The Path of Destiny

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 45 - Articuno

Darkfang watched from a clump of bushes as Justin stormed back into the human’s camp, looking furious. The scyther didn’t know or care what was making the human angry; he was too busy focusing on more important matters. The female (he guessed; he wasn’t quite sure how to tell) human had left a little while ago, but he had stayed put, watching the other one, not sure which of them had captured Stormblade but knowing that this was where they had made their temporary home. When the two humans had left earlier, he had waited for them to come back, not wanting to risk being seen. Now that one was back, Darkfang waited to see if it would let Stormblade out of a poké ball.

The human in the camp seemed distressed; he was pacing back and forth, looking somewhat terrified as well as angry. Darkfang jumped a bit as the boy suddenly kicked over a pile of trainer stuff at the edge of the clearing.

The human stood staring at the items in silence for a moment before he heard the sound of pawsteps and turned to see a persian running toward him. Darkfang held still in the shelter of the bushes as the cat pokémon walked up to the human…and then suddenly turned its head right toward him.

Darkfang locked eyes with the normal type for a split second before he swiftly backed away, careful not to rustle the leaves too much. The persian was still staring in his direction, its fur standing on end. Then without warning, it leaped forward with a yowl.

Darkfang barely heard the human gasp in surprise before the persian landed in the middle of the bushes, missing Darkfang only due to the scyther’s speed. The catlike pokémon darted around frantically as the bug type quickly exited the bush...to be met by a terrified scream from the human.

“PERSIAN, THUNDER!”

The persian paused, as if taking a moment to realize that the human had given it an order, then fired a powerful blast of electricity at the retreating scyther. Darkfang cried out and stumbled to the ground, his limbs jerking as the electric attack surged through him and then slowly stopped. He tried getting to his feet, but his legs did not want to move. They felt unnaturally stiff. In fact, his whole body did. He found it hard to get any of his muscles to work at all.

The human in the clearing was screaming, and the confused persian was following his orders as well as she could. Darkfang heard the pokémon running toward him, and, realizing that he was paralyzed, could only mentally brace himself for the attack.

“Power gem!” the trainer shouted.

The persian paused, her eyes narrowing in concentration as the gem on her head started to glow with a bright light. It hurt Darkfang’s eyes to look at it, yet he couldn’t turn his head and look away.

A large, bright beam suddenly made its way toward him, and at such a close range Darkfang only glimpsed it for a split second before it slammed into his body, sending him flying backward until his momentum was stopped when he slammed into a tree. That jolted him out of the paralysis for a moment, however, and he quickly got up and limped off. Yet he could hear the trainer’s indistinct shouts and the sound of the persian running closer to him. He felt the cat pokémon deliver a night slash to his back, but before the pokémon could do any more damage he sprinted ahead of it, not pausing to look back although he could soon tell that it was no longer following him.

Once in the shelter of the forest’s outskirts, he paused to catch his breath and rest. He now understood that not all humans were the nice, caring ones he had known back at Stonedust City. The wounds from the battle might take a while to heal if he wasn’t careful, and he knew that he wouldn’t be hunting for a while. As soon as he felt strong enough, he stood up and limped back to the swarm. He didn’t want to cross those humans again, but one thought stuck in his mind. If that’s how the human treated him, how would it treat Stormblade?

-ooo-

“Nothing…nothing at all…” the man muttered, kicking the dirt at his feet disdainfully. “I would have sworn there’d be something out here worth catching, or at least battling,” he added, sneering at his surroundings. He was standing in a field of sparse grass with no trees or pokémon in sight. “Still, we’re not giving up on the chance that there’ll be strong or at least rare pokémon around here, seeing as not many venture this far, eh, Volco?” He cast a backward glance at his typhlosion, a powerful looking pokémon with a jagged scar across his face and a missing eye.

The pokémon said nothing but merely scraped his claws across the dry ground, seeming just as displeased with the area as his trainer. He knew as well as the human did that were it not for the police trying to inspect everyone who caught more than a few pokémon anywhere near Stonedust City, due to poacher activity, they wouldn’t be wandering about in the wilderness looking for suitable pokémon. They were running low on food apart from what Volco could kill or Master could shoot, and unless that changed, they would have to give up and head back. There had been many claims of strong pokémon living in these lands, but it was starting to seem like they’d have better luck flying back to one of the other cities and starting from there.

Volco looked up as his master gave another grunt of frustration and started walking forward. The typhlosion followed him obediently. As the two carried on, Volco’s thoughts drifted back to the last encounter with Thunder. For a while, Master had tried to seek her out and recapture her, as she was one of his strongest pokémon, though he had eventually given up the search. Volco had been, and still was, incredibly disappointed; he longed to get revenge on the scyther that had torn out his eye, though he knew by now that that was no longer a possibility. Thunder was far from where either of them would be able to find her, if she hadn’t starved to death already.

Volco paused as his master stopped, still looking angry and tired. “Go on ahead,” the man told his pokémon. “See if you can find a spot to rest. Maybe some fresh water too.”

Volco nodded slowly, knowing that the human would understand the message, and turned and ran off. After a short while, he noticed that the ground didn’t seem as flat and dry as before. He stared ahead as he loped over a small hill, suddenly realizing that the horizon seemed…odd, somehow. He wasn’t able to see very far or very clearly, but it did look unusual to him. Curious, he ran faster, and as he got further, he realized what it was he had been looking at.

Ahead of him was a cliff. A cliff, he realized as he neared it, that dropped into a canyon and extended far in either direction. What was more important to him though, was the steady flow of water at the bottom of the canyon and the lush vegetation within it. The steep cliffs made Volco nervous, and he wasn’t about to go down there and check it out. Turning around, he headed back to his master. Steep cliffs or not, this was certainly better that what he’d been hoping to find.

-ooo-

Snowcrystal never thought she would miss the feeling of snow between her paws so much until she was standing in a small patch of it quite a ways, it seemed, from the base of the mountain. The feeling of the cold substance on her paws brought back memories of her old home far more vividly than they had been in a while.

“Hey, Snowcrystal, what’s the hold up?” Spark shouted from up ahead.

“Huh? Oh, uh, nothing!” she called back to the jolteon, flicking snow off her paws as she rejoined the group, most of which had passed her while she had been standing alone in the snow.

Nearby, Rosie craned her neck to look up toward the mountain’s peak, the wind tugging at her long fur. “Let’s hope the Articuno we meet isn’t some insane psycho,” she muttered, though Snowcrystal couldn’t tell if she really was worried or just being sarcastic.

“Look at it this way,” Alex told her. “If he is, at least it’ll be an interesting sight!”

“This isn’t some sort of game!” Blazefang growled at her. “If you find the prospect of getting torn apart exciting, why don’t you go use aqua jet on Thunder?”

Snowcrystal didn’t hear Alex’s reply; she had turned around and glanced at Thunder. The scyther was still trailing at the back of the group, using her scythes to support her. Snowcrystal heard the sound of the blade tips scraping against rock as Thunder hauled herself over a steep slope…and then collapsed at the top of it.

“Oh dear…” Spark sighed, sounding more worried for anyone about to try to help the scyther than for Thunder herself.

“I knew that was going to happen!” Alex cried, a little too loudly.

“Think we should just leave her there?” Snowcrystal heard Blazefang ask.

Redclaw ignored him, walking carefully over the rocks toward Thunder. The arcanine leaned his head down, and Snowcrystal expected him to get his nose slashed, but Thunder didn’t move. Nightshade and Wildflame walked closer to the two, and after a moment of hesitating, Snowcrystal followed them.

“She passed out,” Redclaw sighed as they approached.

“Alex was right,” Wildflame muttered. “It was bound to happen. What are we supposed to do now? She’s not strong enough to make this journey!”

“Maybe she should stay here…” Nightshade began. “It’ll only get colder and harder to climb the further we go.”

Most of the other pokémon in the group were gathering around Thunder, looking nervous. “Maybe Redclaw can carry her!” Alex suggested, not seeming to notice that the looks the others gave her made it clear that that was a bad idea.

“Nightshade’s right,” Redclaw told the others. “She won’t get much farther.” He nudged Thunder gently away from the rocky slope, onto smoother ground. “Someone will need to stay behind and watch over her.”

“How about Nightshade?” Rosie suggested. “He’s practically the only one she doesn’t want to kill…”

“Or Redclaw,” Wildflame added. “He’s a fire type…he could keep her warm.”

Snowcrystal suddenly pictured Thunder lying against Redclaw with the arcanine’s tail wrapped around her, and had to resist the urge to laugh, despite the situation.

“I’ll stay,” Nightshade said. He took a glance up at the mountain’s peak, clearly knowing that he was in no condition to make such a journey. He seemed a little disappointed that he wouldn’t get to travel the whole way, but the look quickly vanished as he turned to the others again. “I’ll wait for you at this spot.”

“Rosie…” Wildflame began, pausing once the ninetales turned to look at her. “I think you ought to stay behind too. I mean, your leg’s not fully healed.”

“I can make it,” Rosie replied with a scowl.

“You’re still limping badly. If there’s any danger, you might not be able to get away fast enough.”

Rosie’s crimson eyes narrowed as she glared at the houndoom, but she didn’t say anything. Snowcrystal suspected that deep down, Rosie knew that she was right, and climbing the mountain would take a huge toll on her.

“Look, we’ll tell you all about what’s happened right when we get back,” Snowcrystal told her. “In the meantime, you can rest.”

Rosie looked upward at the distance they still had to climb, and sighed in defeat. “All right,” she muttered. “But you better be back quick.”

“Thanks, Rosie,” Snowcrystal told her, relieved that the ninetales hadn’t tried to argue much. Snowcrystal didn’t blame her; she looked exhausted, and her stubbornness had probably only come from not wanting to seem weak. “We’ll be back soon,” she told her.

“Well, hurry up and get going,” Rosie replied, still not sounding happy. “You’re wasting daylight.”

Snowcrystal gave her friend one last smile and turned to follow the others, who were heading up a rocky slope.

“We’ll bring you back an articuno feather!” Alex shouted over her shoulder as she bounded up the rocks on all fours.

As Snowcrystal climbed up the slope, she glanced back to see Nightshade watching them from down below. She paused for a moment before turning and climbing up onto another wide ledge, hoping that the three pokémon left behind would be all right.

As the group traveled further up the mountain, small flakes of snow drifted down on them. There were patches of snow all around them now, and every so often Redclaw or Wildflame would have to reprimand Alex or Spark for leaping in the piles and scattering snow over everyone else. Snowcrystal also noticed that the sky seemed unusually darker the further they went, and she figured it must be the thick clouds that had begun to gather over the mountain’s peak.

“So this is it,” she heard Wildflame whisper from beside her. The houndoom was shivering, but it seemed to be more a result of anticipation than of cold.

Snowcrystal wondered why Wildflame seemed so excited. Did she still want Articuno to help her tribe, even if they turned any houndoom away?

Blazefang looked just the opposite of excited. It seemed as if every step they took closer to the mountain’s peak, Blazefang became more and more nervous. Spark and Redclaw, however, seemed uncertain and curious, but calmer, as they followed Snowcrystal up the mountain slopes.

In one place quite a ways upward from where they’d started, the going became much rockier. Snowcrystal found it easy to leap from boulder to boulder up the steep slope, but the others were finding it much more difficult. Blazefang whimpered as he tried to haul himself up using his front legs. Redclaw had to carefully decide where to place his paws in case he slipped off. Alex, on the other hand, did fall off. She had attempted to copy Snowcrystal’s jumps and slipped on an icy rock, tumbling into a snowdrift below. Spark had burst out laughing, so much that he nearly fell off himself. It took a while for everyone to reach the top of the slope, but Snowcrystal was relieved that when they did, the going looked like it would be much easier. There was a lot more snow, but the ground sloped gently, and there were no sharp rocky paths or slick ice.

“Look at all the snow!” Spark shouted, darting through it and leaving deep pawprints. “Reminds me of being back in Justin’s town during the winter!”

Snowcrystal was relieved to hear that he didn’t sound sad about the memory, and it was nice to see someone having fun now that she thought about it, especially when her mind was filled with conflicting emotions about how near to them Articuno was. She could see larger snowflakes falling more frequently around her now, and paused to look up once again at the dark gray sky before turning back toward Spark.

All of a sudden her fur began to bristle as she was struck with an odd, yet strong impression that there was something bad nearby. The snow and the strange landscape made it difficult to pinpoint any exact scents, and she couldn’t see anything…

“Spark, look out!” Redclaw cried as the jolteon wandered toward a clump of pine trees that stood near an almost vertical slope of gray rock.

Just as Snowcrystal was about to ask the arcanine what had made him shout, a massive pokémon stepped out from behind the tall trees. Even from a distance, it looked taller than even Redclaw. The beast was covered in long, white hair, with a green coloring on its massive arms and stubby-looking legs. Its small eyes glared menacingly at first the jolteon, then the rest of the group; the eyes were the only feature visible on its otherwise expressionless face.

For a moment, no one moved. Even Spark and the strange pokémon had frozen in surprise. It was in this moment that Snowcrystal recognized what it was. She hadn’t at first because this was the first time she had ever set eyes on one, but although its species didn’t live on her mountain, she had heard about it. It was an abomasnow.

As Snowcrystal stared on in surprise, the tall pokémon lifted one of its massive arms, getting ready to swipe at the much smaller jolteon. “Spark!” she cried, but the electric type had already jumped out of the way as the ice pokémon’s arm swung toward him. Knowing that he was no match for a much stronger creature in its own habitat, Spark turned and ran.

Yet the deep snow was slowing him down. After a few leaps, he tumbled, rolling over in the powdery snow before struggling to his feet again. The abomasnow, although much slower than Spark, moved with ease through the snowdrifts, catching up quickly as Spark struggled to move faster.

Without thinking, Snowcrystal bolted forward, going over the flame wheel tactic she had practiced again and again in her mind. Redclaw and Wildflame had rushed to the rescue as well, but it was Alex who moved quicker than all the others. Racing ahead of the three canines, her paws seeming to glide over the snow, she bared her fangs and headed straight for the ice type who was gaining on Spark.

“Wait!” Snowcrystal tried to yell, but either the wind had gotten stronger and drowned out her voice, or Alex wasn’t listening. “It’s a grass type!” the growlithe screamed. “Wait!”

Ignoring the growlithe’s shouts, Alex ran on, bounding through the snow at a speed the others had not thought possible. White powder flew from her paws as the distance between her and her quarry shortened with every bound. She reached Spark just as the enemy pokémon was almost upon him, and flung herself at it with all her might.

Disregarding any actual attacks, the floatzel clawed and bit frantically at the creature as she latched her forepaws onto its shoulder. The abomasnow stumbled backward, swiping at her frantically.

Spark, who had fallen again, struggled to pull himself out of a deep snow pit, sliding along the ice on his belly until he managed to scramble out onto more solid ground.

Snowcrystal arrived on the scene quicker than Redclaw and Wildflame, who were not used to running through snow, to see Alex still clinging onto the abomasnow’s side, her teeth digging firmly into its arm. Snowcrystal wanted to fire an attack, but the two were moving so quickly that she was afraid of hitting Alex; water type or not, she did not need any distraction from an injury right now.

The abomasnow roared in frustration as it stumbled backward into another pit of deep snow, then with another roar – a cry of anger this time – he grabbed one of Alex’s tails in his free arm and wrenched her away. Alex’s eyes widened in pain a moment before she was forced to release her hold. She then found herself hanging upside down, the abomasnow glaring at her as he held her by the tail.

The floatzel yelped as she was sent sailing through the air, the abomasnow’s roar of anger ringing in her ears as she hit the ground hard. Dazed, she tried pushing herself to her feet, but a barrage of knifelike leaves, sent flying toward her by the ice pokémon, knocked her down, slicing through her fur and opening long cuts in her skin.

The still enraged abomasnow left the fallen floatzel where she was, rounding instead on Snowcrystal, who was still focusing on readying a flame wheel attack. The growlithe faltered in surprise, the flames flickering out as she lost her concentration. With another roar, the huge creature lumbered towards her. She didn’t have time to run. If she could just conjure up a powerful enough fire attack…

But she didn’t have to. Just as the pokémon was almost upon her, another roar resounded through the mountain area - Redclaw’s. A stream of bright orange flame seared above Snowcrystal’s head and headed straight for the abomasnow.

The creature howled in fury and pain, stumbling backward and away from Snowcrystal, some of its fur set alight. Wildflame appeared next to Snowcrystal, her paws kicking up snow into the air. Spark arrived next to her, every clump of hair on his body sharpened into needle-like spines. The abomasnow was still flailing in anger, trying to put out the flames.

“Do you think it’s-” Snowcrystal began.

“Look out!” Wildflame cried, and only just soon enough. Snowcrystal barely managed to close her eyes and duck as a wall of snow, ice, and wind came hurtling towards them. She braced herself by digging her claws into the ground beneath her, but it wasn’t enough. The powdery snow broke loose easily and Snowcrystal found herself being flipped backwards, landing in a heap where she was forced to endure the howling wind and jagged shards of ice.

Then suddenly, it stopped. The other three pokémon were still standing, although Spark looked unsteady on his feet. The abomasnow stood facing them, all the flames extinguished, though Snowcrystal realized with worry that it seemed as if for the most part, only the pokémon’s fur was burnt. The injury itself didn’t seem bad enough to truly hinder the ice type.

Redclaw was the first to leap forward, red flames forming inside his muzzle which he then launched at the foe. Yet before the flames reached the abomasnow, another massive barrage of ice and snow made its way toward them, stopping the flamethrower attack. Snowcrystal’s eyes widened. That snow attack looked far worse than the first.

Before she could act of her own accord, teeth met in her scruff and she felt Wildflame frantically dragging her away. To her surprise, they managed to avoid the blast of snow, which seemed for the most part to be concentrated on one specific area. As it thundered past, she noticed that Spark had managed to avoid it too, but Redclaw…

Redclaw was lying unconscious in the snow, ice frosted thickly over his fur.

“Redclaw!” Snowcrystal cried, fear for both her friend and herself welling up inside her; Redclaw was the strongest fire type in the group. That left only her, Wildflame, Spark, and…

Where was Blazefang?

Without stopping to think about it, Snowcrystal looked frantically at Wildflame while the abomasnow paused, as if stopping to regain some of its strength. “What was that?” she cried, not knowing what sort of ice attack could stop a powerful fire type in his tracks. Wildflame, however, was more focused on trying to hit the ice type with another fire attack.

“Sheer cold!” Spark replied from where he stood, his eyes still focused on the enemy. “Watch out! It’s coming again!”

This time, Snowcrystal was ready. As the ice and snow hurtled towards her, she quickly moved out of the line of fire, and once the air cleared again, she was relieved to see that Wildflame and Spark had avoided it again as well.

Wildflame leaped forward, shooting a stream of flame from her mouth, but once again a mass of whirling snow and ice, more like the first attack than the second, weakened it before it reached its target. This time, even Wildflame was knocked backward by the fierce wind, crying out in pain as she tumbled into a patch of snow.

Wildflame looked frantically at Spark, who seemed just about out of energy, and back at the abomasnow, who didn’t seem tired at all. Snowcrystal had expected the pokémon to be strong, but not this strong. The thought that it might have trained itself in strategies against fire types briefly crossed her mind, and with a jolt of horror she saw it readying another attack, far quicker than she knew she could finish summoning a flame wheel…

Suddenly a loud screech overhead sounded around them, its echo making it seem far louder than a sound any pokémon could make. Out of the corner of her eye, Snowcrystal spotted a birdlike shape in the sky. Was that Articuno?

“Hey, leave them alone!” a voice shouted, but it was a voice Snowcrystal recognized. Alex’s voice.

The floatzel was bounding toward the abomasnow, water beginning to form around her body from the air around her. Already it was crackling with ice from the intense cold brought about from the recent ice type attacks, but the water was moving too quickly around the floatzel to freeze completely. With a yell, Alex launched herself forward, more water spinning around her as she collided with the abomasnow just as it launched another attack.

This time, the blizzard wasn’t as strong as the ones before it. Snowcrystal endured it rather easily before it faded, quicker than the other two. When it did, the sight that greeted her eyes greatly surprised her. Both pokémon – Alex and the abomasnow – were partially frozen to the ground from the water meeting the blizzard attack. Alex was standing on all fours, each of her paws immobile, but that did not stop her from firing a water gun attack disdainfully in her enemy’s face.

“Now!” Wildflame shouted to Snowcrystal, before quickly launching a flamethrower at the surprised abomasnow before it had a chance to retaliate.

Snowcrystal focused all her energy and concentration on a flame wheel, realizing with immense surprise that it formed far quicker than she had expected. She launched the whirling tornado of flame at the struggling pokémon, and Alex ducked her head as the flames struck the abomasnow, right on target.

Snowcrystal began summoning the strength for another flame wheel, knowing that the attack would have melted the ice, but a sudden shriek from Wildflame made her glance in the houndoom’s direction. What she saw made her blood run cold.

A massive pidgeot, far larger than any she’d ever seen flying over her own mountain, had sunk its claws into Wildflame’s back and bowled the houndoom over. It wasn’t Articuno she had seen…it was another enemy!

Near the abomasnow, Alex grunted as she wrenched her paws free of the weakening ice. The huge white pokémon was injured and tiring now, and the floatzel knew it. Opening her mouth, she fired several star-shaped beams of energy at the weakened pokémon, causing it to give a yell of rage.

Snowcrystal’s attention, however, was on the massive bird pokémon. Spark was darting around it, firing sharpened spines at it whenever possible, but he couldn’t use an electric attack; the pidgeot’s strong talons were still gripping Wildflame.

With a strength she hadn’t known she had, Snowcrystal summoned another flame wheel even quicker than she had before, and sent the searing flames spiraling straight at the winged enemy.

The pidgeot squawked loudly, releasing Wildflame and taking to the air. Spark struck it with a thunderbolt, but to everyone’s surprise, the flying type stayed airborne.

Snowcrystal heard another cry of pain and then saw Alex running toward them. “Abomasnow’s down!” she panted. She seemed exhausted and had several long cuts across her face, probably from another razor leaf attack.

As Spark focused on attacking the huge pidgeot, another shriek rent the air, and a second pidgeot, almost as large as the first, dove down toward the jolteon, ignoring the bolt of lightning that shot upwards toward it from the panicked eevee evolution. It was Spark’s lightning speed that saved him. Luckily, he was standing on a flat rock with only a thin covering of snow. Bounding off of it, he avoided the pidgeot’s raking talons as it swooped past.

Snowcrystal was about to try and aim an attack at the swift flying pokémon when a screech for help met her ears. Whirling around, she saw Blazefang in the distance, struggling in a patch of snow next to a dangerously steep cliff, a fearow bearing down on him. She saw it stab downward with its beak, catching Blazefang in the hind leg and making him howl with pain. From what she could see, some of the snow around him was red…

What happened next made Snowcrystal feel like everything had suddenly gone horribly wrong, much more wrong than anything that had happened to them so far. Bright, blue-white flames, flames she had wished never to see ever again in her entire life, erupted from Blazefang’s gaping mouth. The houndour’s eyes widened, glowing a searing bright yellow as the twisted fire wrapped itself around the fearow, enveloping it completely and causing it to tumble backward over the cliff with an earsplitting screech. Blazefang stood up slowly, not noticing the blood flowing from his leg wound, and turned to look at the group who were still fighting.

His eyes were still a bright, pure, unnatural yellow. Walking mechanically, as if not on his own, Blazefang made his way toward them, leaving bloody pawprints in the snow. His eyes blazed, his mouth stretched in a grin…

But before he reached them, a dark shape raced across the snow, its long legs sending more powder sailing into the air. It cannoned into Blazefang, knocking the houndour clear off his feet and into the icy snow. It was Wildflame.

The houndoom stood over Blazefang, her sides heaving. Snowcrystal could hear Alex and Spark approaching her, having managed to fend off both pidgeot. Snowcrystal felt a pang of shame; in her panic at seeing Shadowflare, she had not rejoined the battle. It wasn’t like she could have done much, she tried to convince herself. The only good long ranged attack she had was flame wheel, and she could never have hit something as fast as a pidgeot. Only half satisfied with her excuse, she walked over to where Wildflame was standing over the motionless Blazefang. The others followed solemnly.

Blazefang’s eyes were opened, but they were back to their normal red. The houndour was looking at Wildflame with an expression of helplessness. “I’m sorry…” Snowcrystal heard him whisper as she approached. “I tried to fight it…I really did…”

Snowcrystal glanced around at the others. They all had cuts from shards of ice or leaves, and all of them looked exhausted as they stared down at Blazefang. Silence fell upon the group, and Alex was the first to speak.

“What about Redclaw?” she asked.

Snowcrystal turned around and darted toward the arcanine, who was beginning to stir. “Redclaw?” she whispered, stopping by his side and nudging his icy fur.

The arcanine’s eyes opened. “Snowcrystal…” he whispered weakly. “Is everyone all right?”

“I…I’m not sure,” she replied uncertainly. “No one’s seriously hurt…I don’t think. Can you get up?”

Redclaw didn’t reply, but he slowly lifted himself to his paws. He was weak, but he didn’t collapse. “I’ll be fine with a little rest,” he rasped. “It only knocked me out. It was an ice attack after all, and I’m a fire type.”

Snowcrystal heard footsteps as the rest of the group bounded through the snow toward them, even Blazefang, who still looked horrified at what he’d done.

“Well, we’d better get going,” Wildflame told everyone. “Those birds might come back…with friends.”

“Wildflame’s right,” Redclaw agreed, staggering forward. “Let’s move on.”

“But are you sure you’ve got enough strength?” Snowcrystal asked worriedly.

“I’m strong enough,” came Redclaw’s reply.

Without much of a choice, they began heading further up the mountain, fear giving them both strength and speed. Even when the snow became thicker higher up, they did not stop. Fear that a pokémon would drop down on them from the sky and attack spurred them onward.

After a while of trudging through snow, the group finally decided to take a break. There were no signs of any enemies, and they all felt very worn out.

“How much further?” Spark muttered, flopping down in the snow.

Snowcrystal lifted her head, narrowing her eyes against the biting wind. The wind had grown stronger ever since the abomasnow’s blizzard and sheer cold attacks. It would be harder to climb the rest of the way, even if it wasn’t quite so far. A sudden, horrible thought struck her. If the blizzard attacks could make more wind and snow and ice, did that mean that they could be causing the mountain to be this way, rather than Articuno? ‘No!’ That couldn’t be true. Darkfang had seen Articuno, and Alex had told them…

“It’s not that far,” Wildflame told the others from where she was still standing. “We can keep going. If we stay here, we risk more danger.” The wind whipped at the houndoom’s thin flanks and dried blood shone on her wounds, but the look in her eyes was fierce. She was more determined to get to Articuno than ever now.

“Wildflame’s right,” Redclaw agreed, heaving himself to his feet. The arcanine swayed for a moment but managed to stay standing. “I can keep going. What about the rest of you?”

“Redclaw,” Spark began, “I don’t think you should-”

“I may not be Thunder,” Redclaw replied, “but Master did teach me something I could make use of, and that was endurance. The real question is…are the rest of you ready?”

“So soon?” Alex asked, looking at him with a mixture of surprise and bewilderment.

“I’m ready,” Spark said as he gave a weary sigh and stood up. “I sure don’t want to be caught in the open.”

“Me neither,” Snowcrystal agreed. “Let’s go.”

They headed off, more slowly this time, keeping their eyes fixed on the rocks and trees around them, as well as the sky, in case an enemy could be lurking near. As they got ever so closer to the top, Snowcrystal could see that the sky was darkening even more, the clouds above them seeming ominous.

They soon came to a place where the rocks sloped upward so steeply that even Snowcrystal knew that she would not be able to climb it. Finding a dead end at one side and forced to go around the other way instead, they were soon met with a horribly steep cliff that seemed to slide down into pure gray nothingness. The group of six pokémon huddled together, the wind pushing at their backs as if it wanted to fling them over into the abyss.

“What now?” Alex cried over the wind. She was clutching Snowcrystal’s fur.

Snowcrystal wasn’t worried about heights; she was used to this in her mountain home. Yet something about the wind made her nervous. It seemed almost hostile. Nevertheless, she glanced around, wondering if there was any way…

Yes! There was. A narrow ridge leading up the mountain. Despite there being only a few feet between the rock wall and the edge of the cliff, Snowcrystal felt as if the ridge would be safe.

Safe for a mountain growlithe…but for the others?

“That way!” she called, pointing her nose toward the winding ledge.

“Are you crazy?” Alex called.

“No,” Snowcrystal replied. “I know it looks dangerous, but if we move carefully, it won’t be. The rocks should block most of the wind…” ‘Until we round that corner…’ she thought, looking ahead to where the path swerved out of view around the rock wall. ‘Then the wind could be heading straight for us…’

Wherever it led, they couldn’t go back now. How long could they waste looking for another route with those enemy pokémon lurking about? Taking a deep breath, she walked over to where the ledge began and placed a paw on it hesitantly, then walked onto it. It felt as sturdy as it looked, and the wind didn’t seem nearly as strong there. “Follow me!” she cried, walking forward with confidence, hoping that would help the others overcome their fear.

Spark went next, and the agile jolteon seemed almost as comfortable as Snowcrystal after the first few hesitant steps. “She’s right!” he called back. “The wind’s mostly blocked here!”

Alex went next, a lot slower than Spark, followed by Wildflame and Blazefang and lastly, Redclaw. The arcanine was having the most difficulty, being the largest, but he followed the others determinedly, his gaze focused only on the way ahead.

Snowcrystal plodded forward carefully, her fur prickling as she neared the place where the path veered around the corner. Taking another deep breath, she approached it carefully and stepped around the corner.

A blast of wind met her, forcing her to close her eyes and dig her claws into the icy ground in fear of being blown backward over the edge of the cliff. When she managed to open them, she was horrified at what she saw.

The path ahead sloped gently upward for a little while, and then suddenly turned steep. The steep part of the slope was made up of jagged rocks leading upward with a sheer drop on one side. Snowcrystal even doubted her own climbing abilities would allow her to scale that. With sinking regret, she realized that they needed to turn back.

Turning around ever so carefully, she rounded the corner and faced the others.

“What’s wrong?” Spark asked, looking puzzled.

“It gets really steep and narrow over there!” she explained, having to shout over the noise of the wind. “We have to go back and find another way!”

“Are you sure?” Redclaw cried worriedly from behind the others. “I don’t think I can turn around!”

Realizing the bad situation they were in, Snowcrystal frantically tried to think of a solution. Yet before she could, things became much worse.

A sudden shriek sliced through the air, and another gigantic pidgeot – or the same one, she couldn’t tell – wheeled into the air above them, circling once before diving straight at Redclaw.

Spark whirled around, firing a blast of electricity at the pokémon; it cried out and swerved away at the last instant, squawking harshly, but Snowcrystal couldn’t make out the words.

Everyone stood poised and ready, their eyes locked onto the large winged shape. Or…shapes. Snowcrystal watched in terror as more and more bird pokémon appeared, some far off and heading toward them, others very, very close. Snowcrystal watched Spark’s eyes dart from one to another; there was no way he could bring them all down with electric attacks at once. There was only one thing for it.

“Run!” she shouted, darting back around the swerve in the path, kicking up loose snow and almost slipping. It occurred to her that her friends would not be able to move nearly as fast, but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t slow down, for that would slow them down as well. She headed for the steep rock slope, feeling a whoosh of air as a pair of talons narrowly missed her; a bird had dived down at her from the top of the rock wall above them.

Panting, she reached the base of the rocks and leaped onto the first one. Pain stabbed through her paw as she cut herself on its sharp edge, but without stopping, she jumped to the next, and the next, and the next…

With a cry that was more terror than pain, Snowcrystal felt talons meet in her scruff and her paws were torn away from the rocks as she was lifted clear into the air. Flailing helplessly, she watched the rock ledge get smaller as she was lifted up, then watched as the ground down below moved out of her line of vision to be replaced with a sickeningly long drop down to a ground she couldn’t even see through the whirling snow. Her captor was going to drop her.

‘No! No!’ she cried frantically in her mind, twisting in the bird’s grip out of sheer panic, all rational thought lost on her.

Then, suddenly, a wave of heat washed over the growlithe, and the pokémon holding her gave a cry of pain before veering off to the side sharply and releasing its grip. Snowcrystal plummeted, but only for a few terrifying seconds. She landed roughly in deep snow, and it took her a moment to force herself to look up and realize that she had landed on top of the rock wall, above the ridge where the others were climbing. The slope was much gentler on this part of the mountain, and the mountain’s peak looked closer than ever before. They were so close…

The burned pidgeot had managed to right itself in the air, but now was focusing on a new target. Wildflame. Spark had reached the part of the ledge that led steeply upward, and with the agility his species was blessed with, hopped from rock to rock with lightning speed. Snowcrystal noticed with both relief and admiration that he did not stumble or slip once, although she expected him to at every jump.

Running up beside Snowcrystal, the jolteon stood at the edge of the rock wall, his eyes blazing as he watched Wildflame, Blazefang, Alex and Redclaw struggling to reach the steep rocks. With a cry of fury he threw back his head, and all at once several bolts of lightning erupted from his body. Forks of jagged electricity reached across the sky and lit it up with a brilliant white-yellow glow. Several of the bird pokémon shrieked and fell, only to right themselves after they were released from the attack. But Spark was still standing, sending even more beams of lightning at the attackers. At the moment, none of the bird pokémon could get near him, or the others.

Alex had reached the steep rocks. Followed by Wildflame and then Blazefang, the floatzel began making the climb, the wind tearing at her as she went. Redclaw waited below them, his massive frame quivering with fear. Near the middle, Wildflame slipped, but luckily against the solid wall next to her, and managed to climb back to her feet shakily. Alex paused and waited for the houndoom to catch up to her, then leaned against her as the two made their way to the top, the floatzel having better paws for gripping than Wildflame. Blazefang followed shakily behind, but being smaller, he found it easier to keep away from the cliff edge. Sheer desperation was overcoming fear, and the houndour was forcing himself to use all his strength to climb up each jagged boulder.

Then, suddenly, Spark’s electric attack stopped. The jolteon wavered on the spot, as if he was about to faint. Small sparks flew from his body, but that seemed to be the only electricity he had left. The bird pokémon moved in toward them once again.

One of them raked Alex across the back, causing the floatzel to loose her grip just as she was about to reach the top of the slope. She rolled over the side of the ledge, her paws gripped the edge as she fell, stopping her but leaving her hanging helplessly. Wildflame, who had staggered to the top, looked down at Alex with a look of terror as Blazefang managed to struggle up to the top alongside her.

Snowcrystal began running over to the water type, when a roar from Redclaw made her pause. The arcanine was trying to fend off two pidgeot who were attacking him from both sides. He fired a flamethrower at one that looked terrifyingly as if it had been about to use whirlwind, and it flew away, crying harshly in rage.

Redclaw swiped at the other with his paw, then made a dash for the rocks. He fired another blast of flame at a bird pokémon who had been trying to attack Alex, allowing the floatzel to scramble up onto the ledge and limp to safety. The arcanine reached the bottom of the steep slope and leaped, his paws outstretched in a mighty bound, showing far more grace than one would have thought a creature of his size would be capable of. His mane streamed out in the wind and his eyes locked on the ground beneath him before his leap was brought to a jarring halt as he landed roughly on the narrow ledge of rocks. Hardly pausing, he leaped up again, a much shorter distance this time, and his paws had scarcely touched the ground beneath them before he bounded upward once more, heedless of the bird pokémon who circled around him. One of them launched a whirlwind that missed him as he propelled himself upward and to the top of the ledge. The arcanine landed on solid ground at the top, lifting his head in a roar that echoed around them, sounding as loud as if several arcanine had been roaring at once. Then he whirled around to face the pokémon that had been following him, firing a stream of flame at them before turning and launching a similar attack at another group. Several more blasts of fire from the arcanine lit up the sky. Many of the enemy pokémon squawked in fear. Then Redclaw ran over to the rest of the group, standing in front of them before lifting his head and blowing out a stream of flames that encircled them all.

Snowcrystal watched as the brilliantly burning inferno circled them at startling speed, melting the snow around them. Redclaw was keeping the flames flowing from his open mouth, creating a towering whirlwind of fire that began to reach high above them. Snowcrystal huddled in front of Spark to shield him from stray flames that were being blown toward him from the wind, and looked up at the round circle of dark gray sky above, watching a few of the birds veer away from the flames.

Then suddenly, the whirling fire stopped, flickering out, as it had nothing to burn. Redclaw stood, gasping for breath, his eyes locked on the enemy bird pokémon. There seemed to be even more of them now, and in their exhausted state, no one had much strength to fight.

“Hurry!” Redclaw called, racing out onto the snow. “Toward the peak!”

He darted over the snowy slope, his mane and tail streaming. Forgetting all tiredness, the other five pokémon ran after him, following in the arcanine’s path so as to meet less resistance from the deep snow. All around them, the angry bird pokémon were moving closer, seeming to realize that the fight had left the travelers.

Snowcrystal was now in the lead along with Redclaw, her paws racing over the snow with ease. She had her eyes fixed on the slope ahead of her when she felt talons rake her across her back, knocking her head over feet.

A sharp beak sliced downward at her, and she twisted away, feeling it scrape the skin beneath the fur on her neck. Around her, she could hear the cries of her companions, but as for who was still running and who had been caught…she had no way of knowing. She struggled to free herself, kicking frantically at the bird and wishing her face wasn’t pressed down in the snow so she could use a fire attack, even a weak one…

Through a haze of terror and pain, she heard Redclaw howl in distress. Loud cries of flying types told her that they had either brought the arcanine down, or he was surrounded. Cries of friends and foe alike rang in her ears; she struggled madly but the talons held her in place, pressing her deep into the snow as the pokémon’s beak stabbed down toward her…

Then she heard another cry, one that sounded distinctly birdlike, but yet different all the same. It was a strange, eerie melody that rang out around the mountaintop, and it sounded hauntingly familiar, even with her ears pressed in the snow. At the moment, the staraptor holding her looked up, freezing in surprise. Snowcrystal lifted her head as much as she could and looked up as well.

The sight that greeted her took her breath away. Soaring through the haze of snow, long tail feathers streaming out behind him, was Articuno. Even bigger and more majestic than any of the other birds, the great ice type flew overhead, and Snowcrystal felt a strong, cold wind wash over her. With a startled squawk, the staraptor released her, leaving her alone to watch as the massive, blue feathered bird wheeled down close to her before circling up and around and flying over each of her friends, who had all been released and were still as stone, watching the legendary with awe. Struggling to her feet, Snowcrystal watched as Articuno flew near her again. He looked powerful…strong…so calm and in control…not insane at all!

Then with a suddenness that surprised her, the gigantic bird suddenly plummeted downward, startling the other flying types and causing them to take wing and head away from Articuno. Just as the ice type was about to reach the ground, he lifted his wings, gliding over the snow until he reached out with his massive black talons and gripped a jagged spar of rock near Snowcrystal, coming to a halt and folding his wings as he eyed her with his penetrating red gaze.

Snowcrystal stared back, hardly daring to move. After all this time, Articuno, the very same pokémon she had seen so often back at the mountain, was standing right in front of her. She had never seen him this close before. Every gleaming blue feather shone brightly, reflecting some of the dim light as if made of ice itself. Darker blue feathers made up the crest on his head, and he had a powerful, slightly curved beak, and wings that looked magnificent even when folded at his side. He was the most beautiful pokémon Snowcrystal had ever seen, and she felt tiny and insignificant in his presence. His form was outlined against the snow whirling in the air around him, but the majestic pokémon did not even seem to notice the biting winds. He regarded Snowcrystal with a look of genuine curiosity, and after a moment, the growlithe forced her stiff legs to move and walk closer to the legendary.

Around her, the others had slowly stood up and began to stare in awe at the massive bird. Snowcrystal heard their footsteps as they edged closer, and paused as Articuno turned his head to look toward them, then focused his gaze on the growlithe again. Snowcrystal realized that she couldn’t hear the other birds anywhere near, and wondered if they were hiding from Articuno. When she was as close to the legendary as she dared to get, she stopped. “Articuno…” she began. The ice bird looked at her and then took a pace forward so that he towered over her. She shrank back, and heard the others behind her stop. “Articuno, I need your help.”

“So that is why you have come here?” the ice bird replied, his voice loud and clear even over the sound of the wind. It carried a hint of the same graceful melody she had heard when he had arrived; it sounded unlike the voice of any other bird pokémon. “What about them?” He inclined his head sharply toward the other five travelers, who were now moving closer together, Redclaw standing in front of the others protectively.

“They’re helping me,” Snowcrystal explained. “We-”

“I called off the flying types to stop them from attacking a white growlithe,” Articuno replied. “But those others are a threat. Especially that jolteon.”

Snowcrystal chanced a glance at her friends, and saw Spark casting an astonished look at the others. She figured that being an electric type meant he was more dangerous to those birds…who for some reason seemed to be guarding Articuno, and realized that she needed to try and explain quickly. “He’s not dangerous,” she replied, looking into Articuno’s red eyes. “He came to help me. We only fought back against those bird pokémon because we didn’t have a choice. I came from the mountain where the growlithe tribe lived. I came to find out why you left! The snow is melting and our territory is shrinking. I fear that the houndour tribe will drive us out. You must come back!”

For a moment, Articuno simply stared at her, and she thought she heard the winds around her dying down, as if the whole area around them was becoming calmer as Articuno listened to her. “I am sorry,” he told her. “I can not come back.”

“What?” Snowcrystal gasped. After all this time, even when she thought Articuno might have been insane, she had not expected to get an answer so devastating. Here Articuno was, healthy and capable of defending her home, and yet here he refused. “But…why?”

From a little ways away, Alex tried to creep closer to Articuno, but a glare from the ice bird froze her in her tracks. Snowcrystal was still waiting for an answer, watching the legendary with wide eyes.

Articuno stepped closer to Snowcrystal, his talons crunching through the thick snow. He spoke loudly and clearly, as if he realized the exhausted pokémon watching from a distance would not be of any threat against the sheer power and numbers on his side. “I am here to watch over something,” he told her. “It is of great importance. I am sorry about what has happened to the old mountain. Had I known your land would fall into chaos, I would have tried to talk with the leaders before leaving, whatever the risk.”

“What…whatever the risk?” Snowcrystal repeated. “You left without warning! What risk could we possibly have posed to you?”

“It was not you and the houndour who were the risk,” Articuno replied. “It was time. When I was called upon, I had to leave at that moment. I flew for many days before arriving here, and I was nearly too late. I would have thought that the two tribes would be able to work something out amongst themselves, but if they cannot do that, then I cannot help them any longer.”

“But the ice is melting!” Snowcrystal screamed. “What could be so important that…” She paused, thinking about what Articuno had just said. He was here to watch over something, and it had been urgent enough for him to have to leave immediately, and he had obviously been warned by something powerful and important – another legendary perhaps – for him to have taken action so suddenly. As these thoughts whirled around her mind, one thing seemed to make sense, and even if it was just a guess, she had to at least find out. Fixing Articuno with a determined look, she asked, “Does all this have to do with the Forbidden Attacks?”

If Articuno was surprised, he did not show it. Instead, he merely nodded. “I wouldn’t have expected isolated pokémon like you to know,” he began slowly. “How much do the tribes know?”

“Nothing,” Snowcrystal said. “I found out on my way here. A pokémon told us that the ice attack had been used….”

“And a few others as well,” Articuno replied, and his gaze drifted slowly to Blazefang, who cringed and ducked behind Wildflame.

“Yes…” Snowcrystal replied. “That’s what you’re guarding, isn’t it? What all these pokémon here are guarding? Another Forbidden Attack? If that’s what the problem is, then why don’t you throw it off a cliff, or bury it somewhere? It can’t be that hard to get rid of!”

“It cannot be destroyed,” Articuno replied, an edge of anger to his voice this time. “Hiding it means that there is still a chance that it could be found. Pokémon are already seeking the attacks, and being guarded by a legendary is the only way to deter them. There are other pokémon willing to fight for me, but only a legendary strikes enough fear into a pokémon’s heart that they avoid trying to obtain the stones.”

“Then why can’t one legendary guard them all?” Snowcrystal shouted. Her emotions were whirling inside her like the snow in the wind around them; she didn’t know how to feel or react. She was having a hard enough time accepting everything she was hearing.

“Because each one needs a certain place where it can be guarded. An area where a pokémon of the type needed to use the attack would have a difficult time reaching,” he explained with a calmer tone to his voice. It was as if he could sense the young growlithe’s distress and thought the pokémon he had once looked after deserved to know why he had left her to fend for herself.

Snowcrystal didn’t reply at first; she was too busy thinking. Maybe, she realized, the reason all the bird pokémon had attacked them was because Spark was an electric type? Was it the electric Forbidden Attack that Articuno was guarding? Was that why he had singled Spark out as a threat? “But…but I don’t understand…why did you have to go?”

“Because this is a place I can survive in,” the legendary began, “that others can’t. It was ideal for hiding one of the stones, but only one. The rest are scattered. If one is taken, that means another in the same area could be taken too. That is why many legendaries were called upon.”

“But who-”

“I can’t tell you,” the ice bird replied.

“So you’re just going to let my tribe be driven out of our home?” Snowcrystal asked. Even though logic was telling her that Articuno was bound by some sort of promise he had made to someone, she wasn’t in any emotional state to listen.

“There will be nothing left of your home if the Forbidden Attacks become out of control,” Articuno said, his tone gaining a fierceness that made Snowcrystal shrink back. “With three or more found and some unaccounted for, I must do my part in protecting the remaining ones. We legendaries must do all we can.”

“But can’t you stop them? Take them away from pokémon? ...Destroy them? There must be a way.”

Articuno remained silent for a few moments. “I believe only the ones who brought them about can do that,” he said.

“Then who-”

“I don’t know, nor is it my place to know,” Articuno replied.

Snowcrystal lowered her head in defeat. She couldn’t bring herself to ask any more questions. The main answer was clear; Articuno wasn’t coming back with her.

“I will let you and the other pokémon leave in peace,” Articuno said calmly. “But earlier, some of the pokémon on this mountain flew back to me, telling me that one of the others with you used the fire Forbidden Attack.”

“Yes,” Snowcrystal replied. “That was Blazefang. He…he’s trying to control it, but he was under attack and…well, he used it on a fearow.” She winced as she said the last word. "I'm sorry..." She did not know whether or not Articuno knew the fearow personally, but she felt terrible for it all the same.

“I know,” came Articuno’s cold reply. “And when I heard that another fight had broken out and the intruders were holding their ground and hadn’t fallen off the cliff, I came to stop it before the attack could be triggered again. It was only because I saw you that I called them off. I had not expected a growlithe to come here. But now, you must leave. You and the others, especially that houndour, have no place here.”

“What about my tribe?” Snowcrystal cried.

“They cannot live here either. Nor would it be safe,” Articuno responded. “You will have to leave here quickly. As for the houndour…” he paused to look at Blazefang again. “I will let him go, but if he can not keep his attack under control, I nor anyone else can stop him from being captured and imprisoned like the ice type.”

“He won’t use it again,” Snowcrystal replied, hoping she sounded more sure than she felt. “He hates the attack…”

“At least he is one of the more sensible owners,” said Articuno, though he still regarded Blazefang as if he was a graveler that could self destruct at any moment. He gave the ragtag group of pokémon one last glance, and spread his magnificent wings, taking to the air. “I will tell the pokémon here not to harm you if you don’t fight them first,” he told Snowcrystal as he glided gracefully over the snow. “But you must leave quickly.”

Snowcrystal was about to reply, but Articuno had suddenly soared much higher into the air, at a distance far enough for it to be futile to try and cry out to him. As she watched him soaring above the mountaintop, several other bird pokémon appeared, flying near him. She could tell that they would soon know not to attack her or her friends. They were free to leave, but Snowcrystal found that she could barely get her paws to move. She felt as if her tribe was utterly alone now. They had simply been left to fend for themselves.

Suddenly she felt Redclaw’s fur brush against her and turned to look up at the arcanine. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go.”

Snowcrystal looked away, still standing unmoving. “Go where?” she asked. “What is there left for me to do? Go back and tell them I’ve failed?” Thinking, she realized that she couldn’t stand the thought. She hated the feeling of having come all this way just to realize that she was powerless to help after all.

“I’m sure your tribe can work something out…” Redclaw began.

“We need the snow to live!” Snowcrystal retorted with a flash of anger. “And Articuno just left us to die!”

“Snowcrystal, look!” Spark cried, walking over to her with the other three following him warily. “You can’t be of any help to them out here. It’s probably best to go back, where there’s something you can do.”

“But there isn’t something I can do…” Snowcrystal sighed, feeling her anger fade. “Not if I go back without help. I mean, if there’s any way…any way I could help them somehow…help Articuno be able to return…” She paused, thinking back to what the ice legendary had said. Even he did not know much about how the Forbidden Attacks had come about, but he had known that he could not destroy them.

‘I believe only the ones who brought them about can do that…’

That’s what he had said. A small spark of hope flickered inside her. Maybe, after all, there was something she could do. If she could find out who created the Forbidden Attacks, she could give Articuno and the other legendaries the information they needed. And if there was even a chance that some pokémon out there would know who those beings were, she was far better off searching for them than returning home only to watch helplessly and use up her tribe’s dwindling food supply as the growlithe were forced off the mountain. Keeping her gaze fixed on the haze of ice and snow around her, she didn’t even notice Redclaw or Spark’s reply. “I’m going to find out…” she said softly.

“What?” Spark replied, obviously confused.

“I’m going to find out who created the Forbidden Attacks,” she said, louder, as she turned to face her five companions. “Someone out there has to know who they are. They can’t hide from all pokémon.”

Redclaw and Spark exchanged glances, while Wildflame looked utterly at a loss for what to do. Redclaw looked the growlithe in the eyes. “Snowcrystal…”

“I know it sounds hopeless,” she replied. “But I can’t return home…there’s hardly any prey as it is. All of you who are still looking for homes can keep looking, and I’ll follow you, asking pokémon if they know anything. Someone will, I’m just not sure who or where.”

“I…I suppose, but…” Spark began, “if we’re all looking for things in different places, then…”

“Well, I’m not,” Blazefang declared, stepping forward with a look at Snowcrystal. “You may not be my first choice of company, but if there’s a chance I can get rid of Shadowflare, I assume my best bet is to follow you, on the chance you do learn something. I need to find out as well, so the legendaries will be able to do something in order to help me.”

Spark glanced at the others, then said, “I’ll help you, Snowcrystal. After all…I’ve come to realize…I don’t really want a trainer if it’s not Justin. I’m just as lost as Thunder or Wildflame or Redclaw. I suppose that continuing to look for a new home together would be best.”

“And a lot safer,” Redclaw added, though he still looked uncertain. “If this is really what you want to do, Snowcrystal, then do it if you feel that it’s right. And if we don’t find anything…” He paused. “Well, we can always be on the lookout for a new home for your tribe as well.”

To her surprise, Snowcrystal didn’t find the remark insulting or disheartening. “All right,” she agreed. “I’ll do that. As long as I’m trying to help.”

Throughout this time, Wildflame had been completely silent. The houndoom did not speak as the group slowly made their way back down the path they had come from. Snowcrystal knew that she was probably still very confused, but she had the chance of a new future now, even if her own tribe had rejected her. Soon, she thought, Wildflame would feel hopeful again too.

As they descended the mountain, Snowcrystal felt a new determination rising within her. The quest had not ended. There was still more she had left to discover…more that would help her tribe and many other pokémon as well. And now she no longer needed to search for the legendary that had been on her mind almost constantly since the start of her journey.

There was nothing more that Articuno could do.

Now she had to do something.

To be continued...