Chapter 24 - Smooched

As the lapras sang, its voice filled the air and resonated through Celeste's body. Water droplets floating around the pokémon began to vibrate and shimmer, and then they coalesced into an otherworldly green substance. It smelled like salt at first, but soon the goo pulsated with energy in a way that the girl could only describe as hand sanitizer with radiation.

"Are you sure this is safe?" she asked, still watching the lapras, who she found out was named Fractal, work her magic. "Safe for humans, I mean."

Lorelei smiled, never letting go of the amused look on her face. "Don't worry, Life Dew is perfectly safe for both humans and pokémon. You will still need to see a doctor, though."

Celeste winced as the freezing goo like substance touched the wounds on her back. "Shouldn't I just go to the centre now?" she suggested, hoping to get back to something a little more familiar.

Lorelei hummed something and, ignoring the younger girl's complaints, turned to the little vulpix instead. "You are quite the impressive little pokémon, aren't you?"

The vulpix wagged her tail and tilted her face into Lorelei's hands, looking as cute as ever. Celeste tried her best to ignore the strange substance on her back, but it stung. Despite the discomfort, she couldn't help but smile at the sight of yet another person being charmed by the little Powder.

To distract herself, Celeste turned her gaze towards the still-fainted sneasel in the corner. She had never figured out why it had been so insistent on Powder sticking around. "I wonder what it wanted," she muttered to herself, prompting Lorelei to turn back to her.

"Did you get Powder from a breeder?" the red-haired asked, fixing her glasses and glancing over at the sneasel. "I thought most alolan vulpix were protected."

The lapras hummed again and splashed the rest of the liquid onto Celeste's back, causing her to wince again. "No-ouch!" she exclaimed, glaring at the blue creature in annoyance. "I mean, yes. They are protected, but I got a special permission to keep Powder because she… uh… imprinted on me? I mean, that was the grounds for our case. I was the first person she saw when she hatched."

"I see…" Lorelei said. "You know, when some pokémon are bred, they sometimes have special attributes because their parents are… hand-picked. It is a bit of an industry…"

Celeste grimaced, shaking her head. "One that exploits pokémon, forcing them to mate only to get the right offspring. But Powder is not that."

"Well, she is quite exceptional." Lorelei smiled while still petting the vulpix. "That fairy type move. I think she must have inherited it from one of her parents. Maybe she even has other of those special moves. And if she got them naturally, it's likely they've been passed down for generations rather than forced down through breeding. I think the sneasel recognised Powder's potential and wanted to have it on its pack."

As Celeste studied her pokémon, Aria lazily lying beside her, nodded. The saddest thing in this story was that the sneasel wasn't the first one who tried to claim Powder for themselves. If Powder, and most likely her mother, were exceptional, even for alolan vulpix, that might be why those R-poachers had targeted them back in Alola.

"Don't overthink it," Lorelei said. "I caught your heartfelt apology to her, you know? You are a kind trainer. If you work hard, I'm sure you can help her and all your pokémon realise their true potential."

The lapras sang agreeing with her trainer, and Aria snorted. Powder, however, just looked at Celeste with her newfound determination and pride, which only made the trainer smile more.

"Now come on," Lorelei said, motioning to the lapras. "I just have one errand to run and then I can take you back to the centre." Before Celeste opened her mouth to complain, she simply added. "No, I'm not leaving you to get even more lost in this cave."

—*—*—

"She is sooo big, dad." Celeste remembered standing on the banks of Lake Outrage, when she was only six and her dad had just captured his weilmer, Salacia. "Is she like the other giant pokémon?"

She remembered Otto laughing. The world seemed so big to young children. It was a pity adults often forgot that. "No, but if she ever evolves, she will become a pokémon called a wailord, and she might get even bigger than some dynamaxed pokémon, you know?"

"That is silly. She is a girl, so she will be a wailady." Celeste used to question a lot more things back then. Her ideas, however, were just as grandiose as they are nowadays. "What if she evolves, and you dynamax her? We can have the biggest pokémon ever!"

The man would often ruffle his daughter's hair in moments like this. "We can try that one day, but why don't we go for a ride around the lake now?"

She remembered Sala flapping her fins joyfully, and they had spent hours exploring the lake together. That had been the first time she rode on a water pokémon, and she loved every bit as much as she was loving riding on Lorelei's lapras.

"So, where are we going?" Celeste asked, getting her mind back to the present. They seemed to be heading deeper inside the cave, through a maze of water tunnels.

Lorelei petted her lapras' neck and stared into the darkness ahead of them. They were both quiet and relaxed, moving through the tunnels as if this was routine. "I met Fractal in this cave, you know? I fell in the water and she saved me. We have been together ever since."

Celeste could see some faint light stubbornly piercing through the cracks in the stone. "Right…" the girl said, trying to figure out if that had been an answer to her question.

"They are almost extinct…" Lorelei continued, her voice ominous in the darkness. "There are some known groups that migrate all the way to Sinnoh during summer, but you hardly ever see lapras in the wild anymore."

Celeste glanced at Fractal, feeling a tinge of guilt. Before, whenever she repeated how much she wanted a lapras, she had never considered the fact that they could be endangered…

It was enough to have Powder, Celeste decided, holding on to the lapras shell as they made a sharp turn.

"… One reason I want to win the conference this year and challenge the league is to raise my profile and give more awareness about the lapras situation." The light from a crack in the stone revealed Lorelei's determined expression before letting darkness blanket them again. "Champion Alder in Unova is doing wonders for the volcarona and larvesta, and I hope to do the same when I become champion myself."

Celeste blinked at her companion. It must be nice to have such a clear goal.

"Anyway, the reason I'm telling you this is that I'm taking you to a lapras nest deeper within the cave." Lorelei shrugged. "They always come this time of the year, and I make a point of also coming home to check in on them."

Celeste tried to hide herself in the darkness. Just moments ago, she had decided to no longer want a lapras, but now Lorelei was leading her to a lapras nest. The irony was not lost on her.

"Don't worry," the girl said, hoping to make herself feel better. "I won't do anything…"

As they continued on the path, the surroundings became more visible and Celeste noticed the wind blowing Lorelei's hair. Though the older trainer didn't turn to face her, her tone was commanding. "I would appreciate it if you also kept this place a secret."

As Lorelei's words echoed through the tunnel and Fractal kept swimming towards the light, Celeste had to close her eyes because of the sudden increase in brightness. When she opened them again, they were in the middle of a chamber with a big hole in the ceiling and large, dark blueish-green leaves falling down on the side. The water below was a mirror, with only the ripples caused by the five other lapras swimming around, distorting what otherwise would be a perfect reflection.

As Celeste gazed at her own image, a harmonic cry echoed through the chamber. Reflected in the water beside them was a light blue lapras, looking annoyed at the pink creature kissing its head.

"That is odd," Lorelei said as she watched the lapras approach and hum in complaint. The pink pokémon, a small, dainty creature with a fluffy tuft of blonde hair, flapped her little arms around and threw her head back, before planting another kiss on the lapras, who cried out sounding ultimately defeated. Lorelei furrowed her brow in confusion. "I have never seen a smoochum on the Sevii Islands before."

The lapras howled, but Celeste only laughed. A cool and majestic lapras complaining about a little smoochum, that was indeed odd. "She is actually a cutie," the younger trainer said, extending her arms to the smoochum. The pink pokémon, with a glint in her eye, jumped over to her and planted a kiss on her cheeks, much to the lapras' relief.

Lorelei, however, wasn't as amused. As Celeste picked up the smoochum, her eyes widened in alarm. "Wait, don't do—"

The warning was cut short by the small creature in Celeste's arms, who grinned and licked the side of the trainer's face before succumbing to a fit of laughter. The girl tried complaining, but instead felt a jolt of electricity course through her body, paralysing her in place. None of her muscles were responding very well. "Wh… t he… ck?" she managed to say through gritted teeth.

Lorelei sighed as she took the smoochum from Celeste's arms, fixing a stern gaze on the pokémon. "Now, that wasn't very nice," she scolded, causing the pokémon's big green eyes to well up with tears.

Soft-hearted that she was, Celeste fought her paralysis to mutter a weak "Don't worry" to the pokémon. But Lorelei paid her no mind.

"These are Fake Tears," she said, and the smoochum halted her crying with a snort. The pokémon struggled to break free from Lorelei's grip, but to no avail. Instead, she began flailing around and pouting. "Please, stop that. I'm trying to understand what you're doing here with the lapras." Lorelei turned her attention to the other pokémon in the cave. "Last year, this group had a few more of them. I distinctly remember a very young dark blue lapras, with some spots on its neck."

For a moment, the cavern fell into a heavy silence. The lapras, each one of them, seemed to be lost in their own thoughts, and the air grew colder and denser. Suddenly, from the back of the group, an older lapras swam towards Lorelei and Celeste. The elder lapras was of a duller, almost grey-blue shade, and its eyes looked heavy and tired. It gently touched Fractal's head and, as if on cue, all the other lapras began singing together.

Celeste didn't expect such a sorrowful song… yet it was so beautiful. As the lapras sang, she shared on their heartache and longing, and she mourned for what the pokémon had lost. Immersed in the melody, her vision blurred and her body relaxed. Soon, they were no longer in the cave, but on the shores of a sunlit islet, not unlike the one where she first met Patrick.

—*—*—

Out of nowhere, a tentacool lunged from the water beside Fractal. At the sight of the pokémon, the girl's heart raced and, even though her body was still paralysed, the adrenaline allowed her to grip Fractal's shell tightly. As she saw the girl's reaction to the pokémon, Lorelei acted quickly, steading her companion on their mount.

"Don't worry, this is just an illusion," Lorelei said, regarding the tentacool with mild curiosity. "The lapras are low-level psychics. They are using their powers to show us what happened to them." With that, she turned her attention back to the group of lapras gathered on the shore.

The group of eight pokémon seemed to be perfectly happy, enjoying a peaceful day under the sun. However, their tranquillity was short-lived as the rumbling of a motor came roaring like a sharpedo. The lapras cried in alarm as they struggled to move away, but it was too late. A small boat was already in view, and the pokémon had no place to hide.

The vessel was a small, unremarkable black boat, packed tightly with crates covered by a dark blanket on the side. The three passengers huddled together near the motor, leaving little space for anything else. As Celeste watched, one passenger stood up and revealed a black shirt with a large, ominous red "R". A chill ran down Celeste's spine as she recognised it immediately.

"The poachers," she whispered, startling Lorelei. She couldn't remember their faces, but that "R"… This wasn't good.

The group in the boat exchanged a few quick words in hushed tones, but Celeste was too far away to hear anything. Suddenly, however, one of them, a woman with jet-black hair, spoke up. "They are too big. We need to put them in pokéballs."

The one that had stood up before, a young boy with an oversized beret hiding his face, was fiddling with some device. Without turning to his partners, he spoke in a flat, monotonous voice. "Madame told us the first catch gets a better price. She will be pissed if we put them on a ball."

The third person in the boat was a big man with dark hair, broad shoulders and a square jaw. Celeste had paid little attention to him until she heard his voice. "I agree with the kid. After the Alola debacle, we can't afford to mess this up."

With a piercing laugh, the woman turned to the broad-shouldered man. "We? I didn't go to Alola and fail on the boss' personal mission, Gozu. That was all you." She then turned to the boy in the beret. "Tell me, Ryder, were you in Alola?"

The boy, Ryder, scoffed. "If I was, we would have come back with the ninetales."

Celeste felt sick. They were the same group… Gozu… She tried to commit the name and face to her memory. Gozu was one of them; she repeated to herself, with anger. But anger soon turned into dread, as a lapras, dark blue with spots on its neck, approached the vessel.

The trio of poachers fell silent as they watched the pokémon get closer. Without a word, Ryder lifted the device he had been working on, some sort of harpoon. The lapras halted in its tracks as the boy aimed the weapon at it.

He smirked as he pressed the button. "You are lucky Madame doesn't like her product damaged."

The harpoon flew upward before descending into the lapras, releasing a net that ensnared it. The pokémon wasn't fast enough to escape, but it fought bravely for the most painful thirty seconds. It launched ice beams and aurora beams that got absorbed by the net. Once it realised there were no other options, the pokémon flailed like a magikarp, making the boat rock violently.

"Stop playing around, Ryder," the jet-black haired woman shouted, gesturing to the mob of angry lapras swimming in their direction. "Shit, this will be messy."

In response, Ryder laughed and released a scyther. The woman followed his lead and called over for her golbat, while Gozu let a fearow out of his pokéball.

Although Celeste knew this wasn't real, she couldn't help but feel the desire to join the battle and protect the lapras. More than that, she wanted to fight Gozu herself, with her own hands, if possible.

"Hurry up, kid," the bigger man growled as the lapras thrashed about, causing a crate to tumble into the water, taking the blanket with it. "Fuck!"

Fuck indeed, Celeste thought as she saw the boat wasn't loaded with crates, but instead with at least a dozen cages containing various types of pokémon, some she didn't even recognise. The only reason Celeste didn't jump out to help right away was because Lorelei's trembling hand pinned her down. Well, that and the paralysis.

"This isn't real," Lorelei whispered, her voice shaking just as much as her hand. It was clear that Celeste wasn't the only one struggling to cope with the scene unfolding before them.

"Fine," Ryder said, pressing a button on his harpoon.

A jolt of electricity shot down from the wires on the device and into the net, causing the captured lapras to cry out in agony. In response, the other lapras increased their assault on the three flying pokémon that were barraging the way.

It was no use.

Celeste already knew how that story would play out, and it was hopeless. Watching the lapras scream and lose the battle was too much… Even with no paralysis, there was nothing she could do.

Too much pointless pain… Again…

Another net was thrown, capturing two more lapras. The poachers wasted no time in administering the electric shock this time. The pokémon cries were piercing, and their song heartbreaking.

"Three is enough," Gozu declared to his companions, casting a quick glance at his fearow, whose claw was frozen solid. "Let's get out of here."

The R-wearing poachers didn't utter another word. The woman simply commanded her golbat to use Confuse Ray and used the chaos as a diversion to make their escape. Soon enough, the lapras were once again alone, in their little piece of paradise. Only now, three of their family were missing.

Slowly a lapras, the same light blue one from before, came swimming towards the rest of the group, carrying in its mouth the black blanket that had fallen in the water earlier.

Even in their sorrow, these pokémon showed kindness and support towards one another. The elder lapras gently assisted the other in taking the black blanket to the shore, where they revealed its contents: a crying, wet smoochum trapped inside a cage.

Using an ice beam, the lapras shattered the bars that held the pink pokémon. The little smoochum stopped crying instantly and began fussing with her hair. The light blue lapras lowered its head to get a closer look at the strange pokémon, but the smoochum surprised it by jumping onto its back and placing a gentle kiss on the lapras' ear. Despite their sadness, the pokémon managed to smile as the smoochum continued to shower all of them with kisses.

As Celeste observed the heartwarming scene, she heard a distant, bittersweet melody, and the world around her shifted back to normal.

—*—*—

Celeste bit the cheri berry one of the lapras brought her. It was impressive how smart and kind these pokémon could be… Which made her even angrier. As the soft skin of the berry dissolved in her mouth, its spiciness spread through her face, bringing tears to her eyes.

Lorelei's hands gently brushed through the smoochum's hair as she muttered to herself, "The lapras are not protected… yet." The small kissing pokémon seemed to truly enjoy Lorelei's company, even more so than the lapras that had saved her.

Celeste couldn't bring herself to face the other trainer. Once upon a time, a few hours ago, if anyone told her how to get a lapras, she would have jumped at the opportunity to capture one. Like proper trainers did. How was that any better than what the poachers were doing? Were trainers as bad as those criminals?

The girl closed her eyes and tried to recall the regulation booklet she received when registering as a trainer. According to the guidelines, only recognised trainers were permitted to purchase pokéballs, which were linked to their trainer's licence. This allowed trained pokémon to be tracked. Non-trainers couldn't simply go into the tall grass and capture a pokémon, though. They could either purchase one from a certified breeder, obtain it from another trainer (which involved an extensive amount of paperwork), or register the pokémon before capturing it in a pokéball. Even if you weren't a trainer, you still needed an owner's license to legally own a pokémon.

Own… the girl's thoughts turned into disgust. How could everyone keep saying that people and pokémon were partners, equals in this world, when the reality was that pokémon were owned? But… that was legal jargon, right? Even if captured, a pokémon couldn't be forced to do anything. Trainers… good trainers were partners with their pokémon. They battled together so they could grow stronger together. Good trainers didn't force pokémon to join them against their will.

… Right?

Celeste could spend the whole day spiralling, or she could focus on the facts instead. Her pokémon were like family to her, and they would always work together as partners. As for the rest of the world, was it her place to judge them? As long as people treated pokémon with kindness and didn't use harpoons to capture them, maybe that was enough. Or at least that would be the best answer she would be able to come up with now.

Not truly satisfied, Celeste raised her head and said. "They were criminals, no matter how you look at it." The cheri berry was doing its thing, but even though her muscles finally felt relaxed, her back felt worse. It didn't matter. "Should we talk to the police once we are back?"

Lorelei sighed as she looked over the herd of lapras once again. She gently lifted the little smoochum in her arms and tried to give her back to the light blue lapras, but the small pokémon held on tightly to the older trainer's arms, clearly not wanting to leave her. After a small nod from both the light blue and elder lapras, Lorelei hugged the smoochum tightly, understanding some secret message.

With real tears in her eyes this time, the pink smoochum placed a last kiss on the forehead of the lapras she had grown so attached to. As the lapras let out a sorrowful yet hopeful cry, the smoochum clung tightly to Lorelei's shirt.

Celeste gave the pokémon and her new friends a small smile. There were good trainers around.

At last, Lorelei, hugging her new partner, said, "Come on, Fractal, let's go home."

A/N:

- I need to share my new discovery with the world. I went to research wailmer size (which is 2m, so not really impressive) and then looked at wailord's 14m, which is the size of a g-max corviknight (!). Not relevant to the story at all, but I was shocked. :D

- Initially, the three grunts were going to be either OC or nameless grunts. But I decided to look at some obscure team rocket members to see if I found someone that fit with what I wanted. I found this: wiki/Gozu . Random team rocket member that I doubt anyone remembers and was in Alola, of all places. So yeah, this is Gozu and Celeste is 100% meeting that mega Aggron of his at some point.

- Also want to add that Salacia the Weilmer was first mentioned in chapter 8 (when Celeste is going to jump in the water to catch some pokémon—in her imagination a lapras. She mentions her dad has a weilmer that taught her how to surf). That is also the chapter where she gets almost drowned and traumatised by a tentacool. (I'm kind of shocked that this was in chapter 8 and we are all the way to 24 now!).

- Also, regarding moves. "Life Dew: The user scatters mysterious water around and restores the HP of itself and its ally Pokémon in the battle." In this world, the healing moves work on humans, but to a lesser extent, her wounds won't be healed, but it helps a bit.

NEXTCHAPTER: TO-DO