Paragon

Remnants of the Great War [20]

PARAGON

Remnants of the Great War Arc [20]

Chapter 29 : The Board Before The Battle

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Sinnoh Region - Paragon Island

"In all the battles Cynthia and I have had over the years, she's never beaten me. Not even once." Sylvester grinned as he enlarged his pokéball.

Despite the tension between him and Cynthia, Ash was momentarily distracted by Sylvester's proclamation. Not even once...? I hadn't even realized he was a trainer... I thought he was just a breeder... He glanced back at Sabrina, but the girl was stoic, and hadn't moved an inch after standing up.

In front of them, a shadow hung over Cynthia's face, and she stood motionless, expressionless. Then the vein on her temple bulged and she smacked the pokéball out of Sylvester's hand. "You've been breeding pokémon to hard counter every single one of my pokémon ever since I left Celestic! Six Togekiss just to handle Garchomp, barely! You're raising a Charizard for Roserade right now, aren't you? After the Skarmory didn't work!"

Her eyes were white with rage, and Ash sweatdropped. He'd never seen her lose her cool like this. And so easily too.

"Hey!" Sylvester whined, scurrying over to pick up his pokéball. After scooping it up, he rounded back on his cousin. His cheeks were tinted pink. "Heh. Heh heh! Well, a win is a win, is it not? And you've never procured one from me!" The corners of his mouth twitched up.

"Want to have another go right now, then?" Cynthia growled.

Sylvester cleared his throat and dusted himself off. "Dear cousin, I think we were talking about something rather important before that outburst of yours." He lowered his pokéball, but his storm gray eyes locked with hers, deadly serious. "You've made the bizarre decision to withdraw from Rota after learning it is AZ's true target and left us all quite befuddled. And to think you'd break out Spiritomb to whisk them back here forcefully... Not that it's my place to say, but a bit of transparency on the matter would likely go a long way..."

Cynthia shook her head dismissively. "That's right. It's not your place to say. I am the head of Paragon. I've given an order. I expect it to be followed."

"We're not soldiers, Cynthia!" Ash said. "We're trainers!"

"That's exactly right," Cynthia said. "If you recall, I told you something when you first joined Paragon, Ash. I told you, and the others, that to join Paragon would mean a life of unprecedented danger, and unprecedented strength. Descending on Rota right now is a force of nature who possesses both."

"So you're afraid of AZ? If we withdraw now, then what's even the point of Paragon?!" Ash demanded. Then he frowned. "You said Paragon wasn't created to help people, but to help yourself and your own ambitions! So that's it, then? This 'assignment' isn't worth the trouble?"

Cynthia closed her eyes, but her eyes shivered beneath her eyelids. Spiritomb swiveled to glance over at its trainer.

"Cynthia...," Sylvester began.

"That's enough," she said, opening her eyes. "I'm sorry, but if you can't trust me, then I only have one choice left." She thrust her arm forward. "Silent Domain!"

Inky darkness exploded out from Spiritomb's ghastly form, and a low chortle escaped its simpering mouth. Before Ash could even react, the darkness had closed in all around them, thick and suffocating. Pitch black shadow sealed away all light and they were instantly plunged into darkness.