Linkage

14

Cynthia was unnerved by the Veilstone City apartment. It was an apartment on the poorer side of the city, near Wes's complex. However, the inside probably was well furnished at one point. Or that was at least what Cynthia thought, looking glass and porcelain shattered all over artisan wool rugs, most likely from Oblivia. She figured that it probably was representative of the inside her own house.

There was this feeling she was getting, an odd kind of sensation from the place that couldn't explain. Her skin felt like it was crawling, but at the same time the feeling felt familiar. Like a lingering presence was there. The presence, however, was not the girl or the child. Cynthia tried to reason what the presence was. It could be a previous visitor, or even the attackers, but the trail of aura was so cold that she couldn't understand.

As the police did their work, Cynthia tried to comprehend what happened. What was it about this situation that could be pieced together? There was random damage everywhere. She began to close her eyes, almost tempted to ask Wes for help. However, she remembered her anger, and decided to try to meditate for a while.

Time passed by and voices were muffled as she began to focus. She picked up Pokémon and people in the sensation of the faint aura signatures. However, those signatures were culminated on the opposite side of the room from her. Cynthia walked straight past the family as she approached the wall. She focused herself right to where she felt the confrontation came from.

And then she saw it. A dent in the wall.

Cynthia gasped and backed up. Someone hit there. The police force came over and began to examine. Soon, a luminol test revealed blood against the wall. Something dark made her skin crawl once again. There were streaks of blood. The police began to theorize, but she sensed a drawing presence.

She felt an inner darkness spark to life. A darkness that she was connected to. Cynthia began to walk towards the presence. She was barely aware of the police watching her as she got sucked up. She kept walking and walking and walking until a pair of arms grabbed her back.

The ex-champion was the aware that she almost walked out of the window. She was in awe of whatever dark presence caused her to lose all inhibition. No, she decided, she wasn't suicidal. This was manipulation. Did someone want her to walk out of the window? Did someone want her to go away?

Cynthia thought of that night in Celestic Town. The night where Wes screamed in her mind. The feeling was the same. It was like this dark magnetism that she couldn't control. And somehow, he pulled her out of it.

She tried to call out to him out of fear.

<><><>

Wes sat up and almost hit his hand against the soldering rod he was holding. Saturn looked up at him from reading papers, aware of the sudden change in mood. Wes put the rod back in its holster and took a deep breath. His hands were shaking.

"What's wrong Wes?" Saturn asked.

Wes took a deep breath. "Cynthia almost just walked out of a window."

He didn't know how he knew that. But the fact shocked him. He could feel her fear in his mind, in his heart, in his soul. And Wes knew exactly what she was afraid of. She thought it was Darkrai and he couldn't help but agree. Especially with what Cresselia told him. He was certain that somehow, Cynthia was linked to Darkrai. But he had no idea what the significance was.

"Saturn, what do you know about Darkrai?" Wes asked.

The executive put his papers down. "What about it?"

"Like, I know that Darkrai is the shadow Pokémon, but maybe you know something more from your time with—" Wes said.

Saturn cut him off. "With Galactic."

"I'm sorry to bring it up," Wes said with a huff, trying to focus on Saturn instead of his own past.

Saturn shook his head. "That's fine. I get it. You need answers. But to answer your question, it was a possibility that was looked into for Master Cyrus's world without spirit. But Master Cyrus couldn't figure out how to use shadows to do that. And then of course, it's also well-known fact that Cresselia is there to provide balance and relief from Darkrai."

And then there was that word. Balance. Wes was a little unnerved. He began to shiver. And at the thought of Cresselia he waited for Saturn to finish so they could pool some knowledge.

"Master Cyrus decided he wanted to find something more finite, so of course he went after Dialga and Palkia to make his change permanent. Of course, you know what happened after that. Master Cyrus vanished into the distortion world along with Champion Hikari and Cynthia, and then he never came back," said Saturn.

Wes saw the look in his eyes. It was a forlorn one, as if his spirit was broke. And Wes felt bad. There was something amiss about him. Wes as sad perhaps that he couldn't do anything to help. Because he knew that feeling.

"You know, Saturn, I'm a bad man. There was a time, a long time ago, where I took trainers' Pokémon from them. I was the best in the organization who did it. Of course, it all ended once one of the members made a joke about taking my own Pokémon from me. I just couldn't bear the thought of...that," he said, looking off wistfully. "My mother. They're her Pokémon, and of course I never quite knew her. But if someone took them from me, I would end them. And that's how I realized it was wrong. That I've done wrong. I've permanently damaged people. And no matter what I do I can't make up for that."

Saturn sighed. "But if you, and I mean the guy who has gone around the world searching to do justice, doesn't believe he'll ever recover, then how will I?"

"You don't," said Wes, "but that doesn't mean you let yourself fall back into that pattern. You have to fight for your region and to do good once again. We both do."

"Do you remember anything about your mother, Wes?"

That was a loaded question. "I just remember looking at the dead body of my mother. And that's all I remember. The rest was just the desert of Orre. I say that's where I'm from because I don't even know where I'm from. Which is why I was shocked when I found out somehow that I have a psychic link to Cresselia."

Saturn's eyebrows hiked. "For real?"

"It has to do something with all of this," Wes said. "I'm sure of it. And the more that happens the more that I'm concerned about how drastic things are going to be. It's like I have all the pieces I need, but I can't put them together."

He picked up his soldering rod in frustration and started poking at the machine he was building. He was trying to figure a way to harvest the energy from evolutionary stones. From what Wes read, there had to be some way to tap into the energy of the stone. The energy that was needed for a Pokémon to evolve.

Wes needed to know. Just like he needed to connect the dots.