"Ash, I see a good spot", Cynthia said, pushing through the crowd to find a seat in the stadium. They had gotten an early start to the day. She had on a broad hat and sunglasses again. Ash had been woken up by the sound of their alarms. They got dressed quickly and managed to find coffee downstairs before heading to the stadium nearby. He was happy it hadn't felt awkward at all.
He took in the sight of the half-filled stadium and all the trainers below. The first day of any tournament was full of hope. Everyone could still believe they were going to win. A cacophony of excited sounds met his ears.
Ash and Cynthia found good seats and got settled. "So. Do you really think Diantha will lose?" Ash said. That was the whole point of the hype of this tournament. At least 3 trainers have their hearts on the champion title. Diantha had made almost no public appearances and taken hardly any public challenges this year. And in addition to that, several new mega evolutions had been discovered by lab funded trainers in Kalos and they were debuting them at this tournament. Whatever happened here was important for the future of Kalos.
"I do." Cynthia simply said. "Diantha hasn't spoken to me in months though, you know." Ash was concerned, as Diantha used to be one of her friends.
"Since when? Is she upset about anything?" Cynthia was notoriously private about anything personal but he hoped she would tell him if something was wrong.
"Well, we had a falling out. After my grandmother died."
Ash didn't say anything and let her continue. Cynthia's grandmother Professor Carolina had passed away shortly before he went to Galar and it had been extremely rough.
"After she died, I went on a big research trip for a while. I told you about it I think. It landed me here in Kalos looking at old things as usual. Diantha had an emergency involving stolen mega stones and rogue trainers, and I stepped in to help because I was around. Things didn't go very well to say the least," Cynthia said. "and the end result is she doesn't like me much right now since I called her out on it."
"And you think shes that affected she could lose?" Ash asked.
"Not just that. She has been falling behind as far as current battle meta." Cynthia said. "Her Gardevoir is still on a similar level to Garchomp and I think she can beat him one on one largely due to typing, but she just hasn't adapted to the new techniques some trainers are bringing. Which led to the disaster with the rogue trainers."
"That is what I thought I noticed from her few posted league battles recently," agreed Ash. "I felt like she was using the same moves and techniques as she has been for a decade. Did you see that battle where her Tyrantrum went down immediately to a trainer with a Kommo-o using clanging scales and scale shot? Tyrantrum can use scale shot too and would have almost certainly won… if he knew how to use it. It looked to me like her pokemon had never even seen the move. That is one of Tyrantrum's best moves since it was discovered the line could learn it."
Cynthia hummed. "Yes. And that is what I'm talking about. People sense blood in the water and some really big names are here this year to try and take the job. And of course we are here to see how it goes." She said with a small smile. A champion changing was a big deal, the defense of the region from dangerous legendaries and strong trainers was at stake.
"You never know, maybe she put a lot into it since whatever happened. Either way, I want to see these new megas and what these trainers can do," Ash noted.
The first match was about to start, it wasn't even certain who would earn the right to challenge for the title yet. If any of the big name hopefuls actually won. Ash tried to shake it out of his mind and focus on the present. The announcer was going over the rules yet again and announcing the first match.
"The first three rounds will all b standard pokemon battles. The winner is declared when a pokemon becomes unable to battle. One substitution is allowed. The honor of the first match of the Lumiose Conference goes to Ray Ryan and Armin Sazar."
Ash rubbed Pikachu behind the ears and looked up at their rosters on the giant screen above. They were both from Kalos and this was their first year participating. Ray Ryan had a Serperior and Druddigon that looked like his aces. His opponent Armin had a much more common Kalos team, including a Simisear and a Florges.
"This first match, I have never seen anything from either of these trainers. Do you know of them?" Said Cynthia.
"Never heard of them," he replied. "But look at the first trainers roster, he has a lot of pokemon you can only find outside of Kalos. Seems like he has spent a good amount of time in Unova." Both trainers had entered their boxes and were preparing. It was exciting and Ash felt his heart start to pump even though he wasn't going to be battling anyone!
"Serperior line is so rare in the wild. Its odd to see a trainer that didn't get one from an Unovan lab sponsor have one." She questioned. "I suspect he might have some connections."
Ash didn't disagree. The match was beginning though and he was instantly focused on the battle.
"First Battle of the Lumiose Conference may now begin!"
Ray opened with his Serperior, and it was an impressively large one. His opponent sent out a Simisear. Serperior was at an extreme type disadvantage, but Ray made no move to withdraw it.
"Simisear flamethrower!"
"Serperior, dodge and use coil."
Trying to set up in front of a fire type was ballsy, Ash had to give him that. Serperior didn't have many tools to use against a Simisear, they typically struggled to manipulate energy of other types beyond grass and some dragon moves.
The Simisear spat an impressive stream of fire after the large snake. But the snake was quick and moved just barely out of the way before assuming a coiled strike position. The offensive and defensive benefits were immediate.
"Ash, did you notice the Simisear's trainer just now? He has a mega ring under his sleeve. This might be a more interesting battle that it seems." Cynthia said quickly. He had not seen it and was glad she caught it. Ash was watching the Serperior closely, it still had not left its coil position. Which was not logical given the Simisear trainers likely next command.
"Simisear, flamethrower again! Don't let it set up any more, keep after it" Three whole heartbeats passed between the order and Ray reacting at all. Both the trainer and the Serperior made no response until the Simisear was just about to fire and right then Ash knew-
"Mirror coat"
"No, Simisear stop!" but it was too late, the flames hit Serperior and engulfed it instantly. Beneath the flames, the grass type glowed a faint blue. Within seconds, the Serperior was able to fire back an extremely powerful beam directly into the Simisear.
The Serperior was covered in small burns. The fire attack hitting his grassy hide directly must have taken a lot out of it. But the Simisear looked worse.
Ash said "Serperior isnt known for being a tanky pokemon, this seemed a little risky." If the monkey's trainer had a mega in the back, anything could happen.
Cynthia nodded in agreement. "We will see what he plans to do next. His Serperior can't take more hits like that, for sure."
"Acrobatics, get in close, don't let up the pressure."
"Serperior, glare and dodge." Ah, glare. The Serperior certainly was intimidating enough to throw a strong glare after taking Simisear's flamethrower without flinching. The Simisear shivered and immediately became visibly less coordinated, making the acrobatics trivial to dodge.
"Simisear, fire blast." Seemed to Ash like a last ditch effort to get some more damage on Serperior, but it dodged again. The announcer droned on about the power of that fire blast and some other pointless observations.
"This Simisear is all but done." Cynthia said to Ash, "The mirror coat was clever, but wouldn't have worked against a more powerful fire type. If that had been a Charizard, the Serperior would have been too weak to continue. But I will give him the win here, he likely knew how much his pokemon could take and judged that Simisear correctly."
"Twister", said Ray. Serperior was able to nail the monkey right in the back with swirling draconic energy and knock it to the ground. The whole fight had taken no time at all.
"Simisear is unable to battle! Armin, choose your next pokemon."
"Altaria, go!" Armin sent out an absolutely glorious looking Altaria. This time Ash saw the mega ring on his arm. Ray might not notice though…
Ray called for a leech seed, probably hoping to keep Serperior in the game a little longer.
But the Altaria was already glowing and flew high into the air, coming back down mega evolved and ready for blood, no leech seeds.
"Looks like Armin has a pokemon capable of mega evolution. Their bond must be strong! Wonder how Ray will get out of this one?" the announcer said over the loud speaker.
"Serperior, glare and then leaf storm." The powerful glare is nearly impossible to avoid and Altaria was stricken by it just as bad as his other pokemon had been. The Altaria would be severely crippled for the rest of the fight. This might be the end for Armin already if he wasn't careful. Ash watched the Altaria take most of that powerful leaf storm but otherwise stayed up. Usually that move was too unpredictable and double edged to use in league battles, but the Serperior line was weirdly resistant to the negative effects of certain moves and looked ready to keep going. No one wanted to take a leaf storm to the face.
"Altaria, hit him with moon blast." Despite the glare, the mega Altaria was still strong and fast enough to get the hit in.
Astonishingly, the Serperior was still up when the dust cleared. The coil pose again. It immediately responded with another leaf storm.
Cynthia whistled. "That is a trainer who knows how to use his pokemons' natural abilities. The coil is just reducing the impact barely enough for his pokemon to keep moving. and sets it up for a retaliatory attack."
The leaf storm hit Altaria again, a glancing blow this time and weakened, but still absurdly powerful. "Altaria, finish it off with aerial ace!"
Good call. That move was so fast. It struck the serp right in the back, and it was finally down. Armin had underestimated the Serperior too many times. It definitely injured that Altaria more than anyone would have expected AND took down a fire type.
Ray's Clefable appeared on the battlefield to replace the snake. That Altaria was going to have a tough time against an opposing fairy, Ash thought.
"Altaria, steel wing." It dove towards the Clefable, not wasting a second trying to get a massive hit in and take back some momentum in the battle.
The Clefable did its best to dive out of the way of Altaria, but still got nailed. They aren't known for their great speed. It made a horrible cracking sound and Ash cringed. Pokemon were durable and recovered fast but still. Ouch.
"Clefable, dazzling gleam before it pulls back!" The Altaria got hit and was really looking worse for wear. A bulky fairy type was not what it wanted to face right now.
"Altaria, facade. Don't stop now!"
The Clefable was hit once again, with one of mega Altarias most powerful fairy attacks doubled in power by the lingering paralysis from the glare earlier. Dust filled the arena.
Ash glanced over at Cynthia and she was as rapt as he was. This was a stunning battle for being the first one of the tournament, between two unknown trainers.
Clefable and Altaria both were still. Both looked ready to drop. In unison their trainers spoke, commanding them both to use moon blast.
When the dust finally cleared from the bright fairy energies colliding in the center, Altaria had landed but was still standing. Clefable lay in a heap on the ground.
"Clefable is unable to battle! Ray, send out your next pokemon. Did you see that folks? Mega Altaria still had some gas after all!"
Ray sent out Lunatone and wasted no time.
"Altaria, dragon pulse"
"Lunatone, stone edge," and that all but sealed Altarias fate. It went to fire off a dragon pulse, and a massive stone spear came from underneath and knocked it to the ground. Altaria was done, to no ones surprise.
"Altaria is unable to battle!"
It was down to one pokemon left for both of them. Cynthia spoke up again "That was a strong stone edge to reach that high in the air."
Ash agreed and with that, Armin sent out his last pokemon of the match. It would be close.
"Frogadier, aqua jet into power-up punch!" The Lunatone got hit by the aqua jet, but was able to throw up a critical protect before the power-up punch connected. Armin had to be internally panicking, that power-up punch would have been huge for him.
"Lunatone, psychic now!"
"Water pulse!"
The beams met and the water pulse over came, striking Lunatone squarely. Frogadier immediately launched another water pulse, trying to catch the Lunatone off guard.
"Lunatone use charge beam, hit him hard for that!"
It connected this time and the Frogadier dropped to the ground. It had been focusing on hitting the water pulse.
"Frogadier, aqua jet to catch it and nail it with a water pulse again!"
"Frogadiers are very frail. Taking a charge beam directly its got to be pretty hurt and now Lunatone is boosted."
Lunatone kept floating out of the way of all Frogadier's attacks, using all directions and not limited by momentum or wings. Fighting a very skilled levitating pokemon was way harder than a flying type, Ash felt. They weren't as predictable or easy to track. It would be hard.
An overcommitted water pulse missed again, and Lunatone capitalized on the error by throwing out a psyshock, knocking the frog out cold!
"Frogadier is unable to battle. Ray Ryan wins the battle!" The announcer shouted. "That was quite the battle folks-"
Cynthia immediately turned to Ash, "We can only hope the rest of the battles are that good. I'm really impressed with Ray's pokemon."
Ash smiled and said "Yeah, and we didn't even get to see his Druddigon who I bet is a monster. Did you see the way the Lunatone really took advantage of the sky? You rarely see them fully use three dimensional space like that effectively during battle."
"Not only that, but the trust his pokemon had for him. Ray had them take so many strategic hits to put them in a better position for the rest of the battle. Your pokemon have to utterly believe you have a good plan to stand and take a direct hit like that. Amazing stuff." Cynthia gushed.
"The next match will start in five minutes!" The announcer droned on, and the next teams appeared on the giant screen in the middle. Ash predictably wanted a snack and dashed off to get one for both of them before the next match and it started all over again.
"Wow that was a stellar first day." Cynthia said, leaving the stadium.
Ash responded, following her. "Thinking over the whole day, I think the first battle was my favorite. Overall a great start to the tournament."
"Agreed. There were good techniques and unique pokemon throughout the day, but the first battle was the most interesting to me by far." She said.
"I sorta liked the battle with the Walrein at the end at least. You don't see those too often."
"Yes, too bad he got taken out by a trainer who only had electric types." Cynthia mused.
"Sad thing is I doubt that electric trainer will get much further," Ash added. Training a single type team was a whole extra challenge.
"Exactly. Tomorrow will be a new game though, the first battle from one of the Kalos lab sponsored trainers is in the middle of the day."
"Do you know what pokemon it might be?"
"No, though not for lack of trying. Turns out being champion doesn't get me everything I wanted." She grumbled, heading towards the bus stop. "Only most things," she added, smirking.
"Poor champion, doesn't get to know literally everything going on in the world." he teased. "I can't imagine what that would be like."
Ash and Cynthia stopped at the bus stop and she immediately questioned him. "Hey Ash. How do you get pikachu on a bus?"
"I- What?" Ash said, "He just… gets on?"
"You poke-em-on," she said, wisely.
Ash put his hand on his head and groaned. "I forgot how terrible your jokes are," he said, "That was the worst joke yet." Even so, he smiled.
"Oh please. It was clever." Cynthia said.
"I am not kidding that is the worst joke I have ever heard." Ash complained. "Where do you even get these?"
"I have my sources."
"I laughed ONE TIME, for that first stupid beartic ice cream joke you told me when I was like 18, and now im cursed forever to listen to them. What if I was just being polite to the champion?" He suspected already that she saved her worst ones to use on him, and he would never reveal how much he enjoyed it.
"Oh please. You have never been a bootlicker a day in your life." That was fair. If anything he was more of a hothead back then.. maybe that is how he ended up involved with legendaries and champions to begin with.
"Imagine if I was a bootlicker and laughed at your jokes just to impress the league." Truthfully, he had been a little starstruck the first time they met. She wiped the floor with Paul's entire team without breaking a sweat, and then ordered him to the pokecenter. She had stayed around the ruins for a day or two and every time she saw them, she tried to talk some sense into Paul and gave them some really good advice.
"Don't make me imagine, I get enough of that. Ugh." She said, shaking her head. Of course, he had gotten wrapped up in the galactic crisis later, or they might never have talked again beyond her lecturing some dumbass and his rival.
Right then, the bus pulled up, and they proceeded to the plaza Cynthia wanted to visit.
They had found a seat by the fountain and let Pikachu and Glaceon out. Glaceon instantly found an Umbreon to play with and lept away. Pikachu hung back until he saw a Dedenne. They chattered loudly at each other and Ash thought they might fight, until Pikachu rolled onto its back and they began playing. Not for the first time, he wondered what truly went on in their minds. Why all the fighting? The attacks in the wild? and then they can turn around and play like best friends? Maybe he would never know.
"Cynthia, so how exactly did you find this place?" Ash asked, its not like she was a Kalos native either.
"When I was a surly teenager, I came with my grandmother to Kalos once for her research. We ended up here because Gible was a little too unruly for an indoor restaurant and I wanted him to stay out of his ball in the city for socialization."
"That makes sense. Was that the only time then?"
"No, but the next few times I was in Kalos, sometimes with her and sometimes not, I always liked this plaza." She said, "Of course, now shes gone, and I just wanted to see it again. When I was in Kalos earlier this year, I avoided it." Ash heard what she didn't say, that it was still too painful then.
The last time he saw Cynthia at all was after she lost her grandmother. "You know, I wasn't kidding when I said I was glad to see you. The last time wasn't exactly a happy reunion. How have you been?" She was generally hard to read, and even more so at the funeral itself. Hardly said a word outside of her brilliant speech. Not even a tear.
"Iv been doing OK. Though I think she was always the one reminding me to take breaks and slow down, so perhaps that is why I haven't done so lately," she mused.
"Breaks are important," he said carefully. "I just… I didn't know if.. if you were going to be happy. After the last time I saw you." He caught her grey eyes with his. He knew she knew what he was talking about but she didn't respond.
Professor Oak couldn't attend the funeral and as an official lab sponsored trainer, Ash had went both in his stead… and to support Cynthia. Most people didn't know Cynthia's grandmother had raised her after her parents passed away and he had been very concerned.
The whole funeral had been about Professor Carolina's professional achievements, her work as an archaeologist, a historian, and a skilled battler. There weren't a lot of people there to support Cynthia herself. Even Cynthia's speech was about the great Professor Carolina, not about the woman who raised her.
Their food arrived, interrupting the thought. Plates of sandwiches, greasy fries, and a whole pile of berries. They dug in and she still hadn't responded. He was about to change the subject to something lighter when she spoke up again.
"I made my choice." She said simply. "What you said was convincing and helpful. I still love being Champion and you were right to stop me."
"Well, I'm really glad. Truthfully I was a little worried when you said yesterday the job was stressing you. Felt like I had given you bad advice."
"No don't worry, that was different. This is just a vacation. A different sort than I usually take, but still," She said and he understood.
Ash was thinking back again, to the day after the funeral, when she was about to take on a challenger. Poor timing and for some reason she accepted it. It was concerning.
He didn't get to speak to her at the funeral itself, it was too hectic, but he caught up to her the next morning before her challenger match. It was all over the news and people said she was unshakable, taking one so soon.
He can't forget what happened- Cynthia outright told him she was about to throw the match so she could stop being the champion and take over Professor Carolina's historical research center effective immediately. He isn't even sure why she told him but she did.
He begged her not to make such a decision so fast, Sinnoh needed her and she had worked so hard to get there. What followed was a very long conversation, crying, hugging, and a lot of ice cream. She went on to absolutely crush that poor challenger so thoroughly people joked he would never battle again out of shame.
"I know we talked a handful of times since then on the phone, but it makes me happy to hear it in person after all that." Ash said.
"Yeah" she said, "It just all hit me so hard that week and I am embarrassed I almost quit, truthfully." She didn't blush but it was easy to hear the unease in her voice. "I just thought I had longer with her. She raised me, mentored me, did everything for me. Its still hard to believe she is gone sometimes."
Ash nodded. "Don't sweat it, it was a normal reaction. I wasn't about to let a friend suffer alone."
"Thanks for that, by the way. I would have regretted it for the rest of my life. You've always been good at calling people out when they need it, or cheering them up."
He flushed. "I don't know about that. You would do the same thing." It was true, she never held back. He was about to tell her his plans for the next few years when Cynthia jumped up and pointed-
"Ash, I think Pikachu is eating something bad over there." He followed her and Pikachu was eating what looked like a discarded ketchup packet under the table!
"HEY! Stop that Pikachu." Ash grabbed his electric rodent and pulled Pikachu onto his lap, separating him from the ketchup packet much to his disappointment. "Whoever invented those packets is my worst enemy. Pikachu learned that garbage can contain ketchup recently and has never been the same."
"Makes me sick that people just leave it on the ground. There are so many pokemon here, you think they would use the cans. Its fucked up." she said, "How about we head out? Its getting dark anyway. I could use a shower."
"Alright! Lets pack up and get back to the hotel. I'm stuffed and want feed Pikachu."
AN:/
I worked real hard on this chapter and I hope people like it. Cynthia is an enigmatic, serious character in the games, and a loveable dork in the anime. I'm trying to walk the line and channel both LOL. idk how that is going.
Let me know if you have any specific feedback, concrit welcome as long as its not rude af. i want to nail my interpretation of Cynthia because im planning a serious fic that is Cynthia centric. right now im enjoying writing this self indulgent story :)
reviews and follows, are my applause. thanks for reading.