"Damn it!" Cynthia slammed her hand against the table, frustration tightening her jaw.
"I don't even know where Sam is!"
Her voice trembled, anger and worry mixing like oil and fire.
"And Olympia, she actually knows where he is!"
At that moment, Cynthia could barely contain herself.
Her heart was a storm, anxious, furious, and scared all at once.
Sam might act calm and reliable most of the time, but the thought of him being in danger twisted her chest painfully.
Still, even in her irritation, worry for him outweighed everything else.
She took a breath, trying to steady her voice.
"Where is Sam now?" she demanded, looking directly at Olympia.
The woman with deep purple hair and eyes like midnight didn't flinch.
Olympia's calmness only made Cynthia more impatient.
"I can't tell you," Olympia said quietly, her tone carrying an odd weight, final, but not cruel.
"Hiss!" Cynthia sucked in a sharp breath.
Her fists clenched. That answer was like gasoline poured onto a fire.
She knew Olympia had the answer. Yet she refused to say anything!
Cynthia's patience snapped; she was about to rush forward when Diantha entered the room.
The Champion of Kalos moved quickly, placing a firm hand on Cynthia's shoulder before pulling her into a brief hold.
"Cynthia, wait!" Diantha said, glancing at Olympia.
"Gym Leader Olympia, please… why can't you tell us where Professor Sam is?"
Unlike Cynthia, Diantha had known Olympia for years.
The woman's mysterious aura and prophetic talk made her seem like some kind of high priestess, always calm, always distant.
Many thought she was eccentric, maybe even delusional.
But Diantha knew better. Behind those mystical words lay genuine power.
Olympia's gaze deepened.
"The reason I can't tell you," she said, voice low and steady, "is because he is at a critical moment of breakthrough. He carries an extremely heavy fate upon his shoulders."
Her words filled the room with a cold stillness.
"What?" Cynthia's anger faltered, confusion taking its place.
"Fate? What are you even talking about?"
Olympia's tone didn't waver.
"At this very moment, no one, not even you, is allowed to interfere with him. If you do, the consequences could be disastrous."
Cynthia froze. The idea of fate and breakthroughs sounded like nonsense, but… something in Olympia's eyes told her it wasn't a lie.
Sam wasn't kidnapped. That much was clear now. But if not that, then what was happening to him?
Olympia sighed and motioned toward the seats beside her.
"Please. Sit down. Both of you."
Despite their unease, Cynthia and Diantha obeyed.
The psychic gym leader retrieved a crystal ball from the table, her fingers gliding over its smooth surface in a slow rhythm.
The air shimmered faintly, as though reality itself listened when Olympia spoke.
"According to the divine revelations of my family's prophets," she began, her voice distant yet heavy, "thousands of years ago, humanity planted the seed of its own extinction. That seed has lain dormant for ages, but once it grows… it will destroy everything. The world itself could fall into ruin."
Her eyes flicked between Cynthia and Diantha.
"To stand against that crisis, a single child of destiny was born, one who would carry the hope of all mankind. And that child… is Samuel."
The room went silent.
Olympia's words hit like thunder. Cynthia's expression froze, her mind struggling to process it. Sam?
The same Sam who argued about Pokéball designs over breakfast?
The same man who teased her about training too much? A "child of destiny"?
It was absurd. And yet… deep down, something about it didn't feel wrong.
Sam had always been different.
His knowledge about things no one should know, his strange way of talking about the world, as if he'd seen it all before.
Cynthia's throat felt dry. She wanted to ask, but she couldn't even form the words.
Diantha was the first to recover.
"Director Olympia," she said carefully, "when you speak of an extinction crisis… are you referring to something like the meteorite that nearly destroyed Hoenn?"
Olympia shook her head. "To that extent, it would only be a mere disaster, not true annihilation."
Her voice lowered, reverent and grim.
"The real power to destroy the world comes from something, or someone, far greater. The source lies within the Sinnoh Region."
Cynthia's heart skipped.
"Sinnoh?" she whispered.
Her mind flashed with ancient myths, the pillars of Spear, the Creation Trio, the legends carved into the very earth of her homeland.
"You mean… Arceus? The god of creation?"
Olympia's expression didn't change, but the silence that followed was answer enough.
If there truly existed a power capable of ending everything, it would be Arceus, the being that had shaped the universe itself.
Olympia finally withdrew her hands from the crystal ball, the faint glow within it fading to nothing.
She leaned back with a weary sigh.
"I'm sorry. My sight can't reach beyond this point. The rest is hidden from me."
Cynthia and Diantha exchanged glances, both uneasy.
Olympia's words had given more questions than answers.
Half of it sounded like prophecy; the other half like madness.
And yet, the sincerity in her tone made it impossible to dismiss.
Cynthia crossed her arms, exhaling sharply.
"You talk about destiny and extinction, but you still haven't told us what's happening to him right now."
Olympia's gaze softened.
"He is… accepting the gift of fate."
"Once he accepts it," Olympia said, her voice echoing softly in the chamber, "he will officially become the Child of Destiny."
Cynthia didn't care about grand titles or prophecies.
Words like fate or destiny meant nothing to her right now.
The only thing that mattered was one question.
"Then… will Sam be okay?"
Olympia paused for a long moment before answering.
"He will," she said finally, "but only if no one disturbs him."
That was all Cynthia needed to hear.
A deep breath escaped her lips. The tension in her shoulders eased, if only slightly.
Sam wasn't in immediate danger; that was enough. Everything else, extinction, destiny, gods, could wait.
To Cynthia, the world itself might crumble one day. But if Sam wasn't there, it wouldn't matter anyway.
Satisfied that he was safe, Cynthia stood, brushing her coat back into place.
"If that's the case, then we'll be going," she said flatly.
Her golden eyes flicked toward Olympia one last time, and the faint chill in her gaze made her thoughts clear: she didn't trust her, not one bit.
Diantha rose beside her.
"Thank you for your help, Director Olympia," she said politely, though her tone carried a trace of unease.
She could feel Cynthia's impatience radiating beside her.
Just as they turned to leave, the sharp chime of a phone broke the air.
Diantha looked down at her belt, where her holo-communicator was flashing.
She quickly answered the call, and a familiar face appeared, Officer Jenny, her expression tense.
"Report!" Jenny's voice came through, urgent and loud.
"The Cocoon of Destruction has awakened!"
Cynthia froze mid-step. Diantha's heart sank.
"What did you say?"
Jenny didn't repeat herself. Instead, she turned her camera toward a nearby monitor.
The image shifted, and what appeared on-screen sent a cold wave through the room.
A crimson and black shape streaked across the sky, spreading its enormous wings.
Its body glowed faintly with red light, veins of energy pulsing through the air like lightning.
Its wings formed the unmistakable shape of a "Y," casting a long shadow across the land below.
Wherever it passed, the trees withered, the flowers curled into ash, and the grass turned gray.
A wave of death followed its flight.
Cynthia's breath caught.
"That Pokémon…" she whispered.
Diantha's eyes widened in horror, finishing the thought aloud.
"The God of Destruction, Yveltal!"
The very name sent a shiver through the air.
Jenny's voice came through again, grave and urgent.
"Based on Yveltal's current trajectory, it's heading directly toward Lumiose City!"
For a brief second, silence filled the room.
Then Diantha's expression hardened, the calm, commanding tone of a Champion replacing the earlier shock.
"Lumiose City," she murmured. The shining heart of Kalos, a city of light, art, and innovation.
If Yveltal reached it, the casualties would be unimaginable.
She turned to Jenny, her voice sharp as steel.
"Alert the Elite Four immediately! Have them intercept Yveltal before it reaches the city. Mobilize every League investigator and begin civilian evacuation at once."
Jenny saluted. "Understood, ma'am!"
Diantha continued, her tone firm and steady despite the storm around her.
"And by my authority as Grand Duchess of Kalos, I declare a full state of emergency across the region. No exceptions."
Orders rolled out like thunder, efficient and precise, a Champion's response to catastrophe.
Jenny nodded once more, then the call ended, leaving only the faint hum of static.
Cynthia had already moved.
By the time Diantha lowered her communicator, Garchomp was out of its Pokéball, its blue scales gleaming, wings half-spread, and tail flicking impatiently.
The dragon's sharp eyes burned with the same resolve as its trainer's.
"Diantha," Cynthia called, already climbing onto Garchomp's back.
She extended a hand. "Come on!"
Diantha hesitated. "Cynthia, "
"I'm not leaving," Cynthia cut in. Her tone was cold but steady.
"You're the Champion of Kalos. I'm not about to let you face that thing alone."
For a brief moment, Diantha's expression softened. She grasped Cynthia's hand and swung herself up behind her.
"Thank you," she said quietly.
Cynthia gave a small nod.
"Garchomp, let's move!"
With a powerful roar, Garchomp launched into the sky, slicing through the air like a jet.
The earth below blurred into streaks of green and gray as they soared toward the horizon, toward the storm that awaited them.
Far behind, Olympia stood at the temple's entrance, her eyes following their trail until they vanished into the distance.
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