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 21: Captured
Things were not the same between Aiden and Celine after their talk. Aiden avoided Celine completely. This broke her heart further, especially when she made attempts to speak with him. He would act passive in their conversations and leave soon after she initiated them.
That was enough to put her in her current state.
She was sitting in the corner of her pitch-black room with the door locked and the shades pulled down. She was going through a roller coaster of emotions. She was mad at Rumi for saying that they would vanish and implying that their friendships were meaningless. She was also mad at herself for being persuaded by the eevee. That one moment of hesitation was enough to completely ruin her chances with Aiden. She couldn't believe that a part of her actually believed Rumi.
But at the same time, she couldn't be mad at Rumi.
She knew Rumi wasn't saying those things out of cruelty. She was looking at the uncertain facts of what would happen after they completed their missions. She only stated the truth of the matter. Would their situation be any different from other human turned pokémon? Would they be allowed the chance to return?
This uncertainty was enough to make anyone pause and think.
Celine tried her best to stay positive; to believe that their situation wasn't much different from other human turned pokémons. But then again, no other human turned pokémon ever had the ability to wield the mega bracelet either.
In the end, it did nothing but infuriate the delphox further. Why was she being so easily swayed? Her convictions were solid before she met Rumi; before she even thought about the aftermath of their mission; before she even thought of having to leave Aiden and Lizette.
She groaned and hugged herself. There was so much drama going on, so much nonsense that it was giving her a headache. She was aware that self-pitying and delaying the inevitable would do nothing but continue to make the situation worse.
Eventually, she would have to suck it up and deal with it.
A knock at her door pulled her out of her thoughts. "Celine? Is everything all right?"
Celine didn't answer. She just looked away from the door. She knew that Lizette would get worried if she didn't answer her, but she didn't feel like talking to anyone.
"Celine?"
"I'm fine," she finally spoke, "but I rather be left alone right now."
"All right," Lizette said, her tone suggesting that she wanted to ask what was up. "Is there anything you need? Anything you want me to get for you?"
Can you help mend a broken relationship? "No, I'm good. Thank you for the offer though," she said. She heard shuffling outside of her door. Eventually it faded away and she was back to delving on her own thoughts again.
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Lizette lingered outside of her door for a minute before going back into the living room.
"Is she okay?" Jaxon asked, looking over from his spot beside Kalista's side.
Lizette shook her head sadly. Her ears fell as she spoke softly, "I don't know what's wrong with her. I don't know if she's beating herself up over her fight with Zoroark. I kind of thought she would let it go since he wasn't that badly injured."
"Perhaps it's trouble in paradise," Silver suggested, looking over to Aiden who occupied the spot beside the newly repaired window.
He wasn't looking at them or even listening. He was staring outside of the window, trapped in his own thoughts.
Grovyle sighed and shook his head. "This is the worst time for you two to have a love spat."
Lizette frowned as she watched Aiden. Usually he would've snapped, but he didn't even budge or acknowledge the other pokémon in the room.
"I have a funny feeling I know what's wrong," Zoroark said, limping into the living room.
Lizette was beside him within seconds. "What did I tell you? Don't move! You need to rest up-"
"I'm fine," he said, cutting her off. "Celebi healed me."
"She's back?" Grovyle questioned, looking around for the legendary. "Where is she?"
Zoroark looked in the direction of Celine's room. "Knowing her, she's probably trying to speak to Celine. Which is exactly why I came out here: to speak to you, Aiden."
Despite his name being called, he didn't show any acknowledgement. "You're not the first pokémon partner to have fallen in love with a human turned pokémon, Aiden, and you won't be the last. Did you ever stop to think why she had not returned your feelings?"
Aiden flicked his ear in Zoroark's direction. It was a sign that he was listening.
"Perhaps she does love you. I'm willing to bet she does. She wouldn't be the first to fall in love with her partner. And she wouldn't be the first to withdraw her feelings because she is vaguely aware that she will disappear from this world once she has completed her mission."
"What?" Lizette asked, visibly shocked by this. "She'll…disappear?"
Zoroark nodded. "Yes. All human turned pokémon are sent back to the world they originally come from upon completing their given mission, but are given the chance to return to our world and live among us. However, since they do not originally live in this world, they must meet the requirements in order to complete the trial to return to our world. Many have done it, others have failed it, and some chose not to bother with it."
He looked directly to Silver, Jaxon, and Grovyle. "Those who met these requirements were allowed to return to our world and live among us as a fellow pokémon. The challenges are ever changing, but that's due to the sheer mass of human turned pokémon that live amongst us. It's the very reason why some fear that opportunity to return will soon close and prevent any further human turned pokémon from living here. Others, much like Celine, fear that their situation is much different from other human turned pokémon and believe that option to return here is not valid to them. I cannot confirm nor deny any questions regarding whether or not she will be staying here after her mission is complete. That is something that not even I am aware of. But the point of me telling you all of this is to tell you that perhaps she is afraid. Once she completes her mission, she may never see any of you again. And that thought alone frightens her. She may not want to build her relationships any further in hopes that she doesn't hurt any of you when it's her time to leave."
Lizette was frozen in her spot. Disbelief was written all over her face. She shot a pleading look over to Grovyle, Silver, and Jaxon. "How can we bring her back? There has to be a way that she can stay here!"
Nobody answered at first. "Lizette, being irrational about this will not help," Zoroark said.
"Irrational?" she repeated, fury now written all over her face. "How am I being irrational about this? She is the leader and creator of this team; she's the main core that holds this team together! She has helped mend a relationship that would have otherwise been broken had she never intervened and fixed it! She's like that extra shoulder you know you can lean on when the going gets tough and reassure you that everything will be all right. She's a very important friend to me – one that I don't want to give up too easily! I just can't sit here and listen to you tell me that she might vanish forever! How is that fair? It's not – especially when there are other human turned pokémon living in this world! Tell them, Aiden!"
All eyes turned to the lucario. He was just standing there with a blank expression. Nobody knew that inner turmoil he was facing right now. He was in disbelief himself. Was this the reason why she turned away? Was it to hide her sadness? Why hadn't she told him about it?
And more importantly, how could he find a way for her to stay?
Lizette hissed when Aiden said nothing. Tears were running down her face. She grabbed a pillow from the couch and threw it at him, snapping him out of his thoughts. He looked at Lizette, baffled to see the meowstic standing there crying. "Why aren't you saying anything? Don't you care if Celine vanishes forever? She's done so much for us, Aiden! She protected us and fixed everything! She protected you when things got rough – even to the point where it nearly cost her own life! Is this how you repay her for everything she's done for us? For you?"
She collapsed to her knees, her crying escalating to bawling her heart out. "I don't want her to leave!"
The sight was heartbreaking for Aiden to see. He felt the exact same way.
Grovyle walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders reassuringly. "She might only leave for a little while. I feared the same thing when I knew that if we changed the past, we would change the future and our very existence in this world. I almost quit because I didn't want to lose Annabelle."
"Same here," Jaxon said, approaching her. "I was heartbroken when I watched my own best friend vanish before my eyes. If I had known that she would have vanished, I would have never completed our mission. Nothing was the same after she disappeared. But don't lose hope! There is still a chance she won't leave, or, if she does, return!"
She looked at the two of them, still sniffling. She looked back to Zoroark. "There's still a slim chance, right?"
"There is a chance for anything to happen," he said. "But I cannot tell you for certain. There are some things that reach beyond even my knowledge. But what I can tell you is this: I have noticed a pattern between the humans and their partners. They shared a very special bond, and it's my theory that this special bond helps create a pathway in which the human can use to return to our world."
Aiden lowered his head: a special bond? Did he already have this special bond with Celine? It sounded silly, but he wasn't sure. He loved her, yes, but did that qualify as a special bond? He lifted his head up determinedly. It had to be. Nothing was stronger than the bond of love, or so he heard when he was just a riolu.
He walked past them and towards Celine's room. He needed to speak with her and fix things. He never once gave thought about the aftermath, or what would happen to her once they completed the mission. Now that he gave thought to it, he could understand her fear of not saying anything when he asked her about her feelings. She was afraid of accepting them not because she didn't feel the same (or so he hoped), but because she didn't want to hurt him afterwards by telling him that she would have to leave forever.
He reached her door just as she was opening it to reveal Celebi and a shocked Celine who locked her eyes on him. Celebi giggled and smiled, flying past Aiden and winked at him. He was confused by her actions, but didn't linger on it. He looked back to Celine who had her head lowered.
"I heard from Zoroark," he said. "Is that why you didn't say anything?"
He could see she was fighting back the tears. "It is, isn't it?"
"I couldn't tell you," she said softly, "I didn't want you to abandon our mission because of the aftermath. I don't like it either, but I want to help these pokémon."
"I would never abandon the mission," he said, taking her hand into his, "I would be deeply saddened by what would happen afterwards, but I know how important this mission is to you. I would never stop it because I didn't want you to leave. That would just be selfish."
She looked at him. There was hope swimming in her eyes as she stared at him. "You still want to fight…?"
His grip on her hand tightened. "Of course. I won't abandon you and make you fight this battle alone." He chuckled lightly. "The time that we've spent together is short, and I'm a little surprised with how quickly we've fallen in love with each other. To be honest, it all feels like a fairy tale. But I am seriously when I say that I do care about you, and I hope that I'm not jumping the gun when I believe you feel the same way about me."
"Of course I do!" she immediately blurted, blushing when she realized what she said. "I have for a while. I just couldn't bring myself to tell you and hurt you when I disappeared."
He smiled, relieved that she did feel the same. His relief was washed over with a wave of determination as he narrowed his eyes with a smirk. "Then let's stop this little drama we've got going on here and help those captured pokémon."
Her smile grew with her eyes sparkling with unshed tears. She hugged him and nodded her head against his chest. "Let's end this war."
The ground shook violently beneath them, causing the two to hold onto each other. They could hear Lizette cry out in surprise, "What the heck is that?!"
Celine winced at the loud roar, "Human! I know you're in there!"
Aiden's grip on Celine tightened in response to the roar. His eyes were locked on the door. He was grateful that the earth was done trembling, but he could still sense the danger in the air. Mixed with this danger was a power surge of electricity and authority. He eyed Celine from the corner of his eye.
She was staring at the door in worry. Her hands rushed to her mouth as she gasped out in surprise, "Zoroark!"
He looked back just in time to see Zoroark running directly to the door. He swung the door open and ran outside. Celebi was close behind him, yelling, "Wait! Zoroark!"
Lizette was the next to come running out into the hallway, but this time she ran towards the pair. Her eyes were still puffy and red-ringed from her crying. "We've got a serious problem!"
"What is it?" Aiden asked, a bad feeling forming in his gut.
Before she could answer, there was another roar. It was shortly followed by a howl of anger. The group looked at each other before the trio ran outside to see the commotion.
Zoroark, with his teeth bared, was glaring up at the large black and blue pokémon before him. In turn, Zekrom was glaring down at Zoroark. Celebi was hovering behind Zoroark with narrowed eyes, crouching down slightly as if she was preparing herself for a fight.
"It has been a while," Zekrom finally said, his eyes narrowing into slits. "Fancy meeting you here after years of never seeing each other, traitorous Zoroark."
Zoroark snorted. "If anyone is the traitor here, it's you. A hypocritical one at that too! How could you come to hate humans so much when you, yourself, used to be partnered with one?"
Zekrom snarled. "I will only spare you this one chance, old friend, to move yourself out of my way. Otherwise I will put an end to you and everyone else here."
"Well, I do hate to burst your bubble, old friend," Zoroark taunted back, "but I don't plan on moving an inch."
Celebi flew in front of him before any attacks could be thrown. "You! What have you done to the other human turned pokémon?"
"Why, isn't it the little guardian of time herself? Diagla failed to get you out of his way, I see. I suggest if you wish to remain alive that you move out of my way."
"I'm flattered," she said, not budging an inch from her spot, "that you know who I am. Then you should already be aware that I do not take kindly to those who hurt, or even harm, my friends. I have survived Diagla's wrath, what makes you think I'm going to shudder in your presence? Now tell me, where are my friends?!"
"And, pray tell, why would I tell a pip squeak like you?" Zekrom snickered. "Your friends tainted the future of our world!"
"Wrong!" she yelled. "They made it a happier and brighter place, however you are ruining it!"
Zekrom snarled and growled at the two pokémon. His patience was wearing thin. "I said to MOVE!" he roared, emitting an electrical surge.
"Celebi! Zoroark!" Celine screamed in horror.
Celebi, having been distracted by Celine's scream, was hit by the thunderbolt. She screamed out in pain until the electrical current surrounding her body. She collapsed into Zoroark's arms not a second later.
"Celebi!" Celine attempted to run to her, but was intercepted by Zekrom who stepped in her path. He glared down at her, and she, in turn staring at him in horror. It was quickly replaced with anger. "How dare you hurt her!" she yelled. Aiden and Lizette quickly joined her; the two pokémon stood on either side of her in fighting stances.
Zekrom found himself laughing at the trio that dared to stand before him in preparation for a fight. "Do you honestly believe that you three could possible defeat me?"
"We won't know until we try!" Celine yelled, her stick appearing in her hand, the tip of it ignited in fire.
He stared down at them. Not amused by their actions, his eyes flashed. A thunderbolt struck down, hitting Celine. She yelled out in pain and collapsed to one knee. Electricity sparked all around her and made it impossible for her to move. Before either Lizette or Aiden had the time to react, Zekrom threw down both of his claws. Covered in a purple hue, he attacked both pokémon with dragon claw. He sent them barreling away from him and proceeded to grab Celine.
Despite her paralyzed state, she attempted to attack back with a flamethrower attack. The attack hit him, but he brushed it off easily. Seeing how her attack didn't seem to faze him made Celine's eyes grow wide.
Grabbing her frozen form, he lifted her off of the ground. "Release her at once!"
Zekrom turned to see Silver, Grovyle, Zoroark, and Jaxon. All four pokémon were charging up attacks of their own, but before any of them had the chance to fire their attack, Zekrom summoned a rain of thunderbolts. All of them tried to avoid the attacks, but were unsuccessful. Pinned to the ground, they watched as Zekrom prepared to fly off.
Refusing to stay down, Aiden raced back from where he'd been sent flying with his fists raised. Landing on Zekrom's shoulder, Aiden punched the large legendary pokémon repeatedly in the face. Zekrom roared and whipped the fighting type off of him.
Aiden winced as he landed painfully on the ground. He refused to stay down. Again, he ran towards Zekrom, this time with an aura sphere that formed in the center of his palms.
"Argh!" Aiden cried out as Zekrom swung his body around quickly, effectively hitting Aiden with his tail. The fighting-type was once again sent flying, crash landing against a tree. He fell to the ground unconscious. Lizette was by his side in seconds, horror written all over her face as she cried out his name.
Zekrom snorted and ignored the struggling that Celine was putting up in his claw. He flew off with the delphox screaming out for her team.
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Aiden stirred awake to the sounds of Lizette crying. "What do we do?" he heard her say. "That pokémon took off with Celine, and Aiden's wounds are far too severe to pursue after her…"
"I'm not sure," Jaxon responded, "but I'm curious as to who that pokémon is. I've never seen or heard about a pokémon of his size or caliber."
Zoroark was the one to reply to his question. "That was Zekrom. He's a legendary pokémon of great power. He was referred to as god of the human lands named Unova. He and his counter-part, also known as Reshiram, guarded the region with their respected human partner, or so the legends I've heard say. One stood for ideals while the other stood for truth."
"If the legends are true," Zoroark continued, "then Reshiram stood for the truth, while Zekrom stood for ideals. There was a rumor that there was a third counter-part, but I have not read any books about it thus far."
"Oh great," Silver commented sarcastically, "there's a third? Where the heck is Reshiram and why isn't he doing anything?"
"Nobody has seen the dragons for centuries," Zoroark defended, "Zekrom is the first to have shown its face after all this time."
"As interesting as this history lesson is," Grovyle said, gaining their attentions, "we have much bigger things to worry about. Such as Celine, how she is fairing, Celebi and Aiden, and how we're going to get to Zekrom's place and defeat him with two injured pokémon."
"There's only one thing we can do." Jaxon eyed his unconscious friend. "We have to wait for Team Solar Spiral and Team Invincible Hope to return. We're hopelessly outnumbered, and we suffered two, if not three, major blows. Aiden is out for the count, Celebi is passed out, and Celine is gone."
"Ugh, nothing can go right!" Lizette cried. "All Aiden and Celine have done was fight and cause drama between each other! And finally, just when things were getting better between them, he has to show up and ruin it all!"
"I'm more concerned about what he'll do with Celine now that he has her in his grip," Silver said. "Granted, he doesn't have, or at least I hope he doesn't have, the other human turned pokémon, but wasn't she the only one who was charged with the rescue for captured human turned pokémon?"
All of the pokémon turned their attention over to Aiden and Lizette. Aiden was attempting to sit down, but Lizette was trying to force him to lay back down. "No!" she said, her eyes beginning to glow, using her psychic abilities force him back down "you are not moving from this spot!"
Aiden glared at her and opened his mouth to protest, but she hissed. "No, don't you even try speaking your way out of this. Do you have any idea how lucky you are to be alive right now? Your neck could've been snapped upon impact after the way you hit that tree!"
"C-celine…" He winced, his throat obviously sore.
Lizette shook her head feverously. "Yes, I'm aware, Aiden, but I refuse to let you try anything in your current condition!"
"Aiden, please try to relax," Zoroark finally said, walking over to them. "I understand your protectiveness for her, but what good will you do in your condition? We have got to believe in her. Believe that she is fine and safe."
Aiden's look told them all they needed to know. He was worried, and wanted nothing more than to leap out of his bed to find and save Celine. Zoroark and Lizette exchanged looks, the latter shaking her head.
Zoroark looked back to the group of pokémon in the living room. Besides Aiden and Celebi, nobody else was seriously hurt. Everyone had a couple of minor cuts and bruises, but they were small compared to the wounds that Celebi and Aiden were abstained.
Thinking of the small legendary, Zoroark gazed over to the sleeping pokémon. She was resting on a small mat in the corner of the room. She'd suffered deep gashes and bruises all over her body, but thankfully it didn't seem any worse than that. She'd definitely be sore when she woke up, that much was sure.
Then there was Aiden. Previously, everyone feared the worst for him with the way he landed. It had looked like his back had snapped, and it especially didn't help their nerves with the way he fell onto the ground. Thankfully it didn't appear to be any worse than the major bruises on his back and some minor cuts. Though Zoroark was certain that Aiden had pulled, or even torn some ligaments in his body. There was just no way that the fighting-type could have gotten away from an impact as bad as his without some internal injury.
"She's right," he finally said after a while. "It's best we wait until the others return from their missions. We will need their strength to storm the castle, save Celine, and save the other human turned pokémon. Besides, we need to think of a plan to get into their castle without being spotted. If we can manage to get to Celine undetected, then we'll be solid. Each minute we spend reserving our fighting strength will be important for the largest battle any of us will ever face."
He looked over the entire living room before resting his eyes on Aiden. "We will save this world and stop Zekrom, but right now we need to plan accordingly."
Lizette jumped to her feet. Fist pumping the air, she grinned. "Then let's begin!"
Sorry for the lateness of this chapter. I've been caught up working on other things and preparing for college. The next chapter will be posted shortly! :)