Chapter 156: Raina Comes to the Real World?
[VIP Chat Group]
[Iris]: Raina from the future?!
[Bianca]: Not Raina from a parallel world—"Future Raina"! The Raina who will actually be born in this world someday!!!
[Brock]: Does that mean we’ll get to meet her in person?!
[Mallow]: Raina herself! Oh my gosh, I’m so excited! I really want to see her Lugia! And her Milotic and Suicune!
[Lana]: And her Gyarados! That golden Gyarados!
[Valerie]: Come to think of it, "future" is a rather vague description. Will the Raina who arrives be fifteen years old or twenty?
[Lily]: If twenty-year-old Raina appears, she’ll be older than you are now, Misty. Wouldn’t that make things a little confusing?
[Misty]: Stop adding to my psychological burden!
[Cynthia]: Misty, calm down. The system said Raina already understands what this visit involves, which means she knows what’s going to happen.
[Misty]: She knows, but I don’t! What am I supposed to say when I first see her? "Hello, I’m your mother, but I’m not your mother yet"?
[Dawn]: Aaaah, I’m so excited! The protagonist of the first episode is coming! Piplup, hurry and bring me my autograph board!
[May]: I want her autograph too! And I want a photo with her!
[Max]: Calm down, May. She’ll only be here for twenty-four hours. You probably won’t get a chance to meet her.
[System Notification: Raina will manifest at Asher’s estate. Manifestation time—now.]
[Note: Raina is already aware of her identity as a "visitor from the future." No additional explanation is necessary.]
[Note: Raina will remain here for twenty-four hours. Once the time expires, she will automatically return to her original point in the timeline.]
Kanto region, Porta Vista—Asher’s estate.
A gentle pillar of white light descended from the sky and landed in the center of the estate’s courtyard.
The light faded.
A young girl stood in the middle of the courtyard.
Her long orange-gold hair hung loosely down her back.
It was Raina from the future.
She appeared to be around ten years old. She wore a practical Trainer’s outfit with a dark-blue cape draped over her shoulders.
The emblem pinned to her chest gleamed faintly beneath the light.
It was the insignia of a Water-type member of the Kanto Elite Four.
[VIP Chat Group]
[Lillie]: She’s here! She’s here! Raina really came!
[Alder]: I’ve lived for many years, but this is my first time seeing someone from the future. This livestream’s abilities are becoming increasingly absurd.
[Steven]: NIECE RAINA!! UNCLE STEVEN IS HERE!!
[Steven]: @Raina @Raina @Raina @Raina @Raina @Raina @Raina @Raina @Raina @Raina
[Screen]: Spam from @Steven detected. User muted for five minutes.
[Wallace]: Excellent work.
[Lance]: The screen has finally done something everyone can celebrate.
[Lorelei]: I recommend extending Steven’s mute until Raina leaves.
[Phoebe]: Agreed.
[Glacia]: Agreed.
[Bruno]: Agreed.
[Wallace]: Rest in peace, Steven. We’ll greet Raina on your behalf.
[Misty]: @Daisy @Violet @Lily, hurry over if you aren’t busy!
[Daisy]: We’re already on our way.
[Violet]: Pedal to the metal.
[Lily]: Daisy, you’re speeding.
[Daisy]: What does a little speeding matter when we’re going to meet our niece?
At the same time, another system notification appeared.
[Ding! Stage Three of The Sovereign of Ideals has concluded.]
[Intermission: Twenty-four hours.]
[All viewers, please prepare yourselves.]
[VIP Chat Group]
[Ash]: Wait, wait, wait! The intermission is starting already?!
[Pikachu]: Pika, pika! (Protests.)
[Iris]: Raina only just arrived! We haven’t seen her interact with her parents yet!
[Dawn]: Exactly! Where’s Raina? We want to see Raina!
[May]: @System, could you extend the livestream by one hour? Just one hour!
[System]: No.
[Max]: That refusal was way too immediate!
[Mallow]: But we genuinely want to see Raina meet her parents! That would be more entertaining than any video!
[Lana]: We strongly demand a behind-the-scenes feed!
Despite everyone’s protests, the livestream mercilessly stopped broadcasting, leaving only the chat function active.
In the real world, Porta Vista—Asher’s estate.
The living-room door was suddenly thrown open.
Misty hurried outside, followed by Cynthia. Asher walked behind them at an unhurried pace.
The instant Raina saw the three of them, her golden eyes lit up.
"Mom—!"
She spread her arms and ran toward Misty.
Misty opened her arms and went to meet her, her eyes already beginning to redden.
Although she hadn’t personally experienced those years yet, Misty possessed the memories of her parallel-world counterpart. She had missed Raina greatly too.
Now that she finally had the chance to hold her daughter with her own hands, Misty was deeply moved.
The next second—
Raina brushed straight past Misty and threw herself into Asher’s arms.
Misty froze in place, her arms still spread wide in anticipation of the hug.
A breeze passed through the courtyard.
Several fallen leaves rolled past her feet.
Cynthia covered her mouth as her shoulders trembled violently.
The corner of Misty’s mouth twitched.
She slowly turned around and saw Raina clinging to Asher’s waist, her face buried against his chest as she rubbed against him repeatedly.
"Daddy! Daddy! This is wonderful!"
Asher reached out and patted the back of Raina’s head.
"All right, all right. Your mother is watching from beside us."
Only then did Raina lift her head from Asher’s chest.
She turned toward Misty and revealed an exceptionally brilliant smile.
"Mom!"
Misty’s expression repeatedly shifted between I want to hug her and I want to hit her.
"...So you do remember that you have a mother?"
"Of course I remember!"
Raina threw herself into Misty’s arms and pressed her face against Misty’s cheek, rubbing against her enthusiastically.
"Mom, I missed you so much!"
Misty leaned backward beneath her affection, but still reached out and stroked Raina’s hair.
Raina then turned toward Cynthia and smiled.
"Mama Cynthia!"
The tips of Cynthia’s ears, visible beneath her blonde hair, changed from white to pink and then from pink to deep red at a clearly visible speed.
"What... What did you call me?"
"Mama Cynthia."
Raina tilted her head, looking completely matter-of-fact.
"That’s what I’ve always called you."
"Always?"
"Mm-hmm!"
Raina began counting on her fingers.
"When I was little, you would hold me while I slept and tell me Sinnoh’s creation myths as bedtime stories, although I couldn’t understand most of them."
"Raina is visiting from the future."
Misty shrugged.
"So everything she’s talking about will probably happen eventually."
"All right."
Cynthia took a deep breath.
"If these things are going to happen in the future anyway, I suppose there’s nothing wrong with getting used to them early."
Asher pulled open the door.
"Stop standing around in the courtyard. Let’s go inside and talk."
...
TL: Funny how me and Raina ended up with the same nickname for Cynthia. Also, it seems the author really did use anime Misty with realistic age progression based on Ash’s journey, which would make her at least 17. They should’ve just used the game version of Misty imo so she’d be over 20, smh.