Chương 54: Completely unfair

5 Days until Cynthia and Myst's gym challenge. The day had started nicely enough. After yesterday's discussion had spiraled just a little out of control, they had met up again and spent the morning training together instead. With Flint having an actual Ghost-type, he got to choose who he battled, while the two people remaining did mock battles against each other. So when lunchtime came around, it wasn't like Cynthia had wanted to restart the argument.

She had simply brought up a couple of points she felt had been missing from the previous discussion. Things she'd thought about afterward. Clarifications, really. Perfectly reasonable additions to the conversation. The fact that Volkner had somehow managed to turn those clarifications into another argument was hardly her fault. Really.

"Do you understand now?" Cynthia asked, forcing herself to remain calm even as her tone stayed icy. Volkner laughed, an uncharacteristically caustic sound that carried across the nearby tables.

"Understand? Are you actually serious? Do you really even believe that? That people won't exploit the system? That people like Flint and me are just as likely as you to be allowed to jump levels?" He leaned back in his chair.

"I've never heard of anyone being allowed to do it before you and Myst. And Myst didn't even get to do it in Eterna, did he? Remind me why that was again. Oh? He wasn't from a clan?" His smile sharpened.

"Huh. Weird, isn't it?" Cynthia felt the anger she had only just managed to rein in after Volkner's last sarcastic remark flare right back up.

"You aren't making any sense. Why do you keep bringing up Myst when he's the best example that you're wrong?" she snapped.

"He wasn't allowed to do it in Eterna because Benkara had no way of knowing if he was strong enough. After he proved himself, Byron let him do it immediately the next time. You're literally not making any sense." Volkner didn't back down, instead the sharp smile still on his lips somehow grew sharper.

"And again, why wasn't he allowed to jump levels in Eterna? Go on. Tell me right now the Gym Leader said nothing about him being different from you, and I'll admit you're right." Cynthia stared at him for several seconds and had to resist slamming her hands onto the table. She only barely managed it—and mostly because before her hands could move, her mouth had already opened.

"That was—" she began. She didn't notice Myst casually flick a paper football cleanly into the net Flint had made with his fingers. Nor the look of genuine respect Flint gave him afterward, as Myst dramatically tossed his long hair over his shoulder. … Later the same day.

"So, we aren't bringing it up again, right?" Myst asked. Cynthia rolled her eyes.

"I already said I wouldn't, didn't I?" He stared at her. She pouted.

"Really, I won't bring it up again," she said, a hint of dissatisfaction slipping into her tone at the way he so clearly didn't believe her.

"The discussion is over. We don't agree. Whatever." Myst just sighed, then mumbled something about wishing Johanna wasn't still busy. Cynthia rolled her eyes at that too. So dramatic—like she didn't know when to let a discussion die. … 4 Days until Cynthia and Myst's gym challenge. Cynthia slammed both hands onto the table hard enough to rattle it.

"Are you serious?"

"What?" Volkner said lightly.

"You can't come up with a better argument?" He spread his hands.

"You said being able to jump levels is helpful. I agree—it helps you. Weird, isn't it, how the people who are allowed to do it are mostly people from clans? Almost like that might explain why seventy percent of the trainers who make it to the Conference are connected to clans in some way." Cynthia narrowed her eyes.

"Sure, because that's why that happens. A couple of people each season—maybe even less, considering neither you nor I even knew about it—gets to jump levels, and that's definitely why so many people with access to knowledge and Pokémon end up at the Conference. That makes perfect sense." She leaned closer.

"You are being delusional. What are you even arguing for right now? If the problem is the current system, then change it. Don't just disallow it entirely. You're even saying it yourself, being able to do harder Gym challenges is valuable training."

"Sounds like a great idea to me. Let's just change the system. Why didn't I think of that?" Volkner paused.

"Oh, wait, people tried and nothing happened. Well, damn, isn't that weird. Almost like things don't change when it benefits the people who control said change. People tried Cynthia. The current Champion got involved, and not a damn thing happened." Myst let out a small sigh, echoed a second later by Flint, as they both stared at the sky like their souls had slowly escaped their bodies. … 3 Days until Cynthia and Myst's gym challenge. Cynthia stared at Volkner. He stared back. She was smiling. He was smiling.

She hadn't said a word. He hadn't made a sound.

"…I guess we'll see each other later?" Flint asked, holding out a hand.

"We should," Myst said, shaking it, "but it might be a while, since you guys said you were heading to Snowpoint first and all."

"Yup." Flint grinned, then glanced toward the map on the Pokémon Center wall.

"We talked about taking the normal route, but since Volkner wants to do Sunyshore last, going straight for Snowpoint makes more sense. Kind of turns it into a rush, though, since we're both counting on clearing five or six Gyms before we hit the halfway point of the season. But, eh, we'll figure it out." Myst shrugged.

"Well, good luck with that..." He paused for a second, then turned to Volkner.

"Still, thanks again for all the help you guys gave us. Might not've been the best circumstances, but it's been fun." Volkner looked away from Cynthia for a moment and gave Myst a slow nod.

"Yeah… it's been nice…" he said, trailing off as his gaze drifted back to her. Cynthia managed to keep smiling. For several seconds, they simply stared at each other, both seeming to wait for the other to speak first. Neither did. As the silence stretched on, Cynthia felt her smile tighten while Volkner's mouth twitched like he wanted to say something, and had to stop himself from saying something at the same time. Myst slowly turned his head and looked at Cynthia. Pointedly. She almost let the look slide past her.

After all, it wasn't like she was the one who had made it awkward. Was making it awkward. Really, if she was being honest with herself, she hadn't even been that mad. Maybe a little annoyed, sure, but not mad. Volkner was the one who kept blowing his lid. It wasn't her fault she was simply matching his energy. And really, if she had continued the discussion, would that have been so wrong? She was right, after all.

The fact that Volkner couldn't see it, couldn't understand that completely abolishing the ability to jump levels would be a net loss, wasn't her problem. Like, how was she supposed to know he'd be so sensitive about it? She let her eyes drift sideways, catching the irritation in Myst's expression. And he wanted her to apologize when the one who should be apologizing was— He quickly gathered his expression, and in a split second his look softened until it was almost pleading, and she felt her resolve crumble. Fine.

She forced her smile slightly bigger.

"It was," she said brightly.

"Hopefully we'll get the chance to train together again before we meet at the conference…" A beat passed. Myst let out something suspiciously close to a cough. Her smile twitched.

"And… sorry," she continued.

"I didn't mean for the discussion we had to turn into that. Agree to disagree?" Volkner just stared at her, like he couldn't quite believe she would say that. Flint nudged him. Volkner blinked, then hurriedly held out a hand.

"Agree to disagree," he said quickly, then paused for a long moment.

"... And, for the record, I'm sorry too. I... you probably already realized I might be a little too close to the issue, honestly." Cynthia stared at him, but he didn't say anything more. Myst nudged her. She blinked, then caught his hand before he could pull it back.

"It's fine," she said, shaking it. Volkner let go, his smile turning a touch more genuine. Then he turned to the table they had been sitting at a moment ago, gave a nod towards the only person still sitting there, before turning to walk out. A second later, Flint let out a small shrug, shot everybody a grin and a wave, before he hurried after Volkner and the Pokémon Center doors slid shut behind them with an audible clack. The moment they were gone, Cynthia's shoulders slumped.

"Well… that was awkward," Myst muttered, still staring at the door like it might reopen.

"You don't say," Cynthia mumbled as she walked back to their booth, dropped into her seat, and leaned forward until her forehead nearly touched the table. Myst joined her a second later, sliding down beside her just in time for the last person at the table to finally let out a cough. Cynthia didn't need to look up to know exactly how that person was staring at them. Johanna looked between the two of them like she'd just walked in after missing the entire first act of a play.

"... Okay, sorry, but what the hell was that?" Johanna asked.

"I miss two lunches, and suddenly I can cut the tension with a knife? What the hell happened while I was gone?" She continued to look between them, baffled.

"I mean, usually people get closer after life-and-death situations, right? So why did you and Volkner look like you were about two seconds away from biting each other's heads off?" Cynthia lifted her face off the table and tried to articulate a good explanation.

"Uhm…" Johanna waited a few seconds. When Cynthia didn't continue, she turned to Myst.

"We met up for lunch," Myst said.

"They had an argument. Then we met up for lunch. They had an argument. Then we met up for lunch—""It wasn't like that," Cynthia snapped. Myst turned to her with a blank expression.

"Oh, really? Then what was it like?" Cynthia clenched her fist. Why was he being so— She let out a breath, forced her irritation down, and instead just looked away instead.

"…Well, not like that," she mumbled. Johanna sighed.

"Okay, fine, but can somebody explain what it was like. Like, I still don't even know what you were even apparently arguing about." she said, exasperated. Myst opened his mouth to explain. …

"And so you can understand where I'm coming from, right?" Cynthia said, leaning forward before either of them could answer.

"Right now it's already hard enough to distinguish yourself, so taking away even more ways to do it is just stupid. If anything, it should be easier to do something like challenging a Gym at a higher level. I honestly don't get why he doesn't understand that. He's exactly the kind of trainer who should want something like this, but instead he just wants to take it easy. Flint too, both of them are more than strong enough for it. They both stomped the Gym.

If they'd challenged it a badge level higher, at least it would've been a real fight." She took a deep breath, already about to continue, but before she could, Johanna held up a hand.

"I get it." Cynthia didn't miss a beat.

"So you understand where I'm coming from right?" Johanna just pursed her lips. She didn't say anything. She didn't need to. Cynthia felt her entire body tense, and all the heat behind her argument twisted into something far less comfortable.

"What?" she said, the word sharper than she intended.

"You don't agree?" Johanna hesitated for a moment longer, then opened her mouth.

"No, I do see your point. It's just that, at the same time, I also understand Volkner. Honestly, in a way, I think that as things are now…" Johanna shook her head.

"But what I think doesn't matter. I'm not really invested in it, haven't been for years. The only matches I have even watched is yours." The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Cynthia didn't let up.

"But you don't agree." She said stubbornly. Johanna took a moment, before she sighed.

"You really want my opinion?" Cynthia continued to stare.

"…Well, I guess in my opinion, as things are now, I agree a little more with Volkner. The system has some really big problems, and if nobody's going to change anything, then it might be better to ban it until someone comes up with something that actually works." Cynthia felt herself slowly still.

"Don't get me wrong—I'm not saying that's the best solution. Honestly, it's not even a good one. It's just… right now, the whole concept is basically dead, isn't it? Nobody uses it. I wouldn't be surprised if you two are the only people in this entire circuit actually jumping levels." Johanna gave a small shrug.

"A system only two people use in a whole year? That has to be broken somehow. Systems are supposed to work for everybody. I think you sometimes forget that you aren't the average trainer." Cynthia's fist tightened slowly at her side.

"You have to think about how most people would interact with it, and not just—" Cynthia slammed the desk hard enough for it to rattle.

"So that's it?" she almost shouted.

"Only a few people are good enough to use it, so we should just scrap it? Design the whole circuit around the lowest possible denominator?" She leaned forward, anger flaring hot in her chest.

"People are already saying our circuit is too easy compared to Kanto and Johto, that our trainers are a tier below theirs, and your answer is that we should just prove them right?" People turned. She ignored them.

"I was happy to be allowed to fight above my level. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with following the normal progression, but challenging Benkara was fun. It was exciting. If I'd fought him while he was using a team meant for a second badge, it wouldn't have been. Never mind the fact that he would've had to hold back, even if he didn't I would've swept him with just Roselia. Is it so wrong of me to want to feel accomplished after a Gym battle?

To want to feel like I'm actually getting tested before the fucking conference?" Myst reached out and lightly touched her shoulder.

"Cynthia—" She slapped it away, and turned on him instead, glaring.

"And why aren't you saying anything?" she spat.

"You told Volkner about what Benkara said to you, but you can't back me up? Not even a little? Flint agrees with Volkner, fine—but can't you say one word? That you know Benkara didn't mean it like that. That you agree that being able to fight at a higher difficulty is a good thing. Why is everybody just—" She hated the sudden sting in her eyes as the words left her mouth. Regretted the words even as she said them. Myst blinked, stunned, and her stomach twisted. She didn't even really care about this.

Not like this, anyway. What did it matter if everyone only seemed to care about the trainers who never bothered preparing? Who didn't even try before setting out on their journeys? Every conversation was about grassroots trainers, the ones with no help, no resources. About how the journey was supposed to be fair. She knew that she was privileged. That she had a higher starting point. That lashing out at Myst was stupid. But just because she was good, did that mean she had to wait for everybody else?

"Whatever," she muttered. She grabbed the edge of the table and shoved herself off the sofa. Then, before either Myst or Johanna could say anything, she rushed away. … It wasn't that she had forgotten to call her grandmother. She really had tried. She'd called three times already, and it wasn't her fault her grandmother hadn't been available.

Hell, she'd even spoken to Lily twice when her little sister picked up instead, so even if her grandmother was too old to understand how a missed-call list worked, her sister could at least confirm that she'd tried. So, in the heat of the moment, wanting someone to take her side and complain to, it had completely slipped her mind. She still hadn't actually spoken to her grandmother about the Grass Kingdom incident. When the screen crackled to life, her normally smiling grandmother was nowhere to be seen.

Instead, her usually neat hair stood in every direction, and the lab behind her was a mess of papers and notes. A board was barely visible over one shoulder, rectangles of different colors drawn across it, arrows branching between them beside a list of dates. Oh. Oh fuck.

"…You took a while to call," her grandmother said, her face a stone-cold mask. Cynthia stared at her grandmother, then at the chaos behind her, and managed a razor-thin smile.

"I tried."

"You did." Her grandmother nodded.

"You called once two days ago, then twice yesterday. The fact that both of those were at a time you know I'm usually busy, was surely a coincidence." Without noticing, Cynthia felt her hands begin to shake. Why had she forgotten she still hadn't spoken to her grandmother yet?

"Grandma I—" She tried to come up with something to say, but nothing came. She had known what to say, of course she had. She had gone over it all in her head, prepared herself for the inevitable scolding. She had been ready yesterday. Right now? She couldn't be less ready even if she tried.

"I—" Her grandmother cut her off.

"But actually, do you want to know what I've been doing, Cynthia? I haven't been allowed to do any real work for the last two days, because I've been dragged into half a dozen meetings. Meetings with high-ranking League officials and Rangers, all of them wanting to know why I kept information from them. And, more importantly, why I saw fit to share that information with my underage granddaughter." Cynthia felt the sting, the one she had carefully forced down, flare back to life.

Her grandmother obviously didn't notice, a sarcastic smile working its way across her lips.

"All of this came as a slight surprise to me, because I honestly had no idea what they were talking about. With the way they danced around the subject, hah, you'd have thought they were a troupe of ballerinas. I quickly got what they were hinting at, but I assumed they were exaggerating. Blowing things out of proportion. If they thought I hadn't shared information about legends with them, well, that would be because they haven't read my research, and that is hardly my problem." The smile vanished.

"But then they stopped dancing around the subject." Her grandmother's attention fixed fully on Cynthia with a startling intensity.

"You are lucky, Cynthia, that I had the presence of mind to lie. To tell them that I had, in fact, mentioned it to you shortly before your journey. That it was unverified, and that I was not yet certain of it. That you probably blurted it out in desperation, knowing it wasn't verified." She leaned forward slightly.

"Because if I hadn't, there would have been consequences." Cynthia didn't need anybody to tell her how her grandmother was feeling.

"I have told you before that information about legends is restricted. That it can be dangerous to hold such knowledge. All legends are powerful, but we can still handle many of them. Have ways to do something if somebody should really be so stupid to provoke something like a Shaymin." Angry.

"But there are levels to it Cynthia." Very angry.

"What you gave out was information about Arceus." She said it like she could barely believe her own words, "Arceus—do you have any idea the kind of danger that information represents? Just how much trouble you should be in right now?" Cynthia opened her mouth, her voice wavering even as she tried to steady it.

"Of course I do, but—""You do not," her grandmother bellowed. Cynthia flinched. Her grandmother had moved closer to the computer, like she could somehow walk through it and grab her.

"If you did, you would not have breathed a word of it. You would not have mentioned it to a crowd of random trainers. You would have said something else. Anything else. I do not care if it was something you said to make them run. If it seemed like a good idea in the moment. If it was something you stumbled upon while outside, a bald-faced lie, or some theory you pieced together from reading my notes. You should never have spoken that name."

Cynthia felt her lips curve downward, felt the stinging behind her eyes sharpen until it almost hurt.

"And after that, what did you do? Instead of telling the Rangers it was simply a lie, what did you do? You gave it legitimacy. Enough legitimacy for people to arrive at my doorstep with evidence and a workable theory connecting the Plates to Arceus. Enough legitimacy to level me an ultimatum over handing over whatever research I have that's connected to a topic I know absolutely nothi—" Cynthia broke. Not prettily, like she had seen on TV. Just normally. There wasn't much buildup.

One moment she was fighting back tears, and the next they were streaming down her face as it flushed red and twisted. Her grandmother fell silent, her words cut off mid-sentence. For a moment, the only sound was the slow whir of the fan above her head as Cynthia fought against sobbing.

"…Cynthia," her grandmother said gently. Cynthia didn't notice. She didn't see the sudden tenderness on her grandmother's face, nor hear the softness in her voice.

"…Cynthia, what's wrong?" It felt so stupid. So dumb. Immature. Arguing with Volkner, having Johanna disagree, snapping at Myst and getting scolded by her grandma for something that wasn't her fault. None of it was enough to cry about. But… Why did it have to happen all at the same time?

"It—" She choked on the word, then tried again.

"It wasn't me who said it." Her voice broke.

"Myst did. I just… I just wanted to cover for him." Why was it that every time she called her grandmother, she ended up crying?

"And I shouldn't even be—be crying, because that's not… that's not enough to cry about, but I ended up arguing and everybody is against me and I snapped at Myst for no reason and I just wanted to vent and I—" The words dissolved into sobbing. For nearly a full minute, she couldn't breathe properly. She just cried. Her grandmother didn't say a word through the screen. She simply let her.

And so Cynthia did, letting everything spill out—the frustration she had bottled up after the Grass Kingdom, the annoyance from arguing with Volkner, the emotions she had held in for far too long. All of it. Then, slowly, she wiped at her tears and looked up at her grandmother's worried face.

"…and my stomach hurts." Cynthia muttered petulantly. A sigh drifted through the computer screen.

"Oh, Cynthia." … Cynthia stared into the screen. Her grandmother stared back.

"…Do you feel better now?" her grandmother asked gently. Cynthia felt her face, already tomato red, flush even more, but she still managed to nod.

"Yeah." Her grandmother smiled slightly.

"Good. Good. And I apologize, my dear. I should not have taken my frustration out on you. It has simply been a stressful last few days…" She paused, then let out a bitter smile.

"I guess I am just not suited for this. I wasn't then, and I'm not now." She took a deep breath.

"But I am sorry. Even if right now isn't optimal, I still need to know. Where did this information about the Plates come from? It lines up with too many things to be merely a guess. Fits too well with what we already know." Cynthia blinked slowly at her words. For some reason she was getting an intense sensation of deja vu. Like she had been in this situation before. Her grandmother didn't notice, and continued.

"Normally, I would have assumed it was something you invented in the moment. A lie to make people move. But after they told me about the possible connection, they went and found evidence suggesting something similar." She glanced at something out of view before looking back at the screen.

"Of course, I already knew Arceus had been linked to dozens of sacred objects. But whenever I studied the records, they seemed to have nothing in common. One was said to cause eruptions, another landslides, another snowstorms. I assumed they were relics of entirely different legends that had simply been attributed to Arceus over time." She shook her head slowly.

"But what if that assumption was wrong? What if Arceus truly did possess many relics—one for each type?" Her eyes sharpened with excitement.

"So many things began to align. Multiple references in old texts recovered near Michina Town. Half a dozen inscriptions I never understood, all describing Arceus as belonging to different typings. So what if, as the creator, it was never bound by something as simple as types? What if it could become whatever it wished?" The excitement in her voice was unmistakable now.

"And, most importantly, while digging through the archives I found an old fairy tale. One about the Jewel of Life. Before, it was just another story among a sea of legends about Arceus. But now?" she let out a low laugh, "Not only is it ancient, so old that nobody is sure of its origin, but it also references something no other text I have found does. Plates of different typings, gifted by Arceus, brought together to create a gemstone of immense power."

She let the words hang in the air before focusing fully on Cynthia again.

"So, again, I need to know: where did you come across this information? If this wasn't some extraordinary coincidence, how did you connect the relic to a Plate? And if you were merely making things up, how did you come up with the concept in the first place?" Cynthia stared at her grandmother, just for a couple of seconds. Then she slowly opened her mouth.

"Oh." Her grandmother paused.

"Oh?" Cynthia scrambled her brains, back to the last time they talked, but even thinking about it she was pretty sure she had talked about it. Of course, maybe it was overshadowed by Myst's whole Amnesia thing, but she did talk about this. …Right?

"I did tell you, though?" Cynthia tried weakly.

"I think I would have remembered if you did," her grandmother replied blandly. Cynthia cringed. Well. She licked her lips, trying to figure out how to explain.

"Ehm…" Her grandmother raised an eyebrow.

"Ehm?" Cynthia took another few seconds, trying to figure out how to explain, but came up empty. In the end there wasn't really any good way to say it. So, without any other idea, she simply said:"It came from Myst." Silence. Her grandmother blinked once.

"…Pardon?"

"The information. He recognized the Plate. He connected it to Arceus." Cynthia looked away.

"And, for the record, he was the one who blurted it out to everyone." Her grandmother stared at her.

"…What." Cynthia shrugged.

"He knows things like that. Randomly talks about it sometimes. Don't worry though, I have told him to not talk about legends to anybody else, so this shouldn't happen again." A beat. Then her grandmother opened her mouth again." What." Cynthia just sighed.

"What do you want me to say? You wanted to know where the information came from. It came from Myst." Almost five seconds passed, before her grandmother leaned back in her chair slowly, studying her.

"Myst." She said flatly. Cynthia nodded.

"An amnesiac. Somebody you stumbled across while lost in the forest. A boy who is barely older than yourself. That's your source of information?" Cynthia nodded easily.

"No," she said at last.

"Explain properly." Cynthia groaned softly.

"I am explaining properly."

"You are saying words. That is not the same thing. Explain." Cynthia rubbed her face. Easy to say that, but how was she supposed to explain when she didn't even know herself?

"…Well, like I said, technically I already told you about it." She tried again. Her grandmother didn't even humor her for a second.

"I think I would remember you mentioning how he knew information that some places would literally kill to protect." Cynthia slumped.

"No, seriously, I said it." She raised her voice, mimicking herself, " Myst knows basically everything about Pokémon." She dropped it, "It's not my fault you didn't understand." Her grandmother stared at her, and even though she wasn't saying a word Cynthia still felt herself shrink even more under her judging gaze. Still, in the end, it seemed she wasn't in the mood to get angry, and she simply let out a breath.

"So you are telling me that his knowledge extends to all Pokémon… including legends?" Cynthia offered a timid smile.

"I mean, yes, but saying it like that makes it sound excessive. Like, he knows about lost Pokémon from Hisuian times, regional forms, Legendaries, even what Pokémon are contained in fossils. But that doesn't mean he knows about all Pokémon. Just because we haven't personally run into something yet doesn't mean—" Her grandmother cut her off.

"And you didn't tell me." Cynthia lifted a finger.

"Well—""Telling me he knows everything about Pokémon is not enough Cynthia Shirona." Her grandmother said, her voice raising, "Who in their right mind would interpret that to be a literal statement. I thought you were exaggerating. Bragging about the person you were interested in. How was I supposed to know you were bragging about the person you were interested in by telling the truth? At most I thought he was a little bit more knowledge than you, not that he even knew detailed information about…"

Her grandmother stopped herself as Cynthia flushed.

"I mean—" Cynthia didn't continue, as she suddenly saw how her grandmother had frozen entirely, like somebody had used Blizzard and turned her into an ice statue.

"…Grandma? Are you alri—" BANG! Her grandmother slammed her hands into her own desk, hard enough to rattle it as she suddenly rushed close to the monitor. A mad feverish glint had entered her eyes as she stared ahead, looking like she was seeing past Cynthia and into some mysterious feature.

"Wait. Wait. Wait. So what you're telling me you've been traveling with somebody who knows literally everything about Pokémon? Someone who knows about Pokémon from Hisui that have been lost to time, knows facts about every Legend you can think of?"

"…yes?" For a second, her grandmother simply stared at her. Her lips trembled, as though she were barely holding back a wild cackle. It looked as if she might burst into maniacal laughter at any moment. Still, before she could go full-blown supervillain, she visibly reined herself in. With an obvious act of will, she forced her face into something more normal and, very slowly, sat back down. When she spoke again, the feverish intensity was gone. Instead, her tone was calm, pleasant and almost soothing.

"How far have you gotten with him again?" she asked, with a smile. Cynthia paused. Her grandmother didn't seem to care, giving her a tender smile.

"I know you're interested, so don't insult me by saying otherwise. Even back then, you could barely stop staring at him. And, well, not that I can't understand why—he is quite handsome. Still, you should really start thinking about what you want. So, how about trying to make a few moves? Because if you need it, let me tell you, I can help. I may not be as beautiful as I was when I was younger, but back in the day I had men eating out of the palm of my hand.

For example, a classic is holding onto his arm and press—""Grandma!" Her grandmother paused.

"I am not forcing you into anything, I am just saying that I think you should seriously consider—"" Cynthia pouted.

"I am handling it." Her grandmother froze.

"…Handling it?" She glanced up and down, like she was trying to figure something out. Cynthia felt her face grow hot.

"I'm not going to talk about my relationship with Myst. I'm handling it." she said stubbornly. Her grandmother frowned, like she couldn't quite come to a conclusion. But, instead of pushing, she let out a sigh.

"I guess that's understandable. You wouldn't want to talk with somebody as old and boring as me…" She trailed off and sent Cynthia a meaningful glance.

"No." Her grandmother deflated completely, just for a quick second, before she pulled herself together.

"Well, I guess at least I know where the origin of my troubles are." Cynthia blew out her cheeks even more at the tone.

"Why do you sound like a doting grandmother to him, and you scold me? He was the one who caused you trouble." She complained lightly. Her grandmother waved her off.

"Never mind that, you have to be generous to future fam—" she let out a quick cough, "I mean, to people with amnesia." Cynthia rolled her eyes. Her grandmother continued without missing a beat.

"And that does remind me. You took so long to call that I nearly forgot, but I'll be sending something over. Be a dear and give it to Myst." She reached across her desk and pulled out an envelope.

"Alakazam!" she called. Her grandmother's Alakazam appeared in a burst of purple light, took one look at the scene, and let out a long, weary sigh. Looking utterly exhausted, he accepted the envelope anyway. With visible effort, purple energy enveloped it. A heartbeat later, the envelope appeared in front of Cynthia, already beginning to fall. She caught it before it hit the ground.

"What is it?" Her grandmother shook her head.

"You do not need to know, just give it to him. He'll understand everything when he reads it. I would deliver it myself, but not only is Alakazam exhausted from my recent trips, but I think it would be better if given by you. Considering your relationship, and all that." Cynthia paused, staring down at the letter.

"…Yeah. I'll do it," she mumbled, suddenly remembering why she had called her grandmother in the first place.

"Well, since that's settled—" An alarm suddenly rang out. Her grandmother cursed under her breath and slapped something out of view.

"Sorry, but I do not have much time. I need to go." She hurried to her feet, scooped up a stack of papers haphazardly, then glanced back with an apologetic look. Cynthia waved her off.

"I'm fine. You can go. I have some… things I need to do too." Her grandmother studied her for a moment, then sighed.

"I'm sorry. I did not want our talk to be about this. I originally wanted to speak about something else, but I guess that can wait until next time." Cynthia blinked as her grandmother reached for the mouse.

"Talk about what?" Her grandmother stopped mid-motion and glanced back.

"I wanted to talk about you and Beaut—" She hesitated, eyes flicking over Cynthia's face, then shook her head.

"…Later. Just remember the letter." The screen faded to black, and Cynthia stared at it for a couple of seconds. Then, forcing herself to forget who her grandmother had almost mentioned, she looked down at the letter in her hands instead and let out a bitter smile.

"Well, at least I have a reason to talk to him." She mumbled to herself.