Whenever Giovanni thought back on his previous experiences, he felt a little tremor of dread. Battling a Champion was troublesome enough to begin with, and to keep others from suspecting his true strength, he had to hold back a little. Yet he still could not escape Cynthia's torment. During her time at the Kanto League, her daily routine had consisted of eating, sleeping, and battling Giovanni. She was either battling him or on her way to battle him. Giovanni had previously tried making excuses, saying his Pokémon were injured and could not battle, only for Cynthia to bring members of the Joy family along to battle him. They healed his Pokémon immediately afterward, leaving Giovanni utterly exasperated.
Now, hearing Cynthia say that made Giovanni's hair stand on end. He was terrified that his stay in Mossdeep City would mean facing the same experiences all over again. Steven was a Champion too, after all. Champions were all very strong, and dealing with Steven would be troublesome for Giovanni as well.
Steven greeted Giovanni politely, very courteously but also very formally. Seeing this, Giovanni smiled and returned the polite greeting, maintaining some distance without exchanging contact information or anything of the sort. This made him breathe a sigh of relief. Keeping a polite distance like this was quite nice, certainly better than Cynthia constantly dragging him into battles.
Giovanni always felt that Cynthia was a little too enthusiastic, to an excessive degree, and far too quick to act familiar. Fortunately, Steven was not that sort of person. But looking at Steven's expectant expression, Giovanni could not help glancing at Heath again. This child who had grown up in Viridian City had already built up such a social circle before he knew it. Giovanni could naturally tell that Steven treated Heath far more