The Path of Destiny

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 75 – Shellreef City

The group stepped through the portal into pouring rain. Despite it still being morning, the sky was dark and thick sheets of rain made it hard to make out much of what was around them. The trainers and pokémon took careful steps over dark, slick rock, becoming soaked within seconds.

“Ugh,” Rosie muttered, trying in vain to shake some of the water out of her fur. “Where are we?”

“Katie’s looking it up,” Arien told her, nodding toward the trainer, who was hunched over and peering at the screen of her pokégear while her hand shielded it from the worst of the rain.

“We’re very close to Shellreef City,” Katie called to the others, having to raise her voice to be heard over the torrent. “We’re near one of the routes leading in to it. Now we’ve just need to get off these rocks.”

Snowcrystal stood beside Redclaw, peering at her strange surroundings. There were masses of dark gray stone on all sides, jutting up into steep cliffs or twisting into strange formations. The rocks around them, even many of the ones at their feet, were sharp and jagged, and the rain made them slippery. Careful of where she put her paws, Snowcrystal stepped forward. They were on some sort of hill or small mountain, because in the breaks between the rocks, she could see places where the ground sloped downward.

Stormblade shook himself, fluttering his wings and sending water flying in all directions. “We’ll need to be careful finding a safe way down,” he informed the others, “because there’s a steep drop over here.”

Snowcrystal walked closer to where Stormblade was standing, near one of the openings in the rock walls. Sure enough, it only sloped gently for a few paces before it plunged into a steep cliff, water flowing off the edge and into space.

“Yenn!” Blazefang called up into the air, where the yanmega was hovering above the group. “See if you can find us a way down.”

Yenn brought himself lower, hovering just above the heads of the tallest pokémon. The rain didn’t seem to bother him at all. “Okay,” he said. He zipped off, leaving the others waiting.

“This feels so nice!” Alex cried, spreading her arms as she lifted her head to the sky.

“Glad someone’s enjoying themselves,” Scytheclaw replied, the raindrops striking his metal carapace making an odd sound.

Lightning flashed across the sky, followed immediately by the boom of thunder. For a second, everything was illuminated in white light. Spark, excited by the feeling of electricity in the air, bounded in a circle around the group, carefully leaping only onto patches of rock that weren’t jagged.

Justin made his way toward where most of the pokémon had gathered, stepping carefully between the rocks at his feet. He passed an opening in the rock walls around them, trying to see what lay in the distance. He realized that he’d made a misstep a split second too late. Before he could register what had happened, he was on the ground, sliding toward the edge of the precipice. He felt something grab his sleeve and saw Spark holding on desperately, his paws scrabbling against the slick rock. Justin felt something slip out of his pocket – his phone – and slide over the edge. The storm was so loud that he didn’t hear it strike any of the rocks below.

“Help!” he cried out, but Damian had already reached his side and began pulling him away from the edge and toward the startled group huddled behind him.

“Are you okay?” Katie asked, her voice barely audible over the pounding of the rain.

Justin just nodded, feeling nothing but numb shock over what had just happened.

Redclaw was the first to spot Yenn returning and called out to the others. “He’s back!”

“I’ve found a safe way down,” Yenn informed the arcanine. “Follow me.”

“Lead the way,” the arcanine replied as Yenn flew forward, leading them to a narrow gap between two towering rock formations. “Uh…” Redclaw began doubtfully. The space between them looked very tight, and Redclaw, being the largest of the pokémon, wasn’t sure he’d be able to fit.

“You can squeeze through without all that human junk on your back,” Yenn informed him. “Once you do, though, be careful. There’s a big drop on the other side and it looks slippery. Just follow the ledge until it widens out.”

“Are you sure it’s safe?”

“After you get past the ledge, it’s a much more gentle slope to the bottom,” Yenn replied.

Redclaw sighed and informed Arien that the trainers would need to remove his traveling pack. As Damian and Katie struggled with it in the rain, the other pokémon walked one by one into the crevice.

“Careful!” Yenn warned as Rosie slipped, her leg hanging over the edge of the cliff before she quickly pulled it back up. “Walk along the ledge. I’ll catch you if you fall.”

“Hang on there, I’ll help!” a voice cried, and Rosie looked up to see Fernwing the tropius hovering near the ledge, Ray the pidgeot by her side. “Damian thought it would be safer if we carried you. I’m afraid we can’t carry Redclaw, but everyone else should be fine.”

Rosie carefully climbed onto Fernwing’s back from the cliff, and the tropius flew her over to where the ledge widened out. After a moment, Ray arrived with Snowcrystal. Stormblade and Thunder flew across themselves.

Soon everyone but Redclaw was past the narrow part of the ledge. The arcanine squeezed himself through the narrow gap, stepping precariously onto the makeshift pathway. Yenn watched worriedly, knowing the arcanine was too heavy for him to carry, but to his relief and the relief of the others, Redclaw made it across safely.

“We’ll be flying overhead,” Katie announced to the others. “I’ll take Justin with me. Damian, you can take Blazefang since he’s injured. The rest of you, be careful. There may not be any more steep cliffs on the way down, but you could still get hurt.”

After Damian and Katie strapped the traveling pack around Redclaw again, the pokémon carried on, walking across the wide ledge toward where the rocky ground sloped downward. They could see the land waiting below them, but it was hard to make out much of anything through the heavy rain.

With the trainers on their pokémon and Yenn flying above them, the rest of the group carefully descended the slope. Yenn flew down low, guiding them to where there were less slippery or steep patches. After they were about halfway down to what looked like a grassy area below the rocks, the rain started to let up. To their surprise, it quickly dwindled from pouring to barely sprinkling, and most of the pokémon were quick to breathe a sigh of relief.

“Look!” cried Alex, leaping up and down as she pointed at something on the horizon. The others made their way up toward where the floatzel was standing. From that vantage point, they were suddenly able to see their destination much clearer.

Below the rocks they were standing on was a well worn path, snaking toward an enormous city lying on the edge of the biggest body of water most of them had ever seen. Snowcrystal found herself gaping at the sight; the water went on seemingly forever, all the way to the horizon and beyond. She could see sailboats near the shoreline, sailboats just like the ones she’d seen in pictures at the Stonedust City library. She was sure that if weren’t for the rain, they’d be floating out into that great expanse of water. This, she realized, was the ocean. She had heard about it many times, but she had never imagined it was that big.

“It’s the ocean!” Alex cried. “I’m finally here! All my life I’ve wanted to see…I can’t believe we’ve found it!” In her excitement, she grabbed Spark and spun him around, laughing joyously.

Redclaw watched them and smiled. “The ocean…I’ve wanted to see it too.”

“Really? But you’re a fire type,” Rosie pointed out with a cheeky grin.

“As long as I don’t go in too deep, it won’t harm me,” Redclaw replied. “Besides, it looks beautiful, doesn’t it?” The arcanine sat down as he gazed at it, seeming lost in thought.

Snowcrystal smiled to see the others so happy after their brief ordeal up on the rocks. Though the sight of the ocean had at first intimidated her, she could see so much beauty in it. She wondered what it would look like up close. After a few more moments, she turned her attention to the city. It was very large, with towering buildings like Stonedust, but it looked different. The buildings formed unique shapes, most of them glistening and white. Beyond the city she could see mountains. That was probably where Tanzenarc’s cave was.

Yenn, however, had frozen. The moment the skies had cleared and he had seen the city, a flood of memories had washed over him. He had no idea why; the city looked nothing like the one he remembered. But the memories kept coming, and a small part of him still wanted to set his Forbidden Attack loose in the city’s streets. He pushed the uncomfortable thought away.

“Uh, Yenn?” Rosie asked. “Is something wrong?”

Yenn looked down at the ninetales, suddenly forgetting what her name was. “I’ll…I’ll be back,” he muttered, not sure if she could even hear him, and flew off.

Rosie gave a confused glance to the others who had noticed his odd behavior.

“Well, I’m not happy about having to go to another city either,” Thunder muttered. “But I’m not afraid of it. If Nightshade trusts you…I think I can trust his judgment.”

“You can trust all of us, Thunder,” Snowcrystal told her, and though she wasn’t sure, she thought she saw what might have been a hint of a smile before Thunder turned away.

They carried on down the rocky slope, avoiding steep drops and puddles of water. When they reached the grass at the bottom, the storm clouds were already starting to move on, and they could see patches of a bright blue sky.

Deciding to take a rest, the trainers and their mounts landed among the pokémon. Nightshade was sent out, and Thunder gave him a happy look before she lay down on the grass, resting in the cool air.

As the pokémon lounged in the shade of the rocks above them, Justin paced back and forth with an uneasy look. “Katie, I still don’t think it’s safe for me and Damian to go to the city. I-”

“We’ll work something out,” Katie tried to assure him. “I mean, maybe we can convince them it was an accident.”

“I’m not sure that’ll work,” Justin replied glumly.

“Well…” Katie began, standing up and glancing to her pidgeot. “I can go ahead of you. See if everyone’s still talking about the library or if they’ve found out anything more. Like I said, they might have realized it was an accident if everyone stopped talking about it.”

Justin and Damian glanced at each other.

“I guess that makes sense,” Damian said. “And if they are looking for us, well, we don’t have to actually go too close to the city. Katie can just bring supplies back.”

Justin looked uneasily at the female trainer. “Well…okay. I guess it wouldn’t hurt if you tried to figure things out.”

“I’ll be back in an hour or two at most,” Katie told them before mounting the flying type, who launched himself and his trainer into the sky.

Snowcrystal watched them go, hoping that Katie would encounter nothing but good news. However, her thoughts were on other things, and she found herself focusing once more on the death of Articuno, the pokémon who had once guarded her mountain home. The other pokémon hadn’t talked about it much since the night that Yenn told them. She supposed she didn’t blame them; she hadn’t wanted to talk about it either.

“Is something wrong?”

Snowcrystal looked up to see Stormblade standing next to her, his eyes looking concerned. “Well, um…”

“Is it about Articuno? Your tribe?”

“I don’t really want to talk about it right now,” Snowcrystal answered with a sigh.

Before Stormblade could reply, Spark bounded over to them and said, “You know we’re going to help your tribe after all this. Remember? Articuno may be gone, but that doesn’t mean we have to-”

“I said I don’t want to talk about it,” Snowcrystal snapped, but immediately regretted it at the sight of Spark’s taken aback expression. “Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just…”

“It’s all right,” Spark said with a shrug, his optimistic attitude returning. “If you don’t want to talk about that, well…there was something else that’s been on my mind ever since we learned we’d be going near a city.” He gave a small smile as Snowcrystal looked to him curiously. “Snowcrystal, have you ever thought about evolving?”

Snowcrystal hadn’t expected the question. “Well…I haven’t really thought about it much,” she admitted. “I mean, I think that someday maybe I’d like to. But I’m not ready now.”

“That’s fine,” Spark replied. “I was just thinking that…if you wanted to, one of the trainers could buy you a fire stone from one of the shops there. Just know that it’s an option whenever you decide.”

“Evolving isn’t for everyone,” Stormblade reminded Snowcrystal. “Don’t think that you have to. If anything, you can always make the decision later.”

Snowcrystal looked back at the two of them, two pokémon who had made very different choices about evolution. She turned to Spark. “I’m curious. What made you decide to become a jolteon?”

“Well,” Spark began, tilting his head to the side as he smiled, absorbed in memories, “I admit I was pretty overwhelmed with all the choices when I was younger. But when I thought about it, I knew there were some evolutions I wasn’t really too keen on. I didn’t like swimming enough to become a vaporeon, I didn’t really like the nighttime much, so umbreon was out, and I wasn’t keen on the cold either, so I didn’t want to be a glaceon. As for the rest, I wasn’t sure. It took me a while, but Justin was patient with me. Then one day, I was watching a thunderstorm and I guess I just realized…I really, really wanted to become a jolteon.”

“It happened just like that?” Snowcrystal asked.

“Well, no. I waited a while – Justin insisted that I did – just so that I knew I was sure. But I realized that out of all the elements, I was drawn to the lightning element the most. I evolved, and I’ve never regretted it since.”

“It must have been hard to have so many choices,” Snowcrystal said, “I admit I’m glad that growlithe don’t have to choose between so many. It seems a bit silly that I don’t know how to make the decision even with only one evolution.”

“It’s difficult for a lot of pokémon,” Stormblade told her. “Don’t feel silly about it.”

Before she could reply, the beating of wings announced Yenn’s return. The yanmega landed on a nearby stone, keeping his distance from Damian and Justin. Snowcrystal noticed that he was tense, breathing hard, and had the look of someone who had flown for quite a long time, despite the fact that he hadn’t been gone long. Snowcrystal wondered if she should try to reach out to him more; he obviously didn’t feel comfortable in the group, when suddenly something in the yanmega seemed to snap, and he turned to the others, stating, “I’m not going into that city.”

“You don’t have to,” Stormblade explained, stepping closer to the yanmega. “Some of us might have to stay here anyway.”

Arien watched the agitated bug type, seeming displeased. “It’s your choice to make,” he told Yenn. “All that really matters is that you’re with us when we search for the legendary.”

“So assuming all goes well,” Scytheclaw muttered, “when Katie comes back, I say that we head to the city, stock up on supplies, then start looking for this cave.”

“But by that time, it’ll be around midday,” Alex sighed. “Can’t we start the search tomorrow? I want to see the ocean for myself.”

“It might take us a while to find this cave,” Scytheclaw replied. “We should start looking as soon as possible. We probably won’t find it on the first day. But,” he added, seeing the floatzel’s downcast expression, “I’m sure we can find some time to visit the beach. We might be here a while.”

Alex gave him a smile in return.

-ooo-

Katie had wandered through the lively streets of Shellreef City until she came to the police station, a grand looking building near the city’s center. It was away from the activity going on in other streets; Katie had quickly learned that it was the week of the Shellreef City water pokémon festival, and most of the streets were crowded. She walked through the police station’s doors after recalling her pidgeot, then rushed up to the front desk, where she asked one of the waiting officers if there had been any news of the Stonedust City library incident.

The policeman looked at her curiously, not having expected what probably seemed like a very odd question to ask in a city so far from Stonedust. The arcanine lounging at the foot of his desk gave a yawn and sat up, watching Katie closely.

“I just want to know if…they’re still looking for the two trainers that they think caused the fire,” Katie explained.

“Every city has been alerted and we are looking for them now, yes,” the officer told her, and Katie felt her heart sink.

“And the officials at Stonedust City…they don’t still think it was Team Rocket, do they?”

The man at the desk gave her an odd look. “Didn’t you hear?” he asked her. “They found out that a wild pokémon caused the fire.”

Katie glanced up in surprise, and quickly tried to act as if she was shocked at the idea that a wild pokémon could have started it. “R-really?”

“A wild pokémon somehow broke in that night and started the fire,” the officer told her. “They eventually questioned the pokémon tasked with guarding the library with the help of a psychic type, and the pokémon had only seen a growlithe, no trainers. Of course,” he added in disdain, “they only thought to do this after they’d jumped to conclusions and scared those two boys half to death, which is obviously why they ran away. Without access to pokémon centers and hospitals, they could easily end up in trouble. There’s already a few rangers searching the-”

“Wait a minute…” Katie interrupted. “The pokémon in the library…they didn’t think to question them until after they’d accused Justin and Damian?”

“Yes,” he replied. “Justin owns no pokémon and Damian was said to have had a growlithe at one point, but quickly released it. There were no growlithe registered to him at the time of the incident.”

Katie thought back to when Justin had briefly caught Snowcrystal and the others to bring them to Stonedust City. He had released Snowcrystal as soon as he’d arrived in the city, before the workers at the lab she was briefly sent to would have let her out and seen her odd coloring. They had never known Snowcrystal was a white growlithe; Damian’s image on television the night the fire had occurred had shown a generic image of a growlithe. She only hoped the pokémon of the library had neglected to mention Snowcrystal’s white fur.

That worry quickly left her and was replaced with anger. “So they just jumped to conclusions? Didn't even think to get any input from the pokémon?”

“Some of the pokémon had been injured in the fire and were in Stonedust’s makeshift pokémon center,” the officer replied. “Or at least, that was the excuse. After the Team Rocket attack a few months back, I suppose the city was on edge. Not that that’s much of an excuse either. By the time they realized their mistake, there was no sign of either of the boys. Now we have rangers trying to bring them back when they obviously don’t want to be found.”

“Well, that’s why I’ve come here,” Katie said. “I know where they are…and they’re nearby.”

The man looked surprised, but was trying not to show it. Katie wasn’t sure if he believed her. “If you can bring them here, that would be incredibly helpful,” he replied. “Granted, they did sneak into a restricted area of the building, and possibly broke a window – although that could have been caused by the wild pokémon – so they will need to pay a fine. But if they can come here, we can get this sorted out.”

“Okay,” Katie replied, breathing a sigh of relief. “I’ll tell them. I think they’ll listen to me.”

“And you for sure know how to find them?”

“Pretty sure,” Katie replied, hoping she wouldn’t be seen as the one who had helped them run away.

“Well, that will be a relief for a lot of people,” the officer sighed. “Last I heard, Justin’s parents were down in Stonedust demanding answers. This whole thing was a mess. Doesn't surprise me that Stonedust officials wouldn't even consider consulting pokémon until after they'd terrified the two boys.”

Katie paused. It did bother her that the police had thought to ask the pokémon last, when doing so could have avoided the whole messy situation. She knew that pokémon weren’t ranked on the same level as humans in Stonedust, or even in most of Inari, but the thought still really concerned her. However, she guessed it didn’t surprise her. People in Stonedust wouldn’t immediately think of involving the pokémon in matters like this. There, it was 'humans are in charge, humans make the decisions,' and pokémon that weren’t even working for the police didn’t have much of a chance for their voices to be heard. Now, however, she knew why the news surrounding the library had suddenly died down the day she went back to Stonedust and saw the video about the arch.

“The Stonedust City officials were wrong to do what they did,” the officer continued, stroking his arcanine’s mane. “But if you can help, we would all be very grateful to you. And oh, if you haven’t heard,” he added, seeing that Katie had started to turn away, “they found out something very interesting about that growlithe. Apparently, its fur was white.”

Katie froze.

“It’s not the first time one’s been sighted, either,” he went on. “A few months ago, someone in that same library claimed to have seen a white growlithe. People have been searching around Stonedust for them, but to no avail. Some think the pokémon were lying about it.”

A human had seen Snowcrystal too… Katie had heard about Snowcrystal’s own little library ‘adventure’ from before she had joined up with her and the other trainers. If people hadn’t believed that one library worker before, they might now, after all that mess had been in the news.

“That…that sounds really interesting,” she stammered, before hurrying out of the police station and releasing her pidgeot in a flash of light.

-ooo-

Once back at the place where the rest of the group was resting, Katie helped Damian get to work dyeing Snowcrystal’s fur orange and cream so that she resembled a normal growlithe. Their plan was to take all the pokémon into the city, get Damian and Justin’s situation cleared up with the police, and then they could head to the beach while Katie got supplies.

“I’ll keep Spark’s poké ball safe for you,” she told Justin, and the boy gratefully handed it over. Katie put it, along with Nightshade’s, into her pocket.

As the pokémon gathered together, Arien turned toward Yenn, who was perched on one of the rocks, refusing to join the others. “You don’t have to go into the city,” the alakazam told him, “but I want you to meet us at the beach in a short while. There will be humans there, but you won’t be close to the buildings. Do not attack any humans.”

Yenn just muttered something disdainfully under his breath and turned away.

Despite her dislike of humans and cities, Thunder insisted she come with them. They were bringing Nightshade, and were going to take him to the pokémon center as soon as they were sure Damian’s name was cleared and he’d no longer be associated with the library incident. Though Thunder didn’t like the idea of Nightshade being kept in a building, the heracross had convinced her it was for the best. Yenn, on the other hand, didn’t know of that part of the plan, and they weren’t sure it was best to tell him yet.

As they walked into the city, without Yenn, Snowcrystal stared in awe at the buildings around her. They were like those at Stonedust, tall and massive, yet they were different. They formed more interesting shapes, and looked somehow brighter and grander. There were people everywhere in the streets, so many that sometimes she nearly got lost in the crowd as she followed the others. All along the streets, small stands had been set up, selling food and other items. The smell was enticing to her; some of the scents were new to her, and she wondered what sort of food was being sold. In addition to the stands, the streets were decorated with ribbons and balloons of bright colors. On one corner, several stands displaying games were set up, people and pokémon laughing as they attempted whatever challenge the games presented.

“What’s going on here?” Snowcrystal whispered to Spark, trying to keep close to him to avoid getting separated again.

“Oh, Katie says it’s the water pokémon festival this week,” Spark explained. “I’ve seen it on TV before, back when Justin had his license. In a couple days, there’s going to be a huge parade, and a big celebration at the beach.”

“Oh…” Snowcrystal mused, looking up at the brightly colored decorations. They did seem to be themed after water pokémon. “I’ve never heard about anything like that before.”

“I hope we’ll be here for the parade,” Spark said happily. “It’s a lot of fun for humans and pokémon alike.”

They said no more as they focused their attention on weaving through the crowds of trainers and pokémon to catch up with the others. Most of the group’s pokémon were curious but calm as they walked through the streets. Only Thunder seemed really nervous, but she kept silent as she walked ahead. At one point, one of the passing trainers expressed concern over Thunder’s scars. Katie had replied by telling them that Thunder was a rescue pokémon.

Before long, they reached a less crowded section of the city, where they came upon the police station. Katie told the pokémon to wait outside, and went in with Justin and Damian.

As Katie watched the police talk everything over with Damian and Justin, she neglected to say anything about the white growlithe. She found herself glancing toward the building’s front windows, watching the pokémon that sat waiting for them outside. Snowcrystal was among them, looking quite unremarkable with her orange fur die. Katie let out a sigh. She was safe.

“We’ll pay the fee for trespassing,” Justin was saying, “but the window…well we don’t-”

“One of my pokémon broke the window,” Damian interrupted, and Justin shot him a look. Damian didn’t notice. “I’m…really sorry. I’ll pay for it.”

Katie turned to the two trainers briefly, hardly paying attention as they conversed in low tones with the officer about what to do next. Luckily, she thought, it seemed like they could pay the fine and move on, hopefully without having to resort to anything like the library plan ever again. And with luck, she thought, the news about the pokémon seeing a white growlithe would die down.

-ooo-

A while later, once things had been sorted out with the police, the group headed toward their next stop, the Shellreef pokémon center.

“Well, at least that’s over,” Justin said, tossing Spark’s poké ball up in the air and catching it again as he walked down the street.

“Those pokémon told the Stonedust City officials there was a white growlithe in the library…doesn’t that bother you?” Katie asked. “It’s not like that guy who apparently saw Snowcrystal in the library a while before we met her…this is linked to an event that was on the news and…I don’t like it.”

“Well, they’re not going to find her unless the dye somehow comes off,” Justin replied. “I guess in that case one of us can just catch her.”

“I guess,” Katie sighed.

“I need to call my parents,” Justin said as he looked at the poké ball in his hand. “I’m sure they’re worried about me after what happened.”

“Good idea,” Katie replied. “We’re almost to the pokémon center.”

Snowcrystal’s eyes widened as the Shellreef City Pokémon Center loomed into view ahead of them. It was an absolutely massive dome shaped building surrounded by a large lawn that looked very well taken care of. Snowcrystal was awed by the sheer size of the building; even though other buildings were much taller, this was the widest one she’d seen.

They crossed a street and then walked up the pathway leading to the center’s main doors. Snowcrystal leaned her head back to look up at the wide windows overlooking the doors, the sunlight reflecting off of them brightly. As they walked inside, Snowcrystal realized that the windows were there to let sunlight into a large lobby room. There were a few trainers waiting with pokémon, and a couple of them looked up curiously at the sight of so many pokémon walking freely beside the humans together.

“We need to deactivate Nightshade’s poké ball,” Katie whispered to the others. “It’ll look weird if he’s in an unregistered one.”

“Yeah, you’re right…” Damian replied.

“Damian,” Katie told him, “you can transfer one of your pokémon and catch him instead. We’ll let Justin capture him again when this is all done so you can have all six of your pokémon back.”

Snowcrystal sat with the other pokémon in the middle of the lobby floor as the trainers walked over to where some strange machines were positioned. She recognized the one Damian was now using to transfer one of his six pokémon to the lab, but the other she wasn’t sure about. She supposed it must be used to deactivate poké balls.

“Anyone can deactivate unregistered poké balls,” she heard Katie explaining to Justin in low whispers. “It’s ones that are registered to trainers with licenses that need to be deactivated by the owners. Otherwise it’d be much easier to steal pokémon.”

“There,” Damian said as Nightshade was released, and he picked up the empty poké ball from the machine. “Okay,” he told the heracross. “This is just temporary. It’ll look less weird if you’re registered to me.”

Nightshade merely nodded, and allowed one of Damian’s own poké balls to capture him in a burst of light. Damian glanced nervously toward the counter where the nurse was meant to be, but no one was there at the moment. A few of the waiting trainers were looking at him and his friends oddly, though no one questioned them.

“I guess we might have to wait a bit,” said Justin, looking at the empty counter. “I think I should call my parents now.”

He walked off toward a set of video screens, and Damian hesitated a moment before following. “And I should call my brother.”

While the humans went to call their relatives or, in Katie’s case, wait around by the machines, the wild pokémon remained clustered together, trying not to draw too much more attention to themselves.

“Nightshade better be right about these places,” Thunder said with a sigh. She didn’t sound especially worried, just uneasy about the idea.

“It’s not the first time he’s been in one,” Redclaw reminded her, and Thunder didn’t reply.

“Maybe you ought to go with him,” Wildflame told Blazefang.

The houndoom shook his head. “I’ll be fine,” he said. “Besides, you might need me if we find Tanzenarc.”

Snowcrystal found herself looking around the room to pass the time as she waited. She noticed that two hallways branched off from the lobby, one to the left and one to the right. At the entrance to the left hallway, a large glass display case was set up against the wall. Curious, she left the others and walked over to it. In the display case were framed photographs and newspaper clippings, showing pokémon going from sickly and weak to healthy and happy. There were also pictures of the humans and pokémon that worked there, lined up together.

As she looked at it, she thought of Yenn, left behind while the others went into the city. She wished he could have come and been able to see this. Maybe then his opinion on humans could be swayed, even a little.

Suddenly the nurse was back at the counter, and Katie beckoned to Damian, who walked up holding the poké ball with Arien at his side. He released the heracross, and as Katie explained what she knew of Nightshade’s injuries and the nurse called a chansey and blissey over, Nightshade beckoned to Thunder.

Slowly, the scarred scyther walked over to him, still looking nervous about the humans and the building itself.

“Don’t worry, Thunder,” Nightshade told her, resting his claws on her blade. “I’ll be okay.” He turned to the alakazam. “Make sure Damian knows that as soon as I can, I want to be back with the group. I’m sure they can let me recover outside the center. There isn’t as much chance of infection this time.”

Arien nodded, and as he informed Damian, Thunder gave a sigh. “I wish you didn’t have to do this at all.”

“This is the best way I can be helped,” he told her. “I promise I’ll be okay.”

“I know,” Thunder replied.

“Your heracross will need to stay for at least a few days while we assess and treat his injuries,” the nurse explained to Damian. “Preferably longer. But afterwards, he may recover in the care of his trainer if you wish.”

Thunder stepped back as the blissey helped Nightshade onto some sort of moving bed. Though she knew this was not anything new to him, she still felt worried. No, not just worried. Sad, too. She would miss him.

As she watched Nightshade being wheeled into another room, the scyther heard footsteps as Alex walked up to her side.

“He’ll be okay, don’t worry,” the floatzel told her.

“I’m not worried,” Thunder muttered, and there wasn’t much irritation to her words.

Thunder and Alex watched as Nightshade disappeared into a back room, and Katie suggested that Blazefang’s wounds be looked at before they left. The rest of the pokémon remained waiting until Blazefang’s cuts were treated and he was given the okay to go back with the group.

Once that was done, the trainers and pokémon left the building and headed back through the city.

Though a few of the pokémon voiced their irritation about having to go back to retrieve Yenn, Damian solved the problem by having Fernwing fly back for the yanmega, giving her instructions to meet them on the beach.

With that, they headed toward the beach themselves.

As they walked through more crowded streets, Snowcrystal was again awed by the decorations that filled the lively city. Both the people and pokémon seemed happy and excited, and the whole atmosphere of the place was much different from Stonedust. She craned her neck up at some large umbrella-like structures overshadowing the front of a building, seeing several wingull perched peacefully on them. Turning her attention to a shop across the street, she saw several pokémon walking out its front door with colorful looking treats she had never seen before. If it wasn’t so crowded at the moment, Snowcrystal thought that she would have liked to explore the city more.

Luckily, the beach itself didn’t seem very crowded at all. By now, most of the clouds had cleared; perhaps the earlier storm had kept most humans away. The moment they came in view of the ocean, Alex and a few others shouted with excitement.

“I think Damian should help me get the supplies,” Katie said. “Justin, you can stay here with the pokémon.” She tossed Spark’s poké ball to him.

“Won’t it look weird if I’m around this many?” Justin asked uncertainly.

“You can say you’re watching them for us,” Katie replied. “Wouldn’t even be a lie, anyway.”

“I…guess…” Justin muttered.

“Well…if it makes you feel better, you can take some of my pokémon while we’re gone, just in case there’s any trouble,” Damian said, handing two of his poké balls to Justin. “Fernwing will meet up with you too.”

“And don’t worry. We won’t be gone long,” Katie said. “There shouldn’t be any trouble anyway.”

“All right,” Justin said with a sigh. “But Katie…can I borrow your pokégear while you’re gone?”

“Why?” she asked, before remembering that he’d lost his phone on the rocks during the storm. “Oh, right.” She handed it over to him. “Call Damian if there are any problems.” She and Damian turned and walked back the way they’d come, leaving Justin and the pokémon standing at the edge of the city, where the buildings gave way to sand.

“All right, everyone, let’s go to the beach!” Spark cried, charging forward.

Several of the pokémon ran after him, leaving Justin and the others in the dust. “W-wait!” Justin cried in alarm, stumbling forward and breaking into a run.

Snowcrystal followed, keeping pace with him as he bolted after the running group of pokémon, who were nearing the water. Thunder and Blazefang trailed behind, looking as if they didn’t know what to make of the situation. Stormblade hung back with them. Justin and Snowcrystal rushed past dozens of umbrellas and chairs, some of them occupied by pokémon or people, until they reached the tideline.

The two of them stopped at the edge of a gentle slope leading down the water, where the other pokémon were currently frolicking. Redclaw made great leaping splashes in the shallows as Spark and Rosie chased each other through the sand. Wildflame was taking in the view and Alex was already among the waves, floating on her back with a blissful expression on her face. A few of the trainers and pokémon who had been playing near the water shot the newly arriving group amused looks.

Snowcrystal and Justin glanced at each other before Justin took the two poké balls Damian had lent him. After enlarging them, he tossed them in the air, and Arien and Scytheclaw formed in front of him.

“Of course,” Justin muttered. “I got the scizor.”

Wildflame, Thunder, and Stormblade caught up, looking with awe at the sight that lay before them.

“All right, I guess you can all have fun,” Justin said, fiddling with Katie’s pokégear. “Just don’t go too far from each other, and don’t drown. Oh and Snowcrystal, you better not get in the water. The dye might come off.”

Snowcrystal nodded in response, a little disappointed, but she tried not to let it show. She smiled as she followed Wildflame and Stormblade down to the water, telling herself to be careful not to get her fur wet. She found that she liked the feeling of walking on the damp sand, watching paw prints form as she followed the others.

-ooo-

Alex was in her element. The ocean was nothing at all like the lake she had called home after being released by her trainer. It was vast, limitless, and she felt like she could swim forever. If it hadn’t been for the group, she would have tried to swim toward one of the distant islands she could see on the horizon.

Floating on her back, she could see a wave coming toward her, and, closing her eyes, she let it carry her up and over its surface, leaving her back on calm water. Opening her eyes again, she could see that the others were still on shore; it was mainly water pokémon that had gone as far into the waves as she had.

Turning over, she deflated the floatation sac around her body and sank. Underwater, it was like being in an entirely different world. Sand shifted beneath her, a few small pokémon scuttling on the bottom. Rays of sunlight filtered down, the light painting everything a stunning blue. She could only imagine what the deeper ocean might look like.

Excited, she propelled herself forward, the movement of the water immediately feeling natural to her. It was nothing like the lake. It was so much more.

Up ahead, she could see the rolling of the water where another wave was forming. She shot toward it, letting the water flow over her body as the wave moved past her. She continued on, watching the sand slope further and further downward. She did not yet feel the need to take a breath. She watched as the loose sand gave way to a rockier area, where strange plants grew and small pokémon darted out of her way. As she went further, she even saw an alomomola drifting by.

After a while of swimming, she felt the urge to breathe and swam to the surface. As soon as her head emerged into open air, she realized with shock that she had swam quite a distance from the shore and from the others. The pokémon and their trainers looked like tiny specks from her distance.

Suddenly realizing that they’d worry about her before long, the floatzel dived back under again, heading closer to the shore. ‘This is just a quick stop,’ she told herself. ‘There will be time to explore the ocean another day.’

-ooo-

Snowcrystal was sitting on the dry sand when Fernwing and Yenn arrived. The yanmega looked uneasy to be around so many humans, but at least most of the trainers around were further off down the beach.

“Well, here we are,” said Fernwing, plonking herself down in the sand.

“Justin’s over there,” Snowcrystal told her, angling her head to where the boy was seated on one of the beach chairs, excitedly messing with the pokégear.

“So I see,” Fernwing said simply, lying down to soak in the sun’s rays.

Snowcrystal got up and headed toward where Rosie was excitedly digging patterns in the sand. She watched Redclaw and Spark go tearing past, sending up large splashes of water in their wake. “What are you doing?” she asked the ninetales as she came to stand beside her.

“Oh, I’m just trying to make patterns,” she explained. “Some of the other pokémon around here were doing it. Think we could build a sand-den?”

“I guess there’s one way to find out,” Snowcrystal replied, starting to dig.

Nearby, Blazefang and Wildflame stuck to the shallows, trying not to get much more than their paws wet. Both houndoom had quickly discovered that the salty water stung their wounds, and Wildflame, who only bore scratches on her face, had decided to stay with Blazefang rather than follow Redclaw and Spark. They enjoyed letting the waves chase them, running up the shore as the water followed.

Near where Justin was, Arien sat by himself as he watched the waves crashing against the shore. The ocean breeze was calming to him, and he was glad that the group had a chance for a bit of peace before they would begin trekking the mountain to find Tanzenarc.

However, not all the pokémon were peaceful. Thunder still stood away from the rest of the group, uncertain, and Yenn flew overhead, likely watching everything that was happening down below. Arien was uncertain about the yanmega. A hatred of humans was going to do nothing good for the group.

On the shoreline, Scytheclaw was standing near the water with hesitation. He could see Stormblade off to his left, standing up to his waist in water. Scytheclaw wasn’t so sure about it. Ever since he had evolved, water hadn’t held the same pleasant, calming sensation it had for him as a scyther.

As he stared at it, he noticed an orange shape burst from the water and bound onto shore.

“Hey, Scytheclaw!” Alex stopped beside him, panting. “Come on in!” she gasped. “It feels great. It’s not cold at all, I promise.”

“No thanks,” Scytheclaw replied.

“Why not? I mean, at least try it! Or do you not like water?”

“It’s not…” Scytheclaw sighed. “It’s not the water that’s the problem. It’s more the steel typing, if you know what I mean.”

“You won’t drown, silly,” Alex replied. “Let’s just go where Stormblade is. Come on!” She grabbed onto his pincer but didn’t pull him, simply waiting for him to follow her.

Scytheclaw hesitated, but didn’t pull away. Admittedly, he did want to remember how the water had felt to him before, or at least get as close to that feeling as possible. As awkward as it was having Alex to lead him in, he certainly didn’t feel like yelling at her. He gave another sigh. “All right.”

“Yes!” Alex cried with glee, bounding into the water with the scizor following.

Stormblade watched them, immediately thinking back to one pokémon who hadn’t joined in the fun. Thunder. He shook water from his wings before taking to the air, landing on the beach near where Thunder stood. She just watched him, a confused look in her eyes.

“What do you want?” Thunder asked.

“I was just wondering if you wanted to come down to the water with us,” he replied.

“That seems like a weird thing for a scyther to do,” she remarked, noting the water dripping from his wings and body.

“Wild scyther enjoy water,” Stormblade told her. “As long as it’s not too deep. We won’t go far. You might like it.”

Thunder looked uncertain, as if she wasn’t sure she trusted Stormblade’s words. Eventually she pushed past him, heading down toward the water. “I’ll go by myself,” she told him.

Not bothering to look back at his reaction, she made her way to where the waves lapped at the shore. Letting the water wash over her feet, she did find the sensation somewhat pleasant, though she wasn’t sure she liked the idea of standing in the deeper areas.

However, she didn’t mind. Standing where she was, that was enough. Lifting her head, she stared out into the distance, at the water that seemed to go on forever. She had never seen such sights when she was under Master’s control, though other pokémon had sometimes spoken of the ocean. It felt surreal to be seeing it for herself.

From a little way away, Snowcrystal came dashing up the sandy slope, narrowly avoiding the wave that wiped out the sand-den she and Rosie had made. The ninetales followed more slowly, her fur soaking wet.

Snowcrystal paused to catch her breath, glad that the dye still perfectly coated her fur. “Well, that was close,” she sighed.

Rosie jumped as Yenn landed nearby, the remains of a wingull in his mouth. “Weren’t we going to look for the legendary?” he asked, setting the carcass down. “How long are we supposed to stay here?”

“The trainers are just getting supplies. Didn’t Fernwing tell you?” Rosie asked.

The yanmega shook his head.

“Well, they’ll be back soon,” the ninetales said, turning her attention to the waves.

Snowcrystal followed her gaze as well, watching the waves form and crash beyond the playing pokémon. “I wish I could see the waves up close,” the growlithe mused.

Yenn turned to her. “Do you want to?” he asked.

She looked back at him in surprise. “I can’t get my fur wet,” she explained. “If the humans know what my real fur color is, then-”

“I won’t let you touch the water,” Yenn replied. “Do you want me to take you closer?”

“Well, okay,” Snowcrystal replied, and Rosie narrowed her eyes.

“Better not drop her,” she said.

“I won’t,” Yenn replied, and he hovered above Snowcrystal, locking his legs around the growlithe and lifting her into the air.

Snowcrystal immediately felt a gust of the sea breeze as Yenn shot out over the water, over the heads of her friends and other frolicking pokémon and toward where the largest waves were building up. Up close, they looked even more powerful than they had from the shore. Snowcrystal found herself feeling a bit afraid, not sure she wanted to know what waves that strong could do to a small fire pokémon. But the basket formed by Yenn’s legs felt sturdy, and at no point did she feel like she would fall.

Yenn zipped toward a large wave that was cresting, about to crash. He was so close that for a moment, Snowcrystal was afraid the water would crash into the both of them. Yet as the top of the wave started to fall, Yenn darted forward, keeping Snowcrystal close to the wall of water while the wave crashed just behind them, never quite reaching them.

Snowcrystal’s eyes widened. She was so close to the water, she could have reached out and touched it with her paw. It looked so clear and blue beneath her that she really wished she could.

After a moment Yenn flew away from the wave, lifting higher into the air so that Snowcrystal had a good view of the ocean from above. She stared at it in wonder before turning her head to the mountain that rested beside the city. Somewhere in that mountain was Tanzenarc, and today they were going to find his cave.

A few minutes later, Yenn set Snowcrystal back down on the beach. To her surprise, Justin had stood up and was calling to her.

“Hey, Snowcrystal! Want to come with me to get some snacks?”

Snowcrystal glanced to Yenn, who looked disgusted, but walked over to Justin anyway. He probably just wanted some company. Spark, at the moment, was distracted. She looked over at the jolteon, who was digging in the sand and shouting “Everybody bury me!”

The growlithe walked over to stand at Justin’s feet, noting that Arien was staying in place.

“You can help pick out the snacks for the pokémon,” Justin told her. “Arien, watch everyone while I’m gone.”

They started walking off toward a small stand near a group of clustered umbrellas. Snowcrystal heard buzzing wings behind her and turned to see that Yenn had taken to the air again, warily following.

Once they reached the stand, Justin gave a cry of frustration. “Closed,” he muttered. “Must be because of that stupid storm. Seriously, of all the days to-AARGH!” He jumped back as Yenn landed on top of the stand.

“Yenn, what are you doing?” Snowcrystal asked.

“Making sure this human is doing what he said,” Yenn answered.

Snowcrystal watched as Justin stepped away and pulled out Katie’s pokégear, as if he wanted to call the others over Yenn’s odd behavior.

“He’s not doing any harm,” Snowcrystal argued, hoping Justin would understand her meaning even if he couldn’t understand her words. “He-”

She broke off, because another trainer had suddenly come running from behind the stand and crashed straight into Justin.

Both trainers fell to the ground, the pokégear flying out of Justin’s hand. A small pokémon came tumbling off the other trainer’s shoulder and hit the sand near Snowcrystal.

Snowcrystal stared as the pokémon shook her head and got to her feet. The pokémon was a purple imp-like creature even smaller than she was, with large gemstone-like eyes. As she noticed Snowcrystal, the sableye gave her a grin showing pointed teeth. “Nice running into you…haha,” the stranger said.

Snowcrystal wasn’t sure what to reply with, but was interrupted when Justin and the other trainer got to their feet and started speaking. “Sorry!” the newcomer blurted out. The growlithe could now see her clearly; she was a female human with brown skin and black hair that looked to be about Damian’s age. “I didn’t see you. I was just in a hurry; I might be late for a contest and my flying pokémon is too tired to fly me there, and I lost track of time.” She leaned down to hurriedly pick up her spilled belongings.

“Uh…it’s not a big deal, I guess,” Justin replied.

“Is this your growlithe?” the other trainer asked, suddenly distracted as her eyes lit up with excitement. “She’s adorable!” She reached out her hand toward Snowcrystal, and the growlithe stepped forward to let the human pet the tuft of fur on her head.

“She…she belongs to a friend,” Justin said, but he wasn’t sure the trainer had even heard him, because she quickly fixed her attention on something else…the yanmega perched on the top of the snack stand.

“You have a yanmega too?” she asked, excited, and Justin tensed as she approached Yenn, who looked momentarily frozen in disbelief. “Male or female?”

“Uh…male,” Justin replied with a nervous glance at the bug type.

“He’s beautiful,” the trainer said in admiration, reaching out with her hand toward the dragonfly-like creature on the roof of the stand.

For a moment, Justin was sure she was about to get her hand bitten off. But before he could shout at her to back away, she drew her hand back, obviously having recognized the hostility that was radiating from the yanmega.

“You’re such a lucky trainer,” the girl continued, obviously mistaking Yenn’s reaction for mere nervousness around strangers. “They’re magnificent creatures. What is that scar from though? It doesn’t look like anything…” Suddenly a look of alarm crossed her face and she scooped up the sableye on the ground and took off running. “Oh, sorry, gotta go! I’ll see you around!”

Justin stared at her in bewilderment before he sighed and picked the pokégear off the ground, wiping the sand off of it. He glanced at Snowcrystal, who gave him an odd look, and then at Yenn, who was still crouched on the snack stand. Luckily, the yanmega didn’t look ready to do anything hostile, but he certainly didn’t look pleased either. “Well that was weird,” Justin sighed. “Let’s get back to the others.”

He and Snowcrystal walked back down to the beach, Justin stopping in surprise when he came upon his jolteon, buried up to his neck in sand.

“Well, I see you guys are having fun,” he muttered.

-ooo-

It wasn’t long before Damian and Katie both returned with supplies. They gathered all the pokémon together, and Katie explained that they were only going to look for the cave’s entrance that day, not actually going inside if they found it, and they would be splitting into groups.

“We might not have time to search much of the place,” Katie told them. “But I still think we should get a head start.”

“Can I be in Scytheclaw’s group?” Alex asked.

“We’ll decide groups when we get there,” Arien told her.

“I think that covers everything,” Katie continued. “Let’s head out now, everyone.” She turned to Justin. “Oh, and I’d like my pokégear back.”

“Here,” Justin replied, handing it to her.

Katie took it from him, but after looking at it up close, she suddenly frowned.

“What’s wrong?” Justin asked, afraid that he’d damaged it somehow.

“This…isn’t mine,” she replied, showing him the screen, which showed a trainer’s name registered: Teresa Jones.

Justin stared at it in shock. “Oh…that other trainer…we must have gotten them mixed up when…never mind. I’m sure we can get it back. She was headed to a contest.”

“A contest which isn’t going to be over anytime soon,” Katie retorted. “Only the big contests are held here. There will be a lot of competitors and…” She paused, then sighed. “Look, it’s not your fault. We’ll head up to the mountain, and once we’re done we’ll go to the contest hall and try to find that trainer.”

“Okay…good idea,” Justin responded, glad that she hadn’t blamed him. He turned his attention to the mountains ahead of them, lying just beyond the city. “In the meantime, let’s start looking for that cave.”

To be continued…