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…
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Chapter 17: The Truth of the Matter
Celine stared at the pillar in shock for a few seconds. Slowly, she felt the need to reach out to touch the pillar. As soon as her hand was close to the pillar, something shot out and wrapped itself around her wrist. Startled, she cried out and stumbled back. When she looked down at her wrist, she noticed the mega bracelet. It was colored in red and blue shades with fire and aura indentations. If she didn't know any better, she would have said that it was specifically made for her.
She didn't have time to sit there and admire it long though. Aiden came flying through the pillar with his fist raised and ready to hit her. She barely dodged it and scrambled away from him, her conviction of saving him only growing stronger.
"Aiden," she yelled, gaining his attention. "Stop this now!"
He ignored her and lunged after her. She narrowed her eyes allowing fire to erupt all around her. This caused the fight/steel-type pokémon to pause in his advances. He snarled angrily at Celine who only stared at him with pity.
Using the fire around her as a means to protect her, she closed her eyes. She had no clue how to activate the power of the mega bracelet, but at the moment she was letting her body follow its gut.
Do you feel the power within? Came a voice.
Celine searched hard for it until she felt a strange warmth building up inside of her heart. I do, she thought. I can feel it inside of my heart…
Help that power grow. What do you want to do most?
I want to save Aiden. I want to save anyone who is cursed under this dark influence, she replied.
After saying what she wanted, she saw the warmth begin to take shape in her mind. It took the form of a lucarionite. When she opened her eyes she noticed that the lucarionite was floating in front of her. She grabbed it and the fire around her dispersed, allowing the angry lucario to attack her once more.
Celine did not back off. She intercepted his attack, using the fire from her stick to make him edge away.
He continued to back off, barely dodging the fire wheels flying his way. His fear only grew as he watched her just stand there with this determined look, summoning more fire wheels around her and sending them his way.
As the power behind her attacks and ferocity grew, he watched with growing horror, as a silhouette of a human appeared the braixen. This distraction cost him, and he was bombarded with a fierce flamethrower attack. Celine would have continued her attack had she not noticed that the fake Aiden slowly disappeared and was replaced by the ball of light.
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Rumi dodged each shot at her feet with grace and speed. With the ones she knew that she couldn't dodge she used a shadow ball to counter with. Sometimes she would stop, call for his attention, and then strike a pose to use charm on him. It would work and even distract him long enough for her to use an attack to blast him back.
In the heat of battle, a pillar of light appeared before her and caused her to stumble back unexpectedly. Like Celine, she eventually found herself gradually approaching the pillar of light until an object came flying out and attached itself to the necklace she wore with her team badge on it.
She looked down at it confused. It took her a moment to realize that this was the mega bracelet that she'd heard from Lizette and Celine. Like Celine's, her mega bracelet was colored in a pink shade with a tint of blue. There were swirls indented all over it.
Her shot up when she heard an ear-piercing cry. The fake Donte came flying towards her with his mouth open to reveal that he was charging up a dragon pulse.
Rumi took a few steps back, but her eyes narrowed. Before his attack hit, a bluish shield appeared all around her. And just like Celine, she closed her eyes and opened them the moment she found the strength inside of her taking shape. She was a little taken aback when she noticed the strange stone in front of her.
You have earned the stone of the skies. It's among the first of its kind. Use it wisely, young one. The voice said, echoing all around the small eevee.
She didn't seem to mind much when the noivernite disappeared. From the back of her mind she knew it would only come out when she called for it. Which was perfect, considering she had no hands. Once this trial was over, she planned to give it to Donte for safekeeping.
Once the bluish shield around her was gone, she engaged herself in the battle against the fake Donte once more. The stone of the skies, eh? She thought as she stood against the strong gusts of wind Donte was creating with his wings.
She created another shadow ball and hurled it at him. The attack hit and caused the fake Donte to glare at her. Much like what happened, the noivern watched as a silhouette of a human appeared behind the determined eevee.
"You should never get distracted like that in the heat of battle!" she yelled, sudden appearing in front of the unsuspecting bat-like pokémon. "It'll cost ya!" she winked before charging up another shadow ball and hurling it directly into his face.
As she landed, she watched the impersonating noivern struggle to stay in the skies. Soon enough it was unable to keep itself in the skies and began its descent to the ground.
Without thinking, Rumi began running towards him - a part of her never wanting to see her friend fall like this. But before she was able to catch him, he vanished completely from her sight.
She stood there, a little heartbroken, but immediately perked up when she noticed the ball of light reappear before her.
-x-x-x-x-
Drexel easily dodged another blast from Fiona. He was quickly growing agitated with the mockery in front of him, posing as his dearest friend. All it did was use the same moves over and over again.
He was about to launch his water formed shurikens at the flower-mockery pokémon when a pillar of light appeared in front of him. At first, he was wary of it, but eventually grew close and earned his own mega bracelet. The color of the mega bracelet was dark blue with shuriken indentations all over it.
He'd been so absorb in the mega bracelet attached to his arm that he hadn't seen the second stone tossed at him until it slammed itself against his head. He winced and took a couple of steps back before noticing the stone rolling by his feet. Picking it up, he examined it.
Well done, human. You have not only earned the stone of compassion, but a shiny stone as well. The shiny stone will help your female partner grow into her final evolved form. As for the stone of compassion, it's among the first of its kind. Use it wisely. The voice of the ball of light said, echoing all around the greninja.
Like Celine and Rumi before him, a human silhouette appeared behind him when he charged up his final attack with determination. Once the attack hit and caused the fake Fiona to fade, the ball of light appeared before him.
-x-x-x-x-
The scenery all around them changed and they all found themselves next to each other. "Drexel! Rumi! Are you two all right?"
"Celine!" Rumi said happily, leaping into the vixen's arms with a smile. "Of course. The challenge was a bit hard, but I got over it! I assume the same went well for you two?"
Drexel huffed and looked away angrily. "I'm peeved that there was a mockery impersonating my friend for the challenge."
Celine smiled weakly at his angry comment. "You two got your own stones?"
"Yep!" Rumi said, puffing her chest out to show the mega bracelet. "Though I'm not sure where the stone went… I'm not too worried though. I'm pretty sure it'll appear when we get to the real world! But guess what? I was told that mine is practically among the first of its kind!"
"Same here," Drexel said, showing the two his florgesnite. He also showed them the shiny stone with a smirk. "This will help her evolve into her final form."
"Congratulations to the both of you!" Celine said with a big smile. "We all passed. Now what?"
Now I believe it's time I told you the truth. The ball of light said, reappearing in front of the trio. Mainly, you three were summoned to handle the problems our world faces, but that's not all. I also called you because I have wish that I want you three to fulfill.
The ball of light shun, blinding the trio momentarily. The light vanished shortly and where the ball of light once floated was a jirachi. It was wearing a crestfallen expression as it stared at the trio. "My name is Jirachi," she spoke. "and I am the one who called you to our world."
"It was you?" all three pokémon asked in shock.
Jirachi looked down sadly. "Yes. I saw the world as it began it ruinous path, and unfortunately I have contributed to that."
She looked at her hands guiltily. "A long time ago, there was an unfortunate accident that occurred. While trying to summon a human to our world, something attacked me and caused me to mess up the summoning. It created a dimensional tear that dragged a young human child into our world. They couldn't have been much older than three in human years. I tried to search for this child in our world, but I couldn't keep my search up for long. You see, the summoning takes up a lot of power from the pokémon that casted it. And in order for me to build up my power again, I was forced into slumber."
"But how are you communicating with us? How did you summon us?" Rumi asked curiously.
"I can still use some of my power while I am asleep physically," Jirachi said. "But it still requires some time for my power to build up again. So when I had enough power to re-do summoning, I did. Though I paid the price to add more time to how much longer I sleep and stay in this form. I can still use my power to accomplish a limited amount of things. I cannot physically move, but mentally I can. Just… not very far."
"So you're using telepathy to talk with us?" Celine asked.
Jirachi smiled and nodded. "Yes. It doesn't require a lot of power, if any at all. Sometimes it's hard for me to tell."
"We're getting off track," Drexel said, folding his arms in front of him. "What do you want us to do about this child? It's been a while, hasn't it? Why not leave that child alone?"
Jirachi shook her heard furiously. "I cannot go on with a good conscious knowing that I dragged a human child away from their parents. They were dragged into our world with no memory, no family, nobody to lean on! I know it's too late, but at the very least I want them to know who they really are!"
Drexel scoffed and looked away. "We have other problems to deal with. Problems much more important than searching for a lost kid."
"Drexel!" Celine scolded with a glare.
Jirachi lowered her head sadly. "No, he's right. You were called down to deal with the dark army and the tragedies befalling the towers. What I'm telling you now is simply my wish. My wish is for you three to find this other human and-"
They were interrupted with the sound of screaming echoing all around them. Jirachi looked around confused, then looked down at her hands. "What?!" she gasped, noticing that she was vanishing. "H-how?!"
"Jirachi!" Celine cried out, running over to the pokémon. But before she could reach the legendary, she vanished completely. It wasn't long after the legendary disappeared that the three humans also disappeared.
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Celine was the first to stir from her unconscious. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the light of the room, and when they did, she was horrified by what she saw.
Nova was unconscious near Rumi, who was also beginning to stir, with Donte in front of the pokémon defensively with bruises and cuts all over him. Lizette was standing her ground next to Aldous with Fiona to protect Drexel. Aiden was standing in front of her on one knee.
"Is that all you've got? I must say that I'm very disappointed. I expected you to be stronger since my subordinates had such a difficult time with you guys." An unfamiliar voice coaxed.
When Celine focused on the pokémon who spoke she realized that it was a weavile. The weavile was standing in front of the altar with a hand resting on her hip and a smug look.
"We're just getting started!" Aiden said, getting back into a fighting stance.
"Really?" the weavile asked, almost bored. She smirked when she noticed that Celine was sitting up, along with Rumi and Drexel.
"What's going on? N-nova!" Rumi cried out, seeing her unconscious friend.
"Who the heck are you?" Drexel asked, getting to his feet and walking in front of Fiona, Lizette and Aldous.
The weavile smirked. "My name is Icy. I am the right hand to the ruler of the Dark Armies. Pleased to meet you."
Her eyes settled on Celine specifically. "And hello to you, human. I hope that you are prepared to watch your friends die."
"Why, hello to you too," Celine grumbled sarcastically.
"She isn't the only human," Drexel said, earning the ice/dark-types attention. "There are two others here who are ready to kick your butt."
"You're gonna pay!" Rumi growled. "How dare you lay your filthy paws on my friend!"
Icy was unfazed by the sheer anger, but was rather intrigued to hear that there were two other humans. "I was unaware that two more of your scum were around. I guess Team Poisonix couldn't even do that job properly."
She leaned forward in a fighting stance with her smirk wide. "So lets see what our heroes are like!"
"Stop!"
Another pillar of light appeared between Icy and the other pokémon. A few seconds later a small pokémon with a star-like head floated out with a grim expression.
Icy was mildly shocked. "So, a legendary lived here huh?"
Jirachi said nothing at first. All she could do was stare at the dark/ice-type, much to the weaviles discomfort. "So, you gonna just float there and stare at me all day or do I have to beat the living day lights out of you too?"
"Why do you desire to hurt those similar to you?" Jirachi asked, catching the weavile off guard.
"Excuse me? Similar to me? They aren't real pokémon! They're hybrids, rats, scumbags! Their existence in this world is a crime!" Icy snarled.
"You're even more lost than I had predicted…" Jirachi murmured in shame.
Icy growled. "Do I know you?"
"Not personally," Jirachi sighed, "but it is my mistake that brought you here."
Celine, Drexel, and Rumi all exchanged looks at this statement. Was this the human child that Jirachi had mentioned prior?
"Mistake? Brought me here?" Icy sneered. "No, it was a map that brought me here."
Jirachi frowned at this and released another sigh. "First off, what is your name?"
"Icy - Icy the weavile. Right hand servant to the ruler of the Dark Army," Icy said, pride radiating off of her. "And I know something about you too, Jirachi, the wish maker pokémon!"
"Then there is no need for me to introduce myself," Jirachi said. "That makes this quicker. Icy, do you remember anything from when you were just a mere sneasel?"
Icy's eyes narrowed dangerously into slits. "What's it to you?"
"You have very few, do you not? You never had another weavile to raise you like a normal parent would, did you?"
"I…I had a parent that raised me!" Icy said, becoming defense. "But he was much cooler than a simple weavile!"
Jirachi's look became more strained. "Icy, you aren't what you believe yourself to be. You are not a pokémon, but a human! You were dragged to this world when you were a child by my mistake!"
This stunned the weavile into silence. She shook her head and backed away. "Liar! I'm not a human! I'm a pokémon!"
"You know that subconsciously I'm correct, Icy. Please, let me help you-"
"NO!" Icy screamed. "YOU LIE!"
Suddenly there was a roar that shook the cave violently. Jirachi and the others looked around in horror while Icy, recognizing the roar, turned around and grabbed as many stones as she could and stuffed them into her bag.
Jirachi, seeing this out of the corner of her eyes, cried out in horror. "Icy don't!"
Icy didn't listen to her. Jirachi started flying over when suddenly the pokémon disappeared. Icy glared at the shocked faces of the human pokémon. "I'll be back to get rid of you!" she hissed before vanishing.
As soon as the dark/icy-type pokémon vanished, the tremors stopped. Nobody moved at first, for fear that the place might crumble down if anyone made any sudden movements, but eventually they started moving around a little to check on each other.
Rumi was crowding over Nova, checking the small cotton bird pokémon for any injuries. Donte was off to the side, telling her what happened after she fainted. He would also occasionally ask her if she was all right. She would nod, then return back to her inspection. Once she was done with Nova, she started inspecting him, ignoring his protests all the while. He eventually stopped, knowing that Rumi would continue until she was satisfied. So, in the meantime, he stared at the mega bracelet that hung on her necklace.
Drexel was on one knee in front of Fiona and Aldous. From the looks of it, he was looking to see if either of his teammates had been seriously hurt. When he found nothing wrong with them, he looked relieved. It wasn't until Aldous asked about the mega bracelet around his wrist until he remembered about the trials and the two stones he earned, one of which would help Fiona evolve further. He brought it out and held it in front of Fiona, telling her that it was one of the gifts he earned from completing his trial and that it was something that would help her evolve. She looked hesitant at first, but agreed to use his gift. However, she told him she would use the stone to evolve once they got home.
Lizette walked slowly over to Celine and Aiden, also curious to see how her two teammates were. Along the walk over, she noticed the mega bracelet around her friend's wrist.
"I see you earned the mega bracelet," she said once she reached them. "How'd you get it?"
"Through a trial," Celine responded, scratching the back of her head.
Lizette looked like she wanted to know more, but didn't press the matter. Celine used this chance to check up on the feline. "What about you and Aiden? Are you two okay?"
"Besides one minor scrape, I'm fine," Lizette said, looking down at the aforementioned cut on her arm.
"And I'm fine as well. She got a couple of few good hits in, but that's it." Aiden shrugged as if the whole ordeal was no problem.
Celine sighed; she was relieved to know her two friends weren't seriously injured. "What happened after I fainted?"
Aiden and Lizette exchanged looks. Lizette looked over towards Nova, seeing that the cotton bird pokémon was slowly coming to. Rumi, of course, was beside her, whispering softly.
"It was an unexpected attack," Lizette said. "You three just suddenly fainted, and we weren't sure what was going. So, we just stayed by all three of you. Suddenly, this ice beam thingy came flying out of the hallway and hit Nova directly. Knocked her right now. That's when that weavile attacked and started attacking us. It wasn't long after that you guys came to, and well, you know the rest. Mind telling us what happened to you three?"
Celine frowned. "We just went through trials that would help us in the long run, and the rewards were these," she lifted her wrist up for emphasis. "Drexel was the only one who got something extra, but it's only to help his partner evolve. Oh! That reminds me!"
She patted herself until a small orb fell onto the ground. She picked it up and examined it before smiling and looking at Aiden. Standing straight once more, she handed the orb to Aiden who only stared at it in confusion. "During the trials we also got the orbs we needed to make you stronger!"
Lizette jumped onto Aiden's shoulder and examined the small orb in his paw. She'd never seen anything like it. She looked at Aiden from the corner of her eyes, noticing that he seemed memorized by it. "Aiden?"
At the mention of his name, he snapped out of whatever haze he was in. "Yeah?"
"You okay?"
"I'm fine," he said with a smile. "I just feel… a connection to this orb."
"We should go to the shop back home," Celine said with a big smile, putting her hands behind her in an innocent manner. "So that we can get something to attach this orb to make a cool necklace!"
He made a face. "I'm a boy. I don't wear-" He stopped immediately seeing the deadpanned look she was giving him. He chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Y-yeah! A necklace! …It sounds like a wonderful idea!"
Celine smiled brightly when he submitted to her will. That smile slowly faded when Drexel and his team walked over. Rumi was the next to come over, leaving Donte to take care of Nova.
"What should we do now?" he asked. "From the looks of it, Icy is the one that Jirachi mentioned."
"She just had to be the right hand to that bully…" Rumi grumbled.
Celine closed her eyes in thought. She didn't see the looks of confusion she was getting from Lizette, Aiden, Aldous, and Fiona. "There's nothing we can do right now," she said, opening her eyes when she came to the sad conclusion. "We have other issues we need to tend to. We should take care of those first before we even try to help Jirachi."
"Um, you're forgetting that we're clueless over what you three are talking about over here," Lizette said with a huff.
"Oh, sorry," Celine chuckled weakly. "After we completed our trials, Jirachi came to us telling us that she was the one who summoned us here. Of course, our main objective is to complete our main mission, but she also wanted us to fulfill her wish. She never really told us what she wanted, but if I were to take a guess… she wants us to show Icy that she isn't a pokémon, but an actual human turned into a pokémon by mistake."
"Then that settles it," Drexel said, folding his arms in front of his chest. "We're going home, gathering whatever we need, and find those towers. Celine-"
"I know," she said with a determined look. "I'll have to find out where the missing pokémon are being brought to. If I can find that, then chances are we'll find out who is behind this."
She looked all around the group, a fierce determination seen in her eyes. "We're no longer playing games anymore. From here on out, things will become increasingly difficult. We need to lean on each other for support if need be. Now let's go home, rest up, and begin the journey to our next objectives: stop the dark army and cure the Towers of Geoma and Spirals!"
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Icy was back in her office, staring blankly at the ceiling. She was thinking over what happened while she was in Sparkling Grove. Before the small, star-like pokémon had a chance to really say anything else, her master had used his power to get her out of there. In all honesty, she was partially grateful for it. But she was still curious…
The things that Jirachi mentioned were swirling around in her brain. She closed her eyes. Was it true? Was she really a human and not a pokémon? No, she couldn't have been a human! There was just no way, right? But then, if that were true, why didn't she have normal parents like other sneasels? And why could she shake the feeling that what Jirachi said was true?
A knock at her door brought her out of her thoughts. "Come in," she said, not particularly caring who it was.
The door opened, revealing a prinplup guard. The prinplup walked in front of her desk and bowed. "Our Lord has requested your presence, Lady Icy."
Icy sighed and got off of her chair. "Very well. You are dismissed."
Bowing once more, the prinplup immediately left the room. What could it be that her Master required her presence? With this thought at the foremost part of her brain, she traveled to the throne room.
Once there, she noticed that all of the guards were out of the room. She jumped slightly when she heard her Master, "Icy, I am glad that you have come."
"I couldn't deny the request of my own Master," she said, bowing in front of him. "Not that I would do so anyway. What is it that you have called me here for?"
At first her Master said nothing. "Did Jirachi say something to trouble you so?"
Icy said nothing. She was afraid to ask the validity behind the jirachi's words. Whenever she was insulted, she shrugged it off like it was no big deal. But that was different this time around. Jirachi hadn't meant to use her words as an insult, despite how Icy felt. She could deny it all she wanted, but for some unspeakable reason, she felt something telling her that Jirachi wasn't lying. It was driving her crazy! She didn't want to know the truth, but at the same time… she couldn't help but wonder.
She looked up at him, using a phrase she had not used in a very long time. "Am I a human turned pokémon, father?"
The use of this old phrase made the shadowed pokémon pause. He hadn't heard her say that in years, and he felt nostalgic the moment he heard her say father. But his endearing moment didn't last long.
"Whatever makes you ask that?"
Icy looked down, shuffling around nervously. "Jirachi said that I was brought here by mistake from the human world; that I'm not an actual pokémon, but a human turned pokémon. And part of me can't shake the feeling that she is right. So, father, is it true?"
Five long minutes passed. His silence did nothing but confirm the pokémons fears. She stared at him with wide eyes, tears now running down her cheeks. "N-no," she choked, backing away. "It can't be! Father, please tell me that it isn't so!"
The shadowed pokémon moved from the shadows, startling the weavile. He came into the light, revealing his true form: a zekrom. He was wearing a rather sad expression, a look that told Icy that he desperately wished that it wasn't the truth.
She collapsed to the ground and began sobbing loudly. He reached for her, bringing her into the palm of his hand gently. When he brought her close enough, she clung to his chest and stayed there, sobbing her heart out. He slowly sat there, not wanting to disturb her. He let her cry until she was hiccupping and sniffling.
"I wish I could tell you that what she said was a lie," he said softly, "but unfortunately that is not the case."
"But you hate the human turned pokémon!" she said bitterly. "That means you hate me as well!"
"I don't hate you, Icy. I could never hate you. I knew it was not your fault that you were dragged into our world. I knew that the moment I found you as a sneasel."
She looked up at him, her eyes puffy from crying. "Then aren't we being hypocritical? Our purpose is to eliminate the human turned pokémon that are here. I'm one of them. If other pokémon knew this and started questioning you-"
"But there is a difference between you and the other human turned pokémon," he said. He looked off in the distant. His glare made Icy shiver. "For a while now, pokémon who have gained the ability to call humans have called them down every time there was a slight issue going on in our world. They've become dependent on this ability, disgracing us other pokémon along the way. They treat the rest of us as if we are weak and that we cannot handle these problems on our own."
"And that's not even the worst part of it," he snarled. "They let these humans stay because they can't remain firm in their conviction. They tell them that they have to return to the world in which they came from, only to let them return weeks later. More and more of these human turned pokémon pop up everyday. Pokémon have become so dependent on them now, it's like they tell the rest of us who don't rely on them that they have no need for us."
He looked back at Icy, his eyes softening. "Unfortunately you were dragged into this world without the ability to return back. And since you were so young, you were unable to understand the circumstances. But allow me to ease your worries about one thing. You are my daughter. You are a pokémon, not a human. You were raised as one of us."
She never moved her eyes away from him, only seeing love and truth in them. She lowered her head. Just knowing that she was a human in reality was enough to hurt her pride, but that didn't seem to matter. Not to the pokémon father who raised her. And in all honesty, it really didn't matter.
"I understand if you do not wish to continue in our pursuits to eliminate the human turned pokémon here. I believe in the fact that human turned pokémon are upsetting the balance of our world, thus I will not stop. You will be the only exception I would ever make."
"No, father," she said looking at him with a smile. "I wish to continue with you. As you said, I am not a human. I am a pokémon. I was raised as such."
He gave her a small smile. He was extremely proud of her. "For now, Icy, it's best you take some time off and get some sleep."
Lowering the palm of his hand, he watched as she carefully got off. With one last smile in his direction, she bade him farewell and left the room.
But along the room, she began to feel strange. It was strange to know that she was actually a human. But what really got to her was what he said about her being the only exception. Was that fair? …No, it wasn't. If she had the chance, would she return to the human world? Heck no! She knew nobody from that world!
She was in a different situation than most human turned pokémon, that much was true, but she just couldn't look at their situation the same anymore.
Technically, it's not the human turned pokémons fault for being called here. It would be the pokémon that summoned them here. She froze at that thought, her eyes growing in horror. She shook her head furiously. No! It's their fault!
But why is it their fault if they were summoned into this world? Were they not called into this world with no memory of their human life? How was it their fault that they forged bonds in order to survive in this strange world?
Icy held her head in pain. No! Stop it! Lies! It's their entire fault! They knew that the balance of our world would be tipped if they stayed; yet they did!
The voice in the back of her mind said nothing more. She was grateful for that, but now she was even more confused. Her heart was conflicted about all of this. She shook her head once more. No, she would not betray her father. She would fight with him to the bitter end. He raised her despite his hatred for the human turned pokémon and viewed her as his own daughter.
The walk back to her office was long. No matter what she thought, her conviction for this upcoming battle was beginning to waver.