Cynthia held a bowl in her hand, troubled as she brushed the strands of hair from her forehead back behind her head, a trace of fatigue flashing in her eyes.
Ever since that last phone call with Axel, she had immediately set out for Canalave Town, searching for the Pokémon called the God of Nightmares.
But in the course of her investigation, she discovered that Darkrai was actually standing on the side of humans.
The ones truly causing the chaos were the two legendary Pokémon of Sinnoh, Dialga and Palkia.
If Darkrai hadn't been protecting Canalave Town all along, this little town would have been destroyed by Dialga and Palkia long ago.
Realizing this, Cynthia immediately stood on Darkrai's side.
With the power boost from Dragon Dance, her Garchomp now had the qualifications to contend against gods.
After joining forces with Darkrai, they could easily suppress Dialga and Palkia.
But the ridiculous part was… Just as Axel had said, the divine powers of those two guys were too overwhelming.
This was already the umpteenth time Cynthia had been sent back several days earlier.
Everything repeated itself over and over again, the townsfolk on the streets eating the exact same food as when she was first sent back, wearing the exact same clothes.
That little girl from the breakfast shop would, without fail, knock over the empty bowl on the table at the third second after Cynthia crossed through time.
Candice's phone call was the one and only exception in this battle.
"Hopefully, this time the situation will change…", Cynthia placed the empty bowl on the table. The adult beside the little girl recognized her and thanked her repeatedly.
Cynthia gently shook her head, pinched the little girl's chubby cheek, and said, "You have to be more careful in the future, okay? If a bowl falls and breaks on the ground, the shards could cut your little hands."
"Okay!", The little girl said in a childish voice, thanking her, then asked curiously, "Cynthia big sister, aren't you eating breakfast? Why are you in such a hurry?"
Cynthia smiled, waved her hand behind her, and said, "Big sister is off to save the world!"
———
[Snowpoint City]
As the northernmost and also highest city of the Sinnoh region, it was covered year-round by snow that fell from Mt. Coronet.
The people traveling on the roads almost all rode sleds, and even those few walking wore thick winter clothing.
Suddenly, as if a shooting star streaked across the sky, three figures fell almost simultaneously onto the snow-covered ground.
The people nearby were all startled, and some hurriedly wanted to check if those figures were injured.
But before they could get close, a blue Meowth poked its head out from the deep snow.
"Where did Pikachu send us flying to this time, nya?"
"Huh, that Meowth can actually talk?"
The people instinctively stepped back a few paces, keeping their distance from Meowth.
Some youngsters immediately pulled out their phones to record.
"Don't film me, nya!", Seeing people recording, Meowth panicked.
He still had the heavy responsibility of capturing Pikachu and Axel, how could he risk exposing himself?
Meowth flexed his claws and waved rapidly at the snow beneath him.
"Jessie, James, hurry up and crawl out of there!"
A blue-haired man and a red-haired woman crawled out of the snow, both of them hugging their arms tightly.
"Brrr~ so cold, this place."
"Where the heck did we end up this time? Don't tell me we're back in Kanto again?"
The people around them looked at Jessie and James with pity, whispering to one another.
"These two aren't bad-looking, and they even raised a talking Meowth."
"Looks like such promising youngsters, how did they get knocked silly like this?"
A man holding a child nodded knowingly, "I always said being a trainer is a dangerous profession. Imagine falling from so high up in the sky."
"Lucky for them this is Snowpoint City, if it had been some city with concrete ground, those two would be dead."
"Snowpoint City?"
Hearing the city's name, Jessie's eyes lit up instantly.
Ever since their last failed ambush on Axel, when his Meteor Swarm sent them flying, Jessie felt like some strange new attribute had been added to them.
Before, even when they lost to kids and got blasted off, they had never crossed whole regions.
But ever since that fight with Axel, they had been flying across regions all the time.
After such a long while, just to chase Pikachu, they had already spent an outrageous amount of money on ship tickets.
"Jessie, this time we don't have to buy ship tickets anymore!", James said, almost jumping with excitement.
"In that case, can we finally make up for the dinner we missed yesterday?"
Meowth nodded enthusiastically, "That's right, nya!"
"No way!", Jessie grabbed James and Meowth, shoved through the crowd, and found a corner. Crossing her arms, she said firmly, "Since the brat's come here, he's definitely going to challenge the gym."
"We finally ended up ahead of them, we have to prepare properly this time and seize the chance to capture Pikachu in one go!"
James's eyes lit up, "Then we'll get promoted to executives, maybe even branch leaders?"
"Exactly~ nya!"
"But what should we actually do?", James looked around at Snowpoint's snowy environment, speaking with some helplessness.
"There's too much snow here, it feels impossible to dig a trap for Pikachu."
"But if it comes to fighting, we're no match for the brat either…"
Meowth thought for a while. Suddenly spotting a nearby gym, a light bulb practically appeared above his head.
"I've got it, nya!"
"You two pretend to be apprentices at the gym, and gain the trust of the Gym Leader."
"I'll use the rest of our money outside to build a 'Capture-Pikachu-Special-Ultimate-Final-Version-Absolutely-No-Changes-Super-Success-Robot.'"
"When the time comes, we'll attack from both inside and outside, and we'll catch Pikachu for sure!"
James and Jessie both nodded.
"Then Boss Giovanni will call us back to HQ!"
"And we'll be able to trample that old hag underfoot!"
———
Meanwhile, a familiar Hellcat car stopped at the foot of Snowpoint City, standing out sharply against the surroundings.
Axel got out of the driver's seat, carrying the completely disoriented Platinum in his arms. Looking toward Snowpoint City, he gently brushed Platinum's hair.
"Young lady, we've arrived at the last gym."
"Glastrier, take us up the mountain!"
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