The Barren Flower Field

Meanwhile, in Sinnoh.

Garchomp glided in from afar, then slowly descended from the clouds.

Cynthia jumped down from Garchomp's back and began looking around.

This was Floaroma Town, the place indicated by the map.

She had actually been here before. In her memory, it had seemed like an ordinary little city, famous for the flowers carpeting the mountains and fields.

Standing here again, everything seemed just as she remembered. Nothing had changed.

The streets were still lined with flowers of every color. A breeze swept past, carrying a strange floral fragrance.

Just then, someone by the roadside seemed to recognize her.

"Wait... is that Lady Cynthia?"

"It really is Cynthia!!"

"Look, it's her Garchomp!"

The people around them began chattering. Quite a few took out cameras to snap pictures from afar, while one bold child ran straight up to Cynthia and held out an arm.

"Champion!! You're my idol... can I have your autograph?"

"When I grow up, I want to become a Trainer as strong as you!"

"Of course you can."

Cynthia pulled a pen from her jacket pocket, crouched down to sign for the child, then patted the child's head.

"Keep working hard."

Watching the child run off in delight, Cynthia suddenly felt a little sentimental.

Ever since becoming Champion, she had become very popular. No matter where she went, crowds would surround her like this, and everyone's eyes would fall on her.

She had long grown used to that feeling, but over the past two days at the internet café, the viewers in those livestreams had treated her completely differently.

No one worshipped, envied, or respected her. There were only teasing jokes, and she could always see new variations of them.

It was as if they did not see her as Sinnoh's Champion at all, but merely as an ordinary little streamer.

She could not remember how long it had been since she had experienced such relaxed, casual companionship.

If that was the case... she might as well let the misunderstanding continue for now.

With that thought, she lightly shook her head, took a mask and sunglasses from her bag, put them on, and recalled Garchomp.

Then she took out the map and began searching for the location of the red dot according to its directions.

After crossing half the town, the map's guidance finally stopped before a small house on the outskirts of the city.

At the same time, the prompt on the map disappeared.

Looking at the small house covered in ivy, Cynthia could not help frowning slightly.

The location indicated by the map was behind the house, but the house blocked every path, and its door was closed as well.

Should she have Garchomp carry her over the house to take a look behind it?

But the back seemed to be private property. Sneaking in like that clearly would not be appropriate.

Just as she hesitated and raised her hand to knock, the door happened to be pushed open from inside.

An elderly woman with silver hair and a kind face stepped out. When she saw Cynthia outside, she froze for a moment before revealing a gentle smile.

"Hello, child. Is there something you need?"

Cynthia considered her words, removed her sunglasses, and spoke politely.

"Hello, sorry to disturb you. I'm looking for a kind of flower... called a Gracidea Flower. Have you heard of it?"

But as soon as she said that, the old woman froze, a trace of surprise flashing through her cloudy eyes.

"Child... where did you hear that name?"

She turned and walked into the house.

"Come in and sit."

Following the old woman into the small house, Cynthia instinctively looked around. Though the interior was not large, it was warmly kept, with all kinds of flowers placed everywhere.

In a corner, a Tangela was wiping a vase with its vines. Seeing Cynthia enter, it warmly extended one vine in greeting.

Cynthia nodded in response, but her gaze was drawn to a yellowed photograph on the wall.

In the photograph, a beautiful woman and a young man stood hand in hand amid a sea of flowers, smiling brightly.

Before Cynthia could say anything, the old woman beside her had already noticed where she was looking, and a faint smile appeared on her lips.

"That was my husband and me when we were young. He was so handsome back then.

"But... he has been gone for many years now."

Cynthia paused.

The old woman continued murmuring softly to herself.

"When he was alive, what he loved most was tending to his flower fields. He was interested in every kind of flower, and in order to collect all sorts of seeds, he would even travel to other regions."

"For the sake of a certain rose, he even went all the way to the distant Sevii Islands of Kanto.

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"After he was gone, I kept taking good care of these flowers for him..."

As she spoke, she turned and headed toward the back door.

"The flowers in the backyard were all planted by him. One of them is the kind you're looking for. Shall we go together?"

Cynthia was taken aback, then nodded slightly and followed the old woman into the backyard.

What appeared before her was an endless sea of flowers. Blossoms of every color bloomed everywhere as far as the eye could see, while several Combee darted busily through the flowers, gathering nectar.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

The old woman walked toward the flowerbeds.

"When I'm in a bad mood, Tangela and I come here to look at the flowers."

"No matter how troubled I am, I always feel better afterward."

"Speaking of which..."

As she spoke, the old woman stopped before a patch of flowers.

But Cynthia suddenly noticed that unlike every other flowerbed around them, all of which were bursting with blooms, this patch in the boundless sea of flowers was bare wasteland, utterly out of place amid the surrounding scenery.

"This is where that kind of flower once grew. It was our favorite flower, mine and his."

"But on the day my beloved left, all of those flowers withered overnight."

"It only left this behind."

The old woman held out a trembling hand and pulled a small glass bottle from her clothes.

Inside the bottle lay a seed, quietly giving off a faint gray glow.

It was exactly the same as the one that had appeared in the game.

"I tried many methods to grow those flowers again, but all of them failed."

"Fortunately, this seed has always remained like this, as if it will never spoil... how wonderful."

As she spoke, she turned to look at Cynthia, staring directly at her with cloudy eyes.

"I'm old now. I can't take much more hardship, so..."

"Child, since you're interested in this flower too, can you continue trying for me?"

Cynthia accepted the bottle and nodded without saying a word.

"Good child."

The old woman smiled. After a moment of silence, she suddenly said, "Come to think of it... if you manage to grow this flower, could you bring one to me?"

She turned toward the brilliant sea of flowers, but her gaze fell upon that barren patch of earth.

"Do you know why this is my favorite flower?"

Cynthia shook her head.

The old woman smiled again.

"Actually, gold is my least favorite color."

"But many years ago... right here, he held this golden flower and said something to me."

"He said that even all the flowers covering the mountains and fields together could never compare to my beauty in his eyes."

The wind swept through the sea of flowers, sending petals dancing into the air.

The old woman's voice gradually softened.

"So from that day on, it became my favorite flower.

"I thought that if I saw this flower again, I would be able to see him again.

"...I miss him."