A/N: I wrote this story because there were no Paul/Cynthia stories. I don't support that as a pairing or anything; I just think that Paul and Cynthia have an interesting relationship. He does practically everything she says.
Warning: Contains spoilers for the Sinnoh League episodes of the anime, which haven't yet left Japan.
Disclaimer: If I owned Pokémon and its characters, I would be too busy trying to figure out the trans-dimensional vortex that is Iris's hair to write fanfiction.
It was only one day later, and Paul already regretted his actions. Making bets is never a smart idea, especially not with Sinnoh Champion Cynthia. As he went through the motions of his now required physical labor, Paul remembered the events of the previous day.
Taking a deep breath, Paul donned his best scowl and prepared to take center stage in the most important battle of his life: the final fight against Ash in the Sinnoh League. However, before he could take a single step onto the field, he heard the click clack of high heels approaching. Turning around, Paul's black eyes made contact with a pair of grey ones.
"Cynthia," he stated simply.
"Paul," was her response. Gaze holding steady with Paul's, she continued, "Listen. I know you worked hard to get to here, but face it: you might not win. And when you lose, don't take it out on yourself or your Pokémon. Loosing doesn't make you a bad trainer."
Paul just gritted his teeth. "Losing means that the Pokémon aren't strong enough. And I will win."
The blonde smirked. "Wanna bet?"
Paul's intense glare didn't waver. "Keep talking."
"You lose, and you have to wash my car."
"And when I win?" The ill-tempered boy was careful to avoid the word "if".
"You get the satisfaction of being the new Sinnoh League Champion!" Cynthia smiled warmly.
Paul only glared in return. He wasn't about to get ripped off.
"Okay, okay, I'll give you fifty bucks!"
The battle came and went. It was all so fast, and Paul highly suspected that some cheating was done, and not by his side…
His Electivire had failed pathetically. Paul was sure the defeat was the fault of this "lame-o" Pokémon. But since Cynthia was watching, he clenched his teeth and pretended to thank his electric slave. However, as soon as he was out of eyesight, he let Electivire have it, and "it" certainly wasn't a thank you card…
Now Paul was scrubbing Cynthia's bright red sports car until "she could see her reflection", as she had ordered. He grumbled, but didn't really mind, since he needed something to get his mind off the previous day's events. Besides, it was a hot day, and washing Cynthia's car allowed Paul to cool off some.
Finally, the purple-haired boy scrubbed the last side-view mirror hard enough to make it sparkle. Sweating in the heat, he glanced over to where Cynthia was sitting in a lawn hair, sunbathing. He felt a wave of anger wash over him. How could she just sit there, relaxing and watching him work? However, Paul's anger soon dissolved into relief as he remembered the time she had forced him to fan her for hours in the sweltering heat. Paul shuddered, swearing never to get into a situation like that again.
Cynthia lowered her sunglasses to get a good look at her precious car. "Are you done? It looks great!"
Paul just stood, wet and impatient.
"Since you worked so hard in your battle against Ash, and you did a fabulous job on my new car, I'll pay you…twenty dollars."
Paul wasn't complaining. He walked over to where Cynthia lounged.
She reached into the black handbag that was lying on the grass next to her chair. After searching for a few minutes, her hand reemerged from the depths of the purse.
"I must have left my wallet in the house." She got up and walked over to the dark wood door.
As soon as the door clicked shut, Paul made a mad dive for the purse. After a few seconds of rummaging, he extracted Cynthia's key ring. Victorious, he raced over to the car, put one of the keys in the ignition, and drove off.
Not yet being the legal driving age, Paul had to depend on what knowledge he had accumulated from watching Reggie at work in his clunky van. The younger boy was actually a pretty decent driver, since he had watched Reggie very closely.
However, Paul came to an obstacle in the road. Ash Ketchum, his trusty Pikachu resting on one shoulder, was crossing the street. "Stupid Ash is always getting in the way," Paul thought, irritated. Instead of slowing down, let alone stopping, Paul merely honked the car's horn loudly and obnoxiously.
Ash froze. Then, thinking quickly and not all that wisely, he commanded Pikachu to use Thunder on the oncoming car. Paul flinched, grateful that nowadays cars were designed to be electric-proof on the inside, in case they were ever struck by lightning. Or, in this case, Thunder.
The outside, unfortunately, was not so impervious to electric shocks. The newly-cleaned car was soon reduced to anything but. The engine was utterly destroyed in a small explosion, allowing the car to slow to a halt inches in front of where Ash was standing. The apparently never-aging boy smirked. Mission accomplished. So what if the red sports car was now a blackened heap of metal?
Paul knew exactly what to do in this sort of situation. He jumped out of the car, tossed Ash the keys, and fled. Ash, seeing the shiny objects being hurled at him, confusedly caught them, taking a second to figure out what they were.
He was too late. By the time he realized that he was holding the keys to the car he had just destroyed, Cynthia came stomping up to him.
"Just WHAT is the big idea, Ash? I go into my house for ONE SECOND, and you steal my car keys and make off with my EXPENSIVE NEW CAR!" Cynthia's face was as red as her precious car once was.
Ash recoiled. "Uh, I was just standing here! Honest!"
"Is that so, Ketchum?" Cynthia's eyes narrowed. "Then why was my car DESTROYED by an ELECTRIC ATTACK?"
Ash's face paled. "Okay, I might have done that, but I didn't steal your car!"
"Oh, no, Ketchum. Don't try lying to me. I might have let you off easy if you had just admitted your wrong. But instead you choose to LIE to me." Cynthia paused. "You do realize that theft is a crime, right?"
"I didn't do it!" Ash screamed in protest, "But, yeah, it's a crime."
An evil glint in her eyes, Cynthia uttered only two more words: "OFFICER JENNY!"
Sitting in a booth next to the window in the local ice cream parlor, Paul sat back and admired his handiwork. He licked his chocolate ice cream cone and smirked. "You might have won the battle, Ash," the purple-haired trainer thought, "But I think I just won the war."