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 15: Entrance! Team Solar Spiral!
Aiden was the first to reach the top of the cliff. He used his aura abilities to scan the top of the cliff before he began his climbing. He saw two auras, and believed that they belonged to Silver and Grovyle. But since he was wary, he still wanted to be the first one to reach the top and make sure it was indeed the two pokémon.
Finally, he pulled himself onto the same edge he had fallen off of earlier. Grovyle and Silver were there to help pull him, Celine, and Zoroark up.
"I'm glad to see all of you are alright," Silver sighed, the worry finally falling off his shoulders. "Especially you, Celine. How are you?"
"Better," she said, glancing over to Zoroark with a small smile. "Thanks to Zoroark here."
"It was nothing," he said, scratching the back of his head. "It is my duty to watch over you while you are in the pokémon world, as it is with all the other humans."
"Speaking of which, where are Drexel and Fiona?" Grovyle asked, not seeing the pair. "I'd figured they'd climb up with you."
Aiden looked mildly alarmed. "You mean to tell me that they haven't returned?"
The two pokémon exchanged looks before shaking their heads. Aiden rushed over to the edge of the cliff to see if he could spot any signs of them. Celine was by his side, also searching for any signs.
"Who are you guys looking for?" a familiar voice questioned.
The duo spun around to see Fiona. She was covered in small cuts and bruises, but otherwise looked fine. She was staring at the group of pokémon confused, especially when she saw Zoroark.
"Where's Drexel?" Celine asked, still searching for the female's partner.
Fiona frowned a little, casting a small glance to the shadows. "…He's here, but he doesn't want to reveal himself right now."
"Why?"
"None of your business," came Drexel's voice.
Everyone, except for Fiona and Zoroark were looking around for the concealed pokémon. Zoroark, however, kept his eyes on the shadows where Fiona had previously looked. He smirked slightly. "Toying with your new powers?"
Fiona looked shocked and shook her head. "N-no, he just prefers the shadows in the presence of unfamiliar pokémon!"
"He evolved and is shy," Zoroark continued with an amused expression. Fiona's jaw dropped, but she looked away quickly.
"You're surprisingly sharp," Drexel said, emerging from the shadows.
What the group had expected to come out wasn't what they expected. Drexel was bigger, and looked completely different than he had before. He was no longer the medium-sized frogadier, but now a full-fledged greninja. He stood next to Fiona, seemingly protective of the small flower-pokémon.
Celine was the first to react. "You!" she shouted with her finger pointing towards him. "You're the one who saved me! Is that really you, Drexel?"
The greninja nodded slowly. "Who else do you think I would be?"
"You're…different."
"Thank you captain obvious," he said, rolling his eyes. "What gave it away?"
"Oh, it's certainly him," Aiden scowled. "He's got the rotten attitude down."
Drexel raised an eyebrow as he stared at the canine-pokémon. "At least I don't disappoint, now do I?"
"Is that supposed to mean something?" Aiden growled. Celine got between the two, giving Aiden a pleading look.
Ignoring the squabble, Zoroark approached Drexel. Drexel noticed this and backed away a few steps, making sure to keep the distance the same between the two. His eyes were narrowed as he stared at the dark-fox pokémon in suspicion.
"I'm a friend," he stated plainly, stopping in his tracks. "It's my duty to watch over the human turned pokémon and guide them back on their path if they are led astray. I know that you are one of these human turned pokémon, as well as another. I have been watching you, but I have never approached you."
"Wait, why?" Celine asked, looking over to him. "You approached us."
Zoroark sighed, unsure of how to say this without hurting her feelings. "They were capable enough to continue on their own without my intervention. Plus, they had already gathered more fighting experience by the time I approached you."
"I still don't get it…" she said.
"In other words, out of the three humans, you are the weakest one. Both physically and mentally."
His words stunned the braixen into silence. I'm…the weakest…? she thought, still processing his words. As the reality behind his words sank in, her ears and expression dropped.
"But that was before," he stated fairly quickly. "In the shape you were in, I had to approach you. Out of the three major problems our world is facing, you handle the hardest one of all. I was hasty in my approach, as I did not deem you worthy enough of the mission you are bound to face, but now I see that I have nothing to fear. You are growing slowly, but eventually you will become very strong. Do not let my words before bother you and halt you in your progress."
She frowned, his words still stinging a little. For the most part, however, she felt better.
"Why didn't you tell us there were more?" Aiden asked, looking a little peeved. "You knew all along that there were others, but you never once said anything."
"Because I cannot," Zoroark said. "You would have bypassed problems that you were meant to face in order to grow stronger. As the one charged with the duty to oversee newly human turned pokémon, I cannot help you make things easier. The missions that the humans have been called down to fulfill are difficult, but the path they travel down to that road hardens them and makes them stronger in order to defeat it."
Aiden appeared to be satisfied with the answer, but it was evident on his face that he was still a little upset about it. "So, in other words, you can't tell us where the last one is."
"No, I cannot," Zoroark shook his head.
Fiona casted a brief glance towards her partner. She noticed that he kept his eyes locked on Zoroark. She knew that look, and she felt her heart drop. Pulling him away from the group, she decided to ask him what was on his mind.
"I don't trust him," Drexel said, his voice low. "For the most part he is telling the truth, but there's one thing he has yet to tell us."
"What would that be?" she asked, wondering just what it could be the dark-fox pokémon could be hiding from them.
"I don't know," he responded with a sigh, "but until then, I don't trust him. For now we should return to the base and check in on Aldous as well as his lady friend."
A playful smirk spread across the females face. "I'll be surprised if he hasn't asked her out on a date by the time we return."
-x-x-x-x-
It was nightfall by the time the entire group returned back to the base. Zoroark had left them halfway along their journey back, saying that he would return to his home. Everyone said their goodbyes, except for Drexel, the latter still suspicious of the dark-type.
When they returned back to the base, Celine ran into the base and into the living room where she noticed Kalista and Jaxon, but no Celebi, Aldous, or Lizette. Panic was starting to grow inside as she wondered where her friend was.
"Celine!" Jaxon said, smiling when he noticed she was back. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," she answered quickly, "But where is Lizette?"
Jaxon scratched the back of his head. "She…well…"
"What?" Celine nearly snapped.
"She decided that she wanted to go to the library. Aldous went with her as well as Celebi. The latter, I believe, will be attracting a lot of unwanted attention…"
Before he could say anything else she sped out of the room and towards the town. "W-wait!" he tried calling for her. He sighed when he realized she was long gone. "And I didn't even get to tell her the great news…"
"What great news?" came Aiden's voice.
Jaxon shot his head up and was about to greet them when he noticed Drexel's new form. He just stared at him for a while, then, with a shrug, he told them what he had discovered while they were gone. "I caught the scent of the last human, and I know exactly where she lives."
"You found them?"
"It's another girl?"
Jaxon could only stare at Drexel who appeared to be a little unpleased to know the last human was a female. Occasionally shooting glances back at Drexel, he answered Aiden's question. "Yep. After you guys went off, I decided to look around town once more. Unexpectedly, I caught the scent of another human, so I looked around and eventually I spotted an eevee with two other pokémon. I never approached her though, but I did follow her. She lives in a small cave outside along the west path of town. It's discreet, since it's practically covered in bushes… Heck, I never even noticed it until I saw them going through the bushes!"
"We have to get Celine back," Aiden said. "She needs to hear this. Then we need to go and get this other human, tell her about us, and hopefully get along with our missions to stop whatever is causing all this mayhem."
"Where did she go running off to anyway?" Fiona asked.
Jaxon grunted. "She went racing off to the library, I believe. Lizette and Aldous are there, along with Celebi-"
"Celebi went with them?!" Grovyle cut him off. Jaxon nodded slowly, understanding why the grass-type was so angry.
He tossed his hands in the air and angrily left the base while grumbling, "If I've told her once, I've told her a million times to avoid going into populated areas! I'm so glad she listens…" Silver followed after him, chuckling lightly and a roll of his eyes.
"We're going too," Drexel stated. "Will you be staying here Jaxon?"
The electric mouse nodded. "Yeah. Kally needs me, even if she can't see that I'm here."
"Very well." Drexel walked out of the room. Fiona took a moment to adore the sentiment that Jaxon had said, believing that it was absolutely adorable that he was still there for her. Aiden, having nothing else to say, decided to follow after them to see his two partners.
By the time they reached the library, Celine was outside of the library with Lizette and Aldous. Lizette looked better than she had before, or so Aiden thought. She certainly looked happier and it appeared that her wounds were healing quickly. Though he did notice the slight limp in her walk. Aldous, for the most part, remained next to her and assisted her whenever she needed it. He decided to steer clear of the male meowstic.
Aiden watched as Drexel and Fiona approached their member. Aldous, unused to seeing his friend fully evolved, was shocked, but excited to see the improvement. Even Lizette was surprised and congratulating him.
He felt like an outsider as he watched Celine and Lizette speak happily to each other. Neither seemed to care much that Aiden wasn't there. Could he blame them for feeling that way? He had abandoned them and because of that Celine was kidnapped and Lizette was badly injured.
The guilt was gnawing at him again. He found himself unable to approach his two teammates. What could he tell them? Would they resent him for abandoning them? It made him uneasy when he thought of them hating him. He didn't want them to, especially the female braixen who'd he fell in love with. He'd never admit it aloud, but in the recesses of his mind, he knew that vixen pokémon had earned his heart.
Noticing his uneasiness and his reluctance to join the group, Lizette wobbled over to him with Celine assisting her. "Aiden."
He visibly flinched, but looked at her guiltily. He could see from the look in her eyes that she was not mad, but curious.
"You have a lot of explaining to do," she said, her tone suggesting that this was not up for debate.
He already knew this. "Yes, I know. But can we please not have this discussion in front of them? This is something I would rather say with you two and you two alone."
Lizette smiled and nodded. "Of course. Are you all right, though? I notice that Aldous beat you up quite a bit."
"Wait, that's where all these cuts and bruises came from?" Celine asked, surprised by the revelation.
"I'm fine," he said, idly rubbing one of his wounds. "They'll heal in time. More importantly, what about you?"
"Sore," she chuckled, "but I'll recover."
He flinched inwardly when Celine approached him. She pressed one of her hands on one of his wounds before looking at him worriedly. "You fought with Aldous…? Why?"
"He was mad," he said. "…Because I failed in my duty to protect you and Lizette."
He was surprised to see water building up in her eyes. She hugged him tightly. "I'm so sorry," she cried silently.
He blushed when she hugged him, and grew even more embarrassed when he noticed that everyone around them was staring at them. "Celine," he whispered, "can… we please take this somewhere else? Everyone's staring…"
She wiped away one of her tears. "Sorry."
Bidding the others farewells, the trio left to find a more secluded place. Seeing as nobody would be there to eavesdrop on them, Aiden decided to take his two teammates to his favorite spot.
Once they got there and settled themselves, everything turned serious immediately. Lizette was staring at Aiden hard while Celine fidgeted slightly. Aiden didn't like the tense atmosphere, but he knew that it was because he was nervous.
"Why were you in such a rotten mood?" Lizette asked, the first of many questions she had for the lucario.
He snuck a glance over to Celine before looking away shamefully. He decided a long time ago he was going to give them nothing but the truth. "I was mad at Celine."
His words stung Celine hard. She lowered her eyes and looked like she was about to start crying. Her previous thoughts were now confirmed.
"I…felt betrayed. I never imagined you would point your weapon towards me, and I never expected you to really intervene if I fought someone. It's foolish reason, and one that I'm deeply ashamed of."
"You snapped…because of me," Celine said dejectedly. He could see the tears running down her cheeks now. "I figured you were mad at me after I saw your gaze this morning, but it still hurts. I didn't mean to make you angry. I just didn't want an unnecessary fight to break loose! Even if he is rude sometimes, Drexel is kind."
Lizette nodded her head. "Yes, he's rough around the edges, but there's a reason why he holds so much respect from Aldous and Fiona. We'll probably never see that side of him, but I think it tells us that he is kind."
"Him provoking things didn't help though," Celine murmured.
"I agree completely with you. Fiona and Aldous do as well, in fact, Aldous told me that the night before Drexel kept tossing and turning like he was having a nightmare. He was snappy in the morning, and when he calmed down slightly, he told them about seeing a tower. Though, he didn't go into much detail." Lizette folded her arms, wincing slightly from the pain.
"I never wanted either of you getting hurt," Aiden said. "If I had known, I would've came."
Lizette placed a paw on his reassuringly. "I'm not mad at you Aiden. I understand you needed space, though I will say your attitude from earlier today did not have me pleased. Next time, instead of holding it in, talk to us. We're your teammates and friends, Aiden. We're here with you no matter what."
Aiden looked over to Celine. Out of all the pokémon he wanted to hear that from, he desperately wanted to hear it from her.
She smiled at him and threw herself on top of him, hugging him tightly. He was blushing furiously, but also smiled. She didn't need to tell him that she had forgiven him. Her current action had told him everything he needed to know.
"I have some good news," he said after a while.
"What kind? Did Jaxon tell you why he was so excited earlier?" Lizette joked. "Personally, I think he's plotting another prank."
"No, much better than that," Aiden smiled. "He found the last human."
"What?!" both females yelled in unison. "He found them?"
He nodded. "He wanted to tell you Celine, but you shot out of the room before he even had the chance. I'm not sure how things are going though, they planned to go after we found you guys."
As if on cue, he heard Celebi's voice. "Aiden! Celine! Lizette! There you are! Guys, they're over here!"
He groaned when the pink legendary floated around the trio, intently staring at Aiden and Celine, the pair still in their embrace. With a squeal of surprise, Celine released her grip on Aiden and moved away. The skin underneath her fur became a colored in cherry red.
Celebi smirked at Aiden who scowled at her and gave her a look. The legendary just giggled and flew off towards Silver and Grovyle. Behind them were Drexel and his team, and hiding behind his team was another trio of pokémon.
Leading the trio was a small eevee. She was looking around in awe. Around the scruff of her neck was a necklace with their team badge on it. Behind her were two flying-type pokémon. One of them was a swablu. Just like her leader, the swablu was looking around in awe, seemingly in love with the beauty of the place. The other, a noivern, kept his gaze forward, staring at the group escorting his team.
Aldous quickly ran to Lizette's side, scanning her for any open wounds. She pushed him away lightly, telling him that she was fine. He was aware that he was crowding her, but he was worried about her health after finding her unconscious in front of the base.
"This is the other team that Jaxon told us about," Silver introduced, moving away for Celine and her team to see. "The last human turned pokémon that we've been looking for."
"Now do you mind telling us why you brought us here?" The noivern asked.
"And more importantly," the swablu continued, looking over at the large group, "who are you guys and how did you find out that Rumi is a human?"
"You've already met our friend Jaxon, correct?" Aiden asked. The trio shook their heads no. "Well, he has the ability to tell the difference between a normal pokémon and a human turned pokémon. He found you guys when he was in town earlier today."
"But don't worry," Celine quickly assured them, "we're not bad or anything. I'm also a human turned pokémon, as well as tall, blue, and gloomy over there. We were looking for you so that we could combine our teams and work as a whole to complete the mission in which we were called down to do."
Both flying-types looked to the eevee, now known as Rumi. She had her eyes closed and head tilted to the side in thought.
Celebi flew over to her. "Did you have a dream about a tower?"
This question caused the normal-type to snap her eyes open and stare at the legendary in shock. "How did…"
The shiny legendary released a sigh of relief. "I came from the future," she said, "and it's looking terribly grim. I have reason to believe that you, and that fine gentleman over there, are the two pokémon who restore complete balance to our world. Or, almost all of it."
"Then who is tasked for searching for the missing pokémon?" she asked, visibly upset. "I have a friend… he's running a paradise and his partner was kidnapped! I told him that I would find his partner, but-"
"Whoa, calm down!" Celebi flew over to Celine and floated around the braixen. "This pokémon here is handling that."
The eevee looked at Celine, hopeful that the legendary's words were true. Celine nodded her head, confirming the shiny pokémons statement. The eevee released a sigh of relief, happy to know that someone was searching for the captured pokémon.
"Then that means that introductions are in order," Rumi smiled, sitting. Taking this as a sign from their leader, the two flying-type pokémon landed on either side of the eevee. "My name is Rumi, and I am a fellow human. These are my friends who've kept me safe from enemies. We're also apart of a rescue and exploration team called Team Solar Spiral, or just Solar for short."
Pointing her tail towards the swablu, she continued with her introduction. "This is Nova. She's a total sweetheart, but she daydreams often when she's not on a misson!"
"Hey!" The swablu pouted. "I do not day dream! Okay, maybe a little…"
With a roll of her eyes, Rumi continued and pointed her tail to the noivern. "And this is my partner, Donte. He's also the second leader of our team and also acts like our bodyguard during the night! He's usually sleeping in the day, but today we all had to go on a mission. So, how about you guys?"
Celine stood up proudly. "My name is Celine and I'm the leader of Team Cosmic. Like you, I'm also a human. These are my friends, Lizette and Aiden." Aiden and Lizette nodded their heads in greeting.
"And my name is Drexel," Drexel said, grabbing the trios attention. "I'm also a human. This is Fiona, and this is Aldous." When he finished, he leaned against the same tree that Aiden was leaning against. It was obvious he was done with his introduction. Fiona sighed, but smiled and waved politely to the group. Aldous also nodded from where he was.
-x-x-x-x-
"Finally!" Icy exclaimed happily, moving the map in her hands away from her face. "I've found the location!"
In her hands was a map detailing the location of Sparkling Grove. It was exactly what she'd been hoping for, especially after the last few stressful days.
Things had been hectic. Her informants had informed her of another human turned pokémon who lived far away from them, one that they hadn't even heard of until the rumor that the legendary pokémon, kyurem, was defeated. It wasn't until these same informants visited the disclosed location of Pokémon Paradise did they find out that the human who had defeated the pokémon was there. Luckily, they had captured the pokémon before they could evolve further and cause unnecessary problems.
She leaned her head in the palm of her hands. With the location of Sparkling Grove now in her hands, she could find the place, steal the mega stones and find out if her theory was indeed true. And even if it didn't, she still didn't plan on allowing her enemies to obtain them either.
Looking back to the map, she calculated how long the trip would be. If things went smoothly, then she would reach the place in five days. With this in mind, the dark/ice type got off her chair and started gathering items and shuffling them into her bag. She needed to leave now. She wasn't sure if the enemy had found them, or if they were even aware of the place, but she wasn't taking risks.
Once everything was gathered and she was ready, she left a note on her desk in case a guard happened to come looking for her. She wanted them to inform her master of her discovery, and gave the order to 'enlighten' a certain ninetales by the time she returned.
She took one last glance of her room, nodded when she was satisfied, and left the room to begin her long journey.
-x-x-x-x-
"…And that's why we needed to find you." Aiden finished.
Rumi took in all the information as if she were a sponge. By the time the lucario had finished his explanation, she was aware of her purpose in the pokémon world and what she had to do. She didn't need to tell them that she agreed to join forces with them as she had already decided from the moment she heard about there being other humans and their responsibilities in the world were.
"So, what's our first move?" she asked, glancing back to her partners. "We weren't really going for anything except to train and become stronger, but now that we're together, I can see that we need to move things along quickly."
Celine nodded in agreement. "We need to go to place called Sparkling Grove. That's where the mega stones are. Once we find those, we can become stronger and begin moving to stop this war."
"Sparkling Grove, huh?" Donte said, a far away look in his eyes. "I've flown over that place before. Never knew it would become so important. Heck, I didn't think there was anything special about the place."
"We should move by tomorrow," Nova said.
Lizette was in complete agreement. Aldous, however, looked baffled. "Oh no," he began, glaring at Lizette, "you're not going anywhere."
"I have to go!" she argued. "This is my team-"
"And do what?" he asked, folding his arms in front of them. "You're badly injured, Lizette! You need to rest."
"A couple of Oran Berries will fix that!"
"I still don't think you should go. Oran Berries will only subdue the pain. It won't help you get stronger, or improve your speed with a bruised body!"
"It's her decision," Celine spoke up. "It'll take us four days to get there. I'm pretty sure by then she'll be completely better."
Aldous stared at her as if she had lost her mind. "She needs rest!"
"And just how do you plan she will get that by staying here? If anything, she'll be fretting over our health and probably come after us!"
He was going to continue his argument, but Lizette lifted her paw firmly. "I'm going."
With a defeated sigh, his shoulders slumped. She put a paw on his shoulder. "I'll be fine, Aldous."
"If it helps," Nova began, "she can rest on my body as we're going there."
"That would be terrific," Aiden said. "I don't mind her coming, but I do insist that you get some sleep along the way there. Save your energy."
Lizette stared at the group as they continued their plans for tomorrow's trip. "Sheesh," she grumbled. "You guys treat me as if I'm some fragile piece of glass…"
All right, yet another chapter is out! I'm sorry if it's rushed. I'm excited to reach a certain part of the story that I'm certain will make all of you drop your jaws. So, in the meantime, the chapters might be a tad bit rushed.
Oh yes, as I promised before… I have completed the wallpapers! As I said before, I don't expect people to use them as wallpaper for their computers. I just put them up there for a visual effect. Anyway, if you're interested, here is the link to the pictures!
And if the link above does not work (or even show), just go to devintart and search for "Prettystarz4ever."
November Red Angel: Well, I think that because I'm very self-conscious about my writing. xD I'm constantly worried if I worded things properly because the way I say and write things are different from a lot of people and tend to not make sense half the time. I'm also constantly terrified that I'm butchering a character from the series that isn't mine. ._. Grovyle, for example. He is such a badass… I just don't think my writing is doing that one any justice! Also, I checked out the story you told me about and I must say that it's definitely got me interested! Also…I don't want to hint too much towards a sequel, but I am certainly thinking of one!