PARAGON

  Unknown Enemy Arc [4]

  Chapter 90 : Unknown Enemy

  “What the hell is going on out here?”

  Zinnia burst down the hallway, Anabel in tow, both clutching pokéballs. Upon seeing the burned linoleum where Ash had unleashed the power of the Fire Plate, Zinnia deployed Cyclizar, and Anabel released Decidueye.

  “An attack?” Anabel asked.

  Ash pursed her lips. “Not quite.”

  N sighed and paced over the ruined floor, ashes crunching beneath his feet. “The Cynthia that arrived on this island three days ago was an imposter,” he explained. “It was a Ditto in disguise, and it just escaped.”

  “A Ditto…?” Anabel breathed.

  “Imposter? What the fuck are you talking about, N?” Zinnia demanded, grabbing N’s collar. “Where’s Cynthia?”

  “We don’t know,” N said sharply. “I only just realized what she was, and the moment I spoke to Sabrina about it, she appeared and revealed herself.”

  “When you say escaped, what exactly does that mean?” Anabel asked. “The battle sounded like it lasted mere seconds.”

  Decidueye knelt down to inspect the ruined floor, while Cyclizar stood tall on his hind legs, alert to any danger and devoid of any of his usual mirth.

  “It did,” Ash said. “It transformed into an Abra and teleported away.” He stroked his chin. “It doesn’t make any sense. Abra shouldn’t be able to teleport very far, but Sabrina didn’t find any trace of it.”

  “It is clearly very powerful and very well-trained,” N commented. “I’ve spoken to Sylvester extensively about Ditto. Only the strongest Ditto would be able to mimic a human so convincingly. Speech should be nearly out of the question.”

  “Even still.” Ash sighed. “There are a bunch of other pokémon capable of teleportation that are far stronger than Abra. I think it was trying to taunt us, but either way, this doesn’t seem as simple as teleportation. Sabrina, you studied the psychic nodes planted at Rota that AZ used to launch his attack. Could Ditto have used something similar?”

  Sabrina frowned, but soon shook her head. “It’s possible that a psychic node could have been used to teleport outside the limits of my perception, and that I wouldn’t have noticed it, especially if Ditto was trying to keep it hidden from me. But I sensed no such node when it teleported, and I would have at that point.” She glanced up at the group. “I agree with Ash. This feels different.”

  “Then we need to find that Ditto, and fast,” Anabel said. “It’s our only lead on where the real Cynthia is. And Sylvester, I suspect.”

  “The assignments she…it gave us,” Riley began. “Are those assignments the real Cynthia would have given? Or was it trying to utilize us to fulfill its own ends?”

  “I don’t think those assignments were uncharacteristic of her,” Anabel said. “At the very least, everything it said about the League is true. They have been moving in, and there are scandals in their lower ranks.”

  “Either way, there may be a hint to whatever Ditto’s master had planned for us hidden within those assignments,” N said. “Who would gain if we were to infiltrate and undermine the League?”

  “It has to be Cynthia’s ‘benefactor,’ no?” Anabel said. “That person is the only one who should know of the Paragon Organization outside of Cynthia’s contacts in the International Police. And the way Cynthia spoke of her, or rather, didn’t speak of her… She kept a straight face, but it was as if Cynthia was afraid of her.”

  “Not afraid of what she’d do to Cynthia,” Ash said grimly, the realization settling upon him as a heavy cloak. “Afraid of what she’d do to us. She didn’t want us involved with that person.”

  “Well, too late now,” Anabel muttered.

  Zinnia shuddered, her breathing shaky. “I’m sorry. This is my fault.”

  “This isn’t your fault,” Ash stated.

  “It is. You all were suspicious of her on day one, but I shut it down. I…I…”

  Anabel grabbed Zinnia’s hand and squeezed, hard. “Enough of that. Someone orchestrated this entire thing to deceive us. The truth is something none of us could have seen coming no matter how skeptical we were. They were careful to cover their tracks.”

  Cynthia’s jet had taken off again after Ditto had disembarked, and since the crew was handpicked by Cynthia, they likely also hadn’t known they’d been shuttling an imposter.

  “We should split up and look for clues,” N suggested. “Let’s check Cynthia’s office. Security cam footage, the tarmac, the kitchen. Anywhere that Ditto went these past three days, we should retrace its steps. Sabrina, is it possible it was teleporting on and off the island without us noticing?”

  “No.” Sabrina shook her head firmly. “I would have sensed that. But if it was watching us like you said, then it’s possible it could have transformed into a pokémon that could do that while evading my senses.” She paused. “Or…that’s probably exactly what it did since I didn’t sense anything.”

  “Find anything, Sophia?” Anabel asked.

  Decidueye cooed and shook her head.

  “I’ll check Cynthia’s office,” N said. “The rest of you can—“

  “No,” Ash said. “That’s the last thing we should be doing.”

  N frowned in confusion.

  “We need to get off the island, now,” Ash declared.

  Zinnia rubbed her hand. “You think we’re in danger here?”

  “We are. Wherever that Ditto went, it knows we’re all here. Considering it went out of its way to trick us and we blew its cover, do you think its master would allow us to snoop around until we learned more? If she has a Ditto like that, then I doubt Cynthia’s friend will stop at just this.”

  “But…it’s like you said the other day,” Sabrina said. “We’re all together now…and you have five Plates. If they’re coming for us, then maybe we should wait here and see who they are.”

  “I disagree,” Riley said. “If this Ditto is as competent as you say, then we should assume the worst case scenario about its master. Ash may have five Plates, but she may have six or seven or even more. Just think about it. She sent her Ditto into our midst with the confidence that it’d be able to deceive us and escape if it couldn’t. Frankly speaking, this is not the sort of person I would try and ambush. Right now, she holds all the cards, and we are still in her web.”

  Sabrina nodded slowly, turned by his reasoning.

  “We should leave,” Ash repeated. “Now.”

  “But where to?” Zinnia asked. “And should we stay together or split up? Maybe we could throw her off if we went in different directions.”

  “I don’t think it’s too much of a reach to assume that this person is after Ash’s Plates,” Riley said. “Even if we split up, we’d only be peeling support away from Ash.”

  “And if we split, it’d be difficult to stay in touch,” Ash said. “I don’t know how much longer our phones will stay working. I’m sure one of the first things that Ditto did was sabotage our communications. I think we should stick together.”

  “My phone’s bricked,” Anabel said, holding her phone out.

  Everyone else pulled theirs out, and it soon became clear that none of them were working.

  “Mine still works,” Riley murmured. “Though not very helpful if no one else’s does.”

  “Okay,” Zinnia sighed. “Where to then?”

  “I can teleport us to the mainland,” Sabrina said. “From there, we can fly.”

  “That’s probably the first thing she expects us to do,” Ash said. “Let’s go in the complete opposite direction. If we want to get ahead of this person, whoever they are, then we need to be unorthodox.”

  “Complete opposite direction…?” Anabel questioned. “East is Sinnoh, west is open ocean.”

  “Open ocean,” Ash nodded. “I’ll split the seas with the Water Plate. Then, let’s take a walk to Johto.”

  “Johto?” N said “Why Johto?”

  “It’s the furthest west from here. And it’s relatively rural. There are lots of places for us to hide, and if this person tries anything, it’ll be pretty public.”

  N raised his hand. “I will secure the pokémon Sylvester left on the island. We should take them with us.”

  Ash and Anabel nodded.

  Zinnia suddenly sunk to her knees and clutched her head. “Oh, god…”

  “What is it?” Anabel barked, probably louder than she intended.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Remember what Ditto said?” Zinnia said, her voice hollow. “That ‘Cynthia’ may not have been a Champion for much longer. What does that mean?”

  Ash felt his stomach churn, and hot saliva filled his mouth, bile welling up. He swallowed, but his mouth was dry. No…

  “Hey!”

  Azure light flashed between them as Riley snapped his fingers.

  “We were leaving the island, remember? Come now, all of you! Time is of the essence!”

  Ash’s blood felt like molasses in his veins, his mind a foggy haze. What were they doing again? What was going on?

  “Ash!”

  Sabrina’s shrill voice rang out as she shook his shoulder, and Ash was jolted back to the present. Pikachu moaned in concern on his shoulder, but he forced himself to ignore his partner.

  “Yeah,” he coughed. “Sorry. Get your pokémon and meet me at the beach.”

  But before he could take one step toward the door, Cyclizar barked and Decidueye lunged forward in front of Anabel.

  The floor in front of the door shimmered, a black haze pulsating around in a small sphere.

  “Is this you, Ash?” Riley questioned, his eyes alighting with Aura.

  “No.” The Dark Plate was the only one of the four new ones he’d gotten in Hisui that he hadn’t yet used, besides for erasing Sir Aaron’s memories. If possible, he never wanted to use it.

  As quickly as it had appeared, the orb of darkness swirled away, the black haze dissipating into thin air.

  Ash’s eyes narrowed.

  “What…is that?” Anabel said, peeking out from behind Decidueye.

  “Is this what was in your Master Ball, Sabrina?” Zinnia mumbled.

  “No…”

  On the floor of Paragon Headquarters sat a Spearow. It was tiny, which meant it looked like any other of its kind, and it glanced at its observers, before hopping around aimlessly.

  The only thing that set it apart from other Spearow were two conspicuous feathers nestled amongst its wings. One gleamed with a soft light, and the other was black as pitch.

  “A Lunar Wing…” Ash said. “And…”

  N stepped around them and knelt beside the Spearow, caressing its back. “Who are you? Where did you get these wings?”

  Spearow looked at N and chirped. It didn’t seem to mind at all that its wings carried two foreign feathers, and it flapped them as N tried to get a closer look.

  “Anything, N?” Ash asked.

  N swallowed. “This Spearow is Cynthia’s… Though I think we’ve gathered that much from her wings.”

  “What are those wings?” Riley asked. “Where did this Spearow come from? I didn’t sense its presence a moment ago.” He glanced over at Sabrina and she shook her head.

  “One of them is a Lunar Wing from Cresselia,” Ash explained. “That may be how it found its way here to the island, like you did. Spearow aren’t native to Sinnoh. There aren’t any others on this island. As for the other one…”

  “It must be Darkrai’s,” Anabel said. “Cynthia has a Cresselia and a Darkrai. But I’m not sure what that one does. This is just a guess, but based on the way it happened, I think it may have caused Spearow’s sudden appearance. I don’t know how it works, though…”

  Riley knelt beside N. “Do you mind?” N shook his head and took a step back, and Riley raised his hand over Spearow. Aura danced on his fingertips and Spearow pecked at them curiously. After a few moments, he lowered his hand and stood, turning to the group. “It’s as I thought. This Spearow is from Rota. Its form is bathed in Aura, likely from spending its entire life near the Tree of Beginning.”

  “You’re saying Cynthia caught this Spearow when she went to Rota?” Zinnia said, skeptical. “What would it be doing here, then? And what’s with the wings? And what does this all mean?”

  “I don’t know, but we don’t have time to figure it out here,” Ash said. “N, can you take Spearow with you? We need to get moving.”

  N nodded, holding out his hand. “Come, small one. Let’s learn your secrets together.”

  Spearow chirped and jumped into N’s palm, rubbing its head against his skin. N smiled and clasped his other hand over it protectively.

  “Zinnia, help,” Anabel said.

  “Yeah, I got it.” Zinnia and Cyclizar rushed back down the hall toward the medical room. “I’m getting the rest of Anabel’s medicine! I’ll meet you at the beach!”

  As Ash and N hurried outside, Riley and Sabrina kept pace with Anabel and Decidueye.

  It was an overcast day in Sinnoh, clouds hanging gray and low over the ocean. The air stank of storm, and coastal winds buffeted Ash’s hair and clothes as he stood at the water’s edge.

  “If AZ was the greatest force the Paragon Organization had ever faced prior to today, I fear that may already no longer be the case,” N said, shielding Spearow from the wind, though her tiny head stuck out between his fingers and she cooed.

  Sylvester’s pokéballs were clipped to his belt; N wasn’t sure exactly how many pokémon he had but they took up nearly two entire rows on his belt. From past discussions they’d had, these pokémon weren’t yet battle-ready, as all the ones that were, he kept on his person when he left the island.

  “Yeah. We’ll get to the bottom of it though. The truth about everything.” Pikachu growled in agreement on Ash’s shoulder.

  “Will your pokémon on the island be okay?”

  Ash glanced toward the grove of saplings. “Venusaur and Serperior are the only visitors right now, and Lapras and Noivern are almost here to pick them up. But we won’t be waiting for them.”

  N nodded, impressed. “That’s quite the Gengar you have there.”

  Within him, Ash heard Gengar chortle with pride.

  The others arrived behind them, Zinnia slightly out of a breath.

  “I told my Decidueye to watch the island from afar,” Sabrina said. “He’ll meet us in Johto, or wherever we are after.”

  “Will he be able to find us?” Anabel asked. “We’ll be in hiding.”

  “Oh, he won’t let me escape from him that easily.”

  Ash smiled, and raised his hand toward the sea.

  The waves lurched and sputtered, a crevice opening before them. Water drained away as the crevice widened, a path of dark sand snaking forward into the atlantic abyss. Phantom walls held the ocean back and the waves rippled on the heightened surface.

  “Uhh, is this safe?” Zinnia said.

  “It should be.” Ash lowered his hand, confident in his control over the water. “Who wants to go first?”

  “How about you?” Sabrina muttered.

  Neither Anabel nor N moved forward, both eyeing the abyssal tunnel with caution.

  Riley sighed and pushed forward, plunging into the shadows beneath the waves. “Perfectly safe!” he called, his voice echoing off the water.

  Begrudgingly, the other followed after him, with Ash bringing up the rear. Ash took one last look at Paragon Island before allowing the ocean to empty in behind him, sealing off the tunnel and closing them in beneath the waves.

  The front door smashed open and a line of figures in black tactical gear filed inside in a single line, their pokémon blitzing in beside them. Smoke curled inside the darkened confines as they fanned out, checking every room and hall with surgical precision.

  A Lunar Wing dangled from the end of a thin chain grasped in the hand of a new arrival. His boots rang against the floor; unlike the others before him, he had no concern for speed or silence.

  A low growl trailed behind him as a massive Stoutland reared up behind him, sniffing at the air carnivorously.

  General Nathaniel Barke inhaled, then let his breath pass between his lips slowly as he exhaled. Paragon Island…

  He hadn’t been convinced this place actually existed, despite meeting a few of its members. However now, as dusk fell in western Sinnoh, the island appeared to be devoid of its legends. Only a silent sanctuary greeted him and his men tonight.

  One of them strode up to him and snapped a salute. His Runerigus clattered quietly behind him, surely reading the shadows for any unwanted movements.

  “Building’s clear, sir. They’re gone.”

  “They wouldn’t make it that easy for us, would they?” Barke clenched his teeth. “What about the daycare?”

  “Perimeter is secured, but no one has entered per your instruction.”

  “What are we expecting again?” Barke walked through the front room and angled toward the door to the back. Stoutland followed dutifully.

  “Main threat is a Togekiss, assessed at level 93,” the operative said, following. “There’s a Charizard, level 87. A level 100 Ditto. Ribombee, level 70. The remaining pokémon are assessed at level 60 or below, but there are…several anomalies, so that may not be completely accurate.”

  “That’s what we were told. Are any of them actually there?”

  “Not from what we can see, sir. The building appears empty.”

  Barke’s eyes narrowed. So, they took all the pokémon? “Any other pokémon on the island?”

  “None identified, sir. But we’re still searching.”

  Barke grasped the handle to the door leading outside and pulled it open. He was met with the evening breeze, and the smell of salt and cedar. Stoutland followed him outside, his nose twitching furiously.

  “Any word from the teams on the other Fullmoon Islands?”

  “No, sir.”

  With the power at their disposal, they could be anywhere in the world by now… So this is the price of my failure, eh? An impossible assignment like this…

  Barke turned his nose up at the sky. “Continue your search. Report back if you find anything.”

  The agent snapped a salute and hurried off.

  Barke’s cape dragged across the dew-kissed grass as he walked. He’d only just finished his recovery after AZ’s escape from the World Prison when the higher-ups had relieved him of his duties as warden and sent him here, to apprehend the members of the Paragon Organization. He’d met several of them before and his instincts told him they were innocent of whatever they’d been charged with. But orders were orders, and in this case, he did not have the intelligence on what exactly they’d done.

  It made Barke uneasy, to say the least. Clearly AZ wasn’t Interpol’s only secret; there were players and motives above them that he was not privy to.

  He glanced back at his men, buzzing around Paragon headquarters and beyond like mindless drones. They were good men, like himself, he liked to think. But he could not help but feel like they were all being used.

  This could not be justice.

  Is that why they’d run? To escape the shackles that tried to control them too?

  The tunnel was pitch black as they soared beneath the waves, the great rumble of the ocean and its inhabitants ever present.

  Zinnia, Anabel, and Sabrina were all asleep atop Salamence’s back. Initially, the dragon had freaked out upon being deployed on the seafloor, with the sea itself undulating just barely above its head, but after a few hours, he seemed to have come to terms with it.

  N and Riley rode atop Aerodactyl, and though Riley was sleeping, N still seemed to be awake, speaking softly to Spearow on his finger. Its Lunar Wing glowed faintly in the gloom, Sabrina’s singular gauntlet the only other light source this far down.

  And Ash, riding atop Pidgeot, was awake. If he fell asleep, the ocean would fall back down, crushing them beneath its weight before they even had a chance to drown.

  But Ash wasn’t worried about that. The ocean above felt just as easy to command as one of his pokémon. It obeyed when he told it to widen the tunnel to accommodate their pokémon, and it stayed still as they flew, only moving to close behind them. No wild pokémon popped out to greet them. With the bearer of the Water Plate so close, they kept on their best behavior.

  However, that didn’t stop Ash from sensing the hundreds of them all around him, just out of reach.

  He didn’t even feel tired either, despite the hour or his sustained use of the Water Plate. On the contrary, his mind raced, burning through possibilities and potential scenarios for what could be awaiting them when they resurfaced. He’d taken Paragon this far; it was up to him to see them to safety.

  Of course, that depended on who their enemy was. Who had replaced Cynthia and attempted to deceive them? Who had Cynthia been serving up until her defection?

  Even after hours of pondering, Ash could think of no one.

  How was one meant to defend themselves from such a force, much less strike back at it? In comparison, Volo and Giratina suddenly seemed like desirable foes.

  But despite the difficulty, it had to be done. They needed to find this person.

  Zinnia had come up with the idea, but despite Riley’s intervention, it hadn’t left Ash’s mind since she’d said it.

  The most likely possibility—the one that Ash was trying and failing to prepare himself for—was the one where there was no longer a Cynthia to find.

  Mired in malaise, Ash continued deeper into the abyss.

  Next — Chapter 91 : Elegy