Chapter 4: Return to Area Zero

    Arven swore that what was happening was too weird. Mr. Jacq said that some Pokémon, mostly Legendary and Mythical, could have telepathy, but he never believed it.

    "Are you sure I can trust you?" he asked Celebi. If there was one thing Arven did learn in school, it was that not every Pokémon was good. It really depended on the trainer. Did Celebi have one? If so, why was it there instead of with them? Gosh, there were too many questions in Arven's head right now.

    "Kid, I saw Sada with my own two eyes," Celebi said. "She's trying so hard to be the mom you never had, but she needs your help. To get to her, though, you need Miraidon and that time machine."

    "You really saw her?" Arven placed his hand on his aching chest. "She's alive?"

    "Alive as she's going to be and doing well," Celebi continued. "She misses you as much as you do her. It's pretty lonely in the past. Miraidon is your key to seeing her again. At least one more time."

    "Miraidon." Arven reached out to him, but Miraidon growled and snapped back.

    At once, Arven dropped his hand and fiddled with his fingers. "Celebi, what's his problem? I thought he was supposed to help me."

    "Bi!" Celebi spat. It floated in front of Arven and pointed at Miraidon, its face red like a Tamato Berry. Celebi flicked Miraidon's nose. "Bi, bi, bi!"

    Huffing, Miraidon waved his tail back and forth and pointed his nose at the lab's ceiling.

    Seriously? No wonder Arven didn't like Legendary Pokémon. Koraidon ruined his childhood, and now Miraidon was going to ruin his teen years.

    Steam puffed out of his ears like a train whistle. He felt the hole in his heart expanding and told Miraidon, "Fine, be that way. I'll go to Area Zero myself." Arven pushed Miraidon away from him and hustled to the lab's door. With Mabosstiff at his heels, he stepped back outside to Poco Path, only to hear Nemona.

    "Yo, Arven!" There she was, jogging up Poco's hill, and she waved at him. "Let's battle!"

    A tinkling sound behind Arven told him that Celebi had joined him outside.

    Miraidon followed it, but he kept his distance from Arven.

    One look at Celebi and Nemona's eyes lit up. "Oh my gosh! What is that?" She hurried to Celebi and plucked it out of the sky. "You're so cute! Did you come from Area Zero? Oh, I just wanna cuddle you!" She squeezed Celebi to her chest, much to its discomfort.

    "Nemona, stop!" Arven said. "You're hurting it!"

    "Oh, sorry," Nemona apologized, and she let Celebi go.

    Coughing, it tried to catch its breath, but when it did, it asked Arven, "Who's that?"

    Arven touched his forehead with his index finger. "Nemona. She's one of my friends."

    "Whoa, you can understand that thing?" Nemona said, clapping. "That's wicked! And... OMG!" That time, her eyes landed on Miraidon. "What is that? Dude, what'd I miss?"

    Miraidon perked up. Unlike Arven, he took an interest in Nemona and came within reach of her.

    "Oh, sure," Arven complained. "Ignore me, but go to her."

    Nemona scratched Miraidon's head, and he seemed to purr. "Wow, you're like a futuristic version of Koraidon. Do you like belly rubs?"

    Nodding, Miraidon fell onto his back and stretched his four legs.

    While Nemona gave him the best belly rub ever, Koraidon appeared at the bottom of Poco's hill and dashed to the group.

    "Whoa, whoa!" Penny shouted. She slipped from Koraidon's back. It wasn't long until she hung upside-down from it.

    Scarlet grabbed Penny's hoodie before she hit her head. She smiled, and Penny returned it.

    Arven merely stared. He sure hoped his friends didn't bring the whole school.

    Still dangling, Penny met eyes with him. She blushed slightly and clenched her teeth, chuckling nervously.

    "What on Earth are y'all doing here?" Arven asked his friends only a few minutes later.

    "Oh, that's simple," Nemona replied. She got up from the ground. "You and me, Arven, one-on-one... Let's battle!"

    "Nemona, slow down," Penny said. She and Scarlet dismounted Koraidon. "I think the infrared sky is more important than a battle. Actually, Arven, we just wanted to make sure you and Nemona were okay." She glanced from Arven to Celebi. "Oh, whoa! Is that a Celebi?"

    Next to her, Scarlet nodded.

    "Oh, come on!" Nemona complained. "How is it that y'all know this Pokémon except me?"

    Penny closed her eyes. "Because unlike you, Nemona, we pay attention in Biology class."

    Koraidon and Miraidon approached one another. They sniffed each other and walked in circles.

    The resemblance was phenomenal. Both Pokémon were reptilian-like; only Koraidon looked more prehistoric and Miraidon futuristic.

    "Celebi brought that Pokémon from the future," Arven explained, noticing Scarlet and Penny's bewildered expressions. "It says that he will help me find my mom."

    "Your mom?" Penny wanted to know. "But, Arven, your mom is—"

    "Let's go, Miraidon and Celebi," Arven interrupted. He was not ready to hear the word—not when there was still a chance. He removed Mabosstiff's pokéball from his belt and pointed it at him. "Return, Mabosstiff. I don't want you pushing yourself."

    "Arf?" Mabosstiff questioned. He turned into red energy and disappeared inside the pokéball.

    Flash! The second Mabosstiff returned to his ball, the sky again turned into a computer performing an emergency reboot. The infrared light shone even brighter that time.

    Arven held his hand up to his face. "What in the world—? What is that?" Right when he said that, he thought he heard a voice in the sky.

    "Arven, I'm waiting."

    "Mom?" Arven inquired. He could have sworn the voice sounded like her. That was impossible, though. Or was it?

    A new voice took over Arven's head. "This is why you have to return to Area Zero, Arven." Celebi turned to Miraidon, who ducked his head between his front legs. "Miraidon, please. Do me this one favor, and you never have to help me again."

    "What's it saying?" Penny questioned. "All I hear is, 'Bi, bi, bi.'"

    "It's asking for Miraidon's help," Arven explained soon after the sky returned to normal. He faced his friends. "Not only that, but I heard her, guys. I heard my mom. She's waiting for me."

    Arven's friends straightened up, and they gave him a nervous look—even Nemona. She and Scarlet studied the sky while Penny tried to knock some sense into Arven.

    "Arven, we know you miss your mom, but do you remember what AI Sada told us?"

    "Don't call her that!" The image of Sada confronting him and his friends after Scarlet beat her in the Zero Lab, as well as his real mom's death, re-played in Arven's head. He shivered just thinking about them and clutched his chest again. "I'm not crazy, Penny. I heard her."

    "I didn't say you were." Penny cocked her head. "And I'm sorry. I meant Professor Sada. But, Arven, you're showing signs of recurrent takotsubo cardiomyopathy."

    "In English, Penny." Arven never liked it when she started using fancy words. They were too much of a mouthful.

    "Broken Heart Syndrome," Penny corrected. "I think the best thing you can do now is let Sada go and get checked out by a doctor before it gets worse."

    "I will never let my mother go!" Arven fought back. How could Penny say that? He tried to stop it, but a tear ran down his cheek. "You don't know what it's like, Penny, to grow up all by yourself, waiting for your parent to come home, and then learning that a Pokémon murdered her because she loved her research more than her child."

    "You're right, I don't." Guilt flashed across Penny's face, indicating she didn't mean to hurt him. "That came out wrong. I meant to tell you to try to move on. You're dwelling so much over Sada's death that it's starting to affect your health."

    "I don't want to hear anymore, Penny!" Arven accidentally spat in her face. He rubbed his eyes. "Celebi is taking me to Area Zero, and that's final. I don't need a dang doctor. My health is fine. What I need is my mom, and I swear on my life that I'm going to find her."

    "Bi," Celebi interjected before the two could argue further. "I know what I'm doing."

    Celebi touched Arven and Miraidon's shoulders, and a light green outlined them. Their feet lifted off the ground, and they floated toward the stratosphere.

    Shocked, Koraidon sniffed the area where Miraidon used to be and scratched the ground.

    It was at that moment that Scarlet finally said something, which was unusual for her. "Arven, wait!" She recalled Koraidon and grabbed her friends.

    They jumped at the same time.

    Scarlet took hold of Arven's wrist, and Nemona and Penny snatched Miraidon. As soon as they did, Celebi's green light outlined them, too, and all four of them disappeared.