Linkage

20

When Cynthia escaped from Wes's window she was exposed to Veilstone City. The fire escape was on the corner of the building so Cynthia could sneak into the alleyway with minimal problem if she hurried. So she slunk down the stairs with the stealth of a snake.

In the alleyway, Cynthia took a breather. Her back leaned against the wall and she took in deep breaths. She could feel Wes's panic. And she wondered if he was alright. More importantly, Cynthia wondered if he was going to be alright. She looked back up at the fire escape. There was no way to know now.

The champion turned her back to the outside street and looked down the dead-end alleyway. There was no way out. She had to sneak back into the city and around the building if she wanted to help him escape with her. And she didn't know how possible that was. Especially since she witnessed how Byron's gym was surrounded earlier.

Before Cynthia was able to turn around and escape the alley, someone grabbed her by the throat and held her against him in a chokehold. She tried to break free, but she couldn't breathe. Cynthia tried to lower herself, but nothing worked. She was going to be knocked out and captured.

That was until she heard something familiar. "Hey champion, why would you ever want a guy like dreamboat, when you have Wes with you?"

The grunt loosened his grip, surprised at the question, and so Cynthia put him out of commission.

"What in the world Saturn? Wes could never—I mean, well..." she stammered and then sighed.

Saturn stepped into the alleyway and gave her a questioning look, "We can discuss it later if you want? For now, let's focus on getting out before we're snatched up and nobody can fix what in the world is going on."

Cynthia glanced at Wes's apartment as they left the alleyway. Sure enough indeed, the grunts were encroaching upon it. The champion wanted to go back, but Saturn gripped her and pulled her along.

The dynamic in the air was strange. There were so many Pokémon that she could feel around her with a dark aura. So much control, so much anger. And Cynthia was being dragged along with Saturn. The scary thing was, though, that Cynthia could feel the dark aura all around her. As if it were trying to swallow everything.

They hit the woods soon after that. The champion followed Saturn until the executive sat down and took a deep breath. Cynthia sat down and looked around her. When she felt fatigue hit her, she was surprised, until she remembered that she had the morning watch over the gym.

"Saturn," she said, not quite sure where she was going, "thank you for saving me. I know you and him are friends, but we're—well we're enemies aren't we?"

The man with the blue hair smiled. "He told me something in the time that we worked together. He said that I just have to fight for good in my region. So we're not enemies anymore, we're allies."

"He's something, isn't he?" she said. "He told me that he's bad. But I don't believe that. Wes is good. But I can't convince him of that, he has to convince himself."

"You do love him don't you?" Saturn asked.

Cynthia blinked in surprise. "I don't think that's right. It's not like I've known him for long or have any magnificent, heart wrenching emotions for him. Nor does he have any of that for me. All we have is this bond, and that's what's fated for us. I can feel what he feels and know what he knows, but that doesn't entail feelings for him."

The executive smiled, "You know, Champion Cynthia, this bond you describe sounds like it couldn't be anything else but love. I mean, maybe it's not romantic love but it's caring. I suppose one of the most important things I learned about Master Cyrus—"