Chapter 4: The hunt
A woman in her mid thirties stared angrily at the two people in front of her.
"You let it get away?" She seethed.
"C-Commander Three, we-"
"Let the target get away!" The woman snapped, causing the underling to cower.
She stamped her foot, cursing when the neon yellow heel of the shoe twisted her ankle. "I give you one simple task and you two fail! Miserably! The damn thing's not even that strong!"
The person who had kept quiet the longest spoke. "Ma'am, it transformed, and Glareos City is very big and crowded with bad-tempered people, and they did not appreciate us-"
"I don't care what they think! The boss specifically said that we needed that subject to proceed with our ambition, and he's going to give me the heat for not bringing it to him. We've been tracking that thing for nearly two, no, three years and somehow it always slips away." She said, her voice losing its anger as she went deeper into her thoughts.
She turned away from the two. "What we need is some sort of tracer… something to tell us which one's our target. Then no matter what it looks like we'll be able to pick it out of a crowd." The lady muttered.
"Commander, if I may," the first person asked.
She nodded, her ice-blue eyes stabbing into her. "Urm, if we were to use a different type of Pokémon, then-"
"Stop! That's a terrible idea! I, along with everyone else in our community, must use the industrial types. They're the only ones who are useful. The others… they taint the world. I don't even know why the boss wants one of the impure, they're disgusting." She grimaced, pacing back and forth, her heels making a clicking noise as she walked across the ice.
Suddenly, she stopped and frowned, looking to the left at Lake Faith. "Is it just me, or is it getting… hotter?"
XXX
Celia's POV
"MYRA!" Celia screamed as she was pushed from the steaming plane.
The girl struggled in the air, kicking frantically at empty air as frigid wind roughly shoved her. She held V's and Nikko's pokeballs against her chest. Celia didn't look down, not wanting to know how much longer she had before she would slam into the water. She flailed around before deciding that she wanted to get the fall over with.
Celia hugged her knees close to gain momentum. Her head nestled itself against her chest, staring at the two pokeballs. She braced herself for the shock of the cold water. It never came. Realizing she was dangling, Celia uncurled herself, yelping in surprise when her pink sneakers filled with frigid water. As she looked up, whatever was holding her dropped her. She screeched as she was submerged and quickly clawed her way back to the surface, keeping her death-grip on the two pokeballs. Not bothering to wipe the water from her eyes, she looked back up to see what had dropped her.
"Nikko!" Celia shouted angrily, glaring at the Lapras.
Nikko didn't respond as he stared into the sky. "La!" He cried, continuing to look at the sky.
Nikko let out another shrill cry. Her heart beating quickly, Celia started looking for land. She had to get out of the water before she went into shock. At this point Celia all she could focus on was surviving. She groped for Nikko's shell, but the Lapras glared at her and swam a few inches away from her before staring back into the air.
"Praaaaas!" He wailed.
She gave him a betrayed look.
"Nikko, please-" Celia began, her teeth chattering.
The Lapras simply ignored her. Deciding that it was pointless, she looked for land. The fourteen year old saw a sheet of ice a few yards ahead and began to paddle towards it. Her whole body felt stiff as she swam.
As she got closer to the floes, her body seemed to feel warmer; the girl assumed it was because she was so cold, so she ignored it and continued her steadily-paced swim towards safety. A small wave splashed her face, water entering her opened eyes. She stiffened, expecting the burn of salt, but instead received the typical discomfort of getting water in her eyes.
Fresh water… am I in Sinnoh? This is starting to feel like Lake Acuity. Celia pondered as she slapped one hand onto the ice.
With a grunt of effort, Celia heaved herself onto the ice, laying on her back. She stared at the sky as she shivered. Her eyes shifted back towards where Nikko was, wondering why he was so fixated on the sky. Celia's eyes widened when she remembered Myra.
Tears welled up in her eyes. She sacrificed herself for me, her sorry, deadbeat excuse for a sister. And now I don't even know if she's okay. Those people might've killed her, and I'll never know, will I?
The girl sat up and hugged her cold, wet knees into her chest, her numb fingers still clutching the two pokeballs. They were all she had to defend herself with if those people came back for her. She mentally scoffed at herself. Neither one of those Pokémon could protect her. V doesn't know anything about battling because she would always distract him during other peoples' battles at the training school with games on her pokegear, and Nikko didn't seem to care about what happened to her at the moment. Celia felt utterly pathetic. She'd set herself up for failure.
The fourteen year old let her head fall onto her knees as she started to cry more. The serene sound of the water calmed her, yet caused her distress at the same time. Her silent, rattling sobs slowly stopped as a feeling of warmth filled her body. After the crying subsided, Celia rubbed her eyes free of tears and sat up, figuring that the warmth was just her imagination. A low rumble brought her from her funk. Her eyes widened and she looked behind her, barely suppressing a scream.
"E-Entei? Hey… buddy." She chuckled nervously, scooting away from the fire type.
Entei gave her an amused glance as he stood up, his white mane flowing behind him in the non-existent wind. "Tei."
She flinched at his rumble and backed away until she was teetering at the edge of the floe. Celia's blue eyes locked with Entei's. It eased her nerves enough for the girl to inch closer to Entei. A cold breeze swept through, causing her to shiver; it wasn't as bad as it had first been though. Just Entei's presence made Celia feel warm. She didn't have to be petting or hugging him. The Pokémon watched with confidence as Celia gradually made her way back to him. Celia trembled a little when nothing more than a foot of ice stood between her and the legendary fire type. She held her hand out.
Entei gave a light rumble, urging her to come closer. Inhaling deeply, Celia took another two hesitant steps and placed her hand on the yellow crest on his face, yelping and quickly yanking her hand back almost immediately. Entei gave her a blank stare as though nothing had happened. Celia looked down at her hand. It was a deep red and was already blistering. Her gaze drifted back to Entei's crest.
"Arceus your crest is hot." She muttered, wondering if she should dunk her hand in the water or not.
She thought back to watching Myra cook. Whenever her sister would prepare spaghetti she would often make the sauce from scratch, insisting that it was cheaper and healthier than buying the canned stuff. When she prepared the tomatoes she would always heat up the tomatoes in the oven, then would throw them in an ice bath to broil them. Celia looked down at her hand. She didn't want it to look like a broiled tomato.
Celia winced at the pain of the burn. Entei gave an irritated rumble and leapt back, exposing a steaming hole in the ice where he had stood. She carefully moved around the hole, afraid of falling back in.
Entei watched Celia with curiosity from his new perch. Despite having just been burnt by the beast, Celia flashed him a smile as she moved towards him, feeling much less afraid then she first had. She wondered if trusting such a powerful being was wise; but she was lost and afraid and growing desperate for help. Celia had never done anything big like this without Myra. Aside from Trainers' School, she'd never gone anywhere without her. The girl just hoped that Entei would bring her home. She smugly smiled at the thought of telling Myra that she'd met a legendary Pokémon. She'd be so jealous.
Once she got close enough to feel Entei's hot breath, she reached out with her good hand and stroked the fur closer to his chest. Celia was surprised at how soft Entei was considering how rough and scraggly the Pokémon looked. The fur was also hot, but in a pleasant way, sort of like how paper feels after it just comes out of the printer or like how clothing feels after being taken from the dryer. It was just hotter.
Entei stared at the girl, pleased that she worked up the courage to stroke him. He leapt backwards again, revealing another steaming hole in the ice. Celia smiled at Entei, growing to like the Pokémon.
"Can you help me get home again?" She whispered, "or at least back to my sister?"
Entei's gaze hardened, giving her a gruff look before bounding away from the lake.
"Entei!" Celia shouted, "come back!"
She stared after where it had left, wondering what she did wrong. Her attention shifted back towards the lake. Nikko was still there, crying into the sky. She followed his gaze, staring at the cloudless sky. Her heart fell. The aircraft that had brought her and Myra here wasn't there.
"Myra… I'm so sorry. I'm the worst sister ever." She muttered, hoping that Myra would appear from behind and say something like, 'yeah, you sure are.'
Deciding that it wouldn't be a good idea to stay out on the ice, Celia called for Nikko. "Nikko! Come here, Myra's not coming, we've gotta go!" She shouted, giving an irritated sigh when Nikko again ignored her.
If I had a gym badge then he'd listen to me. Celia thought bitterly, wishing she'd taken Myra's advice and had a Trainers' Card.
"Nikko!" She called again.
Nikko looked in her direction, then back at the sky. "Praa!" He cried, the sound echoing in the empty landscape before he reluctantly began to swim towards Celia.
Celia sighed in relief and returned the Lapras when he got close enough. She stuffed Nikko's poke ball into her jean pocket, but still held V in her hand. She missed having the Eevee out. Celia walked further from the water, tentively testing the ice with each step up until she reached the frozen soil. Smiling at the poke ball, Celia released the normal type. V still had a petrified look on his face, frantically looking around for the people that forced him back into his poke ball.
"They're gone." Celia muttered, wincing as she felt her burnt hand pulsate.
V looked up at Celia, his surprise and fear turning into an elated look, "eve!" he cried, hopping onto her shoulder.
Celia laughed, "good to see you too, now let's go try to find a town-"
"Hey! You!"
She turned towards the voice, her eyes widening in shock. A lady that wore a blue, skin-tight jumpsuit followed by another girl and boy who wore tight yellow jumpsuits approached her. Celia and V exchanged panicked looks and started backing away.
"Hey! Don't you run away!" The lady snapped, her neon yellow heels clicking on the ice as she speed walked towards her.
Celia froze, getting ready to run. She knew that her sneakers would have the advantage over the lady's high heels on the ice if it came down to it. Celia was expecting the lady to have a hostile look on her face, but it seemed to be more mellow when she came up close. She looked up at her face, seeing if it was the same person who took her and Myra. She couldn't tell though, as it had been Myra who'd actually seen their captors. And with the lady's big, neon yellow sunglasses, it was tough to tell who was behind the lenses.
"Yes?" Celia asked, keeping her voice as calm and leveled as she could.
The lady pulled the sunglasses down the bridge of her nose until her piercing green eyes were visible. "Have you seen anything that may have caused a major heat wave?"
She was about to mention Entei's presence, but decided against it. Celia shook her head, "no, sorry."
The lady's eyes glanced at one of the holes in the ice that Entei had made. "Is that so?" She replied skeptically.
Celia nodded.
The lady 'hmphed' and slid the glasses back up the bridge of her nose.
Can you even see through those things? Celia wondered, staring at her ridiculous-looking shades.
"Well… heat related things aside," she began, eyeing Celia with interest, "have you ever heard of Team Astro?"
Celia shook her head slowly.
"Now you do. We are a group of people who try to help the people and Pokémon of Electros. We often assist trainers with healing their Pokémon on long routes, giving out food and water, and handing out blankets for those who cannot make it to the Pokecenter in time. We exist simply to help and make life easier." The lady explained, her frown deepening as she went on.
It was Celia's turn to be skeptical. "Well, if you're on Team Astro, who supposedly help travelers, then why are you looking for something that caused a heat wave?"
She snapped her fingers, wearing a smug look. "Simple. The heat may damage the ecosystem of Lake Faith by melting it's ice prematurely. It could also inconvenience travelers who came prepared for the typical frigid weather. If it's too hot, then so are they."
"Okay, fair enough." Celia shrugged, still wary of the lady.
"Great, but you still haven't answered us. Do you accept our offer? We could definitely use some more people." She asked.
"Can I decide later? I'm… I'm uh… I'm supposed to m-meet someone at the Pokécenter soon." Celia lied, not knowing if she could trust them.
The lady did not hide her annoyance well, but still continued to speak in a kind voice. "Of course. Would you like us to point you in the direction of Glareos City?"
Celia nodded, "yes, please."
The lady pointed behind Celia. "Look straight ahead, you see the Crystal Tower?" She asked.
She squinted her eyes, staring ahead. There was a rather thick fog, making it hard for her to see through. "I don't see it." Celia confessed.
"Take a few steps forward." She offered.
Celia did as she was told, staring into the distance, searching for the landmark. Her eyes flashed when she finally saw a brief streak of iridescent further ahead. She turned her head towards the lady and nodded, "thank you. I… I'm going now." Celia then began to walk as quickly as possible towards the tower.
XXX
"The Lady's" POV
She watched the girl hurry away. A frown grew on her face, that was the first time she had been rejected after offering a position. In Team Astro's community she was known for her charisma. She wanted it to stay like that.
Am I good enough to be called 'Commander Three'? She gritted her teeth, scolding herself at the thought. The lady knew she'd earned this position a million times over. Losing one potential grunt wasn't going to change anything. She shook her head, eyes narrowed. She wasn't going to lose this one.
"It's a shame someone like her isn't on Team Astro," she began, turning to the quieter, more logical grunt behind her. "Sean, follow her. Sway her for me, alright?"
Sean gave her a look of surprise. "Seriously?"
She glared at him, "do I ever joke?"
"No, ma'am."
"Then hurry up and find her. Maybe tracking her will help you find 'it' a little easier. Perhaps after she joins us, I'll have her work under you."
He nodded, shooting the other grunt a smug look before going in the girl's direction.
She sighed as she stared after Sean. He was a good, loyal, hardworking grunt. He'd get the job done.
XXX
Celia's POV
Celia trudged through the icy path, hugging her bare arms against her chest. She looked up at V. He'd gone quiet as soon as those Team Asteroid (or whatever they were called) people showed up. V stared at the ground steadily, watching Celia's feet.
"Were those people the ones that you know, took us?" She asked quietly.
V nodded slowly, "vee…"
"Thought so." She muttered.
The walk continued on in silence. V continued to watch Celia's feet, and Celia's hand still throbbed and even bled a little. She couldn't wait to get to the Pokécenter so she could treat it. Her gaze turned to the sky, hoping to see the aircraft that carried her and Myra. She sighed, wondering why she thought the plane would return just to drop Myra off. Celia looked down at her good hand. Nikko was stiff-looking in his poke ball, sometimes shooting her angry looks. She flinched, wondering if he knew that it was partially her fault that Myra was gone. Celia knew Lapras were intelligent Pokémon, but they weren't supposed to be mind-readers…
She looked up ahead, breathing a sigh of relief when the tower that the lady had told her about became more clear-looking.
"Nearly there." Celia murmured to V, who gave her an encouraging smile.
Shivering and still weirded out by the people in jumpsuits, she decided to run. She kept her eyes trained on the frozen earth under her feet, making sure to be careful. V hopped off her shoulder and ran beside her, giving a happy cry. Celia smiled at V, feeling some of her worry leave as she ran.
The tower continued to become clearer, the shape becoming more defined. She still could not see the tip, but she could see that the sides were perfectly smooth and it sparkled, making it tough to miss. She was grateful for that.
As the two continued to run, Celia thought about what the lady had talked about. The word 'Electros' kept coming up. She wondered if it was some small town in the middle of nowhere, or perhaps it was a building? No. It couldn't just be a building. She had mentioned routes. A building wouldn't have that. She sighed, deciding it would be best if she thought about it later. Getting to the Pokécenter was most important. Celia had memorized Myra's X-transceiver number and planned on calling her once she arrived in Snowpoint City or wherever she was. Even if Myra wasn't the one who would pick up the transceiver, at least she might be able to pinpoint where she was.
Celia and V stopped running once they noticed a fine gray stone path under their feet. She looked around. There were plenty of pine trees decorating the freezing area, a hefty layer of snow and frost resting on each branch. In the midst of the mini forest were several wood and stone homes. Celia couldn't help but notice how small each house was. Most of the houses were only one story high, with the tallest buildings merely two stories high. Each home had a stone chimney with smoke billowing into the freezing air.
Celia and V slowly walked through the town, flinching whenever people and their Pokémon would glare at them. A few began muttering quietly to each other, their gazes never leaving Celia and her Eevee. She forced herself to ignore them and pushed further into the town. The more she walked, the more she realized how big the place was. It was more of a city than a town, despite the puny sizes of the buildings and homes. Celia continued down the road beside the sidewalk, not wanting to be hit by any cars. She passed by a group of young boys.
"What's something like that doin' here?"
"Dunno, but she ain't gonna last long here, I'll tell you that much."
"Who even is she?"
"Probably one of those dumb-ass hunters or whatever the hell they call themselves."
"Naw, they only had four people."
"Should we chase 'er?"
"I wouldn't, it'd be risky with them cops all 'round here…"
"Aw come on, dude! I wanna hear 'er scream and watch 'er fall on 'er ass."
Celia had heard enough. She picked up the pace, her heart racing.
"Eevee…" V muttered, the playfulness from the run gone.
Celia picked him off the ground and held him close to her chest with her good hand as she scanned the area for the Pokécenter. She was shaking now not from the cold, but from fear. The girl wanted to ask for directions to the center, but after hearing that last group, she was reluctant.
"Are you lost, miss?" An elderly voice asked.
Celia turned around to see what might have been a lady, she couldn't tell. The person was just a little shorter than Celia and wore ski pants, a thick puff-coat, hand-made mittens, and boots. The person's face wasn't visible either, for her hood was down. A heavily-scarred Glaceon was at her side, eyeing her and V with curiosity.
Celia just stared at her, not knowing how to reply.
The lady put her covered hands on her hips. "What? Never seen a skier my age?"
"N-no, miss-"
She laughed, glancing down at her Glaceon.
"Trust me, I'd much rather be at my home down in Littleburg right now, but my friend here," she said, gesturing to the ice type, "still likes to race me down the ski slopes. We used to stay here at our own little cottage at the ski resort here until I got real bad arthritis. I still come down for her, even though she can barely move anymore thanks to all those nasty scars. You see, she had this terrible accident, well we both had a terrible accident back when we were young-"
"Can you point me to the Pokécenter?" Celia blurted, her face flushing when she realized that she'd interrupted the lady's story.
The young girl expected to get snapped at, but instead the lady just laughed again. "Of course, just go up a block and take a right."
"T-thank you, but I just need to ask you one more thing."
"What would that be?"
"What town is this?"
XXX
She felt renewed when she stepped into the center. Warm air blasted through the air vents, warming her chilled skin. Celia looked around. The Pokécenter was cabin-themed, with a nice fire place and log furniture. Trainers sat at little wood tables sipping hot chocolate while their Pokémon sat beside the chairs, drinking warm water and what looked like berry juice of some kind.
"Hello, welcome to the Pokémon center, how may I help you?" A young feminine voice called.
Celia stared ahead. There was a young woman who was maybe in her mid-twenties with long blue hair that fell to her shoulder blades. She was clad in a nurse's uniform. Celia came closer, relieved that her hand would be treated.
"Um, miss? Can you help me with my hand? I burned it." She asked quietly, raising her bad hand for her to see.
The nurse's eyes widened. "How did you do that?"
Celia felt a few people watching her from the near-by tables. She swallowed and decided to lie.
"Urm, I uh-"
Suddenly, a boy around her age practically fell onto the desk, his eyes wide. Without asking, he grabbed her burnt hand, his hopeful look turning into a deep grin. With his free hand, he brushed some of his sand-colored hair from his face.
"Where were you when you got this?"
"Uh-"
"Come with me!" He shouted, ignoring V's growling and the surprised looks from Celia and the nurse.
He dragged her back to the table. Two girls and another boy were sitting there, giving the boy with the sandy hair an exasperated look.
"Really, Jeff?" A girl asked.
Celia took in her features. She had stick-straight brown hair and brown eyes. The girl held a red blanket tightly around her body.
He practically shoved Celia's hand in the girl's face. "Yes, really! Only one thing out there would be able to cause this severe of a burn!"
The girl turned to Celia. "How'd you get burnt?"
"O-on the s-stove?" Celia lied.
"See? The stove. Stop seeing everything as a sign-"
"Riley! My predictions show that Entei's in the area, so seeing such a burn makes me think that it just has to be the work of Entei!" He insisted.
Celia stiffened at the mention of Entei.
"Besides, who'd be dumb enough to leave their hand on the stove for that long?" He added.
"Why are you bothering Entei?" Celia asked quietly.
His eyes widened, pointing at her. "See? See? She knows! She's met Entei!"
The girl gave in irate sigh as people started to stare. "Jeff, shut up! You're making a scene over nothing! Now let the poor girl get that bandaged!"
The boy grumbled but let her wrist go. Celia rubbed her wrist tentively, staring warily at the boy.
"Who are you people?" She asked.
The girl glared at her companion. "See? Now she's acting like we're freaks-"
"N-no, that's not it, actually. I just want to know your names."
The girl straightened up, clearly surprised. "Okay… Well, I'm Riley."
She pointed at the sandy-haired boy. "That's Jeff."
Riley then looked at the other boy. He had coal-colored hair and bright green eyes. "Call him Cade."
Cade nodded, sending Celia a small wave.
Celia turned her attention to the last one, a girl. She had black hair with bright red streaks dyed into it and blue eyes. She stared intently at Celia, waiting to be introduced.
"And that one's Jade."
"Nice to meet you all, I'm Celia, and that's V." She smiled, pointing to the Eevee at her feet.
"Alright, now that we all know each other, I think I need to ask you an important question." Jeff said. "How do you feel about Chasers?"
Celia rose an eyebrow. "A what?"
"A Chaser is a person who tracks and catches legendary Pokémon." Cade informed, taking a sip of his drink.
"Oh."
"Oh? You don't sound very impressed." Jeff said accusingly.
"Well, the chances of meeting a legendary Pokémon are small enough already, but catching one? That's farfetched and I wouldn't count on it ever happening." Celia responded.
Jeff gave a pensive look, leaning back into a previously empty chair. "Yeah, that's true," he admitted, "but my Grandpa always told me that once you meet a legendary Pokémon, you'll never be the same."
Celia shot him a smug look before speaking in a hushed voice. "Well then, I guess I should hang around then, because I did meet Entei out on that lake."
All four of them gave her looks of shock and disbelief, Cade even dropped his mug on the table. Celia felt uncomfortable under their gazes.
"Um… I'll be right back. I need to fix up my hand and make a transceiver call."