Never Lost

Three: Taken

The second winter was starting to thaw into spring. Luca and Luke were walking around the island preserve with Ranger Hart and Miss Kari. They were enjoying a stroll along the land, checking up on all of the Pokémon there. Oddly despite the average height of a Riolu, Luke had caught up to Luca and was now matching her inch to inch. The tips of his ears parallel to the tops of her pigtails. Though it may not be eye to eye, it was something he had never seen before. The two kids started holding hands and skipping along the path. A small amount of aura was surrounding their joined hands. They were singing as they hopped along, though only they could hear.

"Never lost are we - For those who can see - The aura in our heart

Even if one day - You cannot stay - We will never truly part

When the stars align - No matter the time - I will see you again

I will find you - Because our aura's true - I love you my dear friend"

Once they got enough of a lead from the adults Miss Kari looked over to Ranger Hart. "Sir. Don't you think they are learning a bit too fast? They haven't even been together for three years yet." She asked with concern on her face.

"I agree with you Ma'am. Her mother wasn't able to begin tapping into her abilities until she was almost an adult. Yet here my daughter hasn't even hit double digits yet..." They paused as they saw both kids discover a sick Swablu on the side of the path in the grass. And as though it were the most natural thing in the world to do so, they both placed their free hands in front of the ill creature, tapping into the aura they both possessed. The aura bathed the creature in its light. It stood up, shook out its wings, and took flight like it had never been ill in the first place. "I fear that something dark is coming." The Ranger continued. "Something that I cannot help her with. Either of them. It will be something that they will have to do for themselves. And it breaks my heart to think that it will come sooner than later. Like the universe has opened its gates and sped them along in their abilities because we don't have much time left."

Luke and Luca had already gone back to skipping along the path. "You know Sir..." Miss Kari started, "there was a story I had heard growing up. My mother used to tell it to me as a bedtime story. Once upon a time there was a young woman and her Alakazam. They had been together since he had been just an Abra. Both of them had very strong psychic abilities, and they were really the best of friends. One day there had been an attack on a set of islands that had only just begun being inhabited by people from another region. This dark and evil man that had snuck his way onto one of the islands wanted to become King of this new region. He planned to do it by leading his army of Shadow Pokémon. Olivia and Obrin had stopped him and his Shadow Army from taking over by using their combined abilities. They had named this region Oblivia in honor of their bravery in defeating the one who had called himself the 'King of Shadows'."

Ranger Hart knew the story well. Luca's mother had told it to her many times before bed as well. "I wish I could just shake my head and not believe it. However when I watch the two of them together. I can't help but wonder what is fact and what is fiction anymore." His late wife, Mary, had told him the story on their first date. He thought it was silly at first. Later when he saw the connection between her and her Medicham, Mora, at work in her small clinic on the island, he started to become a believer. However it was nothing in comparison to what he was seeing from Luca and Luke. With everything that he had seen now, he had no choice but to believe.

"I know it's hard to want to believe Sir. Especially when it comes to your daughter. I came to love her shortly after you hired me. Now I love them both. The two of them are closer than I've ever seen a human and Pokémon. They have a bond like no other. As they grow together it's only going to get stronger. Mary was the same way with Mora. Their loss was hard for us all. There will be no other doctor like her and her assistant ever. No wife or mother like her either." She clasped a hand on the man's shoulder in solidarity.

"Thank you Ma'am. I really appreciate that." They looked back to see what the kids had been up to, only to realize that they had lost sight of them. "Luca! Luke!" Ranger Hart called out.

"They couldn't have gotten far Sir." She tried to assure the man.

Out of nowhere came a cry for help. Both adults went running towards the sound. They had traveled through the woods till they saw bright blue and white light up ahead. When they came to a clearing they saw Luke being pulled up into a helicopter by a long robotic arm. There were two women with shiny white hair standing in the opening of the hovering copter. Luke's eyes and palms were glowing with aura. They saw Luca on the ground, her eyes and hands starting to grow dim.

"Miss Kari, tend to Luca!" He called out as he pulled a Capture Lasso, a device used to help Rangers catch sick and injured Pokémon in the wild that attempt to avoid assistance, out of his side pocket. He swung it around and aimed its light tendril around Luke. "Let him go! What did you do to my daughter?!"

"Oh my, look at this old man!" One of the women laughed with the back of her hand in front of her mouth.

"Quartz and Topaz don't take orders from some old dried up Ranger. You don't know who you're messing with!"

He finally took a good look at their uniforms. "Team Rocket!"

"Not just Team Rocket honey!" Quartz said. "We're the Crystal Sisters! We always catch our prey!" She laughed as the copter went to fly higher.

Ranger Hart tried as best he could to hold on, but the pull from his lasso was beginning to lift him off of the ground.

"You know Sis, we could have a bit of 'fun' with him..." Topaz stated to her sister.

"You're right!" She said back as she hit a button on the side of the opening. A second robotic arm shot forth and grabbed onto the Ranger.

"Put us back down now!" He shouted as the arm retracted, pulling him up towards the copter. He noticed that Luke's aura had dimmed down just like Luca's. "What did you do to them?!"

"It's just a tranquilizer honey." Quartz laughed as she pulled the gun out from behind her. She aimed and shot at the Ranger hitting him square in the leg.

He could feel the drug racing into his body. Even though he was able to pull it out, it was too late. His eyelids were already growing heavy.

"Ranger Hart!" Shouted Miss Kari, her blonde hair whipping around in the wind that the helicopter was creating.

Luke looked down at Luca till he couldn't keep his eyes open anymore, his body too weak to move. "I will come back Luca... we... made... a... promise..."

The copter was reaching higher and higher, Kari and Luca now looking like small dolls on the ground.

"How touching." Topaz said with a sarcastic loving hand placed on her chest at the cries of the woman on the ground. She then pointed her finger into her mouth as she stuck her tongue out, making a gagging sound, much to her sisters sadistic delight. "Burn it down."

The last thing that Luke and Ranger Hart saw before they blacked out was the sight of a rocket being shot off of the helicopter and towards the unmapped Oblivia Pokémon Island Preserve. It struck the house on the isle, and with an explosion, shattered it to pieces. Flames began to spread out. Then nothing but darkness as the drugs finally took them over.