Pokemon: This Trainer is Too Cautious!

Silence, a long silence...

The cave fell into a brief stillness. Cynthia remained bowed. Ace hadn't spoken, so she wouldn't rise.

Ace had a headache, but most of his thoughts were on the Side Quest (Aftermath).

"Side Quest (Aftermath): The situation in Sinnoh was not handled perfectly, leaving some clues. Someone is currently tracking you to Kanto based on these clues. Perhaps this is your opportunity. Find and defeat the tracker, and dispel their doubts, bringing this matter to a complete end. Quest Reward: 100 gold coins, quest points based on completion evaluation."

If the tracker was indeed Cynthia, then with Zubat having driven back Budew earlier, and Cynthia's current apology, this side quest could technically be considered over.

After all, if the main buyers weren't pursuing it anymore, what else was there to do?

However, the quest completion hadn't popped up, leading Ace to deduce that the tracker was definitely not Cynthia.

"The matter isn't over yet..."

Ace rubbed his temples. Looking at Cynthia still bowed, he finally dispelled his killing intent and sighed. "There's nothing to apologize for. My so-called parents, since they chose to sell me, I have no relationship with them anymore. As for the harm caused, to you, it's harm. To me, it's experience."

Cynthia straightened up, looking at Ace with some surprise, unable to fully grasp his perspective.

"Perhaps so. If they knew they sold a child with special abilities, they'd probably regret it to death."

Cynthia smiled, pointing to her left eye. She had expected to be one-eyed for the rest of her life, but unexpectedly, it had been healed.

"I said, that was to settle things with your Budew."

Ace stared at Cynthia. "This is where it ends. I don't want to have much to do with you. You go your way, and I'll go mine. We part ways here."

With that, Ace ignored Cynthia, turned, and continued to explore the cave.

The inexplicably rampaging two Rhyhorn had cleared the path, and no Pokémon dared to show their faces.

Ace walked all the way to the end of the cave, still finding nothing.

"Only one path left."

Ace looked at the dead-end wall, sighed, and could only choose to go back and try the last path.

But as Ace turned, he found Cynthia still behind him.

Seeing Ace turn, Cynthia averted her gaze, as if admiring the scenery, completely ignoring Ace.

"Your thing."

Ace pulled out the hairpin from his pocket and tossed it to Cynthia.

"Oh, so it was with you! I thought I'd lost it for good."

The return of the hairpin made Cynthia quite happy.

Her grandmother had bought this hairpin for her. Although it wasn't worth much, Cynthia treasured it dearly.

"Thank you, A..."

Cynthia fastened the hairpin, about to thank Ace, but found that Ace had already turned and fled, having run a considerable distance.

"Trying to shake me off? No way!"

Watching Ace "fleeing in disarray," Cynthia's cheeks puffed out. She angrily chased after him.

Her grandmother had once told her that showing gratitude was a virtue; a drop of kindness should be repaid with a gushing spring.

Ace had healed her left eye. Although he said it was to settle things with Budew, Cynthia didn't see it that way.

Cynthia had already prepared herself to be one-eyed for life, yet she had unexpectedly regained her sight.

Such a kindness was indeed too great for Cynthia.

So, Cynthia thought she would follow Ace for a while, see if he needed any help, and assist him to the best of her abilities, considering it repayment for the favor.

However, Ace's current attitude annoyed Cynthia a bit.

She was quite pretty, and she was even going to help him, but what was with Ace's reaction?

He looked like he had seen a ghost, running away the moment he saw her, as if she were a plague. How could Cynthia tolerate that?

The more Ace acted this way, the more Cynthia wanted to follow him. Her competitive spirit had been ignited by Ace!

Ace fled as if his life depended on it, running out of the cave and then immediately entering another one.

But as soon as he entered, Ace froze.

This last cave was completely empty, just a large, open space.

"What the heck? How am I supposed to find it here?"

Ace had already explored all three paths but hadn't found anything amiss.

This last space was even more visible, with nothing that could attract Mewtwo.

Ace glanced at the side quest. "Mewtwo's Bond" hadn't shown as completed, meaning Ace hadn't found the right direction at all.

"Ace, why are you running?!"

Cynthia chased after him. Seeing Ace standing in the cave, she immediately felt a surge of annoyance and walked towards him.

Thump.

"Ah, that hurts! Wait, my egg!"

Cynthia, walking towards Ace, tripped over something. She instantly fell face-first.

But it was precisely because of this fall that the zipper on Cynthia's small backpack was forced open by something. A round, dusty Pokémon egg rolled out, hitting the ground, and continued to roll until it stopped at Ace's feet.

"A Pokémon egg?"

Ace picked up the egg. Looking at its dusty exterior, Ace immediately thought of the two rampaging Rhyhorn.

He looked unpleasantly at the now-standing Cynthia and asked, "This Pokémon egg... it wouldn't happen to belong to those two Rhyhorn, would it?"

"I don't know."

Cynthia shook her head. "I just found this egg there, and then those two Rhyhorn rushed out."

Ace's mouth twitched. If this wasn't a Rhyhorn egg, he'd eat his hat!

No wonder the Rhyhorn rampaged; their child had been taken by Cynthia. How could they not rampage?

And even more tragically, just as they were about to catch up to Cynthia, they were brutalized by Ace and ultimately met their end there.

In terms of tragedy, no one could compare to them.