She let her hand linger on my arm for another moment, her thumb tracing a small circle against my sleeve, before finally stepping back.
"But first," she continued, her tone becoming more businesslike even as that slight smile remained, "let's deal with your friend over there."
She gestured toward the boy, who had finally managed to remove his blindfold and was staring at us with wide eyes.
I turned to look at him properly for the first time.
Spiky black hair that defied gravity. Brown eyes, wide with a mixture of fear and awe. Features that I recognized instantly from games, anime, and countless pieces of merchandise.
'Of course,' I thought. 'Of course it's him.'
The boy stood on shaky legs and approached, his hands still bound but his face now visible. He looked at me, then at Cynthia, then at the destruction around us.
"Thank you," he said, his voice carrying genuine gratitude despite the tremor of recent fear. "Both of you. You saved my life."
He focused on me specifically. "You tried to help me even though you were completely outmatched. That was..." He searched for words. "That was the bravest thing I've ever seen."
Then he looked at Cynthia and her Garchomp, and something like reverence entered his expression. "And you... You're incredible. I've never seen anything like that."
Cynthia smiled, warmer this time. "Just doing what needed to be done." She pulled a knife from somewhere on her outfit and cut his bonds with a quick, efficient motion. "Are you hurt?"
"No," he said, rubbing his wrists. "Scared, but not hurt."
"Good." She looked at me. "We should get moving. Your Gible needs medical attention, and we need to report this to the authorities."
The boy nodded quickly. "I'm staying at Professor Oak's lab. I was supposed to get my starter Pokémon tomorrow, but..." He gestured vaguely at the destruction around us. "Team Rocket grabbed me while I was exploring."
"Do you know why?" I asked. "Why did they target you specifically?"
He shook his head. "I have no idea. I'm nobody important. Just... just a kid from Pallet Town who wants to be a trainer."
'He doesn't know,' I thought. 'He doesn't know why he might be valuable to Team Rocket. Or maybe he genuinely is just unlucky.'
"What's your name?" Cynthia asked gently.
The boy straightened, seeming to remember his manners despite the trauma. "Ash," he said. "Ash Ketchum."
And there it was. The protagonist. The kid who was supposed to save the world was now standing in front of me after I'd failed to rescue him from Team Rocket.
'At least he survived,' I thought. 'Though that was Cynthia's doing, not mine.'
"Well, Ash Ketchum," Cynthia said. I saw her glance at me with something unreadable in her expression, "let's get you somewhere safe. And you," she turned to me fully, her hand reaching out to touch my shoulder again, this time letting it rest there with clear intentionality, "need to tell me everything about this Gible. I have so many questions."
The way she said it, the way her fingers pressed slightly against my shoulder, the way her gaze bore into me. It was clear she wasn't just interested in the Pokémon.
"We should go," I said, trying to ignore how my pulse had quickened at her proximity.
"Yes," she agreed, but didn't remove her hand immediately. "We should."
Finally, she stepped back, and I felt like I could breathe properly again.
The three of us began making our way back toward Pallet Town, with Cynthia's Garchomp walking beside us like a guardian mountain.
"So," Cynthia said as we walked, falling into step beside me, close enough that our shoulders almost touched. "Dragon and Steel type. Crimson scales. Impossible to find in any documented population. How did you come by such a Pokémon?"
"It's... complicated," I said.
"I like complicated." She glanced at me, and I caught her biting her lip again, just slightly. "In fact, I find it fascinating. Almost as fascinating as the fact that you're carrying that Gible like it weighs nothing, despite clearly being exhausted from the fight."
"I'm stronger than I look," I said, which was both true and completely inadequate as an explanation.
"Clearly." Her hand touched my arm again, briefly. "I'm looking forward to finding out just how much stronger."
The way she said it made me acutely aware that she might not be talking entirely about physical strength.
Pallet Town came into view ahead, and I shifted Gible's weight slightly in my arms. The little dragon was still unconscious and needed urgent medical attention.
But we'd survived. Against impossible odds, against Team Rocket members with Pokémon more than twice our level, we'd survived.
Thanks to Cynthia.
I glanced at her as we walked, at the confident stride and the way the winter light caught in her blonde hair, at the smile that suggested she knew exactly how attractive she was and wasn't afraid to use it.
'This,' I thought, 'is going to be complicated.'
And behind us, the snow slowly began covering the evidence of battle—the crater from Hyper Beam, the scattered scales from Steelix, the trampled ground where Gible had fallen.
Tomorrow, I was supposed to help distribute starter Pokémon to new trainers.
But today, I've learned something important.
I wasn't strong enough.
Not yet.
And this world—this Extreme Mode timeline where Gym Leaders worked for Team Rocket and Champions intervened to save random trainers—was going to be far more dangerous than I'd imagined.
I held Gible closer and kept walking, aware of Cynthia's presence beside me, of Ash following behind, of the weight of questions I couldn't answer and revelations I couldn't share.
The journey was just beginning.
And I had no idea what or who was waiting ahead.