Chapter no.174 Heart to Heart

"I thought… we were going to go to Mirage Island today." Cynthia spoke softly, as the two trainers cleaned their makeshift kitchen in the aftermath of Austin's self-created disaster.
"Yeah, well I thought I'd just make something for you,"- Austin observed the sudden stiffness in her posture as he uttered the words—"you know."
"For… what? The training?" Cynthia asked, a slight tinge of melancholy in her tone.
"Not… really. I just decided to make some changes today."
"I thought… as your tutor, you are supposed to run all the decisions through me." The Sinnoh girl muttered, as she cleaned out a couple of plates.
"I'm allowed some lenience on my birthday."
"…"
"…"
Cynthia turned to face him. "Today's your birthday?"
"… Yeah?"
She looked at him blankly for a moment, gathering her words. "So… what exactly are these… caskets doing around here? And why exactly are you trying to burn half the island?"
Austin chuckled at her sardonic tone. "Um… because I wanted to spend the day with my friend?"
That stopped her short.
Austin sighed. "Look I'm sorry. I know what I said that day was kind 'of unfair on you, and I totally lost it in anger, and-"
"So this is your way of trying to patch things up?" Cynthia returned in a somewhat cold tone. "You think that I am angry at you, and not training you properly? I assure you that I am not."
"No, No!" Austin waved his hands animatedly. "I just… look I'm sorry okay? I just… you know I never really got the time to even digest that you are you… and you are a Champion… and-"
"You could fool me." Cynthia deadpanned. "You remind me more of that fact than myself."
"Look," Austin was getting nigh uncomfortable now. He sighed. "You know what happened right? With the cruise and the forest and Mewtwo and-"
"I fail to see the point."
"I'm coming to that." Austin nearly yelled. Gosh, this is difficult.
"My point is, with all that happened, and with Steven and you offering me to train my pokémon, it literally influenced me to think that-"
"Oh so this is my fault." Cynthia replied, her expressions choleric.
"Will you allow me to complete?" Austin yelled uncharacteristically, shutting her up midway.
Silence.
"Well?" the Sinnoh girl demanded after a moment.
"I miss my friend." Austin confessed. "And I know that it is because of my own stupidity. I didn't really care about you being the Champion, but when you offered to help train me… somewhere in that, I forgot about my friend Shirona and I just focussed on the training, and I completely ignored the fact that you chose to sacrifice your vacation for me and,"—he gulped seeing the dangerously calm expression on her face, "—and I will just shut up now."
A second passed away.
Another second passed away.
Cynthia's expressions remained inscrutable.
"…. Umm… you aren't going to kill me now, are you?"
" ….. "
" ..… "
Finally, her lips parted. "I did not sacrifice my vacation. I chose to spend it with you."
Austin swallowed. All right, at least this was better than the silent treatment. "Cynthia… I'm sorry."
"For what?" The cool, cynical reply came.
"For ignoring my friend. I… I overreacted about your treatment with Charmander, and I completely ignored that my friend chose to spend her vacation with me, and that means that I should not ignore her, just like she doesn't ignore my own need for training. I just…" he paused, "—I just feel like I've been behaving like an asshole completely and I wanted to make this vacation special for you and I even brought you ice-cream and I—mmmmh!"
The last words remained unsaid as Cynthia pushed a finger against his lips. "Anybody ever tell you that you talk too much?"
A little grin spread across the girl's rosy lips. "You and I are going to spend this day having fun and nothing else. Is that understood?"
"Uh-hmmm."
"Good." Cynthia's lips twisted into a grin. "Now I need to go back in and change into proper clothes"—Austin just realized that she was still in her pyjamas- "and then we are going to celebrate your birthday together. Is that understood?"
Austin gulped. "Crystal."
"Good." She turned away, a spring visible on her every step. She took a few step towards her tent, before she stopped and spun back, a sublime expression on her face. "What did you mention about ice-cream again?"
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"I'm not really sure if this is really a good idea, you know."
Cynthia rolled her eyes, as she stared at the just-turned eleven year old trainer, who was only dressed in his swimming trunks, looking oddly uncomfortable about the entire situation. She herself, had shed her nightwear and gotten into a comfortable two-piece swim-suit, one that only managed to accentuate her curves, causing the most natural reaction from the transmigrated trainer. Even with the body of a ten year old , Austin still was a 15 year old in mind so he was trying not to stare so much and was failing miserably at it.
"You wanted to have fun, so this is my idea of having fun." The Sinnoh Champion grinned.
After the awkward end to their conversation (and his apology), Austin had treated Cynthia to his entire stash of ice-cream. He had gotten all thirteen-flavours, unsure of her favourites, though it had hardly helped matters. For one, he certainly didn't anticipate an ice-cream lover like her to just stare in wonder (and extreme focus?) at the different flavours for over half an hour, unable to decide which one to take. He had asked her to try all the flavours and knock herself out, but in reality, her answer was the one that knocked him out.
"Well, every one of them looks great… but where would I put them all?"
After fifteen more minutes, she had settled with a triple cone of chocolate, strawberry, cookies and cream, much to his eternal gratitude, to whichever deity had listened to his prayers, and taken pity on him.
And now, she had the bright idea to go surfing on Milotic into the sea, and not just that, she wanted Austin to join him.
The Sinnoh Champion was an adrenaline-junkie.
Go figure.
"Come now, Austin. It will be fun." She emphasized, before pulling Austin's arm with her towards Milotic who was already on the water, ready for surfing.
"Hold tight. It's going to get messy in a while."
An extremely self-conscious Austin held her waist tightly, as she herself held on to Milotic's red hair, which protruded from the temples all the way down to the ground, having a length closer to two feet.
"All set, Milo… let's go!" Cynthia pulled the hairs backward almost as if pulling a Ponyta's rein, as Milotic let out an enthusiastic warble, before shooting into the waters at night unbelievable speeds, literally parting the sea on two sides as it shot, with water spraying upwards all over, drenching Cynthia and Austin- the former laughing uncontrollably while the later shrieking like a little girl.
"Are you having fun?" Cynthia yelled aloud, knowing very well that it would be otherwise difficult to converse, what with the sound of the waters parting on both sides.
Austin just held on to her waist for dear life. He had nearly slipped off Milotic's body several times, and had almost fallen off. At her words, he simply held on tighter, wondering why on earth he had subjected himself to this torment.
Cynthia laughed. "We can stop by for a moment, and then continue if you want."
"Don't stop." Austin yelled back. "Once I am getting down, there's no way I'm getting back up on this."
Milotic let out another warble, almost as if in answer, and shot ahead, if possible at increased speeds.
Another hour later, an overwhelmed Austin and an excited Cynthia got themselves off Milotic, who let out another warble before leaping into the depths of the sea, vanishing from sight.
"She loves doing it." Cynthia chirped. "Did you have fun?"
Austin muttered something incomprehensible under his breath.
Cynthia laughed. "It's an acquired taste, Austin. Just try it and you'll love it." She paused. "On second thought, maybe we should try that out."
" How ?!"
" With Squirtle of course ."
Austin looked at her, horrified. "Uh… Cynthia. You know I'm sorry, right? Please don't punish me anymore."
Cynthia's grin only turned wider.
He took a step back. "You are not going to go for that now, are you?"
The Sinnoh Champion smirked. "It would be fun, but… some other time, I suppose."
Austin sighed, elated.
"-after lunch, that is."
His eyes shot up in horror.
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[ 𝐎𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡: 𝐈𝐯𝐲𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐞 ]
𝐀𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐮𝐬, 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨 𝐠𝐨𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐠𝐨𝐝𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧, 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐈𝐯𝐲𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐫. 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐲𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦, 𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐲𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲.
𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐈𝐯𝐲𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤, 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐧 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐏𝐨𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐝𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐝𝐞𝐫, 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬.
𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐈𝐯𝐲𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐩, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬 – 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐚𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐥𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐈𝐯𝐲𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲. ]