DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokémon or these characters.
This is basically an origin story of Cynthia Shirona. This series will not that thoroughly planned out, so do not expect the highest quality of writing. I will try my best to give characters compelling arcs to the best of my abilities. If you are looking for a long Cynthia romance fic, I would not recommend this, as I am not planning any romance related to Cynthia. If there is romance it will be focused on other characters.
Another thing to address will be mechanics taken from the games/anime. TMs / TRs will be utilised occasionally, but in a different way. Instead of instantly teaching a move, it gives a Pokémon the knowledge/abilities to develop the move with practise and training.
Pokémon move sets will be limited to four, and Pokémon can learn moves they would normally be unable to learn (I'm planning on potentially giving Spiritomb Trick Room at some point).
I will also be basing Cynthia's team around her platinum team. She will have more than 6 Pokémon, but her most iconic team members will all be part of her platinum team. Their move sets and abilities might also differ from the games and anime.
Obstacles that require HMs will instead require only the Pokémon that can learn the HM. The Pokémon will not need to know the HM move, more like it can perform it without needing it (E.g. Riding a Seaking on a lake or a Infernape scaling a rocky cliff). Pokémon will also need to be strong enough to complete the task, so don't expect a goldeen scaling a waterfall with a character on it's back.
The timeline compared to the game may also be quite wonky. For example, the Battle Frontier will be opened despite Cynthia being young, and gym leaders, battle frontier members, elite four and champion will of course be different.
I said these things so rules can be established in this universe, and so that you as the reader can understand what will happen and won't be generally confused by something that seems unfaithful to the anime and games.
I also may hint toward a Pokémon having an a fan evolution that doesn't exist. Said Pokémon will never appear physically, but knowledge of it's existence and the effect of knowing it's existence will be present in the story.
Also characters ages will differ from reality, so keep that in mind.
With that said, I hope you enjoy The Epic of Cynthia.
OoOoO
The sky bellowed in a deep bass as lightning cracked on the horizon, illuminating the silver peaks of mount Coronet. A sleepy village nestled in the North of the mountains jolted wide awake, as the inhabitants noticed the approaching storm and began to ring the alarm. Cries of warning echoed around the village loudly, but not loud enough to reach the girl standing in the town's ruins.
Said girl was currently staring in awe at the markings on the rock. Swiping away her golden locks, she grinned at the symbols depicted on the wall. Despite coming here numerous times, her fascination with the lore of the ruins knew no ends. Her dark clothing hid her well in the poorly lit cave, a side effect of her unusual fashion sense.
"Cynthia!" Came a call from the entrance, "You need to come now! There's a massive storm approaching!" Cynthia's head snapped in that direction, and without a moment's thought ran to the entrance. As she ran out, she saw her grandmother looking towards Mt. Coronet, a frown on her face.
"A storm this bad at this time of year… I pray that the Pokémon on the Mountain are okay." She heard the old woman mutter. Her eyes snapped to Cynthia, and her face hardened. "Cynthia, you need to go help the village prepare. That massive storm is coming in and we need to make sure all the structures and backup supplies are all prepared."
Cynthia looks toward the Mountain, eyes widening as she finally noticed the sheer size and force of the incoming storm. A cold wind was picking up, waving her long blonde hair around her body. A lighting bolt shot through the sky, and Cynthia and her grandmother paused to count each anxious second.
Thirty seconds later, and a rumble reverberated around the town. "Ten kilometres away." The Grandma said. "This gives us less time than I thought. Cynthia, run home now!" Cynthia looks to the mountain before a look of horror settled on her face.
"What about all the Pokémon living on the mountain?" She said.
"There's no time, you need to worry about yourself right now!" Came the grandmother's reply. But her words were lost on Cynthia's ears, as the girl had already started sprinting toward the mountain.
"Cynthia!" She called, "Cynthia!" she huffed in defeat before hurriedly walking back to her house.
As Cynthia ran towards Mt. Coronet, she saw the villagers and their Pokémon nailing boards across windows, ducking under a long log being carried by two machoke. The cry of multiple bird pokemon raised her eyes skywards, and she saw flocks of murkrow and staravia flying away from the mountain.
As she neared the edge of the village, ponyta and rapidash streamed past, and a few chimchars swung past through the trees. She even spotted a Lucario and Riolu as they ran past. The Lucario shot her a worried glance as it continued sprinting with the Riolu hot on it's tail. She paid it no mind, for she noticed the last of the Pokémon were escaping the storm.
She spotted a Absol cantering towards the town, a Tangela and Eevee clinging onto it for dear life. She knew the myths that where Absols walked, disaster surely followed. But she knew the truth that they actually foretold the incoming disaster, and didn't actually bring it about.
The absol spotted her, and let out a whine. It then gestured it's head towards the village.
"No!" yelled Cynthia as she continued to run, "There are probably more vulnerable Pokémon out there!" She swear she saw the absol roll its eyes before turning back to it's destination.
The wind was picking up now, and a light snow was beginning to fall. Cynthia could only spot Pokémon that were going to wait out the storm in their trees or burrows. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to keep herself warm in the face of the dropping temperature.
A muffled cry to her left made her stop in her tracks, as she turned and started running towards the noise. She ducked and weaved through the foliage, before arriving at the bottom of a cliff face. She heard another weak sound and turned towards it. Finally, she spotted a small shape curled up in the grass. She hurriedly jogged over to examine the creature, to find something that caught her breath.
She had heard of these Pokémon but had never actually seen them in person. The only time she had viewed one was when she watched a news report on the evolution of this Pokémon going on a rampage. She had watched it cause a small earthquake that shook half the buildings in Oreburgh city. Right before her was a Gible.
It was shivering badly, looking like it was freezing to death. It opened one of its eyes and looked at her, studying her carefully. It decided it couldn't do much and accepted whatever fate was thrown its way. Cynthia quickly snapped out of her stupor and picked up the Pokémon. She spotted fragments of eggshell littered around where the Pokémon had laid. Had it just hatched? She shook her head and focused back to the task at hand: Surviving.
By now, the wind had become so strong it took effort to keep herself standing upright. The snowfall had dramatically increased, and the time between lightning and thunder had shortened to twelve seconds. She knew she would not make it back to the village in time, so for now she needed to look for a shelter to endure the storm.
She spotted a part of the cliff that seemed to go inwards, so she ran towards that. Her assumption was confirmed when she noticed it was a cave, and a well sheltered one. She hurried inside and looked around, checking if it was occupied. Finding it clear of Pokémon, she laid the Gible down and hurried back outside.
She battled her way over to a nearby tree and started picking up as many sticks as possible. They may be damp, but she had no other option. A head-splitting crack raised her eyes to the sky, and her eyes widened as she realised the storm was nearly on-top of her.
Picking up the last of the sticks, she clambered her way back to the cave. Once she was inside, she released a breath she didn't know she was holding. Hurrying over to Gible, she formed a temporary campfire. Biting her lip, she brought out a lighter, and tried lighting it, unaware of Gible silently watching her.
Finally, a small ember lit up on the fire, and Cynthia gently exhaled on it. Kindling the fire, it slowly grew, until it was large enough to warm the small area Cynthia and Gible inhabited. Cynthia collapsed onto the cave wall, exhausted. The storm continued to howl outside, reminding Cynthia that she would be stuck in this cave for a while.
A quiet growl came from the other side of the fire, and Cynthia saw Gible sit up. It looked a lot healthier now that it was warmer.
"Glad to see you're okay." Said Cynthia, "You just hatched and you're already facing a terrible storm. Pretty unlucky." Gible responded with a huff, and turned back to the cave entrance.
"Hey, you won't be able to go out for a while due to the blizzard. It's particularly bad for you since you're Dragon/Ground type." Gible nodded, but continued looking outside.
"I'm Cynthia." Cynthia said, wanting to introduce herself to the small dragon. Gible nodded it's head again, but still looked towards the storm outside. Cynthia sighed, before remembering she had food in her winter coat.
"Hey Gible, I have some food if you're hungry." She reached into her coat and pulled out a lunchbox full of berries. This got Gible's attention. It turned around and hurried over to Cynthia, and promptly stuffed it's face into the box."
"Huh, you're just like me when Grandma says it's lunchtime." Cynthia giggled. Gible looked up temporarily and pouted, before diving back into the lunchbox. Cynthia laughed harder this time, before noticing the Gible had finished already and was holding out a berry for her.
"For me?" She asked. Giblesimply nodded.
"That's sweet of you, but you need it more than I do. I'll be fine." Cynthia said. Gible narrowed it's eyes at her, before gesturing back at the moaning cave entrance.
"Yeah I get it will last a while, but I'll be fine!"
"G-Gible!" Gible cried, and walked over her and firmly put the berry in her grasp. It smirked as it jumped back to it's side of the campfire.
"Gible, really, I-" Cynthia gulped and stopped her sentence at the look Gible was giving her. She could practically hear it think: "Just eat it, goodness." Peeling the skin of the berry, she began to eat it. Gible gave a satisfied grunt as it went back to looking at the cave entrance.
"Ummm… Are you a boy, or a girl?" Cynthia asked, before instantly recognising the face Gible pulled at her.
"Ok, got it, you're a girl, my bad." She scooted over to Gible and sat next to her, watching the storm continue to rage outside.
"You're lucky I found you. I don't think you would survive that blizzard if you were still out there, with you being barely born and all." Pondering her words, she looked at Gible, who continued to stare outside.
"Hey, is the reason you keep looking outside because you want to see your parents?" While Gible didn't physically react, her eyes betrayed her. Cynthia's eyes widened as she realised why Gible wanted to see her parents.
"You haven't even met them, have you? Where I found you, in that field… Did you literally just hatch there by yourself?" Cynthia said. Gible turned to her and nodded. Cynthia was baffled by this. Dragon types protect their young incredibly fiercely, it was weird there were no parents in sight.
Turning back to the fire, Cynthia threw on a few more sticks and logs before moving over to the wall furthest from the entrance. Yawning, she lied down on the ground and attempt to make herself comfortable.
"Hey Gible, don't rip off my face while I sleep, okay?" She tiredly called out. Gruff giggling could be heard. Huh. Someone who actually liked her surprisingly morbid jokes. Closing her eyes, she drifted off to dreamless sleep on the cold stony floor, the wind and thunder fading away like Cynthia into her mind's subconscious.
Gible turned her head to Cynthia and smiled warmly at the girl knocked out on the cold floor. She turned back to the door and continued to look outside. She was going to let nothing out there come in here. This was, of course, to protect her berry supply. It totally wasn't because Gible actually liked the girl. Gible continued to watch the snow and lightning dance in the sky, illuminating the cave behind her in different shades. What a day for the first day of your life.
OoOoO
Hope you enjoyed that opening chapter! Reviews and feedback will of course be appreciated. I also take suggestions as well. I'll try to update the series as often as possible. I do have work, but I aim to release at least a new chapter every week by Sunday. Also I apologise if I ever mix up tense, I'm absolutely horrendous at staying at a consistent tense.
