The Path of Destiny
Chapter 43 - To the Mountain

“All right, Snowcrystal, this time try to get the flames to move in a circle. Don’t worry, it gets easier the more you practice.”

Snowcrystal nodded to Redclaw and tried her flame wheel attack once again, sighing in frustration when she still didn’t manage to get the wheel shape she wanted quite right.

“It’s all right,” Redclaw told her, trying to be encouraging. “Try again!”

“Maybe we should try this later…” Snowcrystal sighed. She and the others had stopped for a little while to try and practice their battle moves after they had spent the morning traveling. Snowcrystal secretly knew that Redclaw and Nightshade, who had suggested it, were trying to keep her mind off of Stormblade. It had worked for a while, but now she just didn’t feel like she had the energy to keep practicing. Even though she knew that Stormblade had a chance now, she still couldn’t stop thinking about how much she missed him being with the rest of them. She tried to think of what Darkfang had said and what Spark had told everyone after she informed them that Stormblade had been captured. Humans had healing techniques far beyond what wild pokémon did…maybe they could even find a way to heal Forbidden Attack wounds, if they could be healed. Either way, she admitted, Stormblade had to be much better off now, wherever he was.

Redclaw simply just looked sadly at the ground.

“Maybe she’s right,” Spark called from over where he was practicing with Wildflame. The jolteon scampered over to where Redclaw and Snowcrystal were. “It would probably be a good idea to save our strength for the journey.”

“I’m not tired…” Snowcrystal murmured. “But you do have a point. Maybe we should all take a break.”

“Do you think we should stop here for the rest of the day?” Spark asked. “I mean, some of the others…meaning Thunder, need to rest…no matter what she says,” he added under his breath.

“I don’t think the lake that Darkfang told Snowcrystal about is very far,” Rosie announced, walking over to them as well. “I could see it after standing on that group of boulders over there. I think we should wait until then to stop for the night. We need a place with water and there’s likely to be prey over there too.”

Redclaw glanced up to where Nightshade was watching Wildflame practice a few of her fire attacks, shooting them in the air so as not to let the grass catch on fire. “Over here!” he called to them, and Nightshade and Wildflame walked over, followed reluctantly by Blazefang, who had not left Wildflame’s side since their new journey had started.

“Okay, where’s Thunder?” Spark growled after looking over the assembled pokémon. “She needs to be here too! Where is she?”

“Who cares,” Blazefang muttered. “Just get on with it.”

Snowcrystal had been scanning the area around them, a somewhat flat landscape covered in grass and scraggly bushes, with odd rocky areas here and there. A lot of the rocky places consisted of large piles of boulders that stood rather high. She assumed Thunder must have gone behind one of them to be alone or to rest or something. “Don’t worry about it,” she told the others.

“Okay, look,” Spark explained, taking charge for the moment. “I think we should travel to the lake and rest there until tomorrow. We can go now and get there sooner…”

“The lake?” Wildflame repeated. “I think we can go further than that…and in case you don’t remember, we don’t have much time to waste now that we’re chasing down a legendary.”

“There will be prey there,” Spark explained. “We can catch a lot and save our strength for the next day, and then we catch some more prey before leaving. We don’t know how easy it will be to find food later.”

Wildflame just shrugged, and a few of the others nodded in agreement to Spark. Snowcrystal sighed. “I guess we ought to leave now then. Someone go find Thunder…” She stopped herself, for the scyther had suddenly appeared from behind a group of rocks, looking thoroughly annoyed.

“Come on!” Spark cried, leaping up. “The sooner we get to the lake, the longer we get to rest.”

He darted off, and Snowcrystal watched him, wondering how on earth the jolteon could be acting so cheerful. As she thought about it, she realized that perhaps it was because he now knew that Stormblade was with a human rather than by himself, and thus had a better chance.

Her gaze traveled to the lone, tall mountain capped with snow that loomed over them, and she felt an odd chill run through her body that certainly wasn’t cold. Ignoring it, she focused her gaze on Spark and began to follow him.

-ooo-

Snowcrystal was grateful for Spark’s plan by the time they reached the lake’s edge. It was nearly evening and she felt both exhausted and hungry. A few of the others looked just as tired as she felt, and Thunder, who Snowcrystal knew was still sick, was probably the worst off.

Spark was standing nearby, staring out at the sparkling surface of the lake in the fading sunlight, watching tiny waves gently lapping the shore. The lake was bigger than Snowcrystal had expected, but Spark had been right, the scent of prey pokémon was everywhere.

She rested along with Rosie and Thunder – though the scyther kept her distance – while the others hunted, or in Nightshade’s case, went off to find his own food from trees. Her thoughts kept wandering back to Stormblade. ‘Would that human really know how to take care of him? Would she be nice to him? Would she give him enough food and water?’

Unable to stop herself from worrying, she lay her head down on her paws, watching the sun beginning to set. Footsteps behind her told her that the hunters had arrived, and she looked up to see with pleasant surprise that they had brought back more prey than she had thought they would find.

Blazefang set down a spearow, looking proud of himself, while the others placed their catches down beside his. There was plenty for everyone, Snowcrystal thought, as long as it was divided equally. She and Rosie decided to share the pidgeotto that Redclaw had caught while Blazefang took his own prey and the others divided the rest up. Snowcrystal looked over at Thunder, who had not approached the others but sat staring at them from some distance away. Redclaw picked up the rest of his prey and walked over to the scyther, offering it to her. Thunder snatched it from his jaws and turned away from him.

Snowcrystal watched her carry it away and begin eating it alone before turning back to her own meal. Her gaze flickered across the lake, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw some sort of disturbance on its surface. Looking back, she quickly determined that she had not imagined it; something was moving through the water directly below the surface and was headed straight for them. Frightened, she backed up, startling Rosie, as the head of a large pokémon broke the surface of the water.

For Snowcrystal, it was at first hard to judge whether or not she should be afraid of the creature. It had orange and cream fur and a pointed snout, with two fangs poking out of the side of its mouth. The rest of the creature was underwater, and Snowcrystal couldn’t tell what it looked like. Whatever it was, it looked big and powerful, and it was swimming strongly toward them at a quick speed. However, it didn’t seem to mind that its head was in plain sight, and it didn’t seem to be going fast enough for an attack, so Snowcrystal relaxed a bit. By now, the others had noticed it too and were all staring at it in either confusion or fear.

“A water type…” Rosie hissed.

Reaching the edge of the lake, the pokémon climbed out of the water. Snowcrystal could now see that it stood on two legs, had a blue fin on each of its arms, two long tails, and something long and yellow around its body that looked like it would be buoyant in water. Redclaw, Wildflame, Blazefang and Rosie were all staring at it with fangs bared in a warning, and electricity was crackling over Spark’s fur. The strange pokémon didn’t seem at all threatened; in fact, it seemed completely oblivious to the group’s displays of aggression.

“Well, hello!” the pokémon said loudly, as if coming up to strangers in a potentially dangerous land and greeting them was the most natural thing in the world. Its voice told Snowcrystal that the pokémon was female. No one answered, and the stranger glanced at the prey which, for the moment, lay forgotten on the ground. “Mind if I have some?”

“We don’t share food with pokémon like you,” Blazefang growled, stepping forward. “Now leave us alone.”

The pokémon didn’t seem to mind Blazefang’s hostility. She simply looked at the next closest pokémon, Rosie. “All right. Then can I have some of yours?”

“No!” Rosie shouted. “What are you even doing here?”

Redclaw moved in front of the rest of the group, facing the strange pokémon calmly. “There’s no need for a fight,” he stated, addressing his companions just as much as the strange lake pokémon.

“A fight?” the pokémon repeated, tilting her head. “I never said I wanted a fight. But, if you want to battle…”

“We don’t,” Rosie said quickly and seriously.

“Well…” Snowcrystal began, uncertain. “If all she wants is food…I think we have some to spare.” The last thing she wanted was for the strange pokémon to suddenly get angry and demand food from them. She was a water type, and their group, which largely consisted of fire types, would be at a big disadvantage if this pokémon turned out to be very strong.

“Huh…” Spark muttered, his fur lying flat again as he approached the pokémon. “You don’t look dangerous, and if you are, I could knock you out with my electric attacks. I don’t think she’s dangerous,” he shouted, glancing at Redclaw and the group. “Just a stray floatzel.”

“Knock me out?” the floatzel repeated, sounding as if she found the idea hilarious. “I’d like to see you try!”

Snowcrystal tensed a bit at her last statement, but she had sounded friendly. Maybe, she thought, this…floatzel could give them valuable tips about their journey ahead if she was used to living in the area. “Here,” she stated, pushing the rest of the prey toward the floatzel and hoping Rosie wouldn’t mind. She watched as the otter-like pokémon grabbed it eagerly and began eating it.

“Huh…” the floatzel was saying between mouthfuls, “it doesn’t taste as good as seaking, but…still good!”

Blazefang let out a long sigh of frustration, and several of the others still seemed wary, though at least the threat of a fight seemed to have passed, if there ever was one at all. Snowcrystal realized that the others probably couldn’t see the potential help this pokémon could give. Taking a few steps closer to the floatzel, she addressed her in what she hoped was a polite manner.

“Um…look, we’re traveling through, and we’re heading toward the mountain. Do you know what the mountain is like? Or what’s beyond it? You see-”

“An adventure!” the floatzel shouted, sounding overjoyed. “That sounds amazing! You know, one of these days I want to go on my own adventure, to the ocean. I’ve always wanted to see the ocean…”

Snowcrystal wasn’t sure what the ‘ocean’ was like or why anyone would want to go there. From the stories she’d heard about it from flying types back at her mountain, it sounded huge and terrifying. “Listen,” she told the floatzel, “you’re missing the point. This is very important, and we need to know-”

“Why of course it’s important!” the floatzel replied cheerfully. “I’d consider my own adventure important if I were in the middle of it.”

Confused, Snowcrystal just stared until she felt Wildflame’s voice by her ear. “We’re getting nowhere with this,” the houndoom whispered. “Just ignore her.”

Snowcrystal sighed and walked away, to where Rosie – who looked rather annoyed that she had given away their food – was sitting. The floatzel seemed to have lost interest in the group and was focused on eating. “I guess she doesn’t know much,” she sighed. “Or doesn’t want to tell us.”

“Yeah,” Rosie replied, irritated. “I don’t understand why she would come up to a group of strangers like that. It’s just…weird. Though after Forbidden Attacks, I guess nothing seems very strange any more.”

Snowcrystal had to agree, but the floatzel’s actions were pretty odd. She looked as if she felt perfectly comfortable in the midst of a group of strangers, regardless of the hostility she had been shown.

“Hey,” Spark growled, nudging the floatzel in the side, “you could at least tell us what you’re doing here, and what your name is, if you’re going to be taking food like that.”

“What I’m doing here?” the floatzel replied, sounding as if she found the question silly. “I saw that you guys had food and I wanted to come over. My name is Alex by the way, what’s yours?”

“Alex?” Spark repeated, sounding surprised. “That’s a human name! Do you have a trainer?”

The floatzel smiled and shook her head. “Nope. I used to, a long time ago. But she brought me here as a buizel and let me go one day, not sure why. I didn’t mind though, I like it here.”

Spark’s ears twitched as he regarded the floatzel with curiosity. “A trainer brought you here? I thought they didn’t come to these places…” The floatzel nodded in response and Spark remained looking confused.

“Hey!” the floatzel shouted, as if suddenly getting an idea. “Why don’t I come with you? I’ve always wanted to travel, but doing it alone doesn’t sound like much fun.”

“Don’t you have anything else to do?” Blazefang growled, still glaring at the floatzel.

Snowcrystal couldn’t really agree with his views. Here was a pokémon, offering them help with open arms, and who probably knew a lot about the lands around them, or at least knew more than they did.

Spark just shrugged. “Well, you obviously aren’t here to attack us, so sure, why not?”

Blazefang rolled his eyes and the other pokémon looked skeptical, though it had become obvious that the floatzel meant them no harm.

“Thank you!” Alex cried, lifting Spark completely off his feet. “I’ll be helpful! I know the best ways to find water on the way to the mountain. I know all the streams and I know the good places to catch prey, and I-”

“That’s great,” Spark muttered. “Please put me down.” The floatzel did so swiftly, leaving Spark sprawled out on the grass.

“We wouldn’t mind having you come along,” Snowcrystal told the water type with a smile, trying to be friendly even while the others weren’t. “We could use a pokémon like you to help us out along the way.”

“Yeah, sure,” Blazefang muttered sarcastically. “Let every random pokémon join us, that’s real smart!” He walked away angrily, but Alex didn’t seem to notice or care.

“We’re going to rest until tomorrow,” Nightshade told the floatzel. “Then we’ll head to the mountain. If you really can help us find water and food along the way, we would appreciate it.”

Alex nodded vigorously. “Of course I will!” she cried excitedly.

-ooo-

For the next few hours, the group rested in silence, apart from the splashes Alex made as she jumped in and out of the lake every so often. By then, most of the group had gotten used to her presence, apart from Thunder, who still kept her distance from everyone else. Alex and Spark had, surprisingly, began getting along very well, each telling the other about their experiences with trainers and living in the wild every time Alex took a break from swimming.

Snowcrystal had been lying by the edge of the lake, half asleep for a while, watching the sun set in the distance. Rosie was asleep near her and the others had either wandered off in search of more food or were just resting by themselves. Judging by the looks of her friends, Alex seemed like the only one enthusiastic about the journey lying ahead of them; even Wildflame was acting nervous.

She was close to dozing off when water splashed over her coat, jolting her back into full wakefulness. “Huh?” she murmured groggily, opening her eyes to see Alex sprinting past her across the grass, water droplets flying from her fur.

“What is she doing?” muttered Rosie as she gave Snowcrystal a half-asleep glance. Obviously the floatzel had woken her up as well.

“What time are we leaving tomorrow?” Alex cried, beaming at the group of pokémon clustered around the lake edge.

“Early in the morning,” Wildflame replied, sounding annoyed even though she was less tired than most of the others; as a dark type, the nighttime and moonlight gave her strength.

“Sounds great!” Alex replied. “I’ll make sure I’m up early!”

“Let’s hope she tires herself out and sleeps in so we can leave her…” Snowcrystal heard Blazefang mutter from nearby.

Snowcrystal sighed. Okay, so maybe Alex was an odd pokémon, a little annoying, but she could offer them valuable help. Surely having her around would be…

“Hey! Who are you?”

At Alex’s shout, Snowcrystal jumped up in alarm, only to find that the pokémon the floatzel was talking to was Thunder. Alarmed, Snowcrystal watched as Alex bounded up toward the scyther on all fours. Thunder stood up and lifted her scythes as she approached.

The floatzel stopped a few feet from Thunder, looking at her curiously. Snowcrystal edged closer to the two. “Uh, Alex? I don’t think you should…”

“Whoa, what happened to you?” the water type exclaimed loudly, leaning forward to get a better look at the cuts on Thunder’s back and side. A couple moments later and she had to leap back to avoid being cut open by one of the scyther’s blades, which was only slowed due to Thunder’s current weaknesses. “Hey, calm down, will you? I didn’t attack you! And some of those cuts are infected, by the way,” she added. “You might wanna-” The floatzel’s words were quickly cut off by another narrowly-dodged slash.

Snowcrystal was about to say something when Thunder took a third lunge at the floatzel, this time grazing her arm with a scythe. At this point, Alex seemed to get the message, and gave Thunder an alarmed look before bounding back into the lake.

Thunder glared after the floatzel and then walked further away from the water’s edge, leaving Snowcrystal standing alone and hoping that there wouldn’t be any more problems between Thunder and the other pokémon in the future. It was a hope that she knew she probably couldn’t count on.

-ooo-

Katie made sure that Justin was busy trying to start a fire for the night before she slipped away quietly, leaving him alone with her electabuzz, which she had brought with her before heading out into the wilderness, to protect him. She walked toward a clump of trees that would hide what she was doing in case Justin came to look for her. She didn’t want him spotting her before she knew he was coming. She felt bad for leaving the scyther in its poké ball for several hours since she had caught it, but she hadn’t gotten a chance to slip away alone until now. She wasn’t quite ready to tell Justin yet.

Stepping behind the trees, she took a deep breath and looked around worriedly. Justin would be wondering where she was soon. She had to make this quick. Taking the luxury ball out of her backpack – she hadn’t dared to put it on her belt in case Justin noticed it – she threw it a few feet in front of her and watched the scyther materialize on the ground.

He appeared in a lying-down position, looking too weak to be able to sit or stand, and looked up at her feebly. Katie wondered if this scyther recognized her, but there was no way to tell. She couldn’t read the expression in the pokémon’s eyes. Her gaze traveled briefly over his body, and she noticed how thin he was. She tried not to focus on it too much; she didn’t like looking at the scyther’s wounds.

“Um…hello,” she began, wondering if the scyther would even care that she was talking to him. “I guess…I’m your new trainer.” She paused. That had sounded weird, as if she expected to train this pokémon. There was no way that would be a possibility, and it probably wouldn’t be even if the scyther recovered. He might never want to battle again. She knew she wouldn’t, if she had gotten injuries like that. And from what Nurse Joy had said, she suspected that these injuries happened in some sort of trainer battle, and the opponent had gone much too far. “Well, I guess I’m not your trainer…” she continued, “but I’m here to take care of you.”

The scyther gave her a knowing look, as if he was listening, but there was a wary look in his eyes, one of mistrust.

“Here,” she said, looking through her backpack for something else. She had, of course, brought medicine for her pokémon in case they got injured, including medicine to help with pain. She had gotten a type of medicine that was shaped like pokémon treats, and even though they were supposedly for baby pokémon who wouldn’t eat the regular medicine – she had gotten them for Shinx – her pidgeot seemed to like them. She opened the box. The “treats” were shaped like random things, such as poké balls, berries, and a few random pokémon. It was silly, but it would do the job and, hopefully, help relieve the scyther of some of his pain, even if it wasn’t much.

She picked up one in her hand and looked at the scyther, hesitating to approach it. She knew that this pokémon was, or at least used to be, dangerous. Getting down on her knees, she moved forward, hoping that the bug type wouldn’t try to hurt her. She held her hand out towards his head. “Eat this,” she told him. “It will make you feel better.”

To her surprise, the pokémon showed no sign of aggression at all. He obediently ate the medicine, though she noticed that he did so with some difficulty. Pleasantly surprised, she reached into her backpack again and got out a potion. “Okay, this might sting a little bit…”

She was met with an agonized scyther cry the moment she sprayed the potion. The pokémon’s eyes went wide with shock and he tried to move away from her, not having much success.

“Uh, sorry,” she muttered, dropping the potion. “I guess I should…wait until the medicine…starts working…”

The scyther didn’t give her any indication that he had heard, but he had stopped screaming and was now staring at the part of his shoulder she had sprayed the potion on.

Katie hoped that Justin was too far away to have heard the noise. She realized that he might be wondering where she was by now. “Well, I guess I’ll have to do what I can now…” She had brought plenty of bandages along in case her pokémon needed it, and she began trying to use them to cover the worst of the scyther’s wounds. Occasionally he would growl or hiss in pain, but he didn’t do anything to threaten her. She began to wonder if this pokémon had begun to change from the vicious and mean scyther he had been in the past.

“Well, that’s all I can do for now,” Katie told the pokémon, well aware that Justin might show up at any minute. “I hope you can trust me. Whoever your trainer was after Justin must not have been very nice. And…I know what you did before was…very wrong…but…I believe you can change.” She gave the scyther a smile, but he just stared emptily at her.

“Okay, return,” she whispered, holding up the luxury ball which shot out a beam of light that enveloped the scyther and then disappeared back into the ball.

Standing up, she turned and headed back to where Justin was waiting. She found him in just the same place she had left him, staring at the trees of the forest which were swaying in the breeze in the distance. He was probably wondering if the growlithe tracks they were following actually belonged to the white growlithe.

“Hi Justin!” she said, in a voice that sounded a bit too cheerful, she realized. “I was just over there by that little group of trees. I was just…um…”

“Look, I don’t need to know about every time you have to go to the bathroom,” Justin muttered, sounding annoyed.

“Oh, um…yeah, never mind,” she muttered quickly, glad that Justin didn’t seem suspicious at all. She went to set her backpack down by his, and as she bent down, she realized that she had placed the luxury ball on her belt with the other poké balls without realizing it. She un-clipped it and stuffed it into her backpack hurriedly. Her electabuzz glanced up at her as if he knew that she was trying to hide something, but she paid him no attention. She was far too concerned with how Justin would react when he found out about her scyther for the moment.

-ooo-

Scytheclaw was now completely alone. He had returned from the pool with the small statues to find that Moonlight had been planning something in secret. The umbreon had won over most of the pokémon at last. Scytheclaw had been powerless against their numbers, and he soon had to accept that he was no longer their leader.

But he could never accept that. That very day, he had left the canyon, alone, and though he now realized that he had nowhere to go, he could not bear the idea of turning back. He didn’t feel like he could face any of those pokémon again, not now that he was powerless. All he had left to think about was the strange power he’d felt ever since fainting at the pool. After waking up, he had been sure to throw the gem back into the water as far as he could, but now, he wondered if there had been something more to it.

It was the thoughts of the stone that kept him distracted, letting him dwell less on the fact that he had just lost everything.

The beating of wings brought Scytheclaw back to his senses. Above him, a pidgeotto was circling. He was just pondering the idea of trying to catch it when, surprisingly, it landed in front of him, though at a safe distance. Scytheclaw sensed that this pidgeotto was out of the ordinary. It looked stronger, tougher, and it seemed as if it would be too fast for even him to catch, so he didn’t try.

“What do you want?” Scytheclaw snapped, glaring at the flying type through narrowed eyes.

“I’m merely here to ask a few questions,” the pidgeotto said slyly. “I come from a group of pokémon led by a vaporeon called Cyclone. He wishes to wage war on the humans…”

As the pidgeotto explained, Scytheclaw realized immediately that he was talking about the army that passed through his old home. As much as he despised the army, he couldn’t help but find the idea of fighting against the humans, the species that had evolved him against his will, very appealing…

He still hated those army pokémon though.

“Tell that idiot I’m not interested in becoming his servant,” Scytheclaw growled. “And I thought he left days ago. He should be far away by now! Is he so desperate for followers that he sent you back here looking for them?

“He is not far from here, actually,” the pidgeotto replied. “Our army passed by that forest and we are resting now,” he added, as if there were more of a reason as to why they had stopped moving that he didn’t want to give away.

Scytheclaw looked at the group of trees making up the forest not far away. He couldn’t see what was on the other side of it, but whatever it was; it was bound to be better than passing the forest by and wandering into that army. “Why are you even talking to me?” he growled at the bird pokémon. “You’re wasting your time.”

“I have one more question,” the flying type began, ignoring the threat. “Have you seen a houndour recently? Full grown, but not close to evolution, or maybe he’s one of those ones who simply doesn’t want to evolve, very red fur color on his muzzle instead of orange or orange-red? Seen any houndour like that?”

An image floated into Scytheclaw’s mind of Blazefang, the houndour that the heracross and his friends had brought along. He fit the description perfectly, but the houndour had not caused him any grief; it was the army threatening his home that had. It would be best not to help them at all. Giving the pidgeotto one last glare, Scytheclaw turned and walked off toward the forest.

“No.”

-ooo-

It was early morning when Snowcrystal and her friends were ready to set off toward the mountain. A few of the others had managed to hunt, and after they were done eating, they decided to take a quick rest, or, in Spark and Alex’s case, go for a swim.

It was hard for Snowcrystal to relax with the sounds of Alex and Spark laughing and shouting back and forth as they chased each other in the shallows of the lake. Her thoughts kept drifting back to Stormblade, wondering if he was all right, and wondering whether the human who caught him would really be able to help. ‘He has a better chance with the help of that human than he does out here with us…’ she reminded herself, though it didn’t make her feel much better.

“Snowcrystal!”

Turning, she realized that it was Rosie calling to her. The ninetales was limping in her direction, and she got up and walked over to her. “What is it, Rosie?” she asked.

“Well, I was thinking,” Rosie began, “I mean, I just realized that…if Alex is coming with us, she should know why we need to go to the mountains so much. I mean, I don’t know if we should go into the whole ‘Forbidden Attacks’ thing, but…”

“HEY!” Spark yelled from the direction of the lake, distracting both of them. Snowcrystal looked to see the two of them in deeper water, Spark looking as though Alex had just pushed him in.

His response was only a loud laugh from the floatzel. From what she could see, Snowcrystal thought Spark looked rather angry.

“Okay, that’s it…” the jolteon cried, and suddenly the water lit up with a burst of electricity and Alex cried out in pain before sinking under the water. Spark had a triumphant grin on his face, which didn’t last long, for in the next moment Alex had come flying out of the water straight toward Spark, water streaming behind her. She cannoned into the jolteon with such force from the aqua jet attack that Spark went flying out of the water and they both landed on the shore.

Snowcrystal was startled by the sudden violent attack, and she was going to go see if Spark was all right and to get Alex to stop when both pokémon stood up, looked at each other for a moment, and then burst out laughing.

“Idiots…” Rosie muttered, rolling her eyes. “I’ll never understand those pokémon. At least Spark has someone else to bother now.”

Snowcrystal had other things on her mind. “Hey, Alex! Come over here!” she cried.

The floatzel bounded up to her with surprising speed and came to a sudden halt right in front of her. “Yes?” she asked.

“I thought you might like to know why we’re headed to the mountain,” she began. “We-”

“Why does it matter?” Alex interrupted. “It’s an adventure! It doesn’t need to have a reason.”

“Well, actually,” Snowcrystal replied, “it does matter. The well-being of…maybe even the lives of some growlithe are at stake. We’re looking for Articuno…he’s the only one that can help us, and we heard that he went past that mountain…”

“Oh, I think he lives there,” Alex stated with a smile. “I’ve heard from several pokémon that he lives at the top of that mountain. That’s why there’s still so much snow!”

Snowcrystal felt her hopes become instantly renewed. If what Alex said was true, then her search might finally be over. “You’re sure?” she asked, feeling much more energetic now; she wanted to go to find Articuno as soon as possible. She had taken far too much time already.

“Yep!” the floatzel replied, sounding as if it was the most simple thing in the world. “What do you need Articuno for, anyway?”

“Well,” Snowcrystal began, “do you think I could tell you on the way? I really think we ought to get going now.”

In a matter of minutes, the entire group was heading toward the mountains, Spark and Alex bounding ahead in the lead. Spark had taken over in telling Alex about their quest so far, even going so far as telling her about the Forbidden Attacks.

Snowcrystal felt as if her energy was being renewed with each step. She now had a much greater hope of finding Articuno than she could ever have asked for. They finally knew where he was at last.

-ooo-

That same morning, another group was getting ready to leave. Katie and Justin had found more growlithe footprints, and they led very clearly in one direction. Poochyena, of course, could easily follow the growlithe’s scent.

There were signs of other pokémon, too, but Katie wasn’t concerned with them. She just hoped that the ones that looked like scyther footprints really weren’t. Yesterday and throughout the night, she had taken care of the scyther in secret. She still wasn’t sure how to tell Justin about it.

She also wasn’t sure what to do about the scyther either. He wouldn’t eat the pokémon food she gave him, and she could tell that he was getting weaker. But at least the pokémon medicine seemed to be helping. Looking up ahead of her, she watched Justin standing beside Poochyena as the small pokémon ran around his legs, eager to begin following the scent. Sighing, she walked over to them, trying not to act as though there was something bothering her.

Crouched behind a large group of bushes, Darkfang watched the two humans leave. He had followed their scent from the place where Stormblade was supposed to be, and there was only one explanation for what had happened. One of those humans had captured Stormblade.

He wasn’t quite sure what to do now, but he knew that he would have to tell Stormblade’s friends once they came back…if they did come back. He really had no idea whether or not Articuno had settled on the mountain at all.

With a weary sigh, he started to head back, then quickly changed his mind. He still felt partially responsible for Stormblade, and the least he could do was make sure these humans were decent to him. Turning back around to face the trainers, Darkfang began following them slowly, careful not to let himself be seen.

To be continued...