"Look at Chen Shi. His daughter's already three, and he's still so childish."
On the second floor of the Farm's Villa, Grandma Chen stood on the balcony, watching the father and daughter play, unsure whether to laugh or cry.
The mature blonde beauty beside her smiled gently without a word, her eyes brimming with tenderness.
Was Chen Shi childish?
Perhaps.
After all, this man made silly faces at his daughter, got down on all fours to play horsey, and spent ages arguing with a three-year-old over whether strawberry or blueberry candy tasted better.
Cynthia knew better than anyone how precious that "childishness" was.
She often felt grateful that her grandmother and Grandma Chen had been friends for years, and that, out of consideration for Professor Carolina, she had agreed to travel with Chen Shi.
Grateful that Chen Shi had fallen for her looks back then and shamelessly wormed his way into her tent.
Otherwise, she would never have had such a happy family.
"..."
"Is this your dream?"
Above the Chen Family Farm, a younger version of Cynthia sat on a Dragapult, taking in Chen Shi and his daughter's playful antics, as well as the expression on the Cynthia standing on the balcony.
She was the Cynthia who had projected her consciousness into this place using the dream powers of sweet dreams and Darkrai.
Yet she had never imagined that the Chen Shi in this dream would be so ordinary.
Yes, ordinary.
Before coming here, Cynthia had already asked plenty of people about Chen Shi.
According to them, Chen Shi was a genius Pokémon Trainer who had defeated the Elite Four by an overwhelming margin at twenty and risen to the top of the Hoenn Region.
He was a genius Pokémon Breeder who had improved the Chen family's Potential Potion,