Fear - An Aureliashipping and Lonashipping Story

-27-

Natasha left her tip on the table and quickly hurried out of the restaurant, managing to get out a "T-thank you!" as she went. That was the most stressful meal she had ever eaten. Thankfully, children tend to be dumb, and Mallow didn't seem to recognize her from the brawl at the Pokémon School. It was only through the will of Arceus that Cosmog had remained quiet and she was able to get out of there undetected. She pressed her back into a wall facing the street, and began to pull out a map.

"Let's see...Madame Lusamine appears to live in that direction, if my notes are correct," she remarked. She began to walk down the street, keeping her hat covering most of her face.

The teen girl's goal was to find Gladion. He was the only one she could trust at the moment to help her. Seeing his face during the battle wrecked her with emotion, and she knew that the pain he had felt since he left was severe. She was going to make this right to him, and that meant by first getting this Pokémon to him and seeing what he wanted to do.

"Pew!"

"Please, not too much noise," Natasha pleaded. "We're going to get ourselves caught!"

She would have tried harder to soothe the impatient Pokémon, but she felt hands dragging her to an alley she was walking by. She tried to scream, but someone had their hand over her mouth. She was dragged for a few yards before she felt her back gently pressed against a chain link fence. She had no where to go, she struggled for a little bit before finally opening her eyes to see her assailant...for assailants that is.

Ethan and Karen were standing in front of her, pinning her to the fence. No one moved or spoke for what seemed like an eternity. Natasha finally whimpered softly: "Don't-"

Karen couldn't take it anymore and wrapped her arms around Natasha, quietly sobbing into her shoulder. Natasha mirrored her friends tears and returned the hug. "You had us so worried..." Karen said softly. Natasha managed to speak in between her sniffles. "I'm sorry, I just didn't know what else to do. The Aether Foundation is evil, and I just thought-"

"Women." Ethan muttered in a huff. The two girls turned to glare at him. "Why are you being so mean, jackass?" Natasha snarled at him. Ethan didn't seem fazed and kept eye contact with her icy gaze. "Look, we're glad you're alright, but we don't have time to just stand here, the Aether Foundation could find us at any minute.

Natasha blinked. "You're not here to turn me in?" she asked. "Of course not!" Karen said, looking up at the taller girl. "We don't want to see you brought back to Lusamine. I don't want to imagine what will happen..." the girl continued quietly. "We want to help you."

"Together forever," Ethan said. "Now, just what was your plan anyway?"

Natasha let herself slide back against the fence. "I want to find Gladion."

"Why?" her friends asked.

Natasha's bag burst open. "Pew!" Cosmog said happily. Natasha turned to look at the small Pokémon. "To give that to him."

Karen kneeled down to look at Cosmog. Cosmog backed off slowly, not sure what to make of the ex-Aether agent. "Are you sure it's okay for him to take it?" Karen softly asked. Natasha muttered a yes. "We don't really have other options."

Ethan walked over to Natasha and helped her up. "We should probably get going now. Madame Lusamine doesn't know we ditched the Foundation yet." he explained. Natasha nodded and signaled Cosmog to get in the bag. The Pokémon complied, and let itself be zipped shut.

"Let's go find Gladion."

The trio nodded and turned to leave the alley, but a Tsareena stood in their way. They looked at each other for a moment, and then back at the Pokémon. "Uh...'sup?" Ethan said cautiously.

A green haired girl walked from behind Tsareena. The three teens' hearts dropped. The girl put her hands on her hips, copying her Pokémon's angry gaze. "You really thought you could get away, from me, huh?" Mallow said with an ominous tone in her voice.

Maybe children aren't that dumb.

——

Aether agents were scrambling. Faba should with his hands at his hips, marveling at the machine in front of him. He heard an irritated voice behind him. "Status report?"

He exhaled as he turned to face Madame Lusamine. "Marvelous, power readings are steady and the mathematics are flawless. We will meet our target goal of a launch at sundown."

Lusamine allowed her face to form the traces of a smirk. "Any other news?" she asked. Faba hesitated before answering. "No word yet on the rogue agent."

Lusamine's smirk faded. "Very well then, all focus must be on the project. The search teams will find her eventually." she concluded, walking to take a closer look at the work being done. "Besides, I'm more concerned about the team on route to secure my children."

Faba nodded. "That is being attended to as well."

Lusamine didn't seem to hear his response as she gazed at the machine. Victory was so close, she could almost taste it. She knew that this machine would bring her to a world that was nothing but perfection and beauty. It was her goal to be the standard of human evolution.

Lillie and Gladion will understand once they see just how far I've come. The last time was just a misunderstanding, now they will join me in ultimate beauty!

——

Ash had just burst out from the front door of Kukui's house. Pikachu ran just behind him, and together they ran onto the beach. "Okay, time to do some training!"

"Pika Pika!"

"Ash!" a voice called. Ash and Pikachu turned to see Lana sitting on a Lapras that as perched on the shore. "Alola, Lana!" Ash greeted the girl. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing," Lana replied. "Everyone is going to meet at Lillie's house later, but they're all busy right now. I thought we could hang out until then."

"Sure! We were about to do some training-"

"Let's go into town first!" Lana interrupted, dragging Ash with her. Pikachu cried out in protest as he followed his trainer.

Lana smirked smugly. It was time to cement herself as the best wing woman of all time.