"Mr. Damian, that kind of joke isn't funny."
Cynthia rejected him without the slightest hesitation.
A swimsuit? Under normal circumstances, if she were here to relax and have fun at the beach, Cynthia wouldn't mind wearing a swimsuit.
After all, it was perfectly normal to wear one at the beach.
But that would be of her own free will. Right now, Damian's intentions were clearly less than pure—there was no way she'd agree.
"What a shame. Looks like Miss Cynthia's not all that sincere." Damian shrugged, not pushing it. He wasn't the one in a hurry here anyway.
"Mr. Damian, I really do want to talk to you."
Cynthia's dark brows drew together.
"Doesn't really look that way from where I'm lying." Damian replied lazily, then called over to his shell miss.
"Fini, massage my legs."
"Fini?"
"You can eat later. All you think about is food, day in and day out. You'll just end up getting fat."
"Fini! Fini!"
Accusing her Trainer of such evil "curses," Tapu Fini puffed up in anger, but still reached out with both hands and started kneading Damian's thigh.
Damian, meanwhile, slid his big shades down over his eyes, laced his fingers behind his head, and lay back in total comfort.
He'd gone three hundred rounds with Lusamine last night and was feeling a little worn out.
What they said about women in their thirties being wolves and in their forties being tigers… absolutely true.
At first Lusamine's mouth said "no," halfway through it turned into "don't stop," and by the end it was "Daddy, harder."
He couldn't take it. Who was supposed to survive that?!
Watching Damian, relaxed and basking in pleasure, Cynthia was speechless.
This guy really didn't seem worried at all that she might just jump him out of nowhere.
Her grip on Garchomp's Poké Ball tightened, then loosened, then tightened again. In the end, Cynthia just sighed inwardly.
She really couldn't bring herself to launch a sneak attack. Because she was Cynthia.
"Mr. Damian, a Trainer like you shouldn't be throwing your future away on Team Rocket. That would really be… a waste."
Her voice returned to its usual calm as she slowly spoke to Damian.
She still didn't understand him, but she was sincere in what she said.
"And Caitlin as well. Please tell her this: next time we meet, even if I have to bet everything, I'll bring her back to the Sinnoh Region."
With that, she'd said all she meant to say.
Cynthia was ready to leave. Running into Damian had been unexpected, but on a busy tourist beach like this, there was no way she could make a move.
There were simply too many people around, and a battle could easily end up hurting them.
"Miss Cynthia, you really don't understand anything."
Just as Cynthia turned away, the boy's indifferent voice drifted over.
"?" Cynthia looked back.
"Not everyone's as lucky as you. Unlike your perfect life, Caitlin and I were originally just puppets on strings. Team Rocket cut those strings and gave us a new life."
He pushed his shades up just enough to reveal eyes as red as blood, unnervingly bright as they locked onto Cynthia's.
"This organization is only using your power."
Cynthia's brows knit tightly. Team Rocket was an evil organization—she didn't believe for a second they were that kind‑hearted.
In the end, Team Rocket had to have simply taken a liking to Damian and Caitlin's strength and potential. They wanted them as tools.
"Is that so? Maybe." Damian chuckled softly and slid his shades fully back down.
Maybe?
Cynthia felt a twinge of confusion.
No matter how she turned it over in her mind, she couldn't make sense of it.
"Leave Team Rocket. In an environment like that, you'll sink deeper and deeper into the filth until you can never climb out again."
After a moment of silence, Cynthia added one last plea.
Once you went deep enough into the darkness, you'd be swallowed by it and never escape.
In a place like Team Rocket, that kind of environment would slowly but surely warp a person's values and worldview.
That was the truly terrifying part.
"Team Rocket won't change us. On the contrary, we'll be the ones to turn Team Rocket into something greater." Damian said quietly.
"'Greater'? Damian, what exactly are you and Caitlin trying to do?"
Cynthia froze. Suddenly she realized she might've been thinking far too shallowly.
Damian and Caitlin's reasons for joining Team Rocket might not be nearly that simple.
"Just wait and see, Miss Cynthia. I'm gonna take a nap. Want to join me?"
"…"
Cynthia stared at Damian for a long moment. This boy…
It wasn't just his terrifying talent and strength. His mind ran dangerously deep too. She couldn't see through him at all.
Maybe, for Team Rocket, recruiting someone like him hadn't been such a great thing after all—bringing a threat like this into their own ranks.
Cynthia left.
She hadn't gotten much concrete information, but what she did learn was important: Damian and Caitlin seemed to have their own agenda for joining Team Rocket.
What exactly were they planning?
She decided to sit down with Kukui again and seriously discuss tracking Team Rocket. She was, after all, the Sinnoh Champion. She couldn't stay in Alola forever.
If they still couldn't find Caitlin after a while, she'd have no choice but to return to Sinnoh.
...
Another day passed. Today, the artificial island of Aether Paradise welcomed a very special guest.
"Miss."
A thin, lanky middle‑aged man in a colorful research coat and green sunglasses bowed respectfully to the girl in a white dress.
He was one of Aether Foundation's Admins, Faba.
And the girl standing before him was Lillie.
That's right—after her heart‑to‑heart with Damian, Lillie had finally made up her mind. She couldn't keep running away.
As a daughter, she shouldn't be hiding from her own mother. She had to tell Lusamine what she truly thought, face‑to‑face.
"Faba, how has Mother been?"
But now that she was actually here, standing in front of the familiar Aether Paradise, the fear in her heart bubbled up again.
"Chairman has been missing you and Young Master Gladion very much. She's been waiting for you for quite some time. Please, get in the car."
Faba answered simply.
He'd watched Lillie grow up, but as an Admin of Aether Foundation, it wasn't his place to comment on Lusamine and Lillie's family matters.
Lillie said nothing, clutching her bag as she climbed into the car. It pulled out toward Lusamine's manor.
Soon, they arrived in front of the manor. Lillie got out and walked to the main doors.
Staring at the familiar entrance, she slowly raised her hand—only then realizing her right hand was trembling.
No. She couldn't run away anymore.
Lillie bit down on her lip, took several deep breaths, and forced herself to press down the terror in her chest as she pushed the door open.
Nothing in the manor's decor had changed. With a single glance, everything looked exactly as she remembered—even the people.
Lillie walked inside, and soon her steps came to a halt as she saw the mature blonde woman sitting on the living room sofa, enjoying tea.
"Mother…"
"You're back, my dear daughter."
Lusamine's utterly calm voice and gaze made Lillie's body shake ever so slightly.
But Lillie's keen instincts also picked up on something subtle. Her mother seemed… slightly different.
Her complexion looked healthier, her face more radiant. The cold, bone‑deep chill in her aura felt much weaker than before.
Had Mother been taking some kind of tonics lately?