Paragon

Remnants of the Great War [2]

PARAGON

Remnants of the Great War Arc [2]

Chapter 11 : A Hollow History

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Anabel Lila was not extraordinary.

She had no grand dreams, like Zinnia.

She was not on a righteous path of repentance, like N.

She did not have superhuman abilities, like Sabrina.

She was a mere pawn in Cynthia's order of misfit toys.

She was not the strongest among them, nor did she surmise herself to be the weakest. She spent equal time on and off Paragon Island in between missions. She had no hobbies and held no hatred.

If she were a character in a novel or movie, she'd undoubtedly be a side character. She was the type of character people would say is "kind of bland." Maybe future novels or movies would build on her character, or maybe they wouldn't. Maybe she'd just be killed or written out in some other way because the audience didn't like her. And the story would progress without incident, because ultimately, her scenes were what the kids called "filler."

These sorts of thoughts and more did not run through Anabel Lila's head on a regular or semi-regular basis ever since joining the Paragon Organization.

Anabel Lila was a zero. Not positive and not negative. If she was the dramatic type, she'd say she was a "void." If she was the pragmatic type, she'd say she was a "rock."

But Anabel Lila was neither of these things. She voiced her insecurities to those who'd listen, but she didn't have many of them.

She had parents who loved her, and friends to call friends. When she became a trainer, as all kids her age did, she had an instant knack for it. When she became a Frontier Brain in Hoenn at the age of twelve, people called her a child genius. As she got older, they dropped the 'child' but still called her a genius. And when she got older still, they seemed to forget that there was anything special about her to begin with, as shinier talent splashed onto the Frontier scene.

Oh well. That was the entertainment industry. If the Pokémon League was the pinnacle of glory, then the Battle Frontier was the pinnacle of gluttony. The complete opposite, where corpulent wallets, friends in high places, and the rarest pokémon around were the tickets to the top.

Which is why Anabel left the Frontier.

And somehow she'd ended up here. Most people probably followed a similar trajectory as her. They drifted through life from one thing to the next, anchoring themselves to whatever opportunities materialized from the aether. After leaving the Frontier, she found herself in the employ of the International Police. And it was from there that Cynthia poached her.

Of course, even that had happened without any drama. Somehow, Cynthia got ahold of her contact info, scheduled a meeting, and laid out the terms. It took Anabel four years to beat her. And the rest was history.

Oh, yeah. Then Ash joined.

Ash.

Ash Ketchum.

Ash.

She rolled his name around her mind like a morsel of food that was too hot.

When he'd appeared on Paragon Island, her heart flipped over in her chest.

But then it stuck the landing.

Hmmm, nope. Yeah, nope. Nothing. That flame had fizzled out long ago. Of course she'd gotten a pang in her chest after seeing her old crush after so long. That was to be expected. But her feelings, at least those feelings, were long gone now. Ash was now just Ash.