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 18: Evolution in Sadness
Celine yawned as she sat up, stretching as she did so. The walk home had been silent and uneventful. Each team was absorbed in their own thoughts. Celine had been particularly lost in her own thoughts. While Rumi and Drexel could ask Celebi for directions, Celine was unable to. Nobody knew where the Dark Army was holding up, and time was running out.
She rested her elbow on her knee and leaned into the palm of her hand as she stared off into space. Where could she begin looking? She was very doubtful that she could just ask around and get answers. If someone knew where they were holding up, then chances were someone would have told the Rescue and Exploration Team Headquarters.
Ma…
Celine's ears twitched as she examined the room. Did she just hear something? No, it must've been her imagination because there was nobody else in her room.
Mallow…burn…
She looked around once more for the voice, but still found nothing. She raised an eyebrow as she thought to herself, Okay; I'm finally going crazy. I'm hearing voices in my head now.
Mallowburn…Palace…
"Who's there?" she asked, still looking around her room. She was starting to get a little paranoid. Then she thought of a theory; was it possible that Jirachi was trying to contact her and tell her where to go?
Go to…Mallowburn…Palace…! …Dark…Army…there!
Celine furrowed her eyebrows. The Dark Army was at a place called Mallowburn Palace?
Can…hear…
"I can't hear you so well," Celine said, partially thinking she was crazy for talking aloud. "Is Mallowburn Palace the place where the Dark Army is? Who are you?"
She sat there in anticipation, but heard nothing more from the mysterious voice. She frowned inwardly. Just who was that? And what was so special about Mallowburn Palace? Where the heck was Mallowburn Palace?
"Celine?" came Lizette's voice as she knocked on her door. "You awake?"
"Yeah, gimme a minute!" Celine said, getting to her feet and brushing herself off. Once she thought she was presentable, she walked over to the door and opened it. Immediately she could see Aiden leaning against the doorway to the living room. He appeared to be talking to someone.
Lizette smiled up at her. "Sleep well?"
The fox-like pokémon nodded. "Yeah. What about you?"
"Slept like a kitten!"
Celine giggled at Lizette's toothy grin. Walking past her, the two walked towards the living room.
"I don't care what you say. I'm coming with you." Celine heard Grovyle said. "There is no way I'm letting you go find this place on your own."
"Look," Aiden began, his tone suggesting he was a little agitated, "I understand that you want to find your friends, but this is just too dangerous. You guys are recovering from a fatal attack."
When she got closer, she could see that Grovyle was glaring at Aiden. Silver was sitting beside the grass-type, also looking very determined to follow Celine and her team.
"I agree with Grovyle," he stated, "Vivian and Annabelle need us. They are our teammates."
"Look, I appreciate-"
"We're diamond rank," snapped Silver. "We aren't as weak as you perceive us to be. We got knocked out once; that hardly happens. Team PokéStars, as a whole, is strong. Our strength does not come from Vivian or Annabelle alone."
Aiden groaned, rubbing his temples as he shook his head. "I'm not saying you guys are weak. I know for a fact that you guys are incredibly strong. What I'm trying to tell you is that things will get rough."
"I really do hate saying this," he said with an exhausted sigh, "but there's a high chance that Vivian and/or Annabelle are being controlled. That means that we might be faced up against them. I don't want to force you into attacking your own leaders, or watch us beat them senseless."
Grovyles face twisted in pain slightly at the mention that his friends might be under the enemies influence. Silver, on the other hand, only narrowed his eyes in determination. "I'm aware of that, but they are our teammates. Should you come to face them then it would be best if you left them to us. We know all their moves, their patterns, and could easily counter them."
"Whoa," Grovyle said, looking baffled at Silver's suggestion. "Are you suggesting that we'll fight them?! I could never raise my claws against Annabelle or Vivian!"
Silver sighed and shook his head. "I don't fancy the idea of having to face them either, but I rather we face them than let them distract Celine and her team. They might come to if we try reasoning with them, or even knock them out. If that doesn't work, then we can be the distractions Celine and her team need in order to fight the pokémon behind all of this."
Aiden frowned and folded his arms in front of his chest. He still looked hesitant on letting them come along.
"We thank you for wanting to assist us," Celine said, walking up beside Aiden. "but that might be for a while yet. Where are Rumi and Drexel?"
Grovyle scratched the back of his head. "Celebi went off to see them. She told me that they plan to go to the towers. We're left to look for where the Dark Army is hiding."
"I think I might have a lead on that," she said with a small smile.
Aiden looked alarmed. "Did you have another nightmare?"
She shook her head. "No. Call me crazy if you want, but there was a voice telling me to check out a place called Mallowburn Palace. They also mentioned the Dark Army, so I'm thinking that's where they are."
"Who would be telling you this?" Grovyle asked. "I'm aware that Celebi knows how to use telepathy, but I don't think she even knew where to look."
"I think it was Jirachi," Celine said with a slight frown.
Aiden didn't look convinced. "I thought you told me that she has a limited reach for psychic reach in her prone state - unless she's awake. That would explain her appearance in front of us a few days ago."
"No, I'm convinced that was just a holograph or something," Celine said with a shake of her head. "Since we were nearby, her powers there were stronger so she was able to do that. But now we're far away."
"Regardless of that," Silver said, "we should check this place out. Now, Celine," he said, gaining her attention, "should we wait for the others to return to the base after completing their missions?"
Celine frowned; she hadn't thought of that. Rumi and Drexel were tasked with restoring whatever was going wrong at the two towers and she was tasked with stopping the Dark Army, but did that mean that she couldn't get help from Rumi and Drexel? No, would it be fair that she asked them for help? They had to handle the towers, and she was sure that they weren't going to be easy.
With her eyes filled with determination, she decided that she would handle this mission alone with her team and some help from Silver and Grovyle. She would leave behind a note for the other two teams, if they wanted to help, but she knew that this was her mission.
"I'll leave behind a note," she said, folding her arms together, "but this is my mission. It wouldn't be fair to ask them to help me when they're already tasked with taking care of the towers. With that in mind, let's start prepping up."
Grovyle and Silver were the first ones to leave. From the look in Silver's eyes, she knew that they were going to be stocking up big time. There were multiple risks in this mission, and it wasn't meant to be taken lightly. She just hoped that they remained safe.
Lizette walked into the living room with her arms folded and with a thoughtful expression. "What's up, Liz?"
She looked over to Aiden and Celine. "I'm worried. Aiden has already evolved and is strong. He also has the lucarionite. I'm already evolved, but I'm stilling learning the functions of battle. You're strong, Celine, but you haven't reached your last evolution. Aren't we jumping into this pre-maturely?"
"Evolved or not, I can't wait for that," Celine said with a pitiful look. "Time is of the essence. I can't keep wasting time, doing missions, and whatnot just to evolve. I'll find a way to get through, but if things get too rough, I want the two of you to leave. No questions asked."
"Oh heck no," Aiden said angrily. "We are not abandoning you."
"I would rather you abandon me than get caught and hurt because of me!" Celine said, glaring at him.
He huffed. "I'm not abandoning you."
"Neither of us are," Lizette said, joining his side. "You've done a lot for us, Cel, there's no way that we're going to leave you behind when the going gets tough."
Celine groaned, her face falling. "But…I don't want to see you two get hurt because of me…"
"We won't," he said.
She stared at the two pokémon. She had a bad feeling in her gut, and she honestly didn't want to see them get hurt. But they were stubborn, and she knew that no matter how much she protested they weren't going to leave.
She was startled out of her thoughts when there was a knock at her door. Lizette ran past Aiden and went towards the door. Aiden and Celine were entering the hallway when she opened the door and revealed their guest. "Zoroark!"
Zoroark was standing at their door with an unreadable expression. His eyes locked on Celine immediately, making the vixen pokémon wince a bit. Becoming serious, she walked over to him and gave him a smile. "Hello Zoroark, what do we owe the pleasure for your visit?"
"I heard you were planning to fight the Dark Army."
She couldn't hide the shock written all over her face. "H-how…"
"Jirachi is a good friend of mine. She contacted me and told me that you were most likely going to Mallowburn Palace. Since she was worried about you, she asked me to tag along."
Celine shook her head with a smirk. "Remember what you told me? Sorry, but we aren't taking non-team members on our mission."
He mirrored her smirk, mildly amused by her challenge. "So then you would challenge me?"
"Well, if that's the only way you'll join the team, then yes. Non-members are not allowed to come due to how serious this mission will be."
He chuckled and walked out to the large field in front of the base. "Then come and amuse me, little fox. We'll see if you've got what it takes to handle the Dark Army."
Aiden was about to follow, but Celine stopped him. "No. I'm doing this alone."
He was about to protest, but one glare from her stopped him. Lizette walked up beside him the moment that Celine followed the other fox-like pokémon out into the field. She put a paw on Aiden's leg reassuringly. Despite the small feline's comfort, Aiden was still worried.
Celine stood far across from Zoroark who was already in a battle stance. She took a deep breath and also got into a battle stance. "At your ready."
A few seconds passed with neither moving. Their eyes were locked on each other; both anticipating the others moves. Zoroark was the first to move. He lunged towards her with his claws raised. His claws were thick with shadows, a move that Celine knew to be shadow claw. She waited until he was just about in front of her to sidestep and dodge the move. She kicked him away, and after bringing out her stick, called out several bluish-white flames. Zoroark was unable to dodge the bluish-white flames, enduring the heat of the flames. He winced at the pain, and snarled at Celine.
She didn't seem to be bothered by his display of anger. Instead, she took a couple of steps back with her flame-ignited stick held in front of her protectively. Her eyes narrowed the minute that she noticed that he was being covered with a dark aura.
In response to this, she allowed fire to cover her body in preparation for a flame charge attack. With a roar, he released the dark aura and sent it hurling in her direction. She ran towards it, her speed increasing with each step that she took before leaping into the air, barreling through his dark pulse attack and into him.
Upon impact, she immediately jumped back when he retaliated with shadow-covered claws. She stumbled backwards a bit when there were multiple Zoroarks around her. She stood there, frantically searching for the real Zoroark. From behind her, Zoroark jumped into the air and slashed her with a night slash attack. She let out a painful cry and attempted to fire back, but he quickly jumped back and once again surrounded her with multiple copies of himself.
This repeated until the braixen fell to her knees, panting from exhaustion. Zoroark taunted her, "Is that the best you've got? I'm severely disappointed. As it stands, you've made little to no progress from when you were just a fennekin!"
"I…I have too!" she yelled. "I'm stronger than I was back then!"
"Just because you're stronger doesn't necessarily mean that you're better." She let out another painful cry when she received a punch to the face. He vanished back into his numerous copies before she could even retaliate. "If this is all you've got, then you've got no chance of defeating the Dark Army! Those you love will perish, and it'll be all because of you!"
"Shut UP!" she screeched, sending out a powerful psychic wave. Even though it wasn't effective against the dark-type, it still made him stop. He was surprised that she even tapped into her psychic abilities.
This moment of surprise was what she needed. She spun around and released an intense blast of all-consuming fire. It hit Zoroark, making him cry out in pure agony. He managed to shake off the pain once the fire disappeared and lunged after Celine. "You're going to pay for that!"
She was unable to avoid the pitch-black shock wave he sent. She endured the hit, but was unable to endure the punch to the stomach. She tried lashing out with her new psychic attack, but it did nothing but infuriate the zoroark in front of her. He slashed down his claws, effectively hitting her with his night slash, and sent her barreling into a nearby tree.
Barely conscious, she slid to the ground. Zoroark folded his arms, looking unimpressed. "I had seriously hoped that you would be stronger than that. While you managed to catch me off guard with your psychic abilities, it still did nothing for you in the end. You are still the weakest out of your human friends."
Even in her barely conscious state, the words still stung. She closed her eyes and looked away, trying her hardest not to cry.
"Hey! Stop bullying her!" Lizette yelled. "That's not fair!"
"Life isn't fair!" Zoroark yelled back, glaring at the small feline. "She'll be in a life or death situation, and if this is the best she can do, then she will not make it. If she can't defeat me, then she will never be able to defeat the enemy. I can tell you right now that they will be ten times stronger than I am."
He scoffed. "And your bonds with her are weak. She must not care about you or Aiden if this is the best she can do. She has no chance in protecting you two, or the pokémon world. If she truly cared, then she would not give up so easily. Yet I see her slumped over there, ready to cry because she knows I'm right! She is a pathetic excuse for a friend, and a pathetic excuse for a human turned pokémon."
Then he said something that made something inside of the braixen snap. "She cares nothing for the pokémon of this world, and she certainly does not care about you two."
"That…" came the weak voice of Celine, her tone slowly growing higher from her rage, "IS NOT TRUE!"
He spun around just in time to watch as a pillar of light engulfed the infuriated braixen. He fought to keep a straight face; this was the goal he'd been trying to get all along.
Zoroark didn't have the time to admire the pillar of light. Not even moments after she was engulfed in the light did Celine shoot out of it, covered in fire, and slammed directly into him. The impact sent him flying into the team base, leaving an imprint on the wall as he slid down. The force of his impact was enough to shake the team base, causing Aiden to grab Lizette and avoid the base.
The newly evolved delphox stalked towards him, her face contorted in anger. "How dare you claim that I don't care?" she seethed. "I have done nothing but fight to protect everyone that I love! I will not let anyone hurt those I love! I WILL DIE BEFORE THAT EVER HAPPENS!"
A powerful mystical flame attack was fired towards Zoroark. Aiden and Lizette, seeing that Zoroark wasn't getting up or even moving, ran over to Celine and pulled her away. "Celine, stop it!"
The crazed look in her eyes quickly vanished. She blinked, and then looked around confusedly. Eventually her eyes settled on the unconscious Zoroark. "W-what happened?!" She looked to Aiden, surprised to see that she was slightly taller than him now. "Why are you so short all of a sudden…?"
Aiden and Lizette stared at her. Neither could believe that the newly evolved delphox couldn't remember what had happened in the past few minutes.
She winced a little under their stares. "What? Is there something on my face or something?"
"You don't remember anything from the past few moments?" Aiden asked.
Celine shook her head no.
Lizette gawked at her. "You evolved and beat the crud out of Zoroark! Oh! Zoroark!" she cried, running over to his unconscious body.
"I…evolved?" Celine gasped, examining herself. "H-how? When?"
"Just now," Aiden replied, grabbing her hand to calm her down. "Are you okay?"
"I can't remember anything after I fainted…" she murmured, looking uncomfortable. "It's all a blank. Other than that, I feel fine…"
Aiden sighed, relieved to know that she was all right. "I think he egged you on, on purpose." He looked over to the downed pokémon. "Though I think he got more than he bargained for."
"I just remember him saying some real mean things… then I lost my cool and… that's it." Celine frowned. "Will he be okay?"
Silver and Grovyle were walking along the path back when they noticed the downed pokémon. She could tell by the looks on their faces that something big had just transpired. And she remembered nothing of it.
"I'm sure he'll be fine," Aiden said, folding his arms. "Can't say that I feel bad for him. Kinda had it coming."
"Aiden!" she scolded.
He shrugged. "Hey! With everything he was saying, what did he expect? You to evolve and throw flowers around?"
Celine felt relief wash over her when she saw Zoroark stir. She rushed over to him and knelt beside him. Silver and Grovyle were staring at her, both surprised to see her in her final evolved form. "That…was pretty…impressive…" Zoroark said weakly, smiling wearily.
"I'm so sorry!" she said, a look of shame etched on her face. "I honestly don't know what came over me!"
"No, that was good," he said. "That's the type of strength you need to face off against your enemy."
"So, does that mean you're now a member of Team Cosmic?" Aiden asked idly. Celine shot the lucario a glare.
Zoroark chuckled. "She beat me fair and square. If you don't mind me, then yes, I would love to be a member of the team."
"I don't think beat would be the correct term for what I did to you…" she winced.
"Yo…" came Jaxon's drowsy voice, "who the heck caused the earthquake?"
Celine winced once more, feeling even guiltier of what happened. "Sorry…"
Jaxon glared at her, but then blinked to adjust his eyes better. He stared at her for a long, good moment. "Celine?!"
"Who the heck didja think I was?!" she asked.
"I like the new look!" he said, running around her to check her out. "You look like a force to be reckoned with!"
Zoroark chuckled, biting his tongue from cracking a joke. Jaxon saw him and blinked. "Dude, who did a number on you?"
"ANYWAY," Celine said, wanting a change of subject, "how are you going to come with us in that shape?"
"Just give me a couple of Oran berries and a Rawst berry and I'll be fine," he replied, closing his eyes. Lizette ran off into the house to retrieve the requested berries while the others stayed with him.
"We're all set," Silver said, notifying Celine and Aiden. "We're ready to go whenever you're ready to go."
Celine frowned. She still didn't want them to come. The worry must've been evident on her face because they narrowed their eyes in determination. There was nothing that she could say that would stop them. They were coming, whether she liked it or not.
"Give us about a half an hour," she said, giving in. "Zoroark should be healed up by then. In the meantime, it's probably best my team also preps up for the adventure."
Silver and Grovyle both looked happy that she wasn't going to argue with them. They helped Zoroark to his feet, with the help of Jaxon and eventually Lizette (who was using her psychic powers to lift him), into the house. This left Celine and Aiden outside of the base.
She looked rather worried still. Everything bad that might happen during their trip was playing tricks on her mind and her confidence. She looked at Aiden when she felt him put a paw on her shoulder. "Calm down. Psyching yourself out won't help."
"Easier said than done," she murmured. "You're not the one with the entire world's safety on your shoulders."
"No, I'm not," he admitted, "but I do know that if you stress out about it, everything you fear will become a reality. Take a deep breath and calm down. I promise you that nothing bad will happen. I'll be there, Lizette will be there, and Team PokéStars will be there. And, if they finish their missions up early, so will Team Invincible Hope, Team Solar Spiral, and maybe even Team Echo Hearts. This isn't a small battle we're talking about. And I can guarantee you right now that everyone who is able-handed will attend and help."
"But that's the thing," she groaned. "I don't want others to involve themselves… Aiden, how can I save them if they get hurt and I'm too busy?"
"Everyone who goes to this fight is well aware of the risks," he said.
She still didn't look all that convinced. He frowned, and then looked around to see if anyone was around. When he saw none, he leaned in close to her face. She blushed. "Wha…"
Celine didn't finish her sentence. Aiden had pressed his mouth against hers, causing her to blush even more fiercely. Eventually, though, she closed her eyes and kissed him back. They didn't pull away until they needed air.
He smirked up at her. "Did that help?"
She still had a dreamy look in her eyes. "Yeah…"
"Celine, would you hate me if I said something rather…strange?" he asked suddenly.
Celine was slack-jawed; surprised that he would even think she would hate him. "Why in the world would I hate you?"
"Because this will change our relationship," he said, looking serious. He took a hold of her hands and held onto them tightly. She looked down at their hands briefly before looking back at him curiously. Was he going to do what she thought he was about to do?
"I think you're pretty."
The surprise from her face vanished. "Are you serious?" she deadpanned.
"Completely."
She could feel an eye twitch developing above her right eye. That was not what she was expecting. She sighed and closed her eyes. He just had to ruin the moment with that outrageous comment! Right after their kiss, too! She'd been hoping that he would tell her how much he loved her, how much he wanted her to be his, but nope! Instead he just commented on how pretty she was. In all honesty, she was near close to slapping him.
Aiden, on the other hand, was confused by her reaction. "Celine?"
"Yes?"
"What's with the reaction?"
"Nothing," she grumbled, removing her hands and getting to her feet.
He just sat there and pouted. "Were you expecting something else?"
"Nope," she said, turning away.
"You were expecting something else."
"No I wasn't."
"Yes you were."
"Keep this up and I'll slap you."
She almost missed the mischievous glint in his eyes. "And what the heck are you smiling about?"
"I think you were expecting something else."
"Oh for the love of… no I wasn't!"
"I love you."
"I said I wasn't – wait, what?" she asked, wondering if she heard him right.
"I said that I love you," he said with a smirk. "I just wanted to see how'd you react to me just saying you were pretty."
She wore a deadpanned expression, the twitch above her right now growing. "Do you know how much I want to kill you right now?"
"Aww, you don't return the feelings?" he asked with mock hurt.
She opened her mouth to say something, but immediately closed it. She wanted to say that she did, but Rumi's words were echoing in her ears.
"What if we don't have the choice that others have? What if we can't come back? We'll be leaving this world behind, and all the pokémon that we've come to love and work with. Our leaving will hurt them because they know they'd never see us again."
Celine turned away from Aiden to prevent him from seeing her hurt expression. She didn't want him to see the tears in her eyes. She wanted nothing more than to embrace him and tell him that she did return the feelings. But she didn't want to disappoint him when she left.
Aiden took this the wrong way. His mischievous smirk faded, replaced with a doleful expression. He felt more of his heart shattering than he did the embarrassment from the actions he had just done. He got to his feet and down casted his gaze.
"I see," he said. "I made a fool of myself then. If you need anything, I'll be helping the others in the base." He walked past her and into the base. She watched him, feeling her own heart shatter.
Oh you have no idea how much I want to say I do, she thought as she wept bitterly.