Everything seemed fine for Steven Stone. Living with a girlfriend, he thought his life was complete. With a sigh of relief, the businessman exited his office in his father's building. Warmly, Steven Stone waved his father a goodbye before leaving the building.

"Goodbye, Steven, have a good night."

"Thank you, Dad. I hope you have a great night! Love you." After Steven gave his father a hug to say farewell, Joseph patted his son on the back.

The rain pitter-pattered against the pavement and clean streets of Rustboro City. Luckily though, the rock collector came prepared. Umbrella in hand, the water resistant material shielded the young man from the unbearably cold falling liquid as Steven traveled through the streets with little to no disturbance at all.

Strange. He thought to himself. It wasn't like he was disturbed by the peace. Actually, he found the peace to be quite calming. Being the former Champion of the Hoenn region, Steven normally was quite annoyed with his fans impeding on his personal time. And don't get him started on the interviews. The Rustboro City News Station wasn't known for its pleasant news anchors, quite the opposite.

Steven sighed to himself, enjoying the mild rain, if you could call it that. I should just enjoy it.

While her boyfriend was working in Rustboro City, Cynthia spent her time doing arbitrary tasks such as sorting her love's rock collection or tidying up her already neat, clean desk. To the hard-working woman, though, her work was never done. Being a historian and a champion, Cynthia's jobs would usually keep her busy while waiting for Steven.

Her partners would try to give their trainer a break, but she didn't listen to them. In the meantime, Garchomp and Metagross would have their fair share of shenanigans to do. On hot summer days, the serpentine water-type, Milotic, would use a hydro pump to quench the thirst of Cradily, enjoying the company and the miniature showers. Spiritomb and Claydol would train with each other on a daily basis. As Milotic quenched Cradily, Roserade and the other grass-type would flourish in their newfound friendship. Racing with each other, Togekiss and Skarmory would perch on Aggron's iron spikes. Aggron and Lucario would relax together, watching the others frolic in the immense backyard.

Sighing, she saw all her and her boyfriend's pokémon delighting themselves amongst the other pokémon Steven and she owned.

Reluctantly, Cynthia opened her drawer from her bedroom. A singular box contained one pill. With a bit of hesitance, the blonde opened the box, but she closed the lid and set it on the nightstand.

In a fit of rage, the Sinnoh Champion let out a yell of frustration. Turning around, she threw her clothes from her closet to the floor. Furiously, she threw her picture frames to the floor. Shattering, the glass flew everywhere on the floor. A few minutes later, her room ended up in a mess.

Cynthia took her time to catch her breath, heavily panting. Soon, the Sinnoh Champion took the box on the nightstand. Her quivering hands opened the lid only to close it up again.

In the bathroom next to her boyfriend's bedroom, the scholar shut the bathroom door before sinking into her despair. The feeling of the marble tile floor was comparable to the ice and snow she grew too familiar with when she was a child. Crying, Cynthia remembered the good times.

Cynthia pictured a younger version of herself, frolicing in the gardens of Foaroma Town. Cynthia sighed. She missed the good times. The only thing she had to worry about was whether she would arrive home before being scolded by her mother. Remembering the adventures with Caitlin, the Sinnoh Champion cried.

"Congratulations, Cynthia! Your Gabite evolved into a Garchomp!" Caitlin's young ten year old voice echoed in Cynthia's head.

Frantically, Cynthia covered her ears with tears in eyes.

"Cynthia! I can't believe it! I'm so proud of you! You're the best daughter I could ever ask for!" Cynthia's mother echoed in her mind.

"Stop. Stop!" she screamed, holding her head lower, "I don't deserve this! I don't deserve this!" Tears held up in her eyes.

"Hey, have I ever told you you're the best girl I've ever met?"

"I'm not. I'm not! I'm not, Steven!" Cynthia shouted. Her hands tightened around her ears. Cynthia's tears rolled down cheeks as she closed her eyes tightly. Choking up, Cynthia made a blood-curdling scream.

"You made a good choice, Steven." Wallace spoke in her head. "Why thank you Wallace." "Yeah, Cynthia's a great option." "See? Even Lance agrees!" Wallace spoke again.

"I was never a good option." Cynthia managed to blurb out in between her sobs. "I never deserved any of this!" Cynthia calmed down. Laboring, her breath made her voice become nails on a chalkboard.

When she took a gander at the box, a sudden desperation for the contents inside the box was the only thing on her mind. Grabbing the box, the scholar took out the last pill. With a lighter Cynthia burnt the box in cas her one true love found it. After the champion swallowed the pill, she felt lightheaded. One side of her felt better, but the other still felt the looming darkness of her emotions. Entering the kitchen, the champion grabbed a small glass of water to drink.

Cynthia sighed, "Time to get back to work . . ." as if saying that would heal the pain.

With the help of his other Claydol, Steven arrived at Mossdeep City, thanking his pokémon before entering the building. Casually, the Hoenn Champion opened the door with a somewhat content smile on his face.

"I wonder if Cynthia is okay. She's been awfully quiet recently. I hope she's doing great." he voiced his thoughts to himself. "Eh she's probably going through some stress." he brushed off his girlfriend's odd behavior while hanging up his wet raincoat and umbrella.

Entering the kitchen, Steven noticed the photos of Cynthia disappeared upon further inspection. The candles his girlfriend bought for his birthday laid on the white carpet. Out of the now shattered clay pots, soil and beautiful flowers for Cynthia's Valentine's day gift made a mess of the living room carpet. Noticing chips of some porcelain plates and bowls on the ground, Steven observed his limited edition Diancie figure, from Diantha on his twenty-fourth birthday, had fallen on the ground.

"What the heck happened here? Is Cynthia okay? Did a burglar come by? If a burglar did make a mess of my house, they made the wrong choice." Steven remarked, putting a finger on his chin. "Well, I guess Cynthia could have done it due to the fight we had a few days ago."

Steven walked to the hallway. He noticed Cynthia's mess of a room. Hearing his heart race, Steven ran in the room to find her clothes on the ground and shattered glass on the floor. The only object immune to the tornado was a custom made snow globe of Cynthia and Steven sitting on a bench in Snowpoint City.

How did this happen? Where's Cynthia? Are the Pokémon okay? Steven's mind raced.

Upon a second glance of the hallway, Steven gained second-hand embarrassment since the light obviously surrounded the bathroom door. He ran over to open the door, but when Steven turned the golden iron knob, the knob only turned slightly. He tried again and again to no avail. Steven even twisted the knob clockwise as opposed to counter-clockwise.

He growled. Then, he remembered how many other people would open a locked door, but those were in movies.

Wait, didn't I see how Cynthia would do it? Yeah! I did! She kicked it open hard. Steven took a deep breath and took a few paces back. You can do this. You can rock-climb against waterfalls for crying out loud! With a loud bang, the door swung open, allowing him to finally enter the bathroom.

There, he found Cynthia, lying on the marble tile floor. In a panic, Steven pulled her in to feel the pulse on her wrist. Faintly, the pulse beated, but it still beated. Tears ran down his cheeks. Her limp body felt weightless without the life in her. Pleading, Steven begged his love to wake up, but deep down inside he knew she wouldn't wake up.

"Please don't leave, Cynthia. We've got so much to do together. Hold on!" He squeezed her hand. Her warmth in her hands wasn't there anymore.

A/N: Sooo . . . I made some edits to this. I felt like I didn't really paint the picture I was seeing when I decided to write this chapter. I also didn't like how short my chapters would be on this website, so I decided to expand upon them. Hope you guys are doing well. Also, I'm sorry for the hiatus. I'm honestly really scared about World War III becoming an actual thing. Don't forget to spread some Ukraine love.