The Path of Destiny

[Arrow-Jolteon]

Lol, in response to the Author's Note: yep, they definitely weren't. Rosie was a lot bossier and meaner in her debut XD it's pretty surprising that Snowcrystal, Stormblade and Spark actually went that far to help her; anyone else would have probably just stopped at opening Rosie's cage and then left her to fend for herself.

[Scytherwolf]

Lol, in response to the Author's Note: yep, they definitely weren't. Rosie was a lot bossier and meaner in her debut XD it's pretty surprising that Snowcrystal, Stormblade and Spark actually went that far to help her; anyone else would have probably just stopped at opening Rosie's cage and then left her to fend for herself.

Haha, Snowcrystal is the type who would want to help just about anyone. xD Stormblade probably would have just set her free and left if he was alone at the time.

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 5 - Search for the Fire Stone

Snowcrystal was awed by the human’s buildings and their strange structures. For a while, Stormblade made sure they all kept to the shadows, to the alleyways, because although there were bound to be more traps, they would be less likely to encounter a human. Stormblade was obviously still unhappy about having to take the detour at all, and even Spark seemed to realize that something was amiss in the odd town.

A lot of the buildings seemed broken down and forgotten, not even scents remaining to tell Snowcrystal anything about their former inhabitants. The only humans Snowcrystal saw were walking along a sidewalk a little ways away, carrying some odd metal objects, but definitely no fire stone. Though she had never seen a human before, and therefore had nothing to compare it to, she felt that there was something off about these ones. It seemed that whatever reason they had for being here in this abandoned place wasn’t anything good.

As they walked through another alley, Snowcrystal saw Stormblade and Spark point out several traps along the way, although most of them, Spark had told her, were designed for small pokémon like rattata.

“Do you think it’s just the rattata the humans want out?” Snowcrystal asked.

“When Spark and I went by this town before, I saw bigger traps near some of the other buildings,” Stormblade replied. “I guess pokémon might have once come here a lot to steal food or something. Well, whatever had been left in this place.”

As Snowcrystal followed him carefully, she noticed a few small, sweet-smelling objects up ahead. Stormblade explained to her, “Those are called pokéblocks, but those ones smell poisoned to me. Don’t go near them.”

“Where are we supposed to find my fire stone in this place?” Rosie cried. “Shouldn’t we be looking for the human who took it?”

“I think it’s safe to wander around for a bit,” Spark told the others, with a nod to Rosie. “There don’t seem to be many humans around.”

Snowcrystal nodded in agreement and the four pokémon started to wander the streets, feeling somewhat confident that they’d be able to flee from a human easily if they were spotted. However, they tried not to stay out in the open too much, as even Spark was a bit wary about being seen.

The town was both frightening and confusing to Snowcrystal, and she was soon ready to give up. She was about to suggest to the others that they go back, when suddenly Rosie gave a small growl of anger and hissed, “Look…it’s him! That’s him…the human that put me in that cage…”

The four pokémon ducked into an alleyway as a tall man walked by, a quilava trotting calmly by his side. Snowcrystal looked to see if he was holding the fire stone, but she couldn’t tell.

As the man passed, his quilava stopped, taking a quick look around as he sniffed the air suspiciously. “Volco, come,” the man said calmly, and the quilava turned reluctantly away and followed the human.

Rosie peered after them, whispering, “We gotta follow. Come on!”

“Wait,” Snowcrystal whispered back. “He has pokémon with him, and we don’t want a fight. We should wait a while, then follow his scent to wherever he’s going. From there we’ll see if we can find where he put the fire stone, and take it back.”

Rosie sighed impatiently. “All right…” she mumbled reluctantly. “We’ll wait…”

-ooo-

Blazefang was still feeling strangely cheerful as he and the other houndour reached the forest. There, he managed to find tough plant fibers to make a medallion out of the strange purple stone. By managing to push both ends of the plant fiber into the narrow hole at the top of the gem, Blazefang had made it secure enough to ensure that the stone wouldn’t fall off. He now wore it around his neck, much like Snowcrystal’s.

Blazefang liked his new amulet. It made him feel more like authority, and there was something about it that put him in a good mood. The houndour pack had stopped at the stream Spark had found earlier for a rest and a drink. Though most of them were exhausted and just wanted to get some sleep, Blazefang felt energetic and wide awake. He wanted to continue following the growlithe, but he knew the others needed to rest, and for once he wasn’t angry about it.

Pacing happily around the area, Blazefang let his mind wander, daydreaming about what it would be like to really find Articuno and have him on his side.

-ooo-

It was nearing evening by the time Snowcrystal and the others left to follow the human with the quilava. Being a growlithe, it wasn’t hard for her to track the scent, and it led her to a particularly run-down section of the town. They followed the winding roads, coming to a very large building, which Spark mentioned was called a pokémon gym.

At least, it had once been one. The building was in such a state of disrepair that Spark guessed that it hadn’t been used for its intended purpose in decades. It smelled faintly of mold and rot, and strange vines clung to its brick walls.

Snowcrystal and the others wandered around it, trying to find a way in, but there seemed to be no way to enter the gym quietly. Just as they were about to give up, they heard the man’s voice from not far away.

“Well, Volco,” the voice was saying quietly from up ahead, an amused tone to the words, “we found the fire stone that pesky pidgeotto took, and I caught another vulpix. There’s always the chance this one could have potential. We’ll see how it fares after a while in the trap.”

Snowcrystal and the others crept forward, seeing the man and his quilava walking toward a section of the gym that was outside. Without even looking at it, the man flung a small object in the air and caught it easily. Snowcrystal noticed Rosie’s eyes grow wide; it was the fire stone. The man continued talking.

“This should help Redclaw pose a bit more of a challenge to our battlers, shouldn’t it?” he said calmly, talking to his pokémon as if this were an everyday type of conversation. “And just in time. A few more fights as a growlithe and he’d be torn apart for good…which would be a bit too soon for my liking.”

The man spoke as if there was nothing wrong with what he was saying, and Snowcrystal shivered as she watched him. She heard the quilava reply, but couldn’t hear what he was saying. From what she remembered of the tales she’d been told about humans, the trainer wouldn’t even be able to understand the pokémon, but neither of the strangers seemed to mind.

The human and pokémon headed toward a group of fences, and the man opened a door to one of them and walked inside. Beside Snowcrystal, Rosie shifted nervously. “Is he going to use my fire stone on another pokémon?” the vulpix asked, alarmed.

“I don’t know,” Spark whispered back. “Let’s just see what’s behind those fences. It looks like there’s a few practice battlefields outside.” He walked up to one of the fences and peered through it.

Snowcrystal peered through it as well, seeing that the ground beyond was made up of a wide, flat surface, with thick white marks running across it in different areas. “Looks like a practice battlefield to me,” Stormblade whispered from beside her. “But the human went that way. Let’s go… quietly.”

Snowcrystal was glad that it was somewhat darker now, and that there still seemed to be no other humans wandering the streets in this part of the town. As the group walked by the practice battling areas, they came across several, much taller fences, as well as thick concrete walls in some places.

It was just when Rosie had started fussing about the fire stone again that they heard the same human’s voice from not far away. This time, he was shouting angrily, and Snowcrystal kept hearing a loud noise. Padding carefully alongside one of the fences toward the sound, the growlithe crawled through some thick weeds, her belly fur brushing against the ground. Then she suddenly found the source of the noise.

Just past the fence she was crouching beside was a closed-off area, a small section of fence with a concrete wall on one side. The man and his quilava were standing inside the fenced area, their backs to her. And to her shock, there was a second pokémon standing beside the concrete wall.

Another scyther.

Snowcrystal couldn’t see the other scyther clearly, but from what she could tell, it was obviously being beaten in some way by the human, yet it was just standing there, not making a move against him. Spark crawled through the grass to her side, while Stormblade and Rosie peered carefully through the fence at a safer distance.

“That human…that human has a whip!” Stormblade whispered angrily.

“He has my fire stone too,” Rosie whispered back. “Don’t forget what we came here for.”

“But that scyther’s chained!” Stormblade hissed. “We have to do something-”

“We can’t do anything while that human and his quilava are around,” Snowcrystal whispered back. “We should watch where he goes, try and see where he takes the fire stone, then we’ll decide what to do.”

The quilava, Volco, was watching his master calmly as the man brought the whip down on the scyther again, who wasn’t even turning to face him. After lashing at the pokémon several more times, he set aside the whip and backed away a bit. Snowcrystal noticed that the scyther had a chain attached to its arm, which was in turn attached to the concrete wall. The human was carefully making sure that he was further away from the scyther than the chain could reach. The pokémon, however, didn’t make any move to threaten him. In fact, she was ignoring him completely. This struck Snowcrystal as very strange, because although she wasn’t familiar with whips, she figured that had to hurt, and the scyther wasn’t cowering from the man either, just standing by the wall and ignoring him.

“That’s strange…” Snowcrystal whispered to Spark. “Why doesn’t that scyther fight back? I’m sure she can take down a human-”

“I dunno,” Spark replied quietly so only she could hear. “But this is strange…I don’t like this place. I’m starting to think that maybe Stormblade was right for once. Let’s leave…I want to get out of here. Rosie can find herself another fire stone…”

“What?” the vulpix hissed, and Snowcrystal realized that she must have heard the last bit of what Spark had said. “I’m not leaving without my fire stone!”

“I’m not leaving until we can find a way to help that other scyther!” Stormblade stated firmly.

“Do you not see that that human has a fire type?” Spark hissed to Stormblade. “You said it yourself; this is dangerous!”

“Quiet!” Snowcrystal growled lowly, and turned back to the man and his quilava. The human was still facing the scyther, who for the first time, was actually looking at him, but with an almost bored and uninterested expression.

Snowcrystal heard the man speak with his calm, confident voice. If she hadn’t heard him shouting angrily just before, she would have assumed he was a different human entirely. “You must be thirsty…” he was saying. “Standing out here in the hot sun all day.” At this point the scyther had started to ignore him again, even when he held out a small bowl of water. “Well, you won’t get any today,” he said coldly, dropping the bowl to the ground, where the water seeped into the dirt at the scyther’s feet. He turned away from the chained pokémon before stooping down and allowing Volco the quilava to climb on his shoulder, muttering under his breath as he left the fenced area and locked it. He then walked in the opposite direction of Snowcrystal and the others, toward the gym building.

For a moment, no one moved or spoke, and Spark looked horrified that a trainer would treat his pokémon that way. Snowcrystal realized that the jolteon must have had a very good trainer and hadn’t seen these sorts of things. She herself had heard stories of abusive trainers like this back at the mountain, but it still came as a sort of shock.

After moments of silence, Rosie spoke up, “He went in that building…and he took the fire stone with him. I don’t know if there’s anything we can do about that scyther. He sounds like he could get really mad at us if we interfered.”

“Or stole a fire stone,” Snowcrystal pointed out. “But this is more important. Let’s see if we can find out why that human’s keeping the scyther there, and if we can help.”

“He’s keeping her there because she’s his pokémon,” Spark replied, standing up and shaking off bits of grass that had gotten tangled in his spiny fur, “That’s all there is to it. He’s a trainer. Though why he’s keeping the pokémon chained up and not in a poké ball, I don’t know.” The jolteon shook himself, starting to look very unnerved. “And the place is long abandoned. He can’t possibly live here. He and those other humans must come here to do…who knows what.”

“Come on, let’s go…” Snowcrystal whispered. “Before he comes back…” Slowly she approached the fenced area where the strange scyther was. Now able to see up close, she could tell that as well as the chain around the scyther’s arm – the one attached to the concrete wall – there was a heavy-looking iron collar around her neck. It looked as if a chain could be attached to it as well. The scyther hadn’t noticed them, and was busy trying to lick drops of moisture from the rocky ground, making the previously tough-looking pokémon look almost feeble. Finally abandoning the attempt, the scyther headed back toward the wall, before lying down against it.

She then got the shock of her life as Stormblade suddenly flew over the fence to land right in front of her. Leaping up in surprise, the scyther stared at Stormblade in confusion, then lunged toward him, both scythes raised. The chain stopped her in mid-leap, but she still swiped at Stormblade with her other scythe, making a small slice in the tip of his left wing. Taken completely by surprise, Stormblade backed away, shaking drops of blood from his injured wing. The other scyther glared at him, but didn’t attempt another attack; he was too far out of range.

“Stormblade!” Snowcrystal cried, managing to wriggle through a small gap in one side of the fence. Rosie slipped through after her, and Spark tried to follow their example, but ended up getting stuck halfway. Although he struggled franticly, the others were too preoccupied with the trapped scyther’s sudden violent attack to notice his plight.

The chained scyther’s reaction to Rosie and Snowcrystal was no different than it had been for Stormblade; she charged toward them, but was stopped by the chain before she got close enough to do any damage. She then backed off, poising for attack as if expecting them to bring the fight to her. For a moment, no one moved at all, and the strange scyther seemed to be daring any of them to come closer as she watched them through narrowed eyes.

Once again, Rosie managed to break the silence. “What’s your problem?” she shouted at the scyther. “We’re only trying to help you! So at least act grateful!”

“Hypocrite…” Spark muttered to himself, still lying half in and half out of the fence.

To everyone’s immense surprise, the scyther relaxed, and her expression turned from angry to surprised. “You’ve come to…help me?” She looked completely baffled and shocked, and somehow, Snowcrystal was sure she wasn’t going to try and attack them anymore. As the scyther slowly started to pace back and forth near the wall, still seeming unsure of what to think, Snowcrystal gave her a closer look.

The scyther stood a bit shorter than Stormblade, but with blades and wings that were slightly longer than his. Her top two fangs that showed when her mouth was closed were longer too, almost twice as long as Stormblade’s. Whether that was unusual for a scyther or not, Snowcrystal didn’t know. Various scars and wounds covered the strange scyther’s body, but she hardly seemed to notice them at all. In fact, by the way she walked so easily, without limping or showing any sign of pain, it was almost as if the wounds weren’t there. The heavy iron collar around her neck and the chain attached to her arm didn’t seem to bother her much either. Snowcrystal remembered how the bug type had acted like the beating she had received was a mere annoyance rather than a horrible experience. She didn’t understand it, but she wasn’t about to question the scyther.

“Yes,” Snowcrystal replied softly. “We’re here to help. We helped this vulpix, and we can get you out of here too.” As she spoke, her gaze drifted to Stormblade, noticing his wound for the first time. She ran over to him, crying, “Oh, your wing! Are you all right?”

From his unfortunate position at the edge of the fence, Spark muttered darkly, “Oh sure, you notice when he gets hurt. But yet, no one seems to realize that…I AM STUCK IN A FENCE!” To Spark’s dismay, his shout went ignored.

“It’s not important now…” Stormblade told Snowcrystal in answer to her question. Gritting his teeth, he turned to the chained scyther. “But we need to find a way to break that chain…I’m guessing a scythe won’t work?”

The other scyther stared at him as if he were crazy. “Do you think I wouldn’t have freed myself already if I could cut through it?” To prove her point, she slashed across the chain a couple of times, and it did no apparent damage.

“Maybe we could…” Stormblade began, but Snowcrystal interrupted him.

“I have an idea,” the growlithe whispered, “but I’ll need Rosie and Spark’s help. Wait a minute…where is Spark?” She turned and looked around, finally noticing him. “Oh…you’re stuck…” she stated, running over in his direction.

“About time someone noticed,” Spark murmured, rolling his eyes.

For a moment Snowcrystal struggled with the wire, but soon Spark was finally able to wriggle loose, leaving behind a few tufts of yellow fur. “Thanks for the help, Snowcrystal,” Spark cried, making a point of saying it loudly.

Snowcrystal beckoned Rosie over to her as she approached the scyther, stopping right beside where the chain attached to the wall. “Uh…stand back,” she whispered to the chained pokémon. “I don’t want to hurt you by accident.”

“I’m not afraid,” the scyther muttered, not moving at all. Knowing that their time could be running out, Snowcrystal quickly instructed Rosie on what to do. Together, they used their embers to heat a small section of the chain. Once Snowcrystal decided it was hot enough, she called Spark over to her side, and whispered to him as well.

Spark nodded and concentrated on the section of the chain as his short, spiky tail started to glow a bright silver. A few moments later, he leaped over the chain, slamming his tail down on the heated metal. The iron tail, combined with the ember attacks, did the trick. The link broke in two, and the scyther stepped away from the wall, the severed chain still attached to her arm.

“There, you’re free now,” Snowcrystal whispered. “Go, and hurry!”

The scyther needed no second bidding. Spreading her wings for probably the first time in a long while, she flew over the fence and away from the buildings, soon disappearing into the growing darkness.

Snowcrystal realized that they’d lingered for far too long. Turning toward the fence again, the growlithe carefully slipped under it and waited for the others. Once they were all on the other side, she quietly crept forward, walking around the corner of another section of fence leading to the gym building.

And it was then that she found herself face to face with the trainer’s quilava.

-ooo-

As evening slowly turned to night, Blazefang and the houndour pack moved stealthily through the forest, always on the lookout for danger. Blazefang wasn’t particularly worried, but the others were, namely Wildflame. Snowcrystal’s trail was becoming harder to follow, and the group was repeatedly getting turned around. However, to everyone’s surprise, Blazefang was patient with them.

Oddly enough, the houndour had found both tracks and scent of other travelers, and had reached the conclusion that there were new pokémon helping the growlithe. Blazefang wasn’t worried, however, since if the growlithe’s group saw him and tried to attack, his pack could easily overpower them. For now, though, it was best to not let the white growlithe know she was being followed. After all, she could have an idea of where Articuno had gone.

As they traveled on, members of the pack began to notice that Blazefang’s stone amulet seemed to glow brighter as the forest became darker. This made Blazefang more pleased, as he liked the thought of owning something rare and unique.

When the pack stopped for another rest, Blazefang sat to himself away from the main group, still hardly tired. Sitting up, he pawed at the strange violet-colored stone, careful to only touch its edges out of fear of damaging it with his claws. Then, to his amazement, the stone’s glow intensified, until the whole area around him was flooded with a bright white light.

Startled, he lifted his paw again and touched the stone’s edge lightly, and the glow faded to its normal brightness. Blazefang sat completely still, confused and pondering what had just happened. Was there more to this stone than he had realized?

To be continued…

Author's Note: And here comes Thunder!

[Arrow-Jolteon]

Woo! Thunder! Quite the messed up individual but a badass nonetheless XD

[Scytherwolf]

Haha, yep! XD

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 6 - Battle for Freedom

Wildflame, along with about ten other houndour, were out hunting. One of them had scented stantler, and Blazefang had sent them to catch prey for the rest of the pack. The smaller group was following the strong scent of the stantler herd, which had been there not too long ago. Wildflame was the first one to spot the deer-like pokémon ahead, and the houndour pack spread out, singling out the stantler furthest from the main herd.

Before anyone could move further, one of the other stantler lifted its head and charged toward where Boneclaw was hiding, sending the houndour scurrying for cover. A few other houndour raced toward it, surrounding the creature and allowing Boneclaw to escape. The stantler backed away with an alarmed look in its eyes, but a moment later, the rest of the herd came dashing toward them.

“Move out of the way!” Wildflame shouted. “Come back and circle any stragglers!”

The houndour bolted in different directions. They had all had experience with stantler before. Most of the stampeding ones were probably just illusions, but Wildflame wasn’t taking any chances. The stantler heard thundered past, and Wildflame ordered the pack to follow them.

As she raced after the rest of the houndour, one of the larger, tougher stantler suddenly leaped in front of her, bringing his hooves smashing down into her side. Wildflame let out a yelp as she was forcefully knocked off her feet and into a tangle of bushes. She looked around wildly, but the pack had already left, chasing after the rest of the herd. She was alone. There was no way one single houndour could bring down a stantler, and this one seemed bent on killing her to protect his herd from a future attack.

Wildflame barely managed to avoid another stomp of the beast’s hooves. She got to her feet, knowing there was no choice but to fight. After being kicked by the stantler, she knew she couldn’t outrun him in this state. Doing the only thing she could think of at the moment, Wildflame used a smog attack. Thick smoke filled the area, hiding the stantler from view. Hoping it would be blinded by the attack, Wildflame started to limp off.

However, it wasn’t enough. The stantler came charging toward her through the billowing smoke, rage filling its eyes. Wildflame saw in that look a hatred for her kind and for predators. She was unable to escape as the stantler charged toward her with a powerful take down, lowering his horns as he slammed Wildflame forcefully to the ground.

The houndour lay prone on the leafy earth, hearing the worried cries of her packmates. They now knew she was in danger, but she would probably be dead before they could come to her rescue. With her last bit of strength, she painfully tried to stand up, and to her surprise, she did.

For some strange reason, she was able to stand firmly, no longer feeling as if she were about to faint. The smog had seemed to clear away a bit as well, or was it getting lighter? Wildflame realized then that the light, the glow, was coming from herself.

The stantler was charging toward her again, and with a snarl Wildflame leaped at him, her legs and paws already starting to lengthen and become much slimmer, her claws growing larger and more curved. Her muzzle was also becoming longer, her teeth even more sharp and deadly. Horns curved back behind her head, and as she struck the stantler, sinking her teeth around its neck, she could feel her tail grow long and thin, ending in an arrow-shaped point.

The glow faded a moment later, leaving a newly-evolved houndoom clinging to the enraged stantler with teeth and claws. Wildflame felt the hooves pounding into her stomach, but she was much larger and stronger now. Releasing the pokémon, Wildflame landed on all fours, breathing heavily, but with the wild light of battle in her eyes. Leaping at the stantler again, Wildflame locked her jaws around its throat, hoping for a swift kill. A brief struggle ensued, and the two collapsed in the dirt. A moment later, Wildflame stood up shakily, her prey lying at her feet.

She had done it. Relief and shock flooded over her; she was astonished at what she had done. Taking down a large prey pokémon on her own was something she would have thought was impossible. She could hear the sounds of her pack coming closer. Wildflame lifted her head and gave a few barking cries, a signal to the rest of the hunting pack. As the other houndour approached, exhaustion overcame Wildflame, and she collapsed in a heap.

-ooo-

It was hard to tell who was more surprised, Volco or Snowcrystal. The quilava just stared back at the growlithe for a few seconds, but quickly moved past being startled. Dashing towards Snowcrystal, he plowed her into the side of the fence with quick attack. Spark leapt to his friend’s rescue, striking Volco with thunderbolt and sinking his fangs into the quilava’s leg.

The two pokémon struggled in the dust, and as Rosie and Stormblade appeared, Volco’s trainer did as well, stepping from around the corner of a concrete wall. Glancing toward the pokémon, the man gave a cry of shock, for two reasons. One, a scyther he believed was his was loose and standing right by the fence. Two, there was a growlithe recovering from one of his quilava’s attacks…that had white fur.

“Volco, flame wheel. Thunder, get the others,” the trainer shouted. Volco leaped away from Spark as the flames on his head and back flared up. Opening his mouth wide, he fired a whirling tornado of flames at his attacker. Spark nimbly leaped out of the way, his back fur only singed, and instantly turned his pelt to spines before whipping around and firing a large amount of them at the attacking quilava’s face.

Volco gave a shriek of pain as the sharp spines embedded themselves in his face and chest. Pawing furiously at them, the quilava didn’t hear his trainer’s next orders. Volco’s trainer now focused his attention on Stormblade, glaring at the scyther through the darkness. “Thunder, move!”

Stormblade stood still, confused, and the human stepped closer, peering at him through the gloom. It was only then that he realized that this wasn’t his scyther. Giving a cry of frustration, he reached for one of the poké balls hooked to his belt. A hint of alarm flashed across his face as he did so, as if he was remembering that he didn’t have any more of his most trusted pokémon with him. Nevertheless, he grabbed one of the round objects and threw it. “Redclaw, go.”

A massive shape materialized in front of Spark and the others. It bore a strong resemblance to Snowcrystal, only it was much bigger. It had a longer mane and thicker stripes, as well as two fangs that stuck out of its mouth. Unlike Snowcrystal however, the arcanine had bright, vivid orange fur and stripes as black as tar, strikingly different from the pale gray of Snowcrystal’s own stripes. Red flame-like shapes had also been painted on the arcanine’s claws, or perhaps, Snowcrystal thought with a jolt, it was meant to represent blood.

Unlike Volco, who looked healthy and well fed, the arcanine was gaunt and thin, the marks of a whip clearly evident along its back. It bore several wounds, as if many pokémon had tried to attack it over weeks or days. It also wore a strange collar that emitted several sparks every few seconds. The arcanine looked even more wounded and malnourished than the trainer’s scyther, whom from what the man had said seemed to be called ‘Thunder.’

“Redclaw,” the man ordered, “attack that other scyther! And don’t let the growlithe escape.”

Redclaw gave a loud roar, though it sounded less than enthusiastic, and charged toward Stormblade, launching a flamethrower in the scyther’s direction. Stormblade leaped aside, and at a command from his trainer, Redclaw fired the same attack again. This time, as Stormblade dodged, the flames seared across his shoulder. When he landed on his feet again, he could see the arcanine with his mouth open wide, fangs gleaming, and a faint red glow at the back of the doglike pokémon’s throat growing steadily brighter. Stormblade, knowing what was coming, quickly darted behind a concrete wall just as Redclaw shot a blast of flame in his direction, feeling the heat of the attack as it blazed past him.

Meanwhile, Volco had recovered, and was now battling against Snowcrystal, Spark, and Rosie. As the quilava shot another flame wheel at Spark, who managed to dodge but escaped with a burned paw, Rosie’s eyes started to glow as she focused them on Volco.

The quilava’s eyes glazed over a bit, giving him a dazed and confused look. He tried to fire another flame wheel, which collided with the concrete wall instead of hitting Rosie, who was in the opposite direction.

Volco stumbled around to face his opponents again, shaking his head to try and clear his thoughts. Spark struck him with another thunderbolt, and the quilava sank to the ground, the confuse ray’s effects fading away, but all too late. The trainer cursed under his breath and immediately returned his quilava before Snowcrystal’s jaws could clamp around his front leg.

At the same time Volco was returned, Stormblade found himself face to face with Redclaw; both of them seeming reluctant to attack. Redclaw now seemed exhausted and weak, dreading the thought of having to go on, and Stormblade couldn’t find it in himself to attack him.

“Redclaw, fire blast that bug!” the arcanine’s trainer shouted.

Redclaw seemed to flinch at the command, then began charging up the attack. Stormblade leaped out of the way as Redclaw launched the fire blast, but he needn’t have bothered. The attack was a miss, plowing into the ground to the right side of the scyther. Redclaw began panting for breath, his whole body visibly shaking. Stormblade left him as he ran to help his friends, who were now fighting a skarmory that Volco’s trainer had sent out. Their fire attacks had clearly weakened the emaciated pokémon, but nevertheless, it was still fighting, a look of insane rage in its eyes as it tried to claw at Snowcrystal’s back. The growlithe managed to duck down and avoid the worst of the blow, but a few of the claws caught on her skin, leaving bright red cuts that stood out strikingly against her soft white fur.

“Stop it!” Stormblade cried, rushing toward the others. “He’ll only send out one pokémon after another. Don’t attack the pokémon, it isn’t their fault-we just need to get out of here!”

Rosie nodded, but knowing that the trainer would only follow them, she used her confuse ray once again, on the skarmory this time, and she and the others took off, running past Stormblade and toward the woods.

The skarmory gave a cry of rage and shot after Stormblade as he turned to follow the others. The steel type flew low to the ground, trying to rake the scyther’s back with its claws. Stormblade shook the pokémon off, not wanting to attack it in this weakened state, as it had obviously been trained in a cruel way purely to fight again and again. Like the arcanine, it looked as if it had been used as a punching bag for some incredibly strong pokémon.

The skarmory shrieked as it plowed into Stormblade, sending the scyther crashing into the ground. The armored bird pokémon leaped into the air again, ready to swoop down at the stunned bug type.

Redclaw and his trainer came dashing toward the two, watching as the skarmory swiped its razor-edged wing feathers at Stormblade’s face. Stormblade blocked the blow with his blade and, knowing that there was no other option, lashed out with both scythes at the skarmory’s chest. However, it seemed to do little damage to the steel pokémon. A moment later, the skarmory had him pinned down, its claws scraping against his shoulders.

The trainer watching the fight took an empty poké ball from his belt. “All right, Redclaw, finish him off.” He looked a bit less unsettled, casting a look back at the abandoned gym building before returning his gaze to the battle.

Redclaw darted toward the fight, a bright glow coming from his muzzle. He then blasted the flames not at Stormblade, but at the skarmory. The steel pokémon gave a cry of pain and collapsed, allowing Stormblade to struggle to his feet.

As the skarmory recovered, Redclaw stared into the scyther’s eyes, ignoring his trainer’s sudden cries. The arcanine shot a quick look back at the man, who was making a break for the gym building. “Get out of here,” the fire type shouted at Stormblade. “Go away and don’t come back. He’s getting his other pokémon…the really strong ones, and you’ll never win a battle against them.” The roar of some chained up pokémon from within the gym building seemed to shake the ground beneath their feet, and Redclaw’s voice grew low and desperate. “Please, you don’t want him to catch you. You deserve a better life than this, friend.”

Stormblade stared back in shock for a moment, exhausted from the battle. He realized that this arcanine was grateful to him for his refusal to fight back, and that the arcanine probably got beaten by his opponents quite often. Knowing there was nothing more he could do for the fire pokémon, he nodded and flew off toward the forest, following his fleeing friends.

Watching him leave, Redclaw bowed his head as his trainer returned, several new poké balls clasped in his hand. The man caught up with him, furious that the group of wild pokémon had already faded into the nighttime gloom of the trees. He knew that he could send out a search, but it would be all but useless in wilderness like this during the night. Redclaw also knew that the man would never trust him enough to try to force him to track them down after what he’d done. The trainer swore under his breath, lowering his hand and clenching the poké ball tighter as he looked out into the thick forest.

Redclaw knew what was coming, but he didn’t care. He had done what was right; he had helped that scyther, and he had denied his trainer a new group of pokémon, as well as a rare-colored growlithe that he would have sold in one of the cities.

And that in itself was a victory.

-ooo-

Spark cried out in pain as he collapsed, exhausted, in the middle of the forest before starting to lick his burned forepaw. Snowcrystal slumped to the ground next to him, the claw wounds on her back still bleeding a bit.

Rosie, luckily, was unscathed. She approached the others timidly, whispering, “What about my fire stone?”

“Rosie,” Snowcrystal whispered, “I think that human used the fire stone on that arcanine.”

Rosie glanced toward the ground sadly, and to Snowcrystal’s shock, she could see the vulpix blinking away tears. “You were all really brave though,” she said softly, as if it took a bit of effort to say it.

Snowcrystal was about to reply when Stormblade came staggering into the clearing. Apart from the burn on his shoulder, he didn’t have any noticeable wounds, but he looked incredibly tired. Stormblade sat down beside a tree, panting, as the others tried to recover from the effects of the battle.

“We shouldn’t have gone in there,” Spark whispered at last. “You were right, Stormblade.”

“Well, we’re alive aren’t we?” Stormblade replied. “And we did get to help that other scyther...”

“Yes…” Snowcrystal agreed, standing up, “but we’d better get going. That human could be looking for us. Come on…”

Rosie slowly stood up and plodded after Snowcrystal, Spark limping beside her. Stormblade rose to his feet and followed, and Snowcrystal could tell by his slightly awkward movements that his shoulder was bothering him. She was surprised when Rosie spoke up in a helpful-sounding voice, “You know, there’s some rawst berries over there. If you and Spark eat them, it will help your burns to not get infected, and maybe even heal a bit faster.” She motioned toward a berry bush nearby, and Spark and Stormblade, as well as Snowcrystal and Rosie herself, ate a few before carrying on.

-ooo-

The trainer’s scyther had never felt so much freedom. Ever since she had been freed, she had spent nearly an hour running and flying all around the forest, just for the sheer joy of being able to do it. The long chain still attached to her arm had gotten tangled in bushes and brambles at times, but she had hardly noticed. She was free.

The scyther had not known freedom for as long as she could remember. Having been raised by her trainer from a young age, her life before that was a blur. Whether or not she had had a name then, she wasn’t sure. She had always gone by the nickname her trainer had given her, Thunder.

At last Thunder became so exhausted she had to stop and rest, no matter how much she wanted to keep running on and on. It was so different from being chained to a wall all day, as her trainer tended to do to her often, or being stuck inside a poké ball. However, one of the things that did get Thunder to finally stop her constant wandering was a nearby stream.

The moment she saw it, she darted over, plunging her head into the stream and drinking as much of the cool, clean water as it took to quench her thirst. She was amazed. All this water was right there, and no one was around to tell her how much she was allowed to drink. She could come here to the stream again and again, as much as she wanted, and her Master would never know.

Master…Thunder became suddenly wary. Her trainer was sure to come after her with his other pokémon. She couldn’t stay here, but she could find another forest, and another water stream like this one.

Once she had finished drinking, Thunder headed deeper into the trees, not bothering to look for danger and fearing nothing and no one…

…No one but Master.

-ooo-

Snowcrystal was glad Stormblade hadn’t been hurt badly and could still fly. The small cut on his wing from the chained scyther’s attack didn’t bother him much, and he could still use his wings just fine. He had just flown above the foliage and come back to tell them, to everyone’s great relief, that they were nearly out of the forest and that a vast grassy plain lay beyond.

In spite of their wounds, the group eagerly traveled onward. The cuts across Snowcrystal’s back still stung, but they had stopped bleeding, and she knew that the rawst berries would help Stormblade and Spark heal well. The trees seemed to thin out as the group got further, and Snowcrystal sighed with relief as she realized that they really didn’t have far to go.

Movement up ahead caught her eye, and she realized that the same scyther they’d helped before, the one the trainer had mentioned was named ‘Thunder’, had flown to the forest floor ahead of them, looking completely exhausted. The moment she saw the group, Thunder jumped toward them with the intention to attack, but stopped herself when she realized who they were.

“What are you still doing here?” Stormblade asked her, astonished. “You should be far away from this forest!”

“I will be,” Thunder replied simply. “But I don’t know where to go. Maybe Master’s pokémon will try and find me…I don’t know these lands well.”

Spark gave Snowcrystal a confused glance, but they both knew that what Thunder meant by ‘Master’ was her trainer. Snowcrystal decided to talk to the strange scyther herself.

“We don’t know these lands either,” the growlithe explained. “I’m on a journey. I’m traveling to find…Articuno.” She was surprised when Thunder didn’t show any interest in the legendary’s name being mentioned. “Stormblade, this scyther, and Spark, this jolteon, are looking for a new home,” she continued. “And I’m sure Rosie is too. If you want, you can come with us. You shouldn’t be wandering alone when you’re injured.”

“I am not injured,” Thunder replied, though Snowcrystal could plainly see that that was a blatant lie. From the look on Snowcrystal’s face, Thunder could tell what she was thinking. “I am not injured,” she repeated. “Master was not very angry with me. He did not hurt me much. If Master was very angry, I would be injured now, but I’m not.”

Spark and Snowcrystal exchanged puzzled looks again, not understanding how this scyther could regard her wounds as ‘nothing’. However, they decided not to question her on the subject. “So…do you want to come with us?” Snowcrystal asked. “After all, Stormblade and Spark are looking for the same thing you should be looking for. A safe new home.”

Thunder shrugged. “I guess so…” she replied. “I don’t know whether Master’s pokémon are searching for me, but I will come with you…for a little while.”

Snowcrystal nodded happily and the group headed off. Snowcrystal couldn’t help but notice how Spark and Stormblade were still limping; their wounds, although minor, were obviously bothering them. Thunder, however, moved swiftly and easily, as if she wasn’t injured at all. Only the look in her eyes gave away that she was in pain, and even then it was hard to tell.

Snowcrystal sighed. They were certainly becoming an odd group of adventurers, but at least they would be working together if any danger happened to come their way.

To be continued…

Author's Note: And here we have Redclaw's introduction. Wow, this was a long time ago. xD

[Scytherwolf]

I dunno if anyone here's still reading this, but in case anyone does, I made a blog where you can ask the characters questions and get answers in the form of doodles. You can find it here and I'll add it to the front page.

[Scytherwolf]

I've decided to start posting this again. I want to get caught up to where I am now, which is - at the moment - 72 chapters, with a 73rd well on the way! Also I have some old artwork for this chapter, and from now on I'll post artwork with every chapter that has something drawn for it.

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 7 - Another "Little" Adventure

A pleasant breeze drifted over the plains toward the group of pokémon as they emerged from the last of the forest’s trees and onto the sweet-smelling grass. Early morning sunlight lit up the fields, a much welcome change from the darkness of the forest. Flowers covered the ground almost as far as they could see, and there were tall cliffs, though not as tall as the ones Snowcrystal was used to, close by near the forest they had just traveled through. Flowers dotted the sides of these cliffs, giving them a tranquil and calming look.

The place seemed so peaceful, Snowcrystal could almost believe they were safe. But they had plenty to worry about. Out of their group of five, four were injured. None of them had managed to get enough food in the past few days. Spark and Snowcrystal had eaten some berries, but that was all, and Rosie and Stormblade had only had a few rawst berries. Considering they were all species of pokémon that needed meat, that certainly wasn’t enough to nourish them. That, and who knew if there could be danger lurking hidden in this seemingly peaceful place?

Despite all this, Snowcrystal felt like she could relax here for a little bit, and so she and the others decided to rest. Snowcrystal lay down among a small bed of wildflowers, while Spark did likewise, his paw still causing him pain. Rosie, however, obviously wasn’t feeling weary, as she was running around, tearing up flowers and plant stems as she bolted through the tall grass, happy to be away from the forest. Knowing that the vulpix was having fun, Snowcrystal didn’t bother her. It would probably take her mind off the fire stone incident anyway.

Thunder was not very concerned with taking a rest either. She was busy exploring the area around them, paying no heed to the others. They didn’t question her either.

After a while, Rosie became bored with running through the grass and flowers, and urged the rest of the group to move on. Reluctantly, Snowcrystal, Spark, and Stormblade decided that she was right and they needed to keep going.

Snowcrystal decided that it would be better to travel by the high cliffs that towered overhead, which would provide shade if it got hot later in the day. They had just reached the foot of the cliffs when Snowcrystal spotted a group of strange pokémon ahead. They were odd-shaped yellow bee-like pokémon that looked somewhat like honeycomb. “What are they?” Snowcrystal asked, watching a group of them flying toward a large patch of wildflowers some ways ahead.

“Oh, those are combee,” Spark replied, not sounding very interested. Obviously he had seen them before on his travels.

“Did you and Stormblade pass this way when you came to the forest?” Snowcrystal asked.

Spark shook his head. “No, we entered the forest from somewhere that way.” He pointed his paw westward. “We’ve never been here before. But I’ve seen combee in other places…when I still had a trainer.”

Rosie suddenly gave a loud shriek as one of the combee flew by, interrupting Spark and Snowcrystal’s conversation. “A BUG!” the vulpix cried, running over to Stormblade and clinging to his leg. Stormblade gave her a weird look. “What?” she growled, glaring back at him, “I don’t like bugs…they’re scary…” She looked at the combee again and shuddered.

Stormblade just stared.

“Bugs aren’t scary, Rosie,” Snowcrystal said cheerfully. “Look, the combee aren’t even bothering us. Just leave them alone and they’ll leave you alone.”

As Snowcrystal was talking, Stormblade looked past her to see Thunder charging toward a combee who had apparently got too close to her, swiping at it with both her scythes. The combee managed to get away as Thunder’s chain snagged on a bush, causing her to stumble.

“Leave the combee alone,” Stormblade called to her. “They won’t bother you and they aren’t good for prey either.”

Rosie stepped away from Stormblade, sticking her tongue out at another combee as it passed. “I’m…I’m not afraid of you anymore!” she called after it, trying to sound brave.

“Wow…” mused Spark. “These things are everywhere…hey look!” He leaped up and pointed with his paw to a large crevice in the side of a nearby cliff. A few combee were coming in and out of the opening. “Those combee must have a hive up there,” Spark told Snowcrystal. “And hive means honey. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Snowcrystal looked blank. “Uh…what?”

Spark sighed impatiently. “Don’t tell me you don’t know what honey is…well, you won’t know how good it is until you taste it!”

“You mean there’s food in that cave up there?” Snowcrystal whispered. “Do you think they’d give us some?” She glanced toward the large groups of combee flying over the fields.

“No, they won’t,” Spark told her simply. “But they have plenty of food and I’m starving, so let’s go!” He started to run toward the rocky side of the cliff, leaving Snowcrystal still looking confused.

Stormblade suddenly stamped down on the jolteon’s short, spiky tail, preventing him from running any further. “Stop! Don’t you think the combee will be angry if you steal from their hive?” he growled.

Spark turned his head toward the scyther and smirked. Suddenly the hairs of his pelt stuck up straight with a twanging noise, turning into sharp needle-like spines. Stormblade jumped back with a cry of pain, allowing Spark to stand up. Roaring with laughter, the electric pokémon raced off in the direction of the hive.

Snowcrystal sighed. “I guess we better follow him,” she told the others. “And maybe…maybe if we just get a little of this…honey and leave it’ll be all right. I’m sure those combee won’t mind. Besides, we’re all hungry, right?”

Stormblade looked up, halfway through pulling the spines out of his foot with his teeth. He spat a few out, muttering, “Fine! You go in there…as for me, I’m staying out here.”

“Okay, then you can starve!” Spark called back from where he was still running up ahead.

Snowcrystal sighed. “All right then, stay here Stormblade. The rest of us will go…” Rosie nodded and Thunder merely shrugged, and the two of them followed Snowcrystal as she ran after the jolteon. “Hey, wait up Spark!”

The others caught up with Spark as he reached the foot of the cliff, directly below the cave. Snowcrystal glanced upward, starting to feel as if this was a bad idea. However, seeing how peaceful the combee were, there didn’t seem to be much danger, and she tried to convince herself that it would be for the best. After all, they would need their strength for the journey, and this seemed to be the only place to find food in the area, as they probably wouldn’t have the energy to hunt for a while. Snowcrystal sighed, not knowing if she’d ever be able to hunt in places where her white coat was so easy to spot.

Spark was grinning as he outlined his plan to the others. “Okay, we need someone to distract the combee flying toward the entrance. Then the rest of us will climb up those rocks on the less steep side and reach the cave. We meet up, go through the cave and find the hive, get some honey and then leave…simple!”

“Isn’t this stealing?” Rosie asked with a glance at Spark.

“It’s not stealing, Rosie, it’s survival!” Spark muttered. “We have to find food somewhere.”

“Oh…” Rosie replied. “Yep, it’s stealing. Sounds fun!” She gave Spark a mischievous grin.

“Okay,” Spark whispered, leaning closer to the others, “Let’s get started. Thunder, you’ll create the distraction…”

-ooo-

Blazefang was having a strange feeling again. As the pack trekked through the dark forest, the houndour leader somehow felt that something was amiss. But as to what that was, he had no clue. His pack was constantly on the alert, following the trail of the growlithe and her companions. They had not run into danger since Wildflame had fought the stantler.

But Blazefang felt tired. His stone amulet almost seemed to weigh him down. He could not shake off the feeling that something was somehow…wrong.

Blazefang nearly jumped out of his fur when Wildflame suddenly appeared beside him. “What’s up?” the houndoom questioned, “You look like you’re worried about something. Is anyone following us?

“No…” Blazefang replied hastily, “I just…I just don’t like this place…that’s all. Let’s keep moving so we can get out of here. The growlithe was here recently…”

After a while of walking through the woods, Blazefang had become so paranoid that he told the pack to take a short break. Creeping away from them, Blazefang sought a place where he could be alone with his thoughts. He didn’t understand the strange moods he’d been having, and he wanted to try to sort it out. Finally finding a nice area away from the other houndour, Blazefang sat down and tried to think. Not knowing why, he found his mind drifting back to the incident in the wasteland near the forest, when the ghost pokémon had attacked. It had been strange…the way they had chased them after Blazefang had retrieved the stone. Had there been a reason that they’d been guarding it?

Almost without realizing it, Blazefang lifted a single claw to the center of the stone. Suddenly a blinding jolt of what felt like electricity surged through the houndour’s body. He tried to scream, but found to his horror that he couldn’t make a sound. Just before he lost consciousness, he heard what sounded like a voice inside his own head echo around his mind…

…“Shadowflare…”

-ooo-

Spark, being careful of his injured paw, slowly hoisted himself up on the ledge in front of the cave’s entrance. He then helped Snowcrystal and Rosie in turn as they too clambered up the rocks. Thunder was already waiting for them, having scared off quite a few of the combee. The scyther watched the others slowly enter the cave before turning and following them.

“I can hardly see anything…” whispered Snowcrystal. “Wait…” Using ember, she blew a small flame into the air, illuminating the area around them. Struggling to keep the flame lit up, she led the way through the rocky tunnel.

Luckily, she didn’t have to keep it up for long, as they soon emerged into a large cavern. Massive glowing crystals were embedded in the walls, giving off plenty of light. Snowcrystal was reminded fondly of her own home, only these crystals were a pale blue, not red, and some of them were far larger than any she had ever seen.

Rosie and Spark were also glancing around in silent awe, but Thunder only seemed mildly curious, giving the cavern a brief glance all around before starting to walk through it toward the other side. Snowcrystal followed her, gazing at the immense columns of stone that reached from the ceiling to the stone floor, and all the strange and unusual rock formations that surrounded her in every direction.

“Wow…” Spark whispered, awed, as he walked up to a group of thin stalactites that reached almost down to the floor. “These spiky things are everywhere! Look at those big ones way up there…I bet they could fall and cut you in half!”

“That’s lovely, Spark,” Snowcrystal muttered. “Let’s find the hive before the combee know we’re in here.”

“Aw…it could be in any one of these tunnels,” Rosie whispered, glancing around. “How are we gonna find it?”

“Why did these combee have to build their hive in a cave?” Spark muttered irritably.

“So it would be protected, hard to locate, so other pokémon won’t steal their honey…” Snowcrystal added with a glance at Spark and Rosie.

“Well, let’s just look around…” Spark suggested. “If we can’t find it, we’ll go back…” He padded up to the base of an immense limestone column. The water that had been trickling down the rock pillar for thousands of years had created smooth and intricate patterns in the natural stone. “You have to admit though, this is a pretty cool cave…much prettier than those ones my trainer and I had to travel through. I always hated those caves. Full of geodude…zubat…If I never have to fight one again…”

“Spark, look!” Snowcrystal whispered, looking ahead. Spark stopped talking and followed Snowcrystal’s gaze. Through a tunnel slightly to their right and above a few odd-looking stalagmites on a rock ledge, the growlithe was sure she had seen the flicker of wings. “I think I saw one of the combee in there,” she whispered.

The four pokémon crept toward the tunnel, climbing carefully onto the ledge. The chain around Thunder’s arm caught on a small stalagmite, causing her to stumble. Turning around angrily, Thunder swiped her blade at the stalagmite, breaking the tiny stone formation easily. Turning away from it with a growl, Thunder caught up with the rest of the group.

Snowcrystal edged her way around some of the thick stone stalagmites before climbing onto the ledge and peering into the tunnel. Rosie found that she couldn’t make the climb and had to be lifted up by Spark.

As they walked through the tunnel, which got darker and darker as they progressed, Snowcrystal’s sharp hearing picked up the sound of many pokémon…combee. She and the others crept forward to find themselves standing on a ledge looking over a cavern even bigger than the one they had just left.

Like the other cavern, this one was lit by luminous crystals, though these looked golden. Down below and up above, combee flew everywhere, some in large groups and others by themselves, all headed to and away from what looked like a huge golden cave formation. To Snowcrystal’s shock, there seemed to be what looked like pools of gold liquid on rock ledges all around the combee’s massive construction. The gold stuff looked to be flowing into the pools from ledges higher up, which shaped part of the golden formation. The entire structure filled up a large part of the room on the opposite side, seeming to tower over them even from where they were standing.

“That thing is huge…” Snowcrystal whispered to Spark as she covered her stone amulet with her paws, trying to keep to the shadows where they wouldn’t be seen. She did not want to be noticed by the combee flying around the cavern.

“And it’s part of the combees’ honey storage,” Spark replied in a whisper.

Several combee were fluttering to the honey pools, but Snowcrystal noticed a smaller pool in a different tunnel that seemed to be ignored, and out of sight of most of the combee. She nodded toward it and the four pokémon carefully crept down the ledge toward it, careful to stay hidden against the wall where it was darkest, away from the crystals. Snowcrystal knew one thing for sure. She didn’t want to be caught in that large cavern, however peaceful and harmless the combee seemed…

-ooo-

Blazefang began to feel his senses returning. He opened his eyes slowly, looking around. How long had he been unconscious? He thought for a moment. If it had been a long time, the pack would have come looking for him and found him. No, he’d probably only passed out for a few minutes. He stood up, surprised to find that not only did he no longer feel weak, but he felt stronger…the sort of strong he felt when he won a friendly battle with one of his fellow houndour, or when he learned a new attack.

Then he remembered…the jolting pain he had felt when he had touched the center of the purple stone. Carefully he reached out a paw and touched it again. Nothing happened, and he felt no different. Suddenly he recalled the word he’d heard just before he’d passed out…Shadowflare. “Shadowflare…” Blazefang mused aloud. “What the heck is a Shadowflare?” Then a thought struck him. What if this stone had given him a new power or attack? He’d heard of human-made devices that could teach pokémon attacks, and he began to wonder if this stone, whatever it really was, might be the same sort of thing.

He felt stronger now, very much as if he had learned a new attack or ability. That, and he could practically sense that some strange power now lie within him, a power that hadn’t been there before. Oddly enough, he didn’t feel afraid. He felt…pleased. Smirking, he stood up and headed back to the others. Whatever this ‘Shadowflare’ was, he’d find out soon enough, but for now he’d keep it a secret from the rest of the pack.

-ooo-

“I didn’t know combee hives were this big,” Rosie mused as Snowcrystal led the way through a tunnel.

“Yeah,” Spark replied. “They aren’t always so big. This looks like a huge swarm though. It looks like they store most of their honey in that cavern back there. Luckily for us there weren’t that many around.”

“Yeah…” Snowcrystal agreed, though she would hardly have called the number of combee she’d seen back in that cavern ‘not many.’ “I don’t like the thought of them attacking us…I’ll just be glad when we get out of here.”

“Well, most of them are outside,” Rosie whispered. “But you’re right…I don’t want to be too close to those combee…they’re creepy…”

“Beedrill are worse,” Spark whispered back. “Just be glad these are combee… Hey look!” He ran forward, reaching the pool of honey Snowcrystal had spotted before.

“Uh…this stuff tastes good?” Snowcrystal asked Spark uncertainly, not liking the look of the golden liquid now that she could see it up close.

“Yep!” Spark answered, walking over to the honey pool and softly licking at its shiny surface.

Snowcrystal glanced at Rosie, unsure if she really wanted to taste the honey. She had to admit, it didn’t look very appetizing, but once Rosie started to lick some from the pool as well, Snowcrystal gave in. To her surprise, the honey was sweet-tasting, and she found that she liked it. Spark seemed to like it a lot, as he was happily licking away at the pool, his muzzle covered in the sticky substance. At seeing how much Spark seemed to enjoy it, Rosie made a snide comment about him being part heracross.

Thunder seemed to be thinking the same thing as Snowcrystal had been before. The scyther carefully smelled the honey but did not try any. “Come on,” Rosie urged her, noticing the scyther’s reluctance. “It tastes good!” Thunder decided to try some after that, but although she didn’t dislike it, she didn’t seem to really like it all that much either.

Snowcrystal looked up when she heard the flutter of wings. “I think some of the combee are coming this way…” she whispered. “Let’s go.”

Spark nodded, stepping away from the pool, and he and the others dashed around the stored honey and into a smaller tunnel…

…Unaware of the combee workers who had just seen Rosie’s fluffy tails vanish into the gloom of the passage…

To be continued…

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 8 - Blazefang's Plan

Stormblade was getting tired of waiting. Snowcrystal and the others had been gone for a while, and he was debating whether he should go after them or stay in the field and wait longer. He was also starting to wonder if he should have gone with the others in the first place and gotten some food for himself. However, the possibility of getting attacked by hundreds, maybe thousands, of combee just didn’t seem worth it for food that wouldn’t be particularly nourishing for a carnivore. For now, he would have to be content with simply waiting for them alone.

Not far from the field where Stormblade was resting, the houndour pack was reaching the end of the forest. Blazefang could tell that the trees were beginning to thin out. Knowing that this meant that they’d be leaving the forest completely soon, he urged the rest of the weary pack to greater efforts. After a while, the houndour leader’s assumptions were found to be true, as up ahead, far less trees could be seen, and there were many more clearings and patches of grass. Unsure of what lie ahead, Blazefang and Wildflame left the pack and crept through the grass to scout out the land, soon emerging from the last group of trees and onto the grassy plains.

Blazefang lifted his head above the tall blades of grass and glanced around warily. Sensing no danger, he headed back to the pack with Wildflame following behind him. Once they reached the rest of the houndour, Blazefang led them toward the grassy plains area, confident that there was no trouble or danger awaiting them.

“We’re getting close to the growlithe and her friends …” Blazefang told the others. “But we would travel much faster if we knew where Articuno was and not have to rely on following the white growlithe, wouldn’t we?” He paused, waiting a few moments before carrying on. “And of course there’s always the chance that Articuno will help the growlithe instead.” Blazefang smiled grimly and continued, “This is why I believe we should eliminate her and maybe even her companions once and for all, so at least the growlithe tribe won’t have a chance at finding Articuno before we do. But first…we need to find out if they actually do know anything about the whereabouts of the legendary bird. Wildflame, that’s where you come in.”

The houndoom glanced at him, surprised, and Blazefang went on, “If they know we’re following them, that’s no problem. Wildflame will tell them anyway. If the growlithe’s seeking help from others, I want Wildflame to join her traveling party.”

“But…” Wildflame began, clearly confused with Blazefang’s absurd plan, “if they know about you…they’ll never-”

“The growlithe would suspect a houndour or houndoom to be an enemy of her tribe,” Blazefang explained. “After all, we are her tribe’s rivals. To earn her trust, make up a story. Say you were part of my group, and that we were sent out to stop her by our own leader but we exiled you after your evolution. The growlithe would know there aren’t many houndoom in our tribe. Pretend you’ve turned to their side and tell them…tell them about me and my pack and how we’ve been tracking them. It will help you gain their trust when they find out it’s true…and it doesn’t matter what the growlithe knows about us anymore. We outnumber her little group by far.”

Wildflame still looked a bit uncertain, but Blazefang carried on, “And when the moment is right, I’ll lead an attack on the growlithe and her friends. You’ll fight on their side to further gain their trust. No, we won’t kill any of them; in fact, we’ll only stay there long enough for you to help the growlithe’s friends drive us off. Then, what I want you to find out is where Articuno is. The growlithe must know…why else would she have set off all alone? And the moment you find out anything, report back to me. After all this is finished and we’ve found out what we want to know, we can get rid of the growlithe and the others for good.”

Wildflame was silent for a moment, and then a cruel smile slowly crept across her face. “All right then. Let’s ensure our land stays ours.”

-ooo-

Stormblade had decided that he’d waited long enough. Fearing that something could be wrong, the scyther now planned to sneak into the hive himself and find the others. Staying hidden in the tall grass, Stormblade watched more combee fly into the cave. Luckily, the bright green grass camouflaged him enough so that the combee didn’t notice him creeping closer to their hive.

A sudden swishing sound in the grass behind him caused him to turn around, startled. But the pokémon scent that reached him wasn’t combee. Moving silently out of the way of the approaching pokémon, Stormblade saw the black pelt of a houndour through the grass to his left, followed by many more.

Unsure if they were friendly or not, Stormblade decided to stay hidden until they were gone.

-ooo-

“Wait…” Boneclaw grunted from behind Blazefang, causing the pack leader to turn around. “There’s someone close by.”

Blazefang sniffed the air, and replied, “I smell scyther…and growlithe…they passed this way, come on!” Blazefang moved forward, but Boneclaw stayed back.

“No, there’s someone this way…” the houndour told Blazefang.

The whole pack crept toward where Stormblade was hiding, and the scyther darted away, the sudden movement of the grass alerting the combee...

…To the houndour pack. Blazefang and the others raced away from the cliffs as a large group of combee chased them away from the hive. Peering from the grass, Stormblade realized that the combee had spotted the houndour pack instead of him, and he moved toward the cave while they were distracted. Quickly flying up and into the crevice, he thought back to what that houndour had been saying. ‘They passed this way…’

Stormblade now knew that they were being followed.

-ooo-

Snowcrystal led the way through the gloom of the tunnel. Her glowing crystal was the only light source aside from the faint shine of the giant crystals from the previous caverns, which were still slightly visible from the back of the tunnel. Spark, seeing another pale glow up ahead, ran forward, accidentally stepping on a few of Rosie’s tails.

“Ow!” cried Rosie. “Watch it!”

“Shhh!” whispered Snowcrystal. “Let’s just be careful while we find a way to get out of here…” She crept past Spark and headed toward the next cavern up ahead.

The growlithe carefully emerged from the tunnel, and then stopped dead in her tracks. Spark, Rosie, and then Thunder appeared behind her and froze as well.

They had emerged into another large cavern, and blocking every path on all sides was what looked like a wall of infuriated combee. The angry pokémon surrounded them completely, cutting off all exits but the tunnel they had just emerged from.

Spark stared at them for a moment, and then quickly swiped his paw across his muzzle, hoping to rid the traces of honey from his face.

“Uh…back through the tunnel,” Snowcrystal whispered urgently, ready to dart into the narrow space. Spark and Rosie nodded, but Thunder reacted differently.

To Snowcrystal’s shock, the scyther did not seem to want to follow them away from the combee swarm; she instead headed right toward them. Leaping towards the nearest group of combee, Thunder struck out at them with both scythes, breaking through the combee’s barrier and ending up on the other side of the cavern.

Spark was already heading down the tunnel when Snowcrystal cried, “Wait! If we go that way we’ll end up in the bigger cavern…and there’s even more of them in there!” Spark didn’t seem to hear, as he had already vanished. A large group of combee swerved behind them, soon blocking off the tunnel just after Spark disappeared. Snowcrystal nudged Rosie toward the combee separating them from Thunder, but the vulpix was standing still, absolutely petrified.

“Come on, Rosie, we can’t just stand here,” Snowcrystal whispered. She didn’t know why the combee weren’t attacking yet, but she also knew it could only be a matter of time. She tried to push Rosie in the direction Thunder had gone, and the vulpix started wailing.

“No! I can’t do this…I’m not going near them!” Rosie cried. “They’re bug pokémon and I’m not taking a step closer!”

“Thunder and Stormblade are bug pokémon, Rosie!” Snowcrystal cried, picking the vulpix up by scruff before she could reply or protest.

On the other side of the cavern, a battle had broken out between Thunder and about forty combee, who were all using gust to try and stop her. Thunder was slashing at them left and right, not even trying to dodge the attacks. After several combee had sustained serious injuries from the attack, they backed off, giving Thunder a wide berth. This was just what Snowcrystal needed. Gripping Rosie tighter, she bolted over to the scyther, noticing a small tunnel up ahead that the combee had abandoned during the fight.

Snowcrystal raced inside and set Rosie down before calling over to Thunder, “Quick, in here!”

Thunder completely ignored the shout, darting toward the combee and chasing them through the air, striking any who came too close. Snowcrystal stood watching for a moment, confused. It was as if some bizarre change had come over Thunder, and all she could think about was fighting the enemies. It took a moment for Snowcrystal to realize that she had seen Thunder like this before. When Stormblade had surprised her when she was still chained, Thunder had cut his wing, and after that, she had tried to attack the rest of them at first glance.

However, Snowcrystal didn’t have time to dwell on these thoughts for long. There were about sixty combee in the cavern, but Snowcrystal had no way to tell how many total were in the hive. Due to Thunder’s attacks, the combee completely ignored Snowcrystal and Rosie, and if anything, they seemed confused and frightened, unsure of what to do. As she watched them, Snowcrystal couldn’t make out any attacks other than gust being used by the combee, and she felt a bit less wary. Unless they were attacked by a very large number, they couldn’t be too dangerous. But sixty was still a very large number for one scyther, and she worried that Thunder would soon be taken down.

“Thunder! Come over here!” Snowcrystal cried.

Rosie seemed to have recovered a bit from her fright, as she added to Snowcrystal’s shout. “Get in here before they kill you, you idiot!” she screamed, but Thunder appeared to not have noticed either of them.

Snowcrystal crouched further into the safety of the tunnel and sighed. “I don’t want to do this, but…” Her voice trailed off and she launched an ember in Thunder’s direction, striking the scyther’s left wing and causing her to turn around. Somehow, that seemed to snap her out of it. At first Thunder ran towards Snowcrystal with the same angry determination to fight that she had shown the combee, but as she neared the tunnel, she seemed to realize that Snowcrystal had fired the attack for a reason and quickly slipped inside.

Snowcrystal and Rosie ran, hearing the combee behind them but noticing that, strangely, the bee pokémon did not enter the tunnel. Snowcrystal paused to rest. “I don’t get it…” she whispered. “Those combee hardly looked like they knew what they were doing, and they didn’t even attack us when we were standing by that other tunnel.”

“Don’t you get it?” Rosie muttered from beside Snowcrystal. “They weren’t trying to kill us, they were trying to trap us there. They’ve probably got us trapped in this tunnel by now for all we know. Obviously they were ordered to do it. They didn’t look like they knew what to do when Thunder went crazy and attacked them. They couldn’t have been expecting that.”

Snowcrystal thought for a moment, and decided it made sense. Now that she thought about it, the combee had seemed like they had been trying to stop them from going anywhere rather than trying to eliminate them, but why? They had seemed so angry…she’d been sure they were going to attack them…or had they been waiting for something?

Snowcrystal noticed that Thunder was breathing heavily and leaning weakly against the wall, as if the combination of her injuries, exhaustion, and taking all those attacks had finally started to affect her. She didn’t look much like she’d be able to fight her way out if another large group tried to stop them. What Rosie had said about the combee trapping them in the tunnel suddenly dawned on her fully. “We have to get out…” she whispered. “Now!”

-ooo-

Spark had bolted back through the tunnel and through the cavern with the forgotten honey. He now raced along the rock ledge of the massive honey-filled cavern toward the tunnel they had come into the hive from. Combee soon noticed the fleeing jolteon and flew toward him. In a panic, Spark let loose several bolts of electricity, not bothering to look back and see if he’d struck any combee as he made his way toward the exit. Finding the tunnel he was searching for, Spark leaped into it and ran.

The jolteon could hear what sounded like more combee swarming into the hive, and to his shock, the cavern up ahead, which had been unoccupied before, was full of combee flying towards the main cavern. Spark darted swiftly into another side tunnel, trying to think of something. The combee were sure to have blocked off all the exits; he couldn’t decide what to do now. His only option, he thought to himself, was to find another way to the cave’s exit, and make a run for it, or if he had to…fight his way out.

-ooo-

Blazefang paused once his pack was far enough away from the combee. “Well, that was annoying,” he growled. He quickly looked around. “There’s a stream over there. Let’s rest here, see what prey or other food we can find, then we’ll keep going.” As the pack spread out, Blazefang leaned back against a small tree, pawing his stone amulet.

He still was not completely sure what Shadowflare was, only that it was some odd sort of power or attack the stone had given him. Since the incident in the forest, nothing strange had happened, and the stone no longer seemed like anything out of the ordinary.

Putting it out of his mind, Blazefang focused on other matters. He was aware that the white growlithe was somewhere close, and he didn’t want to lead his pack any further until he was sure that Wildflame had done what he’d told her to do. Just minutes ago, the houndoom had set off to catch up with Snowcrystal’s group, wherever they might be.

-ooo-

Stormblade was unaware of the danger his companions were in. He had at first considered himself lucky for being able to sneak into the cave and then into one of the passages without being noticed. However, as he wandered through long, maze-like tunnels, he quickly realized that he had no way of telling where he was going.

The winding passages he was forced to travel through were dark and confusing. He had wandered for what seemed like quite a long time with no sign of the combee’s hive or of his friends.

Stormblade paused to rest, tired out, as he tried to think of what to do next. It suddenly occurred to him that his friends had probably left and just hadn’t met up with him yet. After all, there didn’t seem to be many combee around these passages, and they had probably gone in and out of the hive relatively easily while most of the workers were away. Surprised, and a bit confused, Stormblade started to head back, glad that he’d had the sense to make small marks in the cave walls with his scythes as he’d explored. Now, he could easily follow the marks back to where he’d come.

After a bit of confusion and a short while of stumbling through the darkness, the scyther reached the large cavern he had entered before going into the tunnels. He peered out, and realized with a tremendous shock that the cavern was now filled with combee, blocking the entrance to the tunnel he had used to get into the caves. Ducking back into the passage before he could be noticed, Stormblade wondered if there was another way out. If there was, he realized, the combee would know about it and have it blocked as well.

He was trapped.

Leaning against the wall in the semi-darkness of the tunnel’s entrance, Stormblade began to wonder if his friends had gotten out after all. He had to admit, the thought of being trapped in the hive after the others had gotten out safe wasn’t very pleasant, but the safety of his friends was more important.

He would somehow have to find out if they were still in the hive, and then come up with an escape plan. Obviously, it would be easier said than done.

The beating of multiple wings interrupted the scyther’s thoughts. He ducked further into the tunnel as a group of combee flew past, several entering the various tunnels around the walls of the large cavern. Stormblade stood perfectly still in his hiding spot, watching the entrance warily. He knew he couldn’t hide for long, and he’d have only one option of escape, down the very tunnel he was standing in. However, if he moved even a little from where he was, he could easily be spotted by the combee patrolling the area. It wasn’t a good situation, to say the least.

Stormblade didn’t have to wonder what to do for long. His decision was made for him as one of the combee happened to dart into the tunnel he was hiding in, spotting him and calling out to the others. Instantly, half of the tunnel-searching combee flew toward him, and the scyther had no choice but to run.

As he dashed through the tunnel, Stormblade could hear the combee from behind, but the passage was far too narrow to allow him to fly. As he ran further, the tunnel became even narrower, and the ceiling much lower. Knowing that the combee were much smaller than he was, Stormblade could only hope that the passage didn’t lead to a dead end. He ran as fast as he could in the narrow space, his wings flattened against his back and his head lowered to avoid hitting the stone spikes on the rocky ceiling.

Unaware of where he was going in the darkness, he suddenly gave a small cry of shock as he realized he had run right over the edge of a steep slope. Before he had the chance to spread his wings out, he was sent crashing into a large crumbling stalactite. The old stone formation had already been on the verge of breaking, and the sudden impact caused it to crumble and crack at its base. As Stormblade was knocked to the ground, dazed, the rock broke off from the cave ceiling and fell, shattering on the rough stony ground and causing the rock of the floor to crack and break.

Stormblade had barely started to stand up when the rocks beneath him crumbled and broke apart. He now realized from the way the floor was caving in that he was in some sort of small cavern right above a larger chamber. A shard of broken stone struck his back, knocking him down as the cave floor collapsed completely. Stormblade cast a fleeting glance upward, seeing the shocked faces of a few combee who had just managed to catch up with him. A moment later he had landed, not on hard rock, but on something that was actually quite soft.

Stormblade opened his eyes and glanced around, still somewhat dazed from the blow. He had landed in some medium sized chamber on a floor that seemed to be covered in a sort of soft moss or other strange plant material. Shaking his head to clear it, Stormblade stood up shakily and took a step backward. He gave a cry of shock as he fell backwards into a large pool of something wet and sticky. Leaping up in disgust, he cried out in anger as he realized he accidentally tumbled into a large pool of honey.

Growling angrily, Stormblade began frantically trying to scrape the mess off his scythes as he muttered under his breath, “This is all Spark’s fault…It was his crazy idea to come here…Oh, when I find him…”

Stormblade stiffened, hearing a noise behind him. Dreading what he would see, he turned around, and froze in shock. Not only were there about fifteen combee already in the room, but hundreds more were waiting from a larger cavern that connected to it, and standing on the other side of the chamber directly in his path…was a vespiquen.

Stormblade glanced around, just then noticing the destroyed ceiling and the very large broken chunks of stone that now littered the cavern and the honey pool. The very same honey pool he was still standing in. The chamber had obviously been much nicer and cleaner than any of the others he had been in before, and probably much nicer than any of the other honey caverns. It took only a second for him to realize that this was a part of Vespiquen’s royal chamber…and the chamber had all but been destroyed in the cave in…the cave in that he had unintentionally caused.

Obviously, the vespiquen wasn’t too happy about it.

To be continued…

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 9 - Trapped

Wildflame was confused. She had tracked Snowcrystal’s scent to the base of one of the large cliffs, and the trail led to a rocky path to her right which in turn led to a combee hive. Stepping back, Wildflame walked away from the cliff’s base, muttering, “Blazefang can yell at me all he wants, but I’m not going in there.”

Unsure of what to do, she decided to wait a while, not wanting to face the wrath of Blazefang and the rest of the pack just yet. If the growlithe and her friends didn’t come out of the hive after a while, she decided, she could just assume they were dead…

-ooo-

Snowcrystal knew they wouldn’t have much time. They needed to get out before the combee blocked off all of the tunnel’s exits. “This way,” she whispered, heading off into another tunnel leading to their left. Rosie followed quickly, sure that she could hear the combee coming closer. The two of them vanished into the tunnel, not realizing that Thunder wasn’t following.

“Where are we supposed to be going?” Rosie growled as they moved further through the passage, giving Snowcrystal a glare. “You don’t have a clue, do you? We could be heading back to that big room where all those combee are and you wouldn’t even know!”

“I’m trying, all right?” Snowcrystal replied, resisting the urge to point out that Rosie didn’t have a clue as to where they were headed either.

Suddenly Rosie gave a shriek and halted, causing Snowcrystal to stop as well. Up ahead, about a dozen combee had entered the tunnel and were now facing them. “Back the other way…” Rosie whispered, turning around.

“Come on, Rosie!” Snowcrystal shouted. “They aren’t strong in small numbers.” Not bothering to even check if Rosie had heard, Snowcrystal leaped at the nearest of the combee, knocking it out of the air and sending it crashing to the cave floor before sinking her teeth into its wing. Feeling a strong blast of air shoot by her, Snowcrystal jumped out of the way and fired an ember at the remaining combee before darting past them and through the tunnel. The sound of Rosie’s pawsteps behind her told her that the vulpix had managed to make it past the combee group too. However, the angry pokémon were still following them.

Snowcrystal cast a fleeting glance behind her, only to run straight into Spark, who was fleeing from a different tunnel. Rosie, unable to stop in time, crashed into Snowcrystal. The three of them fell to the ground in a tangle of paws and tails. It took Snowcrystal a moment to realize who she had run into.

“Spark!” she gasped. “We’ve got to go now, there’s a group of combee coming straight for us!”

“Well there’s about fifty of them coming here from that way,” Spark replied, pointing his muzzle toward the tunnel he had been running from. “I’d say your way’s better, let’s go!”

The combee that had been chasing Rosie and Snowcrystal were surprised to see the two pokémon running back that way with yet another intruder, but a thunderbolt from Spark stunned them long enough for the three to get past. “Which way now?” Spark asked.

“I don’t know! Any way! Uh…let’s try this way!” Snowcrystal cried, darting into yet another of the labyrinth-like tunnels.

-ooo-

Thunder was now making her way through the tunnels on her own. The fact that Rosie and Snowcrystal had left her behind barely registered to her. She wanted to get out of the hive, and her traveling companions were of little, if any, concern to her.

The scyther’s feet made a loud splash as she entered into a wider tunnel half-flooded with water. The water was trickling down the walls of the cave and from the ceiling, making every rocky surface slippery. There was a deeper pool up ahead and Thunder paused next to it to take a much-needed drink of water.

A lone combee flying toward the hive on its own happened to come by, staring in shock at the dark form of the scyther lapping at the water from the pool in the middle of the tunnel. The news of intruders had not yet reached this combee, and for a moment he only stared in surprise. But that moment didn’t last long. “What are you doing here?” the combee cried, and Thunder turned her head in his direction.

To the lone combee’s shock, the scyther didn’t reply, didn’t even look surprised to see him there. The smaller bug pokémon had no time to react as the scyther leaped toward him, slashing her blades across the small pokémon’s body. The combee fell to the ground, unconscious, and Thunder ignored it, simply walking through the water and into the next cavern.

-ooo-

Snowcrystal, Rosie and Spark could hear more combee coming their way. Ultimately, they realized, there would be no escaping them, as there were simply too many, and the exits were blocked. Spark peered through a small hole in the cave wall next to him and sighed. “They’re everywhere…” he whispered. “And I can’t run much longer…” Looking toward the others, he could see that Rosie was exhausted as well, though Snowcrystal didn’t look as tired.

“We must keep going,” the growlithe whispered. “I’m used to running long distances and I know you aren’t, but we have to-”

“Stop!” a voice called from behind, and Snowcrystal reluctantly turned to see a huge group of combee hovering directly behind them. Another equally large group arrived immediately after from up ahead, and the combee formed a wide circle around the group, surrounding them completely.

Spark growled, his fur sharpening into spines as he readied an electric attack. The jolteon lowered himself into a crouching position, his eyes on the nearest wall of combee.

“Don’t…” Snowcrystal whispered. “We could never fight this many. If they attack back we’re done for!”

At her words, Spark reluctantly nodded, but his fur didn’t lie down flat. Rosie shuffled closer to him, her eyes wide.

The group of combee knew they had caught most of the intruders at last. One of them, obviously the one in charge of the first large group, glared down at the three travelers and called, “You must come with us. Attack, and you’ll regret it.”

The three friends were soon led by the combee toward what Snowcrystal was certain was the big cavern, knowing that if they fought back, they could easily end up dead.

-ooo-

Stormblade had to admit that this was just about the oddest situation he’d ever been in, and likely one of the most dangerous. The combee surrounding the vespiquen looked a lot more angry than the ones he’d seen before. Stormblade stood frozen to the spot as the vespiquen came closer, the eyes of the combee around her glowing slightly. He leapt away from the pool of honey as all at once, the combee fired some bizarre-looking white beam of light at him. Stormblade landed near the wall of the cavern, unscathed, only to have the combee surround him again. The attack they’d just used, he supposed, was probably something the vespiquen had made them do, not an attack they could use normally.

Almost as soon as he landed, the combee fired the attack once again, and he quickly darted out of the way and headed toward the cavern’s exit. However, before he’d gotten far, several of the combee’s attacks hit him at once, sending him crashing into the ground.

-ooo-

Thunder had found her way blocked by a swarm of the angry combee. However, rather than running from the pokémon, she charged straight towards them, instantly taking out quite a few with her dangerous scythes. The combee, realizing the danger, swerved out of the way to avoid the whirlwind of slashing blades as Thunder darted by. Seconds later the swarm regrouped and headed toward the scyther, who leaped back and slashed viciously at any who happened to come too close.

The combee seemed momentarily taken aback by Thunder’s ferocity, and they weren’t sure of what to do. It didn’t take them long to decide, and soon Thunder was faced by attacks from all sides. Ignoring the odd beams of white light flying toward her from all directions, Thunder focused on causing as much damage as possible to individuals of the swarm.

Suddenly a shout from a nearby cavern interrupted the battle. Thunder noted with interest that the shout had come from Stormblade. More out of curiosity than anything, Thunder ran toward the tunnel where the shout had come from, ignoring the confused and angry group of combee behind her. A moment later, the scyther had emerged into the vespiquen’s wrecked chamber.

One of the combee looked up from where Stormblade lay and toward Thunder, muttering in a shocked voice, “There’s another scyther?”

Thunder stared at the large group of combee who seemed to have forgotten about Stormblade for a moment. Stormblade, seizing his chance, got and up and flew out of the cavern’s entrance, glancing back toward Thunder as if to try and tell her to follow. However, Thunder stood completely still, her gaze fully concentrated on the vespiquen that stood at the other end of the cavern. Without giving any warning she charged toward the larger bug pokémon, scythes raised. The combee didn’t matter to her anymore; this was their leader.

-ooo-

Stormblade realized all too late that he had accidentally flown into the main cavern. Stopping for a moment, he tried to figure out what path was least likely to get him killed. The combee working in the hive all looked up, and the moment they spotted another, quite different flying bug pokémon within their hive, they abandoned their tasks and flew after the scyther.

Stormblade tried to head toward the nearest exit while attempting to dodge multiple attacks, but the combee far outnumbered him, and several attacks at once finally brought him down.

-ooo-

Thunder ignored the combee swarm as she sprinted toward the vespiquen at the far end of the chamber, leaping up when she was near enough and preparing to strike. However, just as her scythe was but a few inches from the hive’s leader, several attacks from a group of combee shot toward her simultaneously and struck, knocking her down to land sprawling at the vespiquen’s feet. The vespiquen then looked down at Thunder, not seeming surprised in the least. The use of Attack Order had seemed to surprise the scyther, but she was quickly recovering.

Thunder herself was mildly shocked, especially at the way the vespiquen hadn’t even moved when she’d tried to attack her. Leaping to her feet, Thunder attempted to land another blow, but was yet again blasted back at the last moment by the Attack Order from the combee.

Thunder hissed as her head collided with the cavern wall. Lashing with her blades, she leaped up with a newfound rage. Then she charged, but this time, the combee not only fired their attacks at her, but also formed a wall in front of Vespiquen. Thunder was once again hurled against the ground, gazing in fury at the combee who surrounded their leader.

After the scyther managed to stagger to her feet, the combee fluttered away from Vespiquen, as if daring Thunder to attack again. She didn’t disappoint them. The combee watched with what was almost amusement as Thunder tried to attack the nearest of the combee, but they darted away too quickly for the injured scyther to attack. However, it was enough to keep them away from Vespiquen long enough for Thunder to aim another strike.

Thunder slashed her scythe at Vespiquen, who moved neatly to the side in the last instant. As the blade swung past her, Vespiquen gripped Thunder’s chain in her claws, stopping the motion of the blade. Keeping a tight grip on the chain, she swung it in a downward arc, bringing Thunder to the ground. Thunder shook specks of blood from her wounds as she got up and lashed at Vespiquen with both blades, but the leader had already anticipated this and flew swiftly out of the way. Thunder turned and flew after her opponent, attempting to attack yet again.

Once again, Vespiquen was too fast, and swerved behind Thunder, this time grabbing her metal collar and hurling her against a nearby stalagmite. Her eyes glinting dangerously, Vespiquen launched a power gem attack at the furious scyther, watching impassively as the attack found its mark, causing Thunder to shriek with rage.

The combees’ leader was mildly surprised when Thunder stood up yet again. The scyther’s breathing sounded rough and hoarse, and she was bleeding in the places where she had been wounded by her trainer, but Thunder seemed focused only on winning the fight, however hopeless it was. Raising her scythes, she prepared to continue the battle.

“Fool…” Vespiquen hissed. “You just don’t know when to give up…”

-ooo-

Snowcrystal, Rosie, and Spark sat at the base of a massive stone column, guarded by dozens of combee. They could only watch helplessly as Stormblade was led to the same place and made to sit at the base of the column. One of the combee flew up close to Snowcrystal, giving her a stern and angry glare. “You have stolen honey from our hive,” she began, “and you have destroyed one of our chambers and a supply of honey.” Spark and Snowcrystal glanced at each other in confusion, and Stormblade looked away, pretending to be closely studying the stalagmite column he was positioned next to. The combee continued, “Of course, it will need to be repaired. You will work in the tunnels for us for as long as it takes to repair it, and longer still, for your thievery. That, or you will be killed. Our leader will make the final decision.”

Spark gave a small snarl. “They want us to work as…slaves?” He whispered angrily to Snowcrystal.

“Let’s just hope they don’t decide to kill us,” Snowcrystal whispered back, before a strange noise from a cavern nearby interrupted her thoughts. It sounded almost like…a battle. “What…what was that?” she whispered, glancing in the direction of the sound.

-ooo-

Vespiquen slashed her claws dangerously close to Thunder’s eyes and face, narrowly avoiding the blow from a scythe that could have severed her wing. Thunder gave a cry of fury before slicing her blades at Vespiquen again, pure rage giving her strength despite her injuries. The combee were still staying out of the fight, though Thunder knew that if the battle happened to go her way, that would quickly change, and she would be outnumbered.

Dodging another power gem attack, Thunder tried to land a hit on her enemy with wing attack, and this time, Vespiquen couldn’t dodge fast enough. Thunder struck her across the face, pushing the other bug pokémon toward the tunnel that opened up to the main chamber. Thunder leaped toward Vespiquen for another wing attack, but her momentum caused both combatants to stumble out of Vespiquen’s chamber and onto a rock ledge in the large room.

Thunder managed to make several deep gashes in the vespiquen’s side and back before she was knocked backward toward the cliff of the ledge by another power gem attack. Leaping up as if nothing had happened, Thunder sprinted toward the wounded vespiquen again, before the combee had a chance to come to their leader’s aid.

-ooo-

Unintentionally, Thunder had created a distraction. Sensing that their leader was in danger, the combee guarding Snowcrystal, Stormblade, Rosie and Spark flew off, their captives momentarily forgotten.

“Let’s get out of here!” Rosie cried, running toward a nearby tunnel.

“No!” cried Stormblade. “We have to help Thunder! Those combee could kill her if we don’t do something!”

Snowcrystal glanced at the massive swarms of combee flying toward the ledge where Thunder and the vespiquen had appeared. She knew in an instant that Stormblade was right. With those numbers, they could likely bring Thunder down and kill her…and there didn’t seem to be anything they could do. Snowcrystal watched the combee with wide eyes. The largest group was almost to the ledge…

Then suddenly, all activity stopped. The combee had halted and were now simply hovering in midair. Wondering what was going on, Snowcrystal crept forward for a closer look. The combee didn’t even seem to notice her. She walked across a rock ledge near where the swarm was clustered and glanced up at the ledge by Vespiquen’s chamber, expecting to see Thunder already killed in the battle.

Instead, she saw something quite different. The combee’s leader was lying helplessly on the stone floor, and as Snowcrystal edged closer along her rock ledge, she could see that Thunder had her blade pressed against the vespiquen’s throat. The hive’s ruler kept completely still, knowing that if either she or the combee tried to attack, the scyther would kill her. “Thunder…” Snowcrystal whispered as quietly as she could, and though several combee turned to look at her, none of them moved. “Tell them to let us go free!”

Thunder didn’t reply, and simply turned to the defeated vespiquen. “Make the combee leave!” she growled.

Having no choice, Vespiquen called to the group of combee and ordered them to leave the chamber. Reluctantly they flew away, and though a few very loyal ones stayed put, unwilling to leave their beloved leader, they posed no threat to the five friends in such small numbers.

“Now can we leave this place in peace?” Thunder asked, and the vespiquen slowly nodded.

Snowcrystal wasn’t certain about Vespiquen’s reply. What if she ordered all the combee to attack once Thunder let her go? Most of the combee had left, but that did not mean the few that had stayed behind couldn’t go and retrieve them. Just as she was about to suggest to Thunder that she force the vespiquen to come with them until they left the hive, just to make sure, she noticed that the scyther had raised her other blade over the vespiquen’s neck, obviously preparing to strike.

“Wait!” Snowcrystal cried, not understanding why Thunder was acting this way. “Stop!”

However, her shout seemed to go unheard. Thunder’s scythe flashed downwards and though the combee flew towards Vespiquen, Snowcrystal knew they would be too late. The growlithe turned away, expecting to hear the awful sound of flesh being severed. However, the sound that met her ears an instant later was quite different, and sounded like a metallic clang. She looked up, surprised, but no one was more startled than Thunder when, instead of her scythe reaching the vespiquen’s throat, it was stopped by another.

Thunder glanced upward, finding herself staring straight into Stormblade’s eyes. “Stop,” he told her, pushing both her blades away from Vespiquen. “You can’t kill her.”

“Why not?” Thunder replied, staring back at him.

“She was going to let us go,” Stormblade replied, and pushed Thunder away, quickly standing between her and Vespiquen. “And after all, this was our fault to begin with. We were the ones who entered the hive and tried to steal honey. Besides, you won the fight. There was no reason to kill her.” Thunder glanced back at Vespiquen, who was now flying upright, but making no move to attack. “We can leave now,” Stormblade continued. “There’s no need for any more fighting.”

Thunder looked back at Stormblade, though this time not with anger. She seemed far more confused by his actions than angry.

Stormblade gently pushed Thunder toward the others, careful not to injure her further with his blades, whispering, “Go…Vespiquen will let us leave safely.” Thunder did not reply, nor did she try to argue or resist as the five travelers swiftly exited the cavern through a large tunnel.

Once their leader was surely out of danger, the remaining combee quickly flew to aid Vespiquen, no longer paying any attention to the travelers. Now that she wasn’t being chased by combee, Snowcrystal took a bit more time to find the right tunnel by scent, and followed her own scent back through the caves. They encountered no resistance. However, Snowcrystal knew that the brief ‘peace’ was only shock, and the combee would soon be over that, and then the bug pokémon swarm could very well just decide on getting revenge after all.

Upon reaching the cave entrance, the group quickly made their way down the rocky slope and into the fresh air. Once on safe ground, they raced away from the cliffs, stopping only when they were sure they weren’t close enough to be seen directly from the cave. They were unsure whether or not the combee would still want their payment for the stolen honey and the wrecked chamber. After a brief rest, they carried on, knowing they should be moving as far away as possible, just to be safe.

No one had spoken about the events that had taken place in the hive, namely Thunder’s battle with the vespiquen, and how close she had come to killing her. Stormblade knew there had to be a reason for Thunder’s behavior, but uncertain about it all, he said nothing.

They hadn’t gone much further when Thunder collapsed. Snowcrystal knew that her exhaustion had taken a great toll, and that Thunder probably wasn’t used to traveling so far in one day, then fighting. Concerned, she ran to the scyther’s side. By the time she reached her, Thunder had already stood back up. “What?” Thunder asked. “I’m just fine…” Striding past Snowcrystal, she walked forward a few paces, only to collapse again, this time in a faint.

Rosie turned and looked at the unconscious pokémon, rolling her eyes. “Right…” she muttered. “Just fine…”

-ooo-

Wildflame had watched Snowcrystal and the others leave the hive from a distance. Standing up, the houndoom flicked her arrow-tipped tail in annoyance. “Why does Blazefang want me to befriend those idiots?” she muttered irritably to herself. “They might not even know where Articuno went…”

Narrowing her eyes, the houndoom sulkily began to follow the growlithe’s scent, not too happy about the plan now that she’d had more time to think about it. She could only hope the growlithe knew something about where Articuno had gone. Growling under her breath, the houndoom hissed, “Blazefang better be right about them…”

To be continued…

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 10 - A Traitor in Their Midst

The members of the houndour pack were taking a much needed rest. Blazefang had recently sent a group of houndour to hunt, and to his satisfaction, it had been successful. Sitting on a patch of grass beneath a tree, Blazefang no longer felt so rushed to find Articuno. With any luck, the growlithe would let the secret slip, and Wildflame could report back to him.

Idly pawing at the violet stone around his neck, Blazefang lay back on the grass, looking up at the clear sky. Everything felt peaceful and his future as a member of the houndour tribe looked bright. Of course, there was still the planned attack to come, but Blazefang had a feeling that it would go very, very smoothly.

-ooo-

Snowcrystal and the others were gathered around Thunder, who had been lying on the ground without moving for a minute or so. “Is she all right?” Spark asked, glancing at Snowcrystal, who stood beside a large leaf with various berries on it.

“I’m not sure,” the growlithe replied, peering at the motionless scyther’s face. “But I think these berries can help with…oh, she’s waking up!”

Thunder stirred, then opened her eyes. Instantly she leaped up, anger and alarm showing clearly on her face. “Get away from me!” she shouted at the others, baring her fangs.

“Calm down,” Spark muttered. “We were only-”

“Shut it!” Thunder snapped. “I don’t want your help!”

“But you’ve been injured, and traveled a long way,” Stormblade told her. “I think it’s best if we stop for a while so you can rest…and look, these berries will help-”

Thunder glanced at the leaf beside Snowcrystal and stamped her foot down on the berries, grinding them into the dust. She then turned and stepped closer to Stormblade, an angry look in her eyes as she positioned her scythe a fraction from his forehead. “I don’t see why we have to stop…I’m not pathetically weak like you are.” Turning away from him, Thunder trudged past the others and on up ahead as she continued, “Rest? I don’t need to rest! Let’s keep going!”

Snowcrystal knew better than to argue, and she and the others followed slowly, knowing it was best not to get Thunder any more aggravated than she already was. They hadn’t gone far when suddenly Snowcrystal’s ears pricked up. A strange scent wafted toward her on the breeze, and she could tell that someone was nearby. Just as she was about to mention it, a sleek black shape darted over a low hill at a startling speed and came to a halt in front of the group.

It was a houndoom, one who looked as if she had been running for a long time, and in a panic too. She was breathing heavily, and was so exhausted, she nearly collapsed at Snowcrystal’s feet. Snowcrystal stepped back, confused, and Stormblade looked fairly shocked.

“Wait a minute…” the scyther muttered. “The houndour…I scented them back near the…”

No one was listening to him at the moment, as they were too focused on the newcomer who staggered forward a bit, dragging herself toward Snowcrystal. “Listen…” the houndoom gasped. “I’ve come a long way…My name is Wildflame, and I know that you are in terrible danger…as am I…Houndour from our old land by your mountain are tracking you!” She quieted a bit, still gasping for breath, and Spark glanced at Snowcrystal, who was still looking at the strange houndoom and didn’t reply.

“Houndour…” Stormblade mused. “Yes, I saw some of them by the cliffs. Well, I couldn’t see them all, but it seemed like a big pack. I overheard them saying something about tracking... You must have been one of them…” His eyes narrowed.

Wildflame waited a moment before replying, “Yes, I was one of them. Our leader, Firedash, sent us in a group led by a houndour called Blazefang out to follow the white growlithe who was seeking Articuno…and for a while, I helped them. But you see…our tribe looks down on those who evolve. Firedash is still a houndour, as is her trusted servant Blazefang. I evolved, without fully realizing this. I was being attacked by an enemy pokémon and not thinking clearly at the time, and they drove me away after they saw what I had become…” She pawed at a few scratches on the side of her muzzle. Snowcrystal could see that her shoulder had been clawed as well.

“But why?” Stormblade asked, still sounding suspicious. “Why did they drive you away just for evolving?”

“Our tribe has a strong belief that our kind are powerful enough without having to evolve,” Wildflame continued. “Those who evolve are looked down upon, as ones who weren’t strong enough already, and had to resort to evolution to survive. We are considered the weak. It makes little sense to me, but that is the way it is. I just never knew they would react so…strongly…to my evolution. I ran from them, then decided I needed to warn you.” She lifted her gaze toward Snowcrystal, and her gaze was hardened with anger. “I want to help you find Articuno…so I can stop Blazefang and Firedash, and have my revenge against what I once called my “tribe”. I don’t care about what will happen to houndour territories anymore; I have no place there, and will seek a home elsewhere. This experience has opened my eyes to who Blazefang and Firedash are. They are not the leaders I once thought they were. Please, I only wish to help you, if you help me in return…for I have nowhere else to go…”

Her voice trailed off, and Snowcrystal gently touched her nose to the houndoom’s shoulder. “Of course we’ll help you,” she replied, “I can understand. If this…Blazefang…did this to you, he couldn’t have been a good leader.” She paused for a moment as the troubling realization that they were being pursued by a pack of houndour set in. And that had been confirmed too, by what Stormblade had said about seeing houndour by the cliffs. The houndoom was speaking the truth, and she seemed far too distraught and panicked to be lying about being driven away either, and the claw marks further proved that.

“Thank you,” Wildflame replied, lowering her head. “I must rest for a bit…but I will come with you…to help you in any way I can. In return, all I ask is that you help me…I do not know how to survive without a pack.”

Snowcrystal and the others soon found a place to rest, despite Thunder’s protests, and began to feel at ease around their new traveling companion. Stormblade however, wasn’t convinced. There was something not quite right about the houndoom, and he didn’t trust her one bit.

-ooo-

As Wildflame rested beneath a shady tree, Stormblade watched her carefully. Sure, he had trusted Snowcrystal when he had first met her, but this houndoom was different, and Stormblade wasn’t ready to let his guard down at all. Something about her actions felt far too ‘off’ for his liking. Was she really a runaway from the houndour pack, or was she their spy? He hadn’t voiced his beliefs to anyone yet, but he planned to, and soon.

Snowcrystal, meanwhile, was lying half-asleep next to a small tree, listening to the peaceful sound of the breeze rustling over the grass. The news that they were being followed had alarmed her, but she knew they couldn’t keep going without rest. At the moment, she was too exhausted to be worried. In a matter of minutes, she had unintentionally drifted off to sleep…

-ooo-

She was having a strange dream. She was in a forest, running and running, though whether someone or something was chasing her, she wasn’t sure. The forest faded away, and she could see clearly an underwater scene, as if she herself was underwater as well. Playful ocean pokémon swam past, and a vaporeon happily preformed a few flips in the water. Then the ocean scene faded as well, and she was in a gray, misty area, a lone figure standing in the distance.

After that, the dream made a little more sense. Snowcrystal was back at her mountain, near where her cave home was. However, instead of caves, there were cages containing pokémon resting in the snow. The forms of the pokémon were hazy and shadowed out, and Snowcrystal couldn’t tell what their species were. She crept closer, and noticed that a few of the cages were empty. Wishing to free the others, she ran toward the cages, when a voice hissed in her ear, stopping her. “If you release them, they will kill you…”

“What?” Snowcrystal shouted back, and received no answer nor saw anyone. She walked toward one of the cages, but to her frustration, it seemed so unnaturally dark within them that she still couldn’t tell the pokémon’s species. But no matter what the odd voice had said, she wasn’t going to leave these pokémon to die in the cages. Carefully she lifted a claw to the latch. A sharp jolt coursed through her body like a very small bolt of electricity, making her draw back. A forlorn voice came from the cage.

“You cannot…”

“Who…who are you?” Snowcrystal asked. “How did you get in the cage? Why can’t I free you? Can I free the others?”

“No…” the voice responded. “You’re not the type…”

Snowcrystal stared back at the shadowy haze. “What do you mean?”

For a moment the pokémon’s eyes gleamed through the darkness. “It’s-”

“SNOWCRYSTAL!”

Snowcrystal jolted awake as Spark’s shout rang through the area. “What is it?” she asked, alarmed.

“Oh, hi Snowcrystal,” Spark replied cheerfully. “Didn’t know you were taking a nap! Well, I have good news and bad news! The good news is, I found out that my thunderbolt attack can double as a bug zapper! The bad news is…” Spark glanced nervously behind him, and finished, “Thunder has no sense of humor. Good bye!” He ran off as Thunder appeared. Snowcrystal backed up against the tree as Thunder tore past her after the jolteon, shouting threats and insults.

Snowcrystal sighed and stood up, ignoring the two. The dream had been so real…yet so strange, though the more she thought about, the more stupid and absurd it seemed. “Probably just some silly dream,” she muttered. “It didn’t even make any sense.” She shook pieces of dry leaves off her coat. “It was just so weird…”

It wasn’t long before the group headed out again, now wary of their pursuers. Snowcrystal, her dream momentarily forgotten, led the group through the grassy plains and into a more rocky area. Wildflame seemed to be having a bit of trouble keeping up, but she managed not to fall behind. Spark, a large clump of fur torn off his back, was completely silent the whole time, keeping well away from Thunder. Snowcrystal heard Stormblade approaching, and stopped to allow him to catch up with her, seeing that the scyther looked as if he had something important to say.

“Stormblade?” Snowcrystal asked. “What is it?”

“It’s…Wildflame,” Stormblade began hesitantly. “I don’t think we should trust her. I know that what she’s saying about the houndour pack following us is true…but I’m not sure she’s really on our side.”

Snowcrystal sounded annoyed. “Stormblade,” she whispered, “they drove her out. What do you want us to do? Just send her away after she offered to help us?”

“I think she’s working as a spy for the other houndour or something…” Stormblade whispered.

“And just what would we know that the houndour would want to know?” Snowcrystal replied, confused. She saw that Stormblade still looked deeply concerned, and she sighed. “Look, maybe you’re just worried after what happened today.”

Stormblade gave a sigh of his own. “Okay, maybe,” he replied. “Maybe she’s not a spy…but she’s up to no good; that much I can tell.”

“I don’t know if we should judge her so quickly,” Snowcrystal replied. “She came to us for help and to help us in return. If it’s just because you saw those houndour tracking us before…well, you shouldn’t judge her just because of her species. I’m sure as a scyther you know how that feels.”

“I wasn’t-” Stormblade began, but Snowcrystal interrupted him, butting his leg lightly with her head.

“I know you’re worried. We’ll try to figure things out, one way or another. Besides,” she added with a hint of humor, “what do we know that could be so important to a spy?”

-ooo-

Wildflame hung back at the rear of the group, pausing to idly lick the scratches on her shoulder. Well, it hadn’t been her best idea, but it sure was convincing, and she’d made sure to wash any traces of blood from her back claws before she’d approached the group. All that running back and forth across the fields had really tired her out, but her excitement at her plan’s success seemed to have restored some of her energy. She was beginning to like this acting game; she felt she was rather good at it, and despite the fact that one of the scyther didn’t seem to accept her, the others had seemed willing enough to let her join up with them for a while.

“Heh, what a bunch of idiots…” she smirked to herself as she pretended to limp after the group. “At least with them I won’t be treated like some second-rate servant.” At the thought of Blazefang, Wildflame rolled her eyes. Sure, he was fairly smart, but he was bossy and his temporary leadership seemed to have gone to his head. She was glad to be rid of him for a while.

After a short time, Wildflame figured she could stop limping, for the sky was darkening and the others wouldn’t notice, or they’d assume that her ‘injuries’ were a bit better. As the group entered a grove of trees, Wildflame noticed the scyther called Stormblade giving her an odd look.

“I know you’re up to something,” he muttered coldly.

“I don’t understand…” Wildflame’s expression was one of confused innocence.

“Quit it. I know it’s just an act,” Stormblade growled.

Wildflame’s lips curled in the beginnings of a snarl. However, having overheard pieces of Snowcrystal’s conversation with this scyther, she didn’t feel like taking any risks that might give herself away to those who were less suspicious. Arguing with Stormblade would accomplish nothing, and she willed her body to relax. “Maybe you should stop treating me like an enemy just because of where I came from.” She pushed past him, flicking her tail sharply across his burned shoulder. Stormblade glared at her, but Wildflame knew he couldn’t prove that it wasn’t an accident. She shot him a fake apologetic look before carrying on after the others.

-ooo-

“Ow!” Rosie cried out sharply. “I stepped on a rock!”

“Oh yeah, well I stepped on about five already…with one foot!” Spark exclaimed loudly.

“Careful,” Snowcrystal called from up ahead. “There’s a lot of sharp rocks around here. I know it’s dark, but we need to cover a lot more ground before we stop to rest again.”

Wildflame noticed Stormblade giving her another angry look. Making sure no one was looking, she carefully rolled a rock in front of the scyther’s foot, watching with satisfaction as Stormblade stumbled with an angry grunt. Running over to him, she leaned against his side as if to try and steady him. Stormblade angrily leaped away, and Wildflame turned to Snowcrystal, whispering, “He tripped over a rock…I was only trying to help.”

“Stormblade, please try to be nice…” Snowcrystal whispered tiredly, walking on ahead.

Stormblade gave her a look of annoyance before following, feeling frustrated. He was sure he had seen Wildflame moving the rock. It reminded him of the few times Spark would get into trouble and blame it on him whenever the other pokémon or his trainer asked. Of course, they had always believed the ‘sweet little jolteon’ rather than the scyther.

As he walked, he noticed a low-hanging tree branch and pushed past it. Noticing Wildflame following close behind him, he held the branch against the side of the tree with one blade while pretending to be stopping to catch his breath. As Wildflame approached, he moved his scythe, causing the branch to whip back in the houndoom’s face. “Sorry about that!” he called as he hurried after the others. Wildflame angrily tore the branch out of her way and followed.

Stormblade gave a cry of shock as the houndoom suddenly rammed into him, nearly knocking him to the ground. “Oh sorry…sorry…” Wildflame stuttered. “Here, let me help you. You know, you should really watch where you step.”

“Stay away from me,” Stormblade snarled, realizing with annoyance that the others were too far up ahead to notice what had happened.

As they continued walking, Stormblade made sure to stay as far away from Wildflame as possible, not willing to deal with her at the moment. He kept shooting angry glances at the houndoom, who gave him either a confused look or a fake nice smile.

He was just about to suggest they stop for a while, when an earsplitting howl rang over the rocky plains. Everyone froze in their tracks and glanced around in the darkness. “It’s Blazefang…” Wildflame growled, sinking her claws into the earth.

“What does he want?” Rosie asked in a frightened voice.

“I don’t know…” Wildflame replied. “He never told me he would actually-”

Wildflame quieted just as nearly two dozen black shapes appeared over a small rise, their black fur almost silver-looking in the moonlight. The one at the very front, obviously the leader Blazefang, had a glowing purple stone that illuminated the small area around him. Snowcrystal backed up as the leader gave a loud, terrifying cry.

“ATTACK!”

To be continued…