[Story]: The Assembly

The Conclusion

The fight in the courtyard had lasted hours and much to Ariadne's chagrin neither Cynthia nor Garchomp seemed to be slowing down. Doublade's sword-like body continued to clash with Garchomp's sharp claws with such intensity that each collision stirred up a gale of wind. The cobblestone floor was absolutely shattered from their powerful attacks, but Ariadne noticed Doublade was beginning to slow down. "Cynthia is powerful, but I expected nothing less from the reigning Champion of Sinnoh. At this rate we're going to burn out before we take her down, she thought to herself with gritted teeth. Cynthia saw Ariadne's spirits begin to falter and a smirk spread across the Headmistress' face. "Garchomp, now!" she shouted. The woman's voice snapped Ariadne from her thoughts, but the land-shark moved too quickly for her to react. In a blaze of aura, the dragon rush attack hit Doublade head on and sent it hurtling through the air until it impaled a nearby dormitory wall.

Ariadne spun and let out a grunt, she had to act fast, this was getting out of hand. She subtly tapped her earpiece with one hand and used her hair as a veil to obscure her actions. "All available personnel, report to the courtyard. With your help, the champion will fall." The sound of voices resounded in her ear, now all she had to do was stall for time. She turned back to face the Headmistress and smirked, a gesture that made Cynthia flinch from the abrupt change in demeanor. Ariadne didn't bother waiting for her to ask why. "I was just thinking about how you failed, yet again. You failed to stop Cyrus from escaping, you failed to stop the Galactic Bomb, you failed to stop the creation of the red chains and you failed to stop your precious school from being overtaken. It's almost like you want Team Galactic to win, or maybe you're not as strong as people say you are," she mused. Cynthia gritted her teeth, some of what Ariadne said was true, but this had to be some sort of a ruse and it was one she wasn't going to be falling for. Still, she couldn't help but think about the General's words and they proceeded to bounce around inside Cynthia's mind.

The sound of screeching wheels directed her attention toward the main gate where she saw the Azure Express flying off the rails and moving across the courtyard. Her eyes darted ahead of it where she saw a bunch of students on the collision course. Her eyes widened and her pulse quickened, she had to save her students. She was about to order Garchomp to stop the train when she heard Ariadne call out. "Aegislash, Shadow Ball! Cryogonal, Blizzard!" She was sending out another Pokémon? From a burst of light, a menacing snowflake-like Pokémon appeared in the air with a spin. Its bright blue glowing eyes pierced through the night air as it reared its body just before unleashing a powerful arctic blast. Doublade managed to free itself from the wall and came rocketing back toward the battle with a shadowy orb forming between its swords. Cynthia spun back to look the attackers dead-on as the blast sent Cynthia sliding backward along the cobblestone; the frigid blast sent chills down her spine. Doublade swung its swords and sent the orb flying toward Garchomp who sliced it in half with its fin with ease, causing waves of darkness to ripple through the air. "Stop that Cryogonal, Stone Edge!" cried the Champion. Garchomp too began getting pushed back from the powerful arctic winds that normally would've inflicted serious damage on any ordinary Dragon-Type, but the land shark stood its ground using its fins to block its face from the attack.

Upon hearing its trainer's command Garchomp gave the Cryogonal a glare before roaring and stomping the ground with glowing blue eyes. Moments later shards of glowing blue rocks began to shoot out from the ground like glowing pillars in a path from Garchomp over to the Cryogonal. "Cryogonal, dodge it!" The snowflake began performing evasive maneuvers as it whirled through the air like a disc as it evaded the pillars seconds before they came up. They moved at such a pace that the Ice-Type was starting to lose the lead and as it went to spin away from one pillar another one came ripping from the ground hitting it dead-on. Crygonal flew through the air like a frisbee and stopped itself with a somersault in the air a few yards behind Ariadne. Its face twisted into a pained expression and it floated much lower to the ground, nearly KO'ed from the super-effective hit.

Cynthia brushed the hair from her eyes as she shifted her body to look toward the battle and noticed the Cryogonal's behavior. "Your Pokémon seems to nearly be beaten from one attack. Perhaps you aren't as strong as you think you are!" she sneered. Ariadne's facial expression twisted into a momentary scowl before she regained her composure. "I may not be a Champion, or as strong as you, but at least I'm not alone," said the Galactic Leader, her lips curling into a wicked grin. Cynthia raised an eyebrow before noticing movement behind Ariadne. A group of blue glowing figures walked closer, the exact sight she saw when she first encountered them. It was a mob of Galactic Grunts. She saw Ariadne's eyes dart left and then right before she nodded her head in one of the directions. Cynthia turned and saw another mob of Grunts on her left and as she made a complete 360-degree turn she realized that they were everywhere. She was entirely surrounded and she saw more of the Grunts filing in from the direction of the derailed train.

There had to be hundreds of these Grunts surrounded her and one by one they began to unleash a myriad of menacing Pokémon that inched closer toward Cynthia and Garchomp with intimidating growls. Cynthia gritted her teeth as she tried to formulate a plan, she needed a way to get rid of them all at once. An idea struck her and she quickly ran to Garchomp and hopped into the air as she ordered an attack. "Garchomp, Earthquake!" Garchomp waited for her to land on his back before slamming his foot into the ground and emitting a blood-curdling roar that made the Grunts stagger back in fear. "GarrrrrrrrrrrrCHOMPPPPPP!" The ground began to shake before picking up into an intense rumble that sent some of them stumbling. The rumbling continued to increase in intensity as the ground vibrated even harsher. Within seconds the ground began to erupt and the earth began to split open. Chunks of earth shot out from the ground while others ripped apart. The entire courtyard was ripping itself apart as Grunts and Pokémon were sent flying through the air. Others were knocked down face first to provide the flying Grunts a landing pad. The sound of grunts and screams began to fill the air as people became trapped, although it was barely audible over the loud rumbling of the earth. Cynthia felt a surge of hope as she saw them crumbling right before her very eyes; she could do it, she could save the school.

Ariadne saw this too, and a surge of fear shot through her chest as she saw her soldiers hitting the ground one by one. Her eyes widened and she looked around as she heard a louder crackling from above. The statue of Cynthia had begun to fracture and was about to collapse on her, but she was unable to evade it; she was absolutely paralyzed with fear. She watched as the top half of the statue fell straight down at her just before being ripped apart by a whirling metal fan. Doublade spun defensively as it sliced the statue into debris that pelted its trainer harmlessly. Other nearby Grunts weren't as lucky, with some of them being crushed beneath the rubble and emitting ear-splitting screams before their untimely demise. The dying screams of her comrades combined with seeing that Doublade had saved her filled Ariadne with adrenaline. She felt her body begin to shift as the paralysis dissipated. The Galactic Leader had to act fast if she wanted to win, she had to pull out one of her aces. With a quick flick of the wrist, she slid a dark stone from the confines of her uniform and threw it into the air while simultaneously turning and commanding Cryogonal.



"Cryogonal, get them!"

Cryogonal flew forward and obscured the moon from Cynthia's vision, prompting the Champion to look up. The Ice-Type's eyes flashed blue and instantly sent forth chains of ice from its mouth that shot down at breakneck pace right for the Headmistress. She gasped, prompting Garchomp to send its fins up in preparation to cut them before they could reach her trainer; except they didn't go for Cynthia. The sharp chains stopped upon reaching Garchomp and instantly coiled around the dragon's limbs. First its arms and then both of its legs were bound together, causing it to lose its balance and fall over. The distraction caused Garchomp to lose focus and cease the Earthquake, while Cynthia fell from her Pokémon's back and rolled along the eviscerated cobblestone. She grunted and landed on all fours, watching as Garchomp was bound by frigid chains of ice. "NO!!" she cried as she watched her partner get subdued. Her attention was diverted by an eruption of white light followed by the clang of sword against shield as Ariadne's Doublade evolved into Aegislash and flew toward the Champion. Cynthia put her arms up defensively as a reflex, but the Aegislash maneuvered around her body and she felt the cold, hard surface of a sharp blade against her throat. The Pokémon had her in a checkmate hold that would allow it to slit her throat if she so much as even tried to move. Cynthia's eyes widened as she realized what had happened, her eyes slowly looking down to take in the sight of the blade beneath her head, before looking up at the approaching Galactic Leader.

Ariadne walked toward the blonde woman, stepping over bodies and crunching debris under her boots as she went until arriving at the Champion. She looked down at Cynthia with an expression devoid of compassion, but she didn't seem to be enjoying her victory either. "I do not take delight in defeating you, but I do find solace in the fact that I'll no longer have to worry about you getting in the way of my plans. With you gone, I'm one step closer to ridding the world of its flaws and achieving the perfect Utopia. Consider this judgment and my way of holding you accountable for the crimes that you allowed to happen in the Sinnoh Region under your reign as Champion." Cynthia's expression shifted from that of hopelessness to rage. If she was going down, she was going to go down her way.

"You say that, but where were you? I don't recall seeing you try to stop Cyrus from initiating his plans. Even if you get rid of me, my legacy still lives on, as do my students. They'll never allow you to succeed in your plan, not as long as they call themselves students of Azure Academy! That's one thing that I have that you don't, people who genuinely care not just about me, but about making the world a better place! They'll go on to make their own legacies while the people that follow you are nothing more than that! Blind followers! You'll always be alone, no matter what world you live in - Utopia or not!"

Ariadne looked down with eyes closed and chuckled at the Headmistress' words. She slowly began to shake her head before they flashed open and locked with Cynthia's. "Cynthia, you fool. Look around you! You've lost and with not a single person by your side! Where's your beloved Vice Principal, Amélie Beauchamp? I'll tell you where, she's currently leading a group of your students not to safety like you ordered, but to the gymnasium where we have a unit of Galactic Grunts on standby to assist her in boarding them onto vans to take them back to HQ," she said, matter-of-factly. Cynthia's eyes narrowed in confusion, trying to understand what the blue-haired woman was saying. Ariadne flared her nostrils with an exhale and smirked. "Beauchamp has been working with us the entire time. She's Commander Jupiter's cousin from the Kalos Region. Think about it, who else could've helped us infiltrate your Academy so easily? Did you really think that this was a spur-of-the-moment plan? I've planned for this day for years. That's why you lost and your students are going to become my soldiers. You're also a fool if you think I'd turn you into some kind of a martyr, if anything you'll be my scapegoat. You're going to be helping me create this new world by serving as one of my soldiers alongside your students. So you wont to worry about never seeing them again because you'll be reunited with them soon enough."

Cynthia couldn't believe what she was even hearing. "Beauchamp has been against me from the beginning? How could that even be possi-! Wait..." The Champion's eyes widened in realization as she remembered that she had told Beauchamp she was heading to Professor Rowan's lab after the trip to Lake Acuity. That was just before she was ambushed and captured by Team Galactic, her first sight of them in years. Her eyes darted back and forth as she began to process everything, the reports from students of noises and strange sightings of figures in the academy late at night. The incident with Loretta Morozov in the Acuity dorm. All those moving trucks and strange boxes after the Azure Expedition to Lake Valor. It all made sense - it finally clicked. Her heart pounded faster as she processed the information and time finally caught up with her as she realized what Ariadne had said about her. "I-I'm not going to be your scapegoat, let alone your soldier! I'd never work for Team Galactic, you must be high on all the carbon monoxide around us if you think I'd ever do that!" she spat angrily. Ariadne merely shook her head and sighed. "You act like you have much of a choice. You've been defeated, your students have been captured and your school has fallen. You've lost and I've heard just about enough out of you. It's time to end this! Aegislash, now!" she called out. The Ghost-Type emitted a low rumble and its body began to vibrate as the blade moved an inch from Cynthia's neck. Seconds later Aegislash's eye glowed piercing bright red and a wave of darkness erupted from within. The darkness wafted through the air and swirled around Cynthia before consuming the Champion's body like a veil of night. Cynthia's eyes flashed open and her body began to shake as she stared straight up at the night sky and began choking. Her teeth gritted and she began grunting as Aegislash took full control.

The moon in the night sky became momentarily eclipsed by the clouds and the Champion's eyes closed shut. The eclipse lasted until moments later when the process had completed and the moon reappeared, just as Cynthia's eyes flashed back open and her irises glowed bright red. Ariadne's lips formed a smirk upon seeing that Aegislash had succeeded. "Good work, Aegislash, and you too Cryogonal," she said as she raised a hand to tap her earpiece. "The Champion has fallen, I repeat, the Champion has fallen. Azure Academy is ours, good work everyone! We're one step closer to the perfect world!" Their Leader's voice echoed throughout every Team Galactic member's headset, prompting a loud cheer from all corners of the academy. The motivational words spurred the fallen grunts in the courtyard to their feet and Ariadne tapped a button on her earpiece to communicate directly with her Commanders. "Organize groups to clean up the school, set up a perimeter with Commander Theia's technology and sweep for any stowaways. Once you've done that, I need you three to meet me at the helipad. We've got business to attend to in Jubilife City... Sinnoh needs to be informed as to what happened here tonight. Once that's done, we will meet back here to set up camp and continue excavation. I want to hear that we've reached the vault by the time we get back, understood?" The voices of the commanders all chimed in with a resounding "Yes, General!" at once.

Ariadne tapped her earpiece causing the line to go dead and turned to face Cynthia and Aegislash. "Have her return Garchomp and I want you to stay here to monitor her while I'm away. I'll be back tomorrow after the morning news report. Dismissed," she said. With the turn of her heels, the Galactic Leader spun around and walked off toward the helipad. In the background, Aegislash moved from Cynthia and allowed for the Champion to return Garchomp who gave her a confused and defeated look before vanishing into the confines of the ball. Then, the red-eyed duo moved in tandem toward the vault excavation site.

The End