PARAGON
Remnants of the Great War Arc [18]
Chapter 27 : Calm Before The Storm
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“I see,” Cynthia said coolly. “So the Electric Plate has been within you this whole time.”
“I’m sorry for keeping it from you,” Ash said, clapping his hands together. “And for disobeying orders.”
Over the past hour, Ash had explained everything about the Plates and Platebearers he’d learned from Albrecht. The World Champion himself had left to give them some privacy, though Cynthia wished he would’ve stuck around so she could ask him follow up questions. Nevertheless, this conversation had been most illuminating. She wasn’t particularly upset that Ash had hidden this from her, despite the fact that this was essentially the missing link between all the conflicts at the top of the world that she’d witnessed ever since becoming Sinnoh’s Champion. After all, she still had her own secret too.
Though it would have to come out sooner or later.
“Well, even if you’d told me a few days ago, there isn’t much I would’ve done differently. But since things did turn out this way, I will chastise you a little. I know I said you’d be in danger if you joined Paragon, but I didn’t expect you to throw yourself headfirst into it.”
Ash looked down in his chair. “I’m sorry,” he repeated quietly.
“It’s a delicate balance,” Cynthia said, tapping her teacup. “Believe me when I say I understand the draw toward the unknown. At the level we’re at, there are things only we can see, and we are inexorably drawn to them. As a trainer myself, I understand why you’d chase down AZ so fervently. But our strength also comes with a responsibility. Not only to others, but to ourselves. We possess a great gift, and we should feel compelled to protect that gift. If you had died, Ash, then all the good you may have done in the future would’ve been snuffed out before it could happen. Not to mention, the suffering that would befall your friends and family if you were to die. Your pokémon, too.”
Pikachu was elsewhere right now, but Ash instinctively reached at his shoulder. “I understand.”
Cynthia sighed and wiped her fingers on her napkin. “Now, that’s enough of that. I sound like my grandmother.” She shuddered, and Ash smiled slightly. “So, after encountering AZ and now Albrecht, and experiencing the power of the Plates firsthand, do you think you’re beginning to figure out how to use it?”
“Oh, yeah!” Ash exclaimed, grinning. He clenched his fist. “I had it all wrong when I first went up against AZ. I mean, I figured out how to create electricity and stuff, but that’s like the bare minimum for the bearer of the Electric Plate, right?”
“I suppose I would expect more than just you turning yourself into Pikachu 2.0.”
“Not even that, but a worse one! Pikachu can do way more damage than I can manage now when he gets serious! I don’t know if I’d ever be able to use a Thunderbolt or Volt Tackle as well as him no matter how much I train. But that’s just it.” He turned over his palm and conjured several strands of electricity that snapped between his fingers. “I need to use this power as a human, not as a pokémon.”
Cynthia frowned. “You mean like the Guardians?”
“Sort of. Albrecht said he’d be training me similar to how a Guardian would. But the analogy he used was that the power of the Plates is like a broadsword, but the power of the Guardians is like a kitchen knife. Basically, the Guardians can manipulate Aura, but only in basic ways. The Guardians can’t mold Aura into elemental attacks, which is something even the weakest pokémon can do effortlessly. That’s why we usually just see them using Aura Spheres or conjuring shields.”
“So you’re saying the Plate allows you to mold Aura into electric-type attacks?”
“For starters. But right now, I’m focusing on just building the energy from the Plate and containing it within my body. That’s how AZ has kept himself from getting killed all this time. Once I’m able to build and maintain power without it weakening me too much, then I’ll move on to applying it.” Ash tapped his head. “The important thing, though, is still using my head. I am still a human after all, a trainer.”
“What has our blessed World Champion unleashed upon the world?” Cynthia smirked. “An Ash that uses his head?”
Ash grinned. “Very funny. Once I’m controlling entire storms and changing the weather with my mind, I bet I won’t see you laughing then!”
“Lofty ambitions, as always,” Cynthia said, standing. “I’ll leave you to it, then. I should really go see Anabel now.”
“Oh, yeah, right,” Ash said, his mood dampened. Just one look at his face and it was clear he bore guilt for what had happened.
Remember this feeling, Ash. That acid in your stomach that makes you forget why you ever decided to walk this path in the first place. That makes you want to leave everything behind. Remember it. If you stay this course, it won’t be the last time you see a loved one get hurt.
Before he could apologize again, Cynthia got up and strode back inside, and pulled a maid aside to ask about Anabel’s whereabouts. She figured he’d be back in the spirit of things soon, but to have something so bloody happen right in front of him…it was jarring to say the least. Even Cynthia felt a twinge of nervousness as she ascended the stairs toward the medical room. Sabrina hadn’t sent any pictures, so she had no idea what to expect. She could only expect the worst.
After counting the doors down the hall and finding the right one, she took a deep breath and knocked. Several seconds passed by before the door cracked open, and Sabrina’s face popped through.
“Sabrina,” Cynthia greeted. “May I see her?”
The psychic pulled the door open some more and let her in. Inside, it looked like a typical, if not slightly old-fashioned, hospital room. Between the medieval aesthetic and the fact that they were in Rota, Cynthia had honestly expected something a little more fantastical. But the women hunched over Anabel were in stark white nurse’s uniforms, and they were checking on various monitors surrounding Anabel, without a dash of Aura in sight.
I guess even in Rota, you stop bleeding with bandages.
True to what she’d been told, Anabel’s right arm was gone. Her shoulder was wrapped in bandages and she was asleep, breathing softly as her nurses worked around her.
Cynthia almost shuddered, but walked across the room to her side confidently. Right now, she was in public, in front of one of her subordinates, no less. She had an image to maintain.
Sabrina took her seat again beside Anabel, and grabbed the prone girl's hand. The skin was red, and Cynthia figured she must have been holding it all morning.
“The painkillers put her to sleep… She’s barely eaten anything…,” Sabrina murmured.
“As I’ve said before, she’s getting all the nutrients she needs and then some via intravenous,” one of the nurses said softly. “Don’t worry, Lady Sabrina. On my loyalty to Master Albrecht, your friend will be just fine.”
The nurse met Cynthia’s gaze and nodded, and Cynthia gave her a reassuring smile. She nodded down at the young psychic, and the nurse seemed to understand. She whispered to her peer and they both left quietly, leaving Sabrina and Cynthia alone.
“When did you last sleep, Sabrina?” Cynthia asked once they were gone.
“I don’t know.” Her response was immediate and dismissive.
Cynthia pursed her lips. Normally, Sabrina did whatever was asked of her without argument. To be honest, Cynthia had never seen, much less had to deal with this side of her. “Why don’t you get some rest? I’ll watch over her for you.”
“It’s fine, I’ll stay.”
She was being unexpectedly obstinate. But her disheveled hair and dark circles around her eyes were clear physical indicators that she was anything but fine. And her gauntlets betrayed her mental state as well. Initially, Cynthia had tried to ignore Sabrina’s gauntlets, knowing how insecure they made her feel since they reacted to every slight change in her emotions. But after spending so much time around her, she’d begun to pick up on what their movements meant involuntarily. Right now, they were spinning slowly, but trembling frenetically. She was almost at her breaking point.
Cynthia paced around Sabrina’s chair and knelt down beside her. Sabrina glanced her way, but didn’t let go of Anabel’s hand.
Surprisingly, Sabrina spoke up on her own. “I could’ve stopped it, you know?”
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“And how do you figure that?” Cynthia said, cutting in before she could continue. She didn’t want to grant the girl even a moment to wallow in regret. Nothing good would come of it. “I heard you were knocked unconscious before it even happened.”
“I could’ve…I could’ve…” Sabrina’s breaths came quick and short, and her gauntlets began to whir and they spun. “I saw the attack coming…I felt his intentions. But to stop it, I knew…” She trailed off, clutching Anabel’s hand even tighter.
I need to end this line of thinking now. “Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask you something for a little while now, Sabrina,” Cynthia said.
She stood and walked behind Sabrina’s chair, forcing the girl to turn her attention away from Anabel. But she still didn’t let go.
“My Spiritomb brought something to my attention a couple months ago. It noticed a small needle embedded in my mind, made of psychic energy. Nearly imperceptible, but completely benign. Would you happen to know anything about that?”
Almost immediately, the color drained from Sabrina’s face, and her gauntlets jerked suddenly, spinning much faster. “Oh no…,” she breathed. Her eyes slowly traveled up Cynthia’s body until she met her gaze.
Cynthia put up a hand. “Please don’t try anything. I’m not angry. I just want the truth.”
To prove her point, a murky haze of ghostly energy outlined her body for just a moment, but Cynthia knew Sabrina would catch it and understand. Spiritomb was protecting her now.
“I…I…” Sabrina stuttered.
Cynthia reached out and rested her hand on Sabrina’s shoulder. “Please…you don’t need to be afraid of me. I’m not your mother.”
The moment those words left her lips, Sabrina’s gauntlets froze, then calmed, noticeably. She took several deep breaths and closed her eyes. After a minute, she opened them again. “It’s nothing, really. It just tells me where you are,” she whispered. “I’m sorry.”
Cynthia rubbed the back of her head. “How long has it been there?”
“Since we met.”
Cynthia counted down the years mentally, and all the places she’d been since.
“I’m really sorry. I’ll remove it right now.”
“No,” Cynthia said, putting up her hand. “You don’t need to do that. I trust you have your reasons for doing it.” She dropped her hand and turned away. “But, if the others have something similar, you might consider removing theirs. They may not be okay with it like I am.”
“Ah—ah! Okay!” she said, a little louder than she probably wanted to.
Cynthia began walking away. “I’ll leave Anabel to you. But please get some rest. If not for your sake, then for hers. I’m sure she’d be very angry with you if she found out you’d hurt yourself looking over her.”
She opened the door and shut it quietly behind her, then exhaled. Well, that was that figured out at least. In truth, she'd basically deduced what the needle’s purpose was two months ago.
Sabrina Natsume was a girl starved for something she’d been deprived of nearly her entire childhood. She was broken, and it was obvious. And that disrepair manifested in twisted ways like this. With Paragon, Cynthia had hoped to help her, and offer a new sense of normalcy for her, separate from the pain of her past. But it seemed she still had a ways to go. Paragon did provide a new normal for her, but she seemed to want to bury her blemishes and hide them from her new friends, rather than confront them directly.
But Cynthia couldn’t blame her. It was a terrible existence she’d been living when Cynthia first met her. And she could guess what the young psychic was going to say before she cut her off.
To stop AZ, she would’ve had to become what her mother accused her of.
A monster.
Now that she’d checked up on Anabel, Cynthia was content, for the time being. Of course, having Anabel down an arm and bedridden was an awful situation, especially with AZ on the move, but at least it felt like they were making progress. As she’d suspected, Albrecht did have a lot to hide, and she was glad she’d invested the time in him. Her and Ash seemed to be back on the same page as well, and she’d just gotten word from N earlier this morning that he and Zinnia had narrowed down their search for the secret entrances to AZ’s hideout to two main locations: Shalour City to the north and Cyllage City to the south.
For the time being, she decided she’d remain here. He clearly knew she had alternative motives, but seemed willing to accommodate them, as long as they didn’t jeopardize Rota in any way. And in that sense, he actually seemed grateful that Paragon would be sticking around. Obviously, he was invested in Ash, and according to Ash, he’d become the World Champion solely to get him here and set him on the path of a Platebearer. Cynthia had noticed his interest in Ash two years ago, and made it clear to him that he was hers, but frankly, the lengths he was willing to go far exceeded her expectations. And in the end, it was he who had provided Ash with answers to his many questions, not her. In fact, he’d even answered some of her own questions. Including the nature of the war at the top.
And she had a pretty good idea who, of those she knew, was an active participant in it.
But there was one thing that had taken her off guard. During their conversation, unexpectedly, he’d reacted to the name of the Paragon Organization. He’d said he didn’t recognize the name, but he clearly knew something. Cynthia’s instincts told her he was telling the truth, but if he was, then she had no clue why he would’ve reacted that way. And she doubted he’d tell her if she asked. At the end of the day, he was clearly still wary of her, just like she was of him.
For the time being, it seemed they both considered it wise to keep their enemies close. Especially enemies of enemies.
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An hour after Cynthia left, Anabel woke up. Sabrina’s eyelids had drooped shut, when she was suddenly jerked awake at Anabel’s hand crushing her hand in its grip. Anabel’s eyes were squeezed shut and her teeth were clenched in agony as she stifled a cry.
Sabrina stood to get the nurse, but Anabel yanked her back. “No!” she bit out. She took several labored but deep breaths. “I-I’m fine,” she said, sweat glistening on her skin.
“Please, let them help you,” Sabrina pleaded, her eyes shimmering.
“I’m fine,” Anabel repeated, with a soft smile. “Thank you for staying with me.”
Sabrina wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “Of course,” she mumbled.
“Sabrina,” Anabel breathed.
Sabrina noticed her body trembling. She was still in pain.
“Can you do something for me?”
“Anything,” Sabrina said, clasping her other hand on Anabel’s.
Anabel took a few more unsteady breaths. “Can you check something in your room for me real quick? This bed is so uncomfortable…it’s so thin. Can you tell me what yours feels like? If it’s better than mine…I’m gonna tear into those nurses…I don’t want you to see that.” She rolled her head over to face Sabrina. “Will you do that for me?”
Sabrina's lip quivered, but after a few seconds, she nodded. She gave Anabel’s hand one last squeeze before standing up and slowly walking to the door. She spun around to get one last look, and Anabel was smiling weakly back at her. She offered a weak smile of her own and slipped out, closing the door gently behind her.
She took a step to the side and waited.
After a few seconds, it started again. A miasma of despair emanated from the room behind Sabrina and sunk into her bones. This happened every time she left. Without her there, Anabel was free to let the dam break.
Sabrina pressed her ear against the wall. Sure enough, about a minute later, she began to hear a faint whimpering, along with coughs and sniffles into a pillow.
Tears welled up in Sabrina’s eyes and she clapped her hand over her mouth to keep from making any noise herself.
Oh, Anabel. You can’t get rid of me that easily! I’ll be back with you in just a moment!
She raced down the hall to get an answer to Anabel’s stupid request.
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Later that night, after dinner, Albrecht’s staff prepared a room for Cynthia as well, a room, she noticed, was on the opposite side of the manor from Ash, Anabel, and Sabrina’s. She’d walked around the manor earlier in the day to get a lay of the land and it seemed like Albrecht’s master bedroom was about the same distance away, so maybe she’d be able to rest easy. Though that didn’t stop her from almost ordering Spiritomb to keep watch on them. But, Albrecht had opened his home to her and been forthright about everything she’d asked him, so she stayed her hand. Plus, he was a Guardian, and clearly in another class of trainer in his own right. It was dubious to begin with whether or not she’d be able to get away with something like that without him noticing.
As always, much to her chagrin, she had to play along.
After a long, steamy shower in the adjacent bathroom, she returned to her room in a bathrobe and found that Spiritomb had returned with a suitcase of her belongings. She hadn’t expected to stay here for an extended period of time, but since Albrecht had offered, who was she to refuse? It was lucky her ghost could travel to and from Paragon Island at any distance. Ghosts-types were different from most other pokémon, and they could sink into and travel through a realm of their own, with different physical laws than the material world. And the more evil a ghost, the more powerful it was. For a monster with as many malicious souls within it as Spiritomb, instant travel across an entire ocean was a simple task.
As she changed into her nightwear, she saw an ultra ball resting on the bedside table, and walked over to it. It was hers, of course. But it had only just become occupied earlier today. While Ash was training in Albrecht’s backyard, and the World Champion had gone off to speak with the queen of Rota, Cynthia had taken the opportunity to venture through the woods of Rota. It was an aimless journey, really. She really just wanted some fresh air and some time to think. And on her way, she’d decided to catch a new pokémon, something she hadn’t done in years. The Guardians were strong, but the wilds in Rota were pretty low-level. The ones in the Tree of Beginnings were stronger, but entrance into that sacred place was barred to outsiders, and Cynthia wasn’t looking for anything in particular anyway.
She picked it up and released her new companion onto her bed. Her Spearow appeared in a flash and cocked its head at her, before taking a look around the room. Cynthia smiled and brushed its head with her finger. Since she’d used an ultra ball, she hadn’t needed to injure it at all before it caught, and in the brief time they’d spent together, Spearow had already warmed up to her.
Then her phone buzzed, and she picked it up. The screen awoke, a single notification displayed. A text message.
One Cynthia had been expecting all day. Dreading all day.
Upon seeing it, her chest turned to stone. Spearow flapped up from the bed and landed on her shoulder, peering down at her phone alongside her.
The Great War never ended, she recited in her head. But Albrecht and AZ both backed out. Which means others have carried it on in their stead, continuing to vie for Arceus’ Plates.
From Zelda Leora:
Pull out of Rota now.
Cynthia closed her eyes, as if that would make the message go away. She slept her phone and put it facedown on the bedside table. After that, she turned off the lights and climbed into bed. It was dark, but she felt Spearow cozy up beside her.
I’m sorry, Miss Leora. It seems this is where we part ways.
Next — Chapter 28 : Storm Before The Storm
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