Disclaimer: I own nothing here.

Peacekeepers

AN: So I've had this story rolling around in my head for about a year now, but I just haven't had the motivation to post it until now. When I saw that both Cynthia and Steven would be in the Masters 8, I got really excited! These two nerds might actually get to meet on screen, finally! I have high hopes for them to have at least one interesting interaction! (Then they won't be such a cracked ship anymore)

It really puzzles me as to why Cynthia and Steven never seem to cross paths... Ever... In any universe, be it anime, games or manga (despite them both traversing the regions in various games). Only that little Masters trailer have they been seen together (with Lance). I have a head-canon explaining why this is, thus this story was born.


Chapter One - Rivalry

Deep inside an ancient forest in the Johto region, wild birdsong filled the air, while warm, dappled sunlight painted the mossy ground with a gold tint.

Perceptive gray eyes scanned the area carefully, idly tracking the various bird Pokémon flitting about overhead. The woman, with long blond hair that reached her knees and clad in black clothing from top to toe, glanced down at the map in her hands. "It should be right around here," she told to her companion whilst pointing at a prominent rock formation. "See? That's Suicune's snout, just like the map says."

Her companion, a large, blue skinned reptilian creature, merely offered a low, disinterested grumble in response as it thumped along beside her.

"Oh come on Gar," the woman teased lightly. "If you had half the enthusiasm as Lucario then we'd have found those ruins by now."

Garchomp grumbled again as if to argue, but raised her hammer-shaped head, alerted to the sound of quick footsteps.

"Well, speak of the devil!" the woman said with a smile. She nodded when her bipedal dog-like Pokémon slid to a stop beside her and began huffing and motioning excitedly in the direction he had come. "Yes, yes, great job Lucario. Let's go then, show us the way."

After following the blue-black canine through some dense brush and down a steep outcropping, they finally came to a small glade bordered all around by a thick tangle of trees. An intricate wall of archaic brickwork occupied one section of the border and appeared to have been built directly into the outcropping itself.

The woman tipped her head and gave her map a dubious look. "This is the old temple they told me about?" They being the villagers from the nearest town, Arborville, and the same people that had given her the map. "It looks more like a tomb."

A strange chiming noise sounded overhead, but it was such a mysterious, surreal sound, almost as if it hadn't happened at all.

She looked up to see what her two Pokémon were thinking, only to find them oblivious to the noise. They were both snooping around at one edge of the clearing, where there were obvious signs of someone's campsite. She had noticed it earlier but hadn't paid it much thought. The ruins were newly discovered, yes, but she hardly expected to be the first to investigate it.

"Don't be nosy, you two," she chided lightly as she crossed to examine the temple entrance. The two Pokémon gave a grunt and a huff and followed after her. Peering inside, the woman eyed the conspicuous orange caution tape on the ground, which had clearly been pulled down by someone. There was also a crudely painted sign lying nearby that read: "Caution, unstable structure! Enter at own risk!"

Garchomp offered a warning growl and Lucario voiced an uncomfortable hum; neither had a good feeling about entering the ruin, and it wasn't because of the caution tape. "Yeah, I know. It looks too dangerous to bother with. Who knows what's even holding it up at this point?" She stepped back, one hand on her hip as she contemplated the situation. "Still, if someone's been exploring it then maybe it'll be worth waiting around to hear what they've found."

Both her Pokémon grumbled in unison but they seemed relieved that she wasn't insisting in exploring it herself. The woman sent one more disappointed glance at the temple entrance; she had so been looking forward to studying its secrets. The mythical Pokémon she had heard about from the villagers had her intrigued beyond all reason. She sighed in defeat and regarded her two Pokémon, both gazing at her with hopeful expressions. "Well, I guess its lunch time!"

Garchomp and Lucario began to yip excitedly in unison but suddenly they both erupted into startled roaring. Seconds later, a fierce earthquake rattled the ground and shook violently at the ruin's foundations, causing Garchomp to grab for her trainer out of sheer protective instinct.

"No, don't worry about me!" the woman protested and released another of her Pokémon. "Milotic, help us out! Everyone, try to hold up that temple doorway! There could still be someone inside!"


The dark cavern echoed with a distinct chink noise with every strike of the metal pickaxe on the stone wall. The silver haired man dressed in miners rig worked tirelessly as he dug for hidden treasures, each stroke carefully aimed. His two companions, a steel colored Metagross and a dark furred Excadrill, both stood nearby, ready to assist whenever their master asked for it.

The Metagross was entirely uninterested in the whole excavation process and was simply there for safety purposes, which, in the case of this particular ruin, was extremely important because his psychic powers would be able to shield his master from any potential falling debris.

The Excadrill, however, was intently interested in anything relating to digging and was eager to help out whenever it was given the chance. He was also an imperative safety measure as he could detect any possible quakes long before his master ever could.

"I think we're getting close to hitting something spectacular you guys, I can feel it!" the man announced as he wiped some sweat from his brow and struck again.

Metagross offered an indifferent hum while Excadrill yapped with excitement. It wasn't until that distinct chink sound suddenly became a ker-thud sound that both Pokémon and human froze with dread. "Uh-oh..." The man dared not even move as he quickly realized what it was he must have hit. His worst excavational nightmare.

"Trio!" an angry, monotonous voice cried out from the rock wall, though it could have been the sound of death itself as far as the three excavators were concerned.

Pulling his pickaxe from the wall, the man stepped back and his worst fears were realized as the three-headed mole Pokémon emerged from the wall with another indignant cry.

Excadrill yelped a warning and the man instantly dropped his tools and turned to leap onto his Metagross. "Right, let's get out of here!" He held on for dear life as his metal monster surged forward down the tunnel just as the enraged wild Dugtrio began using Magnitude, causing the entirety of the ruins to tremble precariously.

Excadrill voiced a rude sound towards the Dugtrio before turning and diving into the ground with its metal claws in order to get ahead of his master and help clear a path for their escape.

Using Psychic to propel itself and its trainer forward, Metagross also had to fend off any wayward boulders crashing down towards them, not to mention they were very deep inside the ruins with the exit still a long ways off.

The man smiled grimly and touched the small, multicolored, round stone pinned to his chest pocket. "Give it full throttle Metagross!"

Roaring in response, Metagross began shining with a brilliant, prismatic light before taking its mega form and bursting forth with new, unimaginable speed. Seconds later they could see the light of the exit and were practically flying into the open air. That is, if they hadn't collided with the three Pokémon that had been attempting to steady the crumbling exit.

The next thing the man knew, he was winded and lying on his back, with the glorious sunshine on his face and momentarily blinding him. He couldn't help but release an exhilarated breath of laughter, thankful to just be alive.

"Steven? Is that you?" a woman's startled voice called down at him. The voice was faintly familiar and sounded like she was standing directly above him. "It's a good thing I showed up when I did, or else you'd have been buried alive!"

Steven winced as he tried to focus his gaze on the woman's form looming over him. His vision finally cleared and he could do little more than stare up at his savior in wonderment. With the sun's bright rays making her hair appear gold, in that moment he could think of her only as a goddess, having come down to bestow him salvation.

Recognition quickly set in as he took in all of her features. From her unique hair ornaments, piercingly intelligent gray eyes (or at lease the one not hidden by long bangs), to her usual black attire of long coat, blouse, slacks and boots. "C-Cynthia?"

The Champion of Sinnoh stared back at the Champion of Hoenn.

Cynthia blinked down at the heap of a man at her feet, feeling a bit bewildered by his carefree attitude toward his near death experience. Idly though, she quite enjoyed the handsome grin he offered despite the dust and grit clinging to his person.

As Steven lay on the ground gawking up at her like a Magikarp out of water, she gave him a once-over for any apparent injuries. Over his icy-blue hair he wore a yellow construction helmet, which had probably saved his life at some point since it had a considerable dent on one side. He also wore an orange, long-sleeved shirt under a tan vest, gray pants and black boots; miners garb if she had to guess.

Cynthia tipped her head, wondering just how long he would lay in the dirt. He seemed fine, if not a little dazed. "Are you alright? Was there anyone else in there?"

"Oh yes, I'm fine," Steven replied as he got up and dusted himself off. He offered a bashful grin and a slight bow, his sky blue eyes shining with mischief. "And no, I'm the only idiot crazy enough to go in there... Thankfully." He gave his two Pokémon a grateful pat on the head as they both came near to check on him.

Cynthia's three Pokémon had also recovered from the wild collision, no worse for wear, and had regrouped around her. She allowed for a lopsided smile in return and relaxed into her signature pose, hand on hip. "Still risking life and limb to find rare stones, then? Did you happen to see anything interesting, like murals or-" she was suddenly cut off by a savage growl from her Garchomp. The dragon's glare was aimed at Steven, or rather, his belt where his remaining Pokéballs hung. Cynthia snapped at her lead Pokémon pointedly. "Now you stop that! We are not entertaining this behavior again!"

Garchomp merely sidled away from her master, still hissing and glaring stubbornly, as if waiting with great anxiety and anticipation for something. Cynthia sighed and sent Steven a hopeless look. "I'm sorry. Honestly, she only get like this when you and-"

Steven held up a hand to stop her and shook his head. "No, it's not your fault-" he was the one cut short as one of his Pokéballs spontaneously released on its own, revealing his monstrous Aggron in all his roaring, metal fury.

Garchomp was instantly engaged, snarling savagely right back and charging forth to lock talons with claws in a fierce clash of sheer power.

Both Champions were comically helpless to stop their rivalry crazed Pokémon from their intense posturing. Recalling them would do no good, as previous attempts in the past had proved ineffective, since they would simply pop right back out again. It was as if the two titans had some sort of deep-seated grudge against one another, something inexplicable that neither trainer could sort out or control, despite both of them being Champions.

"Unfortunately, we'll have to part ways again," Cynthia had to shout to be heard over the ruckus that the two monsters were making.

"Indeed," Steven replied with a frown as they both began walking in opposite directions. Only when they reached a sufficient distance did they attempt to recall their misbehaving Pokémon.

"Maybe someday they'll become friends and we can carry on a normal conversation for once," Cynthia yelled to Steven over the expanse of the suddenly quiet glade, the dust cloud from the recent rampage just barely beginning to settle.

Steven raised a hand in farewell, mouth open to reply, only for a curious chiming noise to sound overhead. He looked up in response and caught a glimpse of a small silhouette flashing by before the world began to spin and his awareness blurred into unconsciousness.