One week later, in the Hoenn region, Dewford Town.
Ace lay on a beach chair, wearing swimming trunks and enjoying a sunbath. Beside him, Zinnia, clad in a bikini, was applying sunscreen to her body.
"Ace-sama, could you get my back, please?"
Zinnia lay on her stomach, untied her straps, and handed the sunscreen to Ace.
Ace took it and began to apply sunscreen to Zinnia's back.
Zinnia's body was not soft like that of an average girl. On the contrary, having been busy with Rayquaza's affairs for years, Ace could clearly feel the taut muscle definition beneath her tanned skin as he stroked her back.
Zinnia, still lying down, turned her head to look at Ace applying the sunscreen and couldn't help but ask, "Ace-sama, is it really okay for us to be this relaxed?"
"All the necessary problems have already been taken care of," Ace said calmly. "As long as the plan hasn't deviated, there's no need for us to do anything. Just watch it unfold with peace of mind. However, if there is a deviation, then... you know what to do."
"Mhm."
Zinnia, of course, understood. If there was a deviation, that was when they would step in.
All unstable factors and deviations would be resolved by them personally, and they would set everything back onto the correct path.
After applying the sunscreen, Ace lay back down on the beach chair and put on his sunglasses, concealing his gaze.
"Aah!!!"
Suddenly, a scream pierced the air across the entire beach. Ace looked toward the sea, where a giant wave was quickly rushing toward the shore.
"Surf?"
Ace frowned slightly. He took an Ultra Ball from his pocket, pressed the button, and Lapras appeared before him.
"Sheesh, that's cold."
Zinnia lifted herself up slightly, covering her clothes to avoid indecent exposure. She looked at the giant wave and said calmly, "That doesn't look like the Surf move. It's more like a Wailord sneezing. My Wailord has created waves like that before."
"Oh, so it's not an attack then."
Ace responded, looking at Lapras: "Lapras, it's up to you."
Lapras nodded to Ace, and then a burst of cold air erupted from its body. The giant wave instantly turned into an ice sculpture, solidifying on the sea surface in the blink of an eye.
"My wave!"
A man who had been riding the crest of the wave, enjoying the surfing, and his Makuhita looked utterly dismayed. They had finally gotten a giant wave, and now it had been frozen solid by someone!
"I'm so sorry! Are you okay!"
A girl jumped off a Wailord and landed on the ice. She ran toward the frozen wave, apologizing as she went: "It's all my Wailord's fault for sneezing; that's what caused the wave."
"A Wailord's sneeze?"
The man standing on the wave crest's eyes lit up. He quickly said to the girl, "Can you make it sneeze again?"
"???"
The girl looked utterly baffled, not quite understanding what was going on.
"That's enough."
Just then, Ace walked over, wearing beach shorts and flip-flops, shirtless, with his hands in his pockets.
Beside him were Zinnia, whose bikini straps were now securely tied, and Lapras, who had caused all this.
Snap.
Ace snapped his fingers, and the giant wave's ice instantly shattered into icy dust. The man, still with his surfboard, landed on the icy surface, which quickly dissolved. He looked at Ace, frowned, and asked in confusion, "Are you Ace?"
"You know me?"
Ace was slightly curious that this man recognized him.
"Bruno is a good friend of mine," the man said with a smile. "You are indeed as strong as he said."
"You're not bad either. In terms of martial arts, I'm inferior to you," Ace said, looking at the man and his Makuhita. "Gym Leader Brawly of the Dewford Gym."
"Ah! You're the Gym Leader?!"
The ignored girl finally reacted and said to Brawly, "I want to challenge the Dewford Gym!"
"I'm sorry," Brawly scratched his head. "I have something scheduled today. If you want to challenge the Gym, I'll be free after 7 PM tonight. You can come to the Gym then."
Hearing Brawly's words, the girl deflated, sighing as she reluctantly agreed.
"You two chat."
Ace waved his hand at Brawly: "I'm just here on vacation. Just don't cause any more trouble."
With that, Ace led Zinnia and Lapras back toward the beach.
As they reached the sand, they heard a crack sound. The ice beneath Brawly and the girl's feet instantly shattered into ice shavings.
The seawater rushed back in, soaking both their feet.
"What a powerful Lapras."
The girl looked at Ace and his companions' retreating figures, unable to help but exclaim.
"He trained it well," Brawly told the girl. "Any Pokémon in his hands could unleash incredible power. I truly wish I could battle him. I could learn a few techniques that would be immensely useful."
Brawly's words sparked an idea in the girl's mind. She glanced at Brawly, then waved to the Wailord in the distance, signaling it to go play nearby and that she would call it when she needed it.
Wailord saw the signal, turned its body, and submerged into the sea, gradually disappearing.
The girl then made arrangements with Brawly to challenge the Gym that evening. After that, she walked toward Ace.
"Hi, I'm Sapphire (Birch). You're really strong. Will you battle me?"
The girl, Sapphire, walked up to Ace and spoke earnestly: "I want to get stronger."
Ace took off his sunglasses, looked at Sapphire, and, under Zinnia's questioning gaze, said to Sapphire, "There's a place called the Granite Cave in Dewford Town. Go train there for a bit. If you want to battle me, defeat Brawly first."
With that, Ace put his sunglasses back on, lay down, and continued to enjoy his sunbath.
Sapphire pondered for a moment, then nodded to Ace: "Okay, once I defeat Brawly and earn the badge, I'll come back and ask you for a battle."
Then, Sapphire turned and walked away decisively to find the Granite Cave Ace had mentioned.
Ace turned his head to look at Zinnia, who was giving him an inquisitive look, and said, "Are you asking why I agreed to battle her?"
Zinnia nodded. In her opinion, Sapphire clearly looked like a fledgling Trainer who had just started her journey. There were countless novice Trainers like her, and Ace had no reason to pay attention to her existence.
Ace turned back, closed his eyes, and said calmly, "Because it's interesting."
"Interesting?"
Zinnia was even more confused, unable to understand Ace's reasoning.
Ace did not answer Zinnia's confusion again. Only he knew that his purpose in agreeing to battle Sapphire was simply to tell her one thing:
That there are always people stronger than yourself.
Only then would he have sufficient justification to involve himself in the storyline.
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