The Heart of a Champion

Chapter 13- The Game Plan

Cynthia had 7 total World Championship matches, 3 in the first time, 2 last time (defending champions used to not have to battle in the first round since there were only 7), and of course 2 this year. I figured I'd start from the beginning. Her first match in her first year was against Alder. This was one of her closest ones, she wasn't rattled on the outside by the pressure, but she battled like she was a little nervous. Not much to learn from it...let's look at some newer matches. The last final 5 years ago in Johto. Lance had the hometown crowd behind him and everything. Served him right heh. I watched as Cynthia reacted to the battle opponent I was all too familiar with. I just saw once again, that same machine like adaption to an opponents tactics. I noticed it when I was 13 too, this wasn't new. I felt cornered. Whatever plans I came up with, Cynthia had a gift. That gift was analysis, she knew what you were doing just as well as you did. This extended beyond battles too, it made her a great leader really. I just couldn't come up with anything at the moment. I shut off my notes app and decided to just rest for the remainder of the ride. Which wasn't hard. There was about an hour left before we were going to reach Wyndon Airport.

An hour later I opened my eyes. I had fallen asleep really quickly after deciding to, which wasn't usual for me. The flight attendant quietly informed us that we had arrived. Lillie was still asleep though, I didn't want to wake her, but I figured she probably would want to get to our hotel. The champions got to stay in the best rooms in the best hotel in the world, the Rose of the Rondelades. "Hey Lillie, we made it." She opened her eyes softly and looked at me, "Alright..." She was wanting to be asleep still I could tell. I decided to take her hand and walk with her out of the plane. We were met by a mob of cheers. So many people came out just to see my arrival, I looked at Lillie, "Hey there's a lot of people here, you don't mind if I stop and do stuff with them do you?" She shook her head, "No it's ok... just don't leave without me ok?" I nodded "Never." I ran over to the crowd and started to get them excited by shaking hands and taking pictures with them. I signed some things too. I'd have to thank Leon later, he really did make the people of Galar love me. I thanked them all for coming, went back over to Lillie and exited through the airport. As we were leaving the Galarians were singing sporting chants for my favor. They loved their sports, and thankfully they loved me too. I walked down the clean and festive streets of Wyndon with Lillie at my side. It was later here in Galar than in Kanto, at this point it was almost opposite to Alolan time. Lillie and I checked in at The Rose and took the golden elevator up to the top floor. The room was somehow even more amazing than the one in Vermillion. This one had 4 beds (What in the world would I possibly do with all of those?) 2 bathrooms, a state of the art kitchen, a fully furnished living room, and an amazing view from a window that made up the entire outside wall. That was about the only similarity to the Vermillion hotel. Everything here was just so much grander. Lillie was still half out, I guess she was just really jet lagged. "Hey Lil, you can go to bed now." I said softly, kind of laughing, she groaned and said "Sorry Sun, I'm so tired, I'll see you tomorrow." She walked slowly and went in to one of the two bedrooms that contained half the beds in it. I sat down on the couch in the new living space, finally releasing Nebby, "Hey Nebby, there's four beds, you can pick whichever one you like." He purred and went in to the room opposite Lillie. It was so odd to see him so calm. I guess being something of a deity can really tire you. I guess this is a nice vacation for him too. As for me I needed to study my opponent some more. This is a new puzzle, many had tried to solve it, all have come up empty. I had 2 more days to figure it out. I called Kukui, maybe he would know something, "What's happening Sun, you two ok?" "Yeah we're good, Lillie's asleep already, it was a rough trip for her I think." He sighed "Yeah, jet lag is a fickle thing, I'm on my second flight now, Burnet is resting at home, anyway what did you need?" I sighed, "I've been studying Cynthia really closely but I can't get a read on her, she's just so good, there's no obvious weaknesses I can exploit." Kukui breathed out loudly after a while, "I know you too, you find even the most minute mistakes and capitalize, and from a perfect view you should have no problem. Cynthia's moves and orders are calculated perfectly every time though, I'm stumped too. If I think of anything though I'll let you know." He hung up and I made an exasperated sigh. There may be no solution, I could try to free wheel it sure, but if I failed miserably that would be an insult to the people who had come out to see me. I resigned to sleep on it as I took the bed next to Lillie's. Maybe tomorrow I'll have a better idea.