When Cynthia heard Logan's warning, it was already too late to evade.
The warmth drained from her body.
Her once-scorching blood slowed.
Her muscles stiffened—
and along with them, her thoughts.
A strange cold seeped into her mind, dulling even her consciousness.
Her gray eyes lowered to her shadow.
Something was inside it.
Something monstrous.
Slowly opening wicked eyes.
A cruel smile stretching beneath them.
The shadow twisted.
Her brain could no longer process what it saw.
Vertigo surged—
as if she had fallen into Silent Hill itself—
lost in fog and distortion.
Through the corner of her eye, she thought she saw someone running toward her.
Time froze.
"Cynthia!" echoed like shattered glass in a kaleidoscope.
Then—
"Gah—!"
From her shadow burst a deep purple Pokémon—
Agatha's strongest ace: Gengar.
It had been hiding there who knew how long.
Seizing the instant Cynthia faltered, it struck.
Its ghostly body siphoned her warmth.
Then its fist smashed into her abdomen.
Pain exploded.
Her stomach churned.
Blood rose in her throat.
She spat crimson.
But the agony jolted her mind awake.
Had she not been protected by her Pokémon's energy field and her battle instincts—
that blow would have killed her.
Even so, her legs buckled.
Her entire body screamed.
Gengar vanished back into shadow.
Ice crystals above shimmered—
light refracted—
and it disappeared into another darkness.
"Hehehehe…"
Agatha's eerie laughter echoed.
The Ghost-type master excelled not merely at battling Pokémon—
but at assassinating Trainers.
Even Bruno had fallen victim to her tricks in ordinary life.
In a fight to the death—
she would use every method available.
"You endured that strike, little girl…"
"But what about the second? The third?"
"In this sea of shadows… Gengar can be anywhere."
"The dagger is already behind you."
The realization struck Logan and Cynthia simultaneously.
This was a joint attack.
Lorelei manipulated ice to create countless reflective surfaces—
manufacturing shadows.
Agatha's Gengar turned those shadows into killing grounds.
Ordinarily, Gengar could only enter shadows under a full moon.
But Agatha had trained hers beyond that limit.
Logan moved instantly, rushing to Cynthia's side—
Just as a freezing wind howled.
A blizzard roared overhead.
"Lorelei!"
Logan grabbed Cynthia's slender waist and rolled, narrowly avoiding slicing ice shards.
At that moment—
A shadow twisted again.
Gengar emerged.
"Damn that Gengar!"
Logan's eyes flashed with fury.
He ripped off his Champion's cloak and hurled it at Gengar.
The sudden new shadow disrupted it—
and Gengar plunged instinctively into the cloak's darkness.
"That trick won't work forever…"
Agatha's voice sneered.
"Misdreavus—Shadow Ball!"
She treated Misdreavus like artillery, bombarding from above.
A corrosive energy sphere detonated at Logan's feet.
Simultaneously—
frost spread across the Onix-web bridge.
Logan and Cynthia slipped—
sliding downward—
toward the bubbling acid below.
"Logan!"
Cynthia gasped.
The poison pool frothed beneath them.
As they fell—
Logan wrapped his arms around her.
Tight.
His Champion's cloak gone, only a thin shirt separated their skin.
Their bodies pressed fully together.
Cynthia's warmth—
her shape—
her heartbeat—
he felt all of it.
Seeing him hold her as if shielding her from the acid—
she panicked.
She tried to twist—
to take the lower position herself.
"Don't move! Trust me!"
Her struggling only increased the pressure between them—
but this was no time for distraction.
Logan hooked his legs around hers, locking her in place.
Cynthia steadied.
She trusted him.
Blushing fiercely—
yet resolute—
she tightened her hold around his waist.
The position was dangerously intimate.
Agatha's face darkened at the sight.
Her cane slammed repeatedly against the ground.
Misdreavus fired wildly.
Acid splashed skyward.
"If you want to die together—"
"Then perish here in lovers' suicide!"
Agatha shrieked.
But then—
Just before they plunged into the acid—
Logan's back hit something.
Solid.
They stopped.
Midair.
"What—?!"
Agatha stared.
No psychic waves surrounded Logan.
Humans could not fly unaided.
And she had been watching Eevee carefully—it had not evolved into Espeon.
Then—
Her eyes widened.
"…Flowing Cloud Lines?!"
Dragon-type Pokémon leave invisible currents in the sky when they fly—
only visible to those with special perception.
To such people, they are as solid as ground.
And now—
The entire acid pool was laced with Flowing Cloud Lines.
Anyone else would fall and dissolve.
Logan could stand.
The battlefield reversed.
The acid pool—once their death trap—
became Logan's weapon.
"Where did the Dragon-type fly to create this many lines—"
Agatha's expression changed.
"…Latias!"
"Too late to notice now, Agatha!"
Logan roared.
"Witness the wrath of dragons!"
"Latias—Dragon Pulse!"
A dragon's cry exploded.
Latias appeared just five meters from Agatha—
having warped light to remain invisible.
She had been flying above the acid pool this entire time—
laying Flowing Cloud Lines in preparation.
Dragon energy surged outward—
a brilliant shockwave of draconic force—
slamming into Agatha and Misdreavus.
"Gah—!"
Agatha's frail body was hurled backward—
crashing into rock.
She collapsed, gasping.
Age was merciless.
She struggled to rise.
"Unforgivable… unforgivable…"
She hissed curses.
But Latias vanished again into light distortion.
The master of ambush—
had fallen to an ambush.
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