***

Warning this contains death and dismemberment and mature content. This is a work in progress that does include Lemons. I do not own Pokémon or associated media. If you do not like the described content do not read. Also if you are under the legal age to read mature content DO NOT READ.

***

So far and yet So close

“Leave something with your scent like a shirt or your gloves,” Nicole asked as she watched her mate pack his bag. Arthur smiled and fished out an old ratty black shirt from the sack.

“Will this work?” he offered. The Victini floated over and sniffed the old shirt. Arthur’s scent filled her sensitive nose and she hugged the worn cloth.

“Yes,” she cried. Arthur smiled and pulled his beloved Victini into a loose hug.

“I know you are scared but I know you can do this, and when you succeed and I know you will we won’t have to worry about this Zyguarde asshole wiping out all Victini’s,” he comforted.

“Thank you,” Nicole sniffled as her mate released her. The teen nodded and finished packing his bag and slung it onto his back. “I’ll… I’ll call you when I land in Mistralton City okay.”

“Don’t forget your Victory charm,” the Victini called before the trainer could open the door.

“Hang on to it, it’s the closest thing I have to a ring,” he smiled.

“Are you done saying goodbye yet, geez not even Captain and I were that bad,” Aura groaned as she entered the room. “Not to mention you two are sappy as hell.”

“Good to see our aura connection reformed,” Arthur deadpanned.

“It’s like I’m talking to your mom or sister,” the Lucario complained.

“Or George,” the trainer supplied.

“Oh no he is more difficult because he’s actually not that open to the fact that Pokémon can actually communicate,” Aura shrugged.

“It’s a changing world, after what happened in Kanto and Jhoto with team rocket and now with Team Plasma here in Sinnoh expect a lot of new laws promoting Pokémon rights in the coming years,” Arthur shrugged.

“Tch it’ll probably take a few decades before any come to fruition after all of the old dog trainers retire,” Aura scoffed. “Anyway we shouldn’t keep our flight waiting.”

“Yeah,” Nicole swallowed nervously. The Victini’s impossibly blue eyes met her mate’s and for what seemed like an eternity they stayed there.

“Y-yeah, I’ll see you when you get home okay,” Arthur nodded as he hoisted his bag to his shoulder.

“Okay,” she nodded and the fire type watched her mate leave her in an awkward silence. Nicole started to wring her hands with worry as she looked about the now vacant room, but a calm voice snapped her out of her building panic attack.

“Well Nicole shall we get started on your training?” the Lake guardian asked as she floated next to her student, but the Victini simply remained silent as she watched the hotel door.

“Nicole?” Uxie pressed.

“How many of us are left?” she finally responded.

“Eight,” the legendary answered

“And how many are embarking on this journey?” Nicole questioned.

“Three are considered candidates and that isn’t including you,”

“Who are they?”

“One is called Ember she is supposedly a descendant of the original Mythical Victini, another is called Zander; a hermit with an unusual gift for plant-life, and lastly is… Marx.” Uxie paused.

“Why did you pause with him?” the Victini asked.

“He is… unstable my best guess is he was abused by humans and perhaps though some sort of experimentation he is able to hear the Azure Flute,” the lake guardian explained. “Be wary however your journey will take you across all three of these Victini and you must decide on what to do with them.”

“Why?”

“They are competition to you and they will try to stop you so they can ascend.” The lake guardian explained. Nicole swallowed nervously as the ledgendary spoke but Uxie smiled. “Relax you are trained they are not.”

“Thanks… I guess,” the Victini shrugged.

“You know how to cover your own weaknesses and exploit the weaknesses of others, and if you need to you have more than enough power to kill,” the Legendary enlightened.

“No, I won’t kill, it’s wrong.” Nicole grimaced.

“You may have to, and it may even be a fellow Victini.”

“No, I won’t, if I can reason with Arthur then I can reason with them.” The fire type spoke adamantly.

“I hope you are right,” Uxie sighed with her hands raised in defeat.
***

“So, do you think Nicole I going to be alright?” Arthur asked as he led his Lucario onto the plane.

“Psh, you know she will be fine, but I’m actually surprised that you manged to find a plane that allows me to be out of my ball,” Aura shrugged as she followed her trainer.

“You’re my bodyguard going back to Unova, I think given the circumstances it’s allowed,” the teen replied.

“Speaking of the Mamoswine in the room what are we going to do about Ghitsis and Team Plasma?” the steel type added.

“Your ticket sir?” a Flight attended greeted oblivious to what the Lucario said.

“Here you go and don’t worry she is with me,” Arthur smiled as he handed over a pair of tickets.

“I don’t know what we are going to do about him but you said that he has a base in Victory road?” He turned when the flight attendant handed their tickets back.

“Too heavily guarded and we can’t get close with the Triade,” Aura grimaced.

“And my team would get picked out in less than a sec… wait a minute didn’t you say that Lupen’s father was learning how to use aura?”

“Uh yeah, I was teaching him…” the Lucario’s eye lit up as she caught on to what her trainer was talking about. “We can get a small team together and go in disguised as the indigenous Pokémon!”

“It’ll take some time to for Takea to master aura illusions but I’m thinking a few months at most before we’ll be able to get in and get Captain back,” Arthur nodded.

“Are you talking about Pokémon thieves?” a young girl of 13 asked as the older trainer and Lucario took their seats.

“Hilda Leave the nice man and his Lucario alone,” the girl’s mother spoke.

“It’s okay I don’t mind,” Arthur smiled. “But to answer your question yes, Aura and myself are discussing how to get our friend back.”

“Wait, Your Arthur Kiles! The champion before Alder!” the girl beamed.

“Shh, I’m trying to keep it low key okay?” the former champion hushed. The thirteen year old clamped her hands over her mouth like she just said a cuss word as she looked about the plane and it’s passengers.

“Why did you quit?” she finally whispered. Arthur leaned in with a smile.

“To protect something,” he answered.

“I-I watched your last battle before you quit… why would someone do that?”

“I don’t know,” the trainer shrugged.

“What happened to his team?”

“I found them good homes, most of them wanted to retire after losing their trainer.” Arthur explained.

“I can’t imagine,” the younger sighed. “So um when did you start your journey?”

“I started when I was ten; I was a bit of a prodigy when it came to training and battling Pokémon,”

“You’re not starting your journey until professor Juniper returns from her study of the ruins in the Hoenn region and she won’t be back until sometime next year,” the girl’s mother spoke up. “Now turn around and sit down; the plane is about to take off.”
***

“Focus Nicole, feel the flow of your power,” Uxie instructed as Nicole sat atop a cold stone pillar on mount Coronet. A bitter cold wind bit at her long ears but she remained diligent.

“Once you are able to hear the flute you must track its source,” the legendary continued. The Victini blew a long sigh of frustration and opened her eyes.

“If I can’t persuade these other Victini are you able to erase their memories?” the fire type asked.

“Nicole, I am not the solution to your problem.” Uxie grumbled. “If you are attacked by one of your rivals you must deal with them, I cannot interfere.”

“Geez sister lighten up,” a pink fairy-like Pokémon giggled.

“What are you doing here Mespirit?” Uxie groaned.

“Oh you know tending to emotional distress and all that,” the being of emotion smiled whimsically before looking up to the Victini perched atop the pillar. “Now how about you come down here and warm up?”

Nicole looked to her teacher to see her give an approving nod. She slowly floated down and joined the two legendary Pokémon as Mespirit materialized three cups of hot chocolate.

“Sister what did I tell you about stealing from humans,” Uxie huffed before accepting the cup.

“Psh they were too busy making babies to notice it went missing and I’ll return the cups when they are empty,” the legendary dismissed

“But where did the third cup come from?” Nicole asked.

“Ménage à trois,” Mespirit supplied.

“What?” the Victini deadpanned.

“Household of three, do the math Nicole,” Uxie huffed.

“Oh,” the fire type blushed.

“Heh anyway, how was your first time?” the being of emotion shamelessly asked.

“My… what?”

“First time with your mate,”

“I-I think that’s private,” Nicole deflected.

“Psh, you wanna know about my first time?” Mespirit pressed.

“Not really,” the fire type squeeked.

“Oh relax I’m not talking about detail and all that, my first time I was scared he was scared we both were scared, but once we got through that it was nothing but bliss.” The psychic type swooned.

“Sister I do not believe this is…”

“Oh hush up egg-head and let her speak,” Mespirit snapped.

“Well, it was… good but the best part was after we did it, when he laid me on his chest I felt warm, safe…” Nicole squeaked out before her voice trailed off.

“Loved,” the being of emotion finished. “You miss him right now don’t you?”

“Yeah,” the Victini tearfully admitted. Mespirit didn’t hesitate to move to the fire type’s side and offer a comforting hug.

“Never be afraid to cry,” she comforted as the Victini broke down. “You’ll see him again.”

Nicole’s tears slowly stemmed as she calmed down.

“Feel better?”

“K-kind of,” the Victini sniffled.

“Haha, drink up, or else I’m breaking out the enough ice cream to give a Mamoswine a brain freeze,” Mespirit laughed. Nicole laughed and took a sip of the still piping hot chocolate.

“It’s good,” she nodded.

“Feeling a little warmer?”

“Yeah,”

“Good, now try and do what you were trying to do before I suddenly appeared and gave everyone hot chocolate,” The Lake guardian beamed. Nicole looked up to her original perch and sat her cup down in the snow. She floated up the pillar and resumed her meditation. The Victini focused on her own fire and as she concentrated she felt a tiny spark that was not her own.

“Arthur’s aura…” she recognized. Nicole found peace in the tiny silver light as it flickered with life. The world seemed to fall away from the Victini until she found herself in the same misty space that held her when she was without her power.

“Hello?” she called out. Her voice echoed though the void until she couldn’t hear it anymore. Nicole waited for several long minutes until she was just about give up when a single faint note came echoing back. The flute-like reply came with such a surprise to the Victini that she was snapped back to the real world. Nicole found the pillar upon which she sat was scorched with heat and the surrounding snow was melted.

“Uh… oops?” she squeaked when she saw the two lake guardians protecting themselves with psychic shields.

“Did you hear it at least?” Uxie asked.

“I-I think so,”

“Good, we will be able to start training you on how to locate it and…” the being of Knowledge stopped when she watched the Victini pass out on the pillar. “And control.”

“She has potential,” Mespirit observed.

“Yes, but right now she is too naive to take on the mantle of Mythical,”Uxie grimaced.
***

“M’lady what is it?” a young Meowstic attendant asked when he observed the regally dressed Victini pause in her flight.

“It seems a new player has entered the field to become Mythical,” The fire type smiled.

“What are you going to do M’lady?”

“I’ll give her a warning, but aside from that I will do nothing,” the ledgendary spoke.

“That is surprisingly merciful Lady Ember,” another Meowstic attendent remarked.

“If I am to become Mythical I believe it to be wise to exercise some mercy, besides I already know how to track the flute and this new player has only just entered the race,” the Victini enlightened.
***

Arthur slowly walked off the airplane ready for any type of attack from Team Plasma. Aura walked beside him; her aura scanning for anything out of the ordinary.

“I’m not seeing anything, they might be blocking me,” the Lucario conveyed.

“We’re safe in the public’s eye as long as they hide their intentions,” Arthur whispered, “But I’d rather not take any chances.”

“We call home and have Lily teleport us out,” Aura replied. The trainer nodded and pulled his phone out to call home. The call only took a few minutes but when the teen hung up his face went sour.

“Damn, Lily isn’t at the house,” Arthur cursed.

“Then how do we get back to Nimbasa city?” the Lucario questioned.

“Well we can’t fly back because Ace’s wing is still healing, and I’d rather not tempt fate with skirting the edge with the distortion world, so our only option is to wait until Lily returns to the house,” the teen assessed.

“Why not talk to Skyla? I’m sure she would be open to letting you borrow one of her birds to fly back to Nimbassa,” Aura offered.

“No, Skyla doesn’t know about Team Plasma and I’d like to keep it that way, for right now we can wait, Team plasma’s not going to make a move anytime soon,” the trainer explained.

“Alright, but we should probably do something besides stand out in the open waiting for an attack.”

“Agreed, let’s get ourselves some lunch while we wait for Mom to call us back.”
***

Nicole slept soundly with her phone tucked against her ear. She dreamt of pleasant fantasies until a voice cut into her dream.

“So you are the new player huh?” the voice asked.

“New player?” the Victini asked.

“Don’t play dumb, I know you’re after the Azure Flute same as me, so I’m going to give you a very simple warning; Stay out of my way and I won’t kill you,”

“You would slay another Victini when there are so few of us left?” Nicole balked.

“When I become Mythical, our numbers will flourish,”

“How?”

“I’ll destroy Zygarde and the humans that abused us and I’ll command Arceus with the Azure Flute to make more of us!” the opposing Victini shouted.

“You’d destroy the world,” Nicole breathed. “Sorry but I can’t heed your warning, once I learn how to track the Flute I will stop you.”

“Good luck with that,” the Voice sneered before falling silent before Nicole woke to the sound of her phone ringing.

“H-hello?” the Victini answered.

“Hey Nicole I managed to make it home,” Arthur’s voice sounded.

“What took you so long to call?” she worried.

“Lily was out with Mom doing some shopping they just got back and now I’m safely home, anyway how goes the search for the Azure flute?” her mate asked.

“Great,” Nicole lied, “we’re making great progress.”

“That’s good, well I’m going to let you go so you can get some sleep okay,”

“Okay, good night Arthur and please don’t do anything reckless,” Nicole pleaded.

“I promise, good night Hun,” the trainer said before hanging up. The Victini felt sick for lying to her mate but she knew that if Arthur suspected that she was in danger he would worry. At the other side of the small camp Uxie and Mespirit watched the Victini settle back into an uneasy sleep before they turned back towards each other.

“She is naïve, but I fear she will be forced to end a life and that will weigh heavily on her,” the being of emotion whispered.

“I have limited foresight on this matter, but I fear you are right,” Uxie nodded.

“If she does, give her time to come to terms with it,” Mespirit advised, “I must go, but you must take care sister you are still weak from the treatment we received from Cyrus.”

“I will,” the being of knowledge nodded.
***

Well that might have taken a little too long to write but I do have my reasons. Medical bills, Football season (I’m not a big football guy but working for a news station that is covering Football is kind of a big deal) and writers block all had their say in slowing me down. (That and I’m working on my own book…). Heh anyway sorry for the long wait and I promise you won’t have to wait as long for the next chapter of Catch a Fennekin.

Your ever crazy and apologetic

Kolofox