alone? It would be my pleasure,” he said.

My eye twitched again.

The ceremony didn’t last longer than that, with one last “Good job!” given to all the competing Coordinators. I was offered to say some words, which I opted to do once I turned my voice changer back on.

“Delightful performances on everyone's behalf. Well done.”

I didn’t say anything else, since Robin was supposed to be a Coordinator of little words. One last round of applause marked the end of the Wallace Cup, and I, along with everyone else, left the stage.

I, of course, took Wallace aside practically the moment we were out of sight.

"What was— excuse me."

I quickly turned off my voice changer.

"What was your deal? Telling me to drop out like that?"

"A trick. A test. I want the Coordinators competing in the Wallace Cup to give it their all no matter what, so I always slip in little tests to test their conviction. Early on, I wrote dozens of personalized notes both to help Coordinators to develop their styles as well as to teach a lesson to anyone who decided to risk changing their strategy in the middle of a Contest. For the top four, however, I purposely tried to invoke a negative reaction to encourage them to prove me wrong."

"You told me to drop out to get me to perform better," I deadpanned.

"Yes!” he replied cheerfully. “It also helped to ensure only the most determined of Coordinators will win. In your case, I used weak albeit true reasoning about your situation, which sparked the emotional reaction I sought. It definitely seemed to work based on Dedenne’s incredible fight immediately afterwards. For others, I used similar forms of reverse psychology, like what I did with Lisia, who I told the Wallace Cup was rigged in her favor.” Wallace laughed. “She practically threw me out of the room, she was so enraged!”

"This... I... What? Why would you—"

"Lie?" he asked.

I nodded.

“I admit, this trick might seem mean spirited to an outsider’s perspective, but it does work. Either Coordinators reaffirm their determination to win, like you did, or they question if this is what they truly seek in their life. I may push many to become Coordinators, but I only want those truly set in their convictions to dedicate their lives to performing. This was Lisia’s first Wallace Cup, as well as one other Coordinator who made it to the end. I’d already done this trick with the final Coordinator, so we had a polite conversation together instead.

“Now, I don’t do this with just anyone, mind you, as some do not need the push. The Wallace Cup is known world-wide as an incredible event, and for some, simply getting this far is enough.”

I rubbed my temples at his ridiculous plan. Wallace kept smiling at me.

"Thanks for ‘motivating’ me, I guess?" I said, a little bothered.

"You did an incredible job, ‘Robin.’ Your victory was well earned. Now then, I believe you have your Pokémon waiting for you?"

My head shot up at the mention of my team, and I quickly said a quick goodbye before practically sprinting down the hallway. My mood immediately lightened after the reminder that every Pokémon on my team, more than just the seven I kept on hand, were waiting for Altaria and me in this building.

I began to rush up towards the viewing box only to change directions when Steven sent me a quick message to tell me he was in Robin’s dressing room instead. After a few quick moments, I was at my destination, where I threw open the door and was assaulted by a wall of fluff.

“Wait, wait, wait! Altaria is the one who really deserves this!” I laughed.

Somehow, I was just barely able to pull out his Love Ball from my glove compartment and send Altaria out into the middle of the room. From my position on the ground beneath both Ninetales and Whimsicott, I managed to look up to see that Florges had swept Altaria up into a hug and was spinning around with him in her arms, much to his confusion.

The room was cramped with absolutely everyone squeezed in here. Even Steven had been pushed with his back against the wall in the corner. Carbink, Azumarill, and Kirlia, none of whom were interested in Contests, were all visibly excited at my team’s victory in the Wallace Cup despite their lack of interest. Well, Azumarill looked less mad than usual, which still said a lot.

“Can I get up now, you guys?” I coughed out from under my mask. “I want to make an announcement.”

Ninetales and Whimsicott both exchanged a brief look before going back to keeping me on the floor with their affection for another whole minute. Soon enough, however, I was back on my feet and sat down on the stool in front of the mirror.

When I took off my mask, I had a serious expression on my face. Everyone moved to sit at attention expectantly, waiting for me to speak.

I wasn’t able to keep up that look for long. My face soon broke out into a wide smile, and I uttered a single phrase.

“We did it.”

My team burst into cheers at that. Steven chuckled at our antics. Out of everyone on my team who had even the slightest interest in Contests, only Whimsicott hadn’t participated, having been substituted with Altaria in order to allow the rematch with Lisia to occur.

I smiled as my team made their happy noises and waited for them to quiet back down.

“Now, for my real announcement, I have a declaration to make,” I said. This time, my serious expression stuck.  “The Wallace Cup went well for us. Extremely well, considering we won. Our team is strong, and our efforts are finally paying off. For that reason, I want to start pushing even further.

“Yes, we’re strong, and yes, we’re beating a few Gym Leaders’ personal teams, but that’s not enough. We’ve won this one Contest, but there are many more difficult battles ahead of us. Remember Thomas?” I asked.

The only Pokémon who didn’t know who I was talking about were Carbink, Dedenne, and Kirlia, as all three had joined the team after we’d already left Hoenn.

“Well, I honestly don’t think we’d be able to beat him as we are now,” I said.

My team stilled.

“Just like how he’d beat us in a normal battle, there are undoubtedly many Coordinators competing in Sinnoh that are better than us that I don’t even know about. Not only that, every competitor who failed to win the Wallace Cup is going to step up their game to become an even more skilled Coordinator in the future. We can’t get complacent with what we already have; we need to keep pushing to reach our potential. So, as for my actual declaration...”

I cleared my throat, taking the brief moment to pause and prepare myself to give this statement the gravitas it deserves.

“We’re going to win both the Grand Festival and the Lily of the Valley Conference,” I stated. “No matter how much training it takes, even if it means we have to get strong enough to beat Legendary Pokémon—and we will—we are going to win.”

With our goal set, my team burst out into cheers once more, with Azumarill and surprisingly Florges being the loudest and most motivated. My Pokémon took this opportunity to jump on me once more, Altaria taking advantage of the fact I promised to not push him off at all this week to smother my head with his fluff.

I felt Kirlia Teleport in to hug my leg. I brought my arm out to pat him on his head affectionately.

I smiled. I felt that with my Pokémon by my side, we could take on the world.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

It might have been a bit financially irresponsible, but the majority of the cash prize from the Wallace Cup went into reserving a private room at a local fancy restaurant. It was still early enough that we could have a decent dinner, especially since the room we got overlooked the lake’s sparkling water underneath the sunset.

If I’d gone in my Robin guise, I’d undoubtedly have gotten the room for free, but at the same time, I might have had to deal with the public when I really wanted to just celebrate with my Pokémon.

Steven was invited as well, but the room was unfortunately not large enough to fit the Pokémon as a team. As a result, only Scyther was out with the rest of us, tending to stay near Dedenne while everyone ate. The pair of them had become fast friends after Dedenne “beat” her in that battle a while back.

All the Pokémon on my team were able to choose whatever dish they wanted, no matter how expensive or how large it was. Altaria himself had pulled a Ninetales and eaten until he passed out, saving me from the neck wear. As for me, I just chose the cheapest thing on the menu to save some cash, which ended up being a small bowl of soup that was more of an appetizer than anything else. Steven sat across from me, drinking some tea instead of eating as he claimed he wasn’t hungry. I took this time to talk.

“So, how exactly did you manage to bring three of my Pokémon here with you, anyway?” I asked.

“I applied for a ‘supervisory’ role, as they call it,” he explained. “Trainers sometimes need to bring in more than just their allowed team of six, or seven, in your somehow still applicable case. To support that, it’s possible to retrieve up to six more as long as another trainer offers to ‘supervise them’ on behalf of their actual trainer. For you, I personally took on the remaining three members of your team, and, as a result, I only have three of my own Pokémon with me.”

He paused for a brief moment to take a sip of his tea.

“And before you ask, no, unfortunately, I cannot bring them with us outside of the city. Usually this exception is for daycare workers or assistants in dedicated training facilities, not for celebrations. Traveling with all ten members of your team would still count as a violation of the League’s rules, and thus, I will need to send them back to Sycamore’s ranch before we leave.”

I nodded to show I was listening, though my mind focused on a different topic. My first question had been a way to start the conversation more than anything else, since I felt so awkward about what I actually wanted to ask.

“I, uh, is it possible to ask for another favor from you?” I asked hesitantly.

Steven smiled, amused, and put down his cup of tea.

“Oh?”

“Remember the declaration I made after the cup?” I asked.

“I do indeed,” he replied.

“Well, I wanted to know if you’d be willing to leave behind more of your Pokémon with me when you go underground. Not to suggest that you go alone!” I added quickly. “Just to let me train my Pokémon with more than one of your extremely strong Pokémon at once to help me reach my goals. It’s not every day one gets to travel with a Champion-level trainer.”

“Until Pastoria, it is for you,” he pointed out.

I had to give him that.

Steven hummed and lightly tapped his fingers on the table, clearly considering my request. As he did, a small smile appeared on his face, slowly widening over time.

“Now that you’ve mentioned it, I suppose that if I leave more of my companions behind, you’d be even more prepared for any emergency situation involving Ash, wouldn’t you? The pair of Ace Trainers Cynthia is assigning to me won’t arrive until after we part in Pastoria, after all. This change would allow me to better justify spending even longer in The Underground.”

Steven looked very pleased with himself.

“I do think I will take you up on your offer, Alex. Honestly, if I had thought of it myself, I might have brought it up on my own. This is quite the win-win situation for the both of us.”

I sighed in relief that it worked out.

“Thank you, Steven,” I said.

“It is my pleasure.”

I would say that the rest of the meal consisted of just quiet conversation and eating, but my Pokémon were rowdy and excited at such a satisfying end to the Wallace Cup. Ninetales noisily made a mess of her food. Whimsicott and Dedenne kept working together to move dishes around to trick others into taking a bite of someone else’s food. Azumarill and Kirlia “arm-wrestled,” where Kirlia locked Azumarill’s arms in his psychic powers and Azumarill tried to force her way out. Finally, Florges audibly fretted over the mostly silent Altaria, having become much closer to him after her days-long effort to prepare him for his Contest battle.

The only Pokémon that were an exception to this mild chaos were Mawile, Ponyta, and Carbink, the trio engaging in an idle conversation among themselves. They added to the ambient noise without doing much else.

That was until a mistimed jump from Dedenne sent Ponyta’s head down into the remaining food on his plate. The entire room fell into silence.

“I think it might be time for me to go,” Steven said quickly. “Come along, Sycther. Claydol, if you will.”

With a surprisingly quick switch of his team members, Steven disappeared in a flash of Teleport. Ponyta slowly closed his eyes, and bits of food started to float into the air around him.

All I could think about before the resulting food fight began was a desperate hope that cleanup costs in this private room wouldn’t be too high.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

There was one conversation left I was dreading to have but couldn’t avoid. After the mess in the private room—where I learned that both Ponyta and Kirlia were capable of removing stains with their telekinesis—I rushed back to the hotel to finally talk to Cynthia about the packet of questions she left me.

Cynthia was scheduled to leave Lake Valor tomorrow morning, her brief break-slash-required-appearance ending with the Wallace Cup finishing. Thankfully, she had given me her room number in the hotel to return the answered questions to her once I was done. I think she massively overestimated how much time I had between rounds of the Contest.

Once I arrived, I knocked on the door to her room and waited for her to answer, only to freeze when she finally opened it up.

Cynthia wasn’t wearing her usual black outfit but pink polka-dot pajamas. She still had her accessories in her hair, for some reason.

“Alex?” Cynthia smiled. “You’ve finished my questions, then?”

“No...” I said slowly, needing a moment to regain my usual state of mind. “I wanted to talk to you about them, as well as my situation regarding a certain item I bought.”

Cynthia nodded and opened the door wider, allowing me to enter the room she had for herself. I briefly paused at the sight within but still easily made my way to the table she pointed out.

Cynthia’s room was on the top floor, and like the other rooms on the highest floor, it was more of a suite than an individual hotel room. It consisted of two main rooms: a living room-like area and a bedroom. More importantly, it was filled with her Pokémon.

Cynthia’s Garchomp was passed out over the couch, which was notably bent under its weight. Her Milotic and Togekiss were asleep in the corner, the Water Type coiled around the Fairy Type. On the balcony, her Lucario meditated while her Roserade stared out over the lit-up, night-time resort. Finally, her Spiritomb’s keystone was resting on the same table she had told me to sit at.

“Did I come at a bad time?” I asked.

“Oh, no. I was just reading before going to bed for the night. We have to wake up bright and early to leave on time tomorrow, after all. So, you wanted to talk to me about the Pixie Plate?”

“And the questionnaire,” I added.

Mentioning that dense packet caused Cynthia’s smile to gain a mad tinge. I spoke up to interrupt her before she gained any incorrect conclusions.

“Look, I’ll be honest with you, I’m not super confident I’d be able to go into so much detail about my old world.”

Her smile dropped.

“It isn’t like I miss it, my life here is at least ten times better than anything I could have achieved there. Here, I have goals, friends, potential, and of course, I actually have a way to get more money than just what’s paid with minimum wage. What I guess I’m trying to say is that I’m willing to answer your questions, I just don’t have the information you want for yourself to share. I mean, I wasn’t a historian or a sociologist. I can only give you vague, general facts.”

She smiled sadly and slightly tilted her head.

“Ah, I think I got my hopes up. It’s not every day where I get a primary source for an entire other world. Are you at least willing to answer my questions about Sinnoh’s history?”

“You asked me questions about Sinnoh’s history?” I asked.

“Pages thirty-two to forty-three in the packet,” she replied.

I’d only skimmed through it after seeing how ridiculously large it was, so I had skipped quite a few sections. Opening it up, she did indeed include several dozen questions about what I knew about Sinnoh, most likely added based on her knowledge that I was Steven’s secret source.

I didn’t play the games set in Sinnoh’s past, so I doubted I’d be able to answer some of the questions she included. Like, how was I supposed to know the types of food people ate, or how the people and Pokémon adapted to living together?

The questions about Legendary Pokémon like Arceus and Giratina were more in my wheelhouse, however.

Coming to a sudden realization, I quickly shifted gears when an idea came to mind.

“So, part of the reason I came here was to talk about the Pixie Plate,” I started.

“Yes, do you have questions about it?”

“No, I wanted to bring up the fact that I’m practically dirt poor after buying it.”

Cynthia blinked in surprise.

“However, with regards to this questionnaire, I think I came up with an idea to make both of us happy,” I said. “I can answer some of your questions, but it’s going to take me a lot of time to go through and do it. I have more Contests, a show battle, and the final Conference coming up, so I want to train my team. I’ll still answer the questions, but I’d like to be able to be compensated for my time.”

I took a deep breath.

“What I’m saying is, please pay me. I’m desperate for money.”

Cynthia laughed.

“Oh, Alex. I’m poor too!”

There was a long period of silence as I took that in. Cynthia just sat there, smiling, across from me.

“But don’t you own a villa in Unova?” I asked.

“I’m surprised you know about that, but yes. To clarify, that was purchased early on in my tenure as the Champion, back when I had so much income I didn’t know what to do with it. Most of the time, I spend my money on historical artifacts, just like you did with the Pixie Plate. My liquid funds are practically zero at this point.”

I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my temples.

“Oh god. She’s just like Steven but with history instead of stones,” I mumbled.

“I resent that!” Cynthia shot back. “Unlike Steven, I don’t have an entire corporation supporting me.

“Regardless, I can still pay you a small amount, but not as much as you deserve.” She paused. “Wait, I might be able to give you something else to make up for that difference, too.”

Cynthia shot to her feet, where she rushed over to her Togekiss, who was still wrapped up by her Milotic. Once there, she leaned down to whisper in its ear, waking it up as it groggily listened to what she said. After a few moments, Togekiss suddenly became wide awake and snapped its head towards me to stare into my eyes. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, unsure what was going on.

After several moments where it felt like her Pokémon was staring into my soul, Togekiss eventually nodded and went back to relaxing in Milotic’s coils. Cynthia smiled then stepped into the side bedroom with only a brief “One moment,” to mark her absence.

I sat awkwardly in the chair, waiting for her to emerge once more. Togekiss kept sending glances my way, causing me to stare at the wood grain of the table.

Eventually, Cynthia finally left the bedroom carrying a small slip of paper and a black case, both of which she placed on the table in front of me.

“In exchange for answering as much as you can of that questionnaire, I’m willing to pay you with these two items. The first, is this check, and the second—”

Words lost meaning as I saw the check had six digits on it. My eyes practically bulged out of my head, especially since Cynthia had just claimed she was poor.

“...is this acceptable to you?” she finished.

“Huh? Yes. Yeah. More than acceptable,” I mumbled.

“Great!”

Cynthia smiled as I got to my feet, holding the check in one hand. She practically shoved the black case into my arms as she escorted me out of the room.

“So since we reached a deal, you better get a head start on that questionnaire!” she cheerfully said. “As long as at least roughly forty percent is answered, I’ll be happy! Anyway, congratulations on winning the Wallace Cup, and good luck training your team. Make sure to treat Togepi well once they hatch, too!”

Cynthia closed the door in my face, leaving me stunned in the hallway. It genuinely took me several minutes of standing there awkwardly, staring at the closed entryway, until I finally processed what just happened.

“Wait, Togepi?”

====================================================
Author Note:

Cynthia wasn’t reading. She was eating ice cream, that liar.

List of TMs Alex recently bought, with taught TMs being listed in italics.
TMs (reusable):
-Dark Pulse: Ninetales, Mawile
-Shadow Ball: Kirlia, Mawile, Whimsicott
-Psychic: Florges, Whimsicott, Carbink
TRs (single-use):
-Pollen Puff: Florges
-High Horsepower: Ponyta
-Wild Charge: Ponyta

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter (contains spoilers):
Claydol
Garchomp
Lucario
Milotic
Roserade
Scyther
Spiritomb
Togepi / Togekiss

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