PARAGON
Origin Child Arc [8]
Chapter 8 : First Assignment
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Unova Region, one year ago
Pine needles and cragged ice crunched beneath Ash’s boot as he hiked through the forest atop the Twist Mountains. Here, there was nothing. Only a few pokémon made their home at such a high altitude, but none were strong enough to challenge Ash, and they knew it, so they stayed away. The sun cut through the hoarfrost-laden evergreens, moistening the ground throughout the day as the snow turned to slush.
Lucario padded beside him like a silent sentinel, shooting glares at the Beartic and Cryogonal who peeked out at them from afar, asserting his dominance. The aura rippling off of him warmed Ash as they walked, and he sweated beneath his many layers. As usual, Lucario refused to leave Ash’s side, even for the most menial of tasks.
But despite his protectiveness, Ash’s body ached from the rigorous combat training the jackal had been putting him through daily. He was making progress, but even after a year, they were still on the basics. A sturdy foundation is the basis for all martial arts, and indeed, all endeavors, he’d said, and Ash was certain he was just repeating something he’d heard back at Cameran Palace. Nevertheless, he could feel himself getting stronger, and as the weeks passed, his movements became faster and more polished.
Samurott and Gengar were exactly where he’d left them, guarding a simple blue tent and smoldering campfire. Gengar perked up at his arrival, but Samurott made no reaction, simply skulking back into the forest now that his protection was no longer needed.
Samurott had changed after evolving. His formerly cream-colored shells were now an unnatural bruised shade of purple, close to black, and his horn was jagged, and tinted red. And he held none of the mirth he did when he was an Oshawott. He tolerated none of Gengar’s pranks anymore, and the ghost seemed to be getting more and more stressed out the longer he went without new prey. Ash had spoken to a few of the professors he knew, but none of them could explain the cause, so as was his style anyway, he’d decided to figure it out himself
But that was an issue for another day.
“How is he, Gengar?” Ash said, kneeling down beside the campfire.
Gengar let out a series of gurgling murmurs, slumping in dismay as much as a levitating ghost could.
Upon a small blanket beside the embers of the campfire lay Pikachu. Twisted gashes crusted over with dark scabs covered his body, and he lay motionless, eyes closed, with naught but soft, barely audible breaths to indicate life.
Ash cringed. It had happened almost a week ago, but the sight of his partner in such a state never got easier to look at.
Gengar began babbling, his tongue flopping around his gigantic mouth, as he gesticulated. Noxious spittle flew from his mouth, but he made no attempt at stopping it from spraying his master. He was angry.
“I know, I know I’m being reckless,” Ash said, wiping his face with his sleeve. “But we said at the start, no pokémon centers. Pikachu would never forgive us if we broke our promise. And he knew something like this was inevitable before we set out. We all did. And we’re getting close. Here’re the oran berries from the bushes we saw the other day,” he said, emptying his palms onto the blanket beside Pikachu. “They’re frozen, but they should still hold some nutrients. While I mash them up, get the fire going again please, Gengar.”
They’d been trying to defeat the same pokemon for over a month: an Onix in the depths of the mountains who the miners of old dared not disturb. Of course, the accidentally-created entrance to its lair had long been sealed and restricted by the League, but it made the perfect training partner for Pikachu, so they’d found another way in. It was nearly triple the size and length of any other of its kind, and it was so old and powerful, its skin was dark like obsidian, and smooth from years of burrowing through the Twist Mountains’ hardened bedrock.
The idea had come to Ash a year ago after getting decimated by Cynthia. After witnessing what he may have at one point described as “unfathomable” levels of power coming from her Garchomp, he’d decided to tackle an unfathomable goal of his own to surprise her with when he returned.
Ash wanted to nullify type immunities.
Of course, his team had laughed after hearing him spit out the usual ‘We can do it if we put our minds to it together!’ but they quickly realized how serious he was, and it was perhaps at that moment that the true gravity of their new undertaking sunk in. More than ever before, Ash was aiming for Pokémon Master. And that meant they had to bring him there.
On top of all the other training Ash had to look after, he and Pikachu had rammed their heads together to crack open the intricacies of the electric/ground-type relationship.
After many months of trial and error, Pikachu himself had found the solution. They knew that making a ground-type wet could allow electric currents to bypass its immunity, but without any water-type moves or the capacity to learn any (and they had tried), Pikachu needed to master his manipulation of electricity instead. Specifically, his manipulation of electrons around the target’s body. By flooding the target with electrons, Pikachu could use them as a catalyst to discharge his electric attacks within the target’s body, past their insulating defenses.
That revelation had brought with it great excitement, and before they could consider how taxing it might be on Pikachu, or how long it’d take to gather enough electrons for the stratagem to work, they’d plunged into Twist Mountain with heads like balloons.
Each bout against the Onix lasted mere minutes, and Pikachu spent days recovering, but every time, he lasted a little longer and dealt a bit more damage. By now, they’d run out of medical supplies, but neither wanted to turn around and quit. Not this close to their goal.
The look on Cynthia’s face when they could use it against Garchomp would be worth all the blood, sweat, and tears.
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Sinnoh Region, present day
Finally, things were exactly where Ash wanted them. Though things had spiraled out of control a bit, finally, Garchomp stood alone.
“It’s over,” Ash said, barely able to contain himself. “Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on Garchomp!” He added that last part as a bit of psychological warfare. Pikachu’s target was a given; although this was an unregulated battle, obviously Ash would never order a lethal attack against Cynthia herself. That Heat Wave from Talonflame would’ve given her an instant sunburn, and maybe caused her to rock a bald look for awhile, at most.
While Pikachu charged his attack, Ash’s eyes were fixed on Cynthia, but now, he couldn’t stop his mouth from stretching into a smile. She was frozen, frowning like she’d misheard or something, and Garchomp wasn’t even trying to dodge or defend. Just before Pikachu ignited, he saw Cynthia turn toward him, and upon seeing his glee, her eyes widened.
Let’s see how much the legendary Garchomp can take! Ash thought, as the bolt crashed down on it. Although Ash was confident in Pikachu’s anti-ground technique, they’d only used it against wilds up until this point. The fully trained ace of a world-class Champion-level trainer was a whole different kettle of fish.
As the electricity continued to assault Garchomp, Ash grimaced ever so slightly. He’s keeping this up for far too long. I know he’s hurting himself to keep the attack going. He chuckled. What a glory hog.
Ten seconds later, Garchomp groaned and collapsed into the sand face first, a paralyzed pile of smoking skin and claw.
“We won,” Ash grinned.
Pikachu dropped to the ground with a grin, though not moments later, he also buckled under his own weight, falling onto his stomach while breathing heavily.
“Look at her,” Ash whispered, kneeling down beside his partner, and Pikachu craned his head up with a trying squeak.
Across the beach, Cynthia still hadn’t moved. Finally, she paced over to her Garchomp. After she gave it the once over, she recalled it and turned on Ash. Then she started walking over to him at a brisk pace. He was almost afraid she’d hit him, even though the battle was over.
“What the hell was that?” she demanded.
Ash smiled, glancing between her and Pikachu with thinly veiled superiority coloring his triumphant face. “Hang on a minute, I won, didn’t I? Now I’m an official member of Paragon, right?”
It was immature, Ash would never dispute that. But even if for only a few more minutes, he wanted to savor the sight of the unflappable Cynthia dancing in the palm of his hand. The same Cynthia that had destroyed him in a matter of minutes right after he became the World Champion.
“Fine, fine, yes, congratulations and welcome aboard, I guess,” she said dismissively. “Now, explain. That’s an order.”
Clearly she wasn’t used to losing battles she didn’t nerf herself in.
“It’s just a little something Pikachu and I worked on. I took to heart what you said about forgetting everything I thought I knew about pokémon. Damaging ground-types with electric moves was the first on our list of impossible tasks to accomplish.”
Despite her defeat, Cynthia smiled. I knew he’d understand.
“I can go over it in more detail later, if you want. It’s kind of technical, but—”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Cynthia put her hand up. “No. I still have my pride as a trainer. It’s been awhile since anything, or anyone, has truly challenged us, much less beaten us. Let’s have another rematch some time. I’ll uncover your secrets for myself.”
Ash smiled and held out a hand. “Sounds good.”
Cynthia took it and shook it. After Ash scooped up Pikachu, and the remaining pokémon were recalled, they started back to base. But, something stood in their path.
Cresselia chittered in dismay, flying between them and pushing them aside. After getting to the beach, she squawked and flitted about, inspecting the decimated beach. The damage was even worse than their brief battle from two years ago. The entire beach was lumpy and black, and the trees at the edge of the forest had all burned or broken down. She turned back and glared at both of them.
Her midnight eyes bore into Ash, and he started to feel light-headed, like his stomach was suddenly unaffected by gravity. Black spots danced in his vision.
Pikachu growled on his shoulder, electricity crackling on his cheeks, and Ash felt the feeling subside. Cresselia averted her gaze, turning back to Cynthia.
“Sorry, Cresselia, this one was my fault again,” Cynthia called nonchalantly. “Garchomp, Roserade, and I will patch things up as usual, no need to worry.”
That seemed to be enough for Cresselia and she beamed, gliding over to nuzzle Cynthia’s face. Then she turned to Ash and bowed her head several times, seemingly in apology.
“I’m sorry too, Cresselia. I think we both got a little too excited back there.
Cresselia joined them on their trek back, and as they walked, Ash stroked Pikachu’s fur. He may have threatened Cresselia, but that attack against Garchomp had been crippling. There was no way he’d be able to produce enough electricity for anything beyond a bluff for at least the rest of the day.
As expected Sylvester was waiting for them, though this time, he was just climbing off his gigantic Togekiss when they arrived.
“A stellar battle, Ash, I watched the whole thing from above,” he congratulated.
“Don’t listen to him, he wouldn’t know a ‘stellar battle’ if it slapped him in the face,” Cynthia scoffed.
Sylvester slipped his hand by his mouth and fell into step beside him. “I do hope you’ll forgive her, Ash. As you can see, she’s a bit of a sore loser.”
“Well, I did have way more pokémon than her,” Ash said, trying to diffuse the situation. “If I‘d only brought six like she did, maybe—”
“That’s enough, Ash,” Cynthia said. “The battle is over, and you won. I knew full well it was likely you’d bring more than six pokémon to the battle, but I always only carry around six. It’s what I’m most comfortable with.”
“Where are the others, just out of curiosity?” Ash asked. Her Spiritomb was noticeably absent, and he was pretty sure she had at least a Lucario and a Glaceon, just based on videos of her past conference battles he’d seen. And then there was her Lapras.
“Here and there. Some are here on the island, others I keep back home, and others I hold at Lily of the Valley. What about you? Where are the rest of your pokémon?”
“Oh, they’re still out training,” Ash replied. “No need to bring every single one of them back to the island if there’s no need.” He frowned. “ I hope that’s okay.”
“Absolutely,” Cynthia said. “I was going to get into it a bit later, but I guess I can say a bit about it now. Now that you’re a full-fledged member of Paragon, you will be expected to respond immediately to any missions that are assigned to you, but when you’re unassigned, you're free to do as you please and pursue your own goals. All I ask is that you’re ready to go at any time.”
Ash nodded. Yes, this was perfect. Even while learning more about the world and contending with its most dangerous elements, his pokémon could continue training, always inching closer to the true pinnacle of Pokémon Master. The plan was to continually switch out his roster, as he’d done during the past two years, so he’d have a chance to work one-on-one with all of his pokémon.
Sylvester took their injured pokémon, and several hours later, when they were all healed up, Ash took them back out to the forest to find a quiet place to debrief. Eventually, he found the small grove he’d planted two years ago. The twenty saplings had grown, and they were now around Ash’s height. He wondered briefly how they could have grown so much in so little time, but the culprit lay before them. Literally.
Cresselia napped on the grass in the middle of the grove, a small smile on her face. Silver moonlight drifted off her wings with every soft breath, and spiraled onto the young trees. Ash was about to turn around and find somewhere else since he didn’t want to disturb her, but her eyes opened, and without a word, she flew away.
Pikachu cooed as she melted into the clouds above, and Ash shrugged. “Guess she likes it here.”
After meandering over to the empty spot in the clearing that she’d left behind, Ash released his partners that had participated in the battle. Leavanny, Goodra, Sceptile, Gigalith, Lucario, Talonflame, Swellow, Infernape, and Butterfree, all appeared with a flash of light.
“Hey guys! Good news, we won!”
Cheers broke out across the gathered party, but Sceptile stayed quiet, which didn’t escape Ash’s notice. He snorted, and turned away, clearly disappointed at his performance.
“We won,” he repeated, “but there was a lot that could’ve gone better. First, I’ll talk about the things we did well.”
He turned to Infernape. “Great job, Infernape. That ambush on Roserade was perfect, and you went above and beyond taking out Milotic.”
The monkey clapped his hands together and bounced from one foot to the other in delight.
“Next, Leavanny. Great job stalling Garchomp at the beginning. Garchomp was Cynthia’s strongest pokémon by far, and you kept her attention on you long enough for us to take down Gastrodon easily.”
Leavanny smiled and bowed.
“Finally, Gigalith. You did an amazing job, buddy. You kept Milotic and Roserade tied down for far longer than I’m sure Cynthia expected, and that let us start edging the battle in our favor.”
Gigalith stomped his feet gently, but the ground still shook at his bulk.
“Next, we’ll talk about what went wrong. Most of it was my fault. To begin with, it wasn’t smart to have so many pokémon out at once. I know that’s what we’d gotten used to while fighting against feral wilds in training, but against a seasoned trainer, it was more of a liability than an asset. In the future, we’ll trim the number down, but eventually, I do want to reach a point where I can command many of you at once, should the need ever arise.”
His pokémon nodded in agreement. Lucario in particular looked pleased with the decision. He must have been a bit overwhelmed with all the frantic commands he had to relay to the others, especially while in the middle of combat himself.
“Next was our strategy. This is sort of related to the first point. We’d planned on overwhelming her with numbers, and though I adapted later into the battle, I hadn’t even considered that she would lead with Garchomp. That miscalculation let her pick us off far faster than we expected. And that assumption was a byproduct of all my experience with formal battles, so I still have more to work on as far as ‘deprogramming’ from the League, so to speak.”
He turned to Sceptile. “Sorry, buddy. I know you wanted to get revenge against her Garchomp, but you did a great job defending against that sand attack. I’m so proud of how far you’ve come in two years, all of you.” He eyed each and every one of them.
Pikachu chirped upon his shoulder, and Sceptile smirked in response. Ash grinned. “Yeah, Pikachu handled it for you. You should’ve seen her face after her ace got one-shot by an electric-type move!”
His pokémon laughed, and he released the rest of his team to join the others, and they trained for several more hours against one another throughout the forest. Eventually, when they returned to base, Cynthia pulled him into her office to officially induct him into Paragon
“Ash Ketchum,” she began. “I’d like to formally welcome you to the Paragon Organization.”
Ash smiled and nodded. Pikachu put up his hand in acknowledgement as if he was the one being addressed.
“As you already know, the Paragon Organization is dedicated to combating any threat that endangers the lives of people or pokémon, especially on a massive scale. We work with the International Police and the World Pokémon League at our own discretion, but our activities are generally known only to us. The goal is to keep the peace and prevent a panic. Additionally, our work covers criminal syndicates and terrorist groups, which means a prominent presence on the world stage could invite retaliation.”
“It will be up to you how you complete each mission. After all, you know what works best for you and your team. Our battle earlier and your victory in it proves you have the necessary strength to fell any enemy that crosses your path. Of course, you must remain vigilant at all times. I will remind you again for the umpteenth time that these battles are no longer regulated, and there is no such thing as an unfair advantage. Your person will be in danger at all times out in the field. Know when to advance and know when to retreat.”
“Missions are typically assigned to pairs, depending on who we have available, though you may be sent on a mission by yourself if we’re stretched thin. Remember that we’re all in this together. Use the other members of Paragon as resources, and be ready to provide the same. As always, Paragon Island is open for you to stay at, but as I said earlier, there is nothing binding you here. This is a private organization at the end of the day, and the way I see it, we’re all using each other to further our own ends.”
She crossed her arms. “Any questions?”
Ash mulled everything she’d just said over as. Then, he grinned. “When do I start?”
Cynthia smiled coyly. “Not today… sorry. I don’t have anything for you just yet. Continue working with your pokémon, and I’ll notify you immediately when I have something.”
Ash nodded. “So that’s it then? Now I’m in Paragon?”
“Now you’re in Paragon,” she confirmed.
Nothing had changed since the beginning or end of this conversation. He hadn’t signed anything. He received no badge of any sort. He wasn’t even being paid. Yet the journey had begun nonetheless. What had started as his ascendance to the highest throne in the world now culminated here and now on an innocuous Tuesday, on a hidden island in the middle of the ocean, with absolutely no pomp or circumstance.
Yet his dream felt closer than ever. It was like he’d just taken the final step on a gigantic staircase, and now, a great abyss yawned before him, a dark fog of uncharted waters. From here, he’d pave his own path to the top.
For nineteen years, he’d walked. Now, he needed to fly.
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Alola Region, one month later
As dusk settled over the Vast Poni Canyon, Ash and his pokémon sat around a meager campfire as they finished their respective dinners. He was just spooning the last bite out of his tin when his phone rang. It hadn’t even finished ringing once when Ash snatched it up and thumbed the ‘receive call’ button.
“Hello?” he breathed. Around him, Dragonite, Kingler, and Scrafty huddled closer to listen in.
“I have something for you. Get back to the island now.”
They’d been training all day, since daybreak, and night flights weren’t exactly advisable, but Ash shot up immediately.
“Dragonite, it’s time.” He turned to Scrafty. “Update the others when they return. And keep up the circuit. You guys should be in Hoenn next month, Meteor Falls. Watch over Meganium. Make sure Floatzel keeps practicing his inflations. And I want to see a Draco Meteor that puts any dragon’s to shame the next time we meet. You know Garchomp’ll be on your case about it.”
Scrafty nodded at every order, though he blushed at the mention of Meganium.
Ash thought for a moment, before adding one more thing. “And, sorry, please clean all this up. I would but we gotta go! Donate it to a pokémon center if you don’t wanna carry it around! I promise— hey!” Ash dodged Scrafty’s headbutt and caught his punch. “Dragonite!”
Dragonite scooped Ash off his feet bridal style and leapt into the air, wings flapping. Ash waved down from above. “See ya later guys! Thanks Scrafty, love you!! Whoa!” He rolled in Dragonite’s clutches as a Focus Blast whizzed past his head. Scrafty glared at him from below, but after they were high enough, he saw Scrafty’s head roll back in exasperation, and smiled.
The flight to Sinnoh was long, but Dragonite’s top speed was faster than an airplane, and almost as smooth. Periodic bursts of fire from his mouth kept Ash warm all night, and he easily drifted off, arriving at Paragon Island early the next morning well rested and ready to tackle his first assignment. He let Dragonite go off to rest after thanking him for his effort, and switched him out with Greninja, who’d remained on the island.
Cynthia met them outside. “Morning, Ash,” she said. “Thank you for getting here quickly.” She handed him a dossier. “Everything you need to know is in here. This should be a simple retrieval mission. One of the Plates of Arceus has surfaced within Mount Coronet. Recover it, and bring it back here.”
Ash flicked through the pages of the dossier, though there weren’t many.
“I’m sure you could handle this on your own, but he’s free so you’ll have a partner for your first mission.” Cynthia nodded in the direction of the path leading to the airstrip.
Coming down the path was a familiar man dressed in a blazer and slacks, his pale green hair tied into a ponytail.
“Yo, Ash,” N smiled.
Next — Chapter 9 : Encounter
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