After hanging up Giovanni's call, Axel and Cynthia studied for a while longer, but still had no clue.
Ever since Giratina abducted the trio, it had seemingly vanished from Sinnoh entirely, never showing up again.
Each Gym Leader was guarding their own city, and Flint had also gone to explore the Mt. Coronet area.
All came to the same conclusion: Giratina had never appeared again.
Even Jessie and James, who had first contacted Axel, had also disappeared without a trace.
"Why don't we go relax a bit first?", Cynthia, after hearing Axel's phone call just now, felt more and more that he was simply too busy.
Once Axel left Sinnoh, who knew when the two of them would next get to see each other?
"Alright, you pick the place," Axel nodded.
"Actually, there's not much to pick from~", Cynthia stuck out her tongue, looking a little embarrassed.
As the Champion, how could she possibly abandon Sinnoh right now?
So the best she could do was slack off during work.
"The Lily of the Valley Conference is starting soon. The rest of us discussed it yesterday, although Giratina's issue hasn't been resolved yet, the tournament can't be postponed."
"However, to prevent Giratina from suddenly appearing and eliminating the next generation of Sinnoh's talent, we've decided to send two Elite Four members to guard the event."
"If you'd like to go, I can request for the two of us to be assigned there."
"If you don't want to go there, the other option is the Sinnoh Battle Frontier. Right now, none of the Elites have gone there to search for Giratina..."
'The Sinnoh Battle Frontier?'
Axel blinked, suddenly interested.
He remembered that Giratina was originally the Dragon of the Underworld, the embodiment of death itself.
Whether Giratina wanted to strengthen the Reverse World or invade this world, the simplest way would be to drag this world's strongest trainers into the Reverse World.
That way, on one hand, it could defeat in the Reverse World those Pokémon it couldn't beat in reality, and on the other, it could rule the real world devoid of powerful Pokémon.
And currently, the three Sinnoh locations gathering the strongest trainers were the Sinnoh League, the Battle Frontier, and the upcoming Lily of the Valley Conference.
Giratina likely wouldn't dare approach the Sinnoh League. The Lily of the Valley Conference had the Child of Destiny, Ash.
So then... if he went to the Battle Frontier, could he just wait there for Giratina to show up?
After thinking a while, Axel said, "I've actually been wanting to see the Sinnoh Battle Frontier. Why don't we head there and have a look?"
Cynthia nodded, rubbing her hands excitedly.
"Perfect! It's been ages since I saw Caitlin too. Since she's finally back, we can drop by the Frontier on business, and grab dinner together."
Axel: "???"
'Caitlin's back at the Battle Frontier?'
'Why didn't you say that earlier?'
Seeing Axel suddenly panic, Cynthia clearly recalled how the two had first met and covered her mouth, laughing.
"Caitlin's a really nice person, you know. I still don't get why you're so afraid of her."
"Afraid of her?", Axel bared his teeth.
'Is that fear?'
'No, it is the noble act of protecting a man's dignity!'
'Who could stand a rich girl constantly chasing you and trying to make you live off her money?'
If the girl were purely evil, fine, Axel could slap her away in one hit.
But the problem was, that girl solved everything with money power...
"If you're not afraid, then let's go. What, Caitlin's going to force you to be her husband or something?"
Cynthia spoke while tapping a few buttons on her communicator, planning to message Caitlin ahead of time that she'd be coming.
Axel: "..."
Faced with Cynthia's generosity, Axel could only force a smile.
Since she'd said this much, could he really refuse?
Well then, he'd just have to charge some emotional interest!
Based on experience from dealing with Gardevoir and Pheromosa, as long as he prepared in advance, he was the ultimate, invincible, plus-version, absolutely-untemptable good man.
Cynthia was sorting through some documents when Axel suddenly took her hand.
"Are those papers really that important?"
"N–Not important...", Cynthia's voice trembled slightly, like a startled little animal.
"Then why are you still sorting them?"
"Because... because... anyway, just put them in front of me, quickly!"
Soon, Axel understood what was going on.
The moment Cynthia finished tidying the papers, the big screen across the strategy control room suddenly lit up, Caitlin's portrait flashing brightly.
Taking advantage of the brief moment before the call connected, Axel hurriedly followed Cynthia's instructions and stacked all the documents in front of her, blocking Caitlin's view.
If that woman saw him holding Cynthia's hand in the strategy room, it'd be over.
Seeing the two of them flustered and fumbling on the other side, Caitlin, barefoot on her bed, tilted her head curiously toward the camera.
["Nana, what are you two doing over there?"]
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