Summary: Human turned Pokémon have suddenly started disappearing without explanation. Their teammates and loved ones are left to scramble about in worry and wonder as to where their missing friends may be. However, the arrival of Celine, a newly human turned Pokémon, suggests that the Pokémon world is in danger once again. As she sets out on her journey, she is blissfully unaware of the darkness that follows her and her team…
-x-x-x-x-
Chapter 4: The Heart that Echoed
It was that same dream again. She twitched feverously in her sleep as the same voices haunted her. The blurry scene still provided no insight. The only thing she could make out clearly was the fact that there were eight pokémon, including herself. But this time the dream ended differently.
The words were almost clearer. She strained her ears, desperate to discover what was going on.
"…You…hurt…not…allowing…!"
"Ha! …nothing!"
"…me!"
Suddenly she saw an orb of darkness being hurled in her direction. Too injured to move, she watched in growing fear as the dark orb grew closer. Something jumped in front of her. "AIDEN! NO!"
Startled, she jumped up from her bed. She stood there for five minutes, panting and calming herself down. For some unexplainable reason she felt the fear inside of her growing and making it nearly impossible to breathe.
She hadn't realized she screamed until Aiden and Grovyle came barreling into her room. She yelped and jumped back. Vivian walked in a moment later, shaking her head in mild amusement as Grovyle and Aiden groaned in pain.
"Will you get off of me?" Aiden snapped.
"Sorry," Grovyle grumbled, getting off the young pokémon. Aiden grumbled and dusted himself off.
Meanwhile, Vivian checked in with a surprised Celine. "Are you alright?"
"Y-yeah. Did I wake everyone up?" Vivian nodded, causing Celine to groan. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to wake anyone up."
Vivian eyed Aiden from the corner of her eyes. "It involved him, didn't it?"
Celine's ears flattened and she lowered her gaze. "Nobody else really heard that part, or at least I don't think so. Grovyle and Aiden were asleep. I was reading something when I heard you scream. These two just came running in. Anyway, do you want to talk about it?"
She shook her head. "No…"
"What's the humanoid screaming about now?" Lizette grumbled as she entered the room. Celine flinched at the cruelness behind her words. Everyone else looked shocked. Lizette stared at all of them. "What? I'm just asking."
"You don't need to be rude about it." Aiden countered.
Lizette glared at him. "I'm not being rude. This is the fifth time this month she woke everyone up with her screaming. Can't blame me if I'm getting a little tired of it."
"Then go to your own house. No need for you to stay here," Aiden crossed his arms.
Lizette mirrored the action, but with a sneer. "Oh, is that the nicest way you can ask one of your friends to leave?" she emphasized on the friends.
"What the heck is your problem? You've been acting like a spoiled brat for a few weeks now."
Lizette's ears went back, offended with Aiden's choice of wording. "I don't think that's any of your business."
"Well, instead of acting like a brat then," he begun with a snarl, "maybe you could be a bit nicer?"
"Aiden… it's fine. I'm sorry Lizette for waking you," Celine smiled apologetically and bowed her head. Lizette stared at her and shrugged. "You should be. Night." She left the room without saying anything else.
Grovyle's eyes narrowed. He snuck out of the room to follow her as she left the house. In the meantime, Vivian and Aiden ignored her and tended to Celine. "I really didn't mean to wake anyone up. And I am so sorry for disturbing Lizette…"
"Don't worry about her. She's moody." Aiden rolled his eyes and hugged Celine. "Are you alright? What were you screaming about?"
Celine lowered her gaze. Aiden understood almost immediately. "You had that nightmare again, didn't you? Did it come in any clearer?"
She shook her head. Despite the fact that she got more than usual, she didn't want to raise his hopes. She noticed the worry laced on his face, but was glad that he didn't press her for any more information.
Hoping to change the subject, Vivian voiced her troubled thoughts. "What exactly has been bugging Lizette lately? She never was this moody before. Did something happen between you three?"
"I don't know," Aiden grumbled, obviously not too happy with his friend. "She's been giving Celine the cold shoulder for no explanation. Whenever I try talking to her, she just snaps and storms off. I don't even know why she bothers even sleeping over. I never asked her to."
She hadn't said anything, but Celine had a few theories of her own. She was partially surprised that Vivian didn't understand it. Lizette was jealous. She was jealous of the close bond between Aiden and her. And she even hated Aiden for not even acknowledging her attempts to get in his favor.
Celine knew the meowstic had a crush on him. She made almost obvious gestures towards the riolu. He shrugged them off, paying more attention to her. And that shoved the hard, cold truth down her throat painfully: Aiden didn't feel the same about her. So now, out of jealously, she treated Celine as if she were a parasite.
The only reason why she came to that conclusion was because she remembered it was a common feeling she felt when she was a human. Not to mention she was a female herself, and such expressions and motivations were easy to figure out.
She blushed when Aiden pulled her close, ranting about his anger with Lizette and her recent behavior. Vivian, from the corner of her eye, noticed the fennekin's blush and smiled. Before long, she was passed out in his arms with a big smile on her face.
-x-x-x-x-
She woke with a groan. Her ears flickered as Aiden's whispered voice registered. She lifted her head, slightly dazed from just waking up. Stretching, she got up and made her way towards the door. She stopped abruptly as she heard, "What do you mean you two were attacked?"
"Well, it means what I said. We were attacked."
"Any internal injuries?" Vivian whispered. "You look horrible."
"I'm fine," came Grovyle's voice. "It's Lizette I'm worried about. I was knocked out before I could do anything, but I know that she was taken in the midst of all of this chaos."
"Kidnapped?" Vivian gasped. "But that cannot be! She's not a human! Why would the kidnappers change?"
"To mislead us," Aiden murmured, "which only means one thing."
"It could mean many things." Grovyle said. "The main question and concern I have is if they're suspicious of us."
"How do we know that these are even the same kidnappers that have taken the human turned pokémon hostage?" Silver said. "For all we know this is an entirely different group with a different purpose in mind."
Celine poked her head out and looked at everyone. All of them were frowning, or had their heads bowed in deep thought. Aiden was the one to speak. "Why do you think this group would be suspicious of us, Grovyle?"
"Well, when you told me you brought her to town and had eyes on you… maybe not everyone assumed she was just 'injured,' as your friend may have claimed. And since she was new, it probably aroused suspicion."
"If that's the case, why didn't they go for her instead?" Aiden frowned. Grovyle sighed and shrugged. "I'm not sure. They might be using Lizette to get her to come out."
"Or," Vivian cut in, "they don't know anything about Celine, but have suspicions that Lizette does. Thus, capturing her to get information. And only one group comes to mind."
"You really think Poisonix was involved?" Aiden asked, a troubled look on her face. "That would make sense since they were the most suspicious of us than anyone else, but they couldn't go around kidnapping pokémon! They're a rescue team, or exploration team, I don't know which, but by doing that they're putting their badges at risk!"
"They might not care. And it might just be a ruse." Vivian said.
"It's no ruse," Silver interjected, "I've heard of them before we came here. They are a qualified rescue team. However, it was their infamous way of saving pokémon that earned them the bad reputation."
"The attitudes don't help." Vivian snorted. Silver chuckled.
Aiden wasn't laughing. He looked worried and confused. Vivian, sensing this, sighed and looked at him sadly. "In this day and time I'm afraid you're going to have to realize not all rescue/exploration teams are good. Some are evil. Poisonix has a bad rep. Plus they were the only ones in town to be extremely wary of Celine, and I'm sure they know that Lizette is among the gossipers. She would have information and they probably kidnapped her to find out what she knows."
He shook his head. "But we don't know any of that! We don't know that they have anything to do with this. We're just assuming because they have a bad name. Lizette is a friend and she's in danger. The more we sit here and discuss possible leads is another second she's being hurt! I understand everyone is wary of them, but still…kidnapping? You really think they'd go that far?"
"Wouldn't be the first time that a rescue team was bad and hurt others to gain knowledge." Silver snorted, remembering Team Skull. "Aiden, perhaps it is best we leave Celine to sleep. Let us all go and gather information. You are right – the more we sit here and debate is another second that Lizette is in danger. And all of us don't want Lizette to spill the beans about Celine's real identity."
"Someone should stay behind," Grovyle said. Vivian nodded in agreement. "If we all go then that leaves Celine vulnerable to attack. Yes, she has gotten stronger but she's not strong enough to deal with a group of pokémon on her own."
"I'll stay," Aiden said. "I'm worried about her. She hasn't been herself since she started getting those nightmares."
Silver looked a little uncertain of the idea. Grovyle and Vivian exchanged looks and nodded. "Very well," Vivian said, "we'll try to be as quick as we possibly can."
Aiden offered a weak smile. Truthfully, he felt uncertain of himself. He could handle one pokémon, but a group? He wasn't sure if he'd be able to do much. And then it would depend on how strong they were and what type of advantages they had. The only advantage he had, if things went wrong, was the nearby town.
Celine disappeared back in her room with a frown. Part of her felt responsible for her uneasiness.
She noticed something move in the corner of her eye and spun around to see a letter falling into her room from the window. She ran over and poked her head out to see if there was anything, but she had just missed the figure. She frowned and turned her attention to the letter.
When she opened it, she realized that her worst fear had come true: Lizette was captured in order to bait her. Despite all the work the group had done to disguise Celine's true identity, it appeared that someone didn't buy it.
The note urged her to come alone, or else Lizette would get hurt. Celine shot a glance at her doorway. Part of her urged her to tell Aiden, but the other half told her that she needed to go alone otherwise Lizette would get hurt because of her. She knew it was a trap, and she knew the chances of her getting out of there were slim to none, but she needed to take the chance to help Lizette.
Confident in her final decision, she grabbed her bag and slipped the letter in. She climbed out of the window as quietly and quickly as she could. When she was out, she darted off in the direction of the nearby forest – called Sivilan Forest – and prayed she made the right decision.
A few moments later, Aiden entered her room. "Celine?" he called, looking around the room for any trance of her. Eventually his eyes settled on the letter resting at the foot of her window.
After reading it himself, he felt his panic increasing rapidly. He cursed under his breath. Vivian and her team had already left. Sighing, he came to a conclusion and ran out of the house.
He was going after her.
-x-x-x-x-
The dungeon wasn't easy for Celine, but she'd somehow made it. She was out of breath and a little tired, but she felt a sudden rush of adrenaline when she saw Lizette tied to a nearby tree. "Lizette!"
Lizette snapped her head up and gasped. "C-celine?! Why are you here?! Run!"
"No! I'm not leaving without you!" Celine said.
"Acting heroic isn't going to save you from your fate," came a familiar voice. Celine snarled. "Team Poisonix!"
At the mention of their name, the three members appeared with smirks on their faces. "Did you really think you evaded our suspicions?"
"I had hoped to," Celine grumbled.
"You should've… blended in a little more instead of making it painfully obvious, human." Gothitelle sneered.
Celine took a couple steps back. "So what? You know who I really am. Why involve innocents?"
"How else were we going to get you away from your friends?" taunted Seviper. "Unfortunately for us, you did have quite the advantage with past heroes on your side. But thankfully we found a weak point in your little assembly! Poor, poor, poor little Lizette – jealous because her crush loves another!"
"We don't love each other." Celine snorted. "We're just real close! But now I'm here, so let Lizette go! She has nothing to do with this. This is between you and me."
"Did I not say acting heroic would not save you from your fate?" Banette shook his head. "Or are you just dull in the head?"
"Who says I'm acting?" Celine got into a fighting pose.
Gothitelle stared at her for a moment and burst out laughing. "Oh this is just adorable! Our master will have quite the jester on his hands!"
In an attempt to show she wasn't fooling around, she shot an ember attack in their direction. Gothitelle smirked as she brushed it off with a physic barrier. Celine paled.
"Was that the best you could do?" Gothitelle mocked. When Celine didn't answer she chuckled and raised both arms, her eyes taking on a purple hue. "Allow me to show you true power!"
Celine braced herself. She felt the sharp pain a second later as she was sent barreling into a nearby tree. She fell to the ground, whimpering and groaning from the sharp pain throughout her body. Just as I thought, she lifted her head to see Gothitelle laughing. I'm hopelessly out matched!
"Celine!" Celine felt horror grip her as Aiden's familiar voice registered through her pain. Flashbacks of her dream appeared and increased her fear rapidly.
She looked in his direction horrified. "What are you doing here?"
Aiden had no time to respond. He barely avoided the psychic blast that Gothitelle had shot. He glared at her and she smirked deviously in return. "I thought we made it perfectly clear that you were to come here alone or else face the consequences."
"But I did! I didn't tell anyone about this!" Celine pleaded, growing even more fearful as Seviper slithered beside Lizette. She winced and moved her face away as he leaned towards her face, venom dripping off his fangs. "No! Leave her alone!"
Determined to defend Lizette from any harm, Celine made the first move. She jumped to her feet – ignoring the pain that shot through her body – and dashed towards Seviper in an attempt to tackle him.
Already having seen it coming, he spun around just in time to slam his tail in her face. She was sent flying back into the tree. Aiden was beside her in seconds with a worried look. "Do you honestly believe you stand a chance against US?" Seviper chuckled darkly, curling his tail delightfully.
Celine lifted her head slowly. All she could feel was pain. It hurt to move. Through half-lidded eyelids, she noticed that Aiden stood in front of her. "R-run…"
"I'm not leaving you." Aiden said determinedly.
Gothitelle and her gang exchanged amused stares. Gothitelle placed her hand on her hip as she smirked down at Aiden. She raised an eyebrow as she spoke, "And just what makes you think you'll make a difference? Your friend here has betrayed you. Your girlfriend is weak. And you? You have no hope of standing against us."
Her eyes took on a purple hue as Aiden's figure was outlined in purple. He was lifted off a ground a moment later. He struggled to get free, but had no such luck.
Celine's ears flattened against her skull as she watched Gothitelle slam him into a tree. Not a moment later he was bombarded with shadow balls. "AIDEN!"
Gothitelle and her gang laughed in sickening glee as Aiden remained on the ground motionless.
She tried getting to her feet, but collapsed. Banette turned to her, a purple orb starting to form around his fist. Celine jammed her eyes shut. "You won't hurt Celine! I'm not allowing you to hurt her anymore!"
Celine's eyes shot open in horror. Aiden was struggling to stand, her eyes locked on Team Poisonix in pure hatred. "Ha! You can do nothing!"
NO! Celine's mind screamed. "Try me!"
And just like her dream, she saw an orb of darkness being shot from Banette towards her. She struggled to get up and move. And just like the dream, Aiden jumped in front of her and she found herself screaming, "AIDEN NO!"
Aiden collapsed in front of her. Lizette screamed in utter horror. Celine stared at his motionless body with wide, teary eyes. She whispered his name and crawled towards him. She continued calling him name as she shook him. He gave her no response.
Suddenly she screamed and a ray of blinding light engulfed her. The trio of pokémon, startled by this unexpected turn of events, took a couple of steps back. When the light vanished, a braixen was seen holding Aiden close to her chest.
For some time, nobody said anything. Eventually, it was Lizette who broke the silence and caught the attention of the newly evolved Celine. "Celine…?"
Celine snapped her head up. Tears were running down her cheek. She gently placed Aiden on the ground, offering a small smile. But as she rose she locked her hateful, unmoving glare on Gothitelle and her team.
She began walking towards them with her right fist being surrounded by fire. Unnerved by this, Seviper attacked first. He dashed towards her and readied his fangs.
Celine easily sidestepped him, grabbed his tail and slammed him down on the ground. She stomped on his tail a second later, earning a cry of pain from the snake. Banette, who had charged right after Seviper, earned himself a fire punch to the face and was sent barreling past Gothitelle and into the bushes.
Gothitelle grunted and took a step back. Celine snarled and began walking towards her, only to stop moments later at the sound of Aiden's voice. She spun around to see that he was slightly alarmed to see her new form. "Is that you, Celine…?"
She ran back to him and scooped him into her arms. She held him tightly, rubbing her face in the crook of his neck as she sniffled and whispered, "I was so scared…"
"You… you evolved…" Aiden stated, looking over her new form. She looked confused until she looked at herself. "I…I did!"
Celine smiled brightly. "I don't even know how I evolved. I just… when I saw you get hurt… something snapped. I wanted to protect you."
He smiled and rested her hand on top of hers. "I'm glad that you evolved. I'm sorry for getting in your way."
She shook her head furiously. "You didn't get in my way!"
Suddenly she was picked off of the ground with Gothitelle's power. Celine struggled and snarled at Gothitelle whose eyes were narrowed dangerously. "Just because you evolved doesn't mean your safe from my WRATH!"
Despite how injured he was, Aiden got to his feet and limped towards Gothitelle. She watched him amusedly. "You really think you can take ME on like that? You truly are a pathetic pokémon. Now, allow me to put you out of your misery!"
"NO!" Celine squirmed. Gothitelle smirked, ignoring Celine's cry as she shot a psychic wave in Aiden's direction.
But before the attack could hit him, a ray of light engulfed him. He'd been determined to protect Celine, even if it cost him his life. Her heart, hell-bent on protecting him and Lizette, encouraged him to dig deeper within to obtain the strength he needed to protect her.
Gothitelle backed away, Seviper and Banette jumping in front of her. "Both evolved?!" She shrieked. "Impossible!"
"Then maybe you shouldn't underestimate our bonds, Gothitelle," a deep, but familiar voice spoke. The light disappeared revealing that Aiden was now a lucario. The wounds he's previously had were gone. He looked awfully angry, his eyes narrowed dangerously.
The bushes behind him rustled. A moment later, Vivian jumped out and snarled at Gothitelle. Grovyle and Silver soon accompanied her.
Gothitelle released Celine from her psychic power and backed away. Banette bit his lip and eyed her from the corner of his eye. She growled and nodded. "Sorry, but I don't stay and fight when I know the odds are against me. You may have escaped this time, human, but I can guarantee that you're going to soon regret not coming with us." And with that, Team Poisonix vanished in a flash of light.
Celine glared at the spot where Gothitelle had been. Vivian and Silver raced past her and began undoing the ropes around Lizette. Aiden walked up to Celine and smiled. She looked at him, a frown on her face. "I'm really sorry. When I saw the letter, I got worried. I knew it was a trick - that I was walking into a trap. But I couldn't drag you into this… not after the dreams I'd been having. I didn't want to lose you.
"I understand, but… I couldn't stay behind," he said and grabbed her hands, "I knew that there was a great risk here and that I might not walk away, but I refused to let you handle this alone."
"But…Lizette was in this trouble because of me. I had to handle this on my own…"
"Actually…" came a small voice. Aiden and Celine looked down at Lizette. She had her head lowered, kicking the dirt idly. "I… I was jealous. And…I kinda…told them… about you."
"You what?!" Grovyle shouted. "You told them that Celine was a human?!"
"I was mad!" she yelled back. "Ever since we hatched, I've known Aiden! I care for him! I loved him! When I saw that my feelings weren't returned and instead he showed those feelings for her, I couldn't contain it! I'm sorry!"
Celine eyed Aiden. He had tensed up. "A woman's jealousy is capable of a lot of things," Celine whispered, gaining everyone's attention. She looked at each of them in the eye. "I don't think she's lying. She said she's sorry, and clearly she means it. I figured that this is why she was so snappy. I could have stopped this from happening. I saw all the warning signs, yet…I did nothing to prevent it from getting worse."
Grovyle snorted and turned his back. "It's best we leave. I heard some rumors back in town."
"It has to do with the recent pokenappings, doesn't it?" Lizette asked. Her ears flattened when Grovyle ignored her and proceeded to leave. She fidgeted, whimpering slightly when she noticed the hateful glare she was getting from Aiden and Silver. Both walked away with saying a word to her. "I really am sorry…"
Vivian watched the male pokémon leave and sighed. "Lizette… what you did… it has put not only yourself in danger, but it has put all of us in danger – especially Celine. I think we can all agree that Team Poisonix definitely has something to do with the pokémon disappearances. We can do nothing more than stay on guard and inform the other rescues teams about their attack. However," she looked over towards Lizette, "that still doesn't save us from the fact that Celine is now a target for these pokémon who wish to get rid of human turned pokémon."
"That could work in our favor," Celine smiled. "I could be bait, or I can even let myself be captured –"
"No! Absolutely not, that is far too dangerous. Either way, we better get going before they come running back thinking we were ambushed." Vivian smiled as Celine laughed. The two trotted along side each other.
Lizette watched them leave, a tear slipping down her cheeks. "At least their hearts echoed and caused a phenomenon. Not only they become stronger and closer, they evolved to greater heights and we found our suspects…"
She looked to the sky. "But in the end it cost me my friendship with them…"