The Path of Destiny

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 8 - Blazefang's Plan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-ooo-

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

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

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

-ooo-

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

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

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

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

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

Stormblade now knew that they were being followed.

-ooo-

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

“Ow!” cried Rosie. “Watch it!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Thunder! Come over here!” Snowcrystal cried.

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

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

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

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

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

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

-ooo-

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

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

-ooo-

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

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

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

-ooo-

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

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

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

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

He was trapped.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To be continued…