Cynthia

> "*Being the champion is fun and all, but I wish someone would've told me that I'd be crushing kids' dreams most of the time. And that I'd need so many spare outfits." —* Cynthia
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> "*I see that someone is feeling unwell...Here sweetie, let me help you feel better~."—* BuddyizedCynthia
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Cynthia is the Champion of the Sinnoh region and one of the most prominent members of Team Buddy. After being captured, Cynthia is forced to undergo a procedure that, not only buddyized her and her pokemon, but also causes her to secrete the Lucid Mist from her body, keeping her in a permanent state of happiness and loyalty to Team Buddy. This also allows her to brainwash others very easily. As a Champion-level trainer and Team Buddy's strongest admin, she serves as one of the main antagonists of the series.

Buddyized Cynthia. Art by Bonus Level

## Chronological Information

### Relationships

Scientist B-A5 (test subject, replacement), Jenny (coworker), Jason (coworker), Boss (boss), Professor Fennel (Buddyization facilitator), Sirius/Stella (passerby)

## Appearance

Cynthia is first seen in her canon outfit, pairing a black long coat with black pants and shirt. Her jacket has a fluffy black trim, which matches the muffler around her neck, and a silver tassel which is most likely the zipper. She wears short black heels. Her knee-length blonde hair is decorated with four black bobbles and covers her right eye.

After her Buddyization, she receives a 50s-styled version of her standard outfit. She wears a knee-length black dress, paired with a fluffy black wrap with a silver ribbon. She wears long black gloves and carries a silver clutch. She wears black pumps, which can be distinctly heard when she walks around. Her long hair is tied up into a beehive and her hair bobbles are replaced with similar looking earrings. After her exposure to Nihilucid Mist, she secretes Lucid Mist through her skin, which can start affecting people when she stands too close.

## Personality

Cynthia is a newly instated Champion in Sinnoh, so she is clearly still getting used to her position. Despite her talent, she clearly doesn't enjoy completely dominating battles and crushing others' dreams. She takes the time to motivate others, but isn't above taking some time for herself. She is very gracious, accepting attention, accolades, gifts from strangers with grace. However, she is not above moments of panic, as seen when she tries escaping the salon. She's also extremely strong-willed, breaking through one bout of Buddyization before stronger means were used against her.

Cynthia's personality changes drastically after her Buddyization. She is stuck in a permanent state of happiness, even when performing acts of intense cruelty. She doesn't take the wishes of others into very strong consideration (excluding the Boss's, possibly due to her conditioning) and often invades others' personal space. When speaking to others, her tone hovers somewhere between motherly and flirtatious, depending on her audience.

## *Alola Vacation*

Cynthia first appears in the Alola Vacation animatics. Sometime after becoming the Sinnoh Champion, Cynthia takes a vacation to Alola. After performing her public duties as Champion, battling and meeting with the public, she and her Garchomp fly off to explore the islands. While walking around town, she encounters two Team Buddy grunts, who offer her a free trip to Team Buddy's spa. Seeing no reason to say no, she follows them there.

Upon entering the spa, the grunts immediately separate Cynthia from her Garchomp. She is then led to a private room, where she sits on a stylist chair in the middle of the room. When Professor Fennel walks into the room and starts getting prepped for the procedure, Cynthia starts becoming waring of the situation, which is only augmented when she hears Garchomp's screeching. Unfortunately, Prof. Fennel straps her to the chair and starts the Buddyization process.

Although she is a bit out of it at first, Cynthia manages to snap herself free from the Buddyization. She starts sneaking though the spa, trying to find Garchomp. Ultimately, she finds the daycare, completely wrecked from Garchomp's resistance. When she goes to investigate, an announcement over the intercom alerts the Team Buddy members to her disappearance, calling them to look for her. When one of the grunts walks past the doorway, Cynthia tries to hide in the shadows, only to run into Buddyized Garchomp. She runs from the room followed by Garchomp, hiding in a lab. She is relieved when Garchomp walks away, but tries to call out in fear when some mysterious figure snatches her from behind and drags her off for another Buddyization session. Claiming her new vintage dress, Cynthia finally succumbs to the Buddyization.

## *Aether Foundation Audio Logs*

During "Day 29", Cynthia reappears as Scientist B-A5's test subject fo the Nihilucid Mist. At this point, her Buddyization is much more embedded in her mind, to the point that she is cheerful about being brainwashed more than once. Her Buddyization has seemed to numb her nervous system a bit, subduing her reaction to the cerebral and gastrointestinal needles but not enough to stop her from screaming out in pain when the injection begins.

On "Day 31", Scientist B-A5, Jason, and Jenny are struggling to subdue some of their other test subjects, especially a Black Belt. The commotion alerts Cynthia to their distress and even though she's supposed to be on bed rest, she comes to the lab to help them. Due to the auditory nature of the logs, it is unknown what she does to the Black Belt at this point; however, the contrast between her motherly voice and the Black Belt's screams indicate that the Cynthia who would comfort a defeated trainer is gone.

After several trials dedicated to curing Buddyization, Scientist B-A5 confirms that Cynthia's exposure to the Nihilucid Mist left her in a permanent happy state. He also credits the deluxe Buddyization she received beforehand as the reason for the experiment's success.

Jason and Jenny reveal on "Day 35" that Cynthia replaced Scientist B-A5 as the head of the Nihilucid Mist project. Jason also reveals that Cynthia and the boss have a plan to prevent Lusamine from interfering with Team Buddy's plans.

"Day 41" reveals that Cynthia isn't quite as patient as Scientist B-A5 when it comes to the experimentation, not bothering to Buddyize the test subjects with Lucid Mist before injecting them. She has also become much more complacent to others' pain in the effort to help others make friends. On "Day 42" the Boss reveals that each of the Nihilucid tests have gone awry. Although he is more directly talking about the slimy Team Skull grunt that was one of her most recent subjects, his word choice implies that something went wrong with Cynthia's Buddyization as well. In order to help the project succeed, the Boss recruits another scientist; however, he asks Cynthia to show them around the labs and to give them a "snuggle hug" if necessary.

## *Team Buddy Returns*

Sirius/Stella meet Cynthia as she admires the goings on in Hau'Oli City. They are immediately consumed by the smell of her sickly sweet "perfume" as she comes up to talk to them. Sirius/Stella introduce themselves just before she snuggle hugs them; the mist starting to overtake their senses. Everything distorts as their brain succumbs to dizziness, but by the time they get a handle on their mind, Cynthia is waltzing into the Hau'Oli salon.

Cynthia is formally introduced during her encounter at Royal Avenue. She approaches Gladion, Lillie, and Sirius/Stella as they work to drive off the swarm of Neo Team Buddy grunts. Gladion is shocked that Team Buddy got to her, but she brushes off the idea that they had to "get her" in the first place. Gladion demands that she fix his mother, insinuating that she was Buddyized. Cynthia backs up this claim, confirming that she and the Boss did Buddyize her after Lusamine's conversation with Gladion. She also confirms that she plans on doing the same with the siblings and Sirius/Stella. Before she can do so, Mr. Buddy comes in and demands her to let Cherry go and to leave Alola alone. Cynthia is unfazed by Buddy's threats and simply starts emitting more Lucid Mist from her body. Gladion reveals that she's the Sinnoh Champion and that they shouldn't even attempt to take her on alone. As Gladion and Buddy talk, Cynthia's Garchomp appears beside her and Cynthia politely asks her to deal with them. Buddy sends out his Alolan Muk and Wigglytuff and joins Gladion and his Silvally in a double battle with Cynthia as Sirius/Stella and Lillie escape. Ultimately, this battle is for naught as she sends Buddy and his Pokémon blasting off and Buddyizes Gladion.

After Faba's defeat at the abandoned grocery store, Cynthia comes in to deal with him. Cynthia says that she'll have to talk to the Boss about Faba's struggles apprehending the rebellious group, which confuses and frightens Faba. Cynthia tells him that Team Buddy members that fail are extremely sad and they have ways of fixing that, leading to Faba getting dragged off by Team Buddy officers to get Buddyized. Once Faba is out of the way, Cynthia approaches the rebellious group plotting at the grocery store. Before she can get too close, Nanu and Plumeria step forward to defend Sirius/Stella and Acerola, giving them time to escape. Before Sirius/Stella can get too far, the see Cynthia tell her officers to start spraying everyone with Lucid Mist Spray guns.

Cynthia reappears, guarded by a Buddyized Nanu, at the Malie Garden party as she's confronted by Acerola. Cynthia pulls Acerola into one of her snuggle hugs and although Acerola struggles, she ultimately falls victim to the mist. Cynthia then leaves with the dazed Acerola, leaving Nanu alone.

In *Part 4,* Cynthia is one of the "Fashionable Four" meant to guard Evil Buddy and Cherry as they finish their universe-merging device. She fights the heroes with a full team of buddyized pokemon, including her Garchomp. She now appears to be able to weaponize her body's mist and uses it to create a Terrain effect that sharply reduces the player's Accuracy stat, making it one of the hardest fights. The heroes are able to defeat her and dispel the mist. She is not cured, but as she has no way to stop the heroes, she steps aside. It is unknown whether she survived the explosion of the universe-merging device.

## Known Pokémon

### Buddyized Team

Buddyized Garchomp

Buddyized Gallade

Glaceon

Lucario

Togekiss (probably on her normal team as well)

## Trivia

* Serena Paige voices Cynthia.
* Based on the context of the Audio Logs, Cynthia finishes her first Buddyization on or after Day 25 (she finds Buddyized Garchomp) and finishes her second Buddyization on or before Day 29 (she becomes a test subject).
* Cynthia is the first person ever exposed to the Nihilucid Mist, though not without some ill effects (brainwashing notwithstanding).
	+ In Team Buddy Returns, it's revealed that Cynthia secretes Lucid Mist as a result of her exposure to Nihilucid Mist.
* Cynthia is a big fan of ice cream.
* Cynthia is the first known admin of Neo Team Buddy.
* A cut idea from the "What if I made a Pokémon game?" involved an alternate version of Cynthia having taken over Sinnoh and Johto with her Gym Leader Commanders to create the "New Republic of Sinnoh".
* An alternate version of Cynthia is revealed in one of Buddy's tweets, "This version of Cynthia is a Pokemon Mythology expert and when she's not studying enjoys watching anime and playing Dungeons and Dragonites! Real Pokemon battles scare this dork though."
* Cynthia calls Faba "Clyde" for some reason or another.