"..."
How should she even start this conversation?
Cynthia thought about it for a long time, hesitating again and again.
She wasn't bad at dealing with people.
After all, she had climbed her way through countless battles and hardships to become the Sinnoh Champion. No matter how you looked at it, Cynthia was hardly some socially awkward shut-in.
Elegant and poised.
Widely regarded as the most beloved female Champion in the Pokémon League.
In daily life, she was a gentle, approachable blonde woman with a warm personality.
In battle, she transformed into an uncompromising tactical Valkyrie, aggressive and razor-sharp.
That was the impression Cynthia left on most Pokémon fans.
But initiating a conversation with a stranger online?
That was… genuinely new territory for her.
And this time, she was doing it on a throwaway account, fully undercover.
For Cynthia, this was a completely off-syllabus problem.
After much deliberation, she finally typed two simple words.
[Drawing Water With a Basket]: Hello.
"Hah…"
Serena couldn't help but chuckle.
She'd thought this person added her to say something important—
but it was just a plain old "hello."
Honestly, that was already a pretty good outcome.
If this faceless burner account had opened with something like
"Hey sis, feeling lonely? Add my V, free XXX,"
Serena would've gone straight from confused to speechless.
(°-°〃)!!!
And deleted the friend instantly.
She wasn't the kind of person who fell for shady online ads like that, okay?!
At the very least, a simple "hello" meant the other side was probably a real, normal human being—and not a scam bot.
"Henlo~ (*′▽｀)ノノ"
Serena replied with a playful greeting.
After all, this was her very first chat viewer—
and technically her first "fan" who'd even added her as a friend.
Thankfully, Cynthia couldn't read minds.
There was no way she could know that Serena had briefly mistaken her for a spam account.
If she did…
That would've been completely unacceptable.
Just because the account had no profile, no verification, no credentials—
didn't mean it wasn't legitimate.
Cynthia's main account carried the Pokémon League's gold Champion verification badge.
If she used that account casually, it would instantly cause a stir.
Things like:
[Sinnoh Champion Cynthia and her Garchomp have entered the stream.]
[Cynthia liked this post 15 minutes ago.]
Any of that would blow up the internet immediately.
As the saying goes—fame invites trouble.
Cynthia had zero interest in attracting crowds every time she sneezed.
Not offline.
Not online.
So over time, she'd developed the habit of browsing quietly on a blank alt account.
Aside from herself, almost no one knew that the account
"Drawing Water With a Basket"
actually belonged to Sinnoh's Champion.
"So, uh… bro," Serena typed, curious,
"you added me—what's up?"
Ignoring the "bro" part, Cynthia replied:
"Are you planning to stream on PokéTV again tomorrow?"
Of course, she wanted to ask about the Dragon Dance Gible—
how Serena had done it, and whether the same method could apply to her Garchomp.
But asking something that outrageous right off the bat…
That felt a little shameless.
At least, that's how Cynthia saw it.
"Maybe yes, maybe no," Serena replied.
A completely useless answer.
The classic 'I listened, but learned nothing' response.
But honestly, Serena couldn't make any promises.
It depended on her mood, her time,
or whether she found another way to make some money.
Because at this point, relying solely on PokéTV streams
didn't look very promising.
She was already considering alternative income paths.
"If you are planning to stream your Dragon Dance Gible again,"
Cynthia typed carefully,
"my advice is… you probably shouldn't."
"...Why?"
Serena instantly went on guard.
She hadn't expected this "bro" to come in swinging like that.
Telling her to stop streaming right away?!
"Are you saying PokéTV viewers don't know what they're watching—
ah, wait, that sounds bad. A streamer trashing their own audience is suicidal."
Fingers flying across the keyboard, Serena fired back:
"Most Pokémon battle fans can't yet see how strong Dragon Dance Gible really is, or how much potential it has. But given time, they'll realize it!"
She typed like a pianist in full flow—
keyboard as her instrument, emotions pouring straight into words.
"That's exactly the problem," Cynthia replied.
"The fact that they haven't realized it yet is a good thing."
"If they do realize it—
or if too many people realize it—
that's when you're in danger."
With Cynthia's perspective, the value and threat of Dragon Dance Gible was obvious.
No one understood that better than her.
After all—
She was the world's number one Garchomp trainer.
And that was precisely why she'd searched for those keywords in the first place,
eventually stumbling upon Serena's stream.
"You mean… someone might target me because my Gible knows Dragon Dance?"
Serena's eyes widened.
"Like… doxxing me or worse?"
She hadn't thought that far ahead before.
In her mind, the Pokémon world was mostly filled with good people.
It wasn't a place where you assumed someone would rob you the moment you stepped outside.
Trainers raising pseudo-legendary Pokémon appeared plenty of times in anime and stories.
They didn't get jumped by villains the moment they left home.
Still—
Better safe than sorry.
"…Yeah. You're right," Serena sighed.
"I really did get carried away."
Then she added sincerely:
"Didn't expect it, but…
bro, you're actually a really good guy."
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