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 9: A Suspicious New Friend
Lizette and her new companion remained in the library for over three hours. Neither spoke much after their conversation, but it wasn't an unwelcomed silence. It was a comforting silence between the two geniuses that were enveloped in research, occasionally sharing notes when something of interest popped up.
Aldous was completely oblivious of Lizette's subtle glances. She would look at him from time to time, mentally adding notes about her new companion. She wasn't sure of what she thought about him, but there was one thing that she knew about him for certain: he had no malice intentions.
She believed him to be like her, a young pokémon with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. That much had been obvious to her since the get-go. But there was something he wasn't telling her, and she couldn't quite figure out exactly what it was that he was hiding from her.
These thoughts would fade in and out. They would only come to the foremost part of her brain when she lost interest in her book. She would sneak a glance, and before he could notice, return it to her book and feign innocence.
But, despite these nagging thoughts, she was grateful. The three stacks of books she had compiled were almost done. Some books were set aside on one side of the table while another stack sat on the opposite end. One stack contained more information regarding the Mega Evolution, whereas the other half had nothing of it.
"Ahh, good books certainly make you lose track of time," he said, stretching his aching muscles.
She nodded, setting down her book. They were finally done. "Indeed. Though I'm still going to need to bring the books with more information to my home. I need to further investigate all of them, especially the ones you added. I'm hoping that the information will suffice."
"If they don't, then I can check my hometown," he offered. She gave him a bewildered look.
"You're not from around here?"
"Well, yes and no. I live here now, but I didn't before. My hometown isn't far away though." He scratched the back of his head. "I decided to move here after promising my friend that I would join her team."
"Oh," she stated.
He jumped out of his chair and stretched. "I probably should get going. Will I see you again? Or, rather, where do you live? I could come over sometime. Heck, I could bring over the team someday!"
"Have you seen the path of road near the exit of the southern part of town?" she asked as she gathered all of the useful books.
He nodded.
"My home is a little off the path if you follow it. Though it's not technically my home. It's Aiden's home. If you come over, just tell them that you're there to see Lizette. I'll probably either be inside, or out in back."
When she was finished, she turned to him with a grateful smile. He blushed a little, having briefly thought that she was cute. His blush had gone unnoticed.
"Thank you so much for your help. I appreciate it. Until next time, Aldous." She turned and left, turning around once more when she reached the exit of the library and waved goodbye.
He waved back, smiling mostly to himself. Now she was cute.
-x-x-x-x-
"Oh thank heavens!" Celine cried when Lizette returned home. The small cat-like pokémon was hugged tightly. "I was worried sick that something happened to you! You were gone for so long…"
"She's always like that," Aiden said from inside the base. "Once she gets her head in those books she loses track of time!"
Lizette rolled her eyes and pried herself from her friend's tight grip. "You'd be happy to know I've returned with good news!"
"And what's that?" he asked, sticking his head out the door.
"I've gathered more information regarding the existence of Mega Evolution." She pointed to her bag containing the books. She wore a smug look, obviously proud of her work.
She made sure to make no mention of her newest friend. She wanted to keep him a secret until she could figure him out. She was suspicious of him, but thought that he presented no real harm to her or her team. Granted, he was hiding something, that much was obvious, but she didn't believe that he could be dangerous.
The news was well received. Celine was absolutely giddy about it. She kept asking the psychic type what she found, but Lizette wouldn't give in. This, in turn, caused Aiden to question the truth behind her earlier statement.
He was silenced, though, when Celine glared at him. Then she started to scold him, telling him that it was wrong to have doubts of their friend. It worked, and he didn't say another word.
"Don't worry," Lizette reassured them as she grabbed her bag and walked towards the base, intent in locking herself in her room to study some more, "I'll get back to you. I want to write down some notes regarding what I found. Then I'll give you two a full report. What about things here?"
"They're not bad," Celine said with a mild frown. "Silver and Grovyle are resting inside; Jaxon hasn't left Kalista's side. It's kind of a..." she paused, searching for the right word, "depressing atmosphere."
Aiden shook his head. "We've already looked through the bulletin board too. Some new requests have popped up. We were thinking about doing some of them tomorrow. Did you want to come?"
Lizette shook her head no. Aiden glared at her. "You know," he started, "that fear of fighting you've got won't go away unless you make an effort."
"Then who would you suggest goes through these books, decipher what is and what is not important, and writes up a full report about it?" she questioned.
He did not answer, only egging her on. "Yes, you're right. My fear of fighting is well-known. And yes, I am aware that if I don't do missions with you then this fear I have will never subside. But I also believe it's important to gather meaningful information that can be used. And to do that, I need time. I promise you that you won't be disappointed. Besides, I'm no good on the battlefield."
"You weren't that bad," Celine murmured.
Lizette shook her head. "I was. If I had waited a moment longer for my courage to come to life, I wouldn't be here. In fact, I would be dead and you two would be gravely injured."
"All the more reason why I think you should come with us," Aiden grumbled.
Lizette gave him a sharp glare. "I've already given you a reason why I can't go tomorrow. And it's not like I'm going to avoid all our missions."
"No, but you might try giving us excuses," he countered.
"Excuse me?" she asked, infuriated. "Make excuses? You seriously think I would stoop down to that level?"
He snorted. "Why not? You stooped low enough to tell the enemy our secret."
Lizette went into stunned silence. Celine gasped, moving her hands over her mouth in surprise. "Aiden!"
"I will ask you this one question, Aiden," Lizette said, her gaze turning icy, "do you want information to help your team or not?"
"Yes, but-"
"But nothing. Now shut up, and let me do my work," Lizette snarled and brushed past him.
He stood there dumbfounded. He flinched slightly when he caught sight of Celine's glare. "I can't believe you just said that."
"What?" he asked. "It's the truth."
"You know she's been working real hard," Celine sighed, folding her arms in front of her chest. "When will you let that go?"
"Celine I can't simply forget that she nearly got you killed," Aiden said, snorting. "It's impossible to erase that fear."
She slapped him hard, making his head snap to the right. "You should start trying. She's been trying for you to forgive her and make something of herself in this group. She's been doing a wonderful job, and I thought you had finally let it go. Yet here you are; holding the same grudge as you did after the incident. I'm ashamed of you."
He said nothing, but watched as she stormed past him and after Lizette. He sighed, his shoulders slumping. You don't understand, Celine. It's not easy to forgive her. I thought I could trust her. I thought that she was my best friend. And I thought I would never have to worry about her betraying me, or us. But she did it so easily. What's stopping her from doing it again?
Shaking his head, he entered the base.
When he entered, he could see Celine and Lizette talking in the kitchen. Lizette obviously looked displeased, and she had their badge in the center of the table. She was glaring at Celine, but he couldn't make out the words she was saying. From the look of sympathy on Celine's face, he could only guess that she was trying to smooth things over, but wasn't making much progress.
Deciding that he would not interfere, he entered the living room where Kalista and Jaxon were. Kalista was asleep on one of the couches near the corner of the room. Jaxon was sitting on the floor beneath her. He would occasionally look at her when he thought she was beginning to stir, and then look back down in disappointment when he realized she wasn't waking up. He no longer smiled or acted cheerful. He looked so empty, so hopeless.
Aiden couldn't blame him. First his leader was kidnapped, and then his second closest friend falls under the curse. It was hard to remain cheerful under those circumstances.
"Another fight?" Jaxon murmured from where he sat.
Aiden perked his ears up, almost having not heard the raichu. He sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah."
"I figured. She stormed inside and right into the kitchen. Slammed that bag of hers down and scared me half to death. What did you two argue about?"
"Nothing much," Aiden said. "Just past issues I can't forget."
Jaxon lifted his head slowly. "You should try to make up with her."
"Why me?" Aiden asked, feeling his anger rise. Why was it always him who had to apologize? "I didn't do anything wrong."
"You still care about her, don't you?" Jaxon countered. "If you let petty things destroy your friendships, then you won't last long."
"It wasn't petty! She betrayed us! She told the enemy that Celine was a human!" Aiden snapped.
Jaxon's expression didn't change. He just sighed and set his gaze downcast. "Yet you allowed her to join your team."
Aiden grunted. "That's… That's because she's intelligent and we could use that for our team."
"That's not why, and you know it," Jaxon scoffed. "You still care about her. Deep down, you did forgive her. If you hadn't she wouldn't be apart of your team. Aiden let me tell you a secret. Friends define us."
"They do?" Aiden questioned. "How so?"
"They do so many things to brighten up our lives, viewpoints, and aspects. They change the world from a cold, emotionless place into a warm and loving home. They help us fight, defend, heal, lift up our courage, and embrace who we want to become. With them, we can let our inner selves shine and forget the judging eyes of the world. Our friendships can go down so many different paths. They can became serious relationships, or just become a pair of two best friends who trust each other completely."
Aiden folded his arms, obviously not seeing where Jaxon was going with this. "And the strongest bonds are the some of the very first we forged. She was your first real friend, wasn't she?"
"Yes," Aiden said slowly. "Which makes it even harder for me to forgive her."
"Ironically, it makes it easier." Jaxon chuckled and lifted his head to stare at the ceiling. "You can ignore it all you want, but you've already forgiven her. She's your first real best friend, and deep down you know she means well. She did wander down a wrong path, and she did hurt you and Celine, but she's still here and trying her hardest to earn your forgiveness. She acknowledges the fact that she did something horribly wrong and regrets it. If she didn't care about you Aiden, she would've given up on your friendship. The same can be said about you as well in terms of how you feel about the bond you two share."
Jaxon smirked lightly. "It's not to be confused with the feelings of love you hold for Celine."
"L-l-l-love?!" Aiden exclaimed, quickly covering his mouth and glancing towards the kitchen. When he saw no movement, he shot a look of bafflement towards Jaxon. "I don't love her! I just…admire…her?"
"Hahaha," Jaxon laughed. "If you're going to say that, you should try to say it with a bit more confidence. Aiden, both of them are special to you. Celine stole your heart, and Lizette was your first real friend. Without them, your world would be darker. Don't try denying how special those two really are to you, Aiden."
"And just how do you know I like Celine and treasure Lizette?" Aiden asked.
Jaxon's eyes began to water up and a tired smile appeared on his face. "Because that's how I feel about Nyla. I know what you're feeling for both. Nyla, my dearest companion and the love of my life, and Kalista, my closest friend. I can't picture my life without either of them in it. They helped shaped me for the better - just as Celine and Lizette are doing for you. You won't notice it right away, but it's happening."
Aiden said nothing. He thought about the raichu's words, mildly surprised when he realized that a part of him had already forgiven Lizette. He couldn't stop the smile from spreading when he thought about Lizette when they were kids. All their good memories made it easier and took away most of his pain.
But part of him felt bad. "We'll find them," he said aloud, causing Jaxon to look at him quizzically. "We will find and bring back Nyla and rescue Kalista."
This hardened resolve made Jaxon smile. "Thank you."
"No, thank you," Aiden said as he walked over towards the kitchen, "for opening my eyes."
-x-x-x-x-
"I just can't believe him!" Lizette sighed angrily. "I tried so hard, and I thought that I had finally earned back his trust! Only to find out that I never will find that trust again. All because of one stupid mistake."
She started sniffling. She looked at her books on the table. "I thought he would be proud of me. I thought that with my intelligence, I could repair what I had broken. I wish there was book that told me how to build a time machine. I would have never had done that if I knew that it would cost me my friend!"
"Oh Lizzy…" Celine frowned, putting her hand on top of Lizette's. "He doesn't hate you. That trust is still there. Just… give him time, okay? You should know better than anyone here just how stubborn he really is."
Lizette cracked a smile. "That's true," she admitted.
Celine smiled. "So then don't leave the team. Your friendship with him will heal with time. Try thinking of it in this way, if he thought that he would never forgive you, then why did he ask you to join our team?"
"I thought you had influenced that decision," Lizette admitted sheepishly, "I figured he was doing it because you asked him. Are you telling me he asked me to join the team of his own regard?"
She nodded, adding to Lizette's shock. Her ears slowly perked up and her face brightened. "Really? He…he asked me…without anyone suggesting it?"
Celine chuckled and nodded again. Lizette beamed. "Then hope isn't lost! Part of him must have already forgiven me!"
"Exactly. So don't worry about his mood swings. I think he's just tired. Anyone would be when they realized how big our problem really is." Celine sighed, her ears drooping. "Hopefully our missions for the next few weeks will help us become stronger."
"You've already planned that far ahead?" Lizette asked.
"Yeah," Celine nodded, "We planned to use these missions for experience and to grow stronger. Aiden and I especially need it. I understand why you're not doing it right now, and honestly I do prefer you staying behind to do more research. Because if you find something about these stones, then we'll hopefully be prepared for the journey to wherever they're located. In the end, it will all pay off."
Lizette looked over at her books. She thought about telling Celine about the person she'd met, but she was still uncertain if she should or not. She hadn't gathered all the facts and that's what unnerved her the most. Despite that, she just couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't bad. He was just a genuinely interesting guy who was curious of everything. And that was enough to peak her interest in him.
With a deep breath, she decided to reveal her newest friend. "I met someone today in the library, who, in my opinion, is a very curious guy. He's thirsty for knowledge, and he seems to be very intellectual."
"Really?" Celine asked.
She chuckled, remembering how strange he was. "He's certainly amusing, and I really did enjoy his company. He told me that he's apart of a rescue team. They're fairly new though – a few months old, to be exact. I did tell him a little about our team, but not the big secrets. He might drop by, and if he does…" she paused, her eyebrows furrowing together.
It hadn't struck her until now. She was very curious about him and obviously wanted to learn more, but being around her and her team could be dangerous to him. The enemy could mistake him as a friend and ally to her team, and possibly attempt to hurt his team the same way they had hurt Team PokéStars.
The mental images of Silver's and Grovyle's grave wounds were burned in her memories. It was enough to make her cringe when she thought something similar might happen to Aldous and his friends.
Her conflicted expression didn't go unnoticed.
"…Then?" Celine asked, snapping the meowstic out of her thoughts.
Lizette shook her head. "Nothing. I'll have a talk with him and tell him that I changed my mind about him stopping by."
"Why? You sounded so happy!" Celine said.
"There are a lot of reasons," she stated, "For example, what if the enemy saw them hanging around us? They would mistake them as an ally to us and potentially harm them the way they hurt Silver and Grovyle. I just don't believe it's fair to drag them into a situation that has nothing to do with them."
Celine instantly believed it was her fault. "I'm sorry."
"No, no, it's not your fault!" Lizette said, waving her hands. "I don't blame you for it. It's not your fault. I can still meet up with him, but in secret and with…less people around. That way he can still help, but he won't get dragged into this."
She didn't believe her, but said nothing.
"Lizette?" Aiden asked, walking into the kitchen.
The two females paused in their conversation. Lizette glared at him from the corner of her eyes. Despite the conversation she had earlier with Celine, she wouldn't forgive him so easily for yelling at her.
And Celine was busy hoping that Aiden hadn't come over to make things worse.
Aiden paused at the entrance and scratched the back of his head. "Uh…I…wanted to apologize."
Lizette couldn't hide the shock on her face. "Apologize?"
"Yeah. I want to apologize for my actions earlier. I hope that you can forgive me and pardon my inexcusable behavior," he said with his head lowered.
At first, Lizette believed he was acting, but upon closer inspection, she noticed that there was a light blush tinting his cheeks. He was embarrassed!
She knew that he wasn't much for apologizing, but when he did, he always had this embarrassed blush. The fact that his apology was earnest was enough to melt away her anger. She found it hard to stay mad.
"I forgive you, but can you promise me that we'll try as hard as we can to avoid this reoccurring conflict? It's getting rather tiresome. We have more important things to be worrying our heads off of."
He chuckled and nodded. "I can try."
"Well," she began as she gathered the books up in her arms, "it's best I get to my room and begin my research. The faster I get through these books, the faster I can pick out the useful information and help you two."
"Do you think those books will have everything you're looking for?" Celine questioned.
Lizette shrugged. "Don't know, to be honest. But even if they don't, the friend I told you about offered to return to his hometown to retrieve more books on the matter. If it comes to that, I'll probably go with him."
This was the first time Aiden heard any of this. "Wait, you met someone who knows about this?"
"Well, I wouldn't say he knows about it so as much as he's heard of it. But he's also on a rescue team and I didn't feel no form of malice from him," Lizette said.
She bade the two farewell and immediately left to her room. Celine smirked at Aiden with both of her hands resting on her hips. "So, what made you come in and apologize?"
"I had a very good talk with Jaxon. He brought up some points that I hadn't even realized, and when I did, well… I just saw that he was right. Anyway, what about this new friend of hers?" he asked.
"She didn't say much. Just that she thinks him to be her equal in terms of intelligence."
She frowned. Aiden raised an eyebrow. "What's up?"
She shook her head. "Nothing."
"Celine," he warned.
Celine sighed and sat down. "She said something that I hadn't thought of. She sounded like she wanted to invite him over, but reconsidered it because she doesn't want him to be seen with us."
"Why?" he asked, surprised. It only took him a moment to figure out why, but she told him anyway.
"Because she's afraid that our enemy might see him and mistake him and his team to be our allies. She doesn't want to drag them into our problems. And before you go mad, she didn't say it to hurt me. It was something I think it just came up on the spot and she quickly reconsidered it. Do you think that's why Silver and Grovyle were hurt? Because of us?"
Aiden shook his head. "No. They were going to get hurt anyway because they were searching for their leader."
Their conversation was interrupted when they heard a knock. Celine tilted her head to the side. "It's nearly nightfall. Who in the world would be visiting at this hour?"
"I don't know," Aiden said, his eyes narrowing.
He left the kitchen with Celine on his heels. They approached the door carefully. After a moment of silence, they opened it.
"Hi!" came a male's voice. "Is Lizette here?"
Aiden stared at the trio of pokémon standing before him. There stood a frogadier, floette, and a meowstic. The meowstic was sitting on top of the frogadier's head with a big grin as he stared up at Aiden. The frogadier didn't seem to mind, but had his attention turned elsewhere. He had a look that said that he would rather be somewhere else. The final member of their team was smiling warmly at the pair in front of them.
"We're terribly sorry for intruding on you at such an hour, but our friend here told us that he had a new friend he wanted to show us."
"At this hour?" Aiden asked, not pleased in the slightest.
Celine offered a weak smile, not sure of what to make of the situation. "It's fine. I'll go get Lizzy. Why not come in?"
"We wouldn't want to a bother," the frogadier said, glancing at her.
Celine felt her uneasiness grow and backed away, still retaining her weak smile. "Um, I leave the rest to you Aiden!"
Before he could say anything, she darted off. He glared at her, but sighed and smiled at the trio of pokémon. "Please, come in. You won't be bothering us."
The first to fly in was Aldous. He ran after Celine, obviously excited to see and speak with Lizette again so soon. Fiona chuckled as she entered the house, commenting on their friends joy. "My, it's been a while since I've seen him get this excited!"
"Thanks," Drexel murmured as he followed after Fiona. "I swear that 90% of his entire being is filled with sugar. He's far too hyper."
Fiona rolled her eyes. "Oh shush you. It's good to see him smiling so earnestly again!"
"So, may I get you anything?" Aiden asked as he led them to the living room.
He stopped when he remembered that Jaxon and Kalista were still in the living room. Not wanting to disturb him or frighten their guests, he turned towards the kitchen. "Let's go to the kitchen instead."
"Aiden," Jaxon called from the living room, as if reading his mind, "if you have guests it's fine to bring them in here. I wont be bothered."
Aiden glanced towards the living room in thought. Shifting his gaze to the two pokémon, he answered their confused stares. "Recently a friend of ours has fallen under the sleeping curse. She's currently residing in the living room with her friend. I didn't want the visual to disturb you or make you feel uneasy."
Fiona put her hands over her mouth in shock. "Oh you poor thing. I'm terribly sorry about your friend."
He shook his head. "It's fine. We're working to figuring out the cause behind it."
"So, you're one of the teams looking into the matter?" Fiona questioned.
"There are others?"
She nodded. "Yes. Some friends of mine from another town have recently begun their search into the matter themselves. They asked us to join, but…" she glanced at Drexel, "we're currently doing some other things."
Drexel spoke up, "There's been an awful lot of unrest lately. Everybody is busy trying to rescue others who are in dire need of it."
"So, does that mean your looking into the kidnapping or saving pokémon from the natural disasters?" Aiden asked.
For the briefest of seconds, he noticed Fiona freeze. Drexel was the one who answered. "Both, kind of. Mostly been helping those who have been left homeless due to the unnatural causes of mother earth's anger. We haven't had any luck on the case of pokémon being kidnapped unfortunately."
"Ah!" Fiona gasped, backing away. "Y-your…!"
Aiden turned to see Grovyle leaning against the wall. Most of his bandages were gone. "That's Grovyle the Thief! What's he doing here?!"
"Heh," Grovyle chuckled, "Still calling me that, eh?"
"He's a friend of ours. He's from Team PokéStars. He's not an enemy or a thief," Aiden said, giving Grovyle a glare as if he was asking him what he was doing out of bed.
Grovyle shrugged and entered the living room.
"Team PokéStars and Team Echo Hearts are here?" Fiona asked. "So it was true what Aldous told us!"
They followed Aiden to the kitchen. They took their seats at the kitchen table. Aiden couldn't help but stare at them curiously as he retrieved glasses and poured them some water.
The floette nodded in the direction of the hallway. "Our friend, Aldous, said that he met a rather curious lady during his time in the library today. He told us that she was friends with two rather famous exploration teams."
"But that's not why we're here," she said quickly. "We thought it might be nice to meet up with a fellow rescue team and give Aldous a chance to see his friend again."
"At this hour of night?" Aiden questioned.
Fiona chuckled weakly. "He was very insistent."
He quirked an eyebrow; he'd noticed their strange behaviors and the constant glances they shared. They were here for something else, but Aiden wouldn't pester them about it. He decided to stay on his guard, just in case though.
A moment later Celine entered the kitchen with a sigh. "What's up?"
"Huh?" she asked, then grinned sheepishly when she noticed them, "Oh, sorry! Lizette… kind of… threw a fit? And…she threw books… and one of them hit me. But it didn't hurt!"
"What the heck is she doing throwing books?" Aiden demanded.
"Not sure… Despite her… outburst, she's calmed down. Anyway, hello. My name is Celine and, if he hasn't introduced himself, this is Aiden. I'm not sure how much Lizette has told your friend."
"Not a lot," Fiona reassured, "just the mere facts. He told us that his friend was apart of a rescue team and was friends with two other famous teams. His idols, if I may say. Has your friend mentioned us by any chance?"
"Not really," Aiden answered. "Just that she met someone she believed was equal in terms of intelligence."
"Those two should get along then!" Fiona laughed.
Upon hearing a grunt, they all turned to see Aldous walking into the kitchen with a minor grin. "Dang, she's tougher than I thought!"