The Path of Destiny

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 41 - A Place of Rest or a Place of Danger?

Sometime in the late morning, Blazefang woke. Glancing around in confusion for a moment, the houndour stood up shakily, leaves crunching beneath his paws. Suddenly remembering where he was, he clawed the ground in annoyance. He wasn’t quite ready to go back to the white growlithe and her friends, but he wanted to see if any of them had brought back prey.

He had started to head back to the group when he stopped himself. “What do I need them for?” he growled aloud, turning and walking deeper into the forest. “I can catch some for myself!” He was feeling rather irritated that he had even considered asking them for help.

The houndour paused for any sound or smell of prey, but all the strange forest scents confused him, making the task of focusing on just one very difficult. Blazefang shuddered; he wasn’t used to hunting among all these trees. “There are other houndour who live in forests that can do it,” he whispered to himself. “It shouldn’t be too hard.”

Blazefang moved forward as silently as he could, scanning the area ahead for prey. He soon spotted a starly, but as he edged closer, the grass around him swished, sending the pokémon flying upward with a frightened squawk.

Growling to himself, the houndour walked further into the trees, knowing that the bird would probably have scared off any other prey nearby. After a while, he slowed down, moving forward silently again and searching for sight or smell of a meal.

As he crept further, a familiar scent filled his nostrils, one that he was used to by now, and that he didn’t like. Scyther. Blazefang tensed, looking around through the screen of leaves and foliage, remembering the way Thunder had darted at him so quickly when he had first found Snowcrystal’s group after running from Cyclone. She had been injured, and he didn’t want to think about what a healthy scyther could do. Fearfully, he began backing away, staring around at the green scenery as if he expected a scyther to jump out at him from anywhere.

As he was backing up, something cannoned into him from behind, knocking him to the ground. Blazefang turned over quickly, but instead of a scyther, he only saw Spark, the growlithe’s jolteon friend.

“Scared you!” the electric type said with a grin. “Not so tough without your pack are you?”

“You idiot!” Blazefang growled, leaping up indignantly. “You’ve just scared off all the prey, you know that?”

Spark seemed only mildly concerned. “Oh, so what! There’s plenty more deeper in the woods. I’m an experienced forest hunter, you know,” he added proudly.

Blazefang bared his teeth in a snarl as Spark pushed past him. With any luck, he thought, the scyther who’d left the scent behind would make a tasty snack of the jolteon. Chuckling to himself, the houndour lay his head on his paws as he watched Spark, further up ahead, blunder after a zigzagoon who’d run across his path. The frightened pokémon was pelting away toward a thick clump of bushes, but just before it reached it, Spark caught up to it and leapt upon it, pressing it down onto the forest floor and biting down swiftly on its neck. Blazefang’s eyes widened in surprise. “You caught that?” he cried in disbelief, running over to the jolteon.

“I told you I was a perfect forest hunter!” Spark replied, beaming. “And I bet you thought I couldn’t do it. You know what? I might just give this to Stormblade; I know it makes you mad!”

Blazefang was about to retort that Stormblade hadn’t been able to eat much of what anyone had been bringing him for the past few days, but stopped himself when he noticed the bushes behind Spark rustling. He began backing away, and Spark, still looking smug, didn’t even bother to ask why.

It was only when the sound of something emerging from the bushes right behind him met Spark’s ears that the jolteon whirled around in fright, just as a forest scyther stopped right in front of him.

Blazefang could see that Spark was frozen in surprise. Ignoring him, the houndour turned to run, only to be confronted by a second scyther that reminded him a bit of Thunder. This one had several deep scars covering its face, and one of the pointed spikes on its head had been broken off. Blazefang wished he could fire a flamethrower in its face, but he knew that would be a bad idea for several reasons, as would attempting to run away. He decided that being submissive was the only other option. He just hoped that the scyther didn’t want to eat him. He was used to being afraid of Thunder, but these scyther weren’t just strong…they were also uninjured.

“What are you doing here?” growled the one in front of Spark, and though Blazefang was staring at the ground and not looking in that direction, he guessed from its voice that the first scyther was female. He didn’t dare glance up at the one staring down at him; he was too afraid it would attack, though he did realize that if it had wanted to eat him, it would have killed him already.

“We’re just trying to hunt!” Spark blurted out. “You see, I-”

“This is our forest,” the scyther stated firmly. “You can’t hunt here.”

“What are you talking about?” Spark replied. “No one group of pokémon owns the forest!”

“I beg to differ,” the scyther replied icily. “Get out.”

The scyther nearest to Blazefang moved forward threateningly, and Blazefang backed away. He wondered if it was safe to leave yet, or whether the scyther would attack them once they turned their backs.

“Spark?” a voice from behind them called. Blazefang turned to see Redclaw pushing his way through the bushes, followed by Wildflame and Snowcrystal. Seeing the scyther, Redclaw growled, the long tan fur of his mane rising along his neck. “Leave him alone,” he snarled at the bug types, walking toward Spark with the other two canines at his side.

To Blazefang’s surprise, neither scyther looked intimidated by the fire types, and watched calmly as the three approached.

“Redclaw,” Snowcrystal whispered, “do you think those scyther could help Stormblade?”

Blazefang felt like rolling his eyes. These scyther were threatening them! And what could a scyther do to help heal wounds? They were only good at hurting things!

Without waiting for the arcanine’s answer, the white growlithe padded forward and stood in front of the scyther next to Spark. Blazefang looked up and watched carefully, not sure how they would react.

Snowcrystal stared up at the much taller pokémon, feeling suddenly vulnerable despite her type advantage over the scyther. This pokémon was much bigger and stronger than she was. Quivering, Snowcrystal tried to look her in the eyes. “Listen,” she began hesitantly, “we have a scyther friend who’s hurt, and we-”

“Why should we care?” the scyther replied. “That scyther is not a part of our swarm.” Snowcrystal could see the scyther’s body tense, as if the only thing keeping the pokémon from leaping at her was the fact that she and her companion were outnumbered.

Snowcrystal glanced at Redclaw, who looked back at her helplessly. She knew that he wanted to leave, but if these scyther wanted to chase them out of the forest, where else could they go? She glanced at the other scyther, the mean-looking one who seemed seconds away from attacking Blazefang, wondering if she should even attempt to talk to him. Before she had a chance to make a decision, however, she heard the bushes in front of them rustle, and a third scyther stepped out.

Alarmed, Snowcrystal was about to run back to Redclaw, thinking that the other scyther in the swarm had heard the commotion and come to help their companions. However, she quickly realized that not only was this third scyther alone, but that there was something odd about him. As he came out of the bushes into plain sight, it was easy to see what it was. This scyther was missing an arm. She stared in surprise, but that didn’t last long as she was distracted by the reaction of the other two scyther, who had turned to glare at him.

“What do you want?” the one closest to Snowcrystal growled.

“I think we should help the other scyther,” the newcomer replied calmly, though Snowcrystal could see that he was looking at the other two with an air of fear.

“Why should we help a loner?” the scarred scyther asked him calmly, as if waiting to see if the new scyther had any sort of logical reason.

“They may not be from our swarm, but they’re still a scyther,” the third scyther replied. “I say we should help. These pokémon are weak,” he added, gesturing to Snowcrystal and the others with a nod of his head. “They couldn’t do much harm to our swarm anyway, but they do outnumber you two, and with type advantages at that. I wouldn’t try chasing them away.”

The scarred scyther rounded on him. Looking at them both facing each other, Snowcrystal noticed that the scyther with the scarred face was taller than the other, though not quite as tall as Stormblade. “Don’t tell me what to do,” the scarred scyther growled, “unless you think you can win a battle with only one blade.”

The smaller scyther seemed to get the message, and immediately backed off, a scared look in his eyes.

“Get out of here!” the female shouted, and the newcomer slinked away into the bushes and disappeared.

Snowcrystal backed up as the two remaining scyther faced them, knowing that she and her friends could not afford a fight, especially when there were four members of the group already injured. She was wondering whether or not to try and run when a fourth scyther emerged from the trees near where the other two were standing.

Snowcrystal could see that this scyther was old, but he was not alone. There were a few young scyther who followed him into the clearing, all looking agitated at the sight of the strange pokémon.

“What’s going on here?” the old scyther demanded, staring straight at Redclaw as if he assumed that the arcanine was the leader of the band of travelers.

It was the scyther that Snowcrystal had tried to speak to who answered first. “They were trespassing,” she explained. “They hunted in our territory and killed a zigzagoon.” The scyther bent down toward the carcass and picked it up, tossing it toward where her companion, or mate, was standing.

“They haven’t crossed into our territory yet,” the old scyther pointed out.

“So, you ‘own the forest,’ huh?” Spark scoffed, but was quickly silenced by a glare from Redclaw.

The scyther ignored him. “They were close enough, Skyscythe,” she retorted. “Let’s just get rid of them now.”

“We’re just passing through…” Wildflame told the scyther. “That is, after we’ve rested for a bit.”

“But there are two scyther with us,” Snowcrystal added. “You might be able to help them…somehow…we just want a safe place to stay, and this forest is the safest place we’ve found. But…can you at least try-”

“Yes, I think those scyther must really know how to heal Forbidden Attack wounds,” Blazefang muttered sarcastically as he backed up close to Wildflame. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Go on, then,” the scarred scyther scoffed.

“They won’t be safe out in the forest,” one of the young scyther whispered loud enough for the travelers to hear. “All the pokémon who’ve moved here since the old forest burned down...and well, some of them are dangerous. And we keep having to remind them that we were here first.”

Snowcrystal felt a wave of fear rush over her; they had left the four injured pokémon all alone! Before she could say anything, Redclaw decided to speak.

“I suppose things must be hard for you then,” he told the group of scyther carefully, knowing very well that it was now his group that was outnumbered. “We only want a safe place to stay until our friends recover or we find another suitable resting place. If you let us stay in your territory, those of us who can will catch prey for you. Lots of it,” he added quickly, and Snowcrystal saw him stiffen as he waited for the scyther’s answer.

“Why should we trust you?” one of the scyther asked warily.

“Our injured friends would be where you can see them,” Redclaw replied carefully. “At your mercy. I can assure you that we wouldn’t do anything that could put them in danger. We have no interest in harming any of you…we’ve seen enough of senseless fighting.”

Most of the scyther looked uncertain, and the two that Snowcrystal had first seen looked ready to slice Redclaw apart. Yet the old one, Skyscythe, who Snowcrystal thought might be the leader of the swarm, looked back up at the arcanine with calmness in his eyes. “Show us the scyther you were talking about,” he said quietly. “Then we will see.”

Redclaw promptly led the way back to where the others were resting, while Snowcrystal trailed behind, trying not to let her fear of these strangers show. The group of scyther were walking around them without fear, most of them seeming curious about the odd band of strangers. She heard Blazefang’s pawsteps as he crept up beside her and whispered in her ear, “You do realize that Redclaw’s just being foolish, right? If Thunder goes berserk, he basically just sentenced those four to their deaths!”

Snowcrystal shivered. As much as she hated to admit it, Blazefang had a point.

-ooo-

Upon reaching the clearing where the others were resting, Snowcrystal realized with some surprise that Thunder wasn’t there. She couldn’t quite identify which way the scyther had gone, but at the moment she was mainly focused on wondering why she had left. Not knowing whether to be relieved or worried, she walked beside Redclaw, who headed to where Stormblade lay.

Stormblade was lying on his side, looking almost as still as a dead pokémon. Snowcrystal was about to move closer when Rosie growled and backed away, watching one of the strange scyther come into view.

“Don’t worry,” Redclaw told her, though the uncertainty in his voice was not quite hidden, “they’re going to take us to a safer place.”

“Where’s Thunder?” Snowcrystal whispered to Rosie as two of the scyther, one of them Skyscythe, followed Redclaw.

“She wandered off somewhere, I don’t know!” Rosie whispered back, sounding agitated.

Wildflame approached the two of them, looking worriedly at the scyther group. “We can find Thunder later,” she whispered quickly.

Snowcrystal turned to see that a few of the other scyther had started staring at Stormblade in either horror or morbid curiosity.

“He’s definitely not a scyther from anywhere around here,” one of them muttered. “And I don’t think he’s from the old forest either.”

“Should we try and help somehow?” one of them asked, sounding in shock.

“No, he’s as good as dead,” another replied casually.

Snowcrystal peered at Stormblade, seeing no response from him. She doubted that he was even aware of the other scyther next to him.

“We just want to be taken to a safe place,” Redclaw told the forest pokémon. “And remember, we are willing to hunt for you. We can take care of Stormblade ourselves.”

Snowcrystal waited to see what Skyscythe would say, hoping with all her might that he wouldn’t refuse. She didn’t want to wander around in the wilderness in search of shelter anymore.

The old scyther looked at Stormblade, then at Redclaw. “We have to ask our leader,” he said simply, walking ahead. “Follow us.”

‘So he’s not the leader…’ Snowcrystal thought to herself, trailing after the others as they hesitantly began following the scyther. Redclaw looked at Stormblade and then carefully picked him up. Snowcrystal hoped he was unconscious, otherwise that would certainly be painful. Looking at Rosie, who was beside her, Snowcrystal knew that the ninetales felt the same way she did about walking into a scyther swarm’s territory. This was certainly not the sort of ‘safety’ she had expected to find in the forest.

-ooo-

As they moved through the trees, Snowcrystal found it harder and harder to see the scyther they were supposed to be following. For one, they were much faster than anyone in their group, and further on the foliage got thicker, hiding the green colored pokémon from view.

Snowcrystal was following Wildflame and Spark, who were ahead of the others, and seemed to be having just as hard a time at following the scyther as she was. She knew that Blazefang, Rosie, and Nightshade were just behind her, though she didn’t know how far behind Redclaw, who had to carry Stormblade, was.

As she followed Spark, her thoughts kept drifting back to Thunder, and whether it was really wise to leave without her knowing. ‘We can go back and get her once we find a safe place…’ she told herself silently.

After a while of running through thick underbrush, which made Snowcrystal feel rather uncomfortable and claustrophobic, the scyther pack ahead of them stopped.

“Stay right here,” one of them warned the group, and darted off into the trees.

“This doesn’t look like the home of a scyther swarm to me,” Rosie whispered to Snowcrystal, knowing that the other scyther were waiting around them somewhere, watching. “It just looks like any other part of the forest.”

“I don’t think this is where their caves…or…I mean, whatever scyther live in…are, Rosie,” Snowcrystal whispered back. “I don’t think they’d want us that close-”

She broke off immediately as the scyther who had left returned, followed by another, much taller and stronger looking scyther. This, Snowcrystal guessed, was the leader.

“That must be the one in charge,” Rosie whispered to her, echoing her thoughts.

“Yep,” Spark whispered to the two of them. “In a scyther swarm, the biggest and meanest bosses everyone else around-OW! Hey!” The jolteon turned and growled at Rosie, who had swatted him in the face with a paw.

The leader scyther looked over the newcomers warily, as if analyzing whether or not they were a possible threat to the swarm. Snowcrystal crouched closer down to the ground, trying not to seem threatening, although some part of her told her that she was far too small and slow to be any threat to the scyther. She glanced around, realizing that Redclaw still hadn’t caught up with them.

“Where are the injured scyther?” the leader asked, sounding suspicious.

Snowcrystal froze, wondering what this scyther would do if she thought that her friends had been lying. “They-” Snowcrystal began worriedly, but she didn’t get any further as, thankfully, Redclaw pushed his way through the bushes at that moment and set Stormblade’s limp form down behind the others.

The leader made her way past the others toward Stormblade, the old scyther, Skyscythe, following.

“I think we should try to give him some sort of protection,” Skyscythe told his leader. “But I really don’t like the idea of bringing strangers so close.”

“Protect him?” another scyther replied, walking closer to Stormblade. “The best thing we could do is to kill him and get it over with. Then these pokémon can leave.”

“Look, we want shelter too!” Blazefang growled. The scyther glared at him, but to Snowcrystal’s surprise, the houndour didn’t back down and returned the glare.

The lead scyther was leaning over Stormblade, peering at his injuries with an air of curiosity. Finally she straightened up and looked at the group of travelers, seeming completely unafraid of the fire types clustered around her. “He’s a strong scyther to have lasted this long,” she said after a moment. “I don’t know if there is any hope for him, but I will let him stay with the rest of us if you bring us prey. But you fire types…and you, jolteon and heracross, must stay away, and go no further than here.”

Snowcrystal opened her mouth to speak when one of the other scyther interrupted.

“Let him in? And let those strangers stay on our territory?” he shouted. “But most of them are fire types!”

“They’re far too weak from traveling to do much harm,” the leader replied. “And they aren’t from the old forest, I can tell. We can use the extra prey they bring. I can send some scyther to make sure they aren’t taking too much for themselves.”

“But we need someone to watch over Stormblade!” Snowcrystal cried. She didn’t trust the scyther to do anything other than find him a place to stay and leave him there. “And Nightshade is injured as well…” She didn’t know whether or not to mention Thunder, but she decided to keep quiet about it for now.

“All right then,” the leader replied. “Heracross are not our enemies. He may come, as well as you and the ninetales. But no others.”

Snowcrystal glanced at Rosie, who looked somewhat nervous. The scyther leader had purposely picked out the two weakest fire types in the group, and Snowcrystal could understand Rosie’s worry. ‘They’re only trying to protect themselves…’ Snowcrystal tried to assure herself.

“I’ll have to carry him,” Redclaw told the leader, pointing his muzzle to the barely conscious – or possibly unconscious – Stormblade. Snowcrystal felt worried. Stormblade had never been this bad for so long… “And there is another scyther in our group as well,” the arcanine added, distracting Snowcrystal from her thoughts. “I can go get her…after-”

“Then follow us,” the lead scyther replied icily, obviously a bit wary of Redclaw, who was probably the most powerful fire type in the group. She turned away and headed deeper into the forest with the other scyther.

“Come on,” Nightshade whispered, nudging Rosie, who looked as if she were in a trance.

“Are you sure this is safe?” Rosie whispered as she walked beside Nightshade and Snowcrystal as they followed Redclaw.

“Yes,” Snowcrystal told her. “They don’t want to hurt us…they just don’t want their families and friends to get hurt.”

Nervously, Rosie just nodded and followed Redclaw through the trees. Snowcrystal couldn’t even see the scyther anymore; she was just following Redclaw. After a few moments they emerged into a large clearing with a pond in the center. Snowcrystal could see several scyther standing in the water or gathered around it. All of them stared at the newcomers curiously as they emerged through the trees. Snowcrystal ignored them and watched Redclaw set the unmoving Stormblade down near some bushes at the edge of the clearing.

“Leave,” the leader scyther firmly told Redclaw, who, quickly but regretfully, turned and headed back through the bushes.

Snowcrystal and the others watched as a strange scyther wandered nearer, a female with unusually dark green armor and a pointier snout. She was smaller than most of the swarm’s members, and Snowcrystal realized that this scyther must be even younger than she was.

“So you let them stay?” the youngster asked the group who had brought the travelers back. Unlike most of the other scyther, she didn’t seem wary or afraid, just curious.

“What does it look like?” the scarred scyther who had been displeased with the idea from the start growled at her.

Ignoring the two, the lead scyther looked up as another swarm member from somewhere Snowcrystal couldn’t see called for her. “This is the place you will rest. Stay here,” she warned the newcomers. “Go to the pond only for water, and then come back. You aren’t allowed any further. And remember, there will always be someone watching you to make sure you do as I say.” She ran off, leaving them with the small group of scyther who had led them there.

Then that group split up, going their separate ways and giving the travelers wary glances. “Remember…” the scarred scyther hissed as he walked past them. “If you harm any of the scyther here, your friend will die.” Then he, too, ran off, leaving only the small scyther who was still staring curiously at them.

“Hey Bladewing, who are they?” another voice called, and an even smaller male scyther darted up to them faster than Snowcrystal would have thought possible, making her step back in surprise. “They aren’t scyther,” he continued, “so why are they here?”

“The Leader said they could stay,” Bladewing answered. “They’re going to get more food for us.”

“They don’t look like they can,” her friend growled. “And that’s a heracross. Heracross don’t even eat meat!”

“We’re not the ones who will be hunting,” Nightshade told him calmly, making the young scyther glare. Nightshade backed away, not because of the scyther’s reaction, but because he seemed nervous about something else. “I’m going to head into the forest…” he told Snowcrystal. “I won’t be far, and I’ll be back to see Stormblade-”

“Is this the scyther they were talking about?” the smallest scyther cried. Snowcrystal turned to see him standing over Stormblade. “I…I don’t think shelter is going to do him much good…” As if horrified by the sight, he darted away.

Nightshade moved toward Stormblade as Bladewing, the other small one, inched closer, when another, fully grown scyther stood in front of Stormblade, facing her. “Stay away from them!” he ordered, leading her away.

Nightshade sighed as the two walked away. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea…” he muttered, trying to ignore the looks he got from scyther who were passing through the clearing.

“Well, it’s better than being out in the forest if there are dangerous pokémon around…” Snowcrystal replied, realizing how lucky they had been to have rested so near a scyther territory; the scents had probably scared off some of the aggressive pokémon.

“Yeah, but what about Thunder?” Rosie asked. “I don’t think things will go well if they decide to bring her here.”

Secretly, Snowcrystal agreed, though she was worried about Thunder being all alone. Where had she run off to, and why? She paused, letting Nightshade and Rosie talk quietly as she heard a few other scyther moving out into the forest somewhere behind her. They were talking, and she caught a few of their words.

“There’s still not much prey,” one of them was saying. “Too many other predators here now…”

“This forest is still much better than the last one...there were too many humans nearby,” the other replied. “And did you see that fire when it burned? I saw the smoke...it’s a good thing we were able to move long before that happened.”

Before Snowcrystal could hear the other’s reply, their voices faded into the distance. “The forest that burned down…that was where they lived before?” she whispered. She thought of all the pokémon who had lost their homes due to Blazefang’s Shadowflare attack and shuddered. She didn’t want to remind herself that the pokémon who had caused all that was traveling with them.

She briefly heard Nightshade get up and leave to go back into the forest, and Rosie lay down quietly before yet another scyther approached them. Snowcrystal tensed, not liking the idea of being stared at by strange pokémon, but relaxed a bit when she realized that she had seen this scyther before. It was the one that was missing an arm, the one who had stood up for them before.

The scyther was holding a spearow, which he dropped down in front of Rosie. The ninetales sniffed it cautiously.

“Aren’t we supposed to be hunting for you?” Rosie asked him, looking puzzled.

“Yes, but I thought you would be tired and I…” the scyther trailed off as he noticed some of the others approaching them rapidly. From the way he acted, Snowcrystal could tell that he was afraid.

The growlithe backed into the bushes as one of the scyther ran up to Rosie and snatched the spearow away from her, making the ninetales jump away in startled surprise.

“You didn’t catch that on our territory, did you, Darkfang?” one of the scyther asked, and Darkfang, who Snowcrystal realized was the scyther who had brought them the prey, stepped back a pace.

“I…”

“You did?” a second scyther growled. “You can’t waste our prey on them! They’re supposed to catch it themselves.”

Darkfang was silent and didn’t reply.

“I don’t understand why you’d care so much about these pokémon when they could be a threat…” the other scyther mumbled, but Snowcrystal could see that a few of the scyther with him didn’t seem hostile or threatened by her or her friends.

“Sorry…” Darkfang mumbled at last, staring at the ground.

The other scyther paused for a moment, and then added, “Oh, and I wanted to remind you...the next time you’re on guard, pay attention! A luxray strayed into the territory near where you were supposed to be watching last night.” Darkfang flinched, and the other scyther gave him a stern glare. “Make sure you don’t fall asleep again or start watching for ice birds in the sky anymore.”

“You still don’t believe me?” Darkfang replied. “Look, I did see it that day! I-”

Snowcrystal’s eyes widened in shock, but the scyther in the small group just gave Darkfang a disapproving look and then turned and left.

Snowcrystal turned to Darkfang, a look of surprise plastered over her face. Rosie, right next to her, looked a lot like how Snowcrystal felt, awed and disbelieving. After all this time, they could have just found a clue to finding Articuno. “You mean…what did you see? Did it look like…” she began, but Darkfang was heading away, probably without even hearing her. Forgetting the rules the scyther swarm had set for them, Snowcrystal ran after him. “Wait up!” she cried. “I need to talk.”

“Leave me alone,” Darkfang remarked, before changing direction and darting into the trees, away from the other scyther.

Snowcrystal paused for a moment and then chased after him, her heart pounding. ‘I have to find him…I have to find him and ask him about Articuno!’

-ooo-

Under the warm light of the sun and beneath the clouds that drifted slowly across the sky, Scytheclaw stood peering into the round pool that was formed by the river right beside the tall cliffs. The scizor had flown down beside it, staring into its clear depths and at the small statues of pokémon that adorned the rock which reached above the water at its center.

Scytheclaw had always found this to be a peaceful place, and at the moment he wanted peace more than anything. It seemed that after the army had passed through the canyon and his pokémon had seen them, more and more of the tribe were talking about it…and were beginning to realize that he had been wrong. Very wrong.

Aside from his most loyal members, the pokémon were doubting in him. And a great many wanted a new leader…Moonlight the umbreon seemed to be the one most wanted to take his place. Scytheclaw felt worried and afraid. He was injured. He couldn’t fight if they tried to overthrow him, and he wondered if inflicting harsh punishments on rule breakers had really been wise; now that he was in a state of weakness it was likely they could take out bottled-up anger on him. If only he had managed to kill Nightshade and instill some more respect in them…but would that have been the best way to go about it? Scytheclaw had no idea what the best way to be a leader was, and it was this thought that scared him most of all. This leadership was all he had. If he lost it, everything would be over.

Worriedly, the scizor turned his gaze to look deeper into the pool at the arcanine statue that lay beneath the waters. As he did so, he thought he saw a peculiar glint off of the arcanine’s fangs. Curious, he peered closer, moving around until he saw the sparkle of some strange object again.

After a moment’s hesitation, Scytheclaw waded into the water. He shuddered; the water had always felt strange to him as a scizor. He had loved it as a scyther, but since his evolution he had always felt as if his body was too heavy and he was likely to drown. He hated that feeling.

He hesitated as he neared the deeper part of the water, where the arcanine statue lay. As he peered into the depths, he thought he saw the shimmer of something blue near the arcanine’s mouth.

“Scytheclaw?” a curious voice sounded from behind him, making him turn his head.

The scizor spotted a zangoose, one of his now few truly loyal followers, standing on a rock near the pool. Scytheclaw immediately got out of the water, pointing to the arcanine statue. “Go under the water!” he ordered. “There’s something strange about that statue.”

Puzzled, but unwilling to disobey in case he angered his leader, the zangoose slid into the water cautiously and vanished underneath the surface. It wasn’t long before he reappeared, looking puzzled. “There doesn’t seem to be anything odd about it…” he began. “But there’s some sort of gem stuck in its mouth…it looks shiny…I wonder if it’s some sort of rare-”

“Well, get it out,” Scytheclaw muttered impatiently. The zangoose nodded and vanished again.

He reappeared a second time, panting and out of breath. “It’s stuck, Scytheclaw,” he reported, and before he could hear any angry responses, he added, “I’ll try again!” before diving under.

Scytheclaw waited a little longer before the zangoose’s head broke the surface again. In his mouth he held an oddly shaped blue gem. Swimming over, he set it at Scytheclaw’s feet.

The scizor bent down to peer at the stone, noticing how strange it looked. It was smooth, like a river rock, but clear, with odd little patterns interlacing the inside. He reached out to feel its surface with the tip of his pincer.

Still treading water near the edge of the pool, the zangoose watched as his leader collapsed.

-ooo-

“You know, I really don’t think we’re going to find it, not after all this time. And you still only have five pokémon with you…why is it so important to save that last place for the growlithe?”

Katie sighed and glanced up from her pidgeot’s wing, which had been injured in a battle with a wild pokémon the day before. “I want to try training the growlithe right after I catch it,” she explained. “And with Pidgeot’s wing hurt, it could be a long time before we can get back…”

“Why don’t we head back now?” Justin replied, sounding angry. “I don’t like not having a flying pokémon to-”

“Pidgeot’s wing is taken care of. The injury wasn’t bad, it just needs time to heal,” Katie replied, now grateful that she had been given lessons on how to treat her pokémon if they got injured in the wild. “We’ve still got plenty of supplies, and the pokémon don’t have much of a problem finding more food for themselves. I still think there’s a lot to be discovered out here. I don’t want to head back yet.”

“You know, there’s probably a reason why trainers rarely ever venture this far…” Justin replied coldly, his voice trailing off.

“I don’t see what your problem is,” Katie replied crossly. “I thought you liked adventure.”

Justin said nothing and merely stared at the landscape ahead.

Katie sighed and returned Pidgeot, picking up her backpack and starting to walk forward. “Come on, then,” she called to Justin, still sounding annoyed.

Justin fingered the poké ball he still had in his pocket before following.

To be continued...

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 42 - Moving On

Snowcrystal darted through bushes and over tree roots, following Darkfang’s scent to the best of her ability. The problem was that she was moving so fast, it was hard to focus on the scent as she fought to keep up with him. Growling as she stepped on a thorn, Snowcrystal stumbled, but steadied herself without looking at her paw and ran on. The sounds of moving leaves and branches coming from up ahead were less frequent, meaning that Darkfang had probably slowed down. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to run faster.

She emerged into a small clearing covered in bushes, and it didn’t take her long to spot the scyther nearby. He had stopped, and looked out of breath. She hurried to catch up to him.

“Uh…Darkfang?”

“What do you want?” he growled, whirling around to look at her. She was surprised by the look of ferocity in his previously calm eyes.

Snowcrystal flinched, fighting the urge to back off. “I…I just want to know where you saw Articuno…the ice bird…flying to. You see-”

“Why would you want to know that?” Darkfang replied, no longer seeming hostile, only genuinely puzzled. “It left long ago. I don’t think you’ll be able to see it again.”

‘I might…’ Snowcrystal thought to herself, but didn’t say it out loud. “Can you just…tell me where you saw it? Where it was going?”

“The mountain,” Darkfang replied.

Snowcrystal was caught off guard; she hadn’t expected such a quick and direct answer. Before she could ask what mountain Darkfang was talking about, the scyther pointed the tip of his one blade through the trees.

“It lies in that direction,” he explained. “The mountain’s easy to see once you emerge on the other side of the forest. The bird was heading toward it…or past it, I’m not sure. But that’s all I know.”

“A mountain…” she mused, staring off into the trees. “But why would…” She broke off, turning to look at Darkfang again. “Thank you,” she told him. “I think you’ve really helped me…”

Darkfang looked puzzled, but he had no chance to respond as a sudden array of battle cries and a shriek of pain sliced through the air. Both pokémon paused for a moment and then turned and ran toward the noise, Darkfang because the voice crying out in pain was a scyther voice, and Snowcrystal out of a strange curiosity to find out what was happening. The two emerged near a shallow stream, where two of the swarm scyther – Snowcrystal assumed they were guards – were fighting another one that she recognized. Thunder.

It was easy to see that two swarm scyther had the upper claw. Thunder, although looking better now than she had the day before, was much weaker and it seemed as if she was having a hard time staying on her feet.

“Wait, stop!” Snowcrystal cried as she ran toward them.

The fighting scyther didn’t seem to have heard her, because the moment after she called out, Thunder tried to slice into the bigger scyther’s shoulder, but was blocked by one of his blades and knocked backwards off her feet and into the dirt.

“That’s enough!” Darkfang shouted, and both guard scyther looked at him in surprise.

Snowcrystal thought that they would want an explanation. “She’s one of us,” she said quietly, not sure whether these scyther were for or against her group staying here in the first place. “She didn’t know we were staying with the swarm…she…”

The two guard scyther looked at each other, then glanced down at Thunder. Snowcrystal did as well, and was shocked to see that Thunder hadn’t tried to get up; she was half lifting herself with her scythes, but was still on the ground. Glaring and snarling, but still on the ground.

Not sure what the other scyther would do to Thunder if she didn’t leave or if she attacked, Snowcrystal dared to take a few steps closer to the scarred pokémon. “Thunder…follow me. I’ll show you where the others are.”

Thunder turned and glared at her. “I’m not going to listen to you! You’re not on my side!” she snarled.

“I….what?”

Thunder didn’t answer, instead lunging at the closest guard scyther from where she was on the ground. He moved out of her range effortlessly.

Snowcrystal had no idea what Thunder had meant by her reply, but she had sounded rather strange…even for her. Snowcrystal decided to assume that it was just Thunder being tired and sick so she could put the thought out of her mind. She noticed Darkfang staring at Thunder and waited for her to try to attack him, but luckily, before another fight could break out, Nightshade appeared by the stream and put himself in front of the two guard scyther.

“She’s with us,” he explained. “I-”

“She’s not allowed on our territory,” one of the scyther told him.

“Why?” Nightshade asked calmly. “Your leader told us we could stay on your territory if we hunted for you.”

“She’s an enemy to our swarm,” the scyther replied.

“Enemy?” Nightshade replied. “No, she’s just-”

“She told us so.”

At this, even Nightshade looked surprised. “She…told you?” He turned to Thunder, who gave the guard scyther another hateful stare and nodded. Looking thoroughly confused about how to handle the situation now, he turned to the three scyther standing nearby. “I’m sure she has no reason to be an enemy to you…I’ll take her to where the others are…with your permission of course, and not near the swarm. I’ll make sure she doesn’t attack any of the scyther here again.”

To Snowcrystal’s surprise, the scyther guard nodded. “Fine,” he replied. “It’s not like she’s an ‘enemy’ we should be scared of.” Snowcrystal noticed that he had been the one Thunder had injured. His leg was cut, though not very deeply, and she assumed that wild scyther must be used to these sorts of injuries from practice fights with one another.

“All right…follow me,” Nightshade told Thunder, who, to Snowcrystal’s surprise, had gotten to her feet. Without a word, she limped into the bushes ahead of Nightshade, who hesitated a moment before following.

Snowcrystal watched Darkfang run into the bushes again and turned to follow Nightshade. There was something she needed to tell him. As she ran after the heracross, she noticed that he had caught up with Thunder, who didn’t look particularly annoyed to have him around, at least not more than usual. Snowcrystal was glad to know that they weren’t far from the rest of the group; Thunder didn’t look like she should be traveling right now at all.

They reached the others faster than Snowcrystal would have thought, and all of them seemed surprised – and in Blazefang’s case, disgusted – to see that Thunder had returned.

“Where were you?” Wildflame asked, and Snowcrystal didn’t think the houndoom was surprised when she didn’t get an answer.

Thunder merely just gave the group an odd look and then walked away, further into the bushes.

“Where are you going?” Redclaw asked, making his way toward her. “You’re not leaving, are you?”

“I’m not leaving,” Thunder replied in a dull voice. “I just don’t want to be around you.”

As Redclaw went to check that she did not go too far, Snowcrystal wondered if she should tell the group what Darkfang had said about Articuno. Yet something stopped her, some strange feeling in the back of her mind told her that she should talk to Nightshade first, and Nightshade alone. Turning to him, she whispered quietly that she wanted to speak with him. He nodded and they headed deeper into the forest together.

Once they reached a nice, peaceful spot where another section of the stream flowed past them lazily and the scyther scent was stronger and more recent – therefore there were no prey pokémon around – the two of them sat down at the water’s edge. Nightshade looked down at Snowcrystal. “What was it you wanted to tell me?”

“It’s about Articuno,” she said quickly. “Darkfang…one of the scyther…said he saw him heading toward a mountain that’s just beyond this forest…I…I think maybe he might have stopped there. And if not, at least it’s some sort of a clue about which way he went.”

“Are you sure about what Darkfang said?” he asked, sounding surprised. Snowcrystal nodded, and he gave her a half-smile. “I’m glad you have finally found a clue. At least now, we have an idea of where to look.”

Snowcrystal realized that he was trying to hide the fact that he wasn’t very optimistic about getting to Articuno, and to tell the truth, she wasn’t either. “I have to try, though,” she whispered. “The others…back at my own mountain…need me. I wonder how they’re doing now…” Glancing at her crystal amulet, which was now scratched and filthy, she thought about the growlithe who had given it to her, and why. She couldn’t turn back now, not when she had finally found a glimmer of hope. “We’ll have to talk to the others and decide what to do,” she said at last.

Snowcrystal realized that what would probably happen was that she and a few others would have to continue the journey, and the rest would be left behind. She hated the idea of the group splitting up, and she wanted to drive that thought from her mind for the time being. Turning to Nightshade, she decided to ask him a question. “How did you get Thunder to listen to you?” she asked. “I mean, she never listens to anyone…and you got her to give up that fight…”

Nightshade seemed surprised by the question, but didn’t seem to mind answering. “She trusts me…a bit…or at least gives me as much trust as she’ll allow.”

“Why?” Snowcrystal asked, genuinely puzzled.

“I’m not sure,” Nightshade admitted. “Most of the time she doesn’t even want to be around me, except when she wants to talk about something.”

“She talks to you?” Snowcrystal blurted out in surprise. Thunder had never struck her as a pokémon who would want to talk her problems out with someone, or even one who would actually see any benefit in doing so. She couldn’t picture Thunder sitting next to someone and telling them about her feelings. That just wasn’t her.

“Yes,” Nightshade replied. “She told me about the things her master did…and she apparently told Stormblade some of it too, though she regretted it.”

“Was she…sad?” Snowcrystal asked, still finding the idea incredibly alien.

“Yes,” Nightshade sighed. “She didn’t show it…it’s not easy at all to tell with her, but she was.”

Snowcrystal was still confused over the whole thing, but at least now she could drive the image of Thunder huddled near another pokémon and talking about her past while crying from her head; that had just simply seemed too bizarre to be able to happen. “What exactly did she tell you?” she asked curiously.

“A lot of things,” Nightshade replied. “About some of the things her master did. I really don’t think I should repeat them to you, to be honest.”

Snowcrystal wasn’t sure she minded; she didn’t think she wanted to know. “Why did she tell you all that?” she asked, still thoroughly confused. She could hardly believe this was Thunder they were talking about.

Nightshade looked thoughtful. “Well, I told her…a while ago…that she could always talk to me if she wanted to. I never expected her to actually want to do it, but I was wrong. She wanted to, so whenever we were alone I would let her talk to me. She talks a lot about how she wants to kill her master. She seems to like it, though...or at least…it makes her less angry, if only a little. I don’t think she ever realized that talking to me might be helping her…I think she just wanted someone to listen. She tells me that she hates everyone in our traveling group, but I don’t know if she means it. I don’t think she thinks of me as a friend, but she told me she didn’t hate me.”

Maybe that, Snowcrystal thought, was Thunder’s version of a compliment. She had no idea what would lead Thunder to hate the first pokémon who had shown kindness to her…in probably a long time…after all that had happened to her, but at the same time it didn’t surprise her. Thunder typically acted like she didn’t enjoy their company, even if most of the others were nice to her. It also didn’t surprise her that killing her master would be a common conversation topic if Thunder were the one doing the talking. “I still don’t get it though…why does she trust you?”

“I really don’t know…” Nightshade replied. “I have to be careful what I say around her…it’s hard to tell what makes her mad, and I don’t want her to stop trusting me. I don’t try to force her to do anything, or get mad when she doesn’t do what she should, like rest or stop trying to hunt. I also don’t usually comment on the things she tells me about her master…I don’t think she’d want me to most of the time.”

Snowcrystal was still genuinely puzzled by this, but she started to think back to Thunder’s most recent actions, which weren’t quite as puzzling, but still odd. “I don’t get it…” she whispered. “Why did she fight those scyther? And why did she tell them she was their enemy? Did she know them before she got captured or something?”

“No,” Nightshade replied, shaking his head. “She didn’t. She got amnesia when she was very young, and never got the memories back, so she couldn’t have remembered them. I don't think they were her swarm anyway, and I don't know why she told them she was their enemy…but I have an idea. I don’t think she likes being around other scyther.”

“She doesn’t like much, does she?” Snowcrystal muttered.

“I don’t think she ever got a chance to find out what she does like,” Nightshade added thoughtfully.

“Maybe…” Snowcrystal replied. She wondered why Thunder had never really had much of a problem around Stormblade, or at least, why the problems had only stemmed from Stormblade trying to help her when she didn’t want it. Then again, she had attacked him the moment he stepped near the place where she was chained back at the abandoned human town. Was this why she had run off in the morning? She didn’t like other scyther? Maybe she had noticed that there were scyther living there, but why did she come to fight those guards? Knowing that she wasn’t going to find answers to those questions, Snowcrystal let them slide out of her mind for the time being. Looking at Nightshade, she asked, “Did Thunder ever ask you to tell her anything?”

Nightshade looked surprised at the question. He then turned away from Snowcrystal and looked at the stream. “No,” he answered. “I told her things sometimes, but I don’t know if she cared. It seemed to make her more willing to trust me, though.”

Nightshade’s voice faded into silence and Snowcrystal sighed, closing her eyes and letting the sound of the bubbling stream fill her mind. Somehow, the conversation was only making her feel more sad about the journey that lay ahead of them, though she wasn’t quite sure why. “Maybe we should talk to the others…” she whispered. “I’m going to have to go look for Articuno as soon as I can, and I don’t have long to rest.”

“I’m coming with you. You know that, right?”

“You? But you’re injured! I don’t think you should travel while…”

“It won’t be the first time,” Nightshade replied with a small smile. “And you don’t need to worry. The wounds are already starting to heal.”

“What about Thunder?” Snowcrystal asked.

“Thunder needs someone to teach her how to hunt when she is well enough,” Nightshade answered. “I can’t help her with that. Redclaw can, and I have a strong feeling that he’d want to stay behind with Stormblade.”

“Oh…” Snowcrystal replied, still not liking the thought of the group splitting up. She hated the idea that she would be too far away to know what was happening to Stormblade…and to all of the friends she would leave behind. “Do you think we should tell the others now?”

Nightshade nodded. “Yes…” He stood up. “I’ll get Rosie and bring her to where everyone else is. We…we can talk to Stormblade later.”

Snowcrystal nodded, and watched as Nightshade headed in the direction of their resting place by the swarm before turning to look at the lake and then following him slowly.

-ooo-

Gathered together under the trees, the entire group of travelers, minus Stormblade, listened as Snowcrystal told them everything Darkfang had said. Rosie, Wildflame and Spark had seemed shocked and excited, Redclaw had looked happy for her, and Blazefang had seemed, oddly, horrified. Snowcrystal didn’t dwell on it; after all, his pack had abandoned him, so any hopes he had of winning Articuno over to the houndour side were over. Thunder, not surprisingly, seemed completely indifferent to the news.

“So…are you going to go look for him now?” Rosie asked, a hint of sadness and worry in her voice. Snowcrystal knew why.

“Of course,” she replied. “I…I have to. And I’m going to have to leave very soon. That’s why…I wanted to ask you…which of you wanted to come with me.” There. She had said it. And now it was time to see the group split up at last.

Silence met her statement, as everyone seemed to be thinking her words over. If they hadn’t realized what it all had been building up to, they did now. After a moment longer, Spark was the first one to speak up. “Snowcrystal,” he began, “we pretty much started this journey together, and we’re going to finish it…together. I’m going with you.”

Snowcrystal looked at him in surprise. She would have thought that he’d have been one of the ones who wanted to stay. After all, he was Stormblade’s friend, and it was obvious that Stormblade wouldn’t be traveling.

“I…I’m going too,” Rosie said quietly. “You helped rescue me from that cage…and though I didn’t realize it at the time, you…you probably saved my life, seeing as how that was a poacher’s trap. I know I might slow you down, but my leg’s getting better. It doesn’t hurt as much. I can keep going.”

Snowcrystal looked at Rosie gratefully, but her eyes wandered to the ninetales’s leg. It wasn’t hard to see that the leg wasn’t healing properly; Rosie would probably have a limp the rest of her life. However, Rosie was right; the state of the injury was improving, and the ninetales hadn’t had much of a hard time keeping up lately. And if Rosie thought she could do it, Snowcrystal didn’t doubt her. “Thanks…you two,” she told them gratefully, both stunned and touched by their willingness to follow her.

“And I am going, as I’ve already mentioned,” Nightshade added, giving Spark and Rosie a thankful glance.

“I am going too,” said another pokémon, and Snowcrystal was shocked to see that it was Thunder. “I still need a good place to live. I will not find that here.”

“I really think you should stay, honestly,” Snowcrystal told her, deciding that now was no time to lie or tell a half-truth. “You shouldn’t be traveling at all. You’re injured, you’re sick, you have infected wounds, and you’re far too thin to be-”

Thunder gave her a murderous glare. “I…will not…stay here!” she growled.

“It’s all right, Thunder,” Spark told her with a smile. “We know you’d miss us.”

Thunder gave Spark a look that made Snowcrystal feel uncomfortably like the scyther really wouldn’t have missed them; it was a look of annoyance rather than one of angry denial.

“If Thunder is going, I want to go as well,” Redclaw told the group. “I’m the one best able to show her how to hunt, and well…” He looked nervously at Thunder, who showed no reaction or even any indication that she had heard him.

“I’ll go with you as well,” Wildflame announced, an unreadable expression in her eyes. Was it excitement? Hope? Longing?

Snowcrystal glanced at Nightshade. “Who’s going to stay with Stormblade?” she asked.

“I think he should stay with the swarm…” Redclaw began. “They’re his own kind…and maybe we can convince them to accept him…”

“Could Nightshade teach them the healing herbs?” Rosie asked.

Snowcrystal thought all this over in her head. She hadn’t expected everyone to want to keep going, and now that they all did, she wasn’t sure how she could leave Stormblade behind. Yet…they needed to keep going…and he couldn’t make such a long and fast-paced journey. “We need to talk to him later,” she told the others. “Then…then we can decide what he should do.” She didn’t want to think about having to leave him, but if she talked to one of the other scyther…maybe Darkfang…

Snowcrystal was jolted from her thoughts by the sound of Blazefang and Wildflame’s bickering. Puzzled, she looked over in their direction, at about the same time that the other pokémon did.

“Blazefang…you’ve got to come with us,” Wildflame was saying, not even making an effort to keep her voice down. “You don’t have anywhere else to go.”

“They don’t want me around, and I don’t want to be around them!” Blazefang shouted, giving the group around him a petrifying glare.

“I’m sure they’re willing to work with you if you just give them a chance,” Wildflame replied, although the look on Rosie’s face as she glared at Blazefang said otherwise. “I want to help them find Articuno…” she added, sounding to Snowcrystal as if she felt awkward admitting that to Blazefang.

Blazefang’s eyes widened in understanding, and he turned away. “Go ahead,” he muttered. “Find him! I don’t care…”

Wildflame simply sighed, and Rosie grinned and muttered, “We won’t miss you.”

“Please, Blazefang…” Wildflame begged, “we could help Snowcrystal work it out with Articuno…for the pa-I mean…your pack…”

Snowcrystal felt confused. Did Wildflame really still care so deeply about a former pack mate who had driven her away after she evolved? Deciding that whatever had gone on in the houndour pack was none of her business, she didn’t mention it out loud.

“Fine…” Blazefang muttered after a moment. “But…I won’t be going as far as Articuno. If you find him and can help the pack, then good. But as soon as we know whether or not he can help, I’m going back to my home.”

Snowcrystal was glad that, for whatever reason, Wildflame seemed much happier, though she couldn’t help wondering if letting Blazefang keep tagging along was a good idea at all, even if he was technically no longer their enemy. And from the looks of the others around her, she could tell that those thoughts were not hers alone.

-ooo-

Snowcrystal was very careful as she walked through the forest trees, following Darkfang’s scent. Before everyone talked to Stormblade, she wanted to talk to him; out of all the scyther, he seemed the most likely to understand. Maybe he could even gather herbs for Stormblade while they were gone...if the scyther let him stay, that is.

It surprisingly wasn’t hard to track Darkfang, and she found him in a clearing, where he had killed and was nearly done eating some sort of prey pokémon that Snowcrystal could no longer identify.

“Darkfang?” she asked quietly.

“What?” he replied, looking up at her. From the look on his face, Snowcrystal realized that he hadn’t noticed her until she’d spoken up, probably because of the scent of the prey. “I already told you all I knew…”

“It’s not that,” Snowcrystal said quickly. “It’s just…we’re leaving soon…”

“You are?” he responded, only seeming mildly interested. “Well, make sure you catch some prey before you leave or else the other scyther will think you were just here to take food from us and leave.”

“Oh…okay,” Snowcrystal replied, realizing that the promise they had made had entirely slipped her mind. She hoped that the others had at least caught something for the scyther swarm so far. “Well, what I wanted to ask you,” she continued after a moment’s hesitation, “...well…you see, we can’t take Stormblade with us…he’s the scyther we brought here who was injured. I was wondering if you could ask the other scyther to let him stay here.” She waited for him to respond, suddenly realizing that he might not like the idea of asking his swarm to take in an injured outsider who would not only be completely dependent upon them, but would also be unable to hunt or serve the other scyther in any way.

Darkfang looked thoughtful before replying. “I…I wouldn’t mind him staying here,” he began slowly, “but…the rest of the swarm…they would. Or at least…most of them would. I don’t know if they’d want an extra scyther to take care of.” He paused and glanced thoughtfully in the direction of the swarm. “Did he say that he wanted to stay here and not come with you?”

“Uh…no,” Snowcrystal replied. Even though she thought that Stormblade really didn’t have a choice, she hadn’t even asked him yet. She had gone to Darkfang first so that she could at least know that Stormblade joining the swarm could be a possibility before she talked to him about it.

“Then you might as well talk to him first before I try asking them,” Darkfang replied, sounding annoyed. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly a scyther others look up to. It’ll be a lot of work trying to convince them.”

Snowcrystal took a deep breath and sighed. “All right. Look, Darkfang…do you know what we might face on the way to that mountain? How far is it?”

“From the edge of the forest? A couple days’ journey, I would think. There are mostly plains and rocky fields, and there’s a big lake you’ll pass on the way. I don’t know what you’ll find after passing the mountain, however. I’ve never been that far.”

“Okay, thanks,” Snowcrystal told him. Then she thought about something. “How come you left the old forest?” she asked. “The one that…that burned down…”

Darkfang seemed surprised by the odd question, but he merely shrugged. “It was close to a human city and the leader was worried,” he explained. “Though I really didn’t understand what they were afraid of. It was a human who found me after the fight where I lost my arm. If it weren’t for him, I would have died. I had no idea what they wanted with me at the time, but after being taken to one of their buildings I soon realized that they just wanted to help. I didn’t like being out of the forest, but it wasn’t too bad. The humans did something to make it not hurt so much, and they gave me meat that tasted nice.”

Snowcrystal felt puzzled that he was telling her this, and puzzled at simply what he was telling her. She didn’t exactly have the best outlook on humans, though she knew from what Spark had told her that some of them were nice. Maybe there were more humans out there who were nice than she had thought there was. “Didn’t you try to tell them…how they helped you?” she asked Darkfang.

A sad look appeared in Darkfang’s eyes and he shook his head. “No,” he replied slowly. “I pretty much lost the respect of a lot of the other scyther after the humans set me free. With only one blade, I couldn’t duel as well anymore…and most of the swarm scyther can outmatch me fairly easily…”

A sudden thought struck Snowcrystal. “If you don’t like it here…” she began, “why don’t you come with us? You saw Articuno, so we could use your help, and-”

Darkfang shook his head. “No,” he told her firmly. “I do like it here. I…don’t think I could ever leave the swarm. There are still a lot of scyther who care about me. Of course I’m going to stay with them.”

“All right,” Snowcrystal sighed. Really, she shouldn’t have expected that Darkfang would want to leave with them, after all. “But could you…” She paused. This was the other reason she had needed to come to Darkfang before talking to Stormblade. “Could you ask the other scyther if we could all come to where Stormblade is…just to talk to him? We promise…we won’t stay long.”

Darkfang looked hesitant, but then he slowly nodded. “Okay,” he replied. “I don’t think they would have too much of a problem with that.”

-ooo-

It seemed a surprisingly short time before Snowcrystal and her friends had all gathered together, being led by Darkfang and a few other scyther to where Stormblade was. No one seemed to mind as much that the travelers were entering the swarm’s home now that they knew they would soon be leaving, and there wasn’t much of a threat the ragtag group could pose in the midst of such a great number of scyther anyway. The only one they had left behind was Thunder, who had seemed like she wanted to be alone anyway, and there was no way it would be a good idea to bring her in the midst of all those strangers.

None of the scyther seemed surprised when they entered the big clearing, or at least Snowcrystal didn’t notice any of them acting surprised. She was mainly thinking about what they were going to tell Stormblade, and she felt that she wanted to be the one to speak for the group. Once they reached the place where Stormblade was resting, the scyther leading them ran off, and Darkfang hesitated a moment before following them.

“Stormblade?” Snowcrystal asked, walking up to him as the others sat down, waiting to hear Snowcrystal explain. The growlithe walked up to Stormblade’s still form, and wondered for a moment if he was asleep. A moment later, however, and his eyes opened. He looked up at her.

“What…is it?” he asked, his voice scarcely more than a whisper. Snowcrystal thought he looked too exhausted to talk. She was surprised he had spoken at all.

Blazefang, who had come along only because being left alone in the forest with Thunder hadn’t appealed to him in the least, snorted with impatience and gave Snowcrystal an annoyed look. “Just get on with it,” he mumbled.

Rosie glared daggers at him, reminding him that he was the reason Stormblade was in this state. Blazefang didn’t respond and stared at his paws in sullen silence.

Snowcrystal just sighed and looked at Stormblade again. Stormblade, who seemed too weak to even lift his head, looked back at her. “Stormblade…” she began, “we’ve all decided…well, you see…we’ve finally found a clue to where Articuno is, so…” She waited for some kind of response from Stormblade, but his expression, aside from pain, just remained blank. “We’re going to leave, very soon…and we know you can’t travel anymore. We want to ask the scyther if you can stay with them here…” Her voice trailed off as she heard loud voices drifting toward them, and leaped back as two small scyther – one of them the dark green one she recognized from before – darted close to them in the middle of what looked like a play-battle.

Redclaw growled as he stood up to avoid them, looking as if he would have batted them lightly with his paw if he weren’t afraid of the other scyther getting angry with him for it. The scyther didn’t even notice him and when they came to a stop, they were very close to Snowcrystal.

She turned to face them. “Look, could you please leave? We’re trying to…”

“See? That’s that scyther,” the dark green female told her friend, who looked about the same age as she was. Obviously, she hadn’t heard Snowcrystal or didn’t care. “I wonder what happened to make him like that.” Her friend nodded, staring wide-eyed at Stormblade.

Snowcrystal felt angry that not only were they talking right in front of Stormblade, who was watching them, but they seemed to act as if he couldn’t hear them at all. Snowcrystal could tell that some of her friends were annoyed as well, but they all knew that showing aggression to very young scyther wasn’t a good idea with all the adults around.

“Do you think he got in a fight?” the small female was asking.

“Maybe,” the other one replied. “He must have been strong if he hasn’t died yet. He’s really big too…if he didn’t have those wounds and wasn’t so thin, he could probably be a leader.”

Snowcrystal noticed that at this statement, not only did Stormblade visibly flinch, but he looked genuinely hurt by the statement. Snowcrystal narrowed her eyes. “Get away from him!” she shouted at the two scyther, who looked at her in surprise, along with the rest of her friends.

“What?” one of the scyther muttered, surprised. “This is our territory! You can’t-”

“I said to leave him alone!” Snowcrystal growled. The two scyther glared at her and walked away. Now that she realized it, she wondered just how many scyther had tried to bother Stormblade, or talk about him while he could hear. It made her wonder if she really should have left him for so long after all.

“Be careful, Snowcrystal,” Redclaw whispered, watching the two scyther who were now staring at them angrily from a little ways away. “We don’t want to seem hostile.”

“I know, but I couldn’t just let them talk about Stormblade like that when he obviously didn’t want to hear it…” she muttered angrily.

“Snowcrystal?”

Snowcrystal turned, surprised at hearing Stormblade’s voice, a bit stronger than it had been before. He was giving her a more determined look, one that made him look less frail. But why did it feel so…wrong?

“I...I want to leave,” he stated. “Take me out of the forest and away from here.”

“What?” she gasped. “Why? Is it because of what those scyther said? I really, really don’t think you should listen-”

“No...it's not about that,” Stormblade replied, his voice beginning to sound weak again. “Please, I don't want to be here. Take me away from here. Find some sort of resting place for me and leave me there.”

Snowcrystal stared at him in shock. “What?”

Stormblade held his gaze, his blue eyes locked onto hers. “I can't travel with you anymore,” he began again. “I'm holding you back. I just want to be somewhere alone...when I...when I…well…”

Snowcrystal shook her head. “We’re not going to leave you!”

Rosie stepped forward to stand by Snowcrystal. “Listen to her, Stormblade,” she said firmly. “We’re not going to just leave you in some random place. Don’t you get it? We leave you, and you will DIE. You can’t survive alone.”

“I know that,” Stormblade replied.

“Do you want to die?” Rosie growled.

“I just want you to take me somewhere where I can be alone,” Stormblade said in response. “And leave me there. That’s all I want…please do it.”

Snowcrystal wasn’t sure if Stormblade was even talking sense. She would have liked to tell him to stop it, tell him that he shouldn't talk that way and that he was just being selfish…if she didn’t know that everything he was saying and everything he meant behind those words wasn't completely, and painfully, true. She held Stormblade’s gaze, and the pleading look in his eyes made her feel torn about what to do. If this was what he wanted, she should help, but how could she ever leave him behind alone?

“We’re not going to leave you, Stormblade,” Redclaw told him, stepping forward. “Nightshade can teach some of the scyther here the herbs…I’m sure they could…”

“No…” Stormblade said weakly. “I don’t want to be here.”

Snowcrystal heard another pokémon walk forward, and to her surprise, it was Blazefang. “Not that my opinion means anything to you pokémon,” the houndour began, “but...I think you should do what he says. If he wants to be alone, I don't see why you shouldn't grant him that wish. It's the least you could do.” He shrugged, glancing around at the others.

“I…I think Blazefang’s right,” Spark began slowly, looking down at Stormblade. The shock that the jolteon was actually agreeing with Blazefang barely even registered to Snowcrystal. “Either way…” he continued, looking sadly at the friend he had traveled with for so long, “he still can’t come with us…and if it’ll bring him peace…it’s probably for the better…”

Stormblade lifted his head a little, trying his best to look at all of them better. “Do it...please?”

Snowcrystal glanced back at the others. Wildflame just nodded in silence, Spark and Nightshade looked sadly at Stormblade, Redclaw looked unsure, Rosie seemed devastated, and Blazefang simply looked on nonchalantly.

“We don’t have to leave right away,” Nightshade reminded him. “We can find him a safe place near water, and I can find some of those herbs. Maybe Darkfang could come to make sure he was all right…”

Stormblade said nothing, but Snowcrystal could tell that he knew he would probably not need any of those things for long, and though she hated to admit it, he was right, and leaving Stormblade wasn’t exactly a choice. Looking at him sadly, she nodded her head. “All right, Stormblade.”

-ooo-

By the time night fell, the group had traveled through the rest of the forest. They had faced a few hostile pokémon, but Redclaw and Wildflame had managed to intimidate them enough so that the forest pokémon allowed them to go by unharmed. Now at the forest’s edge, Snowcrystal could see the gigantic mountain looming ahead of them in the distance. Its topmost peak was covered in white snow, which gave Snowcrystal a fleeting feeling of hope. ‘Or it could just be snow left there from winter…’ she reminded herself bitterly.

They had found a stream surrounded by tall trees which provided shelter from the wind. This, Stormblade had told them, was the place he wanted to stay.

Snowcrystal, however, felt a bit calmer now, though that wasn’t saying much, as she knew that there was no way they were going to leave Stormblade without some sort of help, no matter what he said. Nightshade had managed to convince Darkfang, one of the only scyther who seemed to care enough about helping other members of his species, even if they were outsiders, to bring Stormblade food. If Articuno really was on that mountain, then after they found him, they could come back and help Stormblade. That is…if he was still alive when they got there.

For the rest of the night, Snowcrystal, as well as many of the others, lay awake thinking, and when morning finally came, Snowcrystal briefly wondered if it would be better to wait longer until they started the journey. Almost instantly, she knew they could not; she had been gone for too long already, and who knew what was going on back at her home. And if they stayed, it would make no difference to Stormblade’s health. It was time to leave.

“Are you sure you want to go through with this?” Snowcrystal asked Rosie, who was sitting nearby. “This isn’t your journey, and you still need the rest…”

“Of course!” Rosie replied, sounding rather offended. “I wouldn’t have said I was going to go if I didn’t want to.”

“Sorry,” Snowcrystal replied, taken aback. “It’s just…”

“Look, I know you’re worried about everyone, Snowcrystal,” Redclaw began as he walked up to her. “Stormblade especially, but Stormblade’s better off here than he is coming with us, or being back at the swarm if he really didn’t want to be there. I don’t know if we’ll see him again, but…you’re doing the best thing. If we’re going to start following Articuno, we need to start now.”

Snowcrystal nodded slowly and glanced over at Stormblade, who lay still beneath one of the trees closest to the stream. Honestly, she did not think he would last until they found Articuno and came back. This was probably the last she’d ever see of him.

All around her, the other pokémon were getting ready for the journey, all looking as if they each felt differently about it. Most of them, or at least those who wanted to, had already spoken to Stormblade, and although she had as well, she wanted to give him one last good bye.

“Stormblade?” she whispered, slowly approaching him.

He turned his gaze to her in response. “I thought you were leaving already,” he said in a hoarse whisper.

“We’re…we’re going to…” she began.

“Then don’t waste time for me,” he replied, his gaze flicking away from her.

Despite all that had happened, Snowcrystal felt stunned. She wasn’t used to seeing Stormblade look like this, and even though she knew that he just wanted her to get started on what was bound to be a hard journey, she hated to hear him say something like that. “I…I really don’t think…I mean, I really don’t want to leave you here…”

Stormblade sighed. “Didn’t you promise me that you would do this one thing for me? It’s best for both of us that I stay here. It’s all I want, and it’s all I’m asking you to do.”

“Yes, but…” she paused, seeing the pleading expression on Stormblade’s face. “I know…”

“Snowcrystal?” she heard Wildflame call from up ahead. The others were ready to go, and it seemed to Snowcrystal like it was far too soon.

“Good bye, Stormblade…” Snowcrystal whispered, looking at him one last time before heading after the others, barely hearing his voice as she walked away.

“Good bye…”

-ooo-

Even with the mountain ahead of them, Snowcrystal still felt as if her journey was leading her nowhere. Wasn’t it her quest, she realized, that had made Blazefang’s pack come after them? Wasn’t it her journey that had gotten Stormblade injured in the first place? She couldn’t help feeling that somehow, it had all been her fault.

As they walked, Snowcrystal kept glancing behind her at the place where they had left Stormblade. Redclaw quickly noticed this.

“We may see him again,” he told her, though he didn’t sound like he was sure he believed it.

“But we might not…” Snowcrystal added bitterly, and then looked up at the arcanine standing beside her. “Redclaw, can I go back? Just to see Stormblade again? I won’t be long, and it won’t be hard for me to catch up, I just…please?”

Redclaw looked surprised, and Blazefang snorted. “You just saw him!” the houndour growled. “What, do you think his wounds were that pretty to look at?”

Surprisingly, no one replied to his comment, and Redclaw thought a moment before nodding. “All right…but be quick.” Then he turned to Spark, who everyone knew had been Stormblade’s friend for longer than the rest of them. “Do you want to go as well?”

Spark merely shook his head numbly.

Snowcrystal turned and began walking back in the direction of Stormblade. “I’ll be back,” she told the others sadly before darting off back toward the stream.

-ooo-

“Can we stop now?” Justin growled. They had been traveling since the previous night, after Katie had found what she thought were growlithe paw prints on the outskirts of the forest. The past day had been spent exploring said forest, but the amount of wild pokémon had quickly tired out Katie’s four healthy battling pokémon, and they’d had to resort to going around it.

“Those paw prints were fresh, Justin,” Katie responded, sounding annoyed. “And I thought you were the one who wanted me to find that growlithe in the first place.”

“It could have been a normal growlithe who made those paw prints,” Justin muttered, sitting down on the grass.

“Fine,” Katie muttered, “stay here without any of my pokémon to protect you.” She turned and walked away. Justin just shrugged and stayed where he was. Rolling her eyes, Katie kept walking. She only wanted to go a little further, anyway.

She felt confused. Over the past little while during their exploration, Justin seemed to be losing hope, and not just about the growlithe either. Still, Katie felt that she was close, and maybe catching it could make Justin a lot happier.

Hearing the trickle of a stream nearby, Katie was reminded that they were low on water. Walking toward it, she approached a group of trees, stepping over a few fallen branches as the edge of the stream came into sight. And at the same time, so did something else. For a second, Katie thought it must have been a hallucination or something of the sort, but a scyther was lying nearby…the same one who had supposedly died in the pokémon center explosion…for surely Team Rocket would never have taken such an injured pokémon?

Katie stood completely still, as if frozen. How on earth had Justin’s scyther managed to get here? Or even anywhere close to where they were? Was it someone else’s pokémon now, tracking down the growlithe as well? No, she thought, that was absurd. It was injured. There was no way that could be it. Still, seeing that same scyther lying before her was simply too eerie.

Cautiously, she approached it, noticing that not only had its wounds failed to heal, but that it had new ones as well. Despite knowing the horrible thing it had done in the past, she still felt sorry for it.

Carefully, she knelt down beside it, noting that its eyes were closed and it made no indication that it even knew she was there. “You’re still alive…” she whispered in disbelief, knowing that it couldn’t hear her; it looked to her as if it had recently slipped into unconsciousness. Maybe, she thought to herself, she could do something to help. She had brought plenty of supplies before leaving Stonedust City, and although she only knew basic healing techniques, she still had the medicine that could really help an injured pokémon. And no pokémon, no matter what they did, deserved something like this…

Katie thought for a moment, and then took out a poké ball from her backpack. She had been saving the last spot on her team for the growlithe, but… Suddenly she stopped herself. Was catching this scyther now really wise, when if she had caught another pokémon first, the scyther would be sent back to the pokémon ranch? Looking around her, Katie couldn’t see any other pokémon nearby, and hers were already worn out from the battling the previous day. She looked at the poké ball in her hand and then back at the scyther. Catching it, she knew, would mean that it would not get to a pokémon center for a long time. Yet, while her pokémon were so weak, she didn’t want to battle unless she had to, and the pokémon around here were far from weak. But if she caught it now, at least she’d be able to help it…

Looking at the poké ball she was holding, she sighed and placed it back in her backpack, and then took out another. This one was a luxury ball, a type of poké ball she only had a few of and had never really used, but if there was any time to use it, it was now. She tapped it lightly against the scyther’s blade, which at the moment seemed to her to be the only part of its body that didn’t have some sort of injury. The pokémon dissolved in a beam of red light and vanished into the small sphere. The poké ball didn’t even shake once before the red light on the button went out with a ‘ping.’

Picking it up, Katie stared at the stream as she wondered if what she had just done had really been a good thing. Was it cruel to keep a pokémon away from a pokémon center when they needed it for so long? She wasn’t anywhere near one, and until pidgeot recovered, there was no way of getting back. And even still…she did not think she could allow herself to go back until she had caught the growlithe, and Justin certainly wouldn’t allow her…

‘Justin…’ With a sickening feeling, Katie realized that she would have a lot of explaining to do once Justin found out what she’d done. Looking at the luxury ball, she turned around and walked back, wondering whether she had just made a horrible, horrible mistake.

And as she walked, she didn’t notice the eyes of the snow white growlithe staring at her from the bushes before it turned and ran away.

To be continued...

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 43 - To the Mountain

“All right, Snowcrystal, this time try to get the flames to move in a circle. Don’t worry, it gets easier the more you practice.”

Snowcrystal nodded to Redclaw and tried her flame wheel attack once again, sighing in frustration when she still didn’t manage to get the wheel shape she wanted quite right.

“It’s all right,” Redclaw told her, trying to be encouraging. “Try again!”

“Maybe we should try this later…” Snowcrystal sighed. She and the others had stopped for a little while to try and practice their battle moves after they had spent the morning traveling. Snowcrystal secretly knew that Redclaw and Nightshade, who had suggested it, were trying to keep her mind off of Stormblade. It had worked for a while, but now she just didn’t feel like she had the energy to keep practicing. Even though she knew that Stormblade had a chance now, she still couldn’t stop thinking about how much she missed him being with the rest of them. She tried to think of what Darkfang had said and what Spark had told everyone after she informed them that Stormblade had been captured. Humans had healing techniques far beyond what wild pokémon did…maybe they could even find a way to heal Forbidden Attack wounds, if they could be healed. Either way, she admitted, Stormblade had to be much better off now, wherever he was.

Redclaw simply just looked sadly at the ground.

“Maybe she’s right,” Spark called from over where he was practicing with Wildflame. The jolteon scampered over to where Redclaw and Snowcrystal were. “It would probably be a good idea to save our strength for the journey.”

“I’m not tired…” Snowcrystal murmured. “But you do have a point. Maybe we should all take a break.”

“Do you think we should stop here for the rest of the day?” Spark asked. “I mean, some of the others…meaning Thunder, need to rest…no matter what she says,” he added under his breath.

“I don’t think the lake that Darkfang told Snowcrystal about is very far,” Rosie announced, walking over to them as well. “I could see it after standing on that group of boulders over there. I think we should wait until then to stop for the night. We need a place with water and there’s likely to be prey over there too.”

Redclaw glanced up to where Nightshade was watching Wildflame practice a few of her fire attacks, shooting them in the air so as not to let the grass catch on fire. “Over here!” he called to them, and Nightshade and Wildflame walked over, followed reluctantly by Blazefang, who had not left Wildflame’s side since their new journey had started.

“Okay, where’s Thunder?” Spark growled after looking over the assembled pokémon. “She needs to be here too! Where is she?”

“Who cares,” Blazefang muttered. “Just get on with it.”

Snowcrystal had been scanning the area around them, a somewhat flat landscape covered in grass and scraggly bushes, with odd rocky areas here and there. A lot of the rocky places consisted of large piles of boulders that stood rather high. She assumed Thunder must have gone behind one of them to be alone or to rest or something. “Don’t worry about it,” she told the others.

“Okay, look,” Spark explained, taking charge for the moment. “I think we should travel to the lake and rest there until tomorrow. We can go now and get there sooner…”

“The lake?” Wildflame repeated. “I think we can go further than that…and in case you don’t remember, we don’t have much time to waste now that we’re chasing down a legendary.”

“There will be prey there,” Spark explained. “We can catch a lot and save our strength for the next day, and then we catch some more prey before leaving. We don’t know how easy it will be to find food later.”

Wildflame just shrugged, and a few of the others nodded in agreement to Spark. Snowcrystal sighed. “I guess we ought to leave now then. Someone go find Thunder…” She stopped herself, for the scyther had suddenly appeared from behind a group of rocks, looking thoroughly annoyed.

“Come on!” Spark cried, leaping up. “The sooner we get to the lake, the longer we get to rest.”

He darted off, and Snowcrystal watched him, wondering how on earth the jolteon could be acting so cheerful. As she thought about it, she realized that perhaps it was because he now knew that Stormblade was with a human rather than by himself, and thus had a better chance.

Her gaze traveled to the lone, tall mountain capped with snow that loomed over them, and she felt an odd chill run through her body that certainly wasn’t cold. Ignoring it, she focused her gaze on Spark and began to follow him.

-ooo-

Snowcrystal was grateful for Spark’s plan by the time they reached the lake’s edge. It was nearly evening and she felt both exhausted and hungry. A few of the others looked just as tired as she felt, and Thunder, who Snowcrystal knew was still sick, was probably the worst off.

Spark was standing nearby, staring out at the sparkling surface of the lake in the fading sunlight, watching tiny waves gently lapping the shore. The lake was bigger than Snowcrystal had expected, but Spark had been right, the scent of prey pokémon was everywhere.

She rested along with Rosie and Thunder – though the scyther kept her distance – while the others hunted, or in Nightshade’s case, went off to find his own food from trees. Her thoughts kept wandering back to Stormblade. ‘Would that human really know how to take care of him? Would she be nice to him? Would she give him enough food and water?’

Unable to stop herself from worrying, she lay her head down on her paws, watching the sun beginning to set. Footsteps behind her told her that the hunters had arrived, and she looked up to see with pleasant surprise that they had brought back more prey than she had thought they would find.

Blazefang set down a spearow, looking proud of himself, while the others placed their catches down beside his. There was plenty for everyone, Snowcrystal thought, as long as it was divided equally. She and Rosie decided to share the pidgeotto that Redclaw had caught while Blazefang took his own prey and the others divided the rest up. Snowcrystal looked over at Thunder, who had not approached the others but sat staring at them from some distance away. Redclaw picked up the rest of his prey and walked over to the scyther, offering it to her. Thunder snatched it from his jaws and turned away from him.

Snowcrystal watched her carry it away and begin eating it alone before turning back to her own meal. Her gaze flickered across the lake, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw some sort of disturbance on its surface. Looking back, she quickly determined that she had not imagined it; something was moving through the water directly below the surface and was headed straight for them. Frightened, she backed up, startling Rosie, as the head of a large pokémon broke the surface of the water.

For Snowcrystal, it was at first hard to judge whether or not she should be afraid of the creature. It had orange and cream fur and a pointed snout, with two fangs poking out of the side of its mouth. The rest of the creature was underwater, and Snowcrystal couldn’t tell what it looked like. Whatever it was, it looked big and powerful, and it was swimming strongly toward them at a quick speed. However, it didn’t seem to mind that its head was in plain sight, and it didn’t seem to be going fast enough for an attack, so Snowcrystal relaxed a bit. By now, the others had noticed it too and were all staring at it in either confusion or fear.

“A water type…” Rosie hissed.

Reaching the edge of the lake, the pokémon climbed out of the water. Snowcrystal could now see that it stood on two legs, had a blue fin on each of its arms, two long tails, and something long and yellow around its body that looked like it would be buoyant in water. Redclaw, Wildflame, Blazefang and Rosie were all staring at it with fangs bared in a warning, and electricity was crackling over Spark’s fur. The strange pokémon didn’t seem at all threatened; in fact, it seemed completely oblivious to the group’s displays of aggression.

“Well, hello!” the pokémon said loudly, as if coming up to strangers in a potentially dangerous land and greeting them was the most natural thing in the world. Its voice told Snowcrystal that the pokémon was female. No one answered, and the stranger glanced at the prey which, for the moment, lay forgotten on the ground. “Mind if I have some?”

“We don’t share food with pokémon like you,” Blazefang growled, stepping forward. “Now leave us alone.”

The pokémon didn’t seem to mind Blazefang’s hostility. She simply looked at the next closest pokémon, Rosie. “All right. Then can I have some of yours?”

“No!” Rosie shouted. “What are you even doing here?”

Redclaw moved in front of the rest of the group, facing the strange pokémon calmly. “There’s no need for a fight,” he stated, addressing his companions just as much as the strange lake pokémon.

“A fight?” the pokémon repeated, tilting her head. “I never said I wanted a fight. But, if you want to battle…”

“We don’t,” Rosie said quickly and seriously.

“Well…” Snowcrystal began, uncertain. “If all she wants is food…I think we have some to spare.” The last thing she wanted was for the strange pokémon to suddenly get angry and demand food from them. She was a water type, and their group, which largely consisted of fire types, would be at a big disadvantage if this pokémon turned out to be very strong.

“Huh…” Spark muttered, his fur lying flat again as he approached the pokémon. “You don’t look dangerous, and if you are, I could knock you out with my electric attacks. I don’t think she’s dangerous,” he shouted, glancing at Redclaw and the group. “Just a stray floatzel.”

“Knock me out?” the floatzel repeated, sounding as if she found the idea hilarious. “I’d like to see you try!”

Snowcrystal tensed a bit at her last statement, but she had sounded friendly. Maybe, she thought, this…floatzel could give them valuable tips about their journey ahead if she was used to living in the area. “Here,” she stated, pushing the rest of the prey toward the floatzel and hoping Rosie wouldn’t mind. She watched as the otter-like pokémon grabbed it eagerly and began eating it.

“Huh…” the floatzel was saying between mouthfuls, “it doesn’t taste as good as seaking, but…still good!”

Blazefang let out a long sigh of frustration, and several of the others still seemed wary, though at least the threat of a fight seemed to have passed, if there ever was one at all. Snowcrystal realized that the others probably couldn’t see the potential help this pokémon could give. Taking a few steps closer to the floatzel, she addressed her in what she hoped was a polite manner.

“Um…look, we’re traveling through, and we’re heading toward the mountain. Do you know what the mountain is like? Or what’s beyond it? You see-”

“An adventure!” the floatzel shouted, sounding overjoyed. “That sounds amazing! You know, one of these days I want to go on my own adventure, to the ocean. I’ve always wanted to see the ocean…”

Snowcrystal wasn’t sure what the ‘ocean’ was like or why anyone would want to go there. From the stories she’d heard about it from flying types back at her mountain, it sounded huge and terrifying. “Listen,” she told the floatzel, “you’re missing the point. This is very important, and we need to know-”

“Why of course it’s important!” the floatzel replied cheerfully. “I’d consider my own adventure important if I were in the middle of it.”

Confused, Snowcrystal just stared until she felt Wildflame’s voice by her ear. “We’re getting nowhere with this,” the houndoom whispered. “Just ignore her.”

Snowcrystal sighed and walked away, to where Rosie – who looked rather annoyed that she had given away their food – was sitting. The floatzel seemed to have lost interest in the group and was focused on eating. “I guess she doesn’t know much,” she sighed. “Or doesn’t want to tell us.”

“Yeah,” Rosie replied, irritated. “I don’t understand why she would come up to a group of strangers like that. It’s just…weird. Though after Forbidden Attacks, I guess nothing seems very strange any more.”

Snowcrystal had to agree, but the floatzel’s actions were pretty odd. She looked as if she felt perfectly comfortable in the midst of a group of strangers, regardless of the hostility she had been shown.

“Hey,” Spark growled, nudging the floatzel in the side, “you could at least tell us what you’re doing here, and what your name is, if you’re going to be taking food like that.”

“What I’m doing here?” the floatzel replied, sounding as if she found the question silly. “I saw that you guys had food and I wanted to come over. My name is Alex by the way, what’s yours?”

“Alex?” Spark repeated, sounding surprised. “That’s a human name! Do you have a trainer?”

The floatzel smiled and shook her head. “Nope. I used to, a long time ago. But she brought me here as a buizel and let me go one day, not sure why. I didn’t mind though, I like it here.”

Spark’s ears twitched as he regarded the floatzel with curiosity. “A trainer brought you here? I thought they didn’t come to these places…” The floatzel nodded in response and Spark remained looking confused.

“Hey!” the floatzel shouted, as if suddenly getting an idea. “Why don’t I come with you? I’ve always wanted to travel, but doing it alone doesn’t sound like much fun.”

“Don’t you have anything else to do?” Blazefang growled, still glaring at the floatzel.

Snowcrystal couldn’t really agree with his views. Here was a pokémon, offering them help with open arms, and who probably knew a lot about the lands around them, or at least knew more than they did.

Spark just shrugged. “Well, you obviously aren’t here to attack us, so sure, why not?”

Blazefang rolled his eyes and the other pokémon looked skeptical, though it had become obvious that the floatzel meant them no harm.

“Thank you!” Alex cried, lifting Spark completely off his feet. “I’ll be helpful! I know the best ways to find water on the way to the mountain. I know all the streams and I know the good places to catch prey, and I-”

“That’s great,” Spark muttered. “Please put me down.” The floatzel did so swiftly, leaving Spark sprawled out on the grass.

“We wouldn’t mind having you come along,” Snowcrystal told the water type with a smile, trying to be friendly even while the others weren’t. “We could use a pokémon like you to help us out along the way.”

“Yeah, sure,” Blazefang muttered sarcastically. “Let every random pokémon join us, that’s real smart!” He walked away angrily, but Alex didn’t seem to notice or care.

“We’re going to rest until tomorrow,” Nightshade told the floatzel. “Then we’ll head to the mountain. If you really can help us find water and food along the way, we would appreciate it.”

Alex nodded vigorously. “Of course I will!” she cried excitedly.

-ooo-

For the next few hours, the group rested in silence, apart from the splashes Alex made as she jumped in and out of the lake every so often. By then, most of the group had gotten used to her presence, apart from Thunder, who still kept her distance from everyone else. Alex and Spark had, surprisingly, began getting along very well, each telling the other about their experiences with trainers and living in the wild every time Alex took a break from swimming.

Snowcrystal had been lying by the edge of the lake, half asleep for a while, watching the sun set in the distance. Rosie was asleep near her and the others had either wandered off in search of more food or were just resting by themselves. Judging by the looks of her friends, Alex seemed like the only one enthusiastic about the journey lying ahead of them; even Wildflame was acting nervous.

She was close to dozing off when water splashed over her coat, jolting her back into full wakefulness. “Huh?” she murmured groggily, opening her eyes to see Alex sprinting past her across the grass, water droplets flying from her fur.

“What is she doing?” muttered Rosie as she gave Snowcrystal a half-asleep glance. Obviously the floatzel had woken her up as well.

“What time are we leaving tomorrow?” Alex cried, beaming at the group of pokémon clustered around the lake edge.

“Early in the morning,” Wildflame replied, sounding annoyed even though she was less tired than most of the others; as a dark type, the nighttime and moonlight gave her strength.

“Sounds great!” Alex replied. “I’ll make sure I’m up early!”

“Let’s hope she tires herself out and sleeps in so we can leave her…” Snowcrystal heard Blazefang mutter from nearby.

Snowcrystal sighed. Okay, so maybe Alex was an odd pokémon, a little annoying, but she could offer them valuable help. Surely having her around would be…

“Hey! Who are you?”

At Alex’s shout, Snowcrystal jumped up in alarm, only to find that the pokémon the floatzel was talking to was Thunder. Alarmed, Snowcrystal watched as Alex bounded up toward the scyther on all fours. Thunder stood up and lifted her scythes as she approached.

The floatzel stopped a few feet from Thunder, looking at her curiously. Snowcrystal edged closer to the two. “Uh, Alex? I don’t think you should…”

“Whoa, what happened to you?” the water type exclaimed loudly, leaning forward to get a better look at the cuts on Thunder’s back and side. A couple moments later and she had to leap back to avoid being cut open by one of the scyther’s blades, which was only slowed due to Thunder’s current weaknesses. “Hey, calm down, will you? I didn’t attack you! And some of those cuts are infected, by the way,” she added. “You might wanna-” The floatzel’s words were quickly cut off by another narrowly-dodged slash.

Snowcrystal was about to say something when Thunder took a third lunge at the floatzel, this time grazing her arm with a scythe. At this point, Alex seemed to get the message, and gave Thunder an alarmed look before bounding back into the lake.

Thunder glared after the floatzel and then walked further away from the water’s edge, leaving Snowcrystal standing alone and hoping that there wouldn’t be any more problems between Thunder and the other pokémon in the future. It was a hope that she knew she probably couldn’t count on.

-ooo-

Katie made sure that Justin was busy trying to start a fire for the night before she slipped away quietly, leaving him alone with her electabuzz, which she had brought with her before heading out into the wilderness, to protect him. She walked toward a clump of trees that would hide what she was doing in case Justin came to look for her. She didn’t want him spotting her before she knew he was coming. She felt bad for leaving the scyther in its poké ball for several hours since she had caught it, but she hadn’t gotten a chance to slip away alone until now. She wasn’t quite ready to tell Justin yet.

Stepping behind the trees, she took a deep breath and looked around worriedly. Justin would be wondering where she was soon. She had to make this quick. Taking the luxury ball out of her backpack – she hadn’t dared to put it on her belt in case Justin noticed it – she threw it a few feet in front of her and watched the scyther materialize on the ground.

He appeared in a lying-down position, looking too weak to be able to sit or stand, and looked up at her feebly. Katie wondered if this scyther recognized her, but there was no way to tell. She couldn’t read the expression in the pokémon’s eyes. Her gaze traveled briefly over his body, and she noticed how thin he was. She tried not to focus on it too much; she didn’t like looking at the scyther’s wounds.

“Um…hello,” she began, wondering if the scyther would even care that she was talking to him. “I guess…I’m your new trainer.” She paused. That had sounded weird, as if she expected to train this pokémon. There was no way that would be a possibility, and it probably wouldn’t be even if the scyther recovered. He might never want to battle again. She knew she wouldn’t, if she had gotten injuries like that. And from what Nurse Joy had said, she suspected that these injuries happened in some sort of trainer battle, and the opponent had gone much too far. “Well, I guess I’m not your trainer…” she continued, “but I’m here to take care of you.”

The scyther gave her a knowing look, as if he was listening, but there was a wary look in his eyes, one of mistrust.

“Here,” she said, looking through her backpack for something else. She had, of course, brought medicine for her pokémon in case they got injured, including medicine to help with pain. She had gotten a type of medicine that was shaped like pokémon treats, and even though they were supposedly for baby pokémon who wouldn’t eat the regular medicine – she had gotten them for Shinx – her pidgeot seemed to like them. She opened the box. The “treats” were shaped like random things, such as poké balls, berries, and a few random pokémon. It was silly, but it would do the job and, hopefully, help relieve the scyther of some of his pain, even if it wasn’t much.

She picked up one in her hand and looked at the scyther, hesitating to approach it. She knew that this pokémon was, or at least used to be, dangerous. Getting down on her knees, she moved forward, hoping that the bug type wouldn’t try to hurt her. She held her hand out towards his head. “Eat this,” she told him. “It will make you feel better.”

To her surprise, the pokémon showed no sign of aggression at all. He obediently ate the medicine, though she noticed that he did so with some difficulty. Pleasantly surprised, she reached into her backpack again and got out a potion. “Okay, this might sting a little bit…”

She was met with an agonized scyther cry the moment she sprayed the potion. The pokémon’s eyes went wide with shock and he tried to move away from her, not having much success.

“Uh, sorry,” she muttered, dropping the potion. “I guess I should…wait until the medicine…starts working…”

The scyther didn’t give her any indication that he had heard, but he had stopped screaming and was now staring at the part of his shoulder she had sprayed the potion on.

Katie hoped that Justin was too far away to have heard the noise. She realized that he might be wondering where she was by now. “Well, I guess I’ll have to do what I can now…” She had brought plenty of bandages along in case her pokémon needed it, and she began trying to use them to cover the worst of the scyther’s wounds. Occasionally he would growl or hiss in pain, but he didn’t do anything to threaten her. She began to wonder if this pokémon had begun to change from the vicious and mean scyther he had been in the past.

“Well, that’s all I can do for now,” Katie told the pokémon, well aware that Justin might show up at any minute. “I hope you can trust me. Whoever your trainer was after Justin must not have been very nice. And…I know what you did before was…very wrong…but…I believe you can change.” She gave the scyther a smile, but he just stared emptily at her.

“Okay, return,” she whispered, holding up the luxury ball which shot out a beam of light that enveloped the scyther and then disappeared back into the ball.

Standing up, she turned and headed back to where Justin was waiting. She found him in just the same place she had left him, staring at the trees of the forest which were swaying in the breeze in the distance. He was probably wondering if the growlithe tracks they were following actually belonged to the white growlithe.

“Hi Justin!” she said, in a voice that sounded a bit too cheerful, she realized. “I was just over there by that little group of trees. I was just…um…”

“Look, I don’t need to know about every time you have to go to the bathroom,” Justin muttered, sounding annoyed.

“Oh, um…yeah, never mind,” she muttered quickly, glad that Justin didn’t seem suspicious at all. She went to set her backpack down by his, and as she bent down, she realized that she had placed the luxury ball on her belt with the other poké balls without realizing it. She un-clipped it and stuffed it into her backpack hurriedly. Her electabuzz glanced up at her as if he knew that she was trying to hide something, but she paid him no attention. She was far too concerned with how Justin would react when he found out about her scyther for the moment.

-ooo-

Scytheclaw was now completely alone. He had returned from the pool with the small statues to find that Moonlight had been planning something in secret. The umbreon had won over most of the pokémon at last. Scytheclaw had been powerless against their numbers, and he soon had to accept that he was no longer their leader.

But he could never accept that. That very day, he had left the canyon, alone, and though he now realized that he had nowhere to go, he could not bear the idea of turning back. He didn’t feel like he could face any of those pokémon again, not now that he was powerless. All he had left to think about was the strange power he’d felt ever since fainting at the pool. After waking up, he had been sure to throw the gem back into the water as far as he could, but now, he wondered if there had been something more to it.

It was the thoughts of the stone that kept him distracted, letting him dwell less on the fact that he had just lost everything.

The beating of wings brought Scytheclaw back to his senses. Above him, a pidgeotto was circling. He was just pondering the idea of trying to catch it when, surprisingly, it landed in front of him, though at a safe distance. Scytheclaw sensed that this pidgeotto was out of the ordinary. It looked stronger, tougher, and it seemed as if it would be too fast for even him to catch, so he didn’t try.

“What do you want?” Scytheclaw snapped, glaring at the flying type through narrowed eyes.

“I’m merely here to ask a few questions,” the pidgeotto said slyly. “I come from a group of pokémon led by a vaporeon called Cyclone. He wishes to wage war on the humans…”

As the pidgeotto explained, Scytheclaw realized immediately that he was talking about the army that passed through his old home. As much as he despised the army, he couldn’t help but find the idea of fighting against the humans, the species that had evolved him against his will, very appealing…

He still hated those army pokémon though.

“Tell that idiot I’m not interested in becoming his servant,” Scytheclaw growled. “And I thought he left days ago. He should be far away by now! Is he so desperate for followers that he sent you back here looking for them?

“He is not far from here, actually,” the pidgeotto replied. “Our army passed by that forest and we are resting now,” he added, as if there were more of a reason as to why they had stopped moving that he didn’t want to give away.

Scytheclaw looked at the group of trees making up the forest not far away. He couldn’t see what was on the other side of it, but whatever it was; it was bound to be better than passing the forest by and wandering into that army. “Why are you even talking to me?” he growled at the bird pokémon. “You’re wasting your time.”

“I have one more question,” the flying type began, ignoring the threat. “Have you seen a houndour recently? Full grown, but not close to evolution, or maybe he’s one of those ones who simply doesn’t want to evolve, very red fur color on his muzzle instead of orange or orange-red? Seen any houndour like that?”

An image floated into Scytheclaw’s mind of Blazefang, the houndour that the heracross and his friends had brought along. He fit the description perfectly, but the houndour had not caused him any grief; it was the army threatening his home that had. It would be best not to help them at all. Giving the pidgeotto one last glare, Scytheclaw turned and walked off toward the forest.

“No.”

-ooo-

It was early morning when Snowcrystal and her friends were ready to set off toward the mountain. A few of the others had managed to hunt, and after they were done eating, they decided to take a quick rest, or, in Spark and Alex’s case, go for a swim.

It was hard for Snowcrystal to relax with the sounds of Alex and Spark laughing and shouting back and forth as they chased each other in the shallows of the lake. Her thoughts kept drifting back to Stormblade, wondering if he was all right, and wondering whether the human who caught him would really be able to help. ‘He has a better chance with the help of that human than he does out here with us…’ she reminded herself, though it didn’t make her feel much better.

“Snowcrystal!”

Turning, she realized that it was Rosie calling to her. The ninetales was limping in her direction, and she got up and walked over to her. “What is it, Rosie?” she asked.

“Well, I was thinking,” Rosie began, “I mean, I just realized that…if Alex is coming with us, she should know why we need to go to the mountains so much. I mean, I don’t know if we should go into the whole ‘Forbidden Attacks’ thing, but…”

“HEY!” Spark yelled from the direction of the lake, distracting both of them. Snowcrystal looked to see the two of them in deeper water, Spark looking as though Alex had just pushed him in.

His response was only a loud laugh from the floatzel. From what she could see, Snowcrystal thought Spark looked rather angry.

“Okay, that’s it…” the jolteon cried, and suddenly the water lit up with a burst of electricity and Alex cried out in pain before sinking under the water. Spark had a triumphant grin on his face, which didn’t last long, for in the next moment Alex had come flying out of the water straight toward Spark, water streaming behind her. She cannoned into the jolteon with such force from the aqua jet attack that Spark went flying out of the water and they both landed on the shore.

Snowcrystal was startled by the sudden violent attack, and she was going to go see if Spark was all right and to get Alex to stop when both pokémon stood up, looked at each other for a moment, and then burst out laughing.

“Idiots…” Rosie muttered, rolling her eyes. “I’ll never understand those pokémon. At least Spark has someone else to bother now.”

Snowcrystal had other things on her mind. “Hey, Alex! Come over here!” she cried.

The floatzel bounded up to her with surprising speed and came to a sudden halt right in front of her. “Yes?” she asked.

“I thought you might like to know why we’re headed to the mountain,” she began. “We-”

“Why does it matter?” Alex interrupted. “It’s an adventure! It doesn’t need to have a reason.”

“Well, actually,” Snowcrystal replied, “it does matter. The well-being of…maybe even the lives of some growlithe are at stake. We’re looking for Articuno…he’s the only one that can help us, and we heard that he went past that mountain…”

“Oh, I think he lives there,” Alex stated with a smile. “I’ve heard from several pokémon that he lives at the top of that mountain. That’s why there’s still so much snow!”

Snowcrystal felt her hopes become instantly renewed. If what Alex said was true, then her search might finally be over. “You’re sure?” she asked, feeling much more energetic now; she wanted to go to find Articuno as soon as possible. She had taken far too much time already.

“Yep!” the floatzel replied, sounding as if it was the most simple thing in the world. “What do you need Articuno for, anyway?”

“Well,” Snowcrystal began, “do you think I could tell you on the way? I really think we ought to get going now.”

In a matter of minutes, the entire group was heading toward the mountains, Spark and Alex bounding ahead in the lead. Spark had taken over in telling Alex about their quest so far, even going so far as telling her about the Forbidden Attacks.

Snowcrystal felt as if her energy was being renewed with each step. She now had a much greater hope of finding Articuno than she could ever have asked for. They finally knew where he was at last.

-ooo-

That same morning, another group was getting ready to leave. Katie and Justin had found more growlithe footprints, and they led very clearly in one direction. Poochyena, of course, could easily follow the growlithe’s scent.

There were signs of other pokémon, too, but Katie wasn’t concerned with them. She just hoped that the ones that looked like scyther footprints really weren’t. Yesterday and throughout the night, she had taken care of the scyther in secret. She still wasn’t sure how to tell Justin about it.

She also wasn’t sure what to do about the scyther either. He wouldn’t eat the pokémon food she gave him, and she could tell that he was getting weaker. But at least the pokémon medicine seemed to be helping. Looking up ahead of her, she watched Justin standing beside Poochyena as the small pokémon ran around his legs, eager to begin following the scent. Sighing, she walked over to them, trying not to act as though there was something bothering her.

Crouched behind a large group of bushes, Darkfang watched the two humans leave. He had followed their scent from the place where Stormblade was supposed to be, and there was only one explanation for what had happened. One of those humans had captured Stormblade.

He wasn’t quite sure what to do now, but he knew that he would have to tell Stormblade’s friends once they came back…if they did come back. He really had no idea whether or not Articuno had settled on the mountain at all.

With a weary sigh, he started to head back, then quickly changed his mind. He still felt partially responsible for Stormblade, and the least he could do was make sure these humans were decent to him. Turning back around to face the trainers, Darkfang began following them slowly, careful not to let himself be seen.

To be continued...

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 44 - The Start of the Mountain Journey

As the group traveled and got ever closer to reaching the mountain, Snowcrystal began to notice that it felt colder. It was a welcome feeling to her, but she could tell that a few of the others were a bit unnerved by it, and Thunder was constantly shivering. She knew the cold winds were coming from the direction of the mountain, and wondered if the cold had something to do with Articuno, or whether the mountain was just naturally that way. The massive stone monolith ahead of them loomed ever closer, and Snowcrystal hoped that they would reach it by the end of the day.

“There’s a stream over that way,” Alex called from up ahead. The floatzel stood and pointed, the wind whipping through her fur. “It’ll take a little while to get there, but there should be lots of prey…”

“It’s too far out of our way,” Wildflame replied crossly, narrowing her eyes against the wind. “We need to get to the mountain by sundown.”

“Well, all right, if that’s what you want,” Alex answered with a shrug before bounding on ahead again.

Snowcrystal had to admit that she agreed with Wildflame, but if prey was going to be scarce…maybe Alex was right.

“So uh, Snowcrystal?”

Snowcrystal turned in surprise, realizing that it was Spark speaking from up ahead. The jolteon looked worried about something. He paused to let the others move on ahead and allow Snowcrystal to catch up with him. “What?” she asked him, confused.

“Well, I was thinking,” he began, “when we find Articuno and you go back…where should the rest of us go?”

“Oh…” Snowcrystal whispered. She had been so distracted by the thought of finally reaching Articuno that she hadn’t been thinking about that much. She knew that while the thought of never seeing any of these pokémon again was painful, there was no way they could live by her mountain home. It was not a suitable habitat for any of them. “Well, maybe you could stay around here,” she suggested reluctantly. “I mean, it seems like a good place…”

Spark shook his head. “No,” he replied firmly. “I wouldn’t want to stay here. Maybe some of the others would want to stay, but I don’t. You see, I’m beginning to think I’m not cut out to be a wild pokémon.”

“Why do you say that?” Snowcrystal asked, a bit surprised.

“This whole wild life…it just seems unnatural to me,” the jolteon whispered back as the two of them began following the others again slowly. “Stormblade told me I would love it, but I just don’t. I’m not meant to be a wild pokémon.”

“So you think you would be happier with a trainer?”

“Maybe…” Spark sighed.

“Well,” Snowcrystal began, thinking back to what she had seen the day before, “I’d miss you, but if that’s what you really want, maybe we could find that trainer who caught Stormblade, and…and you could join her?”

Spark shook his head. “I didn’t say I wanted to go with just any old trainer…” he muttered.

Snowcrystal wasn’t sure what else to say, and simply fell silent.

“I miss Justin,” Spark admitted suddenly. “If anything…I’d want to go with a trainer who was like him.” He paused for a moment. “But at the same time, I don’t want to leave the group until I have to. Do you think…do you think that when we head back to your mountain, that you could leave me at the city? I’m sure there are lots of trainers willing to adopt a jolteon…I could find one…”

“Are you sure that’s what you want?” Snowcrystal asked.

“Maybe…” came Spark’s uncertain reply.

“You don’t have to decide now,” she told him. Some part of her still strongly wished that he’d change his mind, even though she knew that in the end it really couldn’t affect her. Spark would have to find somewhere to live and it couldn’t be near her mountain. She sighed. “You still have a lot of time to think about it.”

“Yeah,” Spark replied in a distracted sort of voice. “Yeah, I do…” He increased his pace a bit, walking at normal speed and distancing himself from Snowcrystal once again.

The growlithe watched him go, hoping that Spark would be able to choose the right thing for him when the time finally came. She hoped that somehow, everything would work out right for all of them, though whether or not it did…how would she know, if she was to return home with Articuno and leave some of the others behind?

-ooo-

Katie’s persian materialized in a flash of bright red light, blinking in confusion and looking up at her trainer with a puzzled expression upon realizing that not only was there no opponent to fight, but there was a strange pokémon scent she couldn’t identify. The most noticeable smell besides the scent of the pokémon itself was that of sickness and foul-smelling wounds, and when she turned around to look at the source of the odor, she was surprised to see that there was a strange scyther lying on the grass nearby, one that she could tell was badly wounded. The bandages weren’t enough to hide all the wounds covering his body, and something about the way they looked and smelled deeply unnerved her. She had been to many pokémon centers. She had seen bad injuries from wild pokémon or accidents in battle. But nothing like this. This was…different, somehow. Wrong. Unnatural. She turned to her trainer in astonishment.

“Look, Persian,” Katie told the pokémon, reaching down to rest her hand on the catlike creature’s head. “I want you to go and see if you can catch something, all right? Scyther was a wild pokémon; he’s probably only used to eating fresh meat, and well, you know we’re running low on pokémon food.”

Persian just stared blankly at her trainer. This was one of those times she wished there wasn’t a language barrier between herself and the humans. One thing was for sure; she certainly didn’t like the idea of being responsible for feeding another injured pokémon. She had already had enough of that with Pidgeot. She glanced around, wondering if Justin was nearby, but she didn’t see him.

“I guess I should explain things more, huh?” Katie sighed.

“Yes, I think you should,” Persian muttered with annoyance, her fur bristling. Even if Katie couldn’t understand her words, she was sure the meaning was clear enough.

“Okay, well,” Katie began, glancing over at the injured pokémon. “This is our newest member of the team, Scyther.”

Persian glanced over at the bug type again. Scyther gave no reaction at all; he was still in the same position she had first seen him in, lying down and staring blankly off into the distance at nothing in particular. Even with his injuries aside, he wasn’t very impressive. He was larger than Persian remembered the scyther she had battled to be, but much too thin and weak looking to be strong. Whatever Katie meant by ‘member of the team,’ he certainly wasn’t going to be helping them fight.

“He was Justin’s pokémon when he was a trainer, but I found him like that…and I couldn’t just leave him there. You’ll help him and share your food, won’t you?” Katie asked.

Persian looked into her trainer’s eyes. Katie had always had this odd thing about helping wild pokémon. The feline pokémon had watched her care for several injured or sick pokémon she had found in the wild over her four years of being a trainer. However, she’d never seen Katie try taking care of something like a scyther, let alone one this far gone. “All right, I suppose,” Persian sighed reluctantly, nodding because she knew there was no way for the human to understand her words. “But you’d better make this worth it once we get back to a city or town,” she muttered under her breath.

Katie smiled and gave her pokémon a quick hug. “Thanks,” she told the normal type, running her hand across Persian’s head again.

The catlike pokémon purred, then stood up and began walking in the direction of some nearby trees, the cool wind coming from the direction of the mountain ruffling her fur. If it made her trainer happy and got her some sort of reward, she wouldn’t mind tossing a few scraps to the injured pokémon. At least it would keep it from dying...probably, she thought, and Katie wouldn’t be so distraught over having one of her ‘patients’ pass away. Even if Persian herself was rather indifferent to the other pokémon on Katie’s team, she didn’t want to have to go through that again. Catching the scent of pidgeotto on the breeze, Persian pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind and bounded forward, hoping for a good hunt.

Katie watched her pokémon go with a feeling of regret. She would have liked to have Persian or one of the others around when she finally told Justin that she had used up the last space in her current party, and she had decided that time was going to be now.

She looked over at Scyther, who was as still as ever. She hesitated a moment before going to find Justin; she wasn’t sure if leaving an injured pokémon all alone was really a good idea. Then again, adult scyther had no predators, so she didn’t think he’d be in any danger. She waited a moment longer before turning away and walking back to where her companion was resting with their supplies.

“Guess what, Justin?” she said cheerfully as she reached the small area where they had stopped to rest. “I found more growlithe tracks. They’re still headed toward that mountain.” She had, in fact, found more tracks, and she figured – or at least hoped – that the news would make Justin a bit happier.

Only, Justin didn’t look happier. “We still don’t know if it’s the white growlithe,” he mumbled in a dull voice.

“Uh…well…” Katie paused for a moment. She decided that lingering on the growlithe subject wasn’t a good idea and would probably only make things worse. Might as well get straight to the point. “I…I caught another pokémon.”

Justin’s eyes went wide and he leaped to his feet, his face lit up in a smile. “You mean you’ve caught it?” he asked. “You’ve caught the white one?” His face fell when he saw Katie’s expression. “You mean it wasn’t the white one? What was it? A normal growlithe? Because, well, I don’t know, maybe that’s a clue…maybe the white one belongs to a group of normal growlithe, and-”

“I caught a scyther.”

“You…what?” Justin’s expression changed from a look of disappointment to a look of horror. He suddenly looked extremely pale. “But…but why…I thought you said you were going to wait to catch more pokémon until-”

“Well, this one was injured,” Katie sighed, forcing herself to go on. “I couldn’t just leave it there…a second time.”

“A second…what?”

“I found the scyther I helped the rangers bring to the pokémon center.” She didn’t bother mentioning that the scyther had been Justin’s. Her friend would realize that clearly enough.

Justin looked completely stunned. “What? What are you talking about?” he cried, looking furious. “You’re lying! That scyther’s dead. Blown up into a thousand pieces. You honestly don’t think it could have survived that blast, do you? It’s dead. DEAD!”

“No it’s not,” Katie replied. “It’s…it’s alive. Maybe Team Rocket had something to do with it, I don’t know. And I’m not sure how it got here, but I know it’s the same one. It said so on my pokédex…” She reached for the pokégear to show him, but he wasn’t listening.

“Why on earth would you catch any old scyther you found around here?” Justin cried. “Did you forget that scyther are dangerous? And that we were supposed to be trying to capture the growlithe?”

“Forget?” Katie replied. “Of course not! But I couldn’t just leave an injured pokémon all alone! What about those shinx we found that were injured by poachers? You wouldn’t have wanted me to leave them there.”

“That was different!” Justin retorted.

“Look, just let me show you the scyther,” Katie told him. “You’ll understand why I need to help it.”

“Don’t let it out of the poké ball!” Justin looked horribly alarmed at the thought.

“It’s already out,” she told him, pointing to where she had just walked from. “It can’t hurt you, you know…” Without waiting for a response, she began walking toward where Scyther was, Justin following her slowly and rather stiffly, still seeming in shock about the whole thing. Katie wasn’t even entirely sure he really believed her.

“You can’t keep a dangerous pokémon like that when Pidgeot’s injured!” Justin was saying. “If Pidgeot’s killed, we’ll have to get back to the city on foot! And what if it hurts one of us? I don’t even have pokémon!”

“If it makes you feel better, I’ll keep one of my pokémon out to protect you from harm,” Katie told him, wishing he’d calm down. She supposed there was no use trying to explain to him that Scyther was too weak to stand, let alone attack anyone.

Justin didn’t speak again until they reached the place where Scyther lay. Immediately, both former trainer and pokémon froze. For the first time, Katie saw Scyther look someone straight in the eyes...and that person was Justin. And Katie knew in that moment that any doubts Justin had about this being his scyther were gone. It was clearly the same one they had stumbled across before, and it was giving Justin a look of pure hatred.

Justin wrenched his gaze away from the scyther and slowly turned to her. His voice was oddly calm, which unnerved her. “Why would you do this?” he asked. “I told you that pokémon was dangerous…I told you what it did to that girl, and what it did to me! Why did you capture it?”

“Because…I couldn’t just leave it there…I had to help…it would have died…”

“It doesn’t deserve to live.”

“Justin, it’s a pokémon. A pokémon that was used to being wild. It may not have known that what it was doing was wrong!”

“It was a trained pokémon. It knew perfectly well that killing humans was the worst thing it could do.”

“But…” Katie wasn’t sure what else to say. Justin did have a point, she realized. “I know,” she sighed. “But that doesn’t mean he can’t change. And with those injuries, I think he’s been through far more than what he deserved…he seemed calm enough around me. I don’t think he’s the same violent pokémon he used to be.”

“It’s a scyther! They don’t change. Violent is just the way they are! And that one is more dangerous than usual.” He gave Katie a glare that made her cringe. “Get…rid…of…it…now…”

Katie was about to respond when a meowing sound reached her ears. She turned to see Persian returning, holding a pidgeotto in her mouth. The normal type walked over to Scyther and set the prey down beside him, looking to her trainer for approval.

“What is she doing?” Justin cried, staring at Persian until he suddenly understood. “You sent your persian to kill pokémon for that thing?”

“Well, yes,” Katie replied. “Persian needs to hunt, and Scyther wouldn’t eat the pokémon food I-”

“If it didn't eat the food you offered, it was the stupid thing's own fault!” Justin screamed. “Why waste life on something that's practically dying?”

“Justin, Persian needs to hunt for herself anyway…do you want us to run out of pokémon food? I don't see any harm in Persian sharing...” Her voice was faltering now, barely above a whisper.

“Then why don’t you let Persian just share the food with the other pokémon?” Justin growled. “You know, the ones who still have a chance to survive?” He walked over to where Persian was standing, and the catlike pokémon shied away and walked over to Katie, startled to see Justin like this. “I suggest you chuck that poké ball into the lake and get rid of it once and for all!” Justin shouted.

“I’m not going to do that,” Katie said firmly. “I’m not going to get rid of him…I won’t let an injured pokémon suffer.”

Justin gave her a look of absolute loathing. “Well then don’t blame me when you or your pokémon get hurt!” he growled. He then turned around and sped off in the other direction, toward their makeshift camp. Katie looked at Persian, who seemed just as shocked as she was. She knew that the normal type was very fond of Justin.

“Follow him, okay?” she asked, and her pokémon briefly rubbed her head against her leg before bounding off in the direction Justin had left.

Now standing alone, Katie couldn’t help but wonder if Justin was right. But then again, the scyther had been perfectly calm around her. But it had still looked at Justin so angrily…

Whatever the reason, she thought, she had decided to help this pokémon, and that was what she was going to do. He’d already suffered more than enough for what he'd done. Maybe being shown kindness would make Scyther a better pokémon after all.

Or at least, she hoped it would.

-ooo-

Nighttime had fallen upon the traveling group, and they had at last reached the foot of the mountain. It was surprisingly cold, and many of the pokémon found it difficult to sleep. Snowcrystal was one of them, but in her case, it was not because of the cold.

The small growlithe kept looking up at the mountain. It reminded her so much of her home, and she could only wonder what was happening to the other growlithe back in her own territory. Had the houndour driven them out by now? Or did she still have time? There probably wasn’t much use worrying, she thought. No matter what, she had to try and help them. She couldn’t lose hope…not now that she was so close…

Surprisingly, she managed to drift off into sleep. In her dreams, she was running around near the base of the mountain, which in the dream was the mountain where her tribe lived, trying to stop Blazefang from firing a Shadowflare attack at the peak and melting the ice…

She woke with a start in the misty light of early dawn. The other pokémon were still asleep; from the looks of it, she was the only one awake. It suddenly struck her that it was foolish of them not to have taken turns keeping watch during the night, and it was a mistake she intended to fix later on. They had been lucky that night, but there was no telling what sort of dangers could be waiting for them on the steep mountain slopes.

After a moment, Spark began to stir. The jolteon opened his eyes and sat up groggily, looking around him. “Hi Snowcrystal,” he said tiredly, and she was relieved to see that he sounded much more like his normal self.

Nearby, Alex also stirred, and in a few moments she had opened her eyes and bounded to her feet, calling, “Wake up, everyone! Today’s the day we get to meet a legendary!”

“Don’t sound so sure,” Blazefang grumbled as he sat up slowly, scratching his ear with a hind paw.

Snowcrystal didn’t pay much attention to Blazefang; she was pretty much used to his negative attitude by now. The others were all getting up and whispering about the mountain journey to come…all except one. Thunder was still asleep.

“Thunder!” Snowcrystal called to the scyther, unwilling to get any closer to her in case she was in a bad mood. “Wake up! It’s time to go!”

Thunder lifted her head quicker than Snowcrystal expected – it actually startled her a bit – and stared at her with what looked like a mixture of surprise and loathing. Snowcrystal flinched, but tried to keep her voice steady as she addressed the scyther. “We need to get going,” she told the bug type as nicely as she could. “We’re going to start climbing the mountain.”

Thunder just stared at her a moment before standing up and turning away, her gazed fixed on the mountain. From where she stood, it seemed to Snowcrystal like Thunder was shivering violently, though she couldn’t be sure. She was half wondering if she should mention something to Nightshade when a voice from behind startled her.

“Er…Snowcrystal…can I talk to you?”

She turned around to see Blazefang standing there, looking anxious and worried, his paws fidgeting in the dry grass. If that wasn’t surprising enough, the look in his eyes certainly was. He looked frightened, wary, and from the way he was acting, it looked like whatever he wanted to talk about was important, and it wasn’t going to be easy for him either.

“Why do you want to talk to me?” she couldn’t help blurting out before thinking.

Blazefang didn’t seem to feel like answering directly. “It needs to be you,” he growled, though his growl sounded more worried than aggressive. “You’re the leader of this group. The others follow you. Now come on, we need to talk…”

Snowcrystal glanced at the rest of the group. They were all still talking to one another in quiet whispers, or in Alex’s case, loud yells. She turned and followed Blazefang reluctantly, feeling slightly confused that he had referred to her as a ‘leader.’ She had certainly never felt like one, least of all now when her goal was in sight and she didn’t need to lead anyone anywhere, and after which their group would likely split up. She was jolted away from her confused thoughts when Blazefang stopped and looked at her expectantly. She wondered what she was supposed to say, and merely asked in an impatient manner, “Okay, what is it?”

“When we were in the cave,” Blazefang said quickly, still sounding nervous. “That weavile…Shade…said that the ice Forbidden Attack…Deathfreeze…was used by an ice type pokémon a season ago. Think about when Articuno left, Snowcrystal. I think…it could have been him.”

Snowcrystal had been expecting something along the lines of Blazefang wanting to tell her that he was ready to leave the group and go off on his own, or even to try and get her to ask the others to leave him alone, but this completely threw her off. She had to take a moment and repeat what he had said in her mind before the words started to make sense.

“It…it could have been any other ice type, right?” she replied, her voice shaking much more than she would have liked it to. Although the others had mentioned Shade’s words about Deathfreeze, the thought had never occurred to her before.

“I don’t know,” Blazefang replied, flinching. “Shade wouldn’t mention the pokémon’s species…but he said that it took many pokémon to stop him and control him…because he’d gone insane. If he…”

“Wouldn’t we have seen destruction from Deathfreeze around here if he had?” Snowcrystal asked, still trying to tell herself that Blazefang was only making a wild shot in the dark with his theory.

“Not really,” said Blazefang, almost reluctantly. “The pokémon had to take him far away, using sleep-inducing attacks every time he showed signs of unleashing the Forbidden Attack. For all we know, the place they took him could be here. And Alex said that several pokémon told her that he lives up there-”

“I still don’t think we should assume something like that,” Snowcrystal retorted, interrupting him. “Darkfang saw Articuno…I highly doubt he was captive at the time…”

“Snowcrystal,” Blazefang interrupted, his eyes serious, “about the whole ‘going up the mountain to find him’ thing. Rethink this. Darkfang may have seen Articuno before it happened…or before he was stopped. I know it sounds crazy, but everything fits. Why else would he leave us so suddenly, with no explanation?”

Snowcrystal didn’t reply. Lingering doubts about the success of her mission were building in the back of her mind. They couldn’t stop now, not when they were so close. And even if Blazefang was right, Articuno was of no harm to them if he was being guarded, was he? They had to try. And what if Blazefang was only saying such a thing to keep her away from Articuno? To help his own tribe?

Still, she thought, the others deserved to know the risk, if there was any to begin with. As crazy as it sounded, she knew she should probably tell everyone about Blazefang’s theory before they left. Even if there was the slightest chance that Articuno might possess Deathfreeze, the others deserved to know. Snowcrystal became vaguely aware that Blazefang was still standing there, and told him firmly, “I won’t turn back, but I will tell the others. Don’t accept it as fact, though. I for one am certainly not going to.” She gave him a suspicious glance before heading back to the group, leaving Blazefang looking helpless.

-ooo-

“Articuno…with Deathfreeze?” Spark cried as Snowcrystal finished speaking, his eyes wide. “Nuh-uh. No way. Legendaries are smarter than that! They’re, well…legendary!”

“Weren’t the legendaries the cause of the Forbidden Attacks, according to legend?” Rosie asked.

“In some versions, yes,” Spark replied with an air of importance, “but not in the one I was commonly told. In that one, they were just ordinary species of pokémon…ones with powers…”

“Regardless, would a legendary really not take a hint when some freaky stone starts giving him powers?” Rosie retorted.

“I think Blazefang could be right…” Redclaw spoke up hesitantly, but then added, “but he could be wrong…”

“Huh…a legendary with Deathfreeze?” Alex cried in a cheerful manner. “Well, that certainly puts an edge on things, right?”

“We don’t need you around anymore,” Rosie growled at her. “This isn’t exactly any of your business.” To her annoyance, Alex didn’t seem to notice or care that she had even spoken.

“I think Blazefang just wants us to stay away so he can find Articuno for himself,” Thunder spoke up. Everyone stared at her in silence; Blazefang looked horrified. “Not that it’s any concern to me,” she added, “but you probably have no Forbidden Attack to worry about. Might as well throw the traitor,” she glanced at Blazefang, “out and just get on with your original plan.”

Rosie’s fur stood on end as she turned to glare at Blazefang. “That makes a surprising lot of sense,” she snarled. “You were pretty darn stupid to believe that we’d just give up after all that!”

“Well, worrying about it won’t do much good,” Nightshade told the others, standing up and placing himself between Blazefang and Rosie. “Like Snowcrystal said, we should still be prepared even if the chance is small. And the ice type with the attack is apparently guarded. There’s little risk of a Forbidden Attack being used, and whatever happens, at least we will know where Articuno is and hopefully why he had left…” He cast a glance at Blazefang, who seemed like he had already accepted Articuno having Deathfreeze as fact.

“Who cares?” Thunder growled. “Let’s just find the damn bird and be done with it.”

“It’s not like you have to come,” Spark muttered, turning his head to glare at the scyther. “Stay behind if you like.”

Thunder opened her mouth to say something, but quickly closed it again, letting out a hiss of annoyance instead. Spark gave her a smug smirk; he knew as well as anyone else that Thunder couldn’t hunt well even without being injured. She depended entirely on the group for food.

However, Snowcrystal wasn’t sure that dragging her up a mountain in that condition was a good idea either, though neither was leaving her alone when she thought about it.

“Let’s get going then,” Redclaw sighed, standing up. If anything, he looked like he wanted to start walking now to stop a fight from breaking out; Rosie looked ready to rip Blazefang’s fur off and Thunder was giving Spark a glare that looked as though she wanted to kill him.

As the others all stood up and watched Redclaw expectantly, Snowcrystal wondered if there was really a chance that Blazefang’s speculation could be right. The others seemed skeptical enough to believe it was mere coincidence that the ice type had found the Forbidden Attack at around the same time Articuno left. However, even though Snowcrystal felt she should think the same…a small, lingering doubt at the back of her mind told her that the events were too much of a coincidence. And Blazefang had been right in that everything did seem to fit.

As she followed the others, she forced herself to try and think of other things instead and wait to find out for herself, but the thought still lingered. What if Articuno really had gone insane?

What would she do then?

To be continued...

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 45 - Articuno

Darkfang watched from a clump of bushes as Justin stormed back into the human’s camp, looking furious. The scyther didn’t know or care what was making the human angry; he was too busy focusing on more important matters. The female (he guessed; he wasn’t quite sure how to tell) human had left a little while ago, but he had stayed put, watching the other one, not sure which of them had captured Stormblade but knowing that this was where they had made their temporary home. When the two humans had left earlier, he had waited for them to come back, not wanting to risk being seen. Now that one was back, Darkfang waited to see if it would let Stormblade out of a poké ball.

The human in the camp seemed distressed; he was pacing back and forth, looking somewhat terrified as well as angry. Darkfang jumped a bit as the boy suddenly kicked over a pile of trainer stuff at the edge of the clearing.

The human stood staring at the items in silence for a moment before he heard the sound of pawsteps and turned to see a persian running toward him. Darkfang held still in the shelter of the bushes as the cat pokémon walked up to the human…and then suddenly turned its head right toward him.

Darkfang locked eyes with the normal type for a split second before he swiftly backed away, careful not to rustle the leaves too much. The persian was still staring in his direction, its fur standing on end. Then without warning, it leaped forward with a yowl.

Darkfang barely heard the human gasp in surprise before the persian landed in the middle of the bushes, missing Darkfang only due to the scyther’s speed. The catlike pokémon darted around frantically as the bug type quickly exited the bush...to be met by a terrified scream from the human.

“PERSIAN, THUNDER!”

The persian paused, as if taking a moment to realize that the human had given it an order, then fired a powerful blast of electricity at the retreating scyther. Darkfang cried out and stumbled to the ground, his limbs jerking as the electric attack surged through him and then slowly stopped. He tried getting to his feet, but his legs did not want to move. They felt unnaturally stiff. In fact, his whole body did. He found it hard to get any of his muscles to work at all.

The human in the clearing was screaming, and the confused persian was following his orders as well as she could. Darkfang heard the pokémon running toward him, and, realizing that he was paralyzed, could only mentally brace himself for the attack.

“Power gem!” the trainer shouted.

The persian paused, her eyes narrowing in concentration as the gem on her head started to glow with a bright light. It hurt Darkfang’s eyes to look at it, yet he couldn’t turn his head and look away.

A large, bright beam suddenly made its way toward him, and at such a close range Darkfang only glimpsed it for a split second before it slammed into his body, sending him flying backward until his momentum was stopped when he slammed into a tree. That jolted him out of the paralysis for a moment, however, and he quickly got up and limped off. Yet he could hear the trainer’s indistinct shouts and the sound of the persian running closer to him. He felt the cat pokémon deliver a night slash to his back, but before the pokémon could do any more damage he sprinted ahead of it, not pausing to look back although he could soon tell that it was no longer following him.

Once in the shelter of the forest’s outskirts, he paused to catch his breath and rest. He now understood that not all humans were the nice, caring ones he had known back at Stonedust City. The wounds from the battle might take a while to heal if he wasn’t careful, and he knew that he wouldn’t be hunting for a while. As soon as he felt strong enough, he stood up and limped back to the swarm. He didn’t want to cross those humans again, but one thought stuck in his mind. If that’s how the human treated him, how would it treat Stormblade?

-ooo-

“Nothing…nothing at all…” the man muttered, kicking the dirt at his feet disdainfully. “I would have sworn there’d be something out here worth catching, or at least battling,” he added, sneering at his surroundings. He was standing in a field of sparse grass with no trees or pokémon in sight. “Still, we’re not giving up on the chance that there’ll be strong or at least rare pokémon around here, seeing as not many venture this far, eh, Volco?” He cast a backward glance at his typhlosion, a powerful looking pokémon with a jagged scar across his face and a missing eye.

The pokémon said nothing but merely scraped his claws across the dry ground, seeming just as displeased with the area as his trainer. He knew as well as the human did that were it not for the police trying to inspect everyone who caught more than a few pokémon anywhere near Stonedust City, due to poacher activity, they wouldn’t be wandering about in the wilderness looking for suitable pokémon. They were running low on food apart from what Volco could kill or Master could shoot, and unless that changed, they would have to give up and head back. There had been many claims of strong pokémon living in these lands, but it was starting to seem like they’d have better luck flying back to one of the other cities and starting from there.

Volco looked up as his master gave another grunt of frustration and started walking forward. The typhlosion followed him obediently. As the two carried on, Volco’s thoughts drifted back to the last encounter with Thunder. For a while, Master had tried to seek her out and recapture her, as she was one of his strongest pokémon, though he had eventually given up the search. Volco had been, and still was, incredibly disappointed; he longed to get revenge on the scyther that had torn out his eye, though he knew by now that that was no longer a possibility. Thunder was far from where either of them would be able to find her, if she hadn’t starved to death already.

Volco paused as his master stopped, still looking angry and tired. “Go on ahead,” the man told his pokémon. “See if you can find a spot to rest. Maybe some fresh water too.”

Volco nodded slowly, knowing that the human would understand the message, and turned and ran off. After a short while, he noticed that the ground didn’t seem as flat and dry as before. He stared ahead as he loped over a small hill, suddenly realizing that the horizon seemed…odd, somehow. He wasn’t able to see very far or very clearly, but it did look unusual to him. Curious, he ran faster, and as he got further, he realized what it was he had been looking at.

Ahead of him was a cliff. A cliff, he realized as he neared it, that dropped into a canyon and extended far in either direction. What was more important to him though, was the steady flow of water at the bottom of the canyon and the lush vegetation within it. The steep cliffs made Volco nervous, and he wasn’t about to go down there and check it out. Turning around, he headed back to his master. Steep cliffs or not, this was certainly better that what he’d been hoping to find.

-ooo-

Snowcrystal never thought she would miss the feeling of snow between her paws so much until she was standing in a small patch of it quite a ways, it seemed, from the base of the mountain. The feeling of the cold substance on her paws brought back memories of her old home far more vividly than they had been in a while.

“Hey, Snowcrystal, what’s the hold up?” Spark shouted from up ahead.

“Huh? Oh, uh, nothing!” she called back to the jolteon, flicking snow off her paws as she rejoined the group, most of which had passed her while she had been standing alone in the snow.

Nearby, Rosie craned her neck to look up toward the mountain’s peak, the wind tugging at her long fur. “Let’s hope the Articuno we meet isn’t some insane psycho,” she muttered, though Snowcrystal couldn’t tell if she really was worried or just being sarcastic.

“Look at it this way,” Alex told her. “If he is, at least it’ll be an interesting sight!”

“This isn’t some sort of game!” Blazefang growled at her. “If you find the prospect of getting torn apart exciting, why don’t you go use aqua jet on Thunder?”

Snowcrystal didn’t hear Alex’s reply; she had turned around and glanced at Thunder. The scyther was still trailing at the back of the group, using her scythes to support her. Snowcrystal heard the sound of the blade tips scraping against rock as Thunder hauled herself over a steep slope…and then collapsed at the top of it.

“Oh dear…” Spark sighed, sounding more worried for anyone about to try to help the scyther than for Thunder herself.

“I knew that was going to happen!” Alex cried, a little too loudly.

“Think we should just leave her there?” Snowcrystal heard Blazefang ask.

Redclaw ignored him, walking carefully over the rocks toward Thunder. The arcanine leaned his head down, and Snowcrystal expected him to get his nose slashed, but Thunder didn’t move. Nightshade and Wildflame walked closer to the two, and after a moment of hesitating, Snowcrystal followed them.

“She passed out,” Redclaw sighed as they approached.

“Alex was right,” Wildflame muttered. “It was bound to happen. What are we supposed to do now? She’s not strong enough to make this journey!”

“Maybe she should stay here…” Nightshade began. “It’ll only get colder and harder to climb the further we go.”

Most of the other pokémon in the group were gathering around Thunder, looking nervous. “Maybe Redclaw can carry her!” Alex suggested, not seeming to notice that the looks the others gave her made it clear that that was a bad idea.

“Nightshade’s right,” Redclaw told the others. “She won’t get much farther.” He nudged Thunder gently away from the rocky slope, onto smoother ground. “Someone will need to stay behind and watch over her.”

“How about Nightshade?” Rosie suggested. “He’s practically the only one she doesn’t want to kill…”

“Or Redclaw,” Wildflame added. “He’s a fire type…he could keep her warm.”

Snowcrystal suddenly pictured Thunder lying against Redclaw with the arcanine’s tail wrapped around her, and had to resist the urge to laugh, despite the situation.

“I’ll stay,” Nightshade said. He took a glance up at the mountain’s peak, clearly knowing that he was in no condition to make such a journey. He seemed a little disappointed that he wouldn’t get to travel the whole way, but the look quickly vanished as he turned to the others again. “I’ll wait for you at this spot.”

“Rosie…” Wildflame began, pausing once the ninetales turned to look at her. “I think you ought to stay behind too. I mean, your leg’s not fully healed.”

“I can make it,” Rosie replied with a scowl.

“You’re still limping badly. If there’s any danger, you might not be able to get away fast enough.”

Rosie’s crimson eyes narrowed as she glared at the houndoom, but she didn’t say anything. Snowcrystal suspected that deep down, Rosie knew that she was right, and climbing the mountain would take a huge toll on her.

“Look, we’ll tell you all about what’s happened right when we get back,” Snowcrystal told her. “In the meantime, you can rest.”

Rosie looked upward at the distance they still had to climb, and sighed in defeat. “All right,” she muttered. “But you better be back quick.”

“Thanks, Rosie,” Snowcrystal told her, relieved that the ninetales hadn’t tried to argue much. Snowcrystal didn’t blame her; she looked exhausted, and her stubbornness had probably only come from not wanting to seem weak. “We’ll be back soon,” she told her.

“Well, hurry up and get going,” Rosie replied, still not sounding happy. “You’re wasting daylight.”

Snowcrystal gave her friend one last smile and turned to follow the others, who were heading up a rocky slope.

“We’ll bring you back an articuno feather!” Alex shouted over her shoulder as she bounded up the rocks on all fours.

As Snowcrystal climbed up the slope, she glanced back to see Nightshade watching them from down below. She paused for a moment before turning and climbing up onto another wide ledge, hoping that the three pokémon left behind would be all right.

As the group traveled further up the mountain, small flakes of snow drifted down on them. There were patches of snow all around them now, and every so often Redclaw or Wildflame would have to reprimand Alex or Spark for leaping in the piles and scattering snow over everyone else. Snowcrystal also noticed that the sky seemed unusually darker the further they went, and she figured it must be the thick clouds that had begun to gather over the mountain’s peak.

“So this is it,” she heard Wildflame whisper from beside her. The houndoom was shivering, but it seemed to be more a result of anticipation than of cold.

Snowcrystal wondered why Wildflame seemed so excited. Did she still want Articuno to help her tribe, even if they turned any houndoom away?

Blazefang looked just the opposite of excited. It seemed as if every step they took closer to the mountain’s peak, Blazefang became more and more nervous. Spark and Redclaw, however, seemed uncertain and curious, but calmer, as they followed Snowcrystal up the mountain slopes.

In one place quite a ways upward from where they’d started, the going became much rockier. Snowcrystal found it easy to leap from boulder to boulder up the steep slope, but the others were finding it much more difficult. Blazefang whimpered as he tried to haul himself up using his front legs. Redclaw had to carefully decide where to place his paws in case he slipped off. Alex, on the other hand, did fall off. She had attempted to copy Snowcrystal’s jumps and slipped on an icy rock, tumbling into a snowdrift below. Spark had burst out laughing, so much that he nearly fell off himself. It took a while for everyone to reach the top of the slope, but Snowcrystal was relieved that when they did, the going looked like it would be much easier. There was a lot more snow, but the ground sloped gently, and there were no sharp rocky paths or slick ice.

“Look at all the snow!” Spark shouted, darting through it and leaving deep pawprints. “Reminds me of being back in Justin’s town during the winter!”

Snowcrystal was relieved to hear that he didn’t sound sad about the memory, and it was nice to see someone having fun now that she thought about it, especially when her mind was filled with conflicting emotions about how near to them Articuno was. She could see larger snowflakes falling more frequently around her now, and paused to look up once again at the dark gray sky before turning back toward Spark.

All of a sudden her fur began to bristle as she was struck with an odd, yet strong impression that there was something bad nearby. The snow and the strange landscape made it difficult to pinpoint any exact scents, and she couldn’t see anything…

“Spark, look out!” Redclaw cried as the jolteon wandered toward a clump of pine trees that stood near an almost vertical slope of gray rock.

Just as Snowcrystal was about to ask the arcanine what had made him shout, a massive pokémon stepped out from behind the tall trees. Even from a distance, it looked taller than even Redclaw. The beast was covered in long, white hair, with a green coloring on its massive arms and stubby-looking legs. Its small eyes glared menacingly at first the jolteon, then the rest of the group; the eyes were the only feature visible on its otherwise expressionless face.

For a moment, no one moved. Even Spark and the strange pokémon had frozen in surprise. It was in this moment that Snowcrystal recognized what it was. She hadn’t at first because this was the first time she had ever set eyes on one, but although its species didn’t live on her mountain, she had heard about it. It was an abomasnow.

As Snowcrystal stared on in surprise, the tall pokémon lifted one of its massive arms, getting ready to swipe at the much smaller jolteon. “Spark!” she cried, but the electric type had already jumped out of the way as the ice pokémon’s arm swung toward him. Knowing that he was no match for a much stronger creature in its own habitat, Spark turned and ran.

Yet the deep snow was slowing him down. After a few leaps, he tumbled, rolling over in the powdery snow before struggling to his feet again. The abomasnow, although much slower than Spark, moved with ease through the snowdrifts, catching up quickly as Spark struggled to move faster.

Without thinking, Snowcrystal bolted forward, going over the flame wheel tactic she had practiced again and again in her mind. Redclaw and Wildflame had rushed to the rescue as well, but it was Alex who moved quicker than all the others. Racing ahead of the three canines, her paws seeming to glide over the snow, she bared her fangs and headed straight for the ice type who was gaining on Spark.

“Wait!” Snowcrystal tried to yell, but either the wind had gotten stronger and drowned out her voice, or Alex wasn’t listening. “It’s a grass type!” the growlithe screamed. “Wait!”

Ignoring the growlithe’s shouts, Alex ran on, bounding through the snow at a speed the others had not thought possible. White powder flew from her paws as the distance between her and her quarry shortened with every bound. She reached Spark just as the enemy pokémon was almost upon him, and flung herself at it with all her might.

Disregarding any actual attacks, the floatzel clawed and bit frantically at the creature as she latched her forepaws onto its shoulder. The abomasnow stumbled backward, swiping at her frantically.

Spark, who had fallen again, struggled to pull himself out of a deep snow pit, sliding along the ice on his belly until he managed to scramble out onto more solid ground.

Snowcrystal arrived on the scene quicker than Redclaw and Wildflame, who were not used to running through snow, to see Alex still clinging onto the abomasnow’s side, her teeth digging firmly into its arm. Snowcrystal wanted to fire an attack, but the two were moving so quickly that she was afraid of hitting Alex; water type or not, she did not need any distraction from an injury right now.

The abomasnow roared in frustration as it stumbled backward into another pit of deep snow, then with another roar – a cry of anger this time – he grabbed one of Alex’s tails in his free arm and wrenched her away. Alex’s eyes widened in pain a moment before she was forced to release her hold. She then found herself hanging upside down, the abomasnow glaring at her as he held her by the tail.

The floatzel yelped as she was sent sailing through the air, the abomasnow’s roar of anger ringing in her ears as she hit the ground hard. Dazed, she tried pushing herself to her feet, but a barrage of knifelike leaves, sent flying toward her by the ice pokémon, knocked her down, slicing through her fur and opening long cuts in her skin.

The still enraged abomasnow left the fallen floatzel where she was, rounding instead on Snowcrystal, who was still focusing on readying a flame wheel attack. The growlithe faltered in surprise, the flames flickering out as she lost her concentration. With another roar, the huge creature lumbered towards her. She didn’t have time to run. If she could just conjure up a powerful enough fire attack…

But she didn’t have to. Just as the pokémon was almost upon her, another roar resounded through the mountain area - Redclaw’s. A stream of bright orange flame seared above Snowcrystal’s head and headed straight for the abomasnow.

The creature howled in fury and pain, stumbling backward and away from Snowcrystal, some of its fur set alight. Wildflame appeared next to Snowcrystal, her paws kicking up snow into the air. Spark arrived next to her, every clump of hair on his body sharpened into needle-like spines. The abomasnow was still flailing in anger, trying to put out the flames.

“Do you think it’s-” Snowcrystal began.

“Look out!” Wildflame cried, and only just soon enough. Snowcrystal barely managed to close her eyes and duck as a wall of snow, ice, and wind came hurtling towards them. She braced herself by digging her claws into the ground beneath her, but it wasn’t enough. The powdery snow broke loose easily and Snowcrystal found herself being flipped backwards, landing in a heap where she was forced to endure the howling wind and jagged shards of ice.

Then suddenly, it stopped. The other three pokémon were still standing, although Spark looked unsteady on his feet. The abomasnow stood facing them, all the flames extinguished, though Snowcrystal realized with worry that it seemed as if for the most part, only the pokémon’s fur was burnt. The injury itself didn’t seem bad enough to truly hinder the ice type.

Redclaw was the first to leap forward, red flames forming inside his muzzle which he then launched at the foe. Yet before the flames reached the abomasnow, another massive barrage of ice and snow made its way toward them, stopping the flamethrower attack. Snowcrystal’s eyes widened. That snow attack looked far worse than the first.

Before she could act of her own accord, teeth met in her scruff and she felt Wildflame frantically dragging her away. To her surprise, they managed to avoid the blast of snow, which seemed for the most part to be concentrated on one specific area. As it thundered past, she noticed that Spark had managed to avoid it too, but Redclaw…

Redclaw was lying unconscious in the snow, ice frosted thickly over his fur.

“Redclaw!” Snowcrystal cried, fear for both her friend and herself welling up inside her; Redclaw was the strongest fire type in the group. That left only her, Wildflame, Spark, and…

Where was Blazefang?

Without stopping to think about it, Snowcrystal looked frantically at Wildflame while the abomasnow paused, as if stopping to regain some of its strength. “What was that?” she cried, not knowing what sort of ice attack could stop a powerful fire type in his tracks. Wildflame, however, was more focused on trying to hit the ice type with another fire attack.

“Sheer cold!” Spark replied from where he stood, his eyes still focused on the enemy. “Watch out! It’s coming again!”

This time, Snowcrystal was ready. As the ice and snow hurtled towards her, she quickly moved out of the line of fire, and once the air cleared again, she was relieved to see that Wildflame and Spark had avoided it again as well.

Wildflame leaped forward, shooting a stream of flame from her mouth, but once again a mass of whirling snow and ice, more like the first attack than the second, weakened it before it reached its target. This time, even Wildflame was knocked backward by the fierce wind, crying out in pain as she tumbled into a patch of snow.

Wildflame looked frantically at Spark, who seemed just about out of energy, and back at the abomasnow, who didn’t seem tired at all. Snowcrystal had expected the pokémon to be strong, but not this strong. The thought that it might have trained itself in strategies against fire types briefly crossed her mind, and with a jolt of horror she saw it readying another attack, far quicker than she knew she could finish summoning a flame wheel…

Suddenly a loud screech overhead sounded around them, its echo making it seem far louder than a sound any pokémon could make. Out of the corner of her eye, Snowcrystal spotted a birdlike shape in the sky. Was that Articuno?

“Hey, leave them alone!” a voice shouted, but it was a voice Snowcrystal recognized. Alex’s voice.

The floatzel was bounding toward the abomasnow, water beginning to form around her body from the air around her. Already it was crackling with ice from the intense cold brought about from the recent ice type attacks, but the water was moving too quickly around the floatzel to freeze completely. With a yell, Alex launched herself forward, more water spinning around her as she collided with the abomasnow just as it launched another attack.

This time, the blizzard wasn’t as strong as the ones before it. Snowcrystal endured it rather easily before it faded, quicker than the other two. When it did, the sight that greeted her eyes greatly surprised her. Both pokémon – Alex and the abomasnow – were partially frozen to the ground from the water meeting the blizzard attack. Alex was standing on all fours, each of her paws immobile, but that did not stop her from firing a water gun attack disdainfully in her enemy’s face.

“Now!” Wildflame shouted to Snowcrystal, before quickly launching a flamethrower at the surprised abomasnow before it had a chance to retaliate.

Snowcrystal focused all her energy and concentration on a flame wheel, realizing with immense surprise that it formed far quicker than she had expected. She launched the whirling tornado of flame at the struggling pokémon, and Alex ducked her head as the flames struck the abomasnow, right on target.

Snowcrystal began summoning the strength for another flame wheel, knowing that the attack would have melted the ice, but a sudden shriek from Wildflame made her glance in the houndoom’s direction. What she saw made her blood run cold.

A massive pidgeot, far larger than any she’d ever seen flying over her own mountain, had sunk its claws into Wildflame’s back and bowled the houndoom over. It wasn’t Articuno she had seen…it was another enemy!

Near the abomasnow, Alex grunted as she wrenched her paws free of the weakening ice. The huge white pokémon was injured and tiring now, and the floatzel knew it. Opening her mouth, she fired several star-shaped beams of energy at the weakened pokémon, causing it to give a yell of rage.

Snowcrystal’s attention, however, was on the massive bird pokémon. Spark was darting around it, firing sharpened spines at it whenever possible, but he couldn’t use an electric attack; the pidgeot’s strong talons were still gripping Wildflame.

With a strength she hadn’t known she had, Snowcrystal summoned another flame wheel even quicker than she had before, and sent the searing flames spiraling straight at the winged enemy.

The pidgeot squawked loudly, releasing Wildflame and taking to the air. Spark struck it with a thunderbolt, but to everyone’s surprise, the flying type stayed airborne.

Snowcrystal heard another cry of pain and then saw Alex running toward them. “Abomasnow’s down!” she panted. She seemed exhausted and had several long cuts across her face, probably from another razor leaf attack.

As Spark focused on attacking the huge pidgeot, another shriek rent the air, and a second pidgeot, almost as large as the first, dove down toward the jolteon, ignoring the bolt of lightning that shot upwards toward it from the panicked eevee evolution. It was Spark’s lightning speed that saved him. Luckily, he was standing on a flat rock with only a thin covering of snow. Bounding off of it, he avoided the pidgeot’s raking talons as it swooped past.

Snowcrystal was about to try and aim an attack at the swift flying pokémon when a screech for help met her ears. Whirling around, she saw Blazefang in the distance, struggling in a patch of snow next to a dangerously steep cliff, a fearow bearing down on him. She saw it stab downward with its beak, catching Blazefang in the hind leg and making him howl with pain. From what she could see, some of the snow around him was red…

What happened next made Snowcrystal feel like everything had suddenly gone horribly wrong, much more wrong than anything that had happened to them so far. Bright, blue-white flames, flames she had wished never to see ever again in her entire life, erupted from Blazefang’s gaping mouth. The houndour’s eyes widened, glowing a searing bright yellow as the twisted fire wrapped itself around the fearow, enveloping it completely and causing it to tumble backward over the cliff with an earsplitting screech. Blazefang stood up slowly, not noticing the blood flowing from his leg wound, and turned to look at the group who were still fighting.

His eyes were still a bright, pure, unnatural yellow. Walking mechanically, as if not on his own, Blazefang made his way toward them, leaving bloody pawprints in the snow. His eyes blazed, his mouth stretched in a grin…

But before he reached them, a dark shape raced across the snow, its long legs sending more powder sailing into the air. It cannoned into Blazefang, knocking the houndour clear off his feet and into the icy snow. It was Wildflame.

The houndoom stood over Blazefang, her sides heaving. Snowcrystal could hear Alex and Spark approaching her, having managed to fend off both pidgeot. Snowcrystal felt a pang of shame; in her panic at seeing Shadowflare, she had not rejoined the battle. It wasn’t like she could have done much, she tried to convince herself. The only good long ranged attack she had was flame wheel, and she could never have hit something as fast as a pidgeot. Only half satisfied with her excuse, she walked over to where Wildflame was standing over the motionless Blazefang. The others followed solemnly.

Blazefang’s eyes were opened, but they were back to their normal red. The houndour was looking at Wildflame with an expression of helplessness. “I’m sorry…” Snowcrystal heard him whisper as she approached. “I tried to fight it…I really did…”

Snowcrystal glanced around at the others. They all had cuts from shards of ice or leaves, and all of them looked exhausted as they stared down at Blazefang. Silence fell upon the group, and Alex was the first to speak.

“What about Redclaw?” she asked.

Snowcrystal turned around and darted toward the arcanine, who was beginning to stir. “Redclaw?” she whispered, stopping by his side and nudging his icy fur.

The arcanine’s eyes opened. “Snowcrystal…” he whispered weakly. “Is everyone all right?”

“I…I’m not sure,” she replied uncertainly. “No one’s seriously hurt…I don’t think. Can you get up?”

Redclaw didn’t reply, but he slowly lifted himself to his paws. He was weak, but he didn’t collapse. “I’ll be fine with a little rest,” he rasped. “It only knocked me out. It was an ice attack after all, and I’m a fire type.”

Snowcrystal heard footsteps as the rest of the group bounded through the snow toward them, even Blazefang, who still looked horrified at what he’d done.

“Well, we’d better get going,” Wildflame told everyone. “Those birds might come back…with friends.”

“Wildflame’s right,” Redclaw agreed, staggering forward. “Let’s move on.”

“But are you sure you’ve got enough strength?” Snowcrystal asked worriedly.

“I’m strong enough,” came Redclaw’s reply.

Without much of a choice, they began heading further up the mountain, fear giving them both strength and speed. Even when the snow became thicker higher up, they did not stop. Fear that a pokémon would drop down on them from the sky and attack spurred them onward.

After a while of trudging through snow, the group finally decided to take a break. There were no signs of any enemies, and they all felt very worn out.

“How much further?” Spark muttered, flopping down in the snow.

Snowcrystal lifted her head, narrowing her eyes against the biting wind. The wind had grown stronger ever since the abomasnow’s blizzard and sheer cold attacks. It would be harder to climb the rest of the way, even if it wasn’t quite so far. A sudden, horrible thought struck her. If the blizzard attacks could make more wind and snow and ice, did that mean that they could be causing the mountain to be this way, rather than Articuno? ‘No!’ That couldn’t be true. Darkfang had seen Articuno, and Alex had told them…

“It’s not that far,” Wildflame told the others from where she was still standing. “We can keep going. If we stay here, we risk more danger.” The wind whipped at the houndoom’s thin flanks and dried blood shone on her wounds, but the look in her eyes was fierce. She was more determined to get to Articuno than ever now.

“Wildflame’s right,” Redclaw agreed, heaving himself to his feet. The arcanine swayed for a moment but managed to stay standing. “I can keep going. What about the rest of you?”

“Redclaw,” Spark began, “I don’t think you should-”

“I may not be Thunder,” Redclaw replied, “but Master did teach me something I could make use of, and that was endurance. The real question is…are the rest of you ready?”

“So soon?” Alex asked, looking at him with a mixture of surprise and bewilderment.

“I’m ready,” Spark said as he gave a weary sigh and stood up. “I sure don’t want to be caught in the open.”

“Me neither,” Snowcrystal agreed. “Let’s go.”

They headed off, more slowly this time, keeping their eyes fixed on the rocks and trees around them, as well as the sky, in case an enemy could be lurking near. As they got ever so closer to the top, Snowcrystal could see that the sky was darkening even more, the clouds above them seeming ominous.

They soon came to a place where the rocks sloped upward so steeply that even Snowcrystal knew that she would not be able to climb it. Finding a dead end at one side and forced to go around the other way instead, they were soon met with a horribly steep cliff that seemed to slide down into pure gray nothingness. The group of six pokémon huddled together, the wind pushing at their backs as if it wanted to fling them over into the abyss.

“What now?” Alex cried over the wind. She was clutching Snowcrystal’s fur.

Snowcrystal wasn’t worried about heights; she was used to this in her mountain home. Yet something about the wind made her nervous. It seemed almost hostile. Nevertheless, she glanced around, wondering if there was any way…

Yes! There was. A narrow ridge leading up the mountain. Despite there being only a few feet between the rock wall and the edge of the cliff, Snowcrystal felt as if the ridge would be safe.

Safe for a mountain growlithe…but for the others?

“That way!” she called, pointing her nose toward the winding ledge.

“Are you crazy?” Alex called.

“No,” Snowcrystal replied. “I know it looks dangerous, but if we move carefully, it won’t be. The rocks should block most of the wind…” ‘Until we round that corner…’ she thought, looking ahead to where the path swerved out of view around the rock wall. ‘Then the wind could be heading straight for us…’

Wherever it led, they couldn’t go back now. How long could they waste looking for another route with those enemy pokémon lurking about? Taking a deep breath, she walked over to where the ledge began and placed a paw on it hesitantly, then walked onto it. It felt as sturdy as it looked, and the wind didn’t seem nearly as strong there. “Follow me!” she cried, walking forward with confidence, hoping that would help the others overcome their fear.

Spark went next, and the agile jolteon seemed almost as comfortable as Snowcrystal after the first few hesitant steps. “She’s right!” he called back. “The wind’s mostly blocked here!”

Alex went next, a lot slower than Spark, followed by Wildflame and Blazefang and lastly, Redclaw. The arcanine was having the most difficulty, being the largest, but he followed the others determinedly, his gaze focused only on the way ahead.

Snowcrystal plodded forward carefully, her fur prickling as she neared the place where the path veered around the corner. Taking another deep breath, she approached it carefully and stepped around the corner.

A blast of wind met her, forcing her to close her eyes and dig her claws into the icy ground in fear of being blown backward over the edge of the cliff. When she managed to open them, she was horrified at what she saw.

The path ahead sloped gently upward for a little while, and then suddenly turned steep. The steep part of the slope was made up of jagged rocks leading upward with a sheer drop on one side. Snowcrystal even doubted her own climbing abilities would allow her to scale that. With sinking regret, she realized that they needed to turn back.

Turning around ever so carefully, she rounded the corner and faced the others.

“What’s wrong?” Spark asked, looking puzzled.

“It gets really steep and narrow over there!” she explained, having to shout over the noise of the wind. “We have to go back and find another way!”

“Are you sure?” Redclaw cried worriedly from behind the others. “I don’t think I can turn around!”

Realizing the bad situation they were in, Snowcrystal frantically tried to think of a solution. Yet before she could, things became much worse.

A sudden shriek sliced through the air, and another gigantic pidgeot – or the same one, she couldn’t tell – wheeled into the air above them, circling once before diving straight at Redclaw.

Spark whirled around, firing a blast of electricity at the pokémon; it cried out and swerved away at the last instant, squawking harshly, but Snowcrystal couldn’t make out the words.

Everyone stood poised and ready, their eyes locked onto the large winged shape. Or…shapes. Snowcrystal watched in terror as more and more bird pokémon appeared, some far off and heading toward them, others very, very close. Snowcrystal watched Spark’s eyes dart from one to another; there was no way he could bring them all down with electric attacks at once. There was only one thing for it.

“Run!” she shouted, darting back around the swerve in the path, kicking up loose snow and almost slipping. It occurred to her that her friends would not be able to move nearly as fast, but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t slow down, for that would slow them down as well. She headed for the steep rock slope, feeling a whoosh of air as a pair of talons narrowly missed her; a bird had dived down at her from the top of the rock wall above them.

Panting, she reached the base of the rocks and leaped onto the first one. Pain stabbed through her paw as she cut herself on its sharp edge, but without stopping, she jumped to the next, and the next, and the next…

With a cry that was more terror than pain, Snowcrystal felt talons meet in her scruff and her paws were torn away from the rocks as she was lifted clear into the air. Flailing helplessly, she watched the rock ledge get smaller as she was lifted up, then watched as the ground down below moved out of her line of vision to be replaced with a sickeningly long drop down to a ground she couldn’t even see through the whirling snow. Her captor was going to drop her.

‘No! No!’ she cried frantically in her mind, twisting in the bird’s grip out of sheer panic, all rational thought lost on her.

Then, suddenly, a wave of heat washed over the growlithe, and the pokémon holding her gave a cry of pain before veering off to the side sharply and releasing its grip. Snowcrystal plummeted, but only for a few terrifying seconds. She landed roughly in deep snow, and it took her a moment to force herself to look up and realize that she had landed on top of the rock wall, above the ridge where the others were climbing. The slope was much gentler on this part of the mountain, and the mountain’s peak looked closer than ever before. They were so close…

The burned pidgeot had managed to right itself in the air, but now was focusing on a new target. Wildflame. Spark had reached the part of the ledge that led steeply upward, and with the agility his species was blessed with, hopped from rock to rock with lightning speed. Snowcrystal noticed with both relief and admiration that he did not stumble or slip once, although she expected him to at every jump.

Running up beside Snowcrystal, the jolteon stood at the edge of the rock wall, his eyes blazing as he watched Wildflame, Blazefang, Alex and Redclaw struggling to reach the steep rocks. With a cry of fury he threw back his head, and all at once several bolts of lightning erupted from his body. Forks of jagged electricity reached across the sky and lit it up with a brilliant white-yellow glow. Several of the bird pokémon shrieked and fell, only to right themselves after they were released from the attack. But Spark was still standing, sending even more beams of lightning at the attackers. At the moment, none of the bird pokémon could get near him, or the others.

Alex had reached the steep rocks. Followed by Wildflame and then Blazefang, the floatzel began making the climb, the wind tearing at her as she went. Redclaw waited below them, his massive frame quivering with fear. Near the middle, Wildflame slipped, but luckily against the solid wall next to her, and managed to climb back to her feet shakily. Alex paused and waited for the houndoom to catch up to her, then leaned against her as the two made their way to the top, the floatzel having better paws for gripping than Wildflame. Blazefang followed shakily behind, but being smaller, he found it easier to keep away from the cliff edge. Sheer desperation was overcoming fear, and the houndour was forcing himself to use all his strength to climb up each jagged boulder.

Then, suddenly, Spark’s electric attack stopped. The jolteon wavered on the spot, as if he was about to faint. Small sparks flew from his body, but that seemed to be the only electricity he had left. The bird pokémon moved in toward them once again.

One of them raked Alex across the back, causing the floatzel to loose her grip just as she was about to reach the top of the slope. She rolled over the side of the ledge, her paws gripped the edge as she fell, stopping her but leaving her hanging helplessly. Wildflame, who had staggered to the top, looked down at Alex with a look of terror as Blazefang managed to struggle up to the top alongside her.

Snowcrystal began running over to the water type, when a roar from Redclaw made her pause. The arcanine was trying to fend off two pidgeot who were attacking him from both sides. He fired a flamethrower at one that looked terrifyingly as if it had been about to use whirlwind, and it flew away, crying harshly in rage.

Redclaw swiped at the other with his paw, then made a dash for the rocks. He fired another blast of flame at a bird pokémon who had been trying to attack Alex, allowing the floatzel to scramble up onto the ledge and limp to safety. The arcanine reached the bottom of the steep slope and leaped, his paws outstretched in a mighty bound, showing far more grace than one would have thought a creature of his size would be capable of. His mane streamed out in the wind and his eyes locked on the ground beneath him before his leap was brought to a jarring halt as he landed roughly on the narrow ledge of rocks. Hardly pausing, he leaped up again, a much shorter distance this time, and his paws had scarcely touched the ground beneath them before he bounded upward once more, heedless of the bird pokémon who circled around him. One of them launched a whirlwind that missed him as he propelled himself upward and to the top of the ledge. The arcanine landed on solid ground at the top, lifting his head in a roar that echoed around them, sounding as loud as if several arcanine had been roaring at once. Then he whirled around to face the pokémon that had been following him, firing a stream of flame at them before turning and launching a similar attack at another group. Several more blasts of fire from the arcanine lit up the sky. Many of the enemy pokémon squawked in fear. Then Redclaw ran over to the rest of the group, standing in front of them before lifting his head and blowing out a stream of flames that encircled them all.

Snowcrystal watched as the brilliantly burning inferno circled them at startling speed, melting the snow around them. Redclaw was keeping the flames flowing from his open mouth, creating a towering whirlwind of fire that began to reach high above them. Snowcrystal huddled in front of Spark to shield him from stray flames that were being blown toward him from the wind, and looked up at the round circle of dark gray sky above, watching a few of the birds veer away from the flames.

Then suddenly, the whirling fire stopped, flickering out, as it had nothing to burn. Redclaw stood, gasping for breath, his eyes locked on the enemy bird pokémon. There seemed to be even more of them now, and in their exhausted state, no one had much strength to fight.

“Hurry!” Redclaw called, racing out onto the snow. “Toward the peak!”

He darted over the snowy slope, his mane and tail streaming. Forgetting all tiredness, the other five pokémon ran after him, following in the arcanine’s path so as to meet less resistance from the deep snow. All around them, the angry bird pokémon were moving closer, seeming to realize that the fight had left the travelers.

Snowcrystal was now in the lead along with Redclaw, her paws racing over the snow with ease. She had her eyes fixed on the slope ahead of her when she felt talons rake her across her back, knocking her head over feet.

A sharp beak sliced downward at her, and she twisted away, feeling it scrape the skin beneath the fur on her neck. Around her, she could hear the cries of her companions, but as for who was still running and who had been caught…she had no way of knowing. She struggled to free herself, kicking frantically at the bird and wishing her face wasn’t pressed down in the snow so she could use a fire attack, even a weak one…

Through a haze of terror and pain, she heard Redclaw howl in distress. Loud cries of flying types told her that they had either brought the arcanine down, or he was surrounded. Cries of friends and foe alike rang in her ears; she struggled madly but the talons held her in place, pressing her deep into the snow as the pokémon’s beak stabbed down toward her…

Then she heard another cry, one that sounded distinctly birdlike, but yet different all the same. It was a strange, eerie melody that rang out around the mountaintop, and it sounded hauntingly familiar, even with her ears pressed in the snow. At the moment, the staraptor holding her looked up, freezing in surprise. Snowcrystal lifted her head as much as she could and looked up as well.

The sight that greeted her took her breath away. Soaring through the haze of snow, long tail feathers streaming out behind him, was Articuno. Even bigger and more majestic than any of the other birds, the great ice type flew overhead, and Snowcrystal felt a strong, cold wind wash over her. With a startled squawk, the staraptor released her, leaving her alone to watch as the massive, blue feathered bird wheeled down close to her before circling up and around and flying over each of her friends, who had all been released and were still as stone, watching the legendary with awe. Struggling to her feet, Snowcrystal watched as Articuno flew near her again. He looked powerful…strong…so calm and in control…not insane at all!

Then with a suddenness that surprised her, the gigantic bird suddenly plummeted downward, startling the other flying types and causing them to take wing and head away from Articuno. Just as the ice type was about to reach the ground, he lifted his wings, gliding over the snow until he reached out with his massive black talons and gripped a jagged spar of rock near Snowcrystal, coming to a halt and folding his wings as he eyed her with his penetrating red gaze.

Snowcrystal stared back, hardly daring to move. After all this time, Articuno, the very same pokémon she had seen so often back at the mountain, was standing right in front of her. She had never seen him this close before. Every gleaming blue feather shone brightly, reflecting some of the dim light as if made of ice itself. Darker blue feathers made up the crest on his head, and he had a powerful, slightly curved beak, and wings that looked magnificent even when folded at his side. He was the most beautiful pokémon Snowcrystal had ever seen, and she felt tiny and insignificant in his presence. His form was outlined against the snow whirling in the air around him, but the majestic pokémon did not even seem to notice the biting winds. He regarded Snowcrystal with a look of genuine curiosity, and after a moment, the growlithe forced her stiff legs to move and walk closer to the legendary.

Around her, the others had slowly stood up and began to stare in awe at the massive bird. Snowcrystal heard their footsteps as they edged closer, and paused as Articuno turned his head to look toward them, then focused his gaze on the growlithe again. Snowcrystal realized that she couldn’t hear the other birds anywhere near, and wondered if they were hiding from Articuno. When she was as close to the legendary as she dared to get, she stopped. “Articuno…” she began. The ice bird looked at her and then took a pace forward so that he towered over her. She shrank back, and heard the others behind her stop. “Articuno, I need your help.”

“So that is why you have come here?” the ice bird replied, his voice loud and clear even over the sound of the wind. It carried a hint of the same graceful melody she had heard when he had arrived; it sounded unlike the voice of any other bird pokémon. “What about them?” He inclined his head sharply toward the other five travelers, who were now moving closer together, Redclaw standing in front of the others protectively.

“They’re helping me,” Snowcrystal explained. “We-”

“I called off the flying types to stop them from attacking a white growlithe,” Articuno replied. “But those others are a threat. Especially that jolteon.”

Snowcrystal chanced a glance at her friends, and saw Spark casting an astonished look at the others. She figured that being an electric type meant he was more dangerous to those birds…who for some reason seemed to be guarding Articuno, and realized that she needed to try and explain quickly. “He’s not dangerous,” she replied, looking into Articuno’s red eyes. “He came to help me. We only fought back against those bird pokémon because we didn’t have a choice. I came from the mountain where the growlithe tribe lived. I came to find out why you left! The snow is melting and our territory is shrinking. I fear that the houndour tribe will drive us out. You must come back!”

For a moment, Articuno simply stared at her, and she thought she heard the winds around her dying down, as if the whole area around them was becoming calmer as Articuno listened to her. “I am sorry,” he told her. “I can not come back.”

“What?” Snowcrystal gasped. After all this time, even when she thought Articuno might have been insane, she had not expected to get an answer so devastating. Here Articuno was, healthy and capable of defending her home, and yet here he refused. “But…why?”

From a little ways away, Alex tried to creep closer to Articuno, but a glare from the ice bird froze her in her tracks. Snowcrystal was still waiting for an answer, watching the legendary with wide eyes.

Articuno stepped closer to Snowcrystal, his talons crunching through the thick snow. He spoke loudly and clearly, as if he realized the exhausted pokémon watching from a distance would not be of any threat against the sheer power and numbers on his side. “I am here to watch over something,” he told her. “It is of great importance. I am sorry about what has happened to the old mountain. Had I known your land would fall into chaos, I would have tried to talk with the leaders before leaving, whatever the risk.”

“What…whatever the risk?” Snowcrystal repeated. “You left without warning! What risk could we possibly have posed to you?”

“It was not you and the houndour who were the risk,” Articuno replied. “It was time. When I was called upon, I had to leave at that moment. I flew for many days before arriving here, and I was nearly too late. I would have thought that the two tribes would be able to work something out amongst themselves, but if they cannot do that, then I cannot help them any longer.”

“But the ice is melting!” Snowcrystal screamed. “What could be so important that…” She paused, thinking about what Articuno had just said. He was here to watch over something, and it had been urgent enough for him to have to leave immediately, and he had obviously been warned by something powerful and important – another legendary perhaps – for him to have taken action so suddenly. As these thoughts whirled around her mind, one thing seemed to make sense, and even if it was just a guess, she had to at least find out. Fixing Articuno with a determined look, she asked, “Does all this have to do with the Forbidden Attacks?”

If Articuno was surprised, he did not show it. Instead, he merely nodded. “I wouldn’t have expected isolated pokémon like you to know,” he began slowly. “How much do the tribes know?”

“Nothing,” Snowcrystal said. “I found out on my way here. A pokémon told us that the ice attack had been used….”

“And a few others as well,” Articuno replied, and his gaze drifted slowly to Blazefang, who cringed and ducked behind Wildflame.

“Yes…” Snowcrystal replied. “That’s what you’re guarding, isn’t it? What all these pokémon here are guarding? Another Forbidden Attack? If that’s what the problem is, then why don’t you throw it off a cliff, or bury it somewhere? It can’t be that hard to get rid of!”

“It cannot be destroyed,” Articuno replied, an edge of anger to his voice this time. “Hiding it means that there is still a chance that it could be found. Pokémon are already seeking the attacks, and being guarded by a legendary is the only way to deter them. There are other pokémon willing to fight for me, but only a legendary strikes enough fear into a pokémon’s heart that they avoid trying to obtain the stones.”

“Then why can’t one legendary guard them all?” Snowcrystal shouted. Her emotions were whirling inside her like the snow in the wind around them; she didn’t know how to feel or react. She was having a hard enough time accepting everything she was hearing.

“Because each one needs a certain place where it can be guarded. An area where a pokémon of the type needed to use the attack would have a difficult time reaching,” he explained with a calmer tone to his voice. It was as if he could sense the young growlithe’s distress and thought the pokémon he had once looked after deserved to know why he had left her to fend for herself.

Snowcrystal didn’t reply at first; she was too busy thinking. Maybe, she realized, the reason all the bird pokémon had attacked them was because Spark was an electric type? Was it the electric Forbidden Attack that Articuno was guarding? Was that why he had singled Spark out as a threat? “But…but I don’t understand…why did you have to go?”

“Because this is a place I can survive in,” the legendary began, “that others can’t. It was ideal for hiding one of the stones, but only one. The rest are scattered. If one is taken, that means another in the same area could be taken too. That is why many legendaries were called upon.”

“But who-”

“I can’t tell you,” the ice bird replied.

“So you’re just going to let my tribe be driven out of our home?” Snowcrystal asked. Even though logic was telling her that Articuno was bound by some sort of promise he had made to someone, she wasn’t in any emotional state to listen.

“There will be nothing left of your home if the Forbidden Attacks become out of control,” Articuno said, his tone gaining a fierceness that made Snowcrystal shrink back. “With three or more found and some unaccounted for, I must do my part in protecting the remaining ones. We legendaries must do all we can.”

“But can’t you stop them? Take them away from pokémon? ...Destroy them? There must be a way.”

Articuno remained silent for a few moments. “I believe only the ones who brought them about can do that,” he said.

“Then who-”

“I don’t know, nor is it my place to know,” Articuno replied.

Snowcrystal lowered her head in defeat. She couldn’t bring herself to ask any more questions. The main answer was clear; Articuno wasn’t coming back with her.

“I will let you and the other pokémon leave in peace,” Articuno said calmly. “But earlier, some of the pokémon on this mountain flew back to me, telling me that one of the others with you used the fire Forbidden Attack.”

“Yes,” Snowcrystal replied. “That was Blazefang. He…he’s trying to control it, but he was under attack and…well, he used it on a fearow.” She winced as she said the last word. "I'm sorry..." She did not know whether or not Articuno knew the fearow personally, but she felt terrible for it all the same.

“I know,” came Articuno’s cold reply. “And when I heard that another fight had broken out and the intruders were holding their ground and hadn’t fallen off the cliff, I came to stop it before the attack could be triggered again. It was only because I saw you that I called them off. I had not expected a growlithe to come here. But now, you must leave. You and the others, especially that houndour, have no place here.”

“What about my tribe?” Snowcrystal cried.

“They cannot live here either. Nor would it be safe,” Articuno responded. “You will have to leave here quickly. As for the houndour…” he paused to look at Blazefang again. “I will let him go, but if he can not keep his attack under control, I nor anyone else can stop him from being captured and imprisoned like the ice type.”

“He won’t use it again,” Snowcrystal replied, hoping she sounded more sure than she felt. “He hates the attack…”

“At least he is one of the more sensible owners,” said Articuno, though he still regarded Blazefang as if he was a graveler that could self destruct at any moment. He gave the ragtag group of pokémon one last glance, and spread his magnificent wings, taking to the air. “I will tell the pokémon here not to harm you if you don’t fight them first,” he told Snowcrystal as he glided gracefully over the snow. “But you must leave quickly.”

Snowcrystal was about to reply, but Articuno had suddenly soared much higher into the air, at a distance far enough for it to be futile to try and cry out to him. As she watched him soaring above the mountaintop, several other bird pokémon appeared, flying near him. She could tell that they would soon know not to attack her or her friends. They were free to leave, but Snowcrystal found that she could barely get her paws to move. She felt as if her tribe was utterly alone now. They had simply been left to fend for themselves.

Suddenly she felt Redclaw’s fur brush against her and turned to look up at the arcanine. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go.”

Snowcrystal looked away, still standing unmoving. “Go where?” she asked. “What is there left for me to do? Go back and tell them I’ve failed?” Thinking, she realized that she couldn’t stand the thought. She hated the feeling of having come all this way just to realize that she was powerless to help after all.

“I’m sure your tribe can work something out…” Redclaw began.

“We need the snow to live!” Snowcrystal retorted with a flash of anger. “And Articuno just left us to die!”

“Snowcrystal, look!” Spark cried, walking over to her with the other three following him warily. “You can’t be of any help to them out here. It’s probably best to go back, where there’s something you can do.”

“But there isn’t something I can do…” Snowcrystal sighed, feeling her anger fade. “Not if I go back without help. I mean, if there’s any way…any way I could help them somehow…help Articuno be able to return…” She paused, thinking back to what the ice legendary had said. Even he did not know much about how the Forbidden Attacks had come about, but he had known that he could not destroy them.

‘I believe only the ones who brought them about can do that…’

That’s what he had said. A small spark of hope flickered inside her. Maybe, after all, there was something she could do. If she could find out who created the Forbidden Attacks, she could give Articuno and the other legendaries the information they needed. And if there was even a chance that some pokémon out there would know who those beings were, she was far better off searching for them than returning home only to watch helplessly and use up her tribe’s dwindling food supply as the growlithe were forced off the mountain. Keeping her gaze fixed on the haze of ice and snow around her, she didn’t even notice Redclaw or Spark’s reply. “I’m going to find out…” she said softly.

“What?” Spark replied, obviously confused.

“I’m going to find out who created the Forbidden Attacks,” she said, louder, as she turned to face her five companions. “Someone out there has to know who they are. They can’t hide from all pokémon.”

Redclaw and Spark exchanged glances, while Wildflame looked utterly at a loss for what to do. Redclaw looked the growlithe in the eyes. “Snowcrystal…”

“I know it sounds hopeless,” she replied. “But I can’t return home…there’s hardly any prey as it is. All of you who are still looking for homes can keep looking, and I’ll follow you, asking pokémon if they know anything. Someone will, I’m just not sure who or where.”

“I…I suppose, but…” Spark began, “if we’re all looking for things in different places, then…”

“Well, I’m not,” Blazefang declared, stepping forward with a look at Snowcrystal. “You may not be my first choice of company, but if there’s a chance I can get rid of Shadowflare, I assume my best bet is to follow you, on the chance you do learn something. I need to find out as well, so the legendaries will be able to do something in order to help me.”

Spark glanced at the others, then said, “I’ll help you, Snowcrystal. After all…I’ve come to realize…I don’t really want a trainer if it’s not Justin. I’m just as lost as Thunder or Wildflame or Redclaw. I suppose that continuing to look for a new home together would be best.”

“And a lot safer,” Redclaw added, though he still looked uncertain. “If this is really what you want to do, Snowcrystal, then do it if you feel that it’s right. And if we don’t find anything…” He paused. “Well, we can always be on the lookout for a new home for your tribe as well.”

To her surprise, Snowcrystal didn’t find the remark insulting or disheartening. “All right,” she agreed. “I’ll do that. As long as I’m trying to help.”

Throughout this time, Wildflame had been completely silent. The houndoom did not speak as the group slowly made their way back down the path they had come from. Snowcrystal knew that she was probably still very confused, but she had the chance of a new future now, even if her own tribe had rejected her. Soon, she thought, Wildflame would feel hopeful again too.

As they descended the mountain, Snowcrystal felt a new determination rising within her. The quest had not ended. There was still more she had left to discover…more that would help her tribe and many other pokémon as well. And now she no longer needed to search for the legendary that had been on her mind almost constantly since the start of her journey.

There was nothing more that Articuno could do.

Now she had to do something.

To be continued...

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 46 - An Unsettling Discovery

By evening, the group had made their way back down the mountain and onto the plains. Snowcrystal had told the three who had stayed behind what had happened, and they all settled down to rest at the base of the mountain in silence, each with their own thoughts.

Wildflame in particular felt lost. Everything she had hoped for had been dashed when Articuno had refused to go with them. Now she did not know whether to return to her pack empty pawed, or follow Blazefang in the hopes that he would know what to do. But then again, he had his own problems that had nothing to do with her. Should she go back to the mountain? The snow was melting anyway; it wasn’t like there was any more risk that Articuno would reverse it to help the growlithe tribe, but yet…the hopes of pleasing Firedash and gaining a higher rank in her own tribe were gone. Did she really want to go back to her pack life? With so little freedom and so many with ranks above her? The houndoom’s thoughts drifted as she glanced over the pokémon gathered around her.

Should she keep going with them? They were looking for new homes, weren’t they? Then again, she had lied to them. They couldn’t exactly trust her…but at the same time, she realized, tricking them on Blazefang’s orders was in the past. She figured that none of that mattered now, and as she glanced around at the others once again, watching them rest and talk, she decided that they didn’t need to know.

-ooo-

“Which way do you think we should go then?” Alex asked. The group had rested for a while and was now headed away from the mountain. “I mean, I know you don’t want to run into that Cyclone pokémon, but…”

“You’re still coming?” Blazefang muttered as he angled his head to look at her, giving the floatzel a slight sneer. “I thought you already had a home.”

“Well, I’d rather come with you,” she explained. “I want to help Snowcrystal find out the…the Forbidden Attack thing, or whatever it was…you see-”

“Forbidden Attack thing?” Blazefang repeated, sounding disgusted. “It’s obvious you aren’t taking this seriously. You’re better off in your old home, which was perfectly fine.” He turned away from her, walking ahead.

Snowcrystal watched him sadly and turned to Alex. “Thanks…for wanting to help,” she whispered to the floatzel once he had gone. “If I’m going to do this, I’m going to need all the help I can get.”

“Alex can come if she wants,” Redclaw added. “We’re not going to order her around.” A grunt from Blazefang was the only response.

Glad that the argument was somewhat settled, at least for now, Snowcrystal looked up to see the forest in the distance, remembering that that was where she had last seen Stormblade. Once again, she found herself wondering whether the human who had captured him was able to take care of him properly.

They were approaching a place that had only a few clumps of scattered trees here and there, and Snowcrystal began wondering if they should go back to the forest, or whether it was too dangerous to be worth the risk.

Any further thoughts about the forest or the route ahead were rudely interrupted by enraged shouts from Thunder at the back of the group.

“Leave me alone, or I’ll chop your tails off!” the scyther was screaming, her eyes locked on Rosie, who was standing with her fur bristling and all nine tails lashing.

“I’m not afraid of you!” Rosie spat back. “A blind hatchling could see that you wouldn’t last a second fighting a fire type! You probably couldn’t even get close to me without passing out again. You need to learn your place, learn to shut up, and learn that you aren’t the most powerful pokémon ever. You get weak just like the rest of us!” A few embers flew from her mouth as she spat out the last words.

Thunder looked murderous, but she made no move to attack, and Redclaw stepped between them before a fight could escalate further.

“All right, stop this now,” the arcanine muttered angrily. “Rosie, go up with Snowcrystal at the front of the group. Thunder…”

“I’ll do what I want! That ninetales can only fight with petty words. I can tear her apart!”

“And you will do nothing of the sort,” Redclaw growled, his voice losing its usual patience and gaining an irritated edge to it. “Stay here. She won’t bother you.”

He waited for Thunder to respond, but she only stared back at him, neither replying nor making any sort of move to attack. Redclaw turned away and followed Rosie, who glanced back at Thunder and glared at her, sticking out her tongue.

“Coward!” Thunder shouted at her, but she looked too exhausted to try and carry the fight further.

Snowcrystal watched the others, most of whom had paused during the brief fight, turn and start walking again, but she stayed put. Then, wondering if she was going crazy for thinking this would work, made her way over to Thunder, hoping to be able to calm her down.

On her way to the back of the group, she passed Blazefang and Wildflame, who were walking side by side. Wildflame glanced at Thunder. “She doesn’t get along with anyone here, does she?”

“She doesn’t get along with anyone at all,” Blazefang replied with an annoyed flick of his ear. “I don’t see why she doesn’t just leave. No one wants her here…”

Their voices faded as Snowcrystal passed them and approached the weakened scyther.

“What do you want?” Thunder growled, though she sounded less aggressive now; Snowcrystal was pretty certain that she secretly didn’t want a fight.

“I…I just wanted to talk with you,” Snowcrystal stammered, hesitating a moment. Thunder’s scythes still looked very sharp.

“Why?”

“Well, I just do,” she replied, not sure what Thunder would think if she told her she was trying to help. “And you can talk to me while we walk. That way, we might not get so tired if we’re focusing on something else…” She paused, wondering if Thunder would take that as some sort of insult about being weak.

“What good would that do?” Thunder muttered. “Talking will waste energy, not save it!”

Snowcrystal wasn’t sure how to reply, but at least Thunder didn’t seem any angrier. She opened her mouth to reply, but a voice from up ahead interrupted her.

“Snowcrystal, Thunder, are you coming?”

Snowcrystal recognized Redclaw’s voice and turned to see the arcanine looking at them. Without another word, she turned and followed the others, Thunder trailing along more slowly.

-ooo-

By the time the group stopped for a break, everyone felt exhausted, even those who had not made the entire journey up the mountain. Now that the strongest members of the group had hunted and brought back as much as they could find – although it wasn’t much – everyone was separating from one another to rest. Snowcrystal wondered if it would be a good idea to try to talk to Thunder again. She was surprised at how calm the scyther had been during their last conversation…well, ‘calm’ as far as Thunder was concerned. She was just worried that more fights would break out and someone would be hurt. Hopefully, she’d be able to reason with Thunder and at the very least get her to make sure to stay away from the others.

“Hey, Thunder,” she said cheerfully as she approached the scyther, trying to sound as if she was happy to see her rather than dreading it. “Do you think-”

“What is it with you?” Thunder growled from where she was lying on the grass, fixing her blue eyes on Snowcrystal. “Why are you talking to me? I don’t even like you.”

‘I know…’ Snowcrystal thought, suppressing a frustrated sigh. ‘The only one you don’t hate is Nightshade.’

Nightshade… She thought of something, hoping that it would be the answer she needed to keep Thunder out of trouble. “How about you walk by Nightshade when we leave again?” she suggested. “He won’t let Rosie bother you.”

“I do not need his help,” Thunder growled, getting up and standing to her full height. She towered over Snowcrystal, making the growlithe cower.

“I didn’t mean that…” she whispered. She wasn’t sure why Thunder had been calmer while listening to her give similar comments earlier, but seemed offended all over again by them now.

Thunder didn’t reply. Instead she merely lay down again, as if forgetting that Snowcrystal was there. “Besides,” she muttered, “Nightshade’s an idiot. I don’t really listen to what he says. It’s all nonsense.”

“No…Nightshade’s really smart,” Snowcrystal replied. “I…I thought you liked talking to him.”

“I do not. Not anymore. He says he understands my pain,” Thunder said in a sneering voice. “But he’s wrong. He thinks he can talk to me like he had the same experiences, like there was something physical blocking his way. But it was his own stupidity that was blocking his way, and he can’t even see that now! He tells me to trust other pokémon, but then tells me these things that make me realize how much of a mistake it was for him to do so. He’s angry and wants me to make his own mistake. He wants me to be miserable like him. But I’m not that stupid…”

By now Thunder was staring at Snowcrystal angrily, though at the moment, the growlithe hardly cared. Thunder’s words confused her and she had little idea of what the scyther was talking about, but whatever it was, she didn’t like to hear Thunder talking about Nightshade, or anyone, this way. She wanted to shout to Thunder that she was the one who didn’t understand, but she said nothing.

“I was trapped!” Thunder continued, nearly loud enough to be heard by the others, although luckily, none of them seemed to notice. “If I could have gotten out and killed Master I would have!”

At that moment, Snowcrystal felt like she should speak up. “Nightshade is not miserable, Thunder,” Snowcrystal replied. ‘But you are…’ she wanted to add, but held her tongue.

“What would you know?” Thunder responded angrily. “You’re just as delusional as the rest of them.”

Snowcrystal bit back a confused response. There was no use arguing, she thought, not when Thunder was so set in her own beliefs…whatever they were. Instead, she asked another question that had been on her mind. “So…you don’t actually trust Nightshade?” she said quietly, pretty sure that she knew what the answer would be.

“No,” Thunder replied, but the slight wavering in the tone of her voice made Snowcrystal wonder if she really did, even a little, or without realizing it. “But I’m right, and he probably knows it. That’s why he’s trying to drag me down. I was right and he was wrong!”

Snowcrystal was pretty sure that at this point, there was no sense trying to get Thunder to understand or even to explain what she meant about Nightshade. She couldn’t be sure if the scyther was actually serious or just rambling things off the top of her head. Without another word, the growlithe turned and ran back to the others, still feeling unnerved. She did not want to talk to Thunder anymore, that was for sure.

“Snowcrystal?” a voice called to her from behind a group of trees. She recognized Redclaw’s voice again.

“Yes?” she called, hoping her voice didn’t give away her mood.

“We’re going to start moving again,” the arcanine told her, peering from around a tree trunk. Most of the others had gathered there already, and none of them seemed aware of the odd conversation between her and Thunder. Thunder herself soon joined the group of waiting pokémon, looking just as she always did and giving no sign that anything had happened. She didn’t even look angry.

As Redclaw started to lead the way, Snowcrystal paused for a moment, still wondering about the things Thunder had said.

“Are you all right, Snowcrystal?”

The growlithe looked up to see Nightshade standing nearby, looking concerned.

“Huh? Oh, yeah,” she muttered, quickly hurrying by him and up ahead with Spark, Alex, and Redclaw at the front of the group. She caught a glance of Thunder out of the corner of her eye, watching the group with an unreadable expression.

Snowcrystal had the unsettling feeling that things were only going to get worse between Thunder and the rest of the pokémon in the group. They couldn’t exactly leave her behind to fend for herself, yet how long could they keep her with them before someone got hurt?

-ooo-

“It’s getting dark,” Spark muttered with a quick glance at the sky.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Blazefang called from behind him, looking irritated. Snowcrystal knew that the houndour was nocturnal, but after such a long time traveling, no one really seemed to care when they slept anymore as long as they got a chance to do so.

“Well, I wouldn’t mind sleeping now. Dark or not, everyone’s exhausted,” Rosie stated loudly, looking around at the others with a glare that dared them to disagree.

“Rosie’s right,” Redclaw agreed. “We’re all tired. Let’s rest.”

The traveling pokémon settled down as the sky grew dark, some curling up together in small groups and others lying down by themselves. No one bothered to try and keep a look out; in this place they figured they didn’t have much to fear, especially since they made up such a large group of pokémon.

Snowcrystal didn’t feel much like sleeping. She felt restless, still going over what Articuno had told her in her mind. She had to find some other pokémon who knew more about the Forbidden Attacks, and now that the entirety of her quest dawned on her, it seemed almost impossible. Watching the sky darken to black, Snowcrystal lay down against Redclaw’s forepaw, thinking that, if anything, she should at least rest if she wasn’t going to sleep.

-ooo-

The sound of something moving woke Snowcrystal from a light doze. Instantly she sat up, surprised that she had fallen asleep and wondering if there actually was some sort of danger out there on the plains. However, a quick look told her it was only Thunder, pacing back and forth a little ways away from the others. Snowcrystal glanced at her sleeping companions; none of them had been bothered by the noise. She watched Thunder for a moment and then lay back down.

Then without warning, the scyther suddenly darted away at full speed. Lifting her head in surprise again, Snowcrystal dug her claws into Redclaw’s fur.

“Redclaw, wake up!”

The arcanine’s head shot up, surprising Snowcrystal a bit as he looked around. “What is it?”

“Thunder!” the growlithe replied. “She just…ran off!”

Redclaw gave her a startled look before standing up quickly, his head pointed in the direction Thunder had gone while he sniffed the air carefully. “Follow me,” the arcanine whispered, and without waking the others, he set off in Thunder’s direction.

Snowcrystal tried hard to keep up with him, but even long days of running through the mountains had not prepared her to keep up with an arcanine. Her legs simply weren’t long enough, and she could barely trail behind him. Luckily, they didn’t have to run long, but when they found Thunder, Snowcrystal could hardly believe what she saw.

The scyther was leaping and slashing at another figure, a bug type with an odd, unnatural sheen to his armor. In a moment when Thunder’s opponent paused, Snowcrystal recognized him instantly. Scytheclaw! What was he doing here? Had he come to get revenge on them?

With a frantic look at Redclaw, Snowcrystal wordlessly begged him to do something. She was too afraid of hitting Thunder to use a fire attack, but to her relief, Redclaw only hesitated a second before leaping into the fray, pushing Thunder aside and pinning Scytheclaw face down on the ground. The scizor stayed motionless as Redclaw held him, seemingly with little effort.

‘The fight ended…just like that?’ Snowcrystal thought, feeling as if Scytheclaw should have put up more of a struggle, or at least been a bit more prepared for Redclaw’s attack. But the scizor still didn’t move. She then remembered that he had fought Nightshade very recently, and the heracross still had his battle wounds.

“What are you doing here?” Redclaw growled, his fangs gleaming in the starlight.

“I could ask you the same question!” Scytheclaw spat.

Snowcrystal’s eyes wandered to where Thunder was, surprised to see her lying on the ground as if she thought no one would notice her. She seemed exhausted and weak.

“What do you want with us?” Redclaw snarled.

“Nothing!” the scizor cried. “She attacked me!” He tried to glance over at Thunder, but the way Redclaw’s paw was pushing him to the ground made it impossible.

Now that Snowcrystal got a good look at Scytheclaw, she could tell that he was still injured from the battle. Not only that, but he had gotten some new injuries as well, and parts of his normally shiny armor were filthy. She couldn’t say she felt sorry for him, but it certainly explained why Redclaw had been able to overpower him so easily.

“What’s that around your neck?” Scytheclaw snapped suddenly, jolting Snowcrystal out of her thoughts. She noticed that the scizor was staring straight at her, his eyes blazing. “Is that one of them? One of those stones?”

“N…no…” Snowcrystal replied, shaking her head as she backed away, almost unconsciously. He didn’t mean the Forbidden Attacks, did he? Did he know about them?

“That’s enough!” Redclaw growled with another glare at Scytheclaw. “Look, if you don’t want a flamethrower to the face, I suggest you get up and walk back the way you came from…now!” In a swift movement he released Scytheclaw, who glared murderously at the arcanine before turning and running off toward a large group of rocks.

Snowcrystal glanced at her friend after the scizor had retreated. “Redclaw…do you think Scytheclaw thought my stone was a Forbidden Attack?”

“I don’t know,” Redclaw replied, but she could tell that he was worried. “Even if he does know something,” he added before Snowcrystal could speak, “it’s too late now. And I doubt he’d know more than a legendary like Articuno does anyway.”

“But-”

“Several pokémon know the legend,” Redclaw continued, “and…I know you want to ask pokémon about these attacks, but we can’t trust him.”

“I wasn’t going to-” Snowcrystal began, but stopped mid-sentence. She had detected the hopelessness in Redclaw’s voice. So many pokémon knew the legend…but how many of them actually knew something that would help them?

-ooo-

When the three of them returned to the rest of the group – Thunder reluctantly – Snowcrystal felt even more restless than ever, too restless to even lie down. Even after Redclaw fell asleep, she stayed awake, pacing back and forth as she scanned the sky, absorbed in her own thoughts.

What if Scytheclaw had known more than Redclaw suspected? After all, Cyclone’s army had moved through their valley, so what if one of Scytheclaw’s pokémon had overheard one of Cyclone’s and the valley pokémon had learned something? Come to think of it, Cyclone himself probably knew a lot more about the Forbidden Attacks than she did, but there was no way she could talk to him. But maybe…

Maybe she really could talk to Scytheclaw after all.

She stood up, wondering if she should ask someone to come with her, though she wasn’t sure if they would. And Nightshade and Redclaw couldn’t come; Scytheclaw wouldn’t cooperate with them. But he had nothing against her…

After a moment of thought, Snowcrystal silently got up and crept away. She knew that what she was about to do was risky, but she wasn’t about to turn down her first real clue to finding out more about the Forbidden Attacks. She could only hope that everything would go as planned.

It wasn’t hard to track Scytheclaw’s scent over to the large rocks, but he wasn’t there when she reached them. He must have moved on, further away from her group. Undeterred, Snowcrystal followed the scent trail to a small grove of trees, thinking that it was a likely spot for the scizor to rest. As she got closer, the scent grew stronger, and as she walked into the trees, she grew more and more certain that her hunch was right. As quietly as she could, she crept further into the grove, the trees’ branches obscuring most of the moonlight and shrouding her in near darkness.

A darker shadow fell over her as she stepped around a large bush, and before she could even pause to wonder what it was, something slammed into her body and knocked her to the ground. Her head landed against a small pile of pointed rocks and she heard a small snap; she felt her crystal slide off her neck and fall onto the ground. The plant fibers holding it in place had broken. She stared up in shock as a red pincer reached down and grabbed her around the neck. She froze, not daring to move in case her throat was cut by the razor edges of the pincer. Her eyes slowly moved upwards to lock themselves with Scytheclaw’s. The scizor looked wild and desperate, as if he wanted something out of her, but she couldn’t even begin to guess what he could want. He wasn’t going to try to eat her, was he? She was contemplating risking an attempt to use a fire attack when the scizor spoke.

“Do you have it?” he growled, but Snowcrystal could only stare at him in confusion. “That power! The power that the army was looking for! The army that your friend knew about!” He paused, looking at the terrified growlithe suspiciously. “Don’t even try to tell me that you don’t know. My servants heard pokémon from that army talking. It comes from strange stones! Yours is one of them, isn’t it? You wouldn’t carry it around otherwise!”

Scytheclaw suddenly released her, leaving her panting for breath as he stooped over her and picked up the broken necklace. The crystal was still attached, glowing faintly despite a filthy covering of dirt on its surface.

“That’s not one of them,” she gasped, giving Scytheclaw what she hoped was a convincingly honest look. He shot her a glare and she added, “To activate one of the real ones, I…I think you have to touch its center. Blazefang mentioned that…so you can try it if you want.”

She watched as Scytheclaw tapped the crystal a few times and turned to look at her. “I already have it,” he muttered, throwing the crystal down at her paws. “You try it.”

Snowcrystal obediently did as she was told, and, as she expected, got no result. “I’ve already done that, and I don’t have any power,” she explained. “But…that’s what I wanted…I mean, I came to talk to you. I wanted to ask you what you knew about the…the…”

“Your houndour friend has it…” Scytheclaw began suddenly. “The army wanted him. He must have taken the crystal’s power. He’s the one I need.”

A cold chill swept through Snowcrystal’s body. Surely Scytheclaw wasn’t trying to gather pokémon who could use Forbidden Attacks too? “Look,” she began, “I’ll get Blazefang…” She cringed, hoping he wouldn’t see through her lie, and went on, “I’ll get Blazefang if you tell me what you know.”

“You want me to trust you?” Scytheclaw sneered.

“You won’t be able to get him on your own, not with my friends guarding him,” Snowcrystal pointed out.

She expected Scytheclaw to be angry, but the look he gave her was only one of defeat. “Fine,” he muttered, in a voice that seemed to fit his weakened state much more than the angry growl he had been threatening her with before.

Snowcrystal kept silent and watched him expectantly, prepared to run in case he made any sudden move to attack her. Even if he was weak, she wasn’t taking any chances. She’d seen what he’d done to Nightshade.

Scytheclaw looked away from her as he started to speak. “I found that stone in the mouth of an old arcanine statue at the bottom of a pool. When I touched it, it felt really strange, almost as if a pokémon were using a psychic attack on me. I passed out then, but when I woke up…”

“Oh no…” Snowcrystal whispered. Scytheclaw turned to glare at her and she realized that the words had come out of her mouth before she’d even realized it. Even now that she knew he was angry, any fear she would have felt was drowned out by the realization that Scytheclaw could have very well gotten hold of a Forbidden Attack, and who knew what he’d done since he’d been on the loose with it.

“What?” he demanded, turning around and straightening up to full height so he towered over the growlithe. “What was that thing? Do you know what it was?”

“Yes…” she whispered silently, too afraid to try and lie even though by now she was sure that Scytheclaw didn’t know much about what the Forbidden Attacks were, just that they were a ‘power.’ “That was a Forbidden Attack.”

Scytheclaw paused, his angry look vanishing to be replaced with a new look, one of complete confusion. “A…a what?”

Snowcrystal realized that the best thing to do now would be to explain to Scytheclaw what the Forbidden Attacks were. Maybe, if he knew, he’d know better than to use one. “A Forbidden Attack,” she repeated. “Blazefang has one. They’re extremely powerful, but extremely destructive and…and they make the user go insane, if they’re used too often. And it gets harder to resist the more they are used. The wounds caused by the attacks don’t...I mean, might not heal. If pokémon know you have one, they could try to kill you, because if you die, the power is transported to the nearest steel type.”

Scytheclaw simply stared at her. “You’ve got it all wrong!” he snarled. “Sounds like nothing but silly tales used to frighten young pokémon. Nonsense. But a ‘Forbidden Attack…’” He suddenly looked thoughtful. “That could be what they’re called…I touched the stone and got this power. But what you’re saying about insanity is a lie. It hasn’t been hard to resist using it and I haven’t started going insane!”

“You mean you used it?” Snowcrystal asked, fighting the terror that threatened to overwhelm her. What would they do now that another Forbidden Attack was on the loose? She forced herself to become calm enough to ask another question. “Did you…find out what it does?”

“Yes,” Scytheclaw replied, confirming Snowcrystal’s worst suspicions. “I found out. I…I can heal things.”

Snowcrystal suddenly felt as though everything she’d learned about the Forbidden Attacks had turned upside down. Of all possible things she could think of the steel type or bug type Forbidden Attack being capable of, this was the last thing she had expected to hear. Healing things? That didn’t sound like a Forbidden Attack at all…

“But at a cost…” Scytheclaw continued. He was turned away from her now, lost in thought as though he wasn’t even aware he was talking to someone anymore. “I found out when I was hunting and injured a pidgey instead of killing it. That’s when I first used the power. I can heal things, but it causes me pain. And I cannot heal my own injuries. I certainly tried. The power is absolutely useless to the one who has it! And that-” He turned around to look at Snowcrystal as if suddenly remembering she was there. “...Is why I need the houndour. I need him to heal me so I can survive in this awful place!”

“Blazefang can’t heal,” Snowcrystal whispered, unsure of what to say or even if he’d believe her. “His attack…well, it’s destructive. It’s wrong. It does nothing but hurt other pokémon. Scytheclaw, I’m not even sure if what you have is a Forbidden Attack at all.”

“What do you know?” the scizor growled. “That army was searching for a power and this had to be part of it. If it wasn’t a…Forbidden Attack…or whatever they were searching for, what is it?”

“I don’t know,” Snowcrystal replied with complete honesty. “But if you come with me…well, I think you should talk to my friends.”

“Forget it,” Scytheclaw growled, suddenly seeming furious again. “If Blazefang doesn’t have the same power, then what use is he to me? I won’t go back to them just so they can attack me again.”

Before Snowcrystal could stop him, the scizor had bounded off into the trees, leaving her alone and confused in the darkness beside her broken and tattered crystal amulet.

-ooo-

“A large group of pokémon passed this way, Volco. That’s what we’re looking for, right?”

The typhlosion grinned, earning a rewarding pat from his master as he scanned the area around him, fresh with signs that a large group of pokémon had passed that way not long ago. The canyon was rich with vegetation and the river provided him, his master, and the remaining pokémon with all the food and water they needed. The going would be good for at least a while.

“Come on, Volco,” Master stated, turning and walking again, following the sparkling river. “Looks like there were quite a few different species in this group. Plenty to choose from, eh?”

Volco padded quietly after him, his senses alert as he scanned the trees around him, noting with glee that the area seemed to be untouched by any trainer before them.

-ooo-

Nighttime had also fallen upon Justin and Katie. The two friends and Katie’s pokémon had stopped for the night, lost in the confusing plains and with no further sign of the white growlithe they had been so diligently searching for. Even Poochyena had become confused, and no longer seemed to be able to find a scent to follow. Justin and Persian sat away from the others; Justin still refused to talk to Katie about anything other than the white growlithe. He simply sat with his back to them, alone in his thoughts.

Stormblade was, for the first time since being captured, sleeping outside that night. He had managed to get his new trainer to understand that he preferred it, and she had let him lie down on one of her blankets instead of making him spend another night in the poké ball. Stormblade had never disliked poké balls, but they had always felt so unnatural compared to sleeping beneath the sky and stars.

Although his pain had been dulled quite a bit by the human’s medicine and he could think clearer, it was still distracting enough to keep him awake most of the time. He had done nothing but rest since Katie had captured him, but he still felt exhausted. Even finally being able to get enough food hadn’t restored his energy like he thought it would have. He just seemed to feel more and more tired.

But at least, he thought, the humans had lost Snowcrystal’s trail. The growlithe could go on to find Articuno without the threat of being captured by a poké ball. Briefly, he wondered how far they’d gotten, and whether or not help was on the way for Snowcrystal’s pack already. And whether Spark was still on his way to find a new home, or if he had somehow found one already. The scyther kept his gaze focused on the stars, certain that if Snowcrystal hadn’t found Articuno yet, then she would soon, and everything would finally be right for the growlithe and her tribe.

Under the same stars that Stormblade was watching, Snowcrystal slowly made her way back to the group, her broken amulet hanging from her mouth. Feeling more confused than ever, she seemed further away from her goal than she ever had.

To be continued...

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 47 - A New Destination

A few days had passed since Snowcrystal’s encounter with Scytheclaw, and the pokémon found themselves nearing the canyon once again. They had decided to rest early the previous day, but everyone was still tired. Morning had come faster than anyone had anticipated, and as the group of pokémon waited for those who were currently out hunting to return, they talked in low voices about what Snowcrystal had learned.

Snowcrystal herself kept out of their conversations; she had talked about it enough. Instead she simply waited for the hunters to return while trying to drown the sound of the others out. Her crystal amulet had been fixed by Nightshade, who had managed to find some thin but tough plant fibers to replace the broken ones that had held the crystal around her neck before. She wasn’t sure where Nightshade was now; he had flown off to find food for himself and hadn’t yet returned.

As she was contemplating walking away from Wildflame, Spark, and Rosie, who were talking to each other worriedly about the Forbidden Attacks, and finding a quieter spot, she noticed Redclaw heading back from a grove of trees. The arcanine had a taillow in his mouth, but nothing else. Snowcrystal hoped Alex would return with something more, because one taillow wouldn’t be much of a meal for all of the meat-eating pokémon in the group.

Blazefang’s head perked up as Redclaw approached, and he stood up from the clump of dry bushes he’d been resting in. “That’s it?” he scoffed. “That arcanine needs a few hunting lessons, I think.”

“Hey!” Rosie snapped. “He’s the one doing the work. I bet you’re not such a great hunter yourself.”

“I’m a better hunter than he is,” Blazefang growled. “And I’d be able to catch much more if you pokémon would let me!”

Snowcrystal watched Rosie roll her eyes and look away, while Blazefang lay back down with a frustrated grunt. It had been decided by the group that Blazefang would not hunt; everyone was too worried about the risk of him losing control of his Forbidden Attack. Although Blazefang tried to insist that he wouldn’t, no one believed him after the incident on Articuno’s mountain.

Redclaw trotted up to them wearily, dropping the taillow at their feet, where Wildflame sniffed at it, looking disappointed. “Where should we head now?” the arcanine asked them. “We’re nearing the canyon again, and I know you don’t want to go back through the forest…”

“Or further past it,” Rosie added. “That’s where Cyclone and his followers went.”

“We could travel across the canyon and then explore the land on the other side,” Redclaw suggested. “Cyclone’s pokémon headed in that direction…” He turned his head toward the forest trees in the distance. “So we wouldn’t run into them.”

“I guess it’s as good as any other place,” Rosie muttered. “I just hope it has more prey.”

“You pokémon have no idea where you’re going,” Blazefang growled. “You could be heading away from any hope of finding out more about the Forbidden Attacks for all you know.”

Snowcrystal inwardly flinched; she knew Blazefang had a point. Right now their only plan was to rely on pure chance. After finding Articuno and learning about Scytheclaw’s power, Snowcrystal’s hopes had been deteriorating as she realized more and more just how daunting their task was, even if there were a lot of pokémon to talk to. She didn’t like the fact that they had once had a set destination for their journey – Articuno’s mountain – and now that they had nearly reached the canyon again, they seemed right back where they started, alone and simply left to wander aimlessly.

“What about the humans?” Spark suddenly said, causing everyone to look at him. Undaunted, he continued, “I mean, the humans know about the legend. Maybe we could go back to the city!”

“Too dangerous,” Rosie replied. “You think any of us, especially Snowcrystal, would be safe wandering around a human city?”

“You have any better idea?” Spark retorted irritably. “At least there we’d have some sort of start. It’s better than wandering around in the wilderness.”

The ninetales narrowed her eyes. “You just love humans too much.”

“Well, hi, everyone!” a cheery voice called, putting the argument to a stop. Snowcrystal turned to see Alex standing a few feet away with a couple of goldeen at her feet. Snowcrystal had been so distracted by the others that she hadn’t even heard the floatzel approach. “What are you talking about?”

“Nothing that concerns you,” Blazefang growled with a glare at the floatzel. “Now do us a favor and quit stalking us!”

“Hey, she brought us food, didn’t she?” Rosie stated. “Which is more than can be said for you.” She gave Blazefang a grin that earned her a seething look from the houndour.

“We’re talking about where we’re going to travel after this,” Spark told the floatzel. “But let’s talk about that later! I’m hungry!”

The pokémon agreed to split up what little food they had gathered, and when Thunder reluctantly approached them, Redclaw tore off a chunk of meat for each pokémon, all of whom looked less than pleased with the amount they got. Thunder grabbed hers and walked out of earshot of the others before sitting down to eat. The rest of the pokémon were eating together in silence when Nightshade returned.

Spark, who had finished his meal in a few bites, looked at the heracross and asked, “Nightshade, do you think we should go back to the human’s city? I mean, it’s the one place we know of that might have people...or pokémon, who know more about the Forbidden Attacks.”

Nightshade seemed surprised at the question, but before he had a chance to answer, Rosie spoke up.

“You really think we’d be able to find out anything without some human coming up to us to fight or capture us? We wouldn’t even be able to get close to any useful-”

“But the pokémon could know!” Spark protested. “I could pose as a trainer pokémon on some sort of errand. If I picked up a few pieces of paper from a garbage bin they’d just think I was delivering something for my trainer. A few of you could do that too, and we could search different parts of the city, asking the pokémon. I’ve been thinking about this ever since we left the mountain…and I think it could work. Unless, you know, you just hate humans too much…”

“That could work,” Redclaw said. “I’m too big to pass for an errand running pokémon, but I, and those who don’t want to take part, could wait in the forest.”

“So you’re supporting his crazy plan?” Rosie growled.

“It’s not crazy,” Redclaw responded. “Let’s face it, Blazefang’s right. We really have no idea where we’re going.”

Snowcrystal listened, not sure she wanted to join in the argument. She had to agree with Spark, however. She had seen the painting in the city’s library depicting a human artist’s interpretations of the Forbidden Attacks. They knew something, probably more than most pokémon. And the pokémon around them probably knew something more too. Traveling back to Stonedust City seemed so dangerous…but then again, wasn’t wandering around foreign lands dangerous as well? “I…I agree with Spark,” she said hesitantly, aware that a few of the other pokémon were looking at her strangely.

“What about those of us who are looking for homes?” Wildflame asked. “That includes you, Redclaw,” she added, turning to the arcanine.

“I know,” the arcanine replied. “But I don’t see anywhere suitable for me to live out here, and truthfully I’d rather help Snowcrystal than stay in a strange place alone. If we find wild arcanine, however, I probably will join them. Until then, I’d rather be of some use to someone else rather than simply wandering about on my own.”

Wildflame muttered something about him being crazy but said no more. Instead she just looked down at her paws and let the others talk.

“I don’t like it,” Rosie said quietly, shaking her head as if trying to shake off a bad thought. “I really don’t like it…”

“You don’t have to come,” Spark reminded her. “I mean-”

“So you’re just going to leave me here all alone?” Rosie retorted.

“No,” Spark replied. “I just…thought that maybe you could go your separate way once we were close to the city.”

Rosie didn’t look satisfied with that answer either. “What was wrong with exploring the wild?”

Blazefang watched the two arguing pokémon through narrowed eyes. “Pfft…humans,” he muttered. “I’m no one’s errand pokémon.” Beside him, Alex yawned.

“Look, you won’t even have to take a step inside the city!” Spark was telling Rosie. “You could wait out in the forest with the others, far enough away so the humans won’t see you.”

Up until then, Nightshade had only been listening silently. “What I think,” he began, and even Spark and Rosie stopped their arguing to listen to him, “is that Spark has the best idea. If all the Forbidden Attacks are as dangerous as Shadowflare is, think of how many pokémon could be hurt by them if we don’t find the answer and tell the legendaries. If this human city has some sort of a clue, I think we should follow it. It’s better than wandering around blindly, hoping for information to suddenly fall on us. Spark’s plan is a good one, and going near the city will be no more dangerous than roaming strange lands we don’t know. I think we should listen to Spark.”

“I know that I will,” Snowcrystal spoke up firmly before anyone else could reply. “I know I won’t be much help once I reach the city, but I’ll find something I can do. I need to find this information. And someone in that human city might know what we need, or at least have some sort of clue.”

“But…” Rosie began, sounding very dismayed now that she could see she was outnumbered.

“I never thought I’d say this,” Blazefang muttered, “but I agree with the jolteon. I’d rather be following some sort of clue than wandering out in the middle of nowhere. The faster I learn how to get rid of this attack, the better.”

“What about you?” Rosie asked Wildflame, a hopeful look in her eyes.

“Makes no difference to me,” Wildflame said. Rosie’s hopeful expression fell.

“I’m sorry, Rosie,” Redclaw told the ninetales. “But this looks like our best chance. I’m sure Spark knows enough about the humans to keep us safe as long as we’re careful. We won’t let anyone get captured.”

Rosie looked down at her paws and did not reply.

“So it’s decided then?” Spark asked. “I know it’s risky, but at least we know what we’re up against, whereas we have no idea what’s out there…” He looked in the direction of the canyon, and Snowcrystal suddenly found herself unwilling to find out what lurked beyond it as well.

“I think it is decided,” Redclaw replied. “We should be safe going back through the canyon now that Scytheclaw is gone, and there’s plenty of prey there. Prey that we need.”

“Come on, Rosie!” Spark cried. “Foooooooood!”

“I still think it’s a bad idea!” the ninetales stated, ignoring Spark.

“I’m sorry,” Snowcrystal told her. “But my mind is made up. I’m heading back to the city, along with anyone that wants to come. You…you won’t even have to go near the humans, Rosie. It won’t be so bad.”

“I guess I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” she muttered. “Go with you or get left alone…”

Snowcrystal wasn’t sure what to say. Redclaw was already looking toward the canyon, a newfound hope in his eyes. “We won’t put you in danger, Rosie,” he tried to assure her. “But Nightshade’s right…there are lives at stake now that Cyclone is searching for the Forbidden Attacks. Spark’s idea is more likely to lead us to answers. We should trust him.”

Spark beamed at Redclaw, but Rosie still looked angry. However, it was clear that she realized that it had been decided; they were going to travel back to the city.

“Let’s get going,” Blazefang growled impatiently, walking away from the scraggly bushes he’d been resting next to and following Redclaw.

“I’ll come!” Alex announced. “I can help. Maybe the humans know about the ocean too…oh! I bet they do!” She bolted off after Blazefang and Redclaw, overtaking them and turning around to wait for the rest of the group eagerly.

“Thunder, we’re leaving!” Redclaw called back to the scyther.

Thunder looked up at them for a moment, realized they were starting to travel again, and slowly walked back toward them from where she had been eating, seeming agitated. “We’re going already?” she growled when she reached them.

No one bothered to answer. Probably, Snowcrystal thought, because no one could think of anything to say to Thunder that wouldn’t make her mad. They followed Redclaw and Alex in silence, each with their own whirlwinds of thought.

Then Thunder stopped in her tracks. “Why are we going that way?” she asked in a low, threatening voice that didn’t really match her question. “Are we going across the canyon?”

“No,” Spark told her. “We’re going back into it. We’ll climb up the other end near where the cave was and go back the way we came.”

Snowcrystal realized that Thunder didn’t yet know of their plans to return to the human city, since she had been away from the group at the time. “We’ve decided to go back to the city,” she told Thunder. “To find out about the Forbidden Attacks.”

“What?” Thunder replied, suddenly looking more furious than Snowcrystal had seen her in a long time. The other pokémon stopped momentarily to look at her; they could all tell that she obviously hadn’t taken the news well at all. “Go back to where humans live? I’d rather die!”

Snowcrystal opened her mouth to speak, but Redclaw did first. “You won’t have to take a step inside that city,” he told Thunder. “Just a few of us will. You’ll stay out in the forest with-”

“No!” Thunder replied fiercely, lifting her scythes and baring her teeth. “I won’t go near it!”

“No one’s asking you to come,” Blazefang muttered. “Go on and run off now if you must.”

Snowcrystal wished Blazefang would keep quiet. Everyone knew, though no one openly admitted, that Thunder relied on them for food; she would starve on her own. Luckily, this time Thunder did not reply, and as the rest of the group turned and continued walking, she trailed behind, still glaring daggers at them.

The group of pokémon carried on until they reached the canyon’s edge. It was there that they decided to stop for another rest. The top of the cliff leading down into the canyon was dotted with bushes which provided them shade from the sun.

“You think one of us should go looking for food down there?” Spark asked, peering down the rocky ledge that formed a path from the cliff to the canyon’s base, where he could see plenty of foliage growing near the river.

“Good idea,” Rosie agreed.

Redclaw sighed. “I suppose so,” he began, standing up. “We won’t have to worry about any hostility now that Scytheclaw’s gone. Who wants to go with me?”

“I will,” Snowcrystal stated as she looked up.

“So will I!” Spark chimed in.

“Anyone else?” Redclaw asked wearily. No one said anything. “All right, come on you two,” Redclaw told Spark and Snowcrystal, who sprung to their paws and followed him. Getting up from her resting place, Thunder began to follow them too.

“And where are you going?” Rosie sneered.

Thunder bared her teeth at the ninetales. “With them!” she yelled with startling ferocity, looking almost as if she wanted to tear Rosie’s head off just for questioning her.

Though the look in Thunder’s eyes made Snowcrystal back away, Rosie seemed unaffected. “Huh, like you could catch anything with those injuries,” the ninetales snorted.

Thunder made no reply, but continued to glare at the fire type. Then she stepped forward and lifted her scythes. Rosie stood without flinching.

“Face it,” she said. “It’s true.”

“Now hold on, Thunder,” Nightshade spoke up as he limped over toward the two angry pokémon. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to go wandering off now. You want to get strong again, right? And the best way to let that happen is to rest-”

“I am strong!” Thunder shouted. “Stronger than you are. I don’t want to wait around for food!”

Snowcrystal couldn’t understand just what had been making Thunder so agitated the past few days, and especially that morning, but the look on the scyther’s face made it seem as if she wanted to attack someone right then and there. It worried her a bit. She had a feeling that Thunder could really care less whether or not Nightshade thought she was weak; she just seemed so furious that other pokémon were questioning or disagreeing with her. She had acted in that manner before, but she had never seemed so angry over such small things.

“If you wait here,” Nightshade told Thunder calmly, “the others will do the work for you. You don’t have to do anything and you can be all by yourself while you wait.”

From her clump of bushes, Rosie snorted. “What are we, her servants?”

“The others are doing this so you can rest,” Nightshade continued. “I am resting too. That does not mean that I, or you, are weak, or that we’re telling you this to order you around. We’re not trying to force you, I just-”

“I don’t care,” Thunder spat. “I want to go looking for food instead of waiting around here.”

“Don’t you think it would be better to lie in the shade? Where it’s cool? The others will bring the food-”

“I don’t want to!” Thunder shouted, her voice full of barely concealed menace. Her eyes narrowed and she paced back and forth a few times, her scythes twitching and her eyes on the heracross. “Are you stupid?” she screamed, her voice escalating to a much louder volume. “I just told you I didn’t want to! How many times do I have to tell you? Are you just going to ignore what I say like everyone else?” Thunder’s shouts had become even louder and more furious, and Snowcrystal glanced at Redclaw, wondering if they ought to just leave.

“Thunder, please…” Nightshade began, a tone of worry creeping into his voice that Snowcrystal was not accustomed to. Nightshade never sounded worried, and to hear him sound like that now was somewhat startling. “Just do this one thing for me. I promise I’ll listen to you. Stay here…please?”

Snowcrystal turned her attention to Thunder, waiting to see how the scyther would react. At the moment, she was staring at Nightshade with loathing. Then, with no warning at all, she darted forward and slashed her scythes across Nightshade’s body.

“Thunder, stop!” Snowcrystal shouted, but before the words had even finished leaving her mouth, Thunder had knocked Nightshade to the ground and stabbed her scythe into his back. Snowcrystal watched in horror as blood flowed down Nightshade’s damaged armored shell and onto the grass. To her relief, Nightshade pulled away from Thunder, and though this caused more blood to flow as the scythe was pulled out, it wasn’t nearly the sort of amount Snowcrystal would have expected; though damaged from the fight with Scytheclaw, Nightshade’s thick shell had prevented Thunder’s blade from going too deep.

But before Nightshade or anyone else could retaliate, Thunder sliced at the heracross again, and Nightshade could only try to block her scythe from hitting his eyes as Thunder tore into any weak spot she could find – namely Nightshade’s wounds – with both blades.

It was hardly more than a second later when Thunder was roughly pulled off Nightshade by Redclaw, who had sunk his teeth into her back. But the damage had been done. Flinging Thunder to the ground, Redclaw pressed his paw down on the scyther’s back with enough force to keep her from moving and using her blades.

“Thunder!” Redclaw shouted, sounding, if possible, even more furious than Thunder had been. “What in Ho-oh’s name did you do that for!?” His voice escalated to an enraged wail as he yelled the final words. Thunder just glared at him, no longer trying to move.

The other pokémon had all begun to gather around Nightshade, who lay motionless on the blood soaked earth.

“She’s killed him!” Rosie wailed. “She killed him!”

“Oh no…” Alex whispered, retreating behind a clump of bushes and peering above them with wide eyes as the rest of the pokémon began screaming and talking in a panic.

“He’s not…he can’t be dead, can he?” Spark cried, looking frantic as he rushed to Nightshade’s side.

“I told you she was dangerous!” Blazefang yelled over the frenzied voices of the other pokémon. “I told you!”

“Quiet, everyone!” Wildflame shouted, managing to raise her voice above the noise of the others. Not bothering to wait for them to quiet down, she bent down to sniff at the still form of the heracross. Nightshade’s eye opened and his gaze flicked upward toward her. The houndoom breathed a sigh of relief.

“She killed him!” Rosie was shouting. “He’s not moving!”

“Quiet!” Wildflame shouted. “He’s not dead! But we have to do something. Does anyone know anything about healing?”

“I might…but we don’t have anything my trainer-” Spark began.

“I don’t care!” Wildflame snapped. “Just tell us!”

Snowcrystal stayed standing where she had been, feeling too overwhelmed by what she had just witnessed to move. Thunder was forgotten by even Redclaw as he and several of the other pokémon ran to collect moss and other plants to try and stop the bleeding. She looked at Nightshade, not even sure if he was still conscious.

“I knew something like this would happen,” Blazefang growled as dropped a wad of moss by the others. He seemed to be the only one still focused on Thunder. “There was something wrong with that scyther, couldn’t you all tell? I told you she wasn’t right in the head! You couldn’t have all been oblivious to that. And now what do we do? We can’t let her follow us anymore!”

Snowcrystal glanced at Rosie, who looked as though she felt the same way Blazefang did. Snowcrystal had to admit that she agreed, but she didn’t want to send Thunder away; she hoped the scyther would leave on her own. But at the moment, Thunder was simply standing there, staring at Nightshade and the others with an almost numb expression, no longer seeming like the furious monster she had been a few moments ago.

Any other thoughts about Thunder were interrupted by the worried voices of her friends. Realizing suddenly that she ought to be doing something rather than standing around watching uselessly, Snowcrystal rushed over to them, peering closer at Nightshade. At the moment, she could not tell how injured he was due to the moss the others had put over the wounds. She wasn’t sure that moss would do much good, but she didn’t feel like it was her place to question Spark and the others, who seemed to know what they were doing much more than she did. She looked at Redclaw, who was holding down the moss. “He’ll be all right, won’t he?” she asked.

The arcanine looked at her with an expression that was calmer than she expected. “I think so,” he answered. “He fainted, but I don’t think the wounds are fatal.” Beside him, Spark nodded slowly in agreement.

Upon hearing this, the other pokémon seemed to calm down a bit, and set off to gather more moss. By now, the worst of Nightshade’s wounds didn’t seem to be bleeding nearly as much, and as the pokémon gathering moss returned, they realized that they would not need to gather more and stopped, waiting for Nightshade to awaken. Some of them paced around nervously. Snowcrystal reached forward and nudged Nightshade’s side, but he did not move. “Stop that!” Redclaw told her. She backed away obediently, realizing with guilt that she still had yet to do anything to help.

“I still can’t believe that you pokémon are surprised,” Blazefang spoke in a cold voice. “It was only a matter of time before something like this happened. You saw how that creature acted toward everyone, you saw her threaten to attack members of our group. And what did you do? Nothing.”

“Shut up!” Rosie spat at him. “This has nothing to do with you! And if you want to blame anyone, blame her!” She shot a venomous glance at Thunder.

“Nothing to do with me?” Blazefang scoffed. “That’s the sort of thing you kept telling me before. If you’d listened to me, or at least given me a tiny fraction of respect, you’d know that she was a bad pokémon. You even watched her try to kill me!”

Rosie glared back at him but did not answer. Instead, she turned her glare toward Thunder. “What did you try to kill Nightshade for?” she screamed, standing up to full height and raising her nine tails in a fan shape around her, which made her look much bigger and more threatening than she actually was. “He was only trying to help you, you murderer! You want to attack me too? Come on, I’ve got one bad leg. I should be easy to take down. Come on and try!” Flames flickered out of her mouth as she spat the last words.

Alex rushed over to Rosie, standing at her side and looking warily at Thunder as she spoke. “Rosie! Don’t start any more fights! Blazefang is right. That scyther is dangerous.”

“Dangerous is right,” Wildflame stated, walking up in front of the others. “Thunder…we can’t trust you anymore. I think you should leave now.”

Thunder looked at Wildflame with the same blank expression she had just given Rosie, but didn’t move.

Snowcrystal, who had been watching Rosie and Alex, turned away and walked toward the cliff edge leading to the canyon, feeling that at least for now, the threat of Thunder attacking anyone else had passed. She wished she didn’t have to hear any of the group’s conversation, at least not right now. Despite everything Thunder had done, she found it hard to believe that Stormblade and Nightshade had been wrong, that Thunder really was hopeless, a threat that couldn’t be controlled, numb to any amount of kindness shown her.

Trying to drown out the sound of the others’ shouts at Thunder, Snowcrystal stared down the rock ledge that led along the wall of the canyon. That was where they were going, but somehow the trees and ferns did not look nearly as inviting as they had before Thunder’s attack. Now, it just seemed like another difficult and exhausting road they would have to travel.

Suddenly, a strange movement caught her eye, and her ears pricked up. Something was moving along the rock ridge leading up to the cliff top. Jumping in surprise, she spun around and looked at the others, who seemed too busy talking or arguing to notice. Looking back toward the rocky path, the thing that had been moving emerged from behind a clump of plants, and Snowcrystal felt her blood run cold.

It was a human. But not just any human. A human she had seen before and hoped never to see again. She recognized the way he looked from the time she and the others had fought that quilava, Volco, in the town they had rescued Thunder from. Only now, she could see as a second figure emerged behind the human, he was a typhlosion. Frantically, she turned back to the others. “Everyone, stop!” she cried. “A human’s coming this way. Thunder’s master!”

Redclaw looked at her, his expression darkening. “Are you sure?” he asked.

Snowcrystal nodded.

Redclaw stood up and walked over to the cliff edge, taking one look. Immediately he backed up, alarm on his face. “She’s right!” he called. “We have to leave now. Come on!”

“What about Nightshade?” Rosie asked. “How will we bring him with us?”

“We…we can’t,” Redclaw sighed. “We can’t risk moving him that far so fast. Alex, see if you can move him – carefully – over behind those bushes. He might be safe and hidden from view there…”

“Might?” Snowcrystal asked.

“Look,” Redclaw told her, his voice edged with an odd tone of panic, “that human will come close enough to the top of the cliff to notice us any second now. We don’t have time. We have to leave. Right now.” He pawed at the ground anxiously, his eyes wide and afraid.

Snowcrystal looked away from him to watch Alex pull Nightshade behind the bushes. The other pokémon had stopped talking, and just looked at Redclaw with stunned expressions. Only Thunder remained emotionless.

“Well, we can’t just leave him here!” Wildflame exclaimed with a glance at Nightshade.

“Can’t we fight the human?” Spark cried out.

“I…I don’t know!” Rosie cried before anyone else could answer. She was staring at the bushes where Nightshade was, but Snowcrystal could tell that she was panicking about the human.

“Come on!” Redclaw cried desperately. “We have to go now-”

An excited cry broke off Redclaw’s statement, and all the pokémon froze as a large typhlosion clambered over the edge of the cliff, obviously having noticed them quicker than his trainer and having taken a shortcut up the side of the rocks.

Snowcrystal backed away as the winded typhlosion surveyed them all with one cunning eye, not seeming afraid. Snowcrystal noticed that his other eye was closed, a long scar running across it. The typhlosion was grinning, his single eye looking from Thunder to Snowcrystal herself.

“Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrgh!” In a split second, Alex had rushed past the others, forming a whirlpool of water around her body as she launched herself at Volco. The aqua jet attack struck the typhlosion in the chest, sending them both flying over the cliff’s edge and into space.

Snowcrystal heard the angry – or in Alex’s case, simply shocked – cries of both pokémon as they vanished over the edge, and the snapping of branches and twigs as they tumbled down. She heard them come to a halt and was waiting for Alex to reappear when the typhlosion’s trainer appeared on the edge of the path a short ways away and stepped onto the cliff top.

For a moment, both the human and the group of pokémon simply stared at each other in surprise; none of them had expected the human to appear so quickly, and Master certainly hadn’t expected to see so many pokémon in such an odd group.

In the split second that followed, several things happened at once. Redclaw took one look at Master and bolted, faster than Snowcrystal expected even he could run, in the opposite direction. Wildflame launched a flamethrower at Master, who ducked down on the rock ledge, using part of the cliff wall for protection and barely avoiding the blast. Volco reappeared at the top of the cliff, looking ready to fight, and Thunder, who up until that point had been standing unmoving, raced toward her two enemies.

Volco readied himself for an attack as Thunder came nearer, yet to his surprise, she rushed right by him, heading straight for Master instead. Alarmed, Volco got ready to shoot a fire attack in her direction, but there was no need. Before Thunder could ever reach Master, the man had stood up so that he could reach over the cliff, pulled out a poké ball and pointed it at her. She dissolved in a beam of red light and vanished inside before her blades ever touched him.

Shocked, Snowcrystal backed even further away from the human. It was then that she realized that Rosie and Wildflame had fled as well. And not only that, but Master was staring right at her.

Someone shoved against her shoulder. “Go on, run!” That was Spark’s voice. Snowcrystal caught the jolteon’s eye and did as she was told, turning and running after the others. She heard Blazefang mutter something under his breath and sprint after her. As her paws pounded the rough earth, she didn’t dare look back, though her fear for the others as well as herself was mounting. It wasn’t long before she saw a flash of bright yellow fur and realized that Spark had caught up with her. “Where’s Alex?” she asked.

“Behind me!” Spark panted as he ran. “That human had other pokémon with them…you should have seen them! There was no way we were going to…” His voice trailed off and he seemed to be trying to focus his attention on running rather than talking.

Snowcrystal could see Alex running on her other side now, limping but still keeping pace with her and Spark. The human and his pokémon didn’t seem to be following them, but the way Master had looked at her was deeply unsettling. Would he follow them now? What would they do? Could Thunder escape again? All of a sudden she remembered that Nightshade was still back there. Alone. Defenseless. And there was nothing any of them could do but hope that Master and his pokémon would leave him alone or not find him at all.

“Wait…” Alex gasped as she began to fall behind. “Stop…”

Snowcrystal slowed down, noticing the otter-like pokémon come to a stop. Spark came to a halt as well, looking almost as tired as she was. Snowcrystal stopped too as Spark glanced back to where they had run from. “He’s not following us,” he stated nervously.

“Not yet,” Snowcrystal muttered worriedly. “He…he looked at me strange. I think he wants to catch me and you of all pokémon would know that humans have a fascination with pokémon that are…different…to them.”

“Who was that guy?” Alex asked in between pants.

“Thunder’s trainer,” Spark answered. “‘Master.’ We don’t know his name. I can’t imagine what he’d be doing out here…unless he was trying to catch the rare species of pokémon in that canyon. Or us, if we’d have stayed there longer.”

“You should have attacked the human while I had the typhlosion distracted,” Alex growled. “My old trainer taught me that attacking humans was wrong…but something makes me feel like that guy would have deserved it. You think your heracross friend will be okay?”

“I don’t know…” Snowcrystal whispered. “We can’t exactly go back there, can we?”

“Not yet.” Spark stood up again, casting a worried glance at the now very small looking figures of Master and his pokémon in the distance. “But we’d better find the others. They must have stopped somewhere ahead.”

Snowcrystal didn’t argue as Spark led them onward.

-ooo-

The others had stopped further away than Snowcrystal had expected; she imagined that in their weakened and tired state, only sheer terror had driven them on. She wasn’t used to seeing the group split up like that out of fear. Even Redclaw had run, when he hadn’t even thought of doing such a thing while they were on Articuno’s mountain. The group was now resting among several large, dry bushes, and when Snowcrystal, Spark and Alex arrived, everyone looked up at them with fearful expressions.

“You’re all right!” Rosie gasped in surprise and relief. “Do you know what to do about Nightshade? What are we going to-”

“We’ll have to wait.” Redclaw’s voice had gained its usual calm, but though there was relief in his eyes at the sight of the three arriving pokémon, he seemed reluctant to bring attention to himself and didn’t seem to want to look at them directly. “There’s nothing we can do about Nightshade right now. We’ll have to wait until the human leaves.”

“What did you just run away for?” Spark growled, causing most of the pokémon to look at him in surprise. “Nightshade’s back there, don’t you remember? And all you did was run without even trying, leaving the rest of us to face all those…”

Redclaw’s furious gaze snapped toward Spark. “Did you see what happened to Thunder?” the arcanine roared, resulting in an even greater look of surprise from everyone around him. “Sure, maybe he doesn’t have my poké ball anymore, but he could have captured me again. I don’t care what any of you think of me for running, but I would rather die than be one of his pokémon again.” He gave Spark a glare that rivaled any evil look Thunder had given any of them. Spark lowered his gaze and slowly backed away, not replying.

No one spoke up again.

Snowcrystal sat by herself for a long time, listening to the howling winds and then watching the sky grow darker as night settled in, half worried about Nightshade and Thunder, and half worried that Thunder’s trainer was coming after them. Though no one taking their duty as lookout saw him anywhere near their resting spot, it wasn’t enough to put her mind at ease. The way he had looked at her, like she was some sort of rare prize to own rather than a living thing still deeply unnerved her.

-ooo-

In the early night, Snowcrystal took her turn as a lookout for the group, hoping that the task would give her something to focus on rather than the events that had taken place that day. She wanted anything else to think about, and she didn’t feel like talking to anyone. As she gazed out over the land they had just passed through, warily looking for any movement, something caught her eye and made her freeze.

Near the canyon edge, but much closer to them than Snowcrystal thought anyone should have gotten without her noticing, was the shape of a human. Her whole body tensed, and she was about to cry out to the others, when she realized that this human, even if she could only see its outline in the fading light, was very different looking than Thunder’s Master. He wasn’t quite as tall, and he was thinner, and he was standing, barely visible against the dark rocks, and looking down into the canyon. And there was someone beside him, a pokémon.

She hadn’t noticed the pokémon at first; it had been standing in the shadows, but when it moved, Snowcrystal recognized the shape instantly. It was a scizor. ‘Scytheclaw?’ She wondered. ‘Is that Scytheclaw?’ She continued to watch the pokémon and human shapes, but they didn’t seem to be moving much. She had no idea what Scytheclaw would be doing around a human, but she wasn’t about to go closer and find out. She wanted to alert the others, but she decided to keep quiet for the moment. After all, she didn’t want them to panic if there was no real danger; this human was obviously a different one and didn’t seem interested in or aware of them at all.

Something moved from behind the human and scizor. It was another pokémon, but Snowcrystal couldn’t quite tell what species it was. The human turned away from the canyon and stepped toward this second pokémon. Suddenly more worried, Snowcrystal looked back at the others in her group. Seeing that they were already tense and anxious enough, Snowcrystal wasn’t sure she wanted to alert them to the presence of the strange human unless it actually did something threatening. She glanced back to where the human was.

It was gone. And so were the pokémon. Blinking in surprise, Snowcrystal studied the canyon edge. There was no way they could have climbed down and out of sight in the second she had taken to glance away; it was as if they had never been there at all. She stared at the spot for quite a while before she finally managed to look away and focus again on watching for Thunder’s trainer. There was no sign of the strange human anywhere else either. Reluctantly, she admitted that she must have been imagining things.

-ooo-

In the middle of the night, Redclaw, Alex, and Spark returned with Nightshade, who, thankfully, had not been injured worse since being left near the human. Spark had not spoken to Redclaw since his outburst, but Alex had convinced him to go along and help. Redclaw had not gone back until Alex and Wildflame, who snuck off back to the area they had left Nightshade at, had confirmed that the human was no longer there, and that his scent had led back into the canyon. Snowcrystal still wasn’t convinced that Thunder’s trainer wasn’t following them, or that he hadn’t just gone back into the canyon for a while to rest and find food for his pokémon. At least Alex and Wildflame had mentioned nothing about any other humans, so the strange human was not around, if it even existed. Seeing Nightshade being carried in carefully on Redclaw’s back, she tried not to dwell on her worries while there were more pressing matters to think about.

Redclaw lay down slowly and Alex and Spark carefully pushed Nightshade off his back and onto the ground. The heracross’s eyes flickered open for a second and then closed again. Though his wounds were no longer bleeding, they looked deep.

Rosie hesitantly approached Nightshade’s still form. “Nightshade? Can you get up?”

“No,” he replied, his eyes opening slowly and his voice sounding much weaker than usual. “Not now. I need to rest.” His eyes closed again.

“Leave him alone,” Wildflame told Rosie, pushing her away. Rosie didn’t protest.

Everyone else watched in silence until Blazefang spoke. “Well, what are we going to do now? We can’t go back in the canyon if that human is lurking about. And now that Nightshade’s the new Stormblade, how are we going to get to the human’s city anytime soon?”

Snowcrystal glared at Blazefang, wanting to retort that Stormblade’s injuries were his own fault, but he just turned away from her.

Surprisingly, it was Nightshade who spoke next. He made no effort to push himself upright, and though Snowcrystal was pretty sure he could if he wanted to, she realized he probably knew that it would make his injuries worse. The heracross’s gaze was fixed on Blazefang as he spoke. “My wounds are not as bad as Stormblade’s were,” he rasped. “I just need a few days…then I’ll be able to travel again.”

“And by ‘travel,’ you mean ride on Redclaw’s back?” said Blazefang.

“If that’s what it takes.”

“But we don’t have a few days!” Blazefang snarled back. “What if that human comes back? How are we ever going to get to that city if-”

“Blazefang,” Redclaw began, “there’s nothing we can do about that now. After what happened, we all need a rest. We can decide what to do tomorrow, but we won’t be leaving in the morning unless we absolutely have to.”

Blazefang exchanged a glance with Wildflame, but neither dark type said anything.

“What about Thunder?” Alex asked, voicing the question that Snowcrystal assumed had been on everyone’s mind.

“What about her?” Rosie muttered back.

“Aren’t we…going to try and get her back?” Alex looked around the group, confused.

No one said anything.

“You mean, you’re just going to leave her with that trainer?”

“Why not?” Blazefang muttered. “It’s what she deserves. Besides, she wouldn’t put her life or freedom on the line for any of us, so why should we do it for her?”

“You really think she deserves to belong to a trainer like that?” Snowcrystal asked, giving Blazefang a seething look. Sure, she was angry at Thunder too…no, more than angry, but certainly that didn’t mean she deserved to have her trainer put her through any number of awful things again? “I know that what Thunder did was horrible, but I don’t think anyone deserves that.”

“Naive and innocent as always, huh?” Blazefang replied.

“Look, Snowcrystal, Alex…” Wildflame began, “we can’t try and bring Thunder back. That human’s pokémon are stronger than us, and if they’re anything like Thunder, they can handle a lot more damage from attacks too. Not to mention that he has poké balls, and if any of us fainted or got badly hurt, we could end up like her.”

Redclaw nodded in agreement. “I’m sorry…but it’s not worth it.”

‘Not worth it?’ Snowcrystal thought. ‘After you showed us all how terrible you felt everything about that trainer was? You know more than anyone else how awful being under that human’s control is!’ Though she wanted to say these things out loud, she didn’t.

“Thunder had no reason to attack Nightshade,” Redclaw continued as if he could tell what she was thinking. “I hate to say it, but I think her time with Master made her almost as bad as he is.”

A sudden memory surfaced in Snowcrystal’s mind. A cave floor covered in sticky mud. Thunder rushing in to help Stormblade and then pulling him to safety… She found it hard to believe that Thunder was as bad a pokémon as some of the others thought she was. She may have done many bad things, but there was good in her somewhere. She glanced over at Rosie; after all, the ninetales had seen Thunder rescue Stormblade as well.

Rosie noticed her looking and glanced back, catching her gaze and turning to the others. “Wildflame’s right,” she said, and Snowcrystal’s hopes dropped. “It’s too risky, and that human’s pokémon are too strong. Thunder may have been part of our group and followed us around, but can any of you really call her your friend? She was mean, rude, vicious, horrible, and as you all just saw today, downright sadistic. Sorry to anyone who wanted her back, but she’s not worth risking anything for.”

Snowcrystal realized that Rosie probably didn’t even remember the incident in the cave at the moment, and if she did, she didn’t care. Deep down she knew that Wildflame was right, and that they couldn’t risk confronting that human and his pokémon. She didn’t want her friends to get hurt. But at the same time, the thought of whatever vague horrors Nightshade and Redclaw had hinted to her about Thunder’s past filled her with dread. Thunder had probably been sentenced to a fate worse than death, and none of them could do anything about it.

In the midst of her thoughts she realized that Rosie was still talking. The ninetales’ eyes were still cold and angry. “…And as far as I’m concerned,” she said calmly, “that trainer can do whatever he wants with her.”

Though Snowcrystal wasn’t sure if everyone agreed, no one spoke up to argue.

To be continued...

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 48 - Separation

Morning came far sooner than expected, or at least, that was what Snowcrystal thought as she watched the sun slowly rising over the horizon. The growing light of sunrise did nothing to brighten the dark thoughts that still filled her mind. There had been no sign of ‘Master’ all night, but Snowcrystal knew that he could still be lurking in the canyon, maybe closer than any of the others thought. Yet they could not leave, not with Nightshade in such awful condition.

Everyone was edgy, nervous, and fearful, many of them wondering just when Master’s super-powered pokémon were going to ambush them. They all felt trapped and helpless, too worried even to hunt. The thought that there had been no sign of Master was hardly comforting.

Alex and Redclaw had tried to get food for Nightshade from some of the nearby trees, but the sap proved too difficult to collect and bring to him. Nightshade was growing weaker. As a pokémon that needed to eat often, he was certainly feeling the effects of hunger, made even worse by his injuries.

“It was Thunder…” Blazefang was muttering as Redclaw tried to give Nightshade a piece of bark with a few drops of tree sap on it. The houndour’s gaze was focused on the dirt in front of his paws. He was shaking, as though barely managing to suppress a steadily climbing panic. “Thunder did this. If it weren’t for her, we’d be out of here by now.”

“I think Master is more to blame than her,” Alex whispered quietly. Even the floatzel seemed worried and afraid, her usual carefree demeanor completely gone as she nervously smoothed down the fur of one of her tails that she held in her paws.

“If it weren’t for her,” Blazefang growled in response, “we’d be able to get away from Master.”

Snowcrystal was only half listening as the others carried on whispered conversations. She glanced at Wildflame and Redclaw, who were currently keeping watch. The fact that they hadn’t spotted anything yet still didn’t reassure her. As the day wore on, she and the others were only becoming more and more paranoid, acutely aware of just how vulnerable they were. Many of them looked like they wanted to leave anyway, but they were either too worried about Nightshade or too afraid to go off alone and leave the group.

Snowcrystal was crouched beside Nightshade, who was lying completely still. Alex and Blazefang’s conversation about Thunder reached her again, and she sighed. Wanting some sort of a distraction, and figuring that Nightshade would want one too, she looked at the heracross. “I don’t think you were wrong about Thunder,” she whispered. “She was just…well…”

“I don’t blame Thunder,” Nightshade replied, his voice sounding even weaker than before. “I blame her master for turning her into the pokémon that attacked me.”

And it was back to Master, the human that could be lurking anywhere in the canyon or the surrounding area. Why hadn’t he found them yet? Had he been distracted by the other pokémon in the canyon? The thought made her cringe. No, she told herself, the canyon pokémon were too well protected. They would be safe. They had to be. She couldn’t bring herself to reply to Nightshade; she didn’t want to talk about Master or Thunder anymore.

“We shouldn’t just be waiting here,” Rosie said, and Snowcrystal turned to listen, more to look for another distraction than actually wanting to hear what the ninetales was talking about. “We have to do something. Maybe we can smell out the human, attack him from behind, and kill him before he has a chance to let out any of his pokémon.”

Snowcrystal, as well as most of the others, stared blankly at her. Blazefang was the first to speak. “Well, if you want to volunteer for that, go ahead. Let’s see you get past his typhlosion.”

“But we could all-”

“Forget it, Rosie,” Spark told her. “Those aren’t ordinary trainer pokémon. We’d never win if he had a chance to release them. And Volco’s a pokémon too. He’d smell us coming. That’s…that’s just a crazy idea.”

“What do you think we should do then?” Rosie hissed at him. “Sit here waiting until he comes and finds us?”

“No,” said another voice, and Wildflame turned from where she was surveying the land ahead. “We can’t wait here. It’s just as dangerous as walking out in the open, and it’s getting us nowhere. I think we’re going to have to risk moving Nightshade.”

The other pokémon exchanged glances with each other, but Rosie just kept staring, an almost panicked look in her eyes.

“All right,” said a voice. It was Nightshade.

“You…you sure?” Alex asked tentatively. No one else said anything.

“Wildflame is right,” the heracross said with what seemed like a great effort. “We can’t stay here. I’m willing to take the risk.”

There was silence for a moment. “Okay,” Blazefang said, standing up. “Let’s go. Now.”

The rest of the pokémon seemed to reach an unspoken agreement at the houndour’s words and got to their feet, pacing around restlessly. Redclaw lay down on his belly beside Nightshade, and Alex helped the heracross climb onto his back. Redclaw stood up carefully, Nightshade clinging on feebly to the arcanine’s mane with his claws. For a moment he looked as if he was about to slide off, but he managed to hold on. Redclaw led the way, dry brush cracking beneath his paws.

Snowcrystal trotted after him, realizing that the others expressed obvious discomfort at the slow pace they were being forced to walk due to Redclaw and Nightshade. Redclaw seemed to notice this too. He stopped, and a conflicted expression crossed his face before he muttered, “The rest of you go on ahead. I’ll follow your scent.”

Blazefang, Wildflame, and Rosie broke into a trot and ran on ahead without hesitation, but the others paused. “Go,” Redclaw told them. Alex and Spark looked at each other, but to Snowcrystal’s surprise, did not argue, and instead nervously followed the others. Redclaw’s looked down at Snowcrystal.

“I want to stay,” she said stubbornly. “I-”

Redclaw simply nodded. “All right,” he agreed. “But if I tell you to run, run.”

Snowcrystal nodded wordlessly as she walked at the arcanine’s side. Far to their right, the cliff edge of the canyon stretched across the dry ground ominously, and she couldn’t help glancing at it often, expecting Master, or that strange human she had seen during the night, to appear out of it at any time. But no one came. She told herself not to worry. The human had probably gone, seeing as they hadn’t been attacked yet.

They walked on in silence. Snowcrystal was wondering when they would reach the beginning of the canyon and the cave entrance they had come out of before, when Redclaw stopped suddenly, his muzzle lifted to the air.

“It’s Master,” he whispered. “He’s close.”

Snowcrystal had been so focused on convincing herself that she was being too paranoid that she didn’t quite believe the news at first. But it quickly dawned on her that Redclaw wasn’t lying. He couldn’t be. “Where?” she asked in a panic.

Redclaw’s muzzle was pointed toward the canyon a ways behind them. “Run!” he yelled at Snowcrystal without answering her question.

It took Snowcrystal a moment to will her legs to work, and as she did, she also caught the faint scent over the wind. She heard the scramble of paws and saw Redclaw trotting as fast as he dared over to a group of rocks away from the canyon. Looking away, she raced across the ground in the direction her friends had gone.

She wasn’t sure where Redclaw had gone to, and a group of trees up ahead prevented her from seeing her friends, but when she saw movement to her right, she knew instantly that something was wrong.

Climbing over a pile of rocks near the canyon’s edge, not far away from where she was, was Volco. The two fire types’ eyes locked together for an instant, both looking equally surprised to see the other, and then Snowcrystal turned and bolted in the opposite direction.

Volco shot after her; she could hear his paws pounding the ground. Even though she was used to running, Volco was much bigger than her, and from the sound of it, he was gaining. ‘If I can just run long enough to tire him out…just keep going and find the others…’

A heavy weight cannoned into her from behind, sending her crashing muzzle first into the dirt. Her paws slipped out from under her and she rolled onto her side, gasping for breath. Volco’s claws dug into her filthy white fur as he hauled her closer to him, dragging her along the ground and not seeming affected at all by her struggling.

“A nice surprise,” he muttered simply, a gleam of triumph in his single eye.

Snowcrystal tried to turn her head around to bite him, but he only pushed her to the ground harder. She stared up at his face, trying not to focus on the unnerving sight of his scarred, empty eye socket, and thought frantically about what other attacks she knew. Only fire attacks, she thought, which wouldn’t do her much good. Still, it was the only thing she could do.

She readied a flame wheel attack, but Volco saw what she was doing and slammed her head roughly into the dirt. The beginnings of the flame wheel flickered out and died. Snowcrystal scanned the area desperately for any sign of help, but neither Redclaw nor the others were anywhere to be seen. She wasn’t even sure if any of them knew she was in danger.

Sharp teeth met in her scruff and she was hauled roughly off her feet. Desperate, she fired a whirlwind of flame from her mouth that shot into the sky, but Volco didn’t even act like he had noticed. Running at the canyon and not caring if Snowcrystal got jostled against the rocks, he leapt over the cliff and down onto a narrow ledge that ran along its side. Snowcrystal stopped her fire attacks, both because she was too tired and because she did not want to set the canyon pokémon’s home on fire. Instead, she flailed wildly, trying to inflict some damage with her claws and teeth or make Volco lose his grip. It was useless; every time tooth or claw made contact, Volco ran on as if nothing had happened. Snowcrystal couldn’t tell where she was, but she knew they were getting further and further away from her friends. She knew her friends would talk about her, and then just like they decided with Thunder, they would come to the conclusion that it was too risky to save her…

Snowcrystal felt like she was going to black out from the pain of being half carried, half dragged across the canyon ledge when Volco came to a stop. He did not release his grip, and Snowcrystal tried to touch her back legs to the ground to lesson the pressure on her neck and shoulders. When she had succeeded with this, she noticed a disturbing scent in the air. Blood. And a lot of it. Her gaze wandered around the place Volco had stopped in, a small clearing surrounded by trees and bushes. It rested in the middle of a wide ledge with a rock wall and higher ledges on one side. She tried to take it all in, knowing that anything she could find out about the area might be useful to her, when she saw it.

Moonlight, the umbreon who had helped her group convince Scytheclaw not to fight Cyclone, who had stood up against the scizor at great risk to himself, was lying awkwardly on his side at the other end of the clearing. A pool of blood had formed around him and his red eyes stared wide open in a sightless gaze toward the sky.

Staring in horror, Snowcrystal realized that it wasn’t just him. There were other patches of blood both in the clearing and nearby, from different pokémon, yet there were no other bodies. At one end of the clearing, half hidden by bushes, was what looked like a tent. That could only mean one thing. Somehow, Master had managed to find and capture some of the canyon pokémon, and Moonlight must have died fighting him.

Some low hanging branches near the tent shook, and Master himself stepped out of it. Snowcrystal wasn’t accustomed to seeing humans, but there was something about the way Master looked that she didn’t like. She knew enough about him to despise him already, but there was something very threatening about his appearance now that she saw him up close. He did not look like the trainer that had captured Stormblade, or the other humans she had seen in Stonedust City. They had all looked rather vulnerable and out of place outside their human dwellings, but this human did not. He looked as if he had no trouble surviving out in the wilderness, and no fear of the pokémon either. He looked as if he had no reason to be, and he knew it. He seemed bigger and stronger than most of the humans she had seen, and as he stepped closer, she noticed a bloodied bandage around his left arm. It looked like the wound was fresh. She wondered distantly if Moonlight had done it and then pondered whether it was worth risking a fire attack. She couldn’t, she realized quickly, while Volco was holding her. If she injured his master, he would probably kill her.

Master seemed to understand this in some way, because he showed no fear as he approached Volco and Snowcrystal. On his way, he paused at Moonlight’s body and gave the umbreon a small kick. Snowcrystal saw a gaping red wound in his stomach that looked almost like something Thunder could have done, but the wound wasn’t clean enough to have been made by a scythe. Master looked over the umbreon’s body, seemed satisfied with something, and walked over to Snowcrystal, stopping just in front of her and Volco.

“Drop her,” he told Volco.

Volco’s mouth opened and Snowcrystal hit the ground. She tried to remain on her paws, but found they wouldn’t support her. Master’s hand reached out and grabbed a handful of her neck fur. He lifted her up, more painfully than Volco had done, until the two of them were eye to eye. Snowcrystal felt an overwhelming urge to fire a flame wheel in his face and let Volco do whatever he wanted to her, but she knew she couldn’t. She couldn’t just give up and not even try to escape and find her friends; if she did that, they might come looking for her and meet the same fate.

Master slowly moved her so that she was facing away from him; he seemed to want to take a close look at the pale gray stripes on her back. He ran the fingers of his other hand through the white tuft of fur on her head, then turned her to face him again, staring into her eyes with a strange fascination. “You did well, Volco,” he said smoothly. “The white growlithe. I thought the color might be some sort of mutation, maybe albino, but she could be something else entirely.” His hand moved toward her crystal amulet and he held the crystal itself in his hand, peering at it for a closer look. “Think she belongs to a trainer?” he asked Volco, who tilted his head and gave him a look of feigned innocence.

The typhlosion then seemed to lose interest a bit, and went over to sniff hopefully at Moonlight’s carcass; Snowcrystal realized that the umbreon’s body would probably end up as food for Master’s pokémon.

“We’ll see,” Master said. He now held her at arm’s length, still dangling painfully from her scruff. Her eyes kept darting around the bloodied grass of the clearing, wondering what had happened to the other canyon pokémon. When she looked back at Master, he was holding a red and white sphere in his hand. Whatever hopes she had left plummeted.

He tapped the sphere against her head and suddenly a chilling sensation swept over her. She felt different than she had ever felt in her life; the scenery shimmered in front of her eyes, confusing her for a second before she was drawn into blackness. However, she could feel, in some way she didn’t quite understand, that she was not captured yet. With all her might she fought against the strange energy consuming her, feeling her strength wane even more. But there was no way she was going to give up. She had nothing to lose now, and she couldn’t let herself get caught…

Just when she thought she would black out from the effort, light flooded her vision and her body reformed normally on the ground next to Master. The poké ball dropped uselessly to the ground. Master bent to pick it up and at the same time grabbed her scruff again, twisting her head so her muzzle was pointed upward at the sky as if he was suddenly worried she would try to use an attack on him. Then he pulled out another small sphere from his pocket. This one looked different than the one he had used before. Master pushed the small button in the sphere’s center and it grew to be the size the previous poké ball had been.

Snowcrystal struggled wildly, and by some stroke of bizarre luck that surprised even her, managed to slip out of Master’s grasp. She hit the ground roughly and took off, only to be stopped by Volco as the typhlosion knocked her to the ground. Trapped, she looked in a panic at Master, only to realize that it hadn’t been bizarre luck that she’d escaped at all.

Master had been distracted by something moving on a rock ledge on the canyon wall not far above them. But it wasn’t one of Snowcrystal’s friends. It wasn’t even a pokémon.

It was another human.

This human, Snowcrystal realized, was much like some of the ones she had seen before in Stonedust, a young, barely full grown human who looked out of place so far from a city. He was taller and looked older than the one who had captured Stormblade. He was much scrawnier than Volco’s trainer, and the fur – or whatever it was – on his head was a darker brown. He was standing with the most surprising nonchalant look on his face, not seeming surprised at all at the scene that lay before him. Snowcrystal wondered if this human had been watching them, and for how long.

“What are you doing here?” Master shouted at him, looking furious. Snowcrystal noticed that he was still holding the differently colored poké ball. Volco, meanwhile, looked at the newcomer with surprise; Snowcrystal wondered how the human had managed to get so close without the typhlosion noticing him.

The scrawny human did not answer. He simply stared back. Then Snowcrystal realized it. The human she had seen during the night had looked a lot like he did. At least, from what she could tell, he had. He had certainly been tall and thin, that was for sure. The strange human’s gaze wavered around the clearing before focusing once again on Master. “Let those pokémon go,” he said, his voice sounding rather quiet compared to Master’s booming yell.

Master didn’t reply but cast a knowing glance at Volco, who threw back his head and shot a billowing column of flame at the human standing on the cliff. Something moved in a blur in front of the oncoming fire attack, and Snowcrystal saw the human duck down as a pokémon came to a stop in front of him. The pokémon lifted its arms, in which it held two strange objects, and formed a shimmering, almost transparent barrier in front of the fire. Despite this, Volco kept up the attack, and the pokémon behind the barrier strained harder, while the trainer, flinching from the heat, backed up against the rock wall.

Snowcrystal felt teeth in her scruff again, and looked around in panic, only to see the dark blue and white face of another pokémon before it began hauling her out of Master’s line of sight into the trees.

Master’s gaze flickered from the pokémon trying to hold back Volco’s flamethrower toward her. Fury crossed his face as he hurled the poké ball at her – it missed – and then reached in his pocket again.

A sharp gasp from Volco distracted him; the typhlosion had stopped his flamethrower and the shimmering barrier in front of the younger human’s pokémon – which Snowcrystal could now see was a yellow and brown bipedal pokémon of some type – vanished. Snowcrystal couldn’t see any more, for the pokémon holding her had whirled around and began racing through the trees. She heard a cry of pain from Volco, and a furious shout from Master, but she couldn’t tell what was going on. Branches whipped in her face and her back legs hit rocks and tree roots painfully, but the pokémon carrying her did not stop. It raced up a steep slope and suddenly they were standing on the ledge the strange human and his pokémon were, but further back, out of range of Volco’s attacks.

The pokémon set Snowcrystal down, but she felt too numb to move. From here, at a higher vantage point, she could clearly see Master, his furious gaze locked with the gaze of the trainer standing boldly on the cliff. Both Volco and the trainer’s pokémon had stopped attacking. Master gave the other human a nasty grin.

“You want a pokémon battle, boy?” he asked, reaching into a pocket on the inside of his jacket. Snowcrystal saw the glint of something shiny and silver, and she thought he was going to pick up that, but he didn’t. Instead, he grabbed several poké balls and flung them in front of him in the clearing.

Five pokémon at once began to materialize. Snowcrystal only recognized a nidoking and a tyranitar from Spark’s descriptions of them; the others she was unfamiliar with. Before they had even finished forming, Master had thrown out several more poké balls, each with a different pokémon. Snowcrystal didn’t know much about trainers, but Spark had told her enough for her to know that they were only supposed to carry six. “Find the growlithe!” he barked at one, which Snowcrystal immediately recognized as a houndoom, but one much bigger and scarred looking than Wildflame. The houndoom took off in the direction Snowcrystal had been taken; she realized it would find them by following their scent trail in a matter of moments.

Looking wildly for an escape, she heard the strange human’s footsteps as he retreated, and turned to look at him without thinking. He looked, for the first time, scared. His pokémon had put up another barrier of energy, and some sort of attack slammed against it, creating a deafening noise and knocking both the pokémon and his trainer off their feet. And that had only come from the closest of Master’s pokémon. The others had started rushing toward the cliff – Snowcrystal could now see strange collars around their necks that looked different from the one Thunder had – and at the same time, she heard the houndoom’s panting as he neared them from behind…

A sudden change came over the scrawny trainer. Looking almost like he was acting in a blind panic, he got up and dived toward Snowcrystal and the pokémon who had been carrying her, who ran forward to meet him. The boy’s hand gripped a poké ball and aimed it at the white pokémon, who vanished in a beam of red light, while his other grabbed the fur on Snowcrystal’s shoulder. The still stunned growlithe was too frozen with fear to think of pulling away. She heard the sounds of pokémon firing attacks and rocks crumbling nearby, and then the first of the odd trainer’s pokémon, the one who had put up the barrier, ran up to the human and touched his shoulder.

Instantly Snowcrystal felt an even stranger sensation come over her than the one she had felt being pulled inside the poké ball. Everything vanished before her eyes and she felt almost like she was falling, or being pulled forcefully in another direction, and when everything reappeared in a haze that slowly lifted from her eyes, it looked completely different. They were no longer in the canyon, though from the looks of things, Snowcrystal could tell that they weren’t far from it. She couldn’t quite recognize the place, however.

Slowly, she stood up, shaking from head to toe. She could feel warmth trickling down her back; she was bleeding from where the pokémon had grabbed her. Another red light momentarily blinded her, and she shut her eyes as a creature formed from it.

“Relax,” said a smooth voice, and Snowcrystal turned to see the white and dark blue pokémon, the one who had carried her, looking at her. “You must stay calm. Arien, this alakazam, you see, used his teleport move on you and my trainer, but it can only take us short distances. We still need to move.”

Snowcrystal stared back at the pokémon she could now recognize as an absol, then looked at the other pokémon called Arien. He had two pointed ears and clawed feet. A long clump of fur-like whiskers sprouted from either side of his snout. She didn’t think she had ever heard of his species before. Arien gave her an odd look and she turned back to the absol.

“Why can’t he teleport us a bit further?” she managed to ask.

“Teleporting just one extra pokémon or person, let alone two, takes far too much energy,” the absol explained. “Energy he can’t afford to lose. Come with us. We have to get away from here. Don’t be afraid, you don’t have to worry about being captured.”

Snowcrystal wasn’t sure how on earth he expected her not to worry, but, feeling like she had no choice, she stepped closer to him and looked at the human worriedly.

The trainer got unsteadily to his feet, quickly putting out the small flame on the sleeve of his shirt that must have come from being too close to an attack before they teleported. He knelt down by the absol, briefly checking him over with a look of concern. He then did the same to the alakazam. Seeming satisfied, he stood back up. “Let’s go,” he told his pokémon, but instead of walking, he unclipped a poké ball from his belt. Snowcrystal flinched and drew back, but when the human threw the poké ball, another pokémon came out of it.

She had seen this type of creature before. It was brown and green with a long neck and four massive leaf-like wings fanning out from its back. It had what looked like fruit growing on its neck, which arched high over Snowcrystal’s head. She backed away nervously.

“I can’t go,” she told the absol and Arien in a panic, turning away from the large pokémon. “I have to find my friends…”

The absol looked a bit unsure of what to tell her. Arien did not answer either, but instead turned to look at the tall human who looked ready to mount the tropius. A knowing look flashed between them, and Snowcrystal was surprised. It was almost like…understanding…

Then it clicked. ‘That pokémon’s a psychic type,’ Snowcrystal thought. ‘He’s bonded with that human and they can communicate…’ It suddenly seemed as if Master and his illegal pokémon were far, far away, much too far to reach her. It almost didn’t matter anymore. Here was a human…a human who could, through Arien, communicate with pokémon. This was exactly what she had longed to find but hadn’t even dared hope for, her link to the humans’ knowledge of the Forbidden Attacks.

“Come on,” the human said. “We’re going to get away…and find your friends.”

Snowcrystal looked up at him numbly as he scooped her up in his arms and sat on the tropius’s back, returning his other two pokémon back to their poké balls. She was no longer focused on whether he was trustworthy or not. He had access to what she needed, and if there was any chance he could help her find the information that Articuno did not have, it was worth the risk of being captured.

“Let’s go!” the human called, and the tropius’s wings beat up and down frantically as it lifted into the air.

Snowcrystal’s eyes widened as the ground grew smaller and smaller before her eyes. She whimpered and dug her claws into the human’s arm, trying not to look down or at the sky around her. She didn’t want to know how high up they were. Being on a tall mountain while standing on solid rock was one thing, but being suspended in midair on a pokémon, completely helpless, was something else altogether. She wished she could ask the human just how far he planned to go, but without Arien the alakazam out of his poké ball, there was no way she could communicate with him.

Nevertheless, he seemed to sense her nervousness, and held her more tightly with his right arm, his left resting carefully on the tropius’s neck. Snowcrystal’s eyes wandered to the grass type’s head, which seemed far away on its outstretched neck as it glided, Snowcrystal thought, horribly close to the clouds. “Where are we going?” she called up to it, but the wind blew her words back in her face. The tropius gave no answer; either it hadn’t heard, or it was too focused on flying.

Suddenly the tropius’s body and wings seemed to shudder a bit, and it turned its neck as if looking at something that had suddenly surprised it from below. The human noticed and leaned as far over as he dared while keeping Snowcrystal in the same place. His expression turned to one of surprise. “Go down, go down!” he cried.

Snowcrystal wasn’t sure what he was shouting about, but she wasn’t about to look down to see. She closed her eyes as they suddenly tilted forward, which told her that the tropius was making its descent. She didn’t dare open her eyes until they landed with a slight jolt. Dazed, Snowcrystal looked around, seeing that the canyon was still near them, but she still wasn’t sure where she was. Held in the trainer’s arms, she watched, confused, as he stepped off the tropius’s back. Once the tropius’s neck was no longer blocking her view, Snowcrystal realized what the trainer had seen.

There were two other humans standing nearby. One of them, she realized with a jolt of shock, was the one who had Stormblade. But any thoughts of Stormblade were pushed to the very back of her mind as the smaller of the two other humans stepped forward, a furious look in his eyes.

The trainer holding Snowcrystal did not seem to notice. “You have to leave,” he told him urgently. “There’s-”

“Wait,” the smaller male trainer interrupted. His eyes were completely locked onto Snowcrystal, so intensely that she wasn’t even sure he had really noticed the trainer holding her. “That growlithe…” he said slowly, seeming like he was trying to sound calm and innocent when he was really angry. “Did you catch it?”

“No,” the trainer holding her replied, but there was a panicky edge to his voice, as if he was still thinking of Master back at the canyon. Snowcrystal wished he’d hurry up and tell the other humans; she wanted to leave, and fast.

But before the trainer could explain anything, the smaller human who had looked at her funny walked closer. “Good,” he replied, and reached in his pocket for something. Snowcrystal felt a familiar feeling of panic as he took out a poké ball. “Because you have no idea how long I’ve been searching for it.”

To be continued...

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 49 - The Agreement

Snowcrystal tensed as the human holding the poké ball stepped toward her with a fiercely determined look in his eyes. To her relief, the human holding her stepped away from him as he did so. “You can’t just…just catch her,” he said, seeming to fumble for the words.

“What do you mean?” the human with the poké ball yelled back. “It’s a wild pokémon. You’re supposed to catch them!”

“Not…this one. And this is not what I wanted to talk about,” the trainer holding Snowcrystal said more fiercely. “You have to leave. There’s a very bad poacher-”

“No one’s a poacher for catching a wild pokémon, if that’s what you mean,” the smaller human snarled.

“Justin, stop it…” his companion whispered, sounding worried. “Listen to him. If he’s come to warn us, something must be wrong. Let’s just get out of here…” Snowcrystal was surprised to hear the name ‘Justin,’ but now wasn’t the time to speculate; there were much more urgent matters to think about.

“Well what are you doing all the way out here?” Justin shouted, ignoring his friend. “You must be out here to catch pokémon too!”

“No,” the taller trainer replied, clutching Snowcrystal tighter. “My pokémon and I were exploring.”

"What sort of trainer explores places in the middle of nowhere without a pokémon center for no good reason?" Justin growled.

Snowcrystal looked up at the trainer holding her, who seemed confused as to why Justin hadn’t found his answer an acceptable one, and at a loss for what to say. He shrugged. “Me, I guess. I’m not much of a battler. I just like to see new places and see how wild pokémon live-”

“Well you’re a freak if you call this fun!” Justin shouted.

“You should go back to the city,” the taller human told him without answering, once again trying to warn the strange humans about Master. “Do you have a flying pokémon?”

“I’m not going back without that growlithe!” Justin snarled, his gaze still fixed firmly on Snowcrystal.

“I have a flying type,” the female human said slowly, acting like she was trying to ignore Justin. “A pidgeot. But he’s injured…”

“Then come with me,” the tropius’s trainer told them, and mounted his pokémon again, still holding Snowcrystal. “We’ll be safe in the city.”

‘The city?’ Snowcrystal thought frantically. There was no way she could go to the city now. She couldn’t leave her friends in danger. She started to struggle against the human’s grip, but he only gave her a brief worried look before he looked back at Justin and his companion, still holding her firmly. Snowcrystal desperately wished he would let his alakazam out. She couldn’t run away; she needed to remind the alakazam that her friends were still out there…

Justin, miraculously, seemed to be distracted from the subject of Snowcrystal for a moment. “How do you know we can trust him?” he yelled at the female trainer, who had started to walk toward the tropius. “I don’t believe him. He’s using that as an excuse to keep the growlithe himself!”

Snowcrystal cringed. Just like that, Justin was back to focusing on her again. The trainer holding her fidgeted nervously, as if he hadn’t counted on them not trusting him.

“Don’t you think that if he wanted to catch it, he would have done so already?” the female trainer told him. “He wasn’t holding onto it while riding a tropius for the fun of it. And if he wanted to attack us, he would have done that too. And look at the burns on his clothes…it’s obvious he’s encountered trouble. He can’t be lying about it-”

“The growlithe burned him, more like,” Justin muttered.

“It’s not attacking him now,” she pointed out.

“Katie…”

“Come on, he has the growlithe, so let’s go back. There’s no use in staying here and getting lost without a healthy flying type for ourselves. And if he tries anything…” She looked at the trainer on the tropius and Snowcrystal realized with surprise that she suddenly looked a bit suspicious. “I have pokémon too.” Without waiting for a reply from Justin, she climbed on the tropius’s back behind its trainer.

Snowcrystal shuddered as she watched Justin, hoping that if he did agree to go with them, he wasn’t about to try and capture her in the poké ball while they were in the air.

She was thinking of how to get the attention of the trainer holding her in some way, when a loud roar interrupted her thoughts. The trainer’s grip on her loosened; she turned around and peered over his shoulder at the shape of a massive arcanine stalking slowly toward them from a group of rocks. The fur of his mane was standing on end and he looked much more ferocious than usual. His head turned and he spotted Snowcrystal.

With another roar he ran toward the humans, and behind him, a few more shapes emerged from the rocks. Snowcrystal saw the somewhat distant forms of Alex, Wildflame, and Spark.

The tropius they were currently riding on started to back away, moving so suddenly that it almost dislodged Katie and its own trainer. Both of them threw poké balls ahead of them; Katie’s beam of light formed into an azumarill, and Arien the alakazam appeared from the other.

“Katie…what’s going on?” Justin cried in a frightened voice, running behind the tropius and staring at the oncoming pokémon fearfully.

“They’re making a mistake…” Snowcrystal whispered to herself. “Arien!” she yelled, watching Redclaw get closer and closer to the two defending pokémon, the others not far behind. “Tell them to stop! Tell your trainer to stop!”

But the alakazam was too busy focusing on the oncoming pokémon and forming a protective barrier around himself as he stood in front of the humans to reply. Snowcrystal wasn’t sure he had even heard her.

Redclaw was almost upon them now, looking ready to attack the barrier again and again until he got through – Snowcrystal knew that protect only lasted so long – and pokémon, either the trainers’ pokémon or Redclaw and the others, were bound to get hurt. She tried to shout out to the arcanine, but her voice was drowned out by another roar before Redclaw fired a blast of flame at the alakazam’s barrier. Spark was right behind him, electricity flying off his form as his fur sharpened into pointed spines. He looked ready to attack Azumarill…

Then he stopped. The electricity across his body flickered feebly and then died out. A look of pure disbelief spread across his face as he stood staring – at what, Snowcrystal wasn’t sure – then he turned to Redclaw and yelled, “STOP!”

Perhaps it was the surprise of seeing a friend who had come to help him telling him such, but Redclaw did stop. Arien’s protect faded away, but he did not attack; instead he merely watched as Alex and Wildflame caught up. They also held back from attacking, but looked far more nervous than Redclaw.

Snowcrystal wriggled free of the human’s grasp and ran to meet them, making sure to stay out of range of Justin, who still seemed intent on capturing her. Wildflame, Alex, and Redclaw, seeming to realize that she was not in immediate danger, relaxed.

“Snowcrystal, what’s going on?” Wildflame asked. “What are you doing-”

“That’s him,” Spark whispered, to no one in particular. “That’s…my trainer.”

“Your what?” Wildflame asked, whirling around to face the jolteon, but Spark wasn’t listening; he had already started running toward Justin.

Of course Justin was Spark’s trainer. It was Justin, Snowcrystal realized, that Spark had been looking at. She had thought, however, that he had just been some other human named Justin, not actually Spark’s former trainer. Snowcrystal was slightly worried for her friend, but he passed the two trainer pokémon easily; they simply watched him. Justin stepped out from behind the tropius, looking confused for a moment until the jolteon came closer and recognition dawned on him.

Spark reached Justin and jumped up to greet him so enthusiastically that he completely bowled him over. Justin, however, didn’t seem to mind at all; he threw his arms around the jolteon, whose fur had turned back to being silky and smooth, and buried his head in the stiff fur of Spark’s mane. Spark was rapidly licking the top of Justin’s head – for he couldn’t reach his face – and shouted joyfully in between licks. “Justin! Justin! I finally found you!”

Wildflame shot Snowcrystal a surprised look, and Snowcrystal returned it; she had been taken off guard by the sudden turn of events just as much as the houndoom had. The two trainers and the rest of the pokémon looked confused, too.

“Justin?” the trainer called Katie asked. “What…is that…an old pokémon of yours?”

Justin looked up for a moment to nod, and the moment he did so, Spark got up as well and began to run joyous circles around him. “This is Spark…my jolteon.” He was smiling, which struck her as surprising. In the short time Snowcrystal had seen this human, he had looked so unhappy. Snowcrystal certainly hadn't seen Justin so happy, and from the looks of Katie, neither had she.

The trainer who had carried Snowcrystal slowly stepped down from his tropius. “Are you going to listen to me now?” he asked.

As he began to talk to Katie, Snowcrystal remembered the alakazam. Moving close to him, she whispered, “Can you help me? I need your trainer’s help. Me and my friends need to get to Stonedust City. And…” She paused, wondering how on earth she was going to explain her quest to this pokémon so quickly. She took a deep breath. “We need to find out as much as we can about something called the Forbidden Attacks. They’re far too powerful, and some are on the loose, and we’ve heard that the only pokémon who-”

“I have heard of the Forbidden Attacks,” Arien replied. “We know the story. And we believe they exist.”

“You believe it?” Snowcrystal breathed in disbelief. It was surprising, but when she thought about it, Arien’s trainer did seem like the sort of human to believe in and chase after legends. Perhaps he’d already tried to find proof of the Forbidden Attacks. There was no mistaking it now; they needed this human’s help, as they weren’t bound to find another like him. “We need to find out who created the Forbidden Attacks. When I met Articuno…I know that’s hard to believe, but…well, he said he thought that only the ones who created the attacks could destroy or take away…”

She began rapidly explaining to Arien, not sure how much else he was going to believe, when she was interrupted suddenly as Katie cried out and pointed; Blazefang and Rosie were slowly creeping toward the group. Rosie looked terrified, but also seemed determined to see why the others were just standing around near strange humans. As they got closer, Rosie suddenly stopped, letting Blazefang walk on ahead. The houndour didn’t look pleased.

“What’s going on here?” he growled.

“These are my friends,” Snowcrystal said hurriedly to the alakazam, in case he perceived them as a threat.

Justin looked up at the two approaching pokémon, giving Blazefang an uneasy glance. Standing up and putting one hand on Spark’s head, he turned to the trainer who had brought Snowcrystal there. To Snowcrystal’s relief, he didn’t start yelling at the trainer about catching her again. “The poacher…won’t be able to reach us for a while?” he asked. “He’s far away, isn’t he?” When the older trainer nodded and hesitantly replied, “He hasn’t come after us yet, so I guess far enough,” Justin just scowled at him. “What is your name?” he asked suddenly, giving the trainer a cold glare.

“Um…Damian,” the trainer replied, looking a bit worried, as if he wasn’t sure what Justin wanted from him.

“Well, Damian,” Justin replied, a sneer on his face. “Just what did you want with that growlithe? You must not have wanted it very much, seeing as you just let it go like that. You can’t object to me catching it now, can you?” Snowcrystal’s eyes widened at these words; she had thought for a moment that she was out of danger.

Beside him, Spark tensed in alarm as Justin walked toward Snowcrystal with the poké ball in his hand. The jolteon grabbed Justin’s sleeve in his teeth and tried to pull him back, but Justin hardly noticed. Snowcrystal started to back away as a few of her friends made threatening growls and stepped forward.

“Wait,” Damian said, stepping toward Justin. “You can’t…”

“Why can’t I?” Justin snarled.

“She has a quest.”

At this, Snowcrystal looked at the trainer in surprise. Arien must have been conveying him her message after all.

“What do you mean, a quest?” Justin spat back. “It’s a pokémon! And I need it.”

“You can’t take her,” Damian replied, speaking more strongly than before, but as he spoke, he was walking toward Snowcrystal. “But if she wants, I can help her find out what she needs to know.” He stooped down and reached his hand out to the growlithe.

“What?” Justin yelled. “What are you talking about? You’re insane! Do you know how long we’ve been looking for-”

Katie, however, seemed calmer, though equally perplexed. “What do you mean?” she asked Damian. “…Help her find out what she needs to know?”

“She wants to find out about the Forbidden Attacks,” he told her.

Justin paused, seeming like he was wracking his brain for something, as if the words sounded familiar, but Katie knew what Damian meant at once. “I’ve heard about those…” she said. “Well, I don’t think anyone knows if they even exist…sure, a few people have supposedly seen one. I mean, it could be like how people used to not believe in Ho-oh, but…but why would a growlithe care about Forbidden Attacks?” She gave Damian a confused look, suddenly seeming doubtful about the whole thing.

“Snowcrystal?” Wildflame whispered as she edged closer to the growlithe. “How does that human know what we’re searching for?”

“His alakazam,” Snowcrystal answered. “They have some sort of psychic link…” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Blazefang look at Arien with sudden interest.

“If the humans don’t believe us,” Wildflame whispered back to Snowcrystal, “we could always get Blazefang to show them the attack, right?” Blazefang shot her a look of horror, and she hissed, “I was joking!”

Snowcrystal turned to look at Damian, who was still holding his hand out to her, but she didn’t move closer. “The growlithe told my alakazam,” the trainer explained to the other two humans. “And he told me…she said that some of the Forbidden Attacks are on the loose, and she needs to find out what pokémon created them, so that they can stop them and stop more pokémon from getting hurt and killed.” He said this as if it was the simplest thing in the world and that the two younger humans would have no problem understanding.

“Not to mention,” Wildflame muttered, “Blazefang has one of the attacks himself.” Damian’s alakazam looked at her then turned to his trainer. A strange expression crossed Damian’s face; Snowcrystal was sure that Arien had told him about Blazefang. However, he did not say anything aloud.

“You’re making this up!” Justin growled at Damian. “I don’t care what you do, I’m catching that growlithe.” He stepped forward, but a yellow blur darted in front of him and stopped. Spark, blocking his former trainer’s way, looked up at him pleadingly. Snowcrystal could tell that he wished he could speak to Justin in words, to tell him that Damian was right.

“Spark…” Justin said slowly.

Spark refused to budge. He turned his head toward Damian, then back to Justin, giving him the same pleading look.

“He wants you to listen,” Katie pointed out quietly, still seeming unsure of everything she was hearing.

“Look,” Damian told Snowcrystal. “Can you tell Arien…everything? I can try to explain to them. Maybe they could help.” He turned to look at Katie and Justin, who just stared back at him. “But afterwards, we need to head to the city…you can’t wander around here without a pokémon who knows fly.” He looked around nervously, but relaxed a bit when there was still no sign of any poacher.

Justin and Katie were quiet at first, then began having a whispered conversation together as Snowcrystal talked to the alakazam. The other pokémon, even the ones who were still wary, stopped and waited. They knew that this human, if he could be trusted, had much better access to information than they did and could be the help they so desperately needed.

As Snowcrystal spoke, Damian told Justin and Katie everything she said. Every once in a while, one of the growlithe’s friends would add something to tell Arien, until Snowcrystal felt that he and Damian would have pretty much the whole story, except for one thing.

She had been avoiding mentioning it, knowing that Blazefang wouldn’t like it, but she had to tell Arien that Blazefang had used his Forbidden Attack a total of three times. “You see,” she told the psychic pokémon, after she had mentioned that Blazefang had used it in the forest as well as on Articuno’s mountain, “Blazefang first used his Forbidden Attack on Stormblade, a scyther we knew. He…he didn’t know what it was, but…” She looked at Katie. “I think that trainer still has Stormblade. You can ask your trainer to tell her to let him out. You’ll see what Shadowflare did…”

Arien turned to look at Damian, who seemed puzzled as he turned to Katie. “Do you have a scyther?” he asked. “An injured one?”

Justin gave Damian a look of pure loathing, and Spark looked up at his trainer, as if confused as to why. Katie simply looked baffled.

“What?” she replied. “How would you....I mean, how would that pokémon know?”

Damian shrugged. “She wanted me to ask you. She told Arien that she knows a scyther who was injured by the…the fire Forbidden Attack. Shadowflare.” He stole a quick glance at Blazefang before looking at Katie again. “Can I see the scyther?” he asked.

“No,” Katie told him firmly. “I’m not letting him out just to be stared at.”

Justin’s face was a mixture of relief and annoyance. He rolled his eyes at Katie but didn’t try to argue.

Damian didn’t seem to mind Katie’s answer. “Did he have strange wounds?” he asked her. “Burns that won’t heal?”

“Well…” Katie began, sounding distracted, like she was still trying to make sense of everything. “The staff at the pokémon center in Stonedust City said the wounds were unusual…but that doesn’t mean much. It probably just meant they didn’t get pokémon with these sorts of injuries often. And…and well, of course they haven’t healed. It hasn’t been that long!”

“Have the wounds shown any sign of improvement? Even a little bit?”

“Well, no…actually, yes…some of the more minor burns and injuries are starting to heal…”

Snowcrystal looked up at Katie hopefully. If Stormblade’s condition was improving, even just a little, that made her feel much less worried. She longed to see Stormblade again, but it didn’t look like the trainer was going to let him out of the poké ball.

“But not the strange-looking ones?” Damian asked.

To Snowcrystal’s surprise, Katie didn’t argue. She glanced at Justin, who looked away. “Well….” she began. “No. Also, I once…came across a dead shinx. It had burns that looked like Scyther’s. I did think it was kind of odd…”

“And that was in the forest he said that the houndour burned down,” Justin said suddenly, looking up at Katie with wide eyes. “Katie, I think they’re really telling the truth. They couldn’t have just made all this up. It all fits.”

At this, Katie simply stared, but Spark leaped up at Justin again, happily trying to lick his face. “Yes! Yes! We are telling the truth!” Snowcrystal heard him say, and although Justin couldn’t understand the words, he seemed to understand the meaning.

“We can talk about this more once we reach the city,” Damian told them. “If you want, you two can help me search for more information about the Forbidden Attacks. Stonedust City has a huge library. I’m not sure if it will help us, but it’s a start.”

Katie obviously looked as if the thought of spending time in a library searching for something she didn’t even fully believe existed was very unappealing, but Justin looked almost excited.

“Wait a minute,” Blazefang muttered. “How are we supposed to get to the city? It’s not like we can all ride on that tropius.”

Arien must have overheard, because Damian almost immediately replied, “Well, the quickest and easiest way would be for me to catch you, and release you when we get there.”

Each of the wild pokémon exchanged nervous glances, except for Alex, who looked perfectly fine with the idea. Snowcrystal had to admit that she was worried, but as the humans began talking again, she didn’t try to speak, for Damian had addressed the pokémon.

“You can stay in the trees near the city,” he told them. “The area is safe from poachers now.”

“Not many trainers go there,” Justin added. “And if they did, there’s plenty of places to hide. It’s the safest place for a wild pokémon near that city.” Snowcrystal could clearly notice a certain excitement in the human’s eyes. He seemed eager to help, to be a part of this…

“Justin,” Katie began, “I don’t know…”

“Katie, what they’re saying makes sense,” Justin told her, and from the look on Katie’s face, it seemed like she had never heard anything that made less sense. “You saw that shinx! You see that wretched scyther every day! You knew there was something strange about that forest that burned down. These pokémon know why all that happened. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that they’d talk about the burned forest or that horrible scyther. They couldn’t be making it up; they must have really seen what happened. Look,” he added, seeing that she did not seem convinced at all, “I want to help them. I want to help them find out what they need to know. It’s about time I was able to do something other than follow you around watching you be a trainer. I’m going to help them.”

“But…” Katie seemed torn, as if she didn’t know what to believe.

“He believes them!” Justin told her, pointing to Damian.

“Yeah, but he’s…” Katie trailed off. She sounded as though she had been about to say ‘crazy.’

“Okay,” Justin sighed. “Do what you want. Keep training or something. But I’m going to help these pokémon.”

“You mean you’re not going to catch the growlithe?” Katie asked.

“No,” Justin replied bitterly. “Not like they’ll let me, anyway.” He glanced at the group of wild pokémon around them. Spark licked Justin’s hand, as if trying to console him. The human looked down at the jolteon, then took out the poké ball he’d been carrying around for so long, the one he’d been hoping to catch Snowcrystal with, and gently tapped it against Spark’s head. The jolteon stood still for a moment, letting himself be absorbed into the ball. Then, after the red light on the button faded with a ‘ping’, Justin sent the jolteon out again.

“Justin,” Katie began, “you aren’t a registered trainer…you aren’t supposed to-”

Justin ignored her and walked over to Damian’s tropius, putting his hand on the neck of the pokémon, who nuzzled his shoulder affectionately with a soft tropius cry. Then he looked at Snowcrystal and the other watching pokémon.

“Let a human catch me?” Rosie shouted indignantly before any of the other pokémon could say anything. “No! I won’t do it! I don’t trust him! I don’t trust any humans!”

“Be reasonable,” Redclaw growled. “I for one am willing to be caught temporarily if it means helping Snowcrystal and getting further away from Master…” He sighed. “That is, if the poké ball Team Rocket captured me with was destroyed in the collapse, like Stormblade’s must have been.” He looked worriedly at Damian as if suddenly worried that his wasn’t.

“I’m willing to be caught if it means getting closer to being rid of this attack,” Blazefang said, stepping forward. He gave Damian a nod, knowing that the human would understand what he meant, and Snowcrystal watched as a poké ball was thrown and Blazefang was absorbed inside it.

“Is he mad?!” Rosie shrieked.

“The poké ball will be sent to the pokémon lab by the ranch,” Damian explained as he hurriedly picked the poké ball up, but Snowcrystal didn’t know what he meant. She thought, however, she saw the poké ball vanish as Damian made to put it in his pocket, but she couldn’t be sure she hadn’t imagined it. “Don’t worry,” he added. “As soon as we get to the city, I’ll use the computer to switch you for my current team, then I’ll release you outside the city.”

Snowcrystal still had no idea what he was talking about, but Spark caught her eye and gave her a nod. She relaxed; if Spark was okay with it, it must mean that whatever Damian was doing was safe.

Most of the other pokémon didn’t seem so sure.

“I’m NOT letting him catch me!” Rosie yelled. Beside her, Wildflame looked almost as uneasy.

“How can we be sure we can trust him?” Wildflame asked. “He just showed up! We can’t know if he’s trustworthy.”

“He risked his life to save me,” Snowcrystal told her. “No humans like Master would do that. Look, I know we’re taking a risk, but this is our best chance to find out what we need about the Forbidden Attacks. I’m willing to risk it if it means helping Articuno and the other pokémon the Forbidden Attacks could hurt.”

Wildflame sighed. “If you’re sure…then all right. Not like I’ve got anything to lose…” she added bitterly.

“I’ll let him catch me if it means helping you guys!” Alex stated, looking around to make sure the other pokémon had heard. “I want to help too, like that human wants to help.” She looked over at Justin.

Snowcrystal was about to reply to the others in an attempt to convince Rosie when she noticed Redclaw turn around and look back the way he had come. She turned as well, and saw Nightshade peering at them from behind the rocks the others had emerged from, leaning feebly against one of the boulders.

Redclaw turned and ran toward him, and the trainers and their pokémon watched in surprise as the arcanine helped Nightshade limp over toward the rest of the group. Still very weak, he didn’t get very far before he had to climb on Redclaw’s back again.

Rosie looked relieved to see Nightshade arriving. “Oh, good,” she said. “Nightshade’s here. Maybe he can talk some sense into you all.”

Once he reached the group, Redclaw lay down and allowed Nightshade to slowly crawl back on the ground. The heracross looked at the humans who were still staring at him in surprise, and then at Redclaw. “You found help,” he stated simply, his voice still sounding very weak.

“Help!” Rosie hissed. “Nightshade, these are humans. You just got here! You don’t even know what they-”

“I was watching. Redclaw and the others wouldn’t have stayed so close to them for so long if they weren’t offering help,” Nightshade replied quietly.

“Nightshade,” Snowcrystal told him, “these humans…or at least two of them, are going to help us find out about the Forbidden Attacks.” To her relief, Nightshade did not seem worried. She wasn’t sure how long he’d been watching them, but he seemed perfectly relaxed.

“Is…that heracross with them?” Katie asked, still sounding confused. Snowcrystal could understand why; a pokémon that ate sap and other sweet things traveling with meat eaters probably wasn’t a common occurrence, even if the human was somehow used to the idea of members of different species journeying together.

The reactions of the pokémon gathered there gave Katie her answer. Rosie, Spark, Alex and Wildflame moved toward Nightshade in a concerned way. Snowcrystal saw Spark turn around and give Justin a hopeful look, but Justin didn’t seem like he had any idea what to do with injured pokémon.

Damian walked slowly over to the heracross while reaching for something in his backpack. “Here,” he said, holding out a small container of something that looked sort of like tree sap, yet smelled familiar.

It took Snowcrystal a few moments to recognize the scent. It was honey, like the honey they’d found in the combee hive. Nightshade turned toward Damian and began licking the honey gratefully, after pausing to tell him thanks in pokémon language. Rosie glared daggers at Nightshade, muttering something about it probably being poison.

“We have to get this heracross to a pokémon center,” Damian said as he turned to Katie. “Are you going to come with us?”

Katie looked over at Justin and the tropius. “Okay…” she stated hesitantly, still not sounding very convinced about what the other two humans were going to try and do. Snowcrystal wouldn’t have cared much, but remembering that she had Stormblade made her want this human to come with them.

“Let’s go,” Redclaw told everyone, but he addressed the alakazam in particular. “You can tell your human that we are ready.”

“All right, then,” Arien replied, seeming a bit annoyed with the way Redclaw had spoken like it was an order.

“You coming?” Wildflame asked Rosie, who was still staring at them all as if they’d grown extra heads.

“NO!” she shouted fiercely.

“Look,” Wildflame sighed, “these humans aren’t like the stupid poachers or Master. One of them could have died saving Snowcrystal. If you don’t want to get left behind, I’d suggest you come. Besides, if they try to do anything bad to us, we’ll defend you.”

Snowcrystal watched the houndoom speak, wishing that Katie had let Stormblade out so that he could at least speak for the two humans who had been traveling together. Or Katie, at least, because she knew Stormblade would have nothing good to say about Justin, but there was Spark for that.

“Besides,” Wildflame told Rosie with a grin as Damian began rummaging in his backpack for more poké balls, “if Thunder were here, she’d think the humans were bad too, and you wouldn’t want to agree with her, would you?”

Snowcrystal winced at the mention of Thunder, but Rosie, although looking torn and frightened, did not argue. “You…you promise you’ll stop them…if they…” the ninetales began in a frightened voice that sounded very unlike her own.

“Of course. All of us,” Wildflame replied.

Snowcrystal didn’t listen to what Rosie’s response was. The mention of Thunder had brought her back to another important matter. “Arien!” she called, running up to the psychic pokémon. “Before we get captured…I need your trainer’s help.” She paused, wondering if the alakazam would be annoyed that she kept needing him to send messages for her, but he didn’t seem to mind, nor had it seemed to be hard to communicate his thoughts to his trainer. “A friend of ours…” She felt odd saying the word ‘friend’ when referring to Thunder, and she was sure the other pokémon listening felt it was odd too, but she didn’t have time to explain. “…She got captured by that human who was trying to capture me. Do you think…do you think your human can free her? She’s a scyther named Thunder, and…” She broke off, for Damian had looked up from Nightshade and the poké balls he’d found to look at Arien, and she knew that the alakazam was using the psychic link. The look on Damian’s face was horrified, and sad… certainly not a look that was hopeful to her.

“Aren’t we supposed to be leaving?” Justin called from beside the tropius, looking annoyed that Damian and the pokémon were taking their time. Obviously he couldn’t know what important things they had been trying to discuss.

“Yes…” Damian replied, walking over to Snowcrystal. “I think the pokémon are ready.”

“But…” Snowcrystal whispered to herself.

Damian didn’t look at her, but he seemed to know what she was thinking. “I’m sorry…” he said, “but we can’t help Thunder now. There isn’t anything we can do.”

Snowcrystal knew he was right, but she couldn’t help feeling miserable. Humans were supposed to be able to solve problems easily. They were supposed to be able to stop bad humans. She had suspected that Master was more powerful than even most good trainers, but it still managed to surprise her a bit when she really had to think of it as fact.

“Do you really think it’s a good idea to have a white growlithe sent back to the lab?” Justin asked suddenly as Damian picked up a poké ball. “I don’t think this is something…people should know about.” He acted like he was choosing his words carefully, and he was looking at Damian with an expression that looked almost like jealousy.

“It’ll be fine,” Damian replied. “My younger brother used to volunteer at a lab. The workers there will be able to tell what species is inside the poké ball, but they won’t notice an unusual color unless they let her out. I’ll have gone back to the city and released her before they have time to let her out. The machine will probably notify them that the heracross is in bad condition…but when I get to Stonedust City, I can still ask for him back and request to put him in the pokémon center there.”

“Or what’s left of it…” Justin muttered.

“They had to have made some sort of temporary center,” Katie replied, speaking for the first time in a while. “There are probably plenty of buildings they could use…”

“See?” Snowcrystal heard Redclaw whisper to Rosie. “They could heal your leg…make it work properly again.”

Rosie looked down at her paws. “I don’t know…” she whispered. “I’ll come with you, but don’t let those humans put me in a building when I haven’t decided yet.”

“All right,” Redclaw agreed.

Snowcrystal wasn’t sure what he’d be able to do other than talk to Arien about it, but Rosie seemed satisfied.

Seeing that the pokémon had all stopped talking and stepped forward, Damian picked up the poké balls and set them down in front of them. Together, each pokémon stepped forward and touched one with their nose or paw. Snowcrystal felt a strange and familiar yet still foreign sensation as she was swept inside, then everything went dark.

-ooo-

It was hard to tell just how much time had passed when the poké ball opened and Snowcrystal saw light again. It had seemed like a long time, and though being inside the poké ball had seemed strangely peaceful, she hadn’t been used to it. Although she’d been able to convince herself that everything was all right, the fact that she did not know how to release herself from the orb, as Spark had told her some pokémon could do while in certain kinds of poké balls, unnerved her.

She didn’t have much time to think about it though, for around her, she could see most of her friends; to her left, Wildflame’s form materialized from the same red mist that had filled her own vision moments before. Rosie, Redclaw, Blazefang, and Alex had already been released, and Spark was standing proudly beside the human called Justin. Snowcrystal was happy to see Redclaw there; clearly his Team Rocket poké ball had been destroyed, since Damian’s had been able to capture him.

Near Spark and Justin was the other human, Katie, who looked as though she had decided to stay around and help, at least for the time being. Though Snowcrystal didn’t recognize the area, she figured they must be in one of the tree groves near Stonedust City.

“I’m going to go back and get my pokémon,” Damian told the two humans before taking off running through the trees.

“He won’t be gone long, will he?” Snowcrystal heard Spark asking. “We need to get into that library!”

“I don’t think we will be the ones going into the library,” Snowcrystal told him. “The humans will probably go themselves.”

“Then who’s going to protect us from other humans that might come here?” Blazefang asked worriedly.

“Ourselves,” Redclaw growled. It was obvious that he found it odd, and annoying, that Blazefang was acting so paranoid. “But with any luck, we won’t have to. They said this place was safe.”

“Sure…” Rosie muttered, still clearly unhappy about the whole thing.

“He’ll deactivate the poké balls when he gets back to the city,” Spark reassured her. “Don’t worry. He won’t be able to return you to yours. You’ll be officially released.”

“Spark,” Redclaw asked suddenly. “Did your human release you already?”

Spark shook his head. “No,” he told Redclaw. “And he’s not going to. I’ve found my home, and that’s wherever Justin is.” Redclaw didn’t reply, and neither did anyone else, though it was clear that the others had mixed feelings about Spark remaining with a human.

Everyone waited in silence, a few of them casting nervous glances at Katie and Justin, who were giving equally anxious looks back at them. “Where’s Nightshade?” Snowcrystal wondered aloud after a while.

Redclaw looked at her and shrugged. “Damian could only bring six of us. Maybe he’s going to bring Nightshade back now.”

“He’s probably at the pokémon center,” Spark replied.

“The destroyed one?” Redclaw muttered, but before anyone could reply, a shadow passed over them and Damian’s tropius landed in the clearing.

Damian stepped off the grass type’s back, looking around at both pokémon and humans. “Well,” he began, obviously addressing the pokémon, “you’re all free. Before we search, I thought we might get to know each other better.”

Most of the pokémon glanced at each other in confusion. Snowcrystal wasn’t sure how she and the others would get to know a human without really annoying Arien, which seemed pretty pointless when she thought they should be using the pokémon and trainer connection to convey only important information. But she soon realized that that was not what Damian had meant; for a moment later he had taken out four other poké balls, each of a different color, and flung them into the air in front of him.

Four more pokémon appeared; Snowcrystal recognized Arien and the absol who had helped save her in the canyon. Beside the absol stood a smaller, orange and yellow pokémon with pointed ears that resembled Spark’s, and a large ruff of fur around his neck. She knew what this species was; it was a flareon. The pokémon beside him was a smaller yellow pokémon with odd looking structures on his head which Snowcrystal guessed might be his ears, and black stripes as well as a lightning bolt shape on his chest. It took her a moment to think of the name of this species, but it came to her when she remembered hearing about it in a story back on her mountain; it was an elekid.

“Well,” Damian told the waiting pokémon and the two humans, “meet Dusk.” He nodded to the absol. “Arien.” The alakazam stepped forward. “Inferno.” The flareon smiled shyly. “Fernwing.” The tropius nodded. “And Todd.” At the mention of his name, the elekid leaped up excitedly, staring around at the humans and pokémon gathered beneath the trees with a wide grin.

Looking at these pokémon, Snowcrystal didn’t feel like introducing herself. She had much more important things on her mind. And first, she was going to ask the question she had been wondering about since she arrived here. “Where’s Nightshade?” She hoped one of Damian’s pokémon would know, or that Arien would ask his trainer, but she was pretty sure that Damian had Nightshade with him. After all, he had only let out five pokémon.

“Nightshade the heracross is in the temporary pokémon center,” Damian answered, so soon after she asked her question that she wondered if Arien let Damian know everything he heard from other pokémon. “And yes, I released him. He is wild, but the nurses there are still taking care of him.”

Damian’s flareon and elekid gave each other confused looks. Snowcrystal heard the flareon whisper, “What’s this all about?”

“And Stormblade? He’s…the scyther she has.” She angled her head toward Katie.

“In the long-term pokémon hospital at the other side of Stonedust City,” Damian replied after exchanging a look with Arien. “She took him there before we came here. And…Katie,” he added, looking up at the rather confused trainer. “I think your scyther has a name. It’s Stormblade.”

Katie kept giving him the confused look. Justin, however, seemed rather annoyed that he couldn’t tell what was going on between the pokémon except for what Damian told them. “Stormblade’s a horrible name,” he muttered.

“Would you rather I just called him Scyther?” Katie asked him. Justin said nothing.

Snowcrystal wished she could have seen Stormblade before he’d been taken off to that ‘hospital,’ whatever that was, but it looked like she wasn’t going to get to see him after all.

“So, were these pokémon…friends of that scyther?” Katie asked Damian slowly.

“Yes!” all of the wild pokémon in the clearing, except for Blazefang, said at once. Katie didn’t need a translator to understand. Luckily, Justin didn’t seem to have noticed Spark joining in with the others.

“Well…” Katie began, as if she found it odd to be talking to a group of wild pokémon rather than her own, “he’s being taken care of. I know I should have taken him to the long-term hospital first thing when I was at the city before…I mean, the pokémon center was closer…I thought they’d move him there eventually…” She stopped, realizing that the pokémon were just staring at her, understanding that they, or at least the ones that had always been wild, probably didn’t have a clue what she was talking about.

“Who are these pokémon?” Inferno the flareon said quietly.

“Sorry,” Redclaw told him. “We’ll have to explain everything to you soon. I am Redclaw, and these are my friends.” As he began introducing them as quickly as he could, Damian’s pokémon watched silently, some of them still confused. Katie quietly let out a few of her pokémon, her azumarill and the aipom Snowcrystal recognized as Sid, who sat and listened with wide eyes, clearly in awe of all the strange pokémon around him. Damian watched calmly, seeming satisfied that the pokémon were getting to know each other. Justin simply looked annoyed.

“Aren’t we going to the library?” he said loudly, fixing Damian with an accusing stare. “We’re wasting time.”

“I don’t think we should go until tomorrow,” Damian replied. Before Justin could argue, he explained, “It’s already evening. The library will be closing soon. I think we should spend tonight planning how we could most efficiently search the library, and talking to the pokémon too. There could be ways they could help.”

Justin didn’t argue, but he still looked annoyed. “So…are these pokémon going to explain to you and your alakazam exactly what we need to be doing?”

“Yes…” Damian replied, looking over the group. “They can tell us anything else we need to know, and I’ll tell you and Katie everything.” He paused to look at Blazefang, who crouched down and averted his gaze. “But first,” Damian said, just as Justin was looking eager to learn more from the pokémon, “I think my newest pokémon needs to understand this as well.” He took out another poké ball, which looked like the one Katie had caught Stormblade with.

“A luxury ball?” Spark blurted out. “No fair!”

“Shh!” Rosie hissed. “You’re the one who wanted to be caught! Quit complaining!”

“Why didn’t you just let that one out in the first place?” Justin growled, clearly growing more impatient.

“He doesn’t like other pokémon much,” Damian replied. “I wasn’t sure how he’d react. But…” He shrugged carelessly. “I’m sure it’ll be all right.” Katie and Justin exchanged uneasy looks as Damian threw the poké ball in the air.

The pokémon that appeared brought Snowcrystal back to the previous night where she had seen the silhouette of a human and two pokémon near the canyon. She had been, unfortunately, right about two things that night. One, that one of the pokémon had been a scizor, and two, that that scizor was Scytheclaw.

“You!” Redclaw snarled as soon as the scizor finished forming.

When Scytheclaw first appeared, he looked almost calm, certainly not angry like he had always seemed before. She noticed that he had bandages around his waist and on other parts of his body, and she realized that Damian must have helped him. But why? Scytheclaw’s calm expression instantly changed to one of fury as he realized who he was standing in front of. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” he shouted, in a voice that sounded as though he wanted to tear all the wild pokémon to shreds. Justin looked startled, even afraid, and he visibly flinched as the scizor cried out. Katie glanced at him anxiously.

“I could ask you the same question,” Redclaw replied, mimicking Scytheclaw’s exact words from the time they had encountered the scizor after coming down from the mountain. Snowcrystal noticed that all of her friends had assumed a battle stance.

“Tell me,” Wildflame began, grinning slyly. Snowcrystal gave her an odd look, wondering why she sounded like she was taunting. Did Wildflame really feel like it would be wise to start a fight? “How did you feel being kicked out of your home? Didn’t feel as good as kicking other pokémon out yourself, did it?” She opened her mouth, and Snowcrystal could see the red hot glow of a small, but still red hot fire attack about to be launched.

Scytheclaw’s eyes locked on her, and he lunged. As quick as he could, Damian reached for the poké ball and returned him. The flames that had been forming in Wildflame’s mouth flickered and died.

Once Scytheclaw was gone, Justin turned and glared at Damian. “You’re ‘sure it will be all right?’” he cried mockingly, still looking furious. “That thing could have killed us!”

“Actually,” Damian pointed out, though he looked as shocked as everyone else, “he was only going to attack the houndoom, but…I don’t understand why he did that. He’s such a nice pokémon-”

“It’s not nice!” Justin yelled, and Spark shouted his agreement. “You can’t trust any member of that species.” Damian seemed so taken aback by how his scizor had reacted that he did not reply. “Come on, Katie,” Justin muttered, “let’s go into the city and find a trainer’s hotel for the night, since we can’t stay in a pokémon center…”

“But didn’t you want to hear what…” Katie began, looking at the pokémon.

“I can tell you everything they said in the morning…if you want,” Damian told her.

“Fine,” she muttered, not looking at him. She followed Justin and Spark, who had angrily begun to walk away through the trees.

“I knew the new guy had issues,” Inferno the flareon whispered, and Snowcrystal knew he was talking about Scytheclaw. Dusk glared at him. “What?” Inferno asked.

-ooo-

“I can’t believe this!” Justin muttered as he and Katie walked through the grass toward the brightening lights of Stonedust City. The sky above them was growing darker, and Justin was glad they were close; it was getting hard to see where he was going. “He has a scizor. What…why…what sort of trainer keeps a pokémon like that? Granted, it’s not as bad as scyther, but…”

“Justin, you owned a scyther once, and I do now,” Katie pointed out from behind him.

Justin didn’t reply. He looked down at his jolteon, who looked up and gave him a worried glance, clearly uneasy about something. Wishing he had a telepathic pokémon like Damian, Justin trudged on, Spark at his side.

“You know,” Katie began again, “if we try to walk into a trainer’s lodge and they see you have a pokémon, they’re going to ask for your license.”

“I’ll hide the poké ball and say I’m with you,” Justin muttered.

“I want to check on Scythe-...Stormblade, first,” Katie replied.

Justin stopped in his tracks. “Oh, please!” he shouted. “Why do you have to do that? We have much more important things to think about now. Like stopping the Forbidden Attacks!” He felt Spark slowly lick his hand, trying to calm him down.

“Justin…we don’t even know for sure if that whole thing is true,” Katie replied. “Are you sure you want to believe a bunch of…wild pokémon who probably don’t know what they’re talking about?” She paused as Spark growled at her. “And you can go on alone and wait for me at the hotel if you want, but I’m going to visit Stormblade.”

Justin kept walking, feeling like it was useless to argue. He hated the fact that she was still focused on that horrible scyther, the very reason he was going to have to hide Spark while in the trainer’s lodges. He would have tried to ask the people at the pokémon hospital to just give up and put the bug type to sleep if he didn't find the idea of all that suffering to be ironically fitting for the scyther. Trying not to think about that anymore, he gave Katie an annoyed glance out of the corner of his eye. “Well I believe him,” he muttered, setting his hand on Spark’s head. He walked on ahead, no longer caring whether Katie would be coming with him to the hotel right away or not.

-ooo-

Snowcrystal and her friends, along with Damian’s pokémon, minus Scytheclaw, sat together in the clearing. Damian had set up a tent in the middle of it, which Snowcrystal had found strangely fascinating, but hadn’t dared to try to go inside. A couple of fireflies flew lazily around them as they all sat in the dark clearing lit only by a small glowing device Damian had brought. Some of them, mainly Snowcrystal, Rosie, and a surprisingly willing Blazefang, told Damian’s pokémon everything they thought was important. Rosie even launched into a quick description of some of the things they had encountered on their journey.

“I’d give anything to get rid of Shadowflare…” Blazefang sighed after everyone had finished explaining what they had encountered and learned of the Forbidden Attacks.

“Aww, don’t worry!” Alex said, patting Blazefang on the back. “We’ll help you learn how to get rid of it!” Blazefang glared furiously at her.

“Well, first thing in the morning,” Redclaw said, “we have to get into that library.”

“The humans do, anyway,” Dusk told him from where he was lying beneath a tree. “The city’s no place for wild pokémon.”

“We want to help too!” Alex protested.

“I didn’t mean you couldn’t,” Dusk replied. “It’s just that the humans can search the library for relevant books much faster and more efficiently than a pokémon can. I’m assuming none of you read human.” He smirked. “If you really wanted to, I’m sure one of the smaller pokémon could go, but I’d be careful if I were you, growlithe.”

“Snowcrystal,” she stated.

“Right.” Dusk smiled again and then lay down, closing his eyes.

Most of the other pokémon were settling down for the night; even Wildflame and Blazefang were getting ready to sleep. Though nocturnal, the journey had taken so much of a toll on them that they didn’t think much of sleeping at odd times. Snowcrystal stood up and was about to walk over to Redclaw and Alex when she noticed Damian wandering off. Curious, she turned and followed him. She hadn’t followed him far from the clearing when he turned and noticed her.

“Don’t worry,” he told her, “I’m not leaving. I’m just letting Scytheclaw out…away from the others, I mean. He likes sleeping outside. It’s okay, he won’t bother you. Go back and rest with your friends.”

Snowcrystal turned and headed back toward the others. She was almost upon the clearing when she stopped in her tracks. A sudden thought had come to her. She had been too overwhelmed by everything to think about it before…

Running into the clearing, she found a spot to herself beneath a small tree, waiting for Damian to return. Redclaw glanced over at her, concerned, but she didn’t want to explain why she was sleeping alone. She waited for what seemed a long while until she saw Damian stroll back into the clearing and climb into the tent; his shiny device turned off. After that moment, she stood up and began strolling away.

“Snowcrystal, where are you going?” Redclaw whispered.

“Uh…just for a walk,” Snowcrystal replied. He didn’t say anything, and she crossed the clearing and went into the trees. Once in the darkness of night without any pokémon surrounding her, and with nothing but the light of the moon and her crystal to see by, Snowcrystal suddenly became worried, remembering the last time she had tried to do something similar. “I have to do it…” she whispered to herself. “For Stormblade.”

She came to a spot on the ground where she could smell Scytheclaw’s scent; Damian had released him here. She kept walking, noticing the scent growing stronger as she moved through a grove of trees, then she suddenly emerged into a clearing.

“What is it this time?” a nasty voice hissed back to her. Scytheclaw was standing on the other side of the clearing, gazing at the sky.

Snowcrystal hesitated, then walked forward. “I have to ask you something.”

The scizor turned around and fixed the tiny growlithe with a piercing stare. “Didn’t you ask already? I only know as much as you know, or as much as you told Damian,” he growled. “He just told me what you all said.”

“We told him everything we know,” Snowcrystal replied. “But that’s not what I wanted to talk about it. You see, my friend, the scyther that was with us when…when we came to the canyon…he’s hurt bad and he can’t heal. Damian probably told you about him. I was thinking…that…you could…”

Scytheclaw’s face betrayed no emotion, but he lowered himself down to her level and stared into her eyes. She felt even more unnerved now. “And what,” the scizor hissed, “makes you think I’d do that?”

“You’re the only one who can!” Snowcrystal replied, trying to feel brave. “You know he’s been hurt by Blazefang’s Forbidden Attack now, right? Spark says they don’t heal, and it certainly hasn’t been healing. Stormblade has nothing to do with what you have against Redclaw or Nightshade…or me…surely you wouldn’t let an innocent pokémon suffer…” She wasn’t sure how he would react.

“You don’t seem to care that the healing power, or Forbidden Attack, or whatever it is, hurts me,” Scytheclaw growled. “Why should I care about the pain of your friend when you clearly don’t care about mine?”

“But-”

Scytheclaw’s expression turned furious again. “He gets to stay a scyther!” he yelled. “He should be grateful for that! I’m not going anywhere near a scyther,” he spat bitterly, and it was clear to Snowcrystal that he did not want to be reminded of what he once was…what he lost. Scytheclaw had to have some major issue with evolution, or maybe he just really missed his scyther form. She had remembered him saying to Nightshade, during their battle, that he had been forced to evolve. She knew that some pokémon never wanted to; Scytheclaw had been one of them, one that had to have been particularly horrified with the idea, if it had affected him so much. But that was no reason to refuse to help…

“Look,” Snowcrystal told him, “if there’s anything I can do that will convince you to help him, I’ll do it.”

“There isn’t,” Scytheclaw snarled. “Get out of here.”

“But there must be something I can-”

“What would I want from a filthy, fleabitten freak like you?” Scytheclaw yelled. “I don’t want your help, and you certainly won’t be getting any from me. Now leave, or else I’ll have to explain to Damian why there are growlithe entrails all over this clearing in the morning.”

Snowcrystal wasn’t sure he really meant the threat, but she wasn’t going to find out. She turned and left, feeling depressed and hopeless. How could she ever convince Scytheclaw to help Stormblade? Maybe she couldn’t, she thought, but maybe…someone else could. Scytheclaw seemed to have a certain respect for Damian… That was it!

Breaking into a run again, she reached the clearing in no time. Looking around at the pokémon, she spotted Arien still awake. Walking up to him, she prodded his arm with a paw. “Arien,” she whispered. “I need your help.”

“What is it?” the pokémon asked, turning toward her.

“It’s about Scytheclaw,” she told him. “You know how I was talking about what he said…how he had that weird healing power?” She watched as the alakazam nodded. “Well, I think that could be the answer to curing Stormblade’s injuries. If anything can, I’m sure Scytheclaw’s power could.” She waited to see what he would say, and for one frantic moment she felt a rush of panic, wondering if Scytheclaw had been lying and there was no power at all…

“I’ve seen Scytheclaw use this power,” Arien replied, immediately putting her fears to rest. “He used it on Damian after he found the scizor injured and helped him. Damian had a minor injury from a wild pokémon, and although Scytheclaw managed to heal it, I could tell it caused him a considerable amount of pain.”

Snowcrystal stared. She couldn’t imagine Scytheclaw repaying anyone for helping him. She was also growing to doubt that the power was a Forbidden Attack at all, and she could tell that Arien felt the same way.

“Damian saved him, you know,” Arien continued.

“What?” Snowcrystal replied, shocked, but then remembered that Damian had to have no idea about what Scytheclaw had done in the past; he had probably just wanted to help an injured pokémon. “Oh…yes, but…well, Scytheclaw doesn’t seem like the kind of pokémon to be helpful. I mean…he’s ruthless. Cruel, even. He…he tried to kill Nightshade before, in a battle.”

To her surprise, Arien didn’t seem angry that she had said such a thing about his teammate. He remained completely calm. “A horrible leader, I suppose,” he began. “Yes, Scytheclaw told Damian that he was once the leader of a group of pokémon, though not a good one, from what I can tell.” That, Snowcrystal thought, was an understatement. Scytheclaw had been the worst leader she had ever heard of. “But believe me when I say that unless provoked, Scytheclaw will not harm any of you anymore.”

“What do you mean? We can’t really trust him to just…you know, sit there and do nothing, especially when Nightshade comes back…”

“He won’t harm Nightshade either,” the alakazam replied. “Hate him, perhaps, but not harm him. He only tried to attack Wildflame because she threatened him.”

“How do you know he won’t attack Nightshade…or anyone else?” Snowcrystal asked. “How can you be sure?”

“You’re going to have to trust me on this,” Arien said calmly. “I know it’s hard to believe, if you have been harmed by Scytheclaw in the past, but trust me when I say that you will not get any trouble from him if you leave him alone.”

Snowcrystal wasn’t sure why, but somehow, she believed him. After all, Scytheclaw hadn’t wanted to fight them when they had met him in the wild; he had been beaten and alone, far from the group of pokémon he was used to ruling over. “Okay…” she said softly. “But there’s something else…I talked to him tonight, and he said he wouldn’t try to heal Stormblade…”

“You were asking a lot of him,” Arien replied. “Healing injuries like what you said Stormblade has would take a lot of energy, perhaps even be more painful.”

“So what?” Snowcrystal growled, forgetting for a moment to be silent. “Stormblade’s in pain all the time, and he doesn’t even deserve it! Scytheclaw’s his only hope!”

“I’m not saying Scytheclaw made the better choice,” Arien replied calmly, “only explaining why he told you ‘no.’ And seeing how hostile you and you friends seem toward him, that probably influenced his decision too.”

“I wasn’t being hostile…” Snowcrystal said softly. “Being nice sure didn’t make a difference. Do you think…” She paused. “Do you think you can speak to Damian? If Scytheclaw has respect for him, and he’s Damian’s pokémon, Damian can make him do it.”

“Maybe,” the alakazam replied, “but I won’t tell him.”

“Why?” Snowcrystal whispered, but she really wanted to shout it out loud.

“Because I know Damian won’t,” the psychic pokémon told her. “Damian never makes his pokémon do anything they don’t want to do, and I’m not sure any good would come out of him trying to force Scytheclaw anyway. I’m afraid this decision is Scytheclaw’s alone. No one can physically force him to use his power.”

“Then it’s hopeless then,” Snowcrystal muttered, and without waiting for a reply, she walked back to her tree and lay down. She saw the alakazam giving her one last look before she turned and faced the other way. There didn’t seem to be anything she could do, no way to force or trick Scytheclaw into helping her. She started to wonder if there was any real hope for Stormblade to heal at all.

To be continued...

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 50 - Revisiting

The following morning, Damian told Justin, Katie, and their pokémon everything that they had missed the previous night. Snowcrystal hadn’t been happy to see Justin return, but she was glad to see Spark, who, despite the drama of the previous day, seemed happier than she’d seen him in a long time. Ever since he had reunited with Justin, the jolteon hadn’t left the human’s side.

The wild pokémon were relieved that Damian had been right; no trainers had ventured their way, but they were near enough to the city that the humans didn’t have much trouble going back and forth between their resting place and the buildings. All of Damian’s pokémon, minus Scytheclaw, were out of their poké balls; Snowcrystal noticed that they all looked intensely interested whenever someone mentioned the Forbidden Attacks.

Now, Snowcrystal realized, they were going to be discussing how they were going to search the library. Snowcrystal couldn’t help feeling a bit frustrated that she would be sitting out here with most of the other pokémon, unable to help. Sure enough, a little while later, Damian, Justin, and Katie had all decided they would go together, taking only their own pokémon.

“It’s not fair,” Alex muttered. “I could help. I’m sure I could help!”

“Can you read?” Blazefang replied sarcastically.

“No,” Alex replied, “but I could help them look for book covers that had pictures of pokémon attacks on them…”

“I just wish we didn’t have to stay here,” Snowcrystal sighed. She stayed silent for a moment, watching the dancing light patterns that filtered down to the ground through the tree over her head, then sat bolt upright, a thought coming to her. “Do you think we could ask the humans if we could visit Nightshade or…or Stormblade?”

“You mean walk right into a city full of humans, with no trainer?” Blazefang replied, looking at her like she was crazy.

Before she could answer, Alex leaped up in excitement. “Yes!” she cried. “I mean, why not?”

“Well…” Snowcrystal began. Now that she thought about it, Blazefang was right. Even with the protection of the humans and their pokémon, it would be very risky to just waltz right into the city. She began to wish that she hadn’t spoken her sudden thought aloud.

Before she could try and get her to reconsider, Alex had run over to Arien and began pleading with him to ask Damian to persuade the other trainers to let them go. Reluctantly, Arien nodded, leading Alex to cry out in delight.

“That heracross I brought to the pokémon center…” Snowcrystal heard Damian say suddenly to the other two humans after a few moments. “He was friends with these pokémon. I think we should take them to see him. The scyther, too.”

“Huh?” Katie replied, still regarding Damian and his pokémon with the same uncertain look she had shown before.

“We don’t have time for that,” Justin muttered. “We have work to do.”

“Actually,” Katie said louder, before Damian could say anything, “I think it’s a great idea.” From the look of surprise on Justin’s face, Snowcrystal was certain he hadn’t been expecting that, though whether Katie was simply disagreeing with him on purpose or wanted a distraction from having to make a certain decision about the Forbidden Attacks, she didn’t know.

“You’re going to walk through the city with several wild pokémon who obviously aren’t yours?” Justin scoffed.

“If the three of us go,” Damian suggested, “and keep our pokémon in their poké balls, people will just assume the group of pokémon belong to us. They won’t be trying to catch them or anything. Of course, we have to be careful about Snowcrystal…” He thought for a moment, and then went over to his backpack, which lay beside the tent, and emptied all of its supplies onto the ground. “Maybe she can ride in here,” he said. “It looks big enough.”

‘And cramped…’ Snowcrystal thought to herself, but she didn’t try to argue.

“We can go visit the pokémon and then head straight for the library,” Damian stated. “They might even let the pokémon in there, so if we find anything, we can tell them right then.” He looked over his own pokémon, his gaze resting on Todd the elekid and Inferno the flareon. “I want you two to stay here,” he told them. “Watch the camp for me.”

Todd immediately threw up his arm in a salute, but Inferno looked disappointed. “I want to go too…” Snowcrystal heard him whisper.

Either Arien was sending Damian a translation or the trainer had guessed what his flareon was thinking, because he replied, “I’m sorry, but if you came, you’d have to stay in your poké ball anyway. Only the wild pokémon can stay out, I’m afraid. But don’t worry; you can come next time.” Looking slightly happier, Inferno nodded.

“Er…I’m going to head off to the library and wait for you there,” Justin muttered. “I’m not interested in visiting any sick bug types.” Snowcrystal glared at him; she knew from what Stormblade had told her that he was terrified of scyther, and didn’t want to go to see Nightshade in case the others dragged him along to the long term pokémon hospital too.

“Fine by me,” Katie said. “Uh…Damian? Are you sure these pokémon will behave?”

“They will,” Damian replied with absolute certainty. The doubtful look on Katie’s face told Snowcrystal she was still remembering the Scytheclaw incident.

“They better,” Katie muttered, “unless they want to be taken away by the police.” She sighed. “Well, if we’re going to take them, let’s hurry and go.”

Snowcrystal was placed carefully into the backpack, which wasn’t as uncomfortable as she’d thought it would be, but there was still very little space. Damian left part of the top of the backpack open so she could peer out of it.

She was very grateful that Damian and Katie seemed to want to take an early morning walk to the city rather than ride on Damian’s tropius. It was probably because of the pokémon following them, she realized, and she was grateful that they were coming. Redclaw seemed happier than Snowcrystal had seen him lately; he would often run on ahead, then double back to circle the trainers. She didn’t blame him; they were just finally starting to gain real hope of finding the answers they needed, and they were, compared to what they’d just been through, safe. Alex plodded happily along behind them with Wildflame and a rather reluctant Rosie and Blazefang.

Blazefang had merely come along because he hadn’t wanted to stay back at the camp with two pokémon who were practically strangers, and Rosie had finally been persuaded both by the desire to see her friends and the assurance that Damian wouldn’t let any other humans near her.

The walk to the city was surprisingly pleasant; there were almost no signs that the area had once been ravaged by poachers. Bird pokémon fluttered from tree to tree and small pokémon scurried through the undergrowth just out of sight. A pleasant breeze picked up, ruffling Snowcrystal’s white tuft of fur as she peered further out of the backpack.

Upon reaching Stonedust City, the mood of the pokémon changed. Each of them, even the confident ones, were eying the strange buildings warily. “Now remember,” Damian told them, “don’t stop, don’t run on ahead. Just follow Katie and I. Don’t wander into the street, don’t bother other humans or pokémon, and don’t eat anything out of the garbage.”

The trainers and pokémon started to head into the city’s outskirts; Snowcrystal immediately pulled her head back into Damian’s backpack. As they walked further and further through the unnatural forest of tall, metallic buildings, Snowcrystal watched through the opening in the backpack, remembering the time she and Wildflame had snuck through the city’s streets. It had been raining then, and the place had seemed terrifying. While the city was still intimidating, at least now she had protection, and it helped that the skies were clear. There were lots of other humans around, from what she could see, and pokémon too. Though she saw a few people give Damian and Katie strange looks, most of them didn’t seem to find anything odd about the number of pokémon following them.

Suddenly Damian stopped. “Taking your pokémon out for a walk?” asked a human voice Snowcrystal did not recognize. “Seems like an odd place to do it.”

“They like to walk places with us,” Damian replied cheerfully. Snowcrystal tried to peer further out of the backpack but only saw Damian’s hand as he shoved her back down.

“It’s so noisy around here!” she heard Rosie complain as Damian and the other human were talking. “How far is this pokémon center place anyway?”

Snowcrystal wished Arien was around to ask Damian that very thing, but he was inside his poké ball, and Snowcrystal knew that the trainers probably didn’t want more than five – excluding Snowcrystal – pokémon following them at once.

Damian had stopped talking with the human; they were moving again. Snowcrystal peered upward at the towering buildings around them. She didn’t know what part of the city they were in, but these buildings were bigger than the ones around the library had been. She could hear several strange noises and see some of the large metallic machines Spark had called cars rumble past along the black ground that the trainers were, wisely, not walking on.

When they had passed a few streets, each more overwhelming than the last, Snowcrystal heard footsteps – human footsteps –behind her and turned her body around inside the backpack to look. A young human child was running toward Katie, Damian, and the pokémon with an excited look on its face. “Ninetales!” she shouted, reaching out her arms. “Mommy, he has a ninetales!”

Snowcrystal saw Rosie freeze as if someone had paralyzed her. The small human was coming closer, and Rosie looked too panicked to do anything. Snowcrystal couldn’t tell which, if any, of the humans were this little one’s parents. Damian seemed to notice too, because he stopped and turned, and Snowcrystal got a glimpse of a sudden change coming over Rosie before she was turned around and her view blocked. Rosie then let out a battle cry that made Snowcrystal’s blood run cold. They couldn’t attack the humans! Before she could think to say anything, Damian had run in front of Rosie, standing between her and the human girl. From what Snowcrystal could now see, Rosie looked like cornered prey; every hair on her body was standing up straight and her mouth was wide open, a glow forming in the back of her throat.

“Rosie,” Wildflame hissed. “Quit it!” The other pokémon just watched silently, not looking like they wanted to intervene and risk, as Katie had said, the police taking them away.

But Rosie didn’t seem to have any intention of ‘quitting it.’ She leaned to the side to be able to peer around Damian’s leg, her snarling face pointing straight at the small human.

“Careful!” Damian told the human, sounding, Snowcrystal thought, a bit worried himself. “You shouldn’t approach strange pokémon like that…I mean, my ninetales…she’s not used to, um…”

Snowcrystal peered down at Rosie, trying to catch her eye, but Rosie wasn’t looking. Instead, she tried to lunge toward the little human, but Damian pushed her back with his leg. Rosie replied by biting it.

“Ahhh!” Damian cried out, but quickly silenced his scream, focusing instead on talking to the girl. “Uh…just run along now…my pokémon…want to be left alone, it seems.” He seemed like he was trying to sound cheerful, but he sounded in pain.

Snowcrystal hoped that the little human would decide to wander off before Damian’s pants caught on fire, but it didn’t seem like she wanted to move. “Damian…” she heard Katie say from somewhere ahead of them. “You said they were going to behave.”

Damian took no notice, for another set of footsteps was approaching, the little human’s mother or father, Snowcrystal guessed. She quickly realized that she was right.

“Abigail, what do you think you’re doing?” The sound of an adult human, a female, came toward her. “I’ve told you, you can’t go running off-”

“He has a ninetales!” the little human shouted excitedly.

When the adult human spoke again, her voice didn’t sound pleasant. “What do you think you’re doing?” she yelled at Damian, loud enough to make Snowcrystal wince. “You can’t just let unfriendly pokémon walk outside their poké balls in the middle of the city! If your pokémon is dangerous, I could report you to the police…”

“Sorry!” Damian replied as he finally managed to dislodge Rosie. “It won’t happen again. She’s not dangerous…just…nervous around strangers. She’d never hurt anyone…I mean…” Snowcrystal wasn’t sure how Damian was going to sound convincing after Rosie had just bitten his leg, and the other human seemed to think the same thing, because Damian replied, “She was only playing! I mean, she does that all the time!”

Snowcrystal didn’t hear what the human said in reply, but afterwards they started walking away briskly, ignoring the still excited squeals of the little girl. “Rosie,” Snowcrystal hissed, “don’t do that! You almost got us all in trouble!”

“Well if that human had just stayed away from me-”

“Rosie, please,” Wildflame replied. “Try to act like you’ve seen a human before! If you don’t threaten them, they won’t harm you, but if you DO threaten them, they probably will.” Rosie didn’t answer, but didn’t try to argue either.

“This was a horrible idea,” Katie muttered to Damian. “I don’t want to get questioned by the police because ‘your’ wild pokémon can’t keep from trying to attack someone. They’d better behave around the injured pokémon in the center, because I’m not going to help you if the police come to investigate.”

“Right…” Damian replied, sounding less sure of himself than before. Snowcrystal wished she could reassure him that Rosie wouldn’t act like that again; she didn’t want the trainers to turn around and go back without seeing Stormblade and Nightshade.

On the way to their first stop, which Snowcrystal soon learned was where Nightshade was staying, the rest of the journey went uneventfully. A couple times, humans would stop to pet Wildflame or Redclaw, a few of them noticing Redclaw’s scars and asking Damian if he had gotten him from a pokémon rescue organization, whatever that was, but Rosie stayed by Damian’s side and didn’t try to start any more trouble.

“There it is,” Damian finally said as they rounded a corner of the sidewalk and came across a new jumble of buildings. Damian was pointing to a tall, wide building in the center of the next street. Snowcrystal peered a little further out of the backpack to get a look. The building looked pretty plain, she thought, being the same dull brown color as several of the other buildings on its street, and with rows of dark, dreary looking windows. A large cloth had been put up just above the front doors. There were human markings across it and a larger red marking in the center. She thought that the markings must mean ‘the pokémon center,’ to tell humans where the new one was. The cloth fluttered in the wind, revealing some other human markings underneath, which Snowcrystal assumed told what the building used to be used for.

“It doesn’t look much like a pokémon center,” Alex muttered.

“It’s the temporary one,” Redclaw whispered back. He did not elaborate on why a temporary center was necessary.

Carefully, they crossed the street over to the other side (it took a while to persuade Rosie that it was safe) and walked along the sidewalk, which was much busier than any they had been on before. It made it difficult for the larger pokémon to maneuver, but they reached the building’s entrance without incident.

Katie and Damian stepped inside, and Snowcrystal realized instantly that the building’s interior was not nearly as bleak as it had looked from the outside. They had entered a large white room that looked spotlessly clean, maybe a bit too clean, even, with several chairs around the walls where humans sat. Around many of them were pokémon, some of them sitting patiently by their trainers and others, mainly very young pokémon, occupying themselves with strange looking human made toys that were scattered across one section of the floor.

“Stormblade’s not here, is he?” Snowcrystal asked the others. “It’s just Nightshade?”

“Yes,” Wildflame replied. “Stormblade’s in some other building. I just hope it’s not far from here. I don’t like this city much.” That, Snowcrystal could tell, was an understatement.

Damian handed the backpack to Katie, who held it carefully, and approached a human at a counter on the other side of the room, while Snowcrystal looked longingly at the pokémon playing with toys. She almost wished she could join them, but she knew she couldn’t leave the backpack until she was safely wherever Nightshade was.

“I’d like to see the heracross I dropped off here before…” Snowcrystal heard Damian say faintly from across the room. “Well, me, my friend, and my pokémon…”

The noise in the room grew loud enough to drown out Damian’s words, and Snowcrystal turned towards the pokémon playing with the toys again.

“Oh, come on, Blazefang!” Alex cried happily, nudging the annoyed houndour. “Let’s join them!” The floatzel reached out and grabbed a short piece of rope with two knots at the end. “I know this game! You grab one end, I’ll grab the other, and we’ll pull, and then whoever lets go-”

“Get out of my face,” Blazefang hissed between his teeth as Alex dangled the rope in front of his eyes.

“Quiet, everyone,” Redclaw whispered. “He’s coming back.”

Sure enough, Damian was walking back towards them. “This way,” he said. Everyone quickly followed him as he walked to the other side of the room, where they were led by a nurse through a door and down a hallway.

Reaching an odd looking door that Snowcrystal realized was made out of…not wood, but metal, the nurse suddenly stopped. “It would be better if you recalled your pokémon,” she told the trainers.

Snowcrystal made sure to keep as hidden in the darkness of the backpack as possible, but she could still see as Katie gave Damian a worried glance.

“Can they stay out?” Katie asked. “They won’t be much trouble; they’re well trained. They know the heracross…and well…they don’t like poké balls too much, and…”

“Fine,” the nurse’s voice said grudgingly, and Snowcrystal heard a few odd sounds and then they stepped into what she realized must be the metal door. Suddenly she felt a horrifying sensation, like the floor itself was moving. She had no clue what kind of room they were in or if something was going horribly wrong, but she had the sense not to move or make any sounds.

Soon the odd motion sensation stopped, and they stepped out into what Snowcrystal realized was another hallway. Katie handed the backpack to Damian again and he put it back on his shoulders; now Snowcrystal could only really see the other side of the hallway as they walked further and further down it. Soon they turned into a smaller room. Snowcrystal couldn’t see much of this room, but she wanted to get a better look. Not knowing if it was safe, however, she stayed put.

“Blissey, will you stay here, please?” the voice of the nurse asked. A pokémon agreed happily, and Snowcrystal heard footsteps again, which faded quickly.

“All right,” Damian whispered. “The nurse is gone. There are just pokémon here. But we have to make this quick.” He set the backpack down and opened it, and Snowcrystal gladly stepped out.

If any of the helper pokémon working at the center stared at her odd fur color, Snowcrystal didn’t notice. She was too busy looking around at the room. It had an odd smell to it that Snowcrystal didn’t like, but it was very clean. It was a long room with a lower ceiling than the first room they had walked into upon entering the building. There were several beds lined up near the opposite wall, most of them occupied by various pokémon. On the beds nearest to her, she saw a beat-up looking raichu with a bloodied bandage on its head, a victreebel with what she was pretty sure were burn injuries, and on the nearest bed, Nightshade.

The pokémon working at the center paid no notice as the visiting pokémon, minus Blazefang, approached Nightshade’s bed. Snowcrystal felt herself being lifted up by Damian and placed on the edge of the bed, where she could see the heracross up close. With the humans’ bandages all over him now, she couldn’t tell how bad her friend’s injuries were. However, she could see that there were a lot of bandages. Nightshade’s eyes were closed and he wasn’t moving.

“Is he asleep?” Snowcrystal asked. Before anyone could answer, Alex reached up and shoved Nightshade – a bit too hard, Snowcrystal thought – and he opened his eyes wearily.

“Alex!” Snowcrystal hissed.

Nightshade blinked a few times as his eyes focused on the pokémon around him. He tried to push himself up off the bed a little, but quickly abandoned the attempt.

“Nightshade…” Snowcrystal began. When the heracross didn’t reply, she glanced at the others, who simply looked back at her.

After a moment, Blazefang sighed and turned away. “Hurry it up,” he muttered. “We need to get back to looking for a way to stop the Forbidden Attacks.”

At Blazefang’s words, Nightshade began to speak. “I am glad that you have all found help,” he said in a weak voice, making the pokémon surrounding his bed turn their heads toward him. Even Damian and Katie leaned closer, though they wouldn’t be able to understand his words. “Listen, Snowcrystal,” he began, still sounding dazed but looking steadily into the growlithe’s eyes. “I know that Blazefang is right and that we don’t have a lot of time to speak to each other. I also know that these humans can help in your search more than any pokémon can. Don’t wait for me to recover to keep searching, even if you have to leave the city, and don’t spend too much time coming to visit me. You need to do all you can to find a way to help the legendaries.”

“I…all right,” Snowcrystal replied. She didn’t like the idea of possibly having to leave behind the oldest and wisest pokémon in their group, but she knew that Nightshade wouldn’t want them to delay for his sake.

“Will it take a long time for you to heal?” Alex asked.

“I believe so,” Nightshade sighed. “I’m not sure how long. The nurses and pokémon haven’t told me. It may be a long time.”

Rosie growled. “If Thunder ever shows her face near one of us again, I’ll tear it off!”

“Rosie…” Nightshade said wearily.

“Um, guys, you might want to stop chatting now,” Wildflame began, and suddenly Snowcrystal felt Katie snatch her away from the bed and she was shoved rather unceremoniously back into the backpack.

From a small opening she could peer through, she saw a human nurse walk in just before Katie zipped the backpack almost closed and blocked her sight.

Standing beside Nightshade’s bed, Damian turned to face the nurse, trying to act as if nothing unusual had happened, though not doing a very good job of it. The nurse gave him a funny look and walked over to the victreebel’s bed.

“We’d better go,” Katie said, watching the nurse and the wild pokémon standing around the bed nervously.

“Yeah, you’re right…” Damian replied as he looked at Nightshade. “We still have to see Stormblade.”

“Right…” Katie replied, giving the wild pokémon another worried glance.

“Well, goodbye,” Damian told the heracross, reaching out to stroke his head. Nightshade looked up at him with what he was sure was a grateful look.

“Her-crroh!” the heracross told him in a weak but calm voice. Damian couldn’t understand him without Arien’s translation, but he was sure he understood what he meant.

He turned and followed Katie as she moved toward the door, checking to make sure that all the pokémon were following them. “Now remember,” she said. “Behave yourselves…” Behind Damian, Rosie snorted. Turning away from the room one last time, Damian followed Katie out of the door.

-ooo-

This was the forest where the scyther swarm was…the same place she and the others had traveled through before. Was Master going toward Articuno? She hoped he was. She hoped the bird pokémon guarding the mountain would kill him. But it didn’t seem like that was going to happen. Master was only interested in the forest and the strong pokémon in it. She was, for the first time since being recaptured, allowed out of her poké ball for more than just a few minutes. Yet there was no escape.

Every time Thunder had been sent out of her poké ball so that Master could treat her wounds, he had ordered his magneton to paralyze her. Now was no different, and with Volco watching her closely and waiting for any excuse to get revenge on her for his lost eye and other past injuries, there was no way she could do anything in her weakened state even if the paralysis wore off early. As she lie on the forest floor, looking up at the leaves of the tree above her, she desperately wished the paralysis could wear off, not so that she could attack Volco, but because she wanted something, even if it was just the tree she was lying next to, to vent her frustration on. Everything had gone wrong. Everything. She had made a mistake in trying to attack Master and lost everything she had to live for.

She thought of the group of pokémon she had followed during her freedom. For just a short, short while when she had first been returned to the poké ball, she had expected them to come looking for her. Yet they hadn’t, of course. They hated her more than she hated them. That much had been clear.

She also thought of the moment in which she had attacked Nightshade. She wasn’t even sure why she had done it. She had simply reached a breaking point, a point when she couldn’t take it anymore – the pain, the hunger, the sickness, the exhaustion, the stress of being around all those pokémon she didn’t like, learning that they planned to go near a human city and she had to follow them or starve in the wild, the sheer frustration of everything – and lost control, or simply lost the ability to care. Looking back, however, she wished it had been someone else that she attacked. Not Nightshade.

In the days after heading back from Articuno’s mountain, she had tried so hard to figure out why he would ever be so willing to help her that she had started to believe he was only using her for some purpose of his own. It wasn’t until her capture that she really allowed herself to think about it, more so than she had before, and had begun to believe that maybe Nightshade wasn’t there to manipulate her at all. She had started to believe she had been wrong.

Maybe Nightshade really did just want to help her. Maybe there really were pokémon out there that naive, or stupid, or whatever it was, to invest so much time in caring for another pokémon. She hadn’t seen much point in it at first. She often remembered the pokémon she had befriended as a young scyther, only to watch them die at the hands of Master and his training methods. She had long thought that was a lesson taught to her not to rely on others, and that was why she had been so reluctant to tell anything to Stormblade or Nightshade at first. When she’d discovered that she liked talking about her plans to kill Master and Volco and about how horrible they were and how they deserved to die to someone who wouldn’t tell her to be quiet about it, she had kept doing it, but she never realized what it meant to her until now, when she had no one.

She remembered Nightshade’s insistence that he understood how she felt, or at least a little bit, he had said. She had thought he was crazy or just really stupid. When he’d told her why, she’d told him she didn’t feel sorry for him and that he was an idiot. Now, she wondered if maybe he did understand in some way…but how could she ever know? It was too late. She was far away from Nightshade now, and his injuries had seemed very severe. He might not even be alive anymore. Thunder felt a sudden feeling of hopelessness as she realized that she had probably killed her only friend.

She heard Volco calling something to one of Master’s other pokémon who was a little ways away. It was something about the forest and the pokémon in it. Thunder didn’t know how many of the forest pokémon Master had captured so far, but she knew he wouldn’t be pleased if he hadn’t captured many. From what she’d heard Volco say, he had tried to catch pokémon in the canyon and did capture some – others he killed – but most of them had gotten away. She knew that the forest pokémon he did acquire would mostly likely be used as Redclaw had, not as actual fighting ring pokémon, but pokémon used to train those who would be. Though their job was mainly to be little more than a target that could fight back for Master’s stronger pokémon, they didn’t have to go through the type of hellish training that she had. They simply had to be strong enough to be able to dodge and fire a few powerful attacks. Some of them got killed during the practice battles, but even that was preferable to what the fighting ring pokémon had to go through…what she was going to have to keep going through. And she still had no idea how Master was going to punish her for running away.

Master was strange for a human, even among the other humans Thunder had seen and heard in the fighting arenas where Master earned much of his money. Most of the others were afraid to go near their pokémon. Most would never even dream of trying to hit them with a whip. But Master did, and he did it for no other reason than because he could, because he could get away with it. He loved to defy the stories humans talked about that told of masters trying to hurt their pokémon only to be killed when the pokémon found a way to turn on them. He loved being in control, and he controlled his pokémon well. The image of a cruel human with a whip was, as Volco had said, the image that came to most humans’ minds when they thought about the ones like Master. Volco had said that he was simply living up to it. Why this was important to him, Thunder had never known nor cared to try to understand.

From what she could hear, Master’s magneton was hovering near him, no doubt ready to paralyze her again if she showed any sign of movement. It was pointless, she thought, knowing that she couldn’t go anywhere. When she had been recaptured and let out of her poké ball for the first time, she had been fitted with a new type of collar that the rest of Master’s pokémon now had. Not only would this strange new collar electrocute her with the press of a button on the device that Master used to control them, but it would kill her if she moved too far away from him, or if she somehow managed to badly damage it. Master also needed to activate a certain button on the device that controlled the collars each day to prevent them from detonating. Even if she could run away, there was no hope of survival. The only time the collars would be taken off was in an actual arena battle, when there was a risk of an unusually powerful attack setting them off, and she couldn’t escape the arenas. She had tried many times.

She wasn’t sure what she was going to do now. Master and Volco were not alone against her. Some of Master’s pokémon…even some of the ones who had been abused as badly as she had, were fiercely loyal to him. Master’s pokémon did not work together. There was a hierarchy among them, and each and every pokémon was as vicious as they could be to those below them in the hierarchy. This behavior was highly encouraged and those who cooperated with Master and were vicious toward those ranking lower than them earned more food, more rest, and better sleeping places. Any pokémon stupid enough to try and make friends with another pokémon was punished and quickly abandoned the habit. Those who were the most vicious were awarded higher ranks, and better treatment as well as more power to do as they pleased to the lower ranking pokémon. They could take out their anger on them and get rewarded for it. Those at the top got there by not only being excellent fighters, but by keeping the other pokémon in line. Master’s pokémon always sought to move up in rank or get more rewards, or simply keep from losing their rank.

It was easier for them to earn more rewards and keep from being the victim of the cruelty of the higher ranks than to try to fight back against Master and his other loyal pokémon, impossible odds. If one of the pokémon turned on Master, another pokémon looking for a reward would jump at the chance to put them in their place and earn Master’s respect. That is, if the attacking pokémon even got far enough with their attempt. Some of the pokémon at the top of the hierarchy were even twisted enough to like Master and agree with his ways. These pokémon saw newcomers as simply new pokémon to break. They never thought of running away, nor did any of Master’s fighting ring pokémon, who had been raised by him since they were very small, because they had no idea how to hunt or forage or survive at all in the wild, and running away would lead to them losing everything they had in the hierarchy.

Thunder had never had any place in the hierarchy. She was of the lowest rank in Master’s group of stronger pokémon because she refused to play his game. In the past she had often openly defied Master, but after that had been beaten out of her, she obeyed him, but still refused to try to gain a place in his hierarchy. She didn’t care about hurting the other pokémon; her hate was for Master alone. She did not want to please him any more than she had to. She had always chosen to forgo rewards and let the other pokémon abuse and insult her rather than do what Master wanted when she didn’t absolutely have to. She knew that Master found this endlessly amusing, which infuriated her, but it did not infuriate her as much as his pleasure of having even more control over her would. But she wasn’t going to concern herself with how she would escape again. That opportunity was gone. Escape was no longer possible.

As she was thinking this, she heard Master mutter something to himself. She caught the words ‘white growlithe’ and listened, but couldn’t hear much more. If Master was going to go after Snowcrystal, there was nothing she could do, but she hoped he wouldn’t find her. She didn’t want Master to be happy with having a rare pokémon, and as much as she didn’t like Snowcrystal, she didn’t want Master to capture her either.

-ooo-

After they were done resting and Master’s other pokémon had been returned, Volco waited eagerly to see what Master would decide to do next. He had managed to capture quite a few forest pokémon, many of them strong ones. The typhlosion wasn’t sure whether they were going to stay to find more or if they were going to move on.

“We’re heading back to town, Volco,” Master stated, answering the fire type’s silent question almost immediately.

Volco watched Master turn to look back at the forest. Though the typhlosion could smell the scents of many dangerous pokémon that had passed through the area, he knew Master wasn’t afraid, and he had no reason to be.

“Come on,” Master told him after a moment. The typhlosion got up and followed his trainer and partner as they began walking back toward a forest clearing they had passed through earlier. From there, they could easily fly back to the town where Master had kept one of his old training facilities. He could no longer use it, now that the police had discovered it, but he needed to retrieve his other pokémon from the trainer he had left them with. If the trainer had any sense, or wanted to live, all the pokémon would be there in the condition Master had left them in. Enough time had passed since the police had investigated that Master thought it was safe to sneak back to the abandoned town, retrieve the pokémon, and leave.

What they would do after that, Volco wasn’t sure. The next big fighting ring competition was a couple months away. As Volco watched Master release his drifblim – one of the few pokémon he trusted enough to ride on – into the clearing, he thought back to the white growlithe. That strange boy, who couldn’t have been much older than twenty, had taken her with him. Volco promised himself that if he could find that boy, he would tear him and his pokémon apart until he found the poké ball he was keeping the growlithe in. That boy had taken what belonged to his master. Volco was going to make him pay.

-ooo-

Compared to the other buildings in Stonedust City, the long term pokémon hospital the trainers had been talking about looked actually friendly, at least at first glance. It was a massive white building with many windows and several large outside enclosures surrounding it. Snowcrystal saw a pond with a small waterfall, a rocky area with large boulders, and a place with several tall trees she thought must be there to represent a forest. There were others behind the building that she could not see well, but what she could see with her limited vision from Damian’s backpack looked peaceful and serene.

Yet as they got closer, there seemed to be a sense of foreboding and dread about the place that made Snowcrystal shudder. The pokémon in the enclosures were not playing happily, but limping slowly around their small spaces or lying unmoving. Several of them had recently lost limbs and many had bandages around their legs or heads and moved very slowly as they went for a drink of water from one of the pools or to the food bowls set out. Most looked too tired to move much at all. And these, she knew, were the healthier pokémon that were being kept there. The whole place had such a strong air of despairing misery about it that it made Snowcrystal feel depressed just looking at it. She could almost sense the pain and sickness and hopelessness coming from the pokémon unlucky enough to end up here.

As they passed the gate to the steps leading up to the front doors, an absol wobbled toward them on three legs from inside one of the enclosures. It had bandages around its head and looked unsteady, peering at them through glazed eyes. Damian stopped to look at it, but Snowcrystal couldn’t see his face. He looked at it for what felt like quite a while before Katie pulled him away and they walked up to the building’s front doors. The rest of Snowcrystal’s friends followed in subdued silence, looking around nervously.

Katie pulled open the door and walked inside, while Damian held it open for the pokémon. “I don’t like this place,” Alex said loudly as she shuffled inside.

“Quiet!” Blazefang growled her.

Katie walked up to the human near the front desk, and Snowcrystal ducked down further into the backpack – or as far as she could in such a small space – as another human walked over.

“Excuse me?” the human said rather rudely.

“Uh…what?” Damian replied, sounding startled.

“If you’re going to bring pokémon in here, keep them in their pokéballs! If you want to visit a pokémon here…since I’m sure that’s what you’re here for…then you must realize that there are many sick and injured pokémon here and they do not need any illnesses brought in by yours.”

“Oh…sorry…I’ll just…take them…back outside.” Damian hurriedly went back through the doors and the pokémon followed him, looking a bit confused.

“What do we do now?” Wildflame asked.

“I guess Katie will have to go see Stormblade herself,” Redclaw muttered. “Though Rosie, you might want to think about letting these humans help you with your leg…”

“Are you crazy?” Rosie shouted. “I’m not letting a human lock me up in a place like this! And I don’t need to be. I’m not ready to drop down dead like the rest of the pokémon in here!”

At Rosie’s words, Snowcrystal felt like she had been stabbed with sharp claws. Stormblade was one of the pokémon in there, and now that she thought of it, he could very well end up like she was sure some of the pokémon in this building did and would…die…in spite of all the help the humans tried to give him. She realized, for the first time, that this could be her last opportunity to see Stormblade at all.

“I have to get into that building,” she said in a determined voice, forcing open a large enough hole in the backpack’s zipper to stick her head out. “I need to see Stormblade…to tell him what happened.” She didn’t emphasize further than that.

“You really want to see him, don’t you?”

Snowcrystal was surprised to hear Damian’s voice. She knew he couldn’t understand her, but her eagerness was obvious. She stared back at him, hoping he’d somehow understand how much it meant to her.

“I’m going to go back in,” he told the other pokémon, zipping the backpack mostly shut again. “Stay out here and wait, and don’t cause any trouble or bother the pokémon in the enclosures, all right?”

Redclaw looked back at him and made a happy barking noise, then sat down on his haunches by the rest of the pokémon, who after a moment’s hesitation gathered around him.

“We won’t be long,” Damian replied. “No one should bother you. I’ll be right back.”

He stepped into the doors again, and Snowcrystal caught a glimpse of her friends, Rosie, Wildflame, and Redclaw in particular, looking through the glass at her and wondered if they had wanted to see Stormblade as much as she had. She realized quickly that they had opted to stay behind and wait, without Damian’s protection, so she could have a chance. Even Blazefang looked calm and not at all aggressive as he peered back at her.

The glass door which her friends were peering through vanished as Damian walked out of view of it and toward Katie, who was waiting for him uncertainly. “You sure this is a good idea?” she asked as they followed the human now leading them to Stormblade’s room. “Leaving the pokémon out there?”

“No one will bother them,” he replied. “Plenty of pokémon run errands for their trainers. People will think that they’re doing that and waiting for us.”

“I think I’ve already learned that I can’t trust you when you say everything’s going to be fine, you know,” Katie muttered back. Damian didn’t reply.

For a moment, it was silent until movement caught Snowcrystal’s eye and she peered out to see a young eevee racing down the hall excitedly. The eevee bumped into Damian’s leg and came to a halt. Snowcrystal looked down to see the little pokémon staring up at her, or what little he could see of her, with brown eyes.

“Hi!” he said happily, wagging his tail. Snowcrystal could see that he had what was once a very nasty wound on his forehead as well as his shoulder, but they both looked nearly healed now.

Snowcrystal didn’t want to reply in case it gave her away. Luckily the eevee was distracted when Damian reached down to pet it. “I like your trainer!” he cried happily, giving a little bounce.

“Jake! What are you doing?” a human voice shouted from the other end of the hallway. A female human about Katie’s age, presumably there to help out with some of the simpler tasks for the pokémon, appeared around a corner and ran past the startled nurse and trainers and scooped the eevee up in her arms. “You aren’t well yet!” she cried. “You need to rest more!”

“I don’t want to rest!” the eevee protested, struggling in the human’s arms.

Snowcrystal didn’t hear what the human said in response, for she was now carrying him back the way she’d come. Snowcrystal wondered if that was her eevee, or just one belonging to another trainer that she had decided to help out. It made her feel a bit better about the place, for now she knew that for some pokémon, there was hope for healing. That eevee, apart from a few scars, would be a perfectly normal and happy, healthy pokémon once he was completely well and able to leave. However, she knew that there were many others who weren’t going to be so lucky.

They continued walking, not seeing any other humans and pokémon, just rows and rows of doors. “Here we are,” the nurse leading them said, and opened one of the doors. They walked into another hallway, but unlike the one they had just come through, this one was much wider, and along the walls were little rooms with big windows taking the place of the doors that would have separated them from the hallway. In several of the small rooms were pokémon, each lying on a warm bed on the soft floor. Also in the rooms were food and water bowls and a small tray that Snowcrystal realized must be a place for the pokémon to relieve itself, seeing as they couldn’t go outside. They passed a vileplume that was obviously badly burned, with very little remaining of its petals, a mightyena whose back and hind legs were also severely burned, and several other pokémon with the same types of injuries. Snowcrystal even saw a forlorn looking growlithe, its back turned away from the window, also with severe burns. Looking at its orange shape, Snowcrystal wondered how a fire type like herself had gotten in that state. She thought, for one horrible fleeting moment, that it might have gotten injured when Shadowflare had burned the forest down, but as they passed it, she got a closer look. From what she could see, the more minor burns that were almost healed and weren’t covered by bandages were not Shadowflare wounds.

Snowcrystal understood that this was the place where the humans kept all the burned pokémon. None of them stirred as they walked by. Snowcrystal kept looking in each of the windows for Stormblade, but he didn’t seem to be in any of them. They reached the end of the hallway and Snowcrystal finally saw the room that was Stormblade’s. It was right near a pair of large doors leading to some other place, which Snowcrystal thought might be where the humans kept their supplies, whatever they were, that would help the injured pokémon. Stormblade’s room was larger than most of the others, but he only occupied a small corner of it, the corner with the bed. He looked far too weak to move, and Snowcrystal wasn’t sure he could. His food and water had been placed right next to his head, but they looked untouched. ‘What’s wrong with him?’ She thought. Hadn’t Katie mentioned he’d been doing better?

“Can we go inside?” she heard Damian ask the strange human.

“Yes,” Katie answered for him, and Snowcrystal remembered that she had been there before.

Snowcrystal watched as the human who had led them there walked up to a place in the wall next to the room and pressed some buttons on an odd looking device, and the window – or what Snowcrystal had thought was a window – flickered and vanished.

Snowcrystal could see the nurse human watching them as they walked inside, and she didn’t seem like she was going to leave. She saw Katie kneel down beside the bed, which was very low to the ground, and heard footsteps walking away. For some reason or other, the nurse had left.

Damian set down the backpack and opened it before kneeling down as well. Snowcrystal freed herself from it and walked over to Stormblade. She noticed some strange tendrils of human-made stuff going into parts of Stormblade’s upper arm. She wondered if they were hurting him, but not knowing what they were for, she didn’t try to remove them, as much as she wanted to.

As soon as he realized the humans were there, Stormblade opened his eyes and looked up at Snowcrystal, a look of disbelief on his face. “S-Snowcrystal?” he whispered. “How did you get here?”

She could tell that it took him some effort to speak, and that he would have asked her more questions if he could. She looked at him and then glanced nervously back in the direction the nurse had been standing. Seeing her do this, Damian sat behind her, blocking her from view of the hallway. Not knowing how much time she had, she quickly told Stormblade some of the things that had happened since he’d left the group, about how she had found Articuno and what he had said, and what she had decided to do afterward. She also told him about how she and the others had met up with Damian, and how he was going to help them.

Stormblade listened but did not react much. Snowcrystal hoped that he believed her without finding everything too surprising, and that he wasn’t simply too exhausted and weak for it to come as a shock to him. When she had finished telling him the vastly shortened version of the story, he asked her a question.

“What about Thunder?” he whispered. “Is she okay? With the humans? Is she getting better?”

Snowcrystal fell silent and avoided Stormblade’s gaze. She hadn’t wanted to talk about Thunder, but she knew as soon as he’d asked that he had a right to know. “Thunder…” she replied, thinking of what to say for a moment before realizing the human could come back at any minute, and she needed to tell him quickly. “Thunder got captured again…by her old master,” she said quietly.

“What?” Stormblade’s reply was weak but shocked. “What do you mean?”

“He found us by the canyon where…where Moonlight lived…she tried to attack him, but before she got a chance, he returned her…he still had her pokéball. We haven’t seen her since.” She didn’t say anything else. She couldn’t bring herself to look at the expression of alarm and horror on Stormblade’s face any longer. She knew how he felt about Thunder. He knew more than anyone, apart from possibly Nightshade, what her life with her old trainer was like. What her life was going to be like again. Snowcrystal looked back at Stormblade, and seeing the hurt and disbelief in his eyes, she didn’t have the heart to tell him what Thunder had done before she had been captured.

After a moment Stormblade looked away from her and closed his eyes. “Stormblade?” she whispered, but he didn’t try to reply. Somehow she knew that he wasn’t going to try and talk any longer.

“I think so,” she heard Katie say. She had just barely noticed that Katie and Damian had been talking. “The nurses were saying that the infection’s getting stronger and that’s why…well, he’s worse now. I did what I could when I was away from the cities, and it seemed like it was working for a while, but I guess the medicine wasn’t strong enough…”

Damian didn’t reply, but kept looking at Stormblade. He slowly moved the bowl of water toward Stormblade’s mouth, but the scyther didn’t attempt to drink out of it. After a moment, Damian gave up and set the bowl back down, looking helpless. Snowcrystal thought he looked just as sad as she felt, even though he didn’t even know Stormblade. Maybe it wasn’t just Stormblade, but all the injured pokémon he was thinking about, she thought. The whole place seemed enough to make anyone – human or pokémon – depressed. Katie, however, didn’t seem nearly as affected by it. She regarded Stormblade with concern, but didn’t seem overly worried about him. ‘Of course…’ Snowcrystal thought. ‘She still thinks he’s a murderer…’

Snowcrystal’s ears pricked as she heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Quickly she got back into the backpack and Damian closed it as the human approached. This time, as they walked back through the hallways, Snowcrystal did not try to look through the opening in the backpack at her surroundings. She did not want to see the place anymore.

When they reached the doors that led outside and to the other pokémon, Snowcrystal was surprised when no one asked her questions. She figured that someone, maybe Redclaw, had told them not to until they got back to the camp the trainers had set up.

To her relief, there were no incidents with humans during the journey back through the city. They made it to their camp safely, and Damian told Todd and Inferno to watch the camp and left with Katie to go to the library, promising the two once again that they would get a turn to go next time.

“Shouldn’t we…have stayed with them?” Alex asked. “So we can hear any news faster?”

“No…” Wildflame replied. “I’ve had enough of that human city for one day.”

“What did Stormblade say to you?” Rosie asked Snowcrystal, who really did not want to answer.

“She’ll tell us later,” Redclaw interrupted. “Now get some rest. You could use some after all that traveling. We all could.”

Grateful not to have to answer questions for the moment, Snowcrystal wandered to just outside the camp, alone but not too far from the others. She couldn’t help but feel that she was partially responsible for what had happened to Stormblade. If she hadn’t agreed to join up with him and Spark…if she hadn’t met him at all, it wouldn’t have happened. He would be healthy and probably would have found a better home by now. And it wasn’t just him. Other pokémon had suffered because they had wanted to help her. Nightshade and Rosie…even Thunder, though whether she had ever wanted to help or not, Snowcrystal wasn’t sure. They had all been in danger many times because of the mess she’d brought them into, willingly or not. And now she wasn’t even sure if this was something they could really make a difference in or not. They were just ordinary pokémon, searching for something the legendary Articuno did not even know. And how many more pokémon would suffer trying to find it? Cyclone wanted Blazefang’s Forbidden Attack, and even though he had to be far away by now and there was little chance he knew where Blazefang was, she couldn’t shake the feeling of terror she got when she thought of him. It was like she was prey hiding in a forest, desperately hoping not to be scented, followed, and found. She didn’t think Cyclone would simply give up. He was out there, undoubtedly searching for other Forbidden Attacks, other attacks that would affect the lives of many pokémon, near and far.

She now understood, really understood, why Scytheclaw had refused to try and heal Stormblade. He wanted no part in all this, and she couldn’t blame him. But despite that, she still wanted to try and convince him, for Stormblade’s sake, because no matter how Scytheclaw, or she, felt about it, Stormblade deserved some sort of hope. And this was the only possible hope he had. She just hoped that somehow, she would be able to help make things right…not just for Stormblade, but for everyone whose lives her quest had changed.

To be continued...