6. Truth
I returned to the Archives after the battle. Reuniclus and I were both energized after watching the rematch and we quickly gathered up the most intriguing books from my studies the day before, including the booklet of sightings I had found just before Ash showed up.
The sightings almost all correlated to the episodes that put Concordia in the history books. Every now and then, though, there were a couple sightings in between these events. They seemed to range all over the Pokémon world, though. One was in Kanto, two in Johto, one in Hoenn, and then one here in Unova.
"Excuse me, Miss Celia?"
I looked up to see the librarian standing across from me. She held out a thin purple book. "You're looking for information on Concordia sightings, correct? I completely forgot about this book until one of the Cinccinos found it. It may help you."
I accepted the book. "Yes, thank you."
The librarian nodded. "Just try to put at least some of your materials back this time, if you could?"
I smiled innocently. "Of course."
Reuniclus and I giggled mischievously once the librarian had walked away. I felt bad about that mess, but I had to admit it was a little amusing imagining all the Minccinos and Cinccinos running around with those stacks of books.
I examined the book the librarian had given me. There was no title and author on the cover, just a strange symbol. I couldn't find a title or author inside, either, and the contents started right on the first page. I shrugged and started reading.
It appeared to be a scholarly article, like something a professor would write up after a research project. The author was a Concordia enthusiast and had avidly researched the Pokémon for many years. He had invented an instrument that could measure the frequencies that Concordia released as it used its own power or tapped into other Legendaries' power. He was able to record baseline data when he was lucky enough to be present when Concordia had stopped Dialga of the Sinnoh region from taking revenge on its counterpart Palkia for some reason or another.
His data was provided at the end of the article, listing times it had spiked, indicating that Concordia had been near. It was like another kind of sighting. There were at least three spikes in between each notable event. It appeared that the author was able to get around very easily, because the spikes also ranged across all the Pokémon regions, from Kanto to Unova.
The last entry in the data was from eight years ago, here in Unova near the Cadens Woods, close to Fanum.
My head was swimming with numbers and scientific terms by this time and I leaned back and pressed against my temples. As much as I didn't want it to be true, my theory, as crazy as it was, was becoming more and more realistic.
The librarian approached me again. "I'm sorry to interrupt your studies again, Miss Celia, but we're going to be closing soon for the parade and banquet."
"Oh, right, I'll just clean up here and be on my way," I assured her.
The librarian nodded and a Minccino hopped over to help me and Reuniclus return all the books I had pulled. Fortunately, there weren't nearly as many as the day before. Within a minute Reuniclus and I were on our way back to the inn, with Reuniclus scouting ahead to make sure we didn't bump into Ash and company. Of course, I didn't know how reliable that was considering how Reuniclus had disobeyed me with Ash before.
It turned out that I didn't need to worry about looking ahead, but behind. I heard someone shout, "Celia!" and looked over my shoulder to see Dawn waving as they came down the street. I jumped into a speed walk and turned down a random street, hoping to evade them.
Unfortunately, I collided with someone who was turning the corner coming the opposite way. I fell back onto the pavement with a loud grunt, landing right on my bottom.
A hand immediately reached down to help me up and I looked up to see Bello Nocten. "I'm sorry. I didn't see you."
I ignored his hand and pushed myself up with Reuniclus's help. Bello's eyes shot down to my pendant, which had slipped from under my shirt and was noticeably warm now. He was already reaching for the crystal when he said, "That's an interesting necklace. Mind if I take a look at that?"
I instantly took a step back, pulling the crystal out of his reach just as his fingers brushed the edge. The crystal grew white hot and emitted a sharp flare. I heeded the warning at once and started to run in the opposite direction but crashed into Bello's Haxorus and promptly fell on my bottom for the second time in the past minute. Bello seized my arms and roughly pulled me to my feet while Chandelure, who had been floating behind its trainer, knocked down Reuniclus with a quick Shadow Ball.
"Hey!" Ash, Dawn, and Brock had turned the corner and quickly grasped the situation. Ash shouted, "Get your hands off her!"
"Seize them, too," Bello said.
Suddenly people I had thought to be ignorant bystanders leapt at my friends, pulling their arms behind their backs like Bello had with me and binding their wrists. I realized that they all sported a large wristband stamped with the same symbol on Bello's coat.
The same symbol printed on the cover of the purple book.
Bello had written that article.
My crystal had reached a constant burning state by now and I was thankful for the layer of fabric between it and my skin, although I doubted that the crystal would physically harm me.
This was not good.
"Let's get them back to the ship," Bello instructed. He and his followers dragged us to the back of the city. They had placed some sort of device on Pikachu, Piplup, and Reuniclus to prohibit them from attacking. Ash struggled at the beginning, but eventually even he gave up.
"What do you want with us?" Brock asked.
"Oh, I don't really need you, just her," Bello answered, nodding in my direction. "But after losing to you today, Ash, well," Bello smirked, "call this a little revenge."
As we drew closer to the edge of the city that ran up against the mountain, the yawning entrance to a cave came into view. My mind raced through my options, but the only thing I could think of was calling on a Legendary. I had never tried a telepathic summons before, but if I wanted Legendary help without alerting Bello, I couldn't speak aloud.
I blocked out Bello and his firm grip as best I could and focused on the crystal, calling on its power. Since it was already shining pretty bright already, I doubted that the others would notice a slight change in it. I just had to figure out which Legendary to appeal to for help. I needed one with subtle but destructive powers. After chewing on my lip for a bit, I made a decision, a risky one due to this particular Legendary's temper, but a temper was what I needed right now.
Mewtwo, Lord of Psychic, I transmitted, heed my call. Lend me your power and aid me in escaping my enemies and freeing my friends.
I felt my power extend across the planet to wherever Mewtwo was currently hiding out and hit a wall. I knew it would resist, but I had something up my sleeve.
I think you know one of my friends. I threw out an image of Ash.
The wall remained for a moment, and then crumbled and angry psychic energy rushed through our connection. My crystal turned purple and I aimed Mewtwo's power at Bello, releasing a small burst of the psychic energy.
Bello was thrown back into the wall of the building beside us. I broke my bonds with another bit of Mewtwo's power. One of the other guards ran at me and I threw him aside like Bello with a wave of my hand.
"Stop her! Knock her out!" Bello gasped.
Ash had started struggling again as soon as I had flung Bello away. He managed to escape his captor and I was about to break his bonds when another guard came out of nowhere and tackled me from behind. Mewtwo's power instinctively heaved him off of me, and as I got my breath back I saw that more guards, all with Bello's mark, were coming out of the cave.
"Got you!" Bello had recovered and grabbed me around the waist, one hand grabbing for the crystal in an attempt to rip it away and cut off the connection.
"Take the crystal and I die," I snarled.
Bello stopped trying to get my necklace, but he had distracted me long enough for the guards to reach us. They caught Ash easily and although I blocked one guard from reaching me, another stole up and threw a heavily scented cloth over my face.
The world blurred around me and I dimly heard Ash's shouts of protests as blackness washed over me and Mewtwo's power melted away.
xxxxx
When my eyes blinked open, the first thing I saw was Ash's blurred face staring down at me concernedly. He was holding me with my head in his lap. One part of me wanted to stay there while the other wanted to get away as fast as possible, except that my body wouldn't move.
"Celia?" Ash said. "Can you hear me?"
My head moved up and down in an extremely slow nod. Whatever they had knocked me out with was taking its sweet time wearing off. I managed to put a hand flat on the floor and somewhat straighten my arm, and with Ash's help I managed to sit up straight. When my mouth felt mobile again I asked, "Where are we?"
"Bello's airship," Ash answered.
"Airship?" I repeated in disbelief.
"They've been hiding it in the mountains behind Monaltia," Brock explained.
Reuniclus bumped into me, floating close to the ground dejectedly. I hugged my companion and he quickly showed me his perspective of the recent events: me exploding with purple energy, the guard knocking me out and Bello carrying my limp body into the cave entrance, through a tunnel, and out into a valley in the mountains where a giant black aircraft waited for us.
Bello had put us in a cage in a room with a circular opening at least ten feet high. Windows alongside it provided an almost panoramic view of the land in front us, including the spires of Monaltia. I realized that we were slowly flying over the city. A machine similar in size and shape to the opening stood in front of it and a few of Bello's henchmen sat at a row of control panels nearby.
"Ah, has our guest of honor finally awoken?" Bello himself entered with a flourish of the large cloak he had don, the swirling silver symbol that I now realized was supposed to resemble my crystal glaring out from the back.
"If this is how you treat your guests," I replied, getting to my feet as the rest of my energy flooded back, "I would hate to see what you do with your prisoners."
"Let us go, Bello!" Dawn shouted.
"Oh, don't worry, dear girl," Bello assured her, stopping in front of where I stood in the cage. "It's this one I want. You're a hard one to find, you know that?"
Ash stepped in front of me. "Leave her alone."
I pushed him aside. "Stay out of this, Ash." I walked right up to the bars, mere inches from Bello, which made my pendant grow burning hot. "Let them go and I'll cooperate."
"You don't even know what he wants!" Ash protested.
"I have an idea," I said, not taking my eyes off Bello. "I read your article, you see. Interesting piece of work."
"So you know how long I've been searching for you?" Bello turned and walked toward the machine.
"Let. My friends. Go. They don't know anything."
Bello swung around, his eyes bright. I realized too late that I had messed up.
"Don't know? You mean you haven't told them?"
"Told us what, Celia?" Ash asked.
"Quiet, Ash," I ordered over my shoulder.
Bello was silent as well, mulling over my proposal. Finally, he said, "All right. They can go. That guarantees your cooperation."
I nodded.
Bello snapped his fingers and the guard came forward with the key and unlocked the cage. Some more guards came in and took hold of each one of us. Brock and Dawn went out easily, but Ash grabbed my wrist and stated, "Celia, no. I lost you once. I'm not losing you again."
"Just go, Ash, please." Hot tears spiked behind my eyes.
Bello laughed. "Don't tell me you actually have feelings for her? You know what, Ash Ketchum, you can stay and watch the show."
"No!" I shouted. All my hard work, leaving and staying out of the way, it would be for nothing.
A couple of guards tore me away from Ash and led me to the machine.
"Celia! What are you going to do to her?" Ash questioned.
"We're just going to show you what exactly you've fallen in love with," Bello said, "by stimulating the energy locked in her crystal at the frequencies I've recorded over the years, one frequency in particular. It took me awhile to pick it out from all the data, like finding a needle in a haystack."
The guards clasped my ankles and wrists in some chains attached to the machine. I said, "At least tell me this, Bello: why?"
"Isn't it obvious? Power, of course. No one will be able to defeat me after today. I'll become the ruler of the Pokémon world."
"You're insane," Ash muttered.
Bello glared at him and I was afraid he was going to harm Ash. But Bello turned back to me. "Let's get started." He snapped his fingers and the men at the control panels went to work.
I realized it was now or never. I had to tell Ash my true feelings before it was too late. "Ash, no matter what happens, no matter how crazy it seems," I gulped and felt a few tears fall, "I love you."
"How sweet," Bello mocked, and then snapped at the technicians, "Hurry up."
One of them responded, "Initiating energy field now."
The machine hummed and I felt a tingling as some sort of energy surrounded me. I felt myself lifted up and I hovered in the middle of the giant circle.
"Energy field at one hundred percent. Releasing tethers in three, two, one, mark."
The chains fell away from my hands and feet, the links retracting into the machine so that only the shackles stuck out. I remained suspended in mid-air, however, the tingling sensation surrounding me. My crystal glowed as brightly as a star.
"Warm-up frequencies, first," Bello instructed. "Fifty-percent power."
"Transmission power at fifty percent. Transmitting frequency one-four-point-four now."
A rush of energy flowed through me and my crystal flared blue. I felt a hint of ice-cold power and faintly heard the high-pitched cry of a bird Pokémon. Articuno, it's not me, I transmitted through the confusing mess of energy. Don't give it to me.
The power melted away and my crystal returned to its bright white light.
"Transmitting frequency four-nine-point-one now."
Another energy current made my crystal turn black and I shuddered as a horrifying power seeped into me. But Darkrai was no stranger to false motives, and cut off the connection without even the slightest signal from me. The room was illuminated again as the white light returned.
"Do it," Bello commanded.
"Transmitting frequency six-five-point-oh now."
My crystal exploded with light now and I felt something stir inside it, a power that I had only felt the tiniest hints of in my dreams.
"Increase transmission power," I dimly heard Bello order.
"Increasing transmission power to seventy percent," came the response.
I tried to send the power back to the crystal, but it wasn't like cutting off a connection. The crystal was a part of me, and so was this power. It surged through every part of me. No, no, no, stop, stop!
Bello grinned as he said, "More."
"Increasing transmission power to ninety percent."
I couldn't fight it. I could feel it working in me, pushing at my form. I was already withdrawing into myself. I looked at Ash and he stared back helplessly.
"Full power, and add the control frequency."
Control frequency?
"Transmitting frequency oh-six-point-five. Transmission power now at one hundred percent."
I cried out as the crystal's last bonds were released. I felt everything and nothing. My body stretched and my back burst open. At the same time, I could feel something worming inside my mind, something that wasn't supposed to be there. I resisted, but I was so overwhelmed by everything else coursing through me that it was futile.
I felt myself – my human mind and heart – falling away into darkness and I closed my eyes and let this slumber take me.
AN: This chapter and the next are my favorites in the entire piece (for good reasons I think). So much happened! We got to see Celia use her power, some AshxCelia moments, and Bello's plan is starting to take shape! I hope y'all are excited for the next chapter!
I do apologize for posting this chapter late. I've been attending a con this weekend and I literally was not home until like midnight Friday night and went straight to bed. But I'm having an amazing time at the con! (My first ever!)
As always, thanks for reading!