The Path of Destiny

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 42 - Moving On

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

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

“Uh…Darkfang?”

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

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

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

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

“The mountain,” Darkfang replied.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I….what?”

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

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

“She’s with us,” he explained. “I-”

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

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

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

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

“She told us so.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Why?” Snowcrystal asked, genuinely puzzled.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What about Thunder?” Snowcrystal asked.

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

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

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

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

-ooo-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-ooo-

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

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

“Darkfang?” she asked quietly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-ooo-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Snowcrystal?”

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

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

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

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

Snowcrystal stared at him in shock. “What?”

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

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

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

“I know that,” Stormblade replied.

“Do you want to die?” Rosie growled.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-ooo-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Stormblade?” she whispered, slowly approaching him.

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

“We’re…we’re going to…” she began.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Good bye…”

-ooo-

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

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

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

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

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

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

Spark merely shook his head numbly.

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

-ooo-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To be continued...