POV: Cynthia / LOCATION: Valor Lakefront
Sinnoh has a grand total of three beaches: the whole-in-the-wall beach at Sandgem Town, the exclusive beach at Valor Lakefront, and the overhyped beach at Sunyshore City. Naturally, I've been to all of them. Sandgem is my favorite because I can enjoy my cute bikini without those nosy paparazzi swarming all over me.
Luckily, Valor Lakefront is empty today. Just me and Cyrus and a handful of Shelloses milling about the sand. If he's planning something sappy, I swear…
Licking my lips awkward, I break the silence. "So."
"Please be patient."
"For… what exactly?"
"There," he says.
"There" refers to the setting sun. A phenomenon I've seen countless times. Every day without fail, the sun glows a fiery red and torches the fabric of the sky. Seen from the beach is a dapple of crimson above a cerulean sea. It's nice, don't get me wrong. But spectacular? Eh.
Unlike me, Cyrus is wholly mesmerized by the sunset. When he speaks again, his voice is soft. Humbled.
"The sun rises, then it sets. It proves that I lived through today, but it is not guaranteed that I will see tomorrow."
Is he trying to impress me with existential musings? This stoic, snarky bastard? From how longingly he stares into the horizon, it's like there's something extremely precious hidden there.
Then something flutters past my ear. Too fragile to be feathers; too material to be the breeze. Glancing up, I fall witness to a procession of bubbles. Glimmering spheres undulating along an invisible current. Violets, reds, yellows, colors so intense they light up the air.
"When the weather is fair, the Krabbies come out to blow bubbles," Cyrus says. "The bubbles absorb and reflect light casting off the waves."
"It's beautiful," I whisper. Truly. Throughout my career as a Pokemon Trainer, I never knew such a sight existed. Why, it's so rare I will even go as far as to call it a treasure. Watching the bubbles floating into the sea… it's uplifting, like a cup of iced dragonfruit nectar during a brutal summer.
I await a smart comeback from Mister Spaceman. None comes.
"You're unusually quiet," I tease. "What happened to the usual commentary? Give me a fun fact about the sun."
After a moment's pondering, he says, "When are the sun and moon allowed to meet under the same sky?"
"During eclipses," I say proudly. Challenge accepted and destroyed.
"That's half of the answer."
There's more?!
Instead of humoring me, Cyrus gestures to join him further down the beach. I complain that kitten heels don't work well with sand. He wordlessly holds them for me. Grandma, I got myself a fanboy!
Wading along the shoreline with the warm hug of sand around my bare feet, I walk a thin line between the present and the carefree days of my childhood. Every summer up until I started my Pokemon journey, my family would visit the beach. It was during our first vacation away from Celestic Town that I…
Huh. What was I trying to remember?
"Have you been to the other side of the sea?" I say.
"What's over there?"
His genuine puzzlement throws me off-guard. Somehow I have this impression that he's been to all the secret recesses of Sinnoh.
"Sunyshore. The city bathed in sunlight, as it's known. It has these futuristic solar walkways that light up when you walk on it…"
Turning back on a whim, I suddenly realize that Cyrus had stopped walking beside me. He is no longer looking at the sunset, his eyes frantically roaming through the blue-domed roofs of Hotel Grand Lake instead.
There's that sound again. The harsh friction of teeth against teeth.
Unperturbed, I continue, "I don't remember any Galactic Energy offices in Sunyshore. The sun shines year-round over there, so it's the perfect place to expand your business! The locals go out of their way to treat you like family—"
"Stop."
His tone halts me like a door slamming in my face.
"My apologies if I came off as insensitive," he says a bit too smoothly. "The answer to my riddle is right before your eyes."
As nightfall nears, the sun dips into the western horizon. On the other side of the sky rises a faintly shimmering moon. Between the celestial bodies sprawls a valley of stars: some having been there since time immemorial, others living on to greet our descendants when they look up for a guiding light…
Wait. Outside of eclipses, the sun and moon only meet at…
"Dawn and dusk!" I declare triumphantly.
Something of a smile emerges on his end. He's looking at me, but I have this feeling he's seeing something—or someone—else entirely.
"Thanks for showing me the bubbles," I say as we walk back up the sand dunes. "I promise I won't ever forget this moment."
"Please don't promise me anything, Miss Cynthia."
"Enough with the formality! Just call me Cynthia."
A muscle twitches near his cheekbone. "Why?"
"Because we're friends!"
And his face collapses like a head snapping under the weight of a heavy crown.
"Don't you dare start," he growls.
One second he's all polite, and the next he's literally trembling from rage. Maybe because he misinterpreted my intentions?
"I don't want to be friends with you for benefits. Yes, you own Veilstone. You run a successful company with a focus on sustainability. So? I represent our whole region. I can get whatever I want whenever I want.
"I want to be friends with you, Cyrus. This isn't between the Champion of Sinnoh and a CEO. This is between you and me. Cynthia and Cyrus."
At once, all the fury evaporates from his shoulders. He becomes very small—a child in the shoes of an adult. The look he gives me is as mournful as a playground during wartime.
Cyrus seems hurt.
"Please stop," he mumbles.
"Why? I'm proud to call you my—"
"Champion Cynthia, please! No more."
The walls of the fortress are raised and coated in poisoned spikes. Cyrus has closed me off emotionally. Even though we're standing an arm's length away, the distance between us spans the space of the rising moon and falling sun.
"You might consider me your friend today, but we might be enemies tomorrow. It's not worth it," he says to his feet. Then he finds my gaze and offers a tired smirk. "Anyhow, I'm glad today was memorable, Miss Cynthia. Let's go back before you catch cold."
