The Path of Destiny
Chapter 37 - The Shelter Caves

Snowcrystal and her small group walked among the canyon-native pokémon as the linoone led them down to the river and along the bank, going slowly enough to allow the injured members to keep up. Snowcrystal watched as the linoone walked up to the tall rock face of the cliff nearest to them, pushing aside a large mass of bushes and tangled vines to reveal a big stone passageway.

“Oh no…not more caves…” Spark groaned.

“It’s perfectly safe,” the linoone reassured him. “There’s been some food brought in here today, and there’s a small stream running through part of the cave if you want fresh water. You won’t have to go outside to get it.”

“Food?” Spark repeated, suddenly seeming perfectly fine with the idea of venturing into the cave.

“Yes,” the linoone repeated. “Come with me.”

As all the pokémon followed, Redclaw caught up with the linoone. “I may not be the best hunter,” he told her, “but if you want…I could also go and collect some food while the others rest.”

The linoone shook her head. “Not now you won’t,” she told him. “Now, you all need to rest. There will be time for you to hunt later. You can bring food for us then.”

The further they walked from the sunlit entrance, the darker the cave became. However, the linoone walked swiftly and confidently, as if she was so used to traveling through the tunnel that she didn’t even need the light to see by. Snowcrystal glanced at the well-worn floor, seeing by the light of her crystal the shallow claw marks made from countless years of pokémon passing through the cave.

Suddenly, it began to get lighter. The linoone emerged into a huge cavern, followed closely by the travelers and the native pokémon. Snowcrystal looked around in awe; unlike the cave they had wandered through before reaching the canyon, there were few stalactites. In the ceiling were several small holes through which sunlight flickered through, illuminating the cavern. Whenever small clouds drifted above the cave, some of the lights would dim and then become suddenly bright again, giving Snowcrystal the impression of sparkling stars. All around the cavern were small tunnels and hollows, and standing, sitting, or resting in them were many pokémon of various species.

As the group of pokémon who had confronted them on the cliffs separated and walked into the tunnels, some of the ones who had been resting in the cave turned to look curiously at the travelers. The linoone paid them no heed and led the group to the far end of the vast room, where a short tunnel leading to a medium sized cavern was visible.

“This is our healer’s room,” she told the others. “Anyone who has injuries should follow me. The rest of you, stay here.”

Rosie, followed more reluctantly by Spark and then Redclaw, who still had a half-healed gash on his leg, followed the linoone inside. Snowcrystal glanced at Thunder, wondering if she was going to follow too.

“What are you looking at?” the scyther growled, but Snowcrystal noticed that her voice sounded faint and weak. The growlithe decided not to say anything.

The linoone emerged from the healer’s cavern, along with a tall gardevoir. Most of the pokémon in Snowcrystal’s group seemed surprised that such a pokémon would live in a cave, but it made sense for a gardevoir to want to stay in such a beautiful canyon. “This is Streamrose,” the linoone told them. “And, well, I realize that I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Rockclaw.”

Upon seeing Thunder, Streamrose looked shocked. “Don’t you think you should-” the gardevoir began, but Thunder didn’t let her finish.

“I’m not going in there if that’s what you’re asking,” the scyther replied. “I know better than to trust strangers.”

“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Streamrose replied, making Thunder narrow her eyes and growl at the healer. “It’s my duty to help those who are injured and ill. You don’t want those wounds to become infected do you? And…you also shouldn’t be traveling or walking around the cave while you’re sick.”

Thunder looked at her, surprised. “I’m not sick,” she told the gardevoir.

“Oh, sure you’re not!” Spark shouted from the entrance to the healer’s cavern.

Streamrose ignored him. “Er…I’m afraid you are. It’s not that hard to tell,” she told the scyther, trying not to let her eyes wander to Thunder’s scars or collar too much.

“You’re wrong,” Thunder growled. “I’m not sick.”

“Oh, really?” Wildflame muttered, giving Thunder an annoyed look. “Then what was that I heard about you getting dizzy spells and fainting in the middle of that big cave? And you’ve been getting a lot weaker lately, and I see you shivering all the time. If that doesn’t fit your definition of sick, what does?”

“I’m just tired,” Thunder insisted, “not sick.”

“You’re a bad liar,” Blazefang pointed out, rolling his eyes at the scyther.

Rockclaw prevented further argument by stepping between Thunder and Streamrose. “Look,” she told Thunder. “There are plenty of smaller caverns leading off from the healer’s den if you want to rest there. You’ll be alone except for when Streamrose treats your wounds.”

Thunder thought about it for a moment and turned to look at Streamrose. “No,” she muttered. “I’ll go with the others. I don’t trust you. And I don’t need to rest now.”

“Rude, aren’t you?” Spark muttered. He looked at the healer. “So…uh, do we get food brought to us here?”

“Later,” Rockclaw told him. “First I must talk to our leader. The others can come with me. We can bring you some food when we get back.”

“Are you sure you want to do all this for us?” Nightshade asked, seeming surprised that Rockclaw and Streamrose seemed willing to do so much for them. Thunder didn’t seem impressed, and walked off to explore the cave while waiting for the others.

The linoone nodded. “We do not struggle to survive here,” she told him. “There is more than enough to go around and finding food is easy. There are many berry bushes here, so plenty of prey, and a river full of fish of course. And we also have these cave tunnels for shelter in case of bad storms. And if any creature that could be a threat to us comes here, such as humans, the entrances are well hidden.”

“Well, that’s nice of you and all,” Blazefang began, earning several glares from the others, “but I find it a bit odd that you let that ‘Thunder’ scyther in here. I’m sure you don’t want your entire tribe getting her sickness, do you?”

“I don’t think we have to worry,” Streamrose replied, giving the houndour a small smile. “We have plenty of herbs to treat illnesses, and that scyther’s body is weak; she is more prone to sickness than the rest of us are.”

Blazefang said nothing and merely looked away. In his tribe, bringing in a foreign pokémon who was ill would be completely unacceptable. It meant danger to the tribe. “So…where’s this…leader of yours?” he asked Rockclaw as Streamrose walked into the smaller cavern.

“I’m going to take you to him,” Rockclaw replied. “Just be aware that he doesn’t like strangers. Don’t say anything that might offend him, or he might send you away…or worse,” she added in a quiet whisper. She turned and led them across the large cavern, passing Thunder, who rejoined the group reluctantly. The others said nothing as they followed her into a large tunnel veering away from the main room into darkness.

-ooo-

Cyclone had found the underwater entrance to the cavern. Being a vaporeon, it hadn’t been difficult. But the question was whether or not the fleeing pokémon had left the cave yet. It seemed plausible that they would have, considering that they had found the scyther as he was leaving. But Cyclone wasn’t sure after several of his flying pokémon had searched the canyon from the skies, but hadn’t spotted them. The ragtag group couldn’t have gotten too far. They had to still be in the cave…

Unless they were hiding, of course.

There was always that possibility, but despite the recent trouble they’d had with tracking the houndour, Cyclone didn’t let himself grow worried yet. He would have the army wait near the canyon, watching the entrance at all times. If they didn’t appear within a day’s time, Cyclone would leave some of his pokémon to watch the underwater tunnel just in case, and the rest of the army would storm the canyon. But he preferred that it didn’t come to that.

From what he’d seen, the tunnel seemed to go for a long ways underwater, and he did not know how a group mainly consisting of fire types was planning to get through it, but he also knew from interrogating the scyther that they had no other choice.

The vaporeon’s gaze passed over the serene canyon, but the beauty was lost on him. He only saw it as one thing, the possible hiding place of the fire type Forbidden Attack. If it wasn’t there now, it soon would be.

-ooo-

“So this leader of yours…doesn’t like helping strangers?” Wildflame asked as they walked through the dark tunnel.

“Well, not really,” Rockclaw replied quietly. “But…he doesn’t like a lot of things.”

“Is he a bad leader?” Snowcrystal asked, giving the linoone a curious glance.

“Well, in the opinion of some pokémon, he is,” she muttered, and then fell silent.

“Then why is he the leader?” Snowcrystal asked Rockclaw, who sighed.

“It’s because of the way leaders here are chosen,” the linoone replied. “The previous leader chose him, out of all the potential leaders, to take his place after he grew too old to lead. So Scytheclaw was chosen, and he has quite a lot of followers.”

“Scytheclaw…” Snowcrystal repeated. “Is he a scyther?”

“He was once,” Rockclaw answered. “Now he’s a scizor…well, he came here as a scizor. He was a trainer’s pokémon before, you see. Ever since he became leader, a lot of the old ways have changed, and we aren’t encouraged to help other pokémon anymore…in fact, we’re often discouraged, since Scytheclaw is so focused on making the tribe better for us. Digging new tunnels, disguising our homes, broadening our territory…all good things, but we simply don’t need them much right now. Maybe in the future, but right now there is plenty for us. We should be sharing with others. However, a lot of pokémon here think the change is good.”

“I don’t understand…” Snowcrystal told Rockclaw. “Scytheclaw may be focused on getting more for the tribe, but that hardly makes him a bad leader. He-”

“That’s not all of it,” Rockclaw replied grimly. “He wants to take over the territory of other tribes, make the entire canyon our own…by driving them out or getting them to join us. The other tribes want to keep to their own ways, but Scytheclaw thinks it will be better for all the pokémon in the canyon to be ruled by one tribe. I don’t think forcing other tribes to change their ways is right. And neither are his…punishments…for those who openly challenge him or don’t follow our new rules.”

“Sounds a bit like Firedash on her bad days,” Blazefang muttered, following the group through the chilling tunnel. “You know, I find it rather stupid that this leader of yours, Scytheclaw, kept that name after evolving. It doesn’t exactly fit anymore, does it?”

Rockclaw smiled grimly at the houndour. “There’s a reason he kept his name after evolving,” she told him. “Scytheclaw’s not your ordinary scizor. The insides of his pincers are as sharp as blades…so when he clamps them shut on a pokémon…well, you get the picture. Scytheclaw spends a lot of time practicing his techniques in duels, and after having been trained by a human, he’s an excellent battler, I’ll give him that much.”

Rockclaw suddenly halted in front of a cavern entrance covered partially by many dry vines hanging from above the entranceway. Pushing past them, the linoone, followed by Snowcrystal and then the others, stepped into a large circular cavern.

Snowcrystal noticed that there was a light source here as well, from a single large hole near the ceiling on one side of the room. The room itself was decorated with colorful river rocks placed in niches in the cave wall, and several berries and herbs whose purposes were unknown were resting on small stone ledges near the ceiling. She could smell the remains of some sort of prey pokémon and could see patches of fur and feathers scattered on one side of the room.

At first, Snowcrystal couldn’t see anyone there, but after the group had only walked a few feet into the cavern, a large pokémon leaped down at them from the dark. He stood in front of them with a confused and possibly angry expression on his face.

Snowcrystal had never seen a scizor before, but some of the others, like Spark, Redclaw, and Nightshade, had. Scytheclaw looked more formidable than any scizor the three had ever come across. He was a darker red than other scizor, and the spikes on his head looked both longer and sharper. His pincers looked normal at first, but there seemed to be an unnatural-looking sharp edge along the insides, though in the dimly lit cavern, it was hard to see it properly. While Snowcrystal felt intimidated by the scizor’s appearance, it was his eyes that unnerved her most. There was something about the look of his calm gaze that gave her the impression that he could be very dangerous if he wanted to be.

“Scytheclaw, these are some travelers we found near the river,” Rockclaw told him. “Some of them are injured and sick. I thought it would be best to bring them here. There are three more in Streamrose’s den.”

Scytheclaw gave each of the visitors a curious and somewhat disapproving glare. He stopped when he noticed Thunder, who was licking an infected cut on her arm and not paying any attention to him. He regarded her curiously; it had been a long time since he had seen another scyther or scizor. “Well…” he began, turning to look back at Rockclaw, “at least this time there isn’t a lot of them. They may stay for a few days, but only if those who are healthy will hunt for us.”

“I’m sure they will,” Rockclaw told him gratefully, relieved that she had caught him in a good mood.

Snowcrystal suddenly noticed that Nightshade seemed uneasy. “What is it?” she asked him.

“I don’t know,” he whispered back. “I just have this feeling…I think maybe I should go back and try to find Stormblade soon. He’ll probably need to rest for a while after walking for so long.”

“He knows not to tire himself out too much,” Snowcrystal replied. “Don’t worry. If you can go out to look for him once we all get a chance to rest, it’ll be fine.”

Nightshade paused for a moment and sighed. “I guess you’re right,” he replied.

“Are you paying attention?” Scytheclaw snapped, and both Snowcrystal and Nightshade turned toward him.

“Uh…sorry,” Snowcrystal hastily apologized, hoping she hadn’t missed anything. “What did you say?”

“I said that you are to stay in one of the empty caves near the main cavern,” Scytheclaw repeated in an annoyed tone. “Rockclaw will show you which ones they are. As soon as you’ve rested a bit, make sure you hunt. You aren’t here so we can be your slaves.” With that, he turned away, walking slowly to the other side of the room. Rockclaw beckoned for them to leave.

“This way,” she told them, heading back into the dark tunnel.

All the way back through the narrow passage to the large cavern, Snowcrystal kept glancing at Nightshade, who still looked to be at unease. She could tell something was bothering him, but she didn’t know what.

“What’s the matter?” she asked him.

Nightshade looked at her in sudden surprise, as if he had just been jolted out of deep thought. “What? Oh…I don’t know…I’m just wondering how Stormblade’s going to get into the canyon. It would be very difficult for him to climb down the rocks. I’m going to go back for him soon and help him the rest of the way.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Snowcrystal replied, realizing that Nightshade was right. “I’m sure he’s had enough of doing things himself by now. He’ll probably welcome the help.”

Nightshade smiled at her. “I’m sure he will,” he replied.

-ooo-

The group met up with Rosie and Spark in the medium sized cavern Scytheclaw had told them they could sleep in. It wasn’t the best place, as there was very little light and the floor wasn’t smooth, but after gathering some moss and leaves and coating the floor with them, it was much more comfortable.

Spark was in a good mood. “See guys?” the jolteon told them excitedly. “I can walk without limping now. It barely even hurts at all too! I wish you would have known about those herbs, Nightshade.”

Nightshade didn’t reply, and was starting to look deep in thought again.

“Oh sure, ignore me!” Spark muttered. “You’re still not much of a healer.”

“Nightshade,” Snowcrystal asked. “Are you going to look for Stormblade soon?”

“Yes,” Nightshade replied. “I’ll go at night, when the army is less likely to see me if I run across any of them. I doubt they’d make much of an effort to stop me if they did, since they’re so busy searching for Blazefang, but I’d rather be safe.”

“Okay,” Snowcrystal replied. “Let’s just hope Stormblade’s all right…”

-ooo-

By sunset, the members of Snowcrystal’s group who were able to hunt had brought back prey. During this time, Nightshade decided to venture out of the cave and search for Stormblade. While the others were eating, he stepped out into the cool evening air of the canyon before spreading his wings and flying back toward the hills and the large cave.

As he flew on in silence, he could soon see the wall of rock at the end of the canyon, underneath which was the secret tunnel leading into the cave. However, at the top of this rock, there were pokémon moving. Curious, Nightshade flew closer, still keeping enough distance between himself and the strange pokémon. It didn’t take him long to realize that there were more than just a few, a lot more. With a jolt of shock, he realized that this was the army. He quickly veered away from the large group, flying in a wide circle around them and trying to keep panicked thoughts from his mind. After all, the army wasn’t traveling now; first he had to find Stormblade, then he could warn the others.

It was getting darker as Nightshade flew onward, looking for any sign of Stormblade. After a while of searching fruitlessly through the ever-growing darkness, Nightshade was contemplating heading back. He thought he might have a better chance of finding Stormblade when it was daylight, and the scyther had probably taken shelter somewhere; it would be near impossible to find him now. He also knew it would probably be best to warn the others of the army right away and not waste any more time. Reluctantly, he headed back.

As he was flying back over the grassy hills, something caught his eye. Near a small group of thin trees was a pokémon. Uncertain of whether or not it was Stormblade or some stranger, Nightshade flew closer.

It didn’t take him long to realize that the pokémon was, indeed, a scyther.

Alarm took hold of Nightshade. Stormblade was lying down unmoving, and it didn’t look like he was asleep. He was lying in the open, not even beneath the trees, on ground that was rocky and hardly suitable for resting on. Nightshade landed at Stormblade’s side quickly, looking over his friend in concern.

To say that Stormblade was worse off than before would be an understatement. He was coated from head to claw in mud and in some places, drying blood. Due to this, Nightshade could not see exactly how severe his injuries had become, but it was obvious that he had gained some new ones, and the heracross had a strong feeling that this was no accident. “Stormblade…” Nightshade whispered urgently, nudging his friend’s shoulder. As he waited for a response, Nightshade realized that Stormblade was lying down in such a way that his shoulder was being pressed against the sharp edge of one of his blades. He obviously hadn’t tried to lay down this way; he must have fallen. Nightshade quickly moved the blade away from Stormblade’s shoulder, walking closer to him. “Stormblade, wake up,” he whispered, nudging him again.

This time, Stormblade started to stir. All of a sudden he opened his eyes, staring straight in Nightshade’s direction. However, it seemed as if he was looking through the heracross as if he didn’t exist. Nightshade didn’t think that Stormblade was aware that he was standing there.

Stormblade moved his head so that he was no longer staring past Nightshade. He made odd movements like he was trying to lift his arms in an attempt to stand, but after a moment he lay still. Nightshade tried speaking to him again.

“Stormblade, can you hear me?” the heracross asked quietly, nudging Stormblade’s shoulder again.

Stormblade gave no indication that he had heard or felt Nightshade nudging his shoulder. He lifted his head, staring straight ahead as if gazing at something Nightshade couldn’t see. Nightshade quickly moved in front of him so that he was in Stormblade’s line of sight.

“Stormblade…it’s me, Nightshade.” the heracross whispered, looking more alarmed.

Stormblade gazed blankly through him, leaving Nightshade unsure as to whether he was fully conscious or not, before the scyther opened his mouth slowly to talk. “I…I an…I ne…to t…” He got no further than that, for a moment later he began coughing, and a bit of blood dripped from his mouth. Nightshade froze in shock.

“Don’t try to talk…I’m going to bring you back to the others,” he told Stormblade, carefully lifting him, knowing that now was not the time to worry about touching his wounds. As soon as he picked him up, Stormblade went limp in his arms. The heracross quickly made sure that he was only unconscious, before turning and flying back in the direction he had come, hoping no one from Cyclone’s army would see him.

To be continued...