"Gaaarde!"
Gardevoir's cheeks flushed with a soft pink as Elias teased her.
Pouting, she gave his waist a playful little pinch — just enough to make him suck in a sharp breath through his teeth.
"Hmph."
Arms crossed, Gardevoir huffed in dissatisfaction, glaring at him like you deserved that.
I didn't even use any force!
Lance watched the back-and-forth with a bunch of question marks popping up in his mind.
Can we stick to the topic at hand, please?!
Is now really the ti for a live PDA show?!
"Ahem."
Noticing the not-so-subtle bitterness in Lance's stare, Elias cleared his throat and replied:
"I'm not going to take back the Deputy Director role… but as for that Masked Corps you ntioned, I can help you deal with them."
Lance's eyes lit up. "You an it?"
"Absolutely."
The corners of Lance's mouth tugged up with delight.
The Masked Corps had been his biggest headache.
He couldn't find them, and even when he did, he couldn't beat them. They were a total dead end.
If Elias could really take care of that ss, Lance could live with him turning down the job offer.
Still, even knowing that, Lance couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed.
He made one last attempt:
"Elias, are you sure you won't reconsider?"
"The investigation division's seriously short on talent right now. If you join, the salary's nothing to scoff at… and feeding Gardevoir must be expensive, right?"
"Don't you ever worry that one day you won't have enough money and Gardevoir or the others will go hungry? Or—Gardevoir, don't you want so premium accessories? Designer brands?"
It was a sly move.
Lance was deliberately trying to manipulate Gardevoir and Latias — hoping to get to Elias through them.
He knew reasoning with Elias directly wouldn't get him anywhere.
But Elias looked entirely unbothered.
Sure, he was still just a rookie Trainer in the public eye. But before this, with Professor Oak's support, he'd already filed several patents related to Pokéblock enhancent.
The royalties alone were more than enough to comfortably support Gardevoir and the rest.
And besides...
Right on cue, both Gardevoir and Latias perked up, pulled out their phones, and opened their banking apps in perfect sync.
Then, without a word, they slapped their screens down on the table.
"Gaaarde! (I can provide for Elias!)"
"Elias can just use Mommy's money!"
Lance fell silent, staring at the astronomical numbers glowing on their screens.
Suddenly, he felt like even bringing this up had been a complete act of self-humiliation.
---
anwhile — on the second floor of the Saffron Gym...
Latios cautiously poked his head out the window, glancing around with a guarded expression.
A short while ago, he'd sensed Latias's aura inside the gym.
Which ant he hadn't dared show his face since.
Based on what he knew of his sister… that stunt he pulled the other day definitely pissed her off.
Showing up now would just an getting decked. And as of now, he wasn't her match in battle.
Not to ntion… even if he could win, he wouldn't dare fight back.
Whew~
Once he confird the coast was clear, Latios let out a quiet sigh of relief.
It wasn't that he hadn't wanted to warn Latias. But before this, he'd been explicitly warned by Gardevoir.
With her level of psychic power, checking his phone's contents would've taken all of two seconds.
For his own safety, well… his poor, adorable sister would just have to suffer a little.
But on the bright side…
If Latias had shown up at the gym, then that dumb pink cat was probably already done for, right?
That thought brought a sly smile to Latios's lips.
Click—
Just then, he heard the sound of a door opening behind him.
When he turned around, a slightly battered pink cat floated in through the air, dragging her long tail behind her.
The mont she spotted him, fury lit up her little face.
"w!"
It was w — and she was livid.
Without a word, she summoned two [Aura Spheres] and hurled them straight at him.
Latios, still basking in his own smugness, felt his scalp go numb.
Why the hell is she back already?!
No ti to think — he instantly threw up a green [Protect] shield around himself.
Boom—!
The [Aura Spheres] slamd into the shield with a deafening bang.
Luckily, the gym was a private, stand-alone structure — the noise didn't reach anyone else.
But the shockwave was strong enough to blast the window open behind Latios, letting a cold breeze rush in.
As the smoke cleared, his shield was already shaking at the edges, barely holding on.
"w! (Liar!)"
w sneered, claws raised, clearly preparing another barrage.
Latios knew he couldn't let this go on.
Sure, his sister and Salance could hold their own against w together, but he definitely couldn't.
Even though they were both Legendary Pokémon, this pink gremlin had way more power than he did.
If he didn't surrender now, he'd be flat on the floor in no ti.
Just before w launched her next attack, Latios quickly raised both hands and shouted:
"Wait!"
"There's gotta be so kind of misunderstanding! Didn't we just make a deal yesterday?"
"You're not gonna turn around and stab in the back, are you?"
Latios wore the perfect expression of a wronged victim — shocked, pitiful, and just the right touch of desperation.
To his credit, his act was every bit as convincing as Tias's when she turned on the waterworks.
At the very least, it made w hesitate for a mont.
She narrowed her eyes and floated closer, studying him with suspicion.
"w! (Still pretending?)"
"w w~ (You totally lied to !)"
She waved her little paws angrily, unleashing her accusations.
Latios had told her — his sister was weak and gullible, easy to handle.
But when w had gone to confront her, she found out not only was Latias just as strong as she was, she also had two backup fighters with her.
That kind of lineup?
Other than maybe Gardevoir, w couldn't even think of anyone who could deal with that.
Weak? Yeah, right!
Hearing her words, Latios swallowed hard and quickly tried to explain:
"My sister hardly ever battles when she's with — I don't know her actual strength that well!"
"But… there's one thing I can show you to prove she's not that strong!"
"w?"
w raised an eyebrow — or whatever the equivalent was on her squishy little face — and motioned for him to go on.
She wanted to hear exactly how he planned to weasel his way out of this one.
---
P.S.
Lance: Still waiting for the day I get to live off my Dragonite... Maybe if I train it to be a courier, I can finally live the dream.
...
"GACHA!!"
"WOOOO you made it to the end! That's commitnt! That's—wait—wait—are you F2P!? Disgusting. Fix it."
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