Chapter 108: Steven Goes After Wallace in Person?
[Regular-Seat Chat Group]
"Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap!!! Master Wallace turned into a little girl!!! Am I still asleep?!"
"Wallace: I went from Hoenn Champion to magical girl."
"Magical Girl Wallace! That name is perfect! We’re calling him that from now on!"
"Stop talking, you people. If Master Wallace sees that nickname, he’ll probably cry from anger."
"He’d definitely look adorable crying in his current form."
"Do any of you still possess a shred of humanity?!"
"Come to think of it, will the judges’ table at future Pokémon Contests need an extra child-sized chair?"
"A child-sized chair! Hahaha! Aren’t you afraid Wallace’s fan club will assassinate you?"
"Wallace Fan Club: You’re dead."
"I’m sorry! I was wrong! Please don’t assassinate me."
"Too late. They’re already on their way."
[VIP Chat Group]
[Phoebe]: Pfft.
[Glacia]: Pfft.
[Lorelei]: Pfft.
[Cynthia]: ...
[Diantha]: Stop holding it in, Cynthia. Even I’ve started laughing.
[Steven]: @Wallace, say something. Why aren’t you talking?
[Steven]: Oh, right. You’re a little girl now. Are your tiny hands making it difficult to type?
[Wallace]: Just you wait, Steven!!
[Steven]: That tone combined with your new voice isn’t intimidating in the slightest! Hahahahaha!!
[Misty]: Oh my goodness... That punishment was brutal.
[Dawn]: Aaaaah, Master Wallace is so adorable!!! Am I allowed to take a screenshot and save it?
[May]: I really want to save a screenshot too...
[Max]: Aren’t you supposed to be a fan of Master Wallace, May? That doesn’t seem very respectful.
[May]: It’s precisely because I’m his fan that I want to preserve every moment of my idol’s life!
[Steven]: While all of you were still asking permission, I had already taken action. Tomorrow, I’ll make little Wallace the new brand ambassador for the Devon Corporation.
[Lance]: Sometimes, I feel that Steven surviving this long is nothing short of a miracle.
[Bruno]: Indeed.
[Lisia]: Uncle, you’re so adorable now! Can I hug you?
[Wallace]: No.
[Lisia]: Just once!
[Wallace]: Absolutely not.
[Lisia]: Sob...
[Wallace]: ...Don’t cry.
[Lisia]: Then let me hug you!
[Wallace]: ...
[System Notification: Correct answer—A, five people.]
[Stage Two of "Master of Time and Space" has concluded.]
[Intermission: Twenty-four hours.]
[All viewers, please prepare yourselves.]
[VIP Chat Group]
[Lana]: Huh? Why was the answer five?
[Steven]: You needed to read the question carefully. It asked how many relatives and elders Tiana identified by both name and position. The important part was the second half. She only provided both the name and identity of five people. She named the four members of the Elite Four but never stated their positions.
[Wallace]: ??? Steven, you knew the answer? Why didn’t you warn me?!
[Steven]: Hehe~
[Leon]: Merely looking at those two words is making my blood pressure rise.
[Raihan]: Agreed.
[Lance]: Neither Wallace nor Asher has it easy.
[Wallace]: Just you wait, Steven! I’m going to write a news article about the time you dug for stones in Sootopolis City and accidentally broke into the mayor’s ancestral tomb!
[Steven]: ???
[Steven]: How did you find out about that?! I had those records sealed!
[Wallace]: Who do you think manages the Hoenn League’s archives?
[Steven]: ...
[Lance]: You dug into an ancestral tomb?
[Lorelei]: Steven, you have such a glorious achievement in your past?
[Juan]: No wonder Sootopolis City suddenly appointed a new mayor that year. The previous mayor resigned for health reasons.
[Steven]: ...
[Wallace]: His family’s ancestral tomb was excavated, and the old mayor suffered a cerebral hemorrhage from the shock. He submitted his resignation the next day.
[Steven]: Wallace, you can’t do this! We’ve been good friends for years!
[Steven]: @Wallace
[Steven]: ???
[Wallace]: Uploaded. The view count has already passed one million.
[Steven]: Just you wait!! I’m going to Sootopolis City to settle this with you in person!
[Wallace]: Get lost!!!
In the real world, Celestic Town.
Messages were still racing through the VIP chat, but Cynthia had already switched off her screen.
She leaned back in her chair, unconsciously running one finger around the rim of her cup. The coffee inside had long since gone cold.
"Daddy and Mommy have always protected this world," Tiana’s voice echoed inside her mind. "But no one ever considers that both of you might be in danger too."
Cynthia opened her eyes, her fingers tightening slightly.
She remembered her reaction when she first saw Tiana in the videos. At the time, she had still been able to build a wall around herself using the words, That is only my parallel-world counterpart.
However, Stage Two had shown her Tiana’s life from the age of three to ten.
She had personally witnessed the relationship between Tiana and the Cynthia of another world. Every frame had been like another brick removed from the wall protecting her heart.
Now, that wall had nearly collapsed completely.
Cynthia remembered what Diantha had said when she visited the research institute that night:
"The only reason you can still sit here calmly is because you haven’t received those memories yet."
Cynthia had merely remained silent at the time.
Now, she finally understood the weight behind those words.
Garchomp rose from the corner and gently rubbed its head against her arm.
Cynthia reached out and stroked its neck. Her fingertips passed across the familiar pattern of its scales, rough yet warm.
"I’m fine," she whispered. "There’s simply someone I want to see."
In the real world, Cerulean City.
Misty rolled over in bed, one arm falling across the empty pillow beside her.
She stared at the vacant space before sitting up and walking into the living room, where she found Asher sitting on the sofa.
"What are you doing?"
Misty leaned against the doorframe.
"I woke up hungry."
Asher turned toward her with a piece of toast still hanging from his mouth.
"Why are you awake?"
"The bed felt too empty."
Only after saying it did Misty realize how excessively clingy she had sounded. She immediately added:
"I needed to use the bathroom... When are you coming back?"
Asher reached out and pulled her into his arms.
"I’m coming back now."
Misty buried her face against his chest before suddenly asking:
"Do you think... the system will give her the memories after the second episode ends?"
"Are you overthinking things again?"
Asher’s voice came from above her head.
"I’m not overthinking it... What will you do if she really receives those memories?"
Asher gently pinched Misty’s cheek.
"My feelings for you will never change. Besides, the livestream said Raina would definitely appear, didn’t it?"
Misty raised her head from his embrace and stared into his eyes for a long moment.
Then she stood on her tiptoes and gently touched her lips to his.
"Let’s go back to bed."
"Didn’t you need to use the bathroom?"
Asher scratched his cheek.
"I don’t need to anymore."
Misty took his hand.
"Back to the bedroom."
Kanto Region, Team Rocket Headquarters.
Giovanni sat at the head of a long table with a glass of red wine in his hand.
"Master of Time and Space."
He placed the glass down and lightly tapped the tabletop twice.
"That title carries considerably more weight than Water-type Pokémon Master. The space-time rift at Mount Coronet, along with the clues concerning Dialga and Palkia..."
He paused thoughtfully.
"Perhaps they warrant investigation."
Matori adjusted her glasses.
"Boss, what should we investigate?"
"The parallel worlds shown by the livestream are not entirely separate from our own. They share certain fundamental rules."
"You mean..."
"The Sinnoh region. Mount Coronet."
Giovanni rose and walked toward the window, gazing into the night outside.
"If a space-time rift appeared in a parallel world, it is impossible for our world to show no warning signs whatsoever. Send people to Sinnoh. They are not to reveal their identities. Their only task is to collect information."
Matori nodded and withdrew from the room.
Giovanni didn’t turn around. He merely raised his glass and slowly rotated it beneath the moonlight.
"Master of Time and Space. The twin dragons of time and space," he murmured to himself. "If that power could be placed under my control..."
He left the sentence unfinished.
The corner of his mouth curved slightly upward before he drained the remaining wine from his glass.