INTERLUDE - Cynthia’s Burden (Part 1)

Earlier

League trainers swarmed around Cynthia, telling her about the state of the plant, the wounded, the amount of team Galactic grunts they had captured, and more. Hostages were being carried outside, and the galactic members were being arrested all around her. She answered mechanically, having already gone through the motions thousands of times throughout her career as Sinnoh’s Champion. Right now, she was deep in thought.

A Dusknoir— the first Cynthia had ever seen. She lamented not having been able to kill it. Ghost types never stayed dead for long, but it would have taken weeks for it to rematerialize into the world. She would have much to talk about with Fantina. The Champion recalled all of her Pokemon except Garchomp and returned her attention to the situation at hand.

“Champion Cynthia, we have the plant’s supervisor ready for you,” One of the League trainers told her. It took a split second before Cynthia placed a name on her face.

“Excellent, Sonya. take me to him,” She replied.

The League trainer blushed, seemingly surprised that the Champion had addressed her by name, but she led Cynthia to a conference room of some sort, with Garchomp following closely behind. Cynthia knew the plant supervisor, and they had spoken on numerous occasions whenever a problem about energy generation came up. He was a man in his late fifties on the heavier side, but he usually did good work. The League trainer bowed before quickly leaving the room.

“Karmine,” She said, sitting down on one of the chairs. There was a little bit of blood on the floor. “It is unfortunate to meet under these circumstances, but I have a few questions for you.”

Karmine looked like he had gone through hell. He was pale, his hands were visibly shaking, and he had clearly been crying.

“Cynthia,” He looked at her. “Can’t this wait? It hasn’t even been twenty minutes.”

“No.”

The man was taken aback by her quick rebuttal, but he sighed and nodded. “Ask away.”

“Thank you for understanding. First, when did team Galactic first get here?” She asked.

“It was this morning. That… that ghost suddenly appeared inside of the plant at around 9:00 am, and when we tried to run, they were already breaking in. They took us hostage, but throughout the day, they kept teleporting more and more trainers into the plant.”

Cynthia nodded. That meant that Dusknoir had possibly been hiding inside of the plant for hours, or days before the attack. Had it been gathering information for its trainer? Learning the layout of the power plant, perhaps?

“Great,” Cynthia smiled. “Now, originally, I believed this to be a terrorist attack to strike at Sinnoh’s energy infrastructure. They could have plunged half the region into darkness. I heard something interesting, however. Something about some data they were stealing?”

Karmine swallowed and began to sweat. “I have no idea what they were talking about. Maybe data about our future plan for expanding the plant? Or maybe the amount of energy we produce and send to every city— it could mean anything, we have a lot of data.”

Cynthia crossed her legs, and Garchomp began to loom over the sweating supervisor. “Come on, Karmine. We’ve known each other for what? Twenty years, now. I know you, and I know you’re lying. Don’t treat me like a fool. What is it?”

“Cynthia, I— I—”

“How’s your family doing, Karmine? I hear Emily’s doing very well at the University of Sunnyshore. She’s trying to become a Pokeball engineer, correct?” Karmine nodded as sweat dripped down to his chin. “That’s admirable. That’s what I like about your family, Karmine. You always strive to improve Sinnoh through engineering. Now, since you aren’t willing to tell me what happened, I might have to call for Lucian’s personal Alakazam.”

“Memory extraction is illegal,” Karmine shuddered.

“Well, right now, you would be correct. I could make it legal by the end of the afternoon. I will have to anyway, because of all the criminals we just captured. Vernon is just a single call away, and the Directorate is furious, Karmine. This is the first criminal organization since the fall of team Rocket. People will die, and investors are going to be reconsidering where they spend their money until the region feels safe again. That’s a loss for all of Sinnoh, isn’t it?”

“I still don’t understand what that has to do with me,” Karmine said, adjusting his collar around his neck. Garchomp growled at him, causing him to squeal.

“Well, you could keep playing hardball, Karmine,” Cynthia shrugged. “But come tonight, I’ll have an Alakazam ready to extract everything you know. And trust me, it isn’t pretty. The human brain is a fickle thing, Karmine. I wouldn’t want you to forget about your family. Memories are quickly lost, and damage to the brain might be irreversible. A shame, really.”

“Fine! Fine, I’ll tell you. The power plant… we used to have a facility deep underground where we researched things…”

“Things, such as?” She pressed, still smiling.

“We were trying to find a way to bring teleportation to the mainstream. As it stands, only the best psychic types can use the move with people, and trying to teach them to use it almost always results in death or injury. Teleporting in the sky, or inside of a wall by accident—”

“I’m the Champion, Karmine. I don’t need a lecture on Pokemon moves.”

“Sorry,” He sniffed. “We generate so much extra energy each year at the plant… we thought that we could use that energy to create and power a device for humans to teleport between locations. But a year ago, something went horribly, horribly wrong…” The supervisor trailed off.

“Keep going.”

“We activated the teleportation machine, but it… it just went wrong, okay?! It was unexplainable! Our calculations were correct—”

“I don’t care. What happened?”

“It tore a hole… a hole through reality. Six people were sucked inside of it, and they were never recovered— I just assume they died.”

“How did no one hear about this?”

“We paid off their families. A million pokedollars for each death, and we also said they died due to an accident at the plant, but we didn’t specify what it was. We destroyed everything afterward and sealed the room with cement.”

Cynthia uncrossed and crossed her legs again. “But you kept the data. Interesting. I recall your job being generating electricity for the region, not messing with forces beyond your control.”

“I’m an engineer, Cynthia, but I’m also a scientist. You knew this when you selected me. I wanted to use science for the good of Sinnoh.”

“Perhaps, but you messed up. You and your colleagues are going to prison,” Cynthia said before getting up and leaving.

She was still smiling.

Cynthia told her League trainers to take him and his colleagues to the police before she leaned against the wall and gathered her thoughts. Garchomp stood by her side, waiting, always vigilant. Team Galactic had stolen that data, so they probably wanted to master human teleportation—

Wait. What benefits would that bring? They already had a powerful Hypno that had mastered the technique, and teaching it to another psychic got exponentially easier if you already had a Pokemon that knew the move. That was why Lucian was able to churn out so many Kadabra that could teleport every year for the League to use. Then what was it that they wanted? Cynthia paused and tapped her chin.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Team Galactic wanted to trifle with reality itself.

This was going to be a long day.

Cynthia walked out of the power plant surrounded by her League trainers, and reporters immediately swarmed her to ask questions.

“Champion Cynthia, what can you tell us about team Galactic?! What do you know so far?”

“What measures will the League and the Directorate employ to make the region safe again?”

“Did you know about this organization before today? Do you know what they’re after?”

“I have no comments to make at this time,” She simply answered.

Garchomp roared, and they backed off immediately. Cynthia discreetly nodded to thank her friend. People often forgot that even though she was very well-trained, she was still a dragon. Frustrate her enough, and there was no telling what she would do.

Or at least that was what Cynthia wanted them to think. The honest truth was that Garchomp would never hurt anyone. She had had her since she was six, and she already knew she would only attack people if she commanded it. But it was nice to keep reporters off of her. A League trainer drove her back to her hotel, where she secluded herself in her room after recalling Garchomp and called Lucian. Fantina would have to wait.

And finally, she could lose the Arceus damned smile.

She sighed and sat on her bed before dialing Lucian’s number.

“Cynthia, how did your little expedition go?” Lucian immediately asked.

That was Lucian. Always straight to business, something the Champion loved about him.

“It went better than I expected. I’m sure you’ve heard already, but there were no casualties, and we captured a decent amount of them. Unfortunately, I couldn’t nab their leaders though. They had a Hypno that could teleport. One of them also had a Dusknoir.”

“A Dusknoir, you say?!” Lucian asked in surprise. “And a teleporting Hypno, too. These are some awfully powerful trainers, then. I assume you need Alakazam from me?”

“Correct. Send him my way, then I’ll call Vernon,” Cynthia said. “I’m afraid this is bigger than we thought it would ever get. These aren’t just people looking to make money.”

“Very well. Call me again if anything comes up.”

“Thank you, Lucian.”

Cynthia hung up, and when she turned around, an Alakazam was standing in the corner of her room. The psychic type carried two metallic spoons and a giant scar across his gaping eye socket.

“Always quick on the uptake, aren’t you?” Cynthia said.

You called for me, so I came. Where are the people I need to work on?

Alakazam were one of the few advanced Psychic types that could talk via telepathy. It had taken a long time and a lot of headaches to get used to, but after decades of working together, the communication was seamless.

“Hold on, I need to call Vernon. Need to change the rules first.”

Humans and their childish rules, Alakazam said with a scoff. What a waste of my time.

Cynthia called Vernon, who had already called her around ten times. As soon as he picked up the phone, he was yelling.

“Cynthia, fucking finally! Arceus, can you tell me what the hell is going on? You’re supposed to communicate with me about these things!” Vernon said. He was furious, as he often was.

Vernon was the current Prime Minister, and he had been since Cynthia had created his position. He had been an old trainer who attempted the Circuit a few times before retiring and getting into politics, and Cynthia had practically pushed him into the role because of the potential she saw in him. With her endorsement, he was elected by the Directorate by a wide margin.

“I was busy, Vernon. I will be for the next few days. I’ll tell one of my trainers to catch you up to speed, but right now, I need you to call the Directorate into session.”

“Why?”

“Because I need you to make memory extraction legal again— only for gym leaders, the elite four, and me of course.”

“Excuse me?! We agreed a decade ago that forcefully extracting memories was a barbaric practice—”

“And it still is, but this is a matter of national security. There are forces at play here that you couldn’t even begin to understand.”

“So help me understand! The last I knew, this team Galactic wasn’t a threat whatsoever, and now they’re attacking our energy infrastructure and taking hostages! The media is going to be on our asses for this! I already have Harvey Bianchi calling, complaining that I even let his son be in the same city as these galactic crooks, and the Obels are threatening to pull their new investments!” Vernon yelled.

Cynthia pinched the bridge of her nose and watched as Alakazam rolled his eye.

“Vernon,” She started. “We’ve worked together for over twenty years, have we not?” The man grunted. “Then it is simply a matter of trust. Get the Directorate together, tell them to vote on the law, and pass it.”

“I’m going to have to negotiate with a lot of people…” He sighed.

“But you’re good at your job. I trust that you will manage.”

“Ok. Ok, fine. Just call me when you can. I don’t want to hear it from some underpaid League trainer, I want to hear it from you.”

“Sounds good. Thank you, Vernon,” She said.

Pathetic. You are the strongest human on this Earth, why do you not take what is yours? The psychic type complained.

“I don’t know about the strongest. There are other Champions,” Cynthia playfully told Alakazam.

I am in no mood for jokes. Call Fantina with that primitive electric device humans are so fond of. I am curious to hear about this Dusknoir.

Cynthia was as well. She called Fantina, and the gym leader answered after three calls. No one in Sinnoh knew more about ghost types than Fantina, and few knew that she was the strongest gym leader whenever she decided to go all out. Hell, she most likely could have become a member of the elite four if she wanted— there was no doubt in Cynthia’s mind that Fantina was more powerful than Aaron and Flint. Unfortunately, her passion lay in Pokemon contests, and battling was more of a side hustle for the old Kalosian woman. She was already trying to groom a replacement for her gym.

“Fantina, please answer the phone when I call,” Cynthia sighed.

“Cynthia, my darling! I heard that you took down dozens of criminals by yourself! How grand! How magnificent!” Fantina said in a thick Kalosian accent. Even though she had lived in Sinnoh for decades, she still had never lost it.

“Correct. There’s a lot of information going around, but right now, I called you because one of the team Galactic leaders has a Dusknoir.”

“Are you certain?” Fantina said after a pause, immediately becoming more serious.

“Yes. I believed the knowledge to be lost to time, but someone actually found a way to evolve Dusclops. I was wondering if you had any information to give me?”

“Well, even I do not know much about Dusknoir— although I wish I did. From the stories of old I read, they are among the most powerful Pokemon to ever exist. Whenever they come out into the world, they affect reality itself, and they sustain themselves by eating human souls.”

“Souls?”

“They have a mouth on their abdomen. When a human passes through it, their body is fine, but they become a shell. Their soul is trapped inside, to be forever tormented by the Dusknoir. If hell had a definition, I believe that fate to be it.”

Cynthia recalled the screams when Dusknoir opened its mouth. Thousands upon thousands of souls yelled, begging to be killed so their suffering could end. It was chilling to think about.

“So there is no information on the evolution?”

“I’m afraid not. But the girl could also have befriended the Dusknoir itself after it evolved.”

“I doubt that.”

“Why, pray tell?”

“My gut.”

Fantina paused before chuckling. “Your gut, as you call it, is not often wrong, so I’m inclined to believe you.”

“Could the evolution maybe be like other rare ghost types?” Cynthia asked. “Tormenting someone for a certain amount of time, or taking a life in a certain way?”

“Well, that often is the case with ghosts. They are so beautiful, and yet so deadly.”

The Champion nodded. “Well, thank you anyway. Let me know if you find out anything.”

“Of course. I could try to contact Morty from Johto to see if he has any more information.”

“You do that,” Cynthia agreed. “Goodbye.” The Champion hung up and stretched. “So?” She asked Alakazam. “Interested in this Dusknoir, still?”

I thirst for knowledge. I know more than your little human brain could ever imagine, and yet this still eludes me. I am frustrated.

“Well, let’s have you take out your frustration on someone, shall we? Meet me at the police station.”

Alakazam nodded and disappeared, and Cynthia exited her hotel. It took an hour and a half for Vernon to gather a simple majority to pass this new law. He called it the ‘National Security Emergency Act’. She couldn’t help but smile at Vernon’s ruthlessness in the art of negotiations. An hour and a half to pass a once-in-a-generation law. Unfortunately, it seemed like he had used all of his political capital to ram the bill through. The other half of the Directorate was enraged at her and threatening to start a vote of no confidence to force Vernon to step down. The media and the public were even more so. They were calling it an encroachment on their liberty and freedom, and to be honest, they were right. Cynthia just couldn’t be bothered to give a damn, she had a region to save.