The Path of Destiny

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 71 – Haven

There was still a day or two left before Solus was likely to return.

Ashend hovered silently at the edge of the camp, facing the direction she knew Yenn had gone. The misdreavus hoped that there would be no news, no scouts coming back to tell Cyclone that his twisted plan had succeeded. But deep inside, there was a part of her that wished news would come. She hated not knowing, having to wonder whether Yenn was dead or alive. She had found out from one of Cyclone’s commanders that he had flown into a desert. A desert.

He was probably dead, she had forced herself to admit. There was not nearly enough food in a desert to satisfy a yanmega’s extremely high energy needs, and she had no idea if there was even water on the surface. Feeling tears starting to form, she closed her eyes and lowered her head. ‘Not now...’ she told herself. ‘Not while they could be watching.’ With great effort, she pushed the thought away.

“Ashend?” a quiet voice said behind her.

The ghost type turned to see Itora. The manectric was standing with her tail hung low. Luckily, there was no one else with her, but Ashend knew that they were in view of scattered groups of nearby army pokémon.

“Yes, Itora?” she asked, managing to wipe the emotion from her face.

“Don’t worry, no one’s around to hear us, and they don’t have any psychic types as strong as Solus who can read our minds from here.” She slowly trotted over and then sat beside where the misdreavus was hovering. The wind blew furrows in the patches of fur on her head and shoulders. “So...what are we going to do?” the manectric asked after a few moments. “About everything Cyclone’s-”

“I don’t know yet,” Ashend snapped, but seeing Itora’s surprised look, her expression softened. “I don’t think there’s anything I can do now, but I’m learning everything I can about Cyclone and the strongest who work for him.”

“I could help, you know. I-”

Ashend shook her head. “It’s too dangerous. Observe what you can, but don’t go looking for trouble.” There was another silent pause after the statement.

“I don’t think Silverbreeze believed me when I said I used Voltgale today,” Itora whispered.

Ashend looked to her in alarm.

“She didn’t do anything, I swear,” Itora insisted. “I told her to go stick her head in a magmortar’s arm cannon. Then she just wanted me gone.”

Ashend moved closer to her. “Dear, they haven’t noticed anything odd about-”

“They think I’m mad at Yenn, don’t worry,” the manectric replied, her eyes downcast.

“Listen...” Ashend took a deep breath. “Itora, when Solus and the others...come back...I want you to stay in your cave for a long time. They know we care...cared...about Yenn, but they don’t have to find out how much we know. Solus will be busy with Cyclone at first, so we need to make sure they...” Her voice faltered. “If anything happened to you too, I’d...”

“They won’t, I promise!” Itora protested. She perked her ears up, trying to seem strong and determined for Ashend. “Look at them over there,” she said, turning her head to where the nearest army pokémon were resting, on break from training. “Most of them are too stupid to-”

“Itora, you can’t just assume that,” Ashend said seriously. “They can’t know. Nothing is more important than that right now.”

Itora turned her head away. After a moment, she said, “I wanted to kill a few humans for him. Find some in white coats...the humans in the lab Yenn was in couldn’t have been much different from mine...shock the life out of them. He said he’d do the same for me.”

Ashend didn’t reply at first. Her eyes narrowed, and she looked for a moment as if she was about to use an attack. “I want to kill Cyclone first,” she hissed.

Itora gave her a look of surprise, then a worried glance back at the groups of army pokémon in the near distance. “Ashend, you can’t say that out loud!”

“You said they can’t hear us,” the misdreavus responded dryly.

“Yes, but...Ashend, how would you ever do that? We can’t even get Cyclone alone now, and his Acidstorm attack is far more powerful than-”

“I don’t know, Itora, and it may be a long time before I do. But after what he did to Yenn, I’ll make sure it happens, one way or another.”

Itora said nothing and stared at the ground. She suddenly wondered if anyone would think they were acting suspicious, staring out over the landscape like that, but Ashend didn’t seem worried.

“I was the first of us to be accepted into the army,” Ashend said quietly. Her voice had a hollow, pained tone to it, and there was a faraway look in her eyes. She seemed lost in a memory, and Itora remained quiet as she continued. “It wasn’t long after that Blazefang houndour had left. Everyone talked about it back then, but at the time, Cyclone simply didn’t have the resources to go after him. He tried, but there weren’t enough pokémon and Blazefang took a dangerous route. Cyclone gave up and sought other stones and, well, very soon, learned the location of two of them.”

“Bug and ghost,” Itora said.

“Yes,” Ashend replied. “I believe he found out about the bug one first. Maybe even before I arrived. When he told me about this, I thought he was going to hand it over to Silverbreeze. You see, it wasn’t as hard for him to get our stones as it was yours. The legendaries didn’t know their locations, so they weren’t guarding them. I’m not sure who was, if anyone. I wasn’t there for either retrieval. But for whatever reason, he didn’t give it to Silverbreeze. He had some pokémon retrieve the stone, and he just kept it. Soon after that, I was given my own. I still don’t know where he got it.”

“Then they brought in Yenn.” Ashend’s voice shook, but she carried on. “I can imagine how Cyclone and Solus decided he was suitable. Someone they deemed ‘broken’ enough to be manipulated the way they wanted him to. Just like me. But of course, we didn’t know that then. And in the beginning, I think Cyclone did care about us. Not as much as his own agenda, but I do believe...he cared. At first.

“Yenn didn’t act nearly so calm back then. He would often go into a panic, or start screaming at the underlings and even the higher ranking pokémon. Cyclone ordered them all to be patient with him and leave him alone, no matter how much of a...‘scene,’ as Cyclone put it, he was making. I didn’t pay much attention at first. I just ignored Yenn, like I ignored every other pokémon – save for Cyclone and the ones who brought me food and other comforts – and Yenn didn’t try to talk to me either. Whenever we were forced together, we seemed to have a sort of unsaid rule to keep to ourselves. I didn’t want to bother with Yenn at all; he always acted so angry.

“After a few weeks, Yenn started focusing that anger elsewhere. He was very enthusiastic about stopping the humans, and much more outspoken about it than I was. He later told me that having a solid goal helped him focus on other things, gave him hope. I can also remember some things, things that didn’t seem important at the time, that Cyclone and his higher ups said to him. They told him that he needed to focus if he didn’t want more pokémon to be tortured by humans, or for the humans to come after him, and that if he did everything right...everything they wanted him to...we could stop the humans and it would all be over. They said the same sorts of things to me, and to you.”

Itora’s eyes narrowed as she tried to think back to what was said to her, whether anything sounded odd, but Ashend continued speaking and she directed her attention once again to the misdreavus.

“Obviously, I had no idea what he and I were getting into. One night, though, I couldn't get some of the things that had happened to me at Team Rocket out of my head. I went out of my shelter and in a fit of anger I started using psychic to throw rocks around. It was silly, but I was so upset I didn't know what else to do. There weren't many pokémon around, and I think the other army pokémon must have tried to steer clear of me.

“Then Yenn appeared. He had been flying close by and spotted me, and for some reason I didn’t understand, he stopped. He had been acting calmer than he previously had by then, but it had been one of his bad days as well. I had heard him screaming hardly an hour ago...much like I was at that moment, but he had calmed down by the time he saw me.

“I just sort of stared at him for a moment, not caring what he might think of me and ready to go on ignoring him. But he came right up to me. And he just said ‘The humans did something terrible to you too, didn't they?’

“It was obvious what the answer was; Cyclone had let it be known that we had had horrific experiences at the hand of humans, and Yenn couldn't exactly hide his scar. But up until that point, I had mostly kept hidden away. He hadn't seen my anger or sadness. I had no scars. Maybe he had just assumed that I was calmly fighting for the freedom of other pokémon, that I didn't really have any lasting anger of my own. I guess he realized then that I'd just been hiding it.

“Then he told me I wasn't alone, that I could go to him if I needed help. I guess I was surprised...Cyclone had given me understanding, but he had never asked for me to come to him for something like that. Yenn told me that I didn't have to right then, or ever if I didn't want to, just that I could. I decided I wanted to be alone that night, but the next night...I decided to reach out to him. And the night after that.

“It didn't take us long to become friends. The other army pokémon were just doing their jobs, but Yenn actually took the time to listen. Cyclone was often busy and well...we both know what his true colors are now. But neither I nor Yenn had anyone ordering us around, or places we needed to be. We spent a lot of time together, and found we could talk about happy things sometimes. It was so nice to finally be able to laugh again, to talk about things like normal pokémon. After all my time in Team Rocket, I had almost forgotten how.

“Then you came along. In the weeks Yenn and I had known each other, we had become more relaxed, and opening up to you was easy.”

Itora was still silent, thinking back to her own introduction to Cyclone’s army. It had seemed so welcoming at first; she had been given food, safety, power...but Cyclone had been using them the entire time.

“I wanted to protect you two,” Ashend continued. “I thought we were doing the right thing by following Cyclone's plan. I didn't care about him killing legendaries. After all, what had the legendaries ever done for me? But now that he has probably killed Yenn...I hate him. I hate him more than the humans. And Acidstorm or not, if he so much as lays a paw on you, I will make him regret it tenfold.”

“Well, then I’ll help you, Ashend. We’ll find a way to make him die, even if it’s not by our own attacks. Then we’ll figure out what to do with the humans.”

Ashend gave her a grim smile, but something told her that they were unlikely to get a chance to attack Cyclone and also escape with their lives. “Don’t do anything rash,” she warned. “If we attempted it now, we’d both end up dead. But we’ll wait. We’ll learn everything Cyclone and Solus know.”

Itora turned her gaze back to the horizon. “I bet Yenn’s still alive,” she said. “I bet he’s shown Solus a thing or two as well.”

Ashend smiled. Though she couldn’t quite share Itora’s optimism, she didn’t want to give in to defeat. Until she learned otherwise, Yenn was alive. Until she knew Solus had killed him, she wouldn’t give the sadistic espeon or his followers the credit. And when the day came that Solus returned, the espeon would be wise to watch his back.

-ooo-

Trees...there were trees all around him. Enormous trees.

Where was he?

Yenn was flying as fast as his dying body would let him. Everything around him was bathed in a murky light, and with his fading senses, the outlines of the trees seemed to blur into each other, creating confusing patterns. Frightening images leapt at him from the gloom.

He faltered, and for a moment he was heading straight for the ground, the world tilting sideways.

Then he managed to right himself, barely swerving with enough time to avoid a large object that could have been a tree or boulder. His vision swam; everything was going dark.

He couldn’t stop. They were...no, something was chasing him. Something was after him, and there would be terrible pain if it caught him. He had to...he had to...

The yanmega blacked out for a moment, his wings clipping painfully on the side of a tree. He almost allowed himself to fall to the ground.

Then hazy images started to appear through the blackness. Smeared objects that he knew were trees flickered in front of him. A beam of light coming through a break in the branches seemed to stand out from the muddy blur.

Something glimmered on the forest floor.

It was thin and winding, snaking through the trunks of the trees. As he tried to look at the shimmering patch, he realized that it moved, rippled like...water.

He headed toward it, realizing as he got closer that it was a stream, just barely distinguishable through the muddled objects fading in and out from the blackness of his vision. He readied himself to land on the bank, but his movements faltered, and he found himself splashing into the water.

Yenn’s legs collapsed beneath him, but luckily the water was very shallow and his head did not go under. His body started to shake, seizing from the cold, so drastically different from the heat of the desert. For a few moments it felt hard to breathe.

He tried to focus on what he could see above him, the waving beams of light coming down from the treetops so high above. He wanted to cry out for help; he was vaguely aware that the sudden temperature change was such a shock to his system that it threatened to throw him into unconsciousness. Some part of him was confused at his reaction; the small part of his mind that was still rational knew that the stream itself couldn’t be so terribly cold, as the forest was green with the coming of summer.

His vision went black, but the muffled forest sounds around him remained. He lay still, feeling his awareness flickering in and out, before light and color began to return again.

As soon as it did, he shakily stood up and lowered his head to the stream’s surface. He began gulping down water, losing track of everything else around him. He wasn’t quite sure the cool water wasn’t some sort of vivid hallucination or dream, but at least if it was, it was a good one. As he drank, he momentarily forgot that anything was following him.

After he finally finished, his mind felt clearer, and his vision was steadier. He lifted his wet wings, gave them a small shake, and weakly forced himself back up into the air. He flew the short distance to the bank, then collapsed. In spite of finding water, Yenn didn’t think he had enough strength to fly up to a tree branch in order to rest. He had spent his last bit of energy on finding water, and now that he had it, he could go no further. He would have to sleep on the ground.

It was then that he remembered the fear. Something was coming for him. His mind couldn’t grasp any details, couldn’t remember what had led him to where he was, but he knew he had been in grave danger.

He could see a few large bushes near the stream, a short distance from where he lay. If nothing else, he could at least rest under them to be safer from the watching eyes of whatever was following him. With his last bit of willpower, he forced himself to fly to the bushes and crawl underneath. He had to curl up to fit beneath the bush’s leaves, but it would at least keep the red of his eyes and spots from standing out amongst the green.

If anything was still coming after him, there was nothing he could do. He had been awake for so long, flying for so long, starving, dying of thirst...he had no more energy to keep fleeing. He couldn't think...could only lie down...

Before he knew it, he had slipped into sleep, lying beneath the bush near the bank of a sparkling stream.

-ooo-

Snowcrystal and the others rested right beside where the portal, which had transported them to the forest just minutes before, had vanished. Trees reaching higher than many of the tallest buildings surrounded them, their thick roots spreading across the ground. The uppermost portions of the trees were impossible to see through the mass of leaves and branches far overhead, and pokémon cries of all kinds echoed back at them on all sides.

On the forest floor, the group of travelers huddled in a ragtag circle, trying to catch their breath and plan their next course of action. Pokémon sprawled out in the bushes, beneath clumps of ferns, or even over tree roots as they lay, both exhausted and overwhelmed by what they saw around them. At the base of one of the enormous trees, Damian quietly checked Nightshade for new injuries while Thunder looked on. Beside him, Katie was cleaning the scratches on Wildflame’s face.

Luckily, there had been no serious injuries from the brief battle, only scrapes and bruises. The pokémon were more tired than anything, and still trying to wrap their minds around everything that had occurred.

“Okay,” Katie said once she was sure that Wildflame’s wounds were clean. “Arien, ask the pokémon what they know about this yanmega and anything those pokémon out in the desert might have said about it.” She gave a nod to both the alakazam and Damian.

The pokémon conversed quietly while the three trainers waited. To their surprise, Nightshade joined in the conversation as well. Less surprisingly, Thunder hung back a short distance from the main group, looking appalled that they were even discussing seeking out a strange pokémon.

“Well,” Damian said after a few minutes, “Arien told me that Nightshade and the others who stayed by the rocks saw the yanmega up close. He said it was a young adult male, very sickly looking, and he had a scar...something like this...” He leaned down and made a long mark in the soil with his finger, intersecting it with smaller marks.

“That’s weird...but it’ll be immediately recognizable at least,” Katie stated, though she sounded less than hopeful. "But a forest this big is bound to have hundreds of yanmega in it, probably thousands. And even if the one from the desert didn’t get far, we could be looking for a needle in a haystack.”

“Arien also told me that Wildflame thinks this yanmega is named ‘Yenn.’ That espeon working for Cyclone...Solus...he or one of his pokémon mentioned the name before we came to help.” Damian turned to the other trainer. “At least that gives us something more.”

“Yeah, let’s ask around and see if any of the forest creatures happen to know a random pokémon’s name,” Justin scoffed.

“It might be useful when we do find him,” Katie argued. “Tell him we know who he is and want to get him away from those maniacal pokémon chasing him.”

“Yeah, sure,” Justin muttered with a roll of his eyes.

“Well, obviously the yanmega’s going to be looking for water,” Katie said, ignoring him. “We’ll find ponds and streams and start from there so we-”

“Well,” Justin muttered, suddenly seeming very uneasy about the whole prospect, “it probably already found water and continued flying. I mean, it thinks pokémon are trying to kill it. Shouldn’t we not go charging after it now that it’s been chased for who knows how long? If it has a Forbidden Attack, and it’s weak, it’ll probably fire it at any living thing it finds following it.”

There was silence, and Spark suddenly looked to Justin with wide-eyed fear. Katie and Damian exchanged glances.

“Good point,” Damian said. “We’d better wait. Give him time to rest, and time to realize that Cyclone’s pokémon aren’t coming after him. That’ll give us time to rest too.”

“Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t start getting a head start on finding out where he might have gone,” Katie responded. “And we shouldn’t wait longer than a day or two, in case this pokémon really does have a Forbidden Attack.”

“This is crazy,” Justin muttered, turning away from the trainers and the quietly waiting pokémon. “What do you expect to do with this thing once we find it?”

“Hopefully the legendary has an idea,” Katie replied.

“Oh, right,” Justin mumbled. “Here’s hoping.”

Katie ignored him, pulling out her pokégear. After a few taps and swipes of the screen, she had pulled up a three-dimensional rotating image of a yanmega. The small blurb of information next to the image made Justin scowl as he looked over Katie’s shoulder.

“Katie, this says here that a yanmega’s wings can create shockwaves strong enough to cause serious internal damage. That and they’re pretty infamous for being good at biting apart the heads of other creatures. Forbidden Attack or not, you’ve got to be insane to want to go after this thing.”

Katie gave him a glare. “You see this forest? You want it destroyed?”

“A yanmega is a killing machine! It’s basically like a scyther that has more powerful wings, only with bigger teeth instead of blades,” Justin retorted.

From the center of the group of pokémon, Katie saw Stormblade flinch a little and draw back. She turned to Justin again and said, “Yeah, you’re right. One and the same. Things Justin really should stop being afraid of. Your jolteon could kill you just about as easily.”

“Uh...look guys,” Damian said worriedly, not wanting a fight to escalate. “We have some time to figure out what to do. This yanmega is a wild pokémon and we don’t know how he reacts around strangers. We’ll be cautious, Justin.”

Katie flicked her finger over the ‘more information’ section on the pokédex screen, revealing a new page of listed facts. She read over them while the others rested in silence.

Watching her, Snowcrystal suddenly felt bad that she had left the first aid kit she’d carried across the desert back at the rocks. She knew the trainers had plenty of other medical supplies, but it still made her feel like she had somehow failed her companions, even if in a small way. The humans and the other pokémon had done so much for her. And it wasn’t only them who had, but many others as well. Moonlight and Darkfang had lost their lives. Darkfang had died trying to save them down in the tunnels. She suddenly felt a new wave of sorrow as the thought crossed her mind, and she wished more than anything she could have thanked him.

Suddenly she felt claws rest gently on her back. “Snow?” Nightshade’s voice whispered to her. “It’s okay. We’ll figure this out.” She allowed him to draw her closer, resting her head against his side.

“We’d better get moving and at least find a suitable place to camp,” Damian called from up ahead. “We’ll rest and scout the area for water sources. We can start looking for the yanmega tomorrow. He’ll probably be looking for a place to rest too.”

“Fine,” Justin sighed. “Let's find a place to set up camp so we can go find us our giant flying murder machine.”

The weary pokémon all got back to their feet, and after Nightshade was returned inside his poké ball, they set off. Despite the massive size of the forest, there was enough room for several pokémon to walk side by side on the ground. The group bunched together, keeping their eyes and ears out for any sign of potential trouble.

“Wait,” Thunder stated to the other pokémon, glaring at the group as they headed off. She had become much more agitated after the humans had returned Nightshade. “Are you just going to let some random stranger come with us? Let the yanmega fend for himself. He’s not our problem.”

Redclaw looked over his shoulder at her. “If he uses his Forbidden Attack in this forest,” he said gravely, “it will be everyone’s problem.”

The scyther had nothing to say in response. She merely trailed after the group, shooting glares at anyone who turned to look at her.

-ooo-

It wasn’t long before Damian had found them a good camping site. Sheltered between two of the massive trees, they set up their tents while the pokémon rested or scouted the nearby area.

Snowcrystal lay at the base of an ancient tree with a large fire scar, a short distance away from Damian’s tent. She wanted to be out with Spark and Stormblade and the others who were exploring the forest, but she had decided to stay with Nightshade to wait at the new campsite. As the day wore on into afternoon, she started to feel glad that she’d given her feet a rest. It also allowed her time to take in everything that had happened.

The portal had activated at precisely the right moment, and though she didn’t understand why, she wasn’t worried about not knowing. There were much bigger things on her mind, and the forest itself provided another new sense of wonder.

She had never even dreamed that trees could be so big. The other forests she’d traveled through had been nothing like this; those trees now seemed like tiny twigs in comparison when she thought back to them. And there were so many pokémon. Anywhere she looked, she could see winged pokémon flying, not even seeming to care that the trainers were there. Larger pokémon occasionally wandered through the hazy underbrush in the distance, a few even giving them what looked to be curious glances. Sentret scampered up and down trees, and she even saw several heracross clinging to the branches and trunks higher up.

She wondered how Nightshade felt about being in such a place. From what she could see, he looked awed and amazed. She wondered if, had circumstances been different, Nightshade would have wanted to live here.

Not surprisingly, Thunder had also stayed behind at the camp, and she was currently pacing back and forth in agitation not far from where Snowcrystal was sitting with Nightshade. At least, the growlithe thought, she didn’t seem quite as distrustful of the humans, or at least wasn’t paying them as much attention. Snowcrystal hoped the fight with Solus had helped convince her, even a little, that the trainers were on their side.

Snowcrystal still wasn’t used to seeing Thunder so healthy. She had been very weak and sick before being recaptured by Master, or Mausk, but now she was strong, no longer bearing any serious injuries. She was also missing the old collar she had worn. Mausk must have fit her with one of those deadly ones that detonated, but it had obviously been taken off for the arena fight. Now she was free from any means Mausk used to control her.

A few paces from Snowcrystal and Nightshade, Wildflame was resting, taking in the details of the forest herself. The houndoom looked amazed, her eyes wide as she watched a group of light green and blue vivillon fly far over their heads. “This sure is different than anything we had back by the mountain,” she said, her voice full of wonder.

Suddenly, Thunder stopped her pacing and turned her head toward Wildflame. “I saw you standing in front of Nightshade,” the scyther said. “Between him and that twisted excuse for an espeon. I guess I can believe you now. You weren’t lying.”

The houndoom lifted her head in surprise. Thunder had been the one to throw Wildflame’s apology back in her face, to tell her that she could never be trusted because of her past lies. “R-really? You do?”

Thunder didn’t reply with words, instead just nodding before starting to pace again, this time with less agitation.

“...Thanks,” Wildflame told her gratefully.

Thunder didn’t respond, but she seemed less on edge, so Snowcrystal relaxed. At least Thunder didn’t seem to see the humans as such a large threat anymore, and the growlithe could only hope it would last.

Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, Stormblade appeared through the undergrowth, making Snowcrystal jump. “Everything seems fine,” the scyther announced. “The forest pokémon didn’t give us any trouble.”

“Where are Spark and the others?” Arien asked from beside Damian’s tent.

“Still out there exploring,” Stormblade replied. “Some of them went to find berries. The native pokémon here don’t seem to mind us at all. Well, those that aren’t prey species, of course. Some were even friendly.”

“Well, that’s good news,” Arien stated, heaving a sigh of relief. “And it’s about time we had some.”

As Stormblade took a drink from the bowl of water the trainers had set out, Snowcrystal peered up at the towering trees. “I wonder what the growlithe in my tribe would think if they could see this,” she whispered.

Stormblade lifted his head. “They’d be pretty amazed, that’s for sure. I bet they wouldn’t have met any flying types that had seen-” He paused, noticing that the growlithe’s expression had turned a bit forlorn. “Do you miss them a lot?”

Snowcrystal gave Stormblade a smile, not wanting him to worry. “Yes, but I want to try to help them, and that’s why I’m here. If I can’t bring Articuno back, well...getting rid of the Forbidden Attacks will make the world safer for everyone. And after they’re gone, or put away where no one can find them, Articuno could return.”

“I’m sure your tribe will be proud of you,” Stormblade responded. “I bet they’re thinking of you too. Your parents, family...”

“I hope so. It’s not so much my parents I miss, but...” Seeing that Stormblade looked confused, she explained, “My parents...didn’t really spend a lot of time raising me. They were important in the tribe and well, I guess they decided they had better things to do. But don’t worry, I wasn’t lonely! Some of the other adult growlithe took care of me. They pretty much raised me. I really miss them...”

Most of the time, she had tried not to think too hard about her tribe, the growlithe she had left behind. Instead, she had always focused on her goal of helping them. Even if she couldn’t save their home, she wanted to make sure they could live in a world safe from the Forbidden Attacks. And to do that, she had to seek the help of other legendaries, as well as the pokémon she had come to know who were now family as well. “Do you miss your old swarm?” she asked Stormblade. “Or whoever you were with before meeting Spark and Justin?”

The scyther was silent for a moment. “Well,” he finally said, “of course I do, but that’s in the past now. I try not to think about it much.” Though the growlithe looked to him curiously, he did not elaborate. “Besides,” he said, “I’ve got you guys.”

A shadow passed over the sunlit patches on the ground, causing both the pokémon and the trainers to look up. Fernwing swooped over their heads before landing on the ground near the tents. “Well, I didn’t see any yanmega,” she told Arien. “Though he can’t be far; he would have found someplace to rest. He was in bad shape.”

“Maybe we could leave some food for him once we find out where he is,” Wildflame suggested. “Show him that we’re friendly. Er...that is, if we can find a way to keep the forest pokémon away from the food...”

The tropius gave Wildflame a look that told the houndoom she was skeptical.

“We only have a few hours before it starts getting dark,” Stormblade said. “We can look around and ask more of the forest pokémon until then.”

“Look, Stormblade. I asked. No one saw him,” Fernwing protested. “Most pokémon aren’t going to be paying attention to what some specific yanmega looks like. If they see one, they’re going to focus on moving as fast as they can in the opposite direction.”

“We’re not going to really start searching until tomorrow,” Wildflame sighed. “Give it a rest.”

“Katie wanted us to have a head start,” Stormblade argued. “Asking the pokémon is a head start.”

“I’m surprised we haven’t seen a Forbidden Attack going off already,” Blazefang muttered.

“Well, it’s not likely anything’s going to bother a yanmega, is it?” Wildflame asked.

“Of course it’s likely,” Blazefang snapped. “We’re the idiots who are going to do it!”

“Hey, look,” Stormblade interjected. “I think if he was going to use his Forbidden Attack on anything that looked at him funny, it would have happened by now. We ask around, wait until morning to actually seek him out, and I doubt he’ll assume we’re part of Solus’s group.”

“Stormblade...you don’t know that he feels the same way about the Forbidden Attacks as I do,” Blazefang replied shakily.

“He was running away from Solus...doesn’t that give you a clue?” Wildflame asked.

Blazefang didn’t respond, and the pokémon fell quiet. Soon afterward, the makeshift scouting parties returned and the group gathered together around the tents. Before long, night had fallen over the forest.

-ooo-

Yenn’s dreams were a confusing haze of images. Many times he would see pokémon racing across the desert, only to jerk into semi-wakefulness and then fall back into the darkness of the dreams. Several times he would hear Ashend or Itora’s voice, stare at the body of the dead smeargle beneath him, or look into Solus and Cyclone’s wicked eyes.

In one such dream, trees shot up from the ground around the army’s camp. A river ran through the center of it, and a group of bloodthirsty arcanine and rapidash charged through the water as if was not there. Yenn only just then realized that he was hovering at the south end of the river, where it wound into the trees. He could hear the calls of pokémon coming from deep within the woods. They were fighting, or in great distress; Yenn couldn’t tell. Then Cyclone was sitting behind him. The vaporeon turned to look into his eyes.

“It was always like that,” he said, and some part of Yenn’s mind registered that his voice sounded strange and not like Cyclone’s at all. “What did I tell you?”

Then Cyclone and the mismatched scenery around him faded, the real world replacing the dream images and showing him a dark mass of leaves through which soft moonlight filtered.

He struggled to collect his thoughts, unsure of where he was or what had happened. The dream was little help; it had seemed so vivid and clear in his mind, almost like it was important, but now that he was awake, he realized that it made no sense at all. His body shook as he recalled the images, but at least the dream hadn’t taken him down the darkest path of memory lane, and he was able to will himself to relax.

He tried to recall where he was, and what had happened, but nothing came up. The remnants of the dream tugged at the edges of his mind, telling him there was something he needed to remember, yet he couldn’t grasp it. He gave up trying, his mind and body too exhausted to keep up with the whirling thoughts.

After several minutes of lying beneath what he realized was a large bush of some sort, the yanmega lifted his head. His vision swam at first, then it cleared again. He realized he could hear something. Running water.

The sound put his mind on high alert, and his senses became less muddled. It also brought about the sensation of pain. His throat and mouth felt like they had been burned by fire. He cried out, but the cry only came out as a weak gasp. Yenn realized he could taste blood in his mouth, but it was only a small amount, so he knew it wasn’t coming from inside him.

He needed to get to the water. Yenn shuffled his six legs, trying to find enough purchase on the ground to lift his body. He hardly had any strength left, but he managed to stand. Focused on the sound of the running water nearby, he crawled out of the bush. It was slow going; a yanmega’s legs were not well suited to walking, but he knew he lacked the strength to fly. His wings simply dragged on the ground beside him.

He came upon a shallow stream and lowered his head to the water. It burned his throat as he drank it, but he did not care. Once he had his fill, he let himself collapse on the bank.

Yenn was sure he was about to drift into sleep again, and as the thought struck him, so did the memory of the dream. As he pictured the arcanine and rapidash running through the dream-river, everything came back to him all at once.

His mind raced in panic, his wings fluttering but his body still staying pathetically on the ground. He was fleeing from Solus, who, under Cyclone’s orders, was out for his blood. His heart raced and he found himself staring through the trees, imagining that every pokémon cry or rustle of bushes was an enemy waiting to strike. His whole body froze as if his limbs had suddenly locked into place, and he found himself almost too terrified to move.

Then he realized that the sounds of the creatures around him were not frantic, not organized, not malicious. They were pokémon going about their normal nighttime activities. No one was crashing through the undergrowth, screaming at the forest pokémon or shouting orders. The place was peaceful. He could not fully put to rest the fear he felt of his would-be murderers, but he could tell that, by some miracle, they hadn’t followed him into the forest. If they had, they would have already found him, or he would at least have heard some type of commotion.

He focused on what he could see around him, not able to make out much detail in the darkness, but nonetheless able to tell that he was in a forest like no other he had ever seen. His memories of the desert came back stronger, leaving him confused and lost. How had he gotten here? He remembered some pokémon shouting about a...portal? Then he’d landed in the stream. Yet apart from that, he couldn’t recall anything that had happened after he’d realized that Solus’s group was finally closing in for the kill.

‘A portal?’ he thought, finding the idea absurd but too exhausted to care much. Somehow, he had ended up in a massive forest, and if Solus and the army pokémon had been able to follow him in, he would have been dead by now.

He let the thought sink in. Somehow, by what could be nothing short of a miracle, he was alive and had escaped Solus. He had ended up in a place where the espeon and Cyclone’s army could not follow. Something had happened that he didn’t understand. It didn’t matter. He was safe from them...safe...

Yenn felt such a flood of relief that he started to wonder if it was still some sort of dream. Less than a day ago, he had been so certain that there was no hope, that he was going to die, that all his efforts in evading Solus’ army and surviving the desert wasteland would amount to nothing. The thought of safety was so incomprehensible, he was afraid to believe it, even while he was standing in an almost surreal oasis.

Yet it was real. The water, the trees around him, the cries of the pokémon...it was all real. He moved the tip of one leg through the water, the doubts easing away from his mind.

As he rested on the edge of the stream bank, he thought back to his two friends at the army, suddenly realizing that they would have no idea he was still alive. For a moment the fear came swarming back to him, this time a fear for his friends, but then he remembered that Solus would return empty clawed. He would have no Forbidden Attack to present Cyclone. Then Ashend and Itora would know he was alive. They wouldn’t be left to wonder. He desperately hoped they would be safe, and reminded himself that Ashend would know how to protect Itora.

He lowered his head down in front of the calmly running water. Sleeping there was the smarter option, he thought. He’d need the water as soon as he woke up again. When he’d rested enough, he’d follow the stream until he came upon a suitable place to stay.

The forest would be a place he’d likely stay for a long time, if not the rest of his life. He’d follow the other yanmega when they migrated for the winter, then return, year after year. He was clearly far from Cyclone’s army, but he knew that if he ever ventured near them, he would be killed on sight.

For the rest of the night, Yenn drifted in and out of consciousness, confusing thoughts meeting him every time. Yet he had a source of water, and with each time he woke, his mind became a little clearer. But still at the forefront of his mind was the fact that he would never see Ashend or Itora again.

-ooo-

At first light, the group set off through the forest. Both the pokémon and trainers were quiet, speaking only when they thought it was necessary. Everywhere they looked were pokémon of all shapes and sizes, in the undergrowth, climbing in the trees, or soaring above them. Many of them stopped to watch the odd traveling party curiously, as if they’d never seen a human before.

“Arien told me that Fernwing found a river nearby, as well as a stream or two,” Damian announced, turning to Katie, who was leading the group.

“We’ll go to the river first, then,” she said. “That’s got to be the most likely place.”

“We’re not splitting up, right?” Justin grumbled from somewhere behind.

“No,” Damian answered, and Katie shot him a glare that he didn’t notice.

“It would be faster to go into groups,” she protested. “We’ll each have powerful pokémon.”

“Well,” Damian began, “I’m not sure...”

“Katie, Damian’s right,” Justin insisted. “We don’t know what’s out there. We should stick together. Sooner or later the forest pokémon will have to have seen it.”

“We’re not going to cover enough ground that way,” Katie replied. “We’ll have to split up. Flying pokémon search from the air, water types in the water, the rest of us on foot in groups.”

Damian and Justin glanced at each other. “All right,” Damian began hesitantly, “but we shouldn’t search too far from each other.”

“Hopefully we won’t have to,” Katie said. “And hopefully we don’t get caught up in some sort of giant bug infestation or a tornado ripping through the forest...whatever sort of attack this yanmega has.”

“We don’t know he’d actually use it,” Damian cut in. “If he was running from Solus like the pokémon said, he might be just as against it as Blazefang.”

“And if not,” Katie said, “then the pokémon have some convincing to do. Either way, we need to find this pokémon fast.”

In the center of the group, Snowcrystal watched Blazefang struggle over a tree root taller than he was. She pushed her head against his foot to give him leverage, and then jumped up beside him with ease. The houndoom gave her an annoyed glare and leaped down the other side. His injured leg buckled, but he remained standing.

“When we get there,” Alex was telling Stormblade, “I’ll be swimming up and down the river for any signs of the yanmega. You and the other flying types will search from above. The other pokémon will check out the foliage and...”

As Alex talked to Stormblade and repeated the same thing to Redclaw further ahead, Rosie paused before hesitantly glancing to where Snowcrystal stood, Wildflame and Blazefang beside her. “Are we doing the right thing?” the ninetales asked, sounding uncertain. “Maybe we should be trying to find this legendary as fast as possible. Get out of here before the pokémon with a Forbidden Attack can-”

“No,” Wildflame said firmly. “We’re doing the right thing. If this legendary can help Blazefang, it can help the other pokémon. The least we can do is try to reason with him.”

“The yanmega...Yenn...tried to warn us about Solus,” Snowcrystal reminded her. “If he was going to attack us, wouldn’t he have already? He could listen to us.”

Rosie thought for a moment, but the wary look in her eyes remained. “I guess,” she replied.

-ooo-

They could hear the river before they actually saw it. The forest was still bathed in a sort of green twilight, most of the sky blocked by the canopy. Yet up ahead, they could see a bit more light, where the forest surely gave way to open sky to make room for the river.

Nightshade had been sent out of his poké ball to enjoy the forest scenery, riding on Fernwing’s back. Though the heracross was still weak and unsteady, he clearly felt calmer among the massive trees, and Fernwing took care to make the flight as smooth for him as possible.

Far above them, a large swarm of butterfree fluttered through the thin shafts of sunlight. Snowcrystal watched them with wide eyes, pondering for a moment what the forest would look like from such a height.

As they walked, four of the butterfree turned away from their group and flew down toward Snowcrystal and the others. They were completely unafraid, seeming more curious than anything. They gathered at the back of the traveling group.

“I’ve never seen such an odd pack,” one of them muttered. “You must be one of the new ones let in.”

At this, Wildflame stopped walking. “Let in?”

“Into the forest,” the butterfree answered.

“By who?”

“By who?” the butterfree repeated, confused. “From the portal.”

The other pokémon had stopped as well, and the three trainers turned, looking confused.

“The portal just...lets pokémon in?” Wildflame asked.

“How does it work?” Snowcrystal added.

The look in the eyes of the four butterfree told Wildflame and Snowcrystal all they needed to know; the butterfree had no idea. Wildflame heaved a sigh.

The butterfree turned their attention to Nightshade and Fernwing, suddenly seeming overjoyed. “They let in another heracross!” one cried. “Please,” she asked Nightshade, “come to our part of the forest. You can stay with us.”

Snowcrystal was momentarily confused until she remembered that heracross helped release tree sap for the butterfree. Even though she had seen several heracross climbing the trees, she figured the butterfree would want as many as possible to live among them.

“Sorry, no,” Nightshade said, pulling his clawed arm back from a butterfree who was urging him to fly from Fernwing’s back. “We’re looking for someone. Have you seen a yanmega with a scar that-”

“No, no yanmega,” another butterfree quickly said, and Nightshade gave a sigh. Of course. If any butterfree spotted a yanmega, they wouldn’t stick around to pay attention to its details.

“We’re also...looking for a legendary,” Snowcrystal added.

The rest of the group, who had stopped, gathered closer to the butterfree and those who had lingered behind. Thunder was staring at the curious forest pokémon with a mixture of disgust and annoyance on her face.

“The Guardian,” a butterfree replied. “You want to see the Guardian?”

“Yes,” Snowcrystal said, eagerly nodding.

Stormblade stepped forward, and the butterfree backed up, wary.

“Where do we find this Guardian?” he asked.

Snowcrystal and Stormblade both expected the butterfree to hesitate, to be secretive, or to even outright deny them an answer. But to their surprise, the butterfree seemed completely calm and willing to explain.

“There’s a lake in the forest,” one told them. “If you follow the river upstream, you will find it. There is a pokémon there who can take you to the Guardian if you ask. You’ll know him when you see him. If he thinks that what you need to say is important enough, he will lead you there.”

One of the butterfree from the swarm high above called down to the four who had come to investigate the newcomers. “Good bye,” the butterfree who had spoken about the Guardian said hastily. “And good luck.”

With that, the forest bug types rejoined their companions, leaving the traveling group standing in awe. Arien quickly turned to Damian, and the look on the boy’s face told the pokémon he’d received the translation.

“Well, if one pokémon knows where this ‘guardian messenger’ is,” Snowcrystal began, “then more will. I think this is it. I think we’ve really found another legendary. And now we know how to get there.”

“But first,” Arien interjected, “we find the yanmega. This concerns him as well.”

As soon as Damian had relayed the information to Justin and Katie, the group set off at a brisk pace, some of them practically running. Their tiredness was forgotten; now they had a clear goal, and that goal was in sight.

To be continued...