[After sinking into deep slumber, your senses and awareness naturally become exceptionally dull.]
[Yet, despite this, today you clearly felt a familiar presence.]
[Unlike Diancie or Dianna, this was someone you had met before.]
[Vaguely, you felt yourself being held by that person's hands for quite some time.]
[And Diancie, who had originally held you, seemed to have been threatened somehow by that person.]
[Naturally, in your current state, you cannot intervene in the slightest.]
[Fortunately, you were eventually returned to Diancie.]
"Elias...it's all because that human woman threatened me today. I didn't do it on purpose..."
Inside her room, Diancie quietly murmured to the diamond.
She wasn't sure if Elias could still sense the outside world in his deep sleep.
Yet Diancie still felt compelled to explain herself clearly.
Especially since Cogita had secretly kissed Elias earlier today.
Though Elias was merely a diamond at the time, whenever she recalled this detail, anger inevitably boiled up within Diancie.
That cunning, hateful human!
After inwardly condemning Cogita again, Diancie returned her gaze to the diamond on her desk.
Just like before, the diamond still glittered brightly.
But beyond that, there was no other reaction.
Seeing this, Diancie couldn't help but sigh softly.
Sure enough, Elias shows no sign of waking yet. It's all up to me to try harder.
...
[Over the following period, apart from training according to the plans you set, Diancie began diligently studying the books she brought back.]
[Among them were many methods for nurturing Ghost-type Pokémon, but after mastering these, she discovered it was very difficult to put them to use.]
[The reason was simple: while you were sleeping within the diamond, you couldn't consume berries to strengthen Ghost-type Pokémon, nor could you carry items like Spell Tags.]
[This discovery naturally caused Diancie some frustration.]
[Thankfully, after a brief period of gloom, she quickly regained her spirits and began searching for other useful methods.]
[Occasionally, Diancie would even reluctantly return to the human world to seek Cogita's help.]
[After all, many human writings were still beyond her understanding, requiring Cogita to translate.]
"Are these methods really effective…?"
Cogita sat at the table, resting her chin on her palm, muttering absent-mindedly.
Across from her, Diancie was seriously jotting down notes.
Seeing that Diancie had no intention of responding, Cogita lightly sighed and didn't pursue the matter further.
Diancie might not sense it clearly—
But Cogita herself had realized the ghost inside the diamond hadn't changed much since she'd last seen it.
And several months had already passed since then.
At this rate, by the time Elias woke up, hundreds or even thousands of years would likely have passed.
Even a mineral Pokémon like Diancie couldn't live for thousands of years.
Cogita thought hard about it, yet no better solution came to mind.
She still didn't understand why Elias had turned into a ghost in the first place.
Naturally, she had no clues as to how to wake him either.
But fortunately…
Her own lifespan was extremely long, long enough to afford waiting a thousand years.
Though the process might be torturous, if it was for Elias, Cogita felt she could bear it.
...
[Under such a life, several years passed.]
...
Underground Kingdom.
Diancie quietly sat at her desk, alone in her room.
Her small hands gently covered her head, her expression clearly sorrowful.
For a Pokémon like her, a few years wasn't an exceptionally long time.
But these past few years had been torturous, because Elias had shown no sign whatsoever of awakening.
She'd clearly been doing her utmost, even Her Highness would occasionally borrow Elias and attempt various methods.
But…
Without exception, the results had been minimal at best.
Diancie could sense that the ghost within the diamond seemed to be slowly gathering energy.
Yet this speed was painfully slow.
Even she found it impossibly slow.
If this continued, it was very possible she'd never see Elias awake again in her lifetime.
Under these circumstances, Diancie constantly felt as though something was stuck in her throat.
Over the past year, she had even given up on the training she'd always maintained.
Even when Her Highness assigned her various tasks, she mostly ignored them, single-mindedly reading books she hoped could help Elias.
Thinking about this, Diancie grit her teeth.
She felt so unwilling…
Knock knock—
At that moment, someone knocked on the wooden door.
Diancie's head was in turmoil; she wasn't in the mood to open it.
Outside the door, after waiting and hearing no response, Dianna simply pushed the door open and stepped inside.
Unsurprisingly, she immediately saw Diancie slumped gloomily at the desk.
She couldn't help but frown.
Diancie had been like this for quite a long while now.
She fully understood Diancie's depression.
After all, even she felt restless after several years passed without any sign of Elias waking up.
She, too, wanted to see him again.
But...
Diancie couldn't keep going on like this. Even though Dianna herself had recovered, eventually she'd still have to pass her throne down.
If Diancie continued to remain this depressed, she'd never be qualified to inherit the throne.
"Aren't you going to train today?" Dianna asked gently.
After her words fell, silence filled the room.
Only after a moment passed did Diancie squeeze out a soft response.
"…Mm."
Seeing this, Dianna's heart grew more dissatisfied.
"What about those training plans Elias wrote specifically for you?"
"Aren't you going to continue following them?"
She pressed further.
Unfortunately, she'd asked these same questions many times before.
Earlier, Diancie would at least respond; now she didn't even utter a single word.
Dianna took a deep breath. Perhaps she hadn't been strict enough with Diancie recently, causing her to behave like this.
But biting her lip, Dianna still chose not to scold her.
After all, Elias fell into slumber precisely because of her, so she had no right to criticize Diancie on this matter.
"Elias would be very disappointed to see you like this."
After leaving those words behind, Dianna quietly left the room.
...
[After several years of accumulation, your consciousness became slightly clearer.]
[But to your surprise, compared to your previous time alone in the cave, your growth rate actually slowed significantly now that Diancie was helping you.]
[This left you deeply puzzled.]