The Path of Destiny

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 33 - The Dark Maze

Redclaw, Nightshade, Wildflame, and Spark all jumped at the sound of the loud cry and Blazefang’s panicked yelp. They turned around to see the houndour wrestling with something small and covered in dark grayish fur. With a growl, Blazefang sent the pokémon flying with a kick from his back paws. He got to his feet again as the stranger landed nimbly on all fours and turned to face him.

Blazefang recognized the pokémon as a sneasel, a fellow dark type. Though the pokémon looked ferocious, she was much smaller than he was, and still quite a young pokémon by the look of her. The houndour took a step forward.

“Listen!” he barked. “We don’t want to be in your cave any more than you want us to! We’re tryin’ to find a way out! Know of one? If you do, tell us and we’ll leave faster!”

The sneasel’s fur bristled. “I know every rock and wall of this cave,” she spat back. “But I don’t help those who threaten us. Wander through the cave all you want, but leave this place! This cavern belongs to us!”

“Threaten? I’m not trying to threaten you! Are you blind?” Blazefang growled back furiously.

“You threaten us when you intrude upon our sacred haven,” the sneasel replied, meeting his stare evenly.

“Haven?” Blazefang scoffed. “You call this underground wasteland a haven? Just how do you get food here? It’s nothing but a damp, dark old cave.”

At that point, Nightshade decided to step in. “Look,” the heracross told the sneasel. “This houndour means no harm. We’re looking for a way out. Could you please-”

“Find a way out yourself!” the sneasel shouted boldly, leaping onto her hind paws and glaring at him. “If I told you the route, you’d be able to find your way back here and others would know of this place. Do you think I’m that stupid?”

Spark rolled his eyes. “This pokémon’s crazy,” he muttered. “There’s nothing here but rocks.”

The sneasel grinned. “That’s all you see, isn’t it?” she told him, her eyes glinting.

Feeling he’d had enough of this, Blazefang brushed past Nightshade, tackling the small sneasel roughly to the ground. “That’s it!” the houndour yelled. “Either tell us the way out, or I’ll make you tell!” Growling, he pressed his paw against the dark pokémon’s neck. “Tell!”

However, no answer came from the sneasel save for a long, eerie, drawn out wail of fear. Nightshade quickly moved forward in an attempt to stop Blazefang while Spark and Redclaw flattened their ears at the sound of the sneasel’s shrill scream. But before Nightshade could reach the houndour, they were swarmed by a massive group of zubat, golbat, and crobat coming from seemingly out of nowhere.

Chaos ensued. Blazefang found himself backing frantically away from the sneasel and toward the cave wall as he attempted to fend off the attackers, snapping his jaws at any that came too close. It was a futile effort; there were far too many of them, and he could feel more and more of their fangs sinking into his legs and shoulders, faster than he could retaliate. The other three were in similar situations, though Spark was fighting them off much easier than the others with the use of his long-ranged electric attacks.

Blazefang threw back his head and blasted a flamethrower into the mass of swirling bat pokémon above. By the light of the flame, he could see the pokémon quickly maneuvering out of the way and gathering together in massive swarms that seemed to fill the entire upper cavern. Blazefang stared in awe for a moment, and then as the flames from his attack died out he was ambushed by them again.

Through the mass of screeching bat pokémon, he could hear the others’ cries, and every few seconds a bright flash from Spark’s electric attacks illuminated the cave and showed him the dire situation they were in. No matter how strong any of their attacks were, they would run out of strength long before their enemies ran out of numbers. However, despite the hopelessness of the situation, Blazefang was determined that, if he had to go down, he would go down fighting.

With a snarl he leapt at his opponents, scratching and biting whichever pokémon were nearest. Though the urge to use Shadowflare welled up strongly within him, he resisted it. He would not fall victim to that urge again, whatever the cost. If he was to win the battle, he would win it on his own, without the help of the Forbidden Attack. Growling, he flung two golbat away from him with a kick of his hind paws. Whirling around, he opened his jaws to blast them with a searing flamethrower. But something stopped him.

A loud voice sounded through the confusion. Blazefang could hear the words clearly, even over the sound of the fighting.

“Stop! What is happening here?”

At once, all activity ceased. Blazefang could see the startled looks of Snowcrystal’s three friends as the bats moved away, still staring menacingly at them. The houndour looked up carefully, seeing the pokémon through the gloom by the light of the small jolts of bright electricity still flying off Spark’s fur. Standing clearly on a rock was a large weavile, who regarded them with neither fear nor loathing. Since most of the bat pokémon were staring at Blazefang, the houndour was glad when Redclaw decided to speak.

“Look, we-” the arcanine began, but a zubat interrupted him.

“We heard a shout,” the small winged pokémon explained. “That houndour…was attacking her…” he waved his wing toward the small sneasel, who was still staring at Blazefang with cold eyes.

The weavile’s expression did not change. “Was this attack provoked?” he asked calmly.

Before anyone else could speak, Nightshade stepped forward. “The young sneasel stopped us and told us we were trespassing,” the heracross explained. “We did not know it, though the claw marks we saw on the cave walls must have been there to try and lead us away from here. We should have heeded the warning, but we are strangers to this place. We tried to explain to the sneasel that we did not mean to intrude into anyone’s territory and it was purely an accident, but for whatever reason she did not want to help us find a way out. That houndour there, Blazefang, pushed her to the ground, and for that I apologize to you for him. It was uncalled for, though the sneasel attacked him first. We don’t want to fight anymore. We only want to get out of this cave safely, and to find our friends. We will leave this cavern immediately if that is your desire.”

As Nightshade finished, the weavile appeared much calmer. “Then I believe this has simply been a misunderstanding,” he replied. “You are free to go.”

Blazefang looked up in surprise, only to duck down again as several of the bats swooped low and vanished into the darkness. “Wait!” he called to the weavile, walking forward. “Can you help us find a way out?” The weavile seemed to look a bit hesitant and Blazefang quickly added in an attempt to persuade him, “I know something you might need to know. There could be an army of pokémon searching through this cave and you need to be warned about what they’re like. They’ve been chasing me because of the Forbidden Attack and I’ve been…”

He paused, for a hush had come over those still remaining in the cavern. Blazefang froze. He realized he’d just made a very bad mistake. Now they knew that he may be the reason an army could be coming. Yet when the weavile spoke, it was quite a different reaction to what Blazefang had expected.

“Did you say…Forbidden Attack?” the weavile asked him.

“Yes,” Blazefang replied. The thought to lie didn’t even enter his brain at the moment; he was just focused on being able to leave the cavern without being attacked again. “I…I know the Forbidden Attack Shadowflare,” he added, wondering if that would intimidate the pokémon a little.

The weavile’s expression changed to one of worry. “Then we need to talk,” he told Blazefang and the others. “Come with me…I believe this concerns every one of us.”

“But…but…Shade…” the small sneasel spoke in a worried voice, “we can’t trust them to keep this a secret! We can’t let them into our sacred cavern!”

“Star, this is much more important!” Shade replied, while Redclaw and Spark exchanged confused looks. “Besides,” the weavile continued, “they do not seem like the type to want to cause us harm in any way.”

“But must you speak with them there?” the little sneasel replied, looking horrified.

“I don’t know how safe we are here now,” the weavile replied. “And maybe entrusting them with our secret will convince them to keep theirs. Also I do not want to talk about such things in a place where any wandering cave pokémon could hear. I need to speak with them in private.”

Star made no response, and merely nodded, hoping Shade was right. With that, the weavile stood up, addressing the four traveling pokémon that stood before him. “Now,” he began, extending his claws toward them, “follow me.”

-ooo-

Snowcrystal hadn’t slept for long when she woke suddenly. Looking around, she saw that Thunder had vanished again, but Rosie was sleeping soundly beside her. Stormblade was lying with his eyes closed, but she could tell he was still wide awake. As she stood up, she realized that most of the mud covering her fur had hardened, and came off easily, though her white fur was still filthy. Carefully she walked over and prodded Rosie in the shoulder.

The ninetales stirred and looked up at her sleepily. “Are we leaving already?” she asked.

“Well, we have to soon,” Snowcrystal responded as Stormblade opened his eyes and looked at her. Snowcrystal turned to the tunnel Thunder had vanished to earlier and sighed. “I’m going to look for Thunder,” she told the others, and without waiting for a response, she dashed into the tunnel.

It didn’t take her long to find Thunder in a small cavern. The scyther was asleep, but as soon as Snowcrystal got near her, she woke up. “Uh…we’re going to leave soon,” Snowcrystal began hesitantly.

“Fine,” Thunder stated quickly, standing up and pushing past Snowcrystal to join the others still on the rock ledge. She turned away from Rosie and Stormblade, ready to ignore anything they might try to say to her. Snowcrystal sighed and sat down, letting the others rest.

After another short while, they got up and continued their tiresome journey through the maze of stone walls, ignoring fatigue and thirst as they sought a way to freedom from the dark underground prison. A maze of tunnels and caverns lay ahead of them, twisting and turning in random directions and often crossing paths with other tunnels.

Snowcrystal led the way soundly, keeping her gaze focused on the path ahead. After a while, something made her pause. “I think I can hear water up ahead…” she whispered, running forward toward the sound for a moment before remembering that the others couldn’t keep up, and slowing down. However, even at a slower pace, she still nearly stumbled into the water before she saw it.

The faint glow from her gem and the flickering firelight from her ember attack shone over the rocky ground in front of her which sloped gently down to a pool of crystal clear water. However, there was something hauntingly eerie about the place, something mysterious. The water was shallow near where Snowcrystal was standing, and the rock beneath the water was smooth, but from what she could see further on, the water got steadily deeper. As she softly blew a slightly bigger flame into the air, she realized that something under the water was glittering. Rosie noticed it immediately as well.

“Look!” the ninetales cried. “There are lots of little shiny stones under the water!”

“I think they’re crystals,” Snowcrystal replied. “Just really small ones.”

Rosie walked closer to the water, bending down to lap at its smooth surface. Snowcrystal and the others walked toward it and did the same. After a long while of traveling through the cave, the water tasted very cool and refreshing. Snowcrystal felt oddly comfortable in this cavern, and it wasn’t until she used another fire attack to light up the area and saw Stormblade shivering that she knew why; it was colder here. Glancing over her own muddy fur, Snowcrystal gently felt the water with her paw. It didn’t seem too cold despite the temperature of the cavern. “Well, I guess it would be nice to wash this mud off while we’re here,” Snowcrystal told the others before wading into the pool.

The growlithe felt a sudden rush of unease at the feeling of the water lapping gently at her fur, but she pushed the feeling to the back of her mind. Fire types usually found water uncomfortable, but a little swim was no hydro pump attack; it couldn’t hurt her. She waded a bit further before turning to look at the other three. All of them were still standing on the bank.

“What’s the matter with you guys?” Snowcrystal asked them, letting her fire attack die out so that she could speak.

“I’d rather be covered in mud than wet,” Rosie stated simply.

“It looks cold…” Stormblade whispered wearily.

Just out of pure curiosity, Rosie turned to Thunder. “So what’s your excuse?” she asked.

“I don’t want to get wet,” Thunder told the ninetales with a hint of annoyance.

“It’s not as cold as it looks,” Snowcrystal told the others, directing her statement particularly at Stormblade. She thought it might even help him; the scratches she had gotten from previous battles felt soothed by the water. “You three all need your wounds cleaned, and the water makes mine feel better. You should try it.”

“My wounds are fine filthy,” Rosie replied hurriedly. “They don’t need to be wet. They just…don’t.”

Snowcrystal rolled her eyes. “Then provide some light for us, okay?” she told her, and surprisingly, Rosie didn’t argue.

Though the thought of a cool pool of water was appealing, Stormblade still wasn’t sure he liked the idea of getting wet when he was already cold, but he needed to clean his wounds somehow. With slight hesitation, he hobbled closer to the water’s edge to stand in the shallowest part, still looking uncertain.

Thunder stayed put. “I’m not a water type,” she muttered. “I’m staying right here.”

Stormblade turned to look at her. It struck him as odd at first that she would refuse, but then it occurred to him that she might have never been in water her entire life. Wild scyther had a natural liking for water. It wasn’t uncommon for forest scyther to clean themselves in shallow ponds or streams, and there was usually plenty of prey around those areas too. He was sure that if Thunder had grown up in a forest and was used to it, or even just gave it a chance once, she would like it. “Why don’t you just try it?” he asked her. “You might-”

“No,” Thunder said firmly.

“It would at least clean your wounds a bit,” Stormblade replied.

Thunder looked indecisive for a moment, but after a few seconds of hesitation, she gave in and walked past Stormblade and toward Snowcrystal, ignoring the pain that flared up in her leg when the water first touched the wounds. Sighing, she walked closer to Snowcrystal, who had managed to wash the mud out of her fur and was pouncing on some of the larger crystals beneath the water. As Thunder walked past, Snowcrystal swam to the edge of the pool and climbed out, setting a crystal by the edge of the water and then jumping back in with a splash to find another.

“What are you doing that for?” Rosie asked when Snowcrystal surfaced again with another crystal in her mouth.

Snowcrystal set it down by the other one and just shrugged. “I don’t know,” she stated innocently. “I just like them. I wonder how many pokémon actually get to see this place. It doesn’t look like many have been here.”

Thunder, who had been listening, didn’t agree with Snowcrystal about liking the crystals. Some of the large crystals were sharp and scraped the wounds on her feet, further aggravating her. When she bent down to look at them, she didn’t think of them as fascinating or beautiful; they were just a nuisance that made wading in the water a lot less pleasant.

Stormblade hadn’t gone deep enough into the water to see the crystals, and instead lay down in the shallowest part of the pool, where the rock beneath was smooth. Seeing this, Snowcrystal brought one of the crystals over to show him.

Despite not wanting to get in the water, Rosie was glad for the chance to relax. Her leg was paining her, though after she lay down to rest for a while, she felt a little better, but was still very tired. Listening to Snowcrystal talk to Stormblade, even though he didn’t respond, the ninetales sighed and closed her eyes, letting her thoughts drift peacefully away into sleep…

She had nearly fallen asleep when something made her jolt awake. Somewhere from within the cave, there was a strange sound. It sounded like a calm, peaceful melody, which was at the same time haunting and eerie. “What’s that?” Rosie asked, sitting up quickly.

Snowcrystal, who had had her head under the water during the time, looked up, confused. “What’s what?”

“I heard it too,” Thunder said calmly, facing the darkness away from the others, where the pool of water got deeper.

Snowcrystal waded over to her and used a very small flame wheel to light up the area more. The water went on much farther than she had expected, deep into a maze of caverns. It was more like an underground lake than a pool. Her eyes widened in surprise; she couldn’t even see where the water ended, and in several places it vanished into dark tunnels.

“Don’t use fire attacks!” Rosie growled. “Do you want whatever made that noise coming here?”

“Sorry,” Snowcrystal muttered hastily, letting the flame die out. “Come on. I think we should get out of here in case whatever it is isn’t friendly.” She turned to leave and nudged Thunder’s leg, nearly getting kicked in response.

“Sounds like a good idea,” Rosie muttered, standing up and stepping back as Snowcrystal stepped ashore, shaking water from her fur. “Come on, Stormblade,” the ninetales called to the scyther.

At that point, Stormblade hardly cared whether or not there was an unfriendly pokémon lurking about; the water felt soothing on his aching wounds, and he didn’t want to move. However, knowing that he and his friends could possibly be in danger if they stayed in the area, he slowly got up and stumbled over to them.

After Thunder had reached them, Snowcrystal crept into a tunnel that led away from the water, the others following uncertainly behind her. After only a short walk they emerged into another cavern which bordered the lake on another side. There was no sign of the haunting melody, and the group carried on.

“Wonder what that sound was…” Snowcrystal mused to the others as she climbed over several slippery wet rocks, leaving the lake behind her.

“Do we really want to know?” Rosie muttered, trying to catch up with Snowcrystal, while Thunder waited at the topmost rock, her gaze fixed on a tunnel ahead that sloped downwards.

Snowcrystal lifted her muzzle and closed her eyes, pushing all her troubled thoughts out of her mind as she focused on trying to identify a single scent, even the smallest hint that an exit to the cave could be near. After a moment she sighed and opened her eyes. She had sensed nothing. “Come on,” she told the others, trying to look confident. “I think the air smells fresher through here.” None of the others argued or noticed her growing unease, and she walked into the sloping tunnel silently. She felt bad about leading them when she had no idea where she was going, but all she could do was choose a path and hope for the best. The others didn’t need to worry. It would only make things worse.

For a little while they kept walking, Snowcrystal often having to go back and encourage Stormblade while Rosie and Thunder waited. It was during one of the times when Stormblade had fallen far behind that, while waiting for him, Rosie noticed the faint sound of rushing water. The ninetales looked up at Thunder. “Do you hear that?” she asked.

“I’ve been hearing it for a while,” the scyther replied briskly, not even turning to look at Rosie. The ninetales said nothing, remembering how Thunder had reacted after saving Stormblade before. She obviously didn’t like being talked to much.

Rosie slowly lowered her head toward the ground, surprising a sigh while lightly scraping the smooth stone floor with her claws. She was a bit thirsty again, and the sound of the water nearby was making her want to get up and keep going.

The sound of approaching footsteps reached the ninetales’ ears. She looked up as Snowcrystal arrived, followed much more slowly by Stormblade. “Thunder and I heard water up ahead,” Rosie told her, getting to her feet again. “It’s probably nearby. I can lead the way.”

To her relief, Snowcrystal nodded, and Rosie limped briskly over the smooth boulders lining the floor of the cave while listening for the increasingly loud sound of rushing water.

Snowcrystal had been trotting beside Stormblade when she heard Rosie give a sudden shriek. For an instant she froze, then bounded forward until she reached the ninetales’ side, nearly falling victim to the same trap Rosie had just narrowly avoided.

The two fire types were standing on a rocky ledge which dropped steeply into a small, yet deep and swiftly flowing river. Rosie stood frozen, her eyes wide as she imagined what would have happened had she not managed to scramble away from the edge at the last instant.

“What are you standing there for?” Thunder snapped from behind the two. “Make your fire attacks brighter! I can hardly see.”

Snowcrystal backed further away from the water, motioning for Rosie to do the same. “All right Thunder,” she replied, lighting up the cavern and peering around. They had seemed to have reached a dead end, with the only way past the tunnel being the river. “Let’s turn back,” she whispered. “There’s nowhere else to go.”

“Turn back?” Stormblade rasped from behind the others, looking thoroughly horrified at the thought. “We can’t go back that far. There must be some other way…I don’t want to walk over all those rocks again.”

“Calm down!” Rosie growled at him impatiently, before walking carefully along the edge of the rock overhang above the river, peering at her surroundings. All at once she spotted something that both lifted her spirits and caused her to freeze to the spot in fear at the same time. “Look at this,” she told the others, motioning to a narrow ledge winding up the cave wall above the river, leading to what looked like another cavern above the one the swift-flowing water was vanishing into. “Looks like the only way to get any further is to climb up that ledge to those rocks up there.”

Snowcrystal looked doubtfully at Stormblade. With one leg rendered completely useless, the scyther would have a hard time balancing on such a narrow ledge, but Stormblade seemed to show no fear. She could clearly see a look of dread on his face, but despite that, he looked calm and ready. Snowcrystal noticed Rosie looking at her expectantly, and remembered that she was the one who had to make the decision. The ninetales looked afraid, but there was trust in her eyes. Snowcrystal thought it over for a moment before replying.

“Let’s go up to that cavern,” she told the others, walking over to the smooth stone and stepping onto the first part of the ledge. “Go carefully, but not too slowly. The sooner we reach those rocks up there, the sooner we’re safe.” Deciding it would be best to get the ordeal over with and not give the others too much time to dwell on the decision she had made, Snowcrystal began making her way along the ledge, feeling very at ease after having lived so long on perilous mountaintops.

Rosie, who followed after her, was not so calm. The ninetales’ body was pressed closely against the wall as she stared wide-eyed at the swirling waters churning below her paws, as if she expected some monster pokémon to leap out of the river and attack her. She made slow progress as she followed Snowcrystal one very shaky step at a time.

Thunder followed next, not seeming at all worried. She had decided to walk on the ledge instead of flying across; her injured wing throbbed horribly even after the small distance she had flown in the mud-filled cavern. The scyther felt dizzy and weak, but she pushed it to the back of her mind; she could handle it. Stormblade went last, moving slowly yet confidently behind Thunder.

It hadn’t taken Snowcrystal long to reach the top of the opposite wall and climb up into a small cavern with a low ceiling above where the river vanished into darkness. Seeing Snowcrystal sitting safely seemed to give Rosie hope, and the ninetales moved faster, eager to be out of danger and beside her friend.

She hadn’t gone five paces when her back paw struck a large, loose rock. It tilted downwards, causing Rosie’s hind legs to slide off the edge of the rock wall. Scrabbling furiously with both forepaws, the ninetales pushed her back paws against the rock and hoisted herself upwards, before darting toward Snowcrystal and the safe cavern above. Moving so fast her paws seemed to fly over the stones, and she did not stop until she had reached Snowcrystal’s side and sat in a shivering huddle beside her, her injured foreleg lifted off the ground.

Thunder was about to follow when she peered back at Stormblade. Despite his injuries, the male scyther didn’t seem to be having much of a problem following her, although his progress was slow. When she looked at him, what caught her eye was not the way he was traveling, but the way he had stopped and was looking at her.

“Thunder? Are you…all right?”

Confused, Thunder narrowed her eyes. “Of course I’m all right!” she shouted. “Why don’t you keep going instead of just standing there-” She paused suddenly, realizing that her entire body was shaking, badly, and she felt dizzy. Her vision was blurring, and she closed her eyes tightly, waiting until most of the dizziness passed. The last thing she wanted was to pass out right then and there. Once she thought she wasn’t about to faint, she opened her eyes and headed along the ledge again, despite how weak she felt.

She thought Stormblade shouted something, but she couldn’t hear him clearly, and she was certain the cry that Snowcrystal made sounded much farther away than it should have, and her vision was blurred. But none of that was important, as the next thing she knew, she had stepped on the loose rock that Rosie had stumbled over before. She froze, trying to climb back up to safety. However her strength had completely left her. Before she could try to fly, she felt herself plunging into the icy water. For a moment, she struggled and her head broke the surface, only to be thrust under again into a world of inky blackness. Suddenly wide awake with her vision clearer, she fought to reach the surface again, catching a brief glimpse of Snowcrystal and Rosie’s horrified expressions before she vanished into the dark tunnel and away from any light the previous cavern had provided.

Before she knew it, her head was underwater again, and this time she felt herself falling over a rock face with the water for several feet before slamming back into the river again and being swept even faster along with it. Fighting frantically to reach the surface, she realized very quickly that scythes certainly weren’t any good for swimming. Exerting what little remained of her strength, she at last managed to reach the surface again and gasp for air. Everything around her was shrouded in complete darkness; she could not tell where the river was taking her nor could she pinpoint the direction she had come from. Still struggling to keep her head above the water, she could feel herself losing strength fast, and the cold water was numbing her limbs. Frantically she wondered if there was some way she could fly out of the water to safety, not realizing in her dazed state that that was impossible in her current condition.

The scyther was caught by complete surprise as her shoulder was suddenly slammed into a pillar of stone, causing her to cry out in pain. An instant later, water rushed over her, forcing her under again into the swirling black chaos. But all along her right side she could feel smooth stone, and once she surfaced again she quickly realized that it was a ledge of some sort, leading up to the pillar she had crashed into. Before the dark water could pull her under again, she reached out with both scythes, jamming them into the grooves of the rock. She could feel the water pulling at her, making it difficult to hold fast to the slippery wet stone. She was afraid to move her scythes in case she lost her hold, but she knew that if she didn’t, she would lose her strength and the water would sweep her away.

Little by little, she moved her scythes further up the rock, while scraping her claws against it underwater in an attempt to find a foothold. Painfully she crawled onto the rock and away from the water, finding herself on a small rocky ledge near the cave wall. There didn’t seem to be anywhere to go other than back into the water, and she wasn’t about to do that.

Feeling exhausted, she lay down, deciding that when she felt stronger she would fly to a place where she could start looking for the others. As much as she hated to admit it, she would have to depend on them until her wounds started to heal. Then, she would be able to learn to be a better hunter. The problem that lay ahead of her now was finding her way through the darkness. No light shone in the cavern; it made no difference whether she opened or closed her eyes. Thunder only knew where she was by the sound of the underground river rushing by.

The lone scyther closed her eyes, listening to the river as she rested. After a short while, she felt something wet and sticky running down her back. Her first thought was that it was water, but she quickly realized from the smell that it was blood from the whip cuts on her back, which had obviously opened up again. Frustrated, Thunder stood up, slashing her scythes against the rock wall in agitation while muttering to herself. “Stupid cuts are never going to heal at this rate…now how am I supposed to get away from those other poké-”

Thunder froze as the same eerie melody she and the others had heard before returned, distant at first, but growing steadily closer. Thunder whirled around, unable to see anything in the darkness. “Where are you?” she yelled blindly in the direction of the river. “Come out and fight!”

At first, no sound met her cry. Even the eerie melody was gone. Thunder waited, staring into the inky darkness. Then all at once, something burst out of the water, taking Thunder by surprise. The scyther could see nothing, but sound and smell told her that something massive was looming in front of her. Her first thought was gyarados, but she quickly realized that this scent was very different, and she couldn’t recognize it.

Overcoming her shock quickly, she darted forward, stopping just at the edge of the rock ledge and swiping at the strange creature with her scythes. The whatever-it-was swerved out of the way, unharmed. Thunder stood completely still, unsure of where it was now. Then out of nowhere, something long and scaly crashed into her, pinning her against the wall and holding her there. She could hear a second creature come to the surface of the water and wondered how they managed to not get swept away. A small but bright light from somewhere further up the river appeared next, and through what little light it provided from such a distance, Thunder could see two pairs of eyes staring straight at her.

To be continued…