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 11: A Step Up
For the first time since she had arrived in the pokémon world, Celine finally had a restful night. It wasn't plagued with any of her reoccurring nightmares – no dark army or visions telling her the downfall of a friend's team.
She couldn't remember the last time she woke up feeling absolutely refreshed. She felt so good, in fact, that she was ready for the day's mission. For today, the job was to travel with Aiden to rescue a lost pokémon along the hills leading to Glade's Lake.
Celine figured that she must've woken up earlier than the rest of the team, as there was nobody in the kitchen. As if it was a daily routine she opened the fridge, grabbed a bowl of berries, and sat at the kitchen table to munch away happily.
As she ate though, her thoughts traveled to the previous nights events.
The visit was certainly unexpected, but it had ended the best way possibly. And the best part of it all? Their enemy was still unaware of their existence.
She was hoping to keep it that way for a while. She was pleased with the limited, but hopefully informative, meet ups that Aldous and Lizette planned. Hopefully the limited contact between them wouldn't capture the attention of their enemy.
She thought of the leader of Invincible Hope, Drexel. He didn't talk much, but he certainly looked real strong. Part of her knew that he wasn't done gathering strength either. The look in his eyes before he departed told her that he and his team were planning to become stronger and evolve to their limits. It was because of this determination that she knew they would become a force to be reckoned with.
Though she wouldn't admit it aloud, she was rather surprised by the change in attitude that Aldous displayed. He seemed to have an almost smug aura around him. He was proud and confident in his ability, which she could already figure. When she first saw him, she pegged him to be one of those cheerful, but easily disheartened kind of folks. When his cover was blown in the kitchen… well, needless to say, she no longer thought of him as some cheerful pokémon.
Then there was Fiona. From a first glance, Celine could already tell that Fiona was like her. Gentle and quiet, she didn't stand out too much, nor did she really throw herself out there. Heck, Celine wouldn't have believed that the small flower-like pokémon was apart of a rescue team. She just couldn't believe something so cute and tiny looking could go up against bigger, and potentially stronger, pokémon without much of a fuss. But she noticed how that the sense of danger didn't seem to matter much to her when she jumped to Drexel's defense when he was found out.
All and all, Drexel's team definitely fit in the "looks can be deceiving" category. While the team looked defenseless and adorable, they certainly could change that within a matter of minutes. Celine couldn't help but wonder what they were like during a mission. She found herself curious by the very thought of it!
"You're up early. Have a bad dream or something?" Startled, Celine jumped out of her seat. She blushed when she noticed it was just Aiden.
"Actually, I slept great!" she said proudly. "Not a single nightmare."
"That's good." Aiden walked over to her, snatched a berry from her bowl, and ate it. "Then I guess you went to bed in a good mood then."
She nodded eagerly. It was probably because they'd found out that Grovyle's theory was true. She no longer needed to worry about handling everything at once. The world's problems weren't on her shoulder, or really, they were, but just a part of it. But even despite how big her problem seemed it was better than dealing with all three problems at once.
"One down, one more to go," she said.
"It was probably just the world's way of giving us a break. We've been hit with a lot of bad things lately." He stared off in the direction of the living room. "I don't know what they're responsible for, but if they can find and cure this endless sleep problem, it would be a big help."
"And a big up lifter for Jaxon," Celine noted, understanding that he was worried about Jaxon. She could only hope it was their mission.
Aiden shook his head with a sigh. "We've got to handle the Dark Army issues. Drexel, was it?" he paused, but continued after receiving a nod, "Drexel and his team handles the natural disasters or the dreams. What do you think?"
Celine shrugged. "Should we complete this one mission and look for leads on human turned pokémon instead?"
He shook his head. "No."
"But why?" she asked. She figured that it would be easier for them.
"Because Silver and Grovyle said that they would do it. It's not up to you to find the other team, Celine. We need to focus on the location of the stones and the threat of the Dark Army."
"I believe they really should enlist help from Jaxon," she murmured. "He can tell the difference."
The more she thought about it, the better it seemed to fit. Jaxon, as far as she was concerned, was the only pokémon who could really separate the human turned pokémon from the regular pokémon. She was fairly confident that with him on the job, the remaining team would soon be found.
Aiden didn't seem to share in this thought, however. Jaxon was just one pokémon. The enemies were boundless, and nobody knew just who was a spy for them, or where they could be hiding. Jaxon going alone would be a bad idea, he thought, as they would take that moment to either hurt him or worse.
"It's just not safe," Aiden said.
She frowned. "Silver and Grovyle can still go with him."
"Then who would stay and watch over Kalista?" Celine had forgotten all about the arcanine. "She can't be left alone, and Lizette just can't stay behind."
The fox-like girl tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Well, she can."
"Celine," Aiden warned, "She can't keep avoiding our missions. She needs to train with us. She's apart of this team, apart of this-"
"I'm well aware of that," she interrupted. "My point is that while she stays home reading, she can use her breaks to check on Kalista. That gives Jaxon some time to go out with the others and search for clues."
She looked at him with pleading eyes. "We need this, Aiden. The faster we look, the faster we-"
"I know, I know," he sighed. "I don't suppose we could ask the other team to help, can we?"
She shook her head apologetically.
Aiden wasn't surprised. Truthfully, he already knew the answer. "How about we talk to Grovyle about this when we get back?"
She grinned mischievously. "If I get hurt because of this, I blame you."
"Then don't get distracted," he countered with a chuckle.
-x-x-x-x-
- Glade's Lake -
"Behind you!" Celine shouted, causing Aiden to spin around just in time to see a mightyena blasted away. He jumped back, bumping into Celine's back as they were quickly cornered.
Celine was growling at the pokémon surrounding them, her stick ignited and held in front of her threateningly. It was just their luck to end up in a monster house.
"A plan sometime today would be wonderful!" she shouted over the cries of the other pokémon.
"I'm working on it!" Aiden said, dodging a swipe from a machoke.
He grunted as several duduo pounded into him with their peck attacks. He could barely register Celine's sharp cries of pain as she was bombarded with a bunch of rocks. He couldn't reach her, however, as another machoke managed to grab him and begin choking him in a blind rage.
"G-get…off!" he choked, readying an aura sphere in one of his hands.
The grip around his neck vanished quickly. From the corner of his eyes he could see Celine with her ignited stick pointed in his direction. He was about to thank her when a bunch of anoriths pounced on her.
"Hang on Celine!" he shouted, fighting his way towards her.
It wasn't too soon after he called her name that there was a blast of pure heat engulfing the entire area. Aiden, along with a bunch of other pokémon, was knocked back from it.
He recovered quickly and turned back to the spot where Celine had been pounced on. She was on her knees, panting heavily. She looked utterly exhausted. She gave him a pained smile.
He was beside her within seconds. "What the heck did you just do?"
"O-overheat," she winced, "needed to get…the pests off somehow."
"Jeez, Celine," he exhaled, "I've told you before that's something you shouldn't do! It takes up too much of your energy."
She ignored him and got up slowly. She collapsed into his arms a second later and grinned at him weakly. "Hey, it took care of the pokémon in the area."
"Only for so long," he grumbled, ushering her towards an open path. "And this is why I said we need more practice. You are in terrible condition in terms of battleground standards."
Celine rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue at him. "Oh be quiet. It's better than what I did before."
He said nothing to that. She had a point. When she first tried fighting, she nearly got herself killed in the process. Still, he wondered if she was trying to give him a heart attack.
"Lizette needs this just as much as you," he grumbled unhappily. He could only imagine how rusty that feline was.
"Oh quit your complaining," she sighed.
He shot her a look. "You're lucky that we aren't fighting the Dark Army right now. You'd be wiped out before you could do anything."
"Oh, thanks," she said, her voice low. "That really boosts my spirits."
"Not my fault it's true," he argued. She rolled her eyes and ignored him.
They were only halfway through her mission. Despite how things looked now, they weren't like that in the earlier portions of the dungeon. Around the halfway mark the pokémon started becoming more aggressive and came in bigger packs. They seemed stronger too, unless Celine was just imagining it.
It was enough to make the fox-like girl alarmed. She was sure that Aiden was aware of it too.
She was about to ask if they were almost there when they heard a shrill scream for help. The two exchanged looks before Celine pushed herself off of Aiden and ran towards the screaming pokémon. Aiden followed closely behind her.
The pokémon calling for their help had been a child, a litleo, to be more precise. He was hanging off of a tree branch, trying desperately to get away from the angry zangoose beneath him.
"Stop right there!" Celine yelled when they found them.
The zangoose angrily turned its gaze to her and Aiden. He hissed and snarled at them warningly to back off. Aiden, in turn, snarled back. "I'll distract the weasel," he whispered, "you grab the kid and hide."
She gave a curt nod. Aiden charged forward, an aura sphere already to be hurled at the pokémon. The attack hit zangoose and sent him flying away from the tree. It gave out a shrill cry and launched itself back towards Aiden with its claws ready to strike.
Due to the speed of the pokémon, Aiden was unable to block the flurry of attacks that came after. He endured it, watching from the corner of his eye as Celine dashed towards the small pokémon.
The litleo cried out in surprise when a braxien appeared next to him on the same branch he was standing on. She shook her head, moving her fingers in front of her mouth. "Shh, it's alright. I'm not an enemy. I'm here to help you!"
He inched himself up against the bark of the tree, keeping a wary eye on her. He remained there until Aiden was slammed against the tree and caused the youngster to lose his balance. He jammed his eyes shut and waited for the pain to overwhelm him.
Instead, however, he felt a pair of warm arms grab him and the quick movement of air blowing in his face. He opened one eye and looked up at his savoir. The braxien was holding him!
Celine managed to catch the youngster and evade the sharp claws of the zangoose. Before the zangoose could attack her again, however, Aiden intervened and knocked the pokémon away.
She jumped behind one of the trees being obscured by a couple of large bushes. She lowered herself so she couldn't be seen before placing the youngster down. She smiled at him and whispered. "Don't move. We'll be right back."
The youngster could only nod and watch as she leaped out of the bush and in the direct path of one of zangoose's attacks.
"I thought you'd handle him by now!" she playfully mocked her friend.
"Oh shut up!" Aiden yelled back, shielding her from one of zangoose's flurry attacks with a pair of bones. "I thought you'd want a piece of the action first!"
"Oh how thoughtful!"
Summoning two more bones, Aiden went forward to bash the zangoose who evaded the attack easily. "So whose gonna strike the final blow?"
"I can do it," she smirked.
"Nah, I'll do it!" he said. "You already handled the monster house situation!"
"Fine, fine, fine, whatever. Less talking, more fighting!" she said, ramming the zangoose away. "I'll distract! You finish him off!"
With a nod of his head, Aiden jumped away from the fight. Celine made sure to defend him while he focused on creating a rather large aura sphere. After a moment of undisturbed focus, Aiden snapped his eyes open. They were glowing with a bluish glow as he shouted at Celine to move. With a thrust of his arms, the large aura sphere smacked itself right into the zangoose and sent it flying out of the small clearing.
Exhausted from using so much power, Aiden collapsed down to one knee. Celine was beside him in seconds. "You okay?"
He gave her a grateful smile. "Yeah. While I'm getting better with my aura skills, I still need to practice…"
"U-uh…excuse me…sir…and ma'am," squeaked a small voice.
Aiden and Celine both looked down to see the litleo kicking at the dirt with his paws, his head lowered. "T-thank you…"
"No problem," Celine smiled, lifting the child into her embrace. "We're glad to see that you weren't harmed. Just what were you doing here?"
"I was getting presents for mummy," he said with a sadden expression. "But then I got lost on the way home, and then that big meanie saw me and started attacking… I didn't do anything wrong, honest!"
Celine rubbed his head gently. "I know you didn't. Come on, let's get you back home to your parents."
-x-x-x-x-
They returned home without a hitch. Before dropping the youngster off with his parents, Aiden and Celine stopped by one of the flower shops in the shopping distract. There, the litleo child picked out some flowers for his mother. Happy that he was going to return home with a gift for his mother, he thanked the duo for their help.
To say that the parents were happy would've been an understatement. They were so grateful that they insisted that Aiden and Celine bring home a bag containing various berries and some pokémoney.
Aiden, feeling bad about it, attempted to decline the gracious gift, but the parents wouldn't hear any of it. Eventually, however, he gave up and said goodbye to the litleo and his parents.
As they walked towards their home, Aiden let out a sigh. Celine chuckled.
"It was adorable, wasn't it?" She was referring to the moment the child had given his mother the banquet of flowers.
Aiden agreed with a smile. "Wonder if they'll scold him at all."
"I'd certainly hope not." Celine frowned. "He wanted to give his mother a birthday present. Sure, he went a little far and got into some trouble, but he returned home safe and sound."
He shrugged, not worrying himself over it. Celine leaned against him. "Today was fun."
"It was, but I still-"
"Oh, drop it, will you? Enjoy this peaceful moment." She smiled at his grimace. "You're a stick in the mud."
He wasn't amused. "We're facing against forces that are-" She brought a finger up to his mouth and stopped him. She was tired and she wanted nothing more than to enjoy a peaceful walk home with him.
Getting the hint, he stopped himself from talking. A blush enlightened his face when he felt her wrap a paw around his. Feeling a little more comfortable about it this time around, he grasped it and held onto her hand tightly.
They remained that way until they returned home.
The house was silent, much to Aiden's suspicions, but when he saw Lizette come out from the kitchen he let out a sigh of relief.
Hearing his sigh, the feline turned. "Oh, you guys are back! How was the mission?"
Celine gave her a thumbs up.
"Great!" she said. She paused, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "So I take it you two are in a good mood?"
"Um…yes?"
"Then maybe I should save this bit of info until you guys aren't."
Aiden didn't like the sound of that. And neither did Celine. The two exchanged looks of worry, and then looked back at the feline who only chuckled. "It's nothing bad. Actually, it's wonderful news!"
"Kalista woke up?"
Lizette stared at Aiden with a flat look. Celine chuckled and elbowed him. "No, dummy, she means that she found something on the stones."
"Oh."
Ignoring his brief moment of stupidity, she continued, "I found out where they're hiding. It's in a place called Sparkling Grove. There's only one problem," she paused, wondering if she had made the right decisions in telling her teammates. "…nobody knows where it is."
"Nobody?" Aiden nearly screeched.
"I asked around town!" she said, holding her hands up defensively. "Nobodies ever heard of it. Not even the books have anything one it."
"You already finished those?" Celine asked in surprise.
Lizette nodded with a frown. "I asked Aldous to see if there was anything concerning a 'Sparkling Grove' in his hometown. He told me it might take a couple of days before he can get back to me."
Well, there goes my plan for earlier, thought Celine. Aiden, having sensed her thoughts, slumped his shoulders in defeat. Part of him had hoped she would forget that after the day's events.
"Is everyone in the living room?" he asked.
Lizette shook her head and pointed towards one of the guest rooms. "Silver and Grovyle were talking about some places they could check for any new teams. Jaxon, well…" she paused. She didn't need to say where he was. It was already obvious.
Aiden made a signal with his hand. "Get them and tell them to come into the living room. We need to talk."
She looked confused and Celine was giving him a puzzled look. Was he actually considering telling the others her idea? Still curious about what he was going to say, Lizette walked off towards Grovyle and Silver's room.
"What are you going to say?" Celine inquired.
"What you said before makes sense," he replied, "Jaxon should be with Silver and Grovyle searching for the last human. Grovyle and Silver don't have the ability that he has. We can't dawdle and wait for them to show up. With Jaxon, they can find them quicker."
Celine furrowed her eyebrows questioningly. "But I thought you said that Lizette needed to come with us?"
"I still think that," he said, "but when Aldous gets back to her about that book, she'll be here. During that time she can stay here and watch over Kalista while Jaxon goes with them. In the meantime, she'll be coming with us to complete missions. That way we kill two birds with one stone. Plus, it just makes more sense that way."
She felt her heart swelling with happiness. She didn't think he would consider her thoughts at all, but here he was showing and preparing for what she'd been thinking. It made her happy.
Grovyle, Silver, and Lizette were in the living room within minutes. Jaxon looked at all of them confusedly.
Aiden stood, clearing his throat. "I thought we should make an adjustment to our plans."
He told them about the idea that Celine suggested and what he believed they should do. Before any of them could interrupt him, he told them that Lizette would watch over Kalista while Jaxon was out with Silver and Grovyle. He suggested that Lizette take up her reading in the living room, and when taking breaks, occasionally check up on Kalista. But he made sure to clarify that would only go into affect when Aldous got back to her concerning the books she was looking for.
At first the others didn't know what to make of it, but eventually they understood why the changes were needed. Jaxon, having understood quickly why he was being changed, proudly announced that he would gladly take it.
Shortly after his announcement, Grovyle and Silver agreed with the plan. Neither had thought as far as how to separate who was a regular, newly born pokémon team from one that contained a human turned pokémon among their ranks.
Lizette was the longest to convince. She repeatedly argued with Aiden that she couldn't focus on two jobs at once. It wasn't until Celine explained that Lizette would only have to check during her breaks that Lizette came around.
Celine was extremely happy that everyone liked her plan. Each one had agreed that finding the last team containing a human turned pokémon was of the essence.
-x-x-x-x-
Vivian rested in the back of her cell, far away from the one containing her friend and leader. It took everything in her not to break down the moment she saw what they had done to her beloved friend. Heck, it was still hard not to break down.
She ignored the taunts from Team Poisonix about how her friend was converted. They would taunt her with: "She's gonna kill you!", "You're gonna be next!", or "You'll never be able to break her free now!"
What made it all worse were her nightmares. She was constantly being forced to face up against her friend. It was a kill or be killed situation, and she wanted nothing to do with it. She always woke up sweating and teary eyed.
Hearing the familiar snickers of Gothitelle, Seviper, and Banette, she didn't bother to move much. She turned her head away from the cell door just as they came into view range.
"Aww, what's the matter?" Gothitelle taunted. "What happened to all those boasts of getting out of here?"
"Heh, she has no way of escaping!" Banette chimed in. "And even if she did, she couldn't save her own partner!"
Vivian held back her tears. Those words stung more than anything. She could handle them taunting her any other way, but when they brought up Annabelle…it became difficult.
Seviper was next to join the fray. "I guess foxy has her tongue tied!"
"I think we ought to tell Icy to find the rest of Team PokéStars and get rid of them!"
With a burst of fury, she roared at them. They all jumped away from the cell bars in fear. She glared at them with her teeth showing. Oh how tearing them apart sounded so pleasant right about now!
"You losers wouldn't stand a chance," she hissed. "You may have captured me and Annabelle, but you have no true power. If you think our team is weak, then you have another thing coming."
"But go ahead and try," she snickered. "Boast all you like. When it comes to real power, your on the short end of the stick!"
Offended, Seviper retaliated. "Real power? Ha! That real power gotcha far, didn't it?"
"Y-yeah!" Banette taunted. "If they're chumps like you, then we have nothing to worry about!"
They were unsettled by the evil smile that spread across the fox-like pokémons face. "What you tasted is only a mere fraction."
Stalking back to her corner of the cell, Vivian ignored any further taunts the trio attempted to throw at her.
Banette and Seviper were the only two to continue the taunting. Gothitelle simply watched the vixen pokémon. She'd heard countless story of the vulpix and eevee that saved their future. She found it hard that such young pokémon were capable of stopping the crippled mind of Dialga.
In fact, she'd only been a wee gothita when word of their adventures and sacrifice reached her hometown. It inspired her to make her own team. She wanted to be just like them.
She shook her head. Those memories of wanting to be like them were futile. Both of the highly esteemed leaders were in their cells, captured. What made them so strong anyway?
"C'mon," she snapped, storming away from the cells. The anger in her tone startled her two teammates. They were confused on why she seemed to be so angry, but they didn't ask. Instead they just followed.
Vivian raised her head when they were gone. Her shoulders slumped and her frown returned. She rested her head back on her paws and jammed her eyes shut. She squeezed them harder when pictures of a discolored leafeon entered the cell that her friend had once been holed up in.
And for the first time since she'd been there, she cried.