Pokemon: Book One: The Dark Hearted

Chapter Thirteen ~ Souls

??? POV

The pawprints in the mud clearly stated that there was trouble on the mountain. The Absol's prints vanished, so he either jumped off the side of the mountain, or he was sent into a Pokeball. What I would give to find this Absol... If he's who I think he is...

I truly hope those prints belong to Hex. I haven't seen him in years... Would he even still remember me?

    My heart broke as I pictured him turning to see me, only to frown and ask, "Who are you?"

    Something caught my eye and I turned to study the lines in the ground. It was in an arrow shape, pointing west, and a small, faded mark below it was in the shape of an Espeon's gem. I do recall seeing Espeon prints with the Absol's... Similar to Glaceon ones. I've seen Glaceon prints far more than any other Eeveelution, growing up in the tundra...

    I frowned at the arrow. This could easily be a trap for Hex. What if a different Espeon made it, to trick him? Or the Espeon he was traveling with is actually evil...

    My aura sense detected living beings coming up the other side of the mountain, and I crept behind a reasonably large boulder. I faced the rock, barely breathing, using my aura sense to watch three Pokemon and a human walk up the mountain. They were mostly blobs of reddish-yellow light, but I figured that the Pokemon were a Snivy, either a Zorua or a Fenniken, and-

    -an Absol.

    I stayed quiet and listened to their voices.

    "I don't see Ben or Aurora," came a female voice, perhaps from the Snivy.

    "Maybe they... left," the Absol said. My heart pounded faster- it was a male, like Hex, and sounded very much like him. If he was alone, I would reveal myself... But the others are there...

    I frowned to myself. Is that human that's with him- is she his trainer? He told me once that he was a wild Pokemon, through and through. I thought Hex hated humans...

    "Left?" The Fenniken/Zorua echoed. It was hard to tell exactly what this guy was- both Pokemon have high voices. "Why would they leave us?"

    "No, I mean, they left to look for us, but we passed them," the Absol explained. Every single time he talked, my paws shook with excitement. This had to be Hex.

    "So are you saying we go back?" The Snivy said worriedly. "I'm not sure..."

    "We don't have to," said the Absol. "I'm not sure either."

    My trembling paw accidentally hit the rock, and I froze as it made a very audible clunk.

    "What was that?" The Fenniken/Zorua whispered.

    The reddish blobs moved closer to the rock, and I stealthily calmed myself enough to climb silently down the mountain until I was at the very bottom. After a couple seconds I heard a very faint "I must have imagined it..." From the Fenniken/Zorua.

    I swallowed and smiled to myself. My paws were still trembling.

    I'm finally going to see my best friend again, the one I lost years and years ago.

    Aurora POV

The men removed me from the net, and I began to snarl. I focused on the man holding my paw and used Psybeam.

"OW!"

He let go of my paw in surprise, and I could hear the Psychic types cheering.

I turned to the door, but I was already being pinned to the ground by the man I attacked. His suit was almost completely singed black.

"Dave, you idiot!" Mack snapped. He seized empty chains that were attached to the wall and snapped it shut around my right ankle. "Let's get out of here before she hits you again. I don't even know why Liana still pays you, you get attacked almost every time!"

Dave, Mack, and the other man walked out of the empty door into the hallway, and through the pink door, which closed to an awkward silence.

Then a Gardevoir said softly, "So, I see they've kidnapped an Espeon. There's no need for names here. Just call me Gardevoir."

There was a sad murmur of agreement. I exhaled.

"Okay... They- uh, they mentioned a Psychic soul on the way here..." I said nervously. "Are they gonna kill us...?"

The Psychics turned to the Gardevoir, who I'm guessing was sort of the leader. Perhaps she was the first here.

"They won't kill us," said the Gardevoir mournfully. "They will take away our powers, also known as our Psychic souls. They will also take a Lightning soul, a Fire soul, and so on."

I glanced around. "Why so many Psychic souls?"

"Because Liana wants to see which soul is strongest, and take that one." The Gardevoir didn't blink. "Tell me, did you use your powers on the way here?"

"A lot," I admitted. "I tried pretty much every move I had, and one point it was too strong and backfired, that's why my furs black-" I stopped talking when I realized they all had looks of utter horror on their faces. "...what? What did I say?"

"There was a sensor on the net," a Munna whispered. "There's sensors on every trap they had. And it recorded data, which is sent back to Liana... So she knows how much power you have from how much you used on the net..."

My blood went cold. "So that means... I used so much that..."

"...You could be her Psychic soul," the Gardevoir said quietly.