The Path of Destiny
Chapter 25 - Race Against Time


Rosie, Wildflame, Snowcrystal, and Spark had begun their journey again, searching for Articuno with renewed hope. Snowcrystal believed that if Rosie had managed to escape, there was certainly hope for Stormblade and Thunder, especially if they could convince Articuno to help them. The going was slow, however, because of Rosie and Spark’s injuries, but this time, no one seemed to mind.

Wildflame had caught prey for them all earlier, and they had rested at a cool, fresh stream. Even Rosie was feeling better, though she was still forced to limp awkwardly. Spark stayed close to Rosie as they followed Wildflame and Snowcrystal. Rosie was quickly growing tired of his comments.

“You know what’s good about being injured, Rosie?” the jolteon asked.

“Nothing…” Rosie muttered, annoyed.

Spark carried on as if he hadn’t heard. “Everyone does stuff for you! Like that spearow Wildflame brought us…and how Snowcrystal brought me some water in a leaf…”

“Only because you were too much of a wimp to go to the stream yourself,” Rosie muttered silently to herself.

“You know,” Spark continued, “I wonder if Articuno will help find a new home for me…somewhere without dangerous humans or pokémon or traps, or fire, or any of those other things that have given us trouble on this journey. I hope that when we get Stormblade back he’ll stop being so angry about Justin. There’s nothing wrong with Justin…”

Suddenly Spark stopped, and Rosie felt a yank on several of her tails. Turning around, she saw Spark holding some of them in his mouth, grinning widely at her. Releasing the tails, the jolteon stated, “I’ve always wanted to pull a ninetales’s tail…and now I have!”

Rosie rolled her eyes. “When I find out how to place a thousand year curse on someone,” she muttered to herself, “I’m putting one on Spark.”

The four pokémon carried on at a slow pace, seeing no sign of danger as they traveled.

But they were unaware that they were being tracked.

-ooo-

Blazefang and the rest of his pack did not have much to worry about. Traveling ahead of Snowcrystal’s group, they had all luckily managed to leave the forest well before it burned to the ground.

Now further away from the human’s city, Blazefang felt some of his confidence returning, despite not knowing whether Wildflame could find out anything about Articuno yet or not.

Blazefang had tried to put both Shadowflare incidents behind him. He had used the attack both times out of self defense, and there was nothing that could be done about the consequences of the attack now.

…Yet still in his mind, was the lingering fear of Shadowflare. He shuddered as he kept walking; sincerely hoping he would never have to use it again.

-ooo-

Katie and Justin stood in shock at the ruins of what had once been a small forest. Poochyena whimpered, hiding behind Katie and trembling in fear, clearly spooked by the area somehow.

“I don’t understand…” Justin muttered. “It’s spring time…I didn’t think the forest would be dry enough to catch fire and burn down this easily…” he added, looking at what little charred remains of trees were left. The small pieces littered the ground, but there were hardly any trunks left standing. “Let’s go back…”

“No,” Katie replied, “let’s go around. I want to see if there are any pokémon that escaped the fire…they might need help.” As she and her poochyena headed off to travel around the burned forest, Justin had no choice but to follow them.

A few yards ahead, he heard Katie gasp and her poochyena whimper. He walked forward, seeing the charred remains of a shinx lying in their path. The pokémon had managed to escape, but too late. It was dead, it’s body covered in deep, terrible burns. Justin realized that by looking at it, Katie would be reminded of her own shinx.

He backed away, not wanting to look at the dead pokémon, but to his surprise, Katie crouched beside it. “Katie…” he muttered. “It’s dead. There’s no use staying here.”

“These burns…” Katie mused, gazing down at the shinx. “They look strange…just like the ones your scyther had…”

Justin flinched as Katie mentioned ‘his’ scyther, but only replied, “I don’t see why that’s such a big deal. Scyther got burned badly, and so did this poor shinx. There’s nothing more to it than that.”

Katie sighed and stood up, still looking confused, but nonetheless carried on as her poochyena searched for pokémon scent, hoping no other pokémon had ended up like the shinx had.

-ooo-

Redclaw awoke slowly, feeling dazed and light-headed. The arcanine carefully lifted his head, feeling a sharp pain in his leg. Ignoring it, he slowly stood up, vaguely hearing the creaking of the walls around him, and stepped in something warm and wet.

Looking down, he noticed that he was stepping in his own blood. There was a small, yet deep gash on his back leg, and it had obviously been bleeding quite a lot, though it looked to be only a small wound. Ignoring the blood, he looked around the hallway he’d been lying in, feeling himself start to wake up more fully.

As his hazy vision cleared and he gazed around the dimly lit hallway, he noticed debris strewn all around from the blast. Several of the walls were damaged, some blown away completely. Looking up, he noticed a gaping hole in the ceiling; he could see clear up into the room above him.

Turning his gaze to the rubble-strewn floor, the arcanine searched for Stormblade, quickly spotting the scyther’s limp form against the wall near where he had been lying before. Limping over to him, Redclaw could tell he was still unconscious. There was a small dark stain on the wall where Stormblade’s head had struck it, and as Redclaw inspected him closer, he noticed a wound on the scyther’s head; a long gash that started from between his eyes and ran along the top of his head. Redclaw was unsure of what had caused it, but he figured Stormblade had to have struck something sharp; maybe a part of the ceiling that had caved in.

Worried, Redclaw nudged Stormblade’s head with his nose, but didn’t get a response. He looked closer, and could tell that the bug type was still breathing, though it sounded weak and raspy, much like his own.

Whimpering, Redclaw sat down beside the motionless scyther, softly licking the gash on his head, hoping to clean the wound. After a short while, Stormblade began to stir; his head turned away and his wings twitched. Redclaw nudged him again, and Stormblade opened his eyes and looked up at him, though one of his eyes seemed unable to open fully. A moment later, he lay his head back down weakly, closing his eyes again.

“Stormblade,” Redclaw began, “we need to get out of here…”

Stormblade made no response and Redclaw wondered if he had even heard. “Stormblade…?” he asked again slowly.

“Whoareyou?” Stormblade mumbled in a dazed voice, opening his eyes only a fraction.

Redclaw stared back at him, confused. “I’m…Redclaw…I told you that already,” he said calmly, wondering if there was something wrong with Stormblade’s memory.

However, a few moments later, Stormblade seemed to recognize him, and asked, “Why did you come in that room to find me?”

“Everyone else was leaving,” Redclaw replied, watching Stormblade shudder as the walls creaked loudly again and realizing that any sound probably made the pain in his head worse. “Some trainers freed us, and they and the other pokémon left. I went back to find you, since it seems like the trainers were too busy to really notice how hurt you were.”

“You should have just gone with them…” Stormblade whispered, closing his eyes against the pain that lanced through his skull.

“I wasn’t going to leave anyone here, especially not a friend,” Redclaw replied. “And I don’t plan on leaving you now. We should…” He paused, seeing that Stormblade was obviously in no condition to stand up, let alone walk, and finished, “You should rest for now…stay here, I’ll be right back.”

Turning away from Stormblade, Redclaw headed down the hallway, hoping to find an easy way up to the first ground level floor and out of the building. As he turned a corner and headed toward the stairs, he noticed with shock that a part of them had collapsed, and the doorway to which the stairs led had been blocked by rubble. Worried, he decided to look for an easier path, one that Stormblade would be able to manage traveling through.

Pushing aside a door that looked badly damaged, he walked into a partially destroyed room, finding nothing but large wooden boxes inside. Several were damaged and their contents strewn across the floor, but a few had been knocked over and broken open; some containing packets of pokémon food. Grabbing as many as he could fit in his mouth, Redclaw limped back to Stormblade.

When he returned, the arcanine was dismayed to see that Stormblade had passed out again, or else settled into some sort of half-conscious sleep. Setting down the food packets, he carefully opened each one with his teeth while waiting for the scyther to recover.

It took a while longer for Stormblade to wake up, and in that time, Redclaw had eaten his fill, having gone back to the room for more pokémon food. As Stormblade woke up this time, however, Redclaw could tell that he was more fully awake.

“Where are the humans who took us here?” Stormblade asked after a short while, painfully trying to sit up. “Have they all left?”

“I think so,” Redclaw answered. “I don’t think anyone’s here but us…at least not in this part of the building.” He glanced toward the remainder of the pokémon food packets and pushed them toward Stormblade. “I found these,” the arcanine explained. “I was looking for an easy way up to the first floor, where I’m sure we can find a way out of here. The way I came from was blocked…I suppose we’ll have to find another way. We’re safe for now though,” he added, and sat down, while Stormblade ravenously started eating the pokémon food.

Redclaw lay down, feeling worried. He didn’t know how he and Stormblade were going to get out of the building any time soon, especially when Stormblade was so weak. Idly licking the cut on his back leg, Redclaw shivered as one of the few working lights in the hallway flickered and went out, leaving him and Stormblade in semi-darkness.

Wearily, Redclaw leaned against the wall, feeling exhausted. The arcanine was still uncertain of what path they would take to get out of the building, but at the moment he felt too tired to search for another way to the first floor.

He was startled when the wall suddenly gave a violent shudder, and dust rained down on his head from the ceiling. Shaking his head to free the dirt from his mane, Redclaw stood up and backed away, hearing the walls around him creak and groan loudly.

Stormblade looked up from his meal, staring at the wall with his good eye. “What was that?” he whispered, his voice still sounding shaky and weak.

“I…I’m not…” Redclaw began, a moment before he had to duck out of the way as a large chunk of the ceiling fell to the floor, raising a cloud of dust which caused the arcanine to start coughing.

“Stay here,” he told Stormblade between coughs, knowing the scyther really didn’t have much of a choice. “I’m going to try to find an easy way out…”

Without waiting for a reply, Redclaw bounded off, clearing a heap of rubble in a single leap as he headed in a different direction from where he’d gone before; veering off into another hallway. He was certain there had to be more stairs on this floor somewhere; it was only a matter of finding them.

Yet when Redclaw turned a corner of the hallway, he didn’t find stairs. Instead, he found something else that made him stop in his tracks. Ahead of him, the ceiling had caved in, damaged by the blasts. The way was nearly blocked, and it looked as if more of the ceiling could collapse at any minute. Startled, Redclaw turned and ran back toward Stormblade, who was still eating. He noticed that the gash on the scyther’s head was still bleeding, though not as badly as it had been before.

“Stormblade!” Redclaw gasped as he came to a halt beside the injured pokémon, feeling the floor shake as small pieces of the ceiling fell down on his head and shoulders. “We need to get out now…I think…I think whatever caused those explosions must have really damaged most of the walls, and…” He paused for a second, looking around, before continuing. “And I think the whole place is about to…to come down on top of us…”

Stormblade stared back at him, first with a look of confusion, then one of fear. “Did you…find a way out?” he asked hesitantly.

“Not yet,” Redclaw answered worriedly, “but we need to go now…we can try and see if there’s another way out near where I found the pokémon food. Now stand up, I’m not sure how much time we have…”

As Redclaw had half expected, Stormblade did not move at first. After he asked again, Stormblade started to try. Shaking, the scyther closed his eyes, before pushing his blades against the floor and slowly heaving himself upright. It pained Redclaw to see him like this, and he fought back a lingering doubt that Stormblade was going to make it.

As the scyther got to his feet, using the wall for support, Redclaw stood beside him, letting him lean on his shoulder in case he collapsed. Fighting back his panic at the prospect of being trapped, the arcanine attempted a smile as he looked back at Stormblade. “See? It won’t be so hard if I’m helping you. Just…try not to put any weight on your hurt leg.” Redclaw lightly flicked his tail over Stormblade’s bandaged shoulder, immediately regretting it as he saw his friend wince. Muttering a quick apology, he started to head in the direction of the ruined stairs, forcing himself to walk slowly as he ignored every instinct that told him to leave Stormblade and save himself.

As the two pokémon came upon the partially destroyed set of stairs Redclaw had seen earlier, the arcanine glanced at the rubble blocking the doorway where the stairs had led, and sighed. “I don’t think we have much time to…” He paused as the walls and floor shook again, and went on, “Searching for another way out will take too long. Let me see if I can clear the way for us.”

As Stormblade shakily sat down, Redclaw bounded away from him, running up to the stairs and clearing the gap between them caused by the collapse easily. He quickly reached the blocked doorway. Using all the strength he could muster, Redclaw pushed aside the debris, moving enough of it until the pile collapsed, leaving most of the doorway open.

Eyes widening in shock, he stepped back.

Nearly the entire hallway ahead of him was up in flames, including the next set of stairs. Fearfully realizing how quickly the fire had spread to that part of the building, Redclaw could only wonder how long it would take the flames to reach him and Stormblade.

As his thoughts drifted back to the scyther, Redclaw felt at a loss for what to do. Being a fire type, he could make it through the fire, but Stormblade… could not.

Turning away from the blaze, Redclaw bounded back down the ruined stairs and into the room where he’d found the pokémon food, suddenly getting an idea. Walking up to some of the large wooden boxes, he quickly pushed one of them out the door as Stormblade watched him, looking confused.

Redclaw pushed the box underneath the gaping hole in the ceiling he had seen when he had first woken up. It was just tall enough for a pokémon of Stormblade’s size to climb onto it and up through the opening. How Stormblade was going to climb up there, however, Redclaw wasn’t sure.

Moving fast, Redclaw found a smaller box and pushed it next to the first one, hoping that would make it easier to climb, and then darted back to Stormblade.

As Redclaw helped the scyther back toward the boxes, he couldn’t help being worried about how painfully slow they were moving. Stormblade was almost constantly stumbling, and when Redclaw walked too fast, he would sometimes fall over. By the time they reached the boxes, more of the ceiling had collapsed further down the hallway, though thankfully not near them.

Pushing Stormblade toward the two boxes, Redclaw told him, “We can climb up to the next floor from here. You go first…I know the boxes won’t break if you stand on them.” Redclaw could tell that the boxes were definitely strong enough to hold a scyther’s weight…but he was unsure if they would hold an arcanine’s. He shook the thought from his mind. If the boxes were too weak, he could always reach the second floor using the stairs…but would it be wise to leave Stormblade alone for that time? And would using another route take too long?

Stormblade looked up through the hole in the ceiling worriedly. Trying to ignore the pain, he dug his scythes into the first wooden box and wearily hauled himself on top of it, with a little help from Redclaw. Once on top, Stormblade took a few shuddering breaths before painfully climbing up onto the next one.

Redclaw watched, still worried. “Hurry!” he called, pacing back and forth across the shaking floor as he watched Stormblade try to stand on the box without putting weight on his injured leg and using his scythes for support instead.

Carefully setting his injured leg down, Stormblade lifted his scythes toward the opening in the ceiling, but immediately gave a cry of pain and collapsed, nearly causing the box to fall over.

“Try again!” Redclaw yelled, and Stormblade detected a hint of panic in the arcanine’s urgent voice.

Wiping the blood from his eyes with the dull side of his scythe, Stormblade carefully stood up, hearing the walls around him creak again. Reaching up with his scythes, he lodged them into the floor of the room above him, trying to pull himself through the opening, but after a few moments, he started to slip.

Redclaw could see that pain was preventing Stormblade from climbing up to the next floor. Leaping onto the taller box, Redclaw felt the wood splinter beneath his paws as he leaped upward, his front paws landing on the floor of the hallway above them. Scrabbling with his claws, Redclaw climbed up and onto the next floor, feeling the box beneath him splinter and break.

Once he was safely on the next floor, he ran toward Stormblade, grabbing the scyther’s wing in his teeth and lifting him up safely away from the opening and onto the floor. Ignoring Stormblade’s small cries of pain, Redclaw peered around, seeing smoke from the fire starting to fill the hallway. Nearby was a room with walls that were barely intact and about to collapse. “This way!” he told Stormblade, pointing with his muzzle in the opposite direction.

Helping Stormblade, Redclaw looked around for another set of stairs that would lead them up to the next floor. Slowly, smoke started to fill the hallway, and though it didn’t bother Redclaw much, being a fire type, it made Stormblade start to cough terribly.

Redclaw glanced ahead, noticing a large, mostly undamaged room nearby. They walked inside it, spotting some thin metal stairs leading up into another room. Redclaw hesitated, not sure if he could help Stormblade up those stairs, as there seemed to be barely enough room for an arcanine to climb them.

“Stormblade…” Redclaw began, nudging his friend toward the stairs, “you can climb them…just use your scythes to help you…”

“All right…” Stormblade replied shakily, feeling the building shudder, “I’ll try…”

As Stormblade agonizingly limped up the stairs, Redclaw followed carefully, hoping the flimsy looking metal wouldn’t be damaged before they made it to the top. Luckily, although Redclaw was forced to move slowly, the stairs held until they made it into the room in the floor above.

Wanting to look for a way to the first floor while Stormblade rested a bit, Redclaw walked further, looking for another set of stairs. If they got to the floor above them, all they would have left to do would be to find a door leading outside.

Smelling smoke coming from a room nearby, Redclaw increased his pace, soon breathing a sigh of relief as he came across the a set of stairs leading up to a door that was wide open. Hearing the fire growing steadily closer, Redclaw dashed back to Stormblade, once again helping the scyther back to his feet. Stormblade looked as if he could pass out any minute, and Redclaw sincerely hoped he could make it up the rest of the stairs and out of the building.

As the two pokémon neared the stairs, Redclaw lifted his head at a crashing sound from above. Both scyther and arcanine froze, listening as the crashing grew louder, combined with the splintering of wood and the roaring of flames. In a panic, Redclaw realized that the fire had caused far too much damage to the building.

It was starting to collapse.

“Hurry!” Redclaw shouted, increasing his pace as he headed up the stairs.

Stormblade tried to keep up, but he didn’t get far, and collapsed near the foot of the stairs.

“Stormblade, get up!” Redclaw cried, fighting the urge to run through the open doorway and find a way to freedom right then and there. Around him, several chunks of the ceiling were falling, and the floor, walls, and stairs were shaking.

Stormblade tried to stand, only to collapse again. Redclaw leaped to the top of the stairs, before turning around and facing Stormblade. “It’s not that far!” the arcanine shouted. “You can do it!”

Trembling, Stormblade stood up and began to stumble up the stairs, not getting very far before all his strength left him. Redclaw watched the scyther collapse, this time passing out. Fighting panic as he tried not to think about how much longer the building was going to last, Redclaw leaped down the stairs to Stormblade’s side. Grabbing Stormblade’s wing in his mouth, he began to drag the unconscious scyther up the stairs.

Just as he was about to reach the top, a roar louder than thunder filled his ears. The stairs beneath him broke apart and fell, and at the same time, the ceiling above crashed down on him. Redclaw felt something large and heavy strike him in the head, sending him crashing to the floor. Redclaw tightened his grip on Stormblade involuntarily as he was knocked to the ground; he felt the scyther’s wing rip and tear. He let go, and at the same time felt something strike his wounded leg and cause it to bleed more.

Before Redclaw could register what had happened, something much larger and heavier crashed into him and smashed through the floor, taking him with it. He struck something hard; he assumed it was the floor of the room below him, and felt his senses beginning to fade. Some large and heavy chunks of debris lay on top of him, immobilizing him. Glancing weakly upward, he saw the walls and the ceiling begin to collapse.

‘No…’ he thought desperately. ‘It can’t end this way…’ He looked up once more, hearing the crashing sounds grow louder, and a moment later, darkness stole his thoughts away.

-ooo-

Thunder was wandering on her own as the sun began to set on the horizon. Her wounds made her movements stiff and painful, but she had refused to stop. In the distance, she could see large sandy colored rocks and cliffs, and close by them, a small grove of trees. That was where she was headed, as she felt too exhausted to search any further until her wounds healed a little more.

Pausing to scratch idly at her collar with her scythe, Thunder glanced at the rocky fields around her. She felt strangely weak and vulnerable, though there was no sign of any other pokémon around.

The scyther stood still, feeling lost and hopeless. She hadn’t thought that being alone would ever make her feel uncomfortable, and she wasn’t sure why it was happening now.

For a moment Thunder considered continuing her journey to the trees by the cliffs, but quickly decided to rest instead. She sat at the base of a large rock, waiting for her strength to return.

It wasn’t long before exhaustion overcame her, and she slowly drifted off into a fevered sleep…

…Not noticing the human who was approaching.

To be continued…