Chapter 24

Lionel was waiting along the rim of the city as sunset came. He had lost Mark, a careless mistake that he couldn't afford to make again. Fortunately, even if Mark did go after Maple, there was no reason to believe that he would actually make it through the forest. He would be forced to give up and follow Lionel's advice.

That gave Lionel the opening he needed.

A human Leafeon. An Eevee evolution and a very powerful one, at that. She had been tough enough to take down a human Blastoise in one hit, impressive stuff for a beginner. Now if Lionel could just get his hands on her…

He checked the collar a dozen times. It seemed to be working right, but he could never tell. There were too many lights and buttons on the thing. Why couldn't they just make it easier on him and have two modes: obey and attack? That's all he needed, just two.

A noise coming from the forest caught his attention. Fumbling, he stashed the collar into his backpack and brought up the binoculars. His hiding spot along the fringe of the city was a comfortable distance away from the forest. He'd be able to watch them come out and follow Maple without any sort of trouble. It would be an easy job as long as everything worked out the way he had planned.

Lionel already knew what he'd say to her, too. It wouldn't be hard to convince her that he and Mark had been out looking for her all day and if she stuck with Lionel, she'd be able to see him again before the night was over. Just a little bit of trust was all he needed. Then when he had it, the collar would click around that pretty little neck and he'd have her. Simple.

Through the tunnel vision of the binoculars, Lionel swept the tree line, looking for his quarry. At last, he caught sight of the old man, in his absurd straw hat, shuffling his feet as he walked out of the forest. Behind him, Maple was skipping in that precious, innocent way she had about her.

But then, Lionel gaped on the other side of his binoculars. Mark was there. Right next to her. Talking to her and holding her hand while she skipped next to him.

"Shit!" Lionel cursed, throwing the binoculars aside. Now what the hell was he going to do? He did too good of a job. They were supposed to be apart! Now they really were joined at the hip! What the hell?

"Dammit, dammit, GOD DAMMIT!" Lionel kicked the wall in frustration. Farin was going to kill him. Lionel had promised him another Eevee evolution and now his plans were ruined. The truly terrifying thing was that Lionel might not be exaggerating when he thought that Farin might kill him.

Preoccupied with his mission to kidnap Maple, Lionel took no notice of the human Raichu hiding in the shadows not more than a block away.

Maple stopped, her ears perking up.

"What is it?" Mark asked.

"It's nothing," Maple shook her head, "I thought I heard somebody yelling, but it's gone, now."

"Oh, alright," Mark remained concerned, but he decided not to press the issue. After all, he didn't want to ruin the night. Or was it that he was too happy to argue?

"So, you know what you're doing?" Aurum asked them for the fifth time. Katana and Billow had retired into their Pokéballs for the night, leaving the three alone. They had trained for another hour after Maple had mastered the Red State, but it was getting too dark and Maple was too tired to continue. Although, she certainly didn't show any sign of it while she happily gazed at Mark and soaked in the warm feeling of his hand in hers.

"Yes, we do," Mark nodded, "we'll meet you in the square tomorrow morning for the 'test.'" He hesitated, before continuing, "wouldn't it help more to train rather than challenge somebody?"

"No," Aurum waved his hands, warding away Mark's suggestion, "I need to see you in a real battle. An even fight where you could win or lose. It's a field test to see how far you've come."

"Alright," Mark nodded, somehow he felt stronger with Maple next to him, like this, "we'll see you tomorrow."

"Good," Aurum nodded, satisfied, "pleasant dreams." He held out his hand in a half-hearted wave as he walked away. The two watched him go for a few minutes before turning to each other.

"So, what do you want to do now?" Mark asked.

"I dunno," Maple sighed as she and Mark began to swing their hands back and forth in a pendulum motion.

"We could…go back to the room," Mark suggested, but Maple shook her head playfully, "we could…go explore the island a bit more." Again, Maple shook her head through her smile. "We still haven't seen the beach."

Again, Maple shook her head, a little more adamantly, "I don't like sand."

"Yeah, me neither," Mark smiled as he shook his head, "we should probably go back to the hotel so you should change, actually." Mark gestured to Maple's dirty and blood-stained dress, which didn't seem to bother her.

"Oh," Maple was a tad disappointed by this idea, but she knew that she should agree.

"Hmm…" Maple really did need a change of clothes, but Mark didn't want to kill the feeling he was getting, either, "I guess it can wait," he paused before continuing, "do you just want to walk around and see what happens?"

"Sure," Maple chimed, "I'd be okay with that."

And so, the two walked hand-in-hand through the night as the first day of the tournament came to an end.

It was a little after ten o'clock at night when Cal heard the voice of his target. He had been leaning up against the side of a convenience store waiting for her to come a bit closer. Judging by the voice, she wasn't far away, maybe ten yards. Just a little bit more and he would have her.

His target was a human Meganium, a sweet little thing about twenty years old. She was wearing a one-piece, pale green dress decorated with pink flower petals around the shoulders. Her long hair was the same pale green color, which complimented her light skin tone lovingly. Truth be told, Cal hadn't picked her for any reason beyond the fact that he wanted to do more than just capture the pretty thing.

It wouldn't be hard, and this certainly wasn't Cal's first time. All he needed to do was get her alone. After that, it was a simple matter of getting close enough to slip a collar around her sweet, slim neck. Then, everything was done for him and it would be over before it even started.

He toyed with the idea of maybe, just maybe letting her scream a little before he put it on. Just a short little squeak would be heavenly. But, he knew better. Any sound like that, even a short, quiet one would be too much. People could get really suspicious really fast when it came to human Pokémon. Maybe he could afford little indulgences like that if he were after a regular person, but not so in this tight little community.

"I just don't know what could be wrong with Silvy…" Cal heard the annoying voice of his quarry's trainer. Her constant presence had kept Cal from making a move. He had found the Meganium-girl yesterday and had been tailing her, waiting for an opportunity ever since.

"Maybe he just needs some time to himself," the soft voice of Cal's target responded, offering gentle consolation, "he gets in these moods sometimes, but he'd never really leave us."

"I don't know, Aroma…" Cal was so far away that he barely heard the whispered words, "something is really wrong, this time. I can't find him anywhere. What if there really are kidnappers around and they got him?" The girl's voice spiked with sudden alarm.

"Now, I'm sure that Silver can-" Aroma tried to respond, but she was cut off.

"Oh my God! What if he really did get kidnapped?" the frantic girl began to panic, "oh, my poor Silvy!" Aroma tried to call out to her, but she was gone. In her panic over one lost human Pokémon, she was about to lose another. Cal found it all very humorous. Stepping out of the shadows, he approached Aroma.

"Say, did I just hear that you were looking for somebody?" he flashed a smile at Aroma, who started with alarm, "oh, sorry, sweetheart. I didn't mean to scare you there."

"I-it's alright," Aroma said, flustered, "we're all really worried about Silver, that's all."

"Silver?" Cal said with false concern, "say…what kind of human Pokémon is Silver?"

"Oh, he's an Absol," Aroma answered, "he usually acts sort of…well, mean, I guess…but he's really nice, deep down…" Cal liked what he saw in those eyes as Aroma trailed off.

"You care about him, don't you?" Cal asked, genuinely interested this time.

"Yes," Aroma said after a few seconds, "yes, I do care about him." She shook her head, "I'm sorry, I haven't even really introduced myself."

"It's quite alright," Cal smiled a winning smile, "no introductions necessary. Just think of me as a concerned stranger."

"Oh, okay," Aroma couldn't help but smile back, "I will do that."

"Good," Cal nodded and paused for just the right amount of time before continuing, "you know, I think I may have seen your friend, not that far from here."

"Really? Where?" Aroma started, "I-is he alright?"

"I'm sure he's fine," Cal glanced around the street, there were a good number of people in the area, but none of them seemed suspicious. If he was subtle, and he always was, he could slip away with the girl and it would be done. No one would know.

"I could take you to him, if you'd like," Cal offered, smiling again.

"Umm…I really should get Lily," Aroma searched the street, looking for her trainer, "she'll want to see him, too."

"That's awfully nice of you," Cal complimented, "not all human Pokémon think that way."

"What do you mean?" Aroma stopped looking for Lily and turned to face Cal.

"Well, most don't think twice about their trainer's feelings after they evolve," Cal lied, "after all, you're all grown up and independent now. No need to rely on immature little trainers, anymore. You can take care of yourself."

"Right…" Aroma nodded and looked up and down the street again, "you said you could take me to where Silver is?"

"Well, where I saw him last, at least," Cal shrugged, "could've left by now."

"We should hurry, then," Aroma said, her soft voice turning hard with determination.

"Absolutely," Cal nodded. Grinning to himself, he turned and began to lead Aroma away from the busy street.

He kept the pace quick, to satisfy Aroma. Really, he wanted to slow down and enjoy it. Maybe let the fear sink in a little bit before the collar snapped in place and she was his. But, he was too professional for that.

A professional was exactly what he was, after all. He had been doing this longer than anyone else on the entire Himitsu Island team. There was an art to it that most of the others forgot about. Sometimes, a simple, yet carefully executed plan worked the best. Provided you had the talent to pull it off. A lot of people didn't realize that.

Of course, he was thinking about Lionel. The stupid kid acted like he owned the place just a few weeks after joining. What the hell did he know? Cal had been doing this before the brat had even started catching normal Pokémon. Now he claimed to be able to catch an Eevee evolution.

Those things were wonderful trophies. Everything their organization had learned about forcing regular Pokémon to evolve had come from the two Eevee evolutions already in their possession. The kid toted around the human Espeon with him and he thought it made him special. The reality was that he was weak and their scientists had already learned everything they could from it. Having it meant nothing.

Apparently the kid was on the trail of a human Leafeon, not a bad prize, especially since she was also just a couple weeks old. Cal himself had been doing reconnaissance on a human Vaporeon that hung around the beaches. The trouble was, she was quite a popular piece of ass and Cal couldn't get within fifty meters of her. That left PureBlueSky's human Glaceon as the only other known Eevee evolution that had made the jump into the human world. And absolutely no one wanted to give PureBlueSky a reason to be angry.

His failure with the Vaporeon-girl was what drove Cal to his current target. He was depressed and needed something to lift his spirits. A pretty grass Pokémon would do nicely.

He unfolded the collar as they walked, careful to keep it hidden. The street they were on gradually became less crowded. Just a little bit more.

A girl and her human Wigglytuff passed by them and Cal gave just a quick glance around the area before ducking into an even quieter side street. He gradually slowed his pace, letting Aroma close the distance between the two of them. Distracted with concern over the human Absol, she didn't have any idea what Cal was about to do. He had counted on it.

With a quick, fluid motion, Cal dropped in beside her. And there was still no suspicion in those pretty eyes. God, it was almost too easy!

Cal snapped the collar into place around Aroma's neck. It was done. Now she was all his.

"Hey, what the…" Aroma stopped and tugged on the collar. It hung loosely around her neck, slipping to one side. But then it started to close, self-adjusting to fit around Aroma's slim neck.

The remote for it was already in Cal's hand. At the press of a button, Aroma's body was racked with pain as electricity shot through her. She made a curious whining noise when it happened, which Cal allowed himself to enjoy.

"That's a good girl," Cal chuckled, "just be good and I won't have to do that very much."

"You son of a-" Aroma was cut off as another numbing surge of electricity coursed through her and she dropped to her knees.

"That's right," Cal felt a light bulb go on over his head, "I forgot that grass Pokémon need an extra dose. Silly me." He shocked Aroma again just so he could hear her make that lovely whining sound.

"You sure are a pretty thing to look at," Cal grinned, bending down so that he was at eye level with his prize, "maybe I'll keep you for me, once the tournament's over."

"Whatever…you want me for…I won't do it," Aroma hissed as she gasped for air.

"Oh," Cal chuckled again, "but you will. Watch." Playing with the dials on the remote, he forced Aroma to stand. A sort of paralysis made her body go rigid as he worked the controls. He made her walk back and forth a few paces, delighting in the amount of control he had. No matter how many times he used it, the collar never ceased to amaze him.

"Alright," Cal sighed before reverting back to being a professional again, "playtime's over. Let's get on with the delivery." Still chuckling to himself Cal led his new toy through the city. Back to base camp, where the others would be waiting for him, the rest of Team Deus.

AN: sorry to bring you down after the extreme happiness chapter, but it needed to be done. keeps the story balanced.

the logic behind the Eevees as being the best for their research stems from Eevee's easily adaptable nature (yes, i am someone that wants an Eevee-evolution of every type) and it's slightly easier for Eevee and it's evolutions to evolve into humans (generally speaking, even though there's only a couple that have made the leap [all girls, coincidentally]).

and that's it. thanks for reading and for all the wonderful reviews i keep getting!