The Path of Destiny

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 47 - A New Destination

A few days had passed since Snowcrystal’s encounter with Scytheclaw, and the pokémon found themselves nearing the canyon once again. They had decided to rest early the previous day, but everyone was still tired. Morning had come faster than anyone had anticipated, and as the group of pokémon waited for those who were currently out hunting to return, they talked in low voices about what Snowcrystal had learned.

Snowcrystal herself kept out of their conversations; she had talked about it enough. Instead she simply waited for the hunters to return while trying to drown the sound of the others out. Her crystal amulet had been fixed by Nightshade, who had managed to find some thin but tough plant fibers to replace the broken ones that had held the crystal around her neck before. She wasn’t sure where Nightshade was now; he had flown off to find food for himself and hadn’t yet returned.

As she was contemplating walking away from Wildflame, Spark, and Rosie, who were talking to each other worriedly about the Forbidden Attacks, and finding a quieter spot, she noticed Redclaw heading back from a grove of trees. The arcanine had a taillow in his mouth, but nothing else. Snowcrystal hoped Alex would return with something more, because one taillow wouldn’t be much of a meal for all of the meat-eating pokémon in the group.

Blazefang’s head perked up as Redclaw approached, and he stood up from the clump of dry bushes he’d been resting in. “That’s it?” he scoffed. “That arcanine needs a few hunting lessons, I think.”

“Hey!” Rosie snapped. “He’s the one doing the work. I bet you’re not such a great hunter yourself.”

“I’m a better hunter than he is,” Blazefang growled. “And I’d be able to catch much more if you pokémon would let me!”

Snowcrystal watched Rosie roll her eyes and look away, while Blazefang lay back down with a frustrated grunt. It had been decided by the group that Blazefang would not hunt; everyone was too worried about the risk of him losing control of his Forbidden Attack. Although Blazefang tried to insist that he wouldn’t, no one believed him after the incident on Articuno’s mountain.

Redclaw trotted up to them wearily, dropping the taillow at their feet, where Wildflame sniffed at it, looking disappointed. “Where should we head now?” the arcanine asked them. “We’re nearing the canyon again, and I know you don’t want to go back through the forest…”

“Or further past it,” Rosie added. “That’s where Cyclone and his followers went.”

“We could travel across the canyon and then explore the land on the other side,” Redclaw suggested. “Cyclone’s pokémon headed in that direction…” He turned his head toward the forest trees in the distance. “So we wouldn’t run into them.”

“I guess it’s as good as any other place,” Rosie muttered. “I just hope it has more prey.”

“You pokémon have no idea where you’re going,” Blazefang growled. “You could be heading away from any hope of finding out more about the Forbidden Attacks for all you know.”

Snowcrystal inwardly flinched; she knew Blazefang had a point. Right now their only plan was to rely on pure chance. After finding Articuno and learning about Scytheclaw’s power, Snowcrystal’s hopes had been deteriorating as she realized more and more just how daunting their task was, even if there were a lot of pokémon to talk to. She didn’t like the fact that they had once had a set destination for their journey – Articuno’s mountain – and now that they had nearly reached the canyon again, they seemed right back where they started, alone and simply left to wander aimlessly.

“What about the humans?” Spark suddenly said, causing everyone to look at him. Undaunted, he continued, “I mean, the humans know about the legend. Maybe we could go back to the city!”

“Too dangerous,” Rosie replied. “You think any of us, especially Snowcrystal, would be safe wandering around a human city?”

“You have any better idea?” Spark retorted irritably. “At least there we’d have some sort of start. It’s better than wandering around in the wilderness.”

The ninetales narrowed her eyes. “You just love humans too much.”

“Well, hi, everyone!” a cheery voice called, putting the argument to a stop. Snowcrystal turned to see Alex standing a few feet away with a couple of goldeen at her feet. Snowcrystal had been so distracted by the others that she hadn’t even heard the floatzel approach. “What are you talking about?”

“Nothing that concerns you,” Blazefang growled with a glare at the floatzel. “Now do us a favor and quit stalking us!”

“Hey, she brought us food, didn’t she?” Rosie stated. “Which is more than can be said for you.” She gave Blazefang a grin that earned her a seething look from the houndour.

“We’re talking about where we’re going to travel after this,” Spark told the floatzel. “But let’s talk about that later! I’m hungry!”

The pokémon agreed to split up what little food they had gathered, and when Thunder reluctantly approached them, Redclaw tore off a chunk of meat for each pokémon, all of whom looked less than pleased with the amount they got. Thunder grabbed hers and walked out of earshot of the others before sitting down to eat. The rest of the pokémon were eating together in silence when Nightshade returned.

Spark, who had finished his meal in a few bites, looked at the heracross and asked, “Nightshade, do you think we should go back to the human’s city? I mean, it’s the one place we know of that might have people...or pokémon, who know more about the Forbidden Attacks.”

Nightshade seemed surprised at the question, but before he had a chance to answer, Rosie spoke up.

“You really think we’d be able to find out anything without some human coming up to us to fight or capture us? We wouldn’t even be able to get close to any useful-”

“But the pokémon could know!” Spark protested. “I could pose as a trainer pokémon on some sort of errand. If I picked up a few pieces of paper from a garbage bin they’d just think I was delivering something for my trainer. A few of you could do that too, and we could search different parts of the city, asking the pokémon. I’ve been thinking about this ever since we left the mountain…and I think it could work. Unless, you know, you just hate humans too much…”

“That could work,” Redclaw said. “I’m too big to pass for an errand running pokémon, but I, and those who don’t want to take part, could wait in the forest.”

“So you’re supporting his crazy plan?” Rosie growled.

“It’s not crazy,” Redclaw responded. “Let’s face it, Blazefang’s right. We really have no idea where we’re going.”

Snowcrystal listened, not sure she wanted to join in the argument. She had to agree with Spark, however. She had seen the painting in the city’s library depicting a human artist’s interpretations of the Forbidden Attacks. They knew something, probably more than most pokémon. And the pokémon around them probably knew something more too. Traveling back to Stonedust City seemed so dangerous…but then again, wasn’t wandering around foreign lands dangerous as well? “I…I agree with Spark,” she said hesitantly, aware that a few of the other pokémon were looking at her strangely.

“What about those of us who are looking for homes?” Wildflame asked. “That includes you, Redclaw,” she added, turning to the arcanine.

“I know,” the arcanine replied. “But I don’t see anywhere suitable for me to live out here, and truthfully I’d rather help Snowcrystal than stay in a strange place alone. If we find wild arcanine, however, I probably will join them. Until then, I’d rather be of some use to someone else rather than simply wandering about on my own.”

Wildflame muttered something about him being crazy but said no more. Instead she just looked down at her paws and let the others talk.

“I don’t like it,” Rosie said quietly, shaking her head as if trying to shake off a bad thought. “I really don’t like it…”

“You don’t have to come,” Spark reminded her. “I mean-”

“So you’re just going to leave me here all alone?” Rosie retorted.

“No,” Spark replied. “I just…thought that maybe you could go your separate way once we were close to the city.”

Rosie didn’t look satisfied with that answer either. “What was wrong with exploring the wild?”

Blazefang watched the two arguing pokémon through narrowed eyes. “Pfft…humans,” he muttered. “I’m no one’s errand pokémon.” Beside him, Alex yawned.

“Look, you won’t even have to take a step inside the city!” Spark was telling Rosie. “You could wait out in the forest with the others, far enough away so the humans won’t see you.”

Up until then, Nightshade had only been listening silently. “What I think,” he began, and even Spark and Rosie stopped their arguing to listen to him, “is that Spark has the best idea. If all the Forbidden Attacks are as dangerous as Shadowflare is, think of how many pokémon could be hurt by them if we don’t find the answer and tell the legendaries. If this human city has some sort of a clue, I think we should follow it. It’s better than wandering around blindly, hoping for information to suddenly fall on us. Spark’s plan is a good one, and going near the city will be no more dangerous than roaming strange lands we don’t know. I think we should listen to Spark.”

“I know that I will,” Snowcrystal spoke up firmly before anyone else could reply. “I know I won’t be much help once I reach the city, but I’ll find something I can do. I need to find this information. And someone in that human city might know what we need, or at least have some sort of clue.”

“But…” Rosie began, sounding very dismayed now that she could see she was outnumbered.

“I never thought I’d say this,” Blazefang muttered, “but I agree with the jolteon. I’d rather be following some sort of clue than wandering out in the middle of nowhere. The faster I learn how to get rid of this attack, the better.”

“What about you?” Rosie asked Wildflame, a hopeful look in her eyes.

“Makes no difference to me,” Wildflame said. Rosie’s hopeful expression fell.

“I’m sorry, Rosie,” Redclaw told the ninetales. “But this looks like our best chance. I’m sure Spark knows enough about the humans to keep us safe as long as we’re careful. We won’t let anyone get captured.”

Rosie looked down at her paws and did not reply.

“So it’s decided then?” Spark asked. “I know it’s risky, but at least we know what we’re up against, whereas we have no idea what’s out there…” He looked in the direction of the canyon, and Snowcrystal suddenly found herself unwilling to find out what lurked beyond it as well.

“I think it is decided,” Redclaw replied. “We should be safe going back through the canyon now that Scytheclaw is gone, and there’s plenty of prey there. Prey that we need.”

“Come on, Rosie!” Spark cried. “Foooooooood!”

“I still think it’s a bad idea!” the ninetales stated, ignoring Spark.

“I’m sorry,” Snowcrystal told her. “But my mind is made up. I’m heading back to the city, along with anyone that wants to come. You…you won’t even have to go near the humans, Rosie. It won’t be so bad.”

“I guess I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” she muttered. “Go with you or get left alone…”

Snowcrystal wasn’t sure what to say. Redclaw was already looking toward the canyon, a newfound hope in his eyes. “We won’t put you in danger, Rosie,” he tried to assure her. “But Nightshade’s right…there are lives at stake now that Cyclone is searching for the Forbidden Attacks. Spark’s idea is more likely to lead us to answers. We should trust him.”

Spark beamed at Redclaw, but Rosie still looked angry. However, it was clear that she realized that it had been decided; they were going to travel back to the city.

“Let’s get going,” Blazefang growled impatiently, walking away from the scraggly bushes he’d been resting next to and following Redclaw.

“I’ll come!” Alex announced. “I can help. Maybe the humans know about the ocean too…oh! I bet they do!” She bolted off after Blazefang and Redclaw, overtaking them and turning around to wait for the rest of the group eagerly.

“Thunder, we’re leaving!” Redclaw called back to the scyther.

Thunder looked up at them for a moment, realized they were starting to travel again, and slowly walked back toward them from where she had been eating, seeming agitated. “We’re going already?” she growled when she reached them.

No one bothered to answer. Probably, Snowcrystal thought, because no one could think of anything to say to Thunder that wouldn’t make her mad. They followed Redclaw and Alex in silence, each with their own whirlwinds of thought.

Then Thunder stopped in her tracks. “Why are we going that way?” she asked in a low, threatening voice that didn’t really match her question. “Are we going across the canyon?”

“No,” Spark told her. “We’re going back into it. We’ll climb up the other end near where the cave was and go back the way we came.”

Snowcrystal realized that Thunder didn’t yet know of their plans to return to the human city, since she had been away from the group at the time. “We’ve decided to go back to the city,” she told Thunder. “To find out about the Forbidden Attacks.”

“What?” Thunder replied, suddenly looking more furious than Snowcrystal had seen her in a long time. The other pokémon stopped momentarily to look at her; they could all tell that she obviously hadn’t taken the news well at all. “Go back to where humans live? I’d rather die!”

Snowcrystal opened her mouth to speak, but Redclaw did first. “You won’t have to take a step inside that city,” he told Thunder. “Just a few of us will. You’ll stay out in the forest with-”

“No!” Thunder replied fiercely, lifting her scythes and baring her teeth. “I won’t go near it!”

“No one’s asking you to come,” Blazefang muttered. “Go on and run off now if you must.”

Snowcrystal wished Blazefang would keep quiet. Everyone knew, though no one openly admitted, that Thunder relied on them for food; she would starve on her own. Luckily, this time Thunder did not reply, and as the rest of the group turned and continued walking, she trailed behind, still glaring daggers at them.

The group of pokémon carried on until they reached the canyon’s edge. It was there that they decided to stop for another rest. The top of the cliff leading down into the canyon was dotted with bushes which provided them shade from the sun.

“You think one of us should go looking for food down there?” Spark asked, peering down the rocky ledge that formed a path from the cliff to the canyon’s base, where he could see plenty of foliage growing near the river.

“Good idea,” Rosie agreed.

Redclaw sighed. “I suppose so,” he began, standing up. “We won’t have to worry about any hostility now that Scytheclaw’s gone. Who wants to go with me?”

“I will,” Snowcrystal stated as she looked up.

“So will I!” Spark chimed in.

“Anyone else?” Redclaw asked wearily. No one said anything. “All right, come on you two,” Redclaw told Spark and Snowcrystal, who sprung to their paws and followed him. Getting up from her resting place, Thunder began to follow them too.

“And where are you going?” Rosie sneered.

Thunder bared her teeth at the ninetales. “With them!” she yelled with startling ferocity, looking almost as if she wanted to tear Rosie’s head off just for questioning her.

Though the look in Thunder’s eyes made Snowcrystal back away, Rosie seemed unaffected. “Huh, like you could catch anything with those injuries,” the ninetales snorted.

Thunder made no reply, but continued to glare at the fire type. Then she stepped forward and lifted her scythes. Rosie stood without flinching.

“Face it,” she said. “It’s true.”

“Now hold on, Thunder,” Nightshade spoke up as he limped over toward the two angry pokémon. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to go wandering off now. You want to get strong again, right? And the best way to let that happen is to rest-”

“I am strong!” Thunder shouted. “Stronger than you are. I don’t want to wait around for food!”

Snowcrystal couldn’t understand just what had been making Thunder so agitated the past few days, and especially that morning, but the look on the scyther’s face made it seem as if she wanted to attack someone right then and there. It worried her a bit. She had a feeling that Thunder could really care less whether or not Nightshade thought she was weak; she just seemed so furious that other pokémon were questioning or disagreeing with her. She had acted in that manner before, but she had never seemed so angry over such small things.

“If you wait here,” Nightshade told Thunder calmly, “the others will do the work for you. You don’t have to do anything and you can be all by yourself while you wait.”

From her clump of bushes, Rosie snorted. “What are we, her servants?”

“The others are doing this so you can rest,” Nightshade continued. “I am resting too. That does not mean that I, or you, are weak, or that we’re telling you this to order you around. We’re not trying to force you, I just-”

“I don’t care,” Thunder spat. “I want to go looking for food instead of waiting around here.”

“Don’t you think it would be better to lie in the shade? Where it’s cool? The others will bring the food-”

“I don’t want to!” Thunder shouted, her voice full of barely concealed menace. Her eyes narrowed and she paced back and forth a few times, her scythes twitching and her eyes on the heracross. “Are you stupid?” she screamed, her voice escalating to a much louder volume. “I just told you I didn’t want to! How many times do I have to tell you? Are you just going to ignore what I say like everyone else?” Thunder’s shouts had become even louder and more furious, and Snowcrystal glanced at Redclaw, wondering if they ought to just leave.

“Thunder, please…” Nightshade began, a tone of worry creeping into his voice that Snowcrystal was not accustomed to. Nightshade never sounded worried, and to hear him sound like that now was somewhat startling. “Just do this one thing for me. I promise I’ll listen to you. Stay here…please?”

Snowcrystal turned her attention to Thunder, waiting to see how the scyther would react. At the moment, she was staring at Nightshade with loathing. Then, with no warning at all, she darted forward and slashed her scythes across Nightshade’s body.

“Thunder, stop!” Snowcrystal shouted, but before the words had even finished leaving her mouth, Thunder had knocked Nightshade to the ground and stabbed her scythe into his back. Snowcrystal watched in horror as blood flowed down Nightshade’s damaged armored shell and onto the grass. To her relief, Nightshade pulled away from Thunder, and though this caused more blood to flow as the scythe was pulled out, it wasn’t nearly the sort of amount Snowcrystal would have expected; though damaged from the fight with Scytheclaw, Nightshade’s thick shell had prevented Thunder’s blade from going too deep.

But before Nightshade or anyone else could retaliate, Thunder sliced at the heracross again, and Nightshade could only try to block her scythe from hitting his eyes as Thunder tore into any weak spot she could find – namely Nightshade’s wounds – with both blades.

It was hardly more than a second later when Thunder was roughly pulled off Nightshade by Redclaw, who had sunk his teeth into her back. But the damage had been done. Flinging Thunder to the ground, Redclaw pressed his paw down on the scyther’s back with enough force to keep her from moving and using her blades.

“Thunder!” Redclaw shouted, sounding, if possible, even more furious than Thunder had been. “What in Ho-oh’s name did you do that for!?” His voice escalated to an enraged wail as he yelled the final words. Thunder just glared at him, no longer trying to move.

The other pokémon had all begun to gather around Nightshade, who lay motionless on the blood soaked earth.

“She’s killed him!” Rosie wailed. “She killed him!”

“Oh no…” Alex whispered, retreating behind a clump of bushes and peering above them with wide eyes as the rest of the pokémon began screaming and talking in a panic.

“He’s not…he can’t be dead, can he?” Spark cried, looking frantic as he rushed to Nightshade’s side.

“I told you she was dangerous!” Blazefang yelled over the frenzied voices of the other pokémon. “I told you!”

“Quiet, everyone!” Wildflame shouted, managing to raise her voice above the noise of the others. Not bothering to wait for them to quiet down, she bent down to sniff at the still form of the heracross. Nightshade’s eye opened and his gaze flicked upward toward her. The houndoom breathed a sigh of relief.

“She killed him!” Rosie was shouting. “He’s not moving!”

“Quiet!” Wildflame shouted. “He’s not dead! But we have to do something. Does anyone know anything about healing?”

“I might…but we don’t have anything my trainer-” Spark began.

“I don’t care!” Wildflame snapped. “Just tell us!”

Snowcrystal stayed standing where she had been, feeling too overwhelmed by what she had just witnessed to move. Thunder was forgotten by even Redclaw as he and several of the other pokémon ran to collect moss and other plants to try and stop the bleeding. She looked at Nightshade, not even sure if he was still conscious.

“I knew something like this would happen,” Blazefang growled as dropped a wad of moss by the others. He seemed to be the only one still focused on Thunder. “There was something wrong with that scyther, couldn’t you all tell? I told you she wasn’t right in the head! You couldn’t have all been oblivious to that. And now what do we do? We can’t let her follow us anymore!”

Snowcrystal glanced at Rosie, who looked as though she felt the same way Blazefang did. Snowcrystal had to admit that she agreed, but she didn’t want to send Thunder away; she hoped the scyther would leave on her own. But at the moment, Thunder was simply standing there, staring at Nightshade and the others with an almost numb expression, no longer seeming like the furious monster she had been a few moments ago.

Any other thoughts about Thunder were interrupted by the worried voices of her friends. Realizing suddenly that she ought to be doing something rather than standing around watching uselessly, Snowcrystal rushed over to them, peering closer at Nightshade. At the moment, she could not tell how injured he was due to the moss the others had put over the wounds. She wasn’t sure that moss would do much good, but she didn’t feel like it was her place to question Spark and the others, who seemed to know what they were doing much more than she did. She looked at Redclaw, who was holding down the moss. “He’ll be all right, won’t he?” she asked.

The arcanine looked at her with an expression that was calmer than she expected. “I think so,” he answered. “He fainted, but I don’t think the wounds are fatal.” Beside him, Spark nodded slowly in agreement.

Upon hearing this, the other pokémon seemed to calm down a bit, and set off to gather more moss. By now, the worst of Nightshade’s wounds didn’t seem to be bleeding nearly as much, and as the pokémon gathering moss returned, they realized that they would not need to gather more and stopped, waiting for Nightshade to awaken. Some of them paced around nervously. Snowcrystal reached forward and nudged Nightshade’s side, but he did not move. “Stop that!” Redclaw told her. She backed away obediently, realizing with guilt that she still had yet to do anything to help.

“I still can’t believe that you pokémon are surprised,” Blazefang spoke in a cold voice. “It was only a matter of time before something like this happened. You saw how that creature acted toward everyone, you saw her threaten to attack members of our group. And what did you do? Nothing.”

“Shut up!” Rosie spat at him. “This has nothing to do with you! And if you want to blame anyone, blame her!” She shot a venomous glance at Thunder.

“Nothing to do with me?” Blazefang scoffed. “That’s the sort of thing you kept telling me before. If you’d listened to me, or at least given me a tiny fraction of respect, you’d know that she was a bad pokémon. You even watched her try to kill me!”

Rosie glared back at him but did not answer. Instead, she turned her glare toward Thunder. “What did you try to kill Nightshade for?” she screamed, standing up to full height and raising her nine tails in a fan shape around her, which made her look much bigger and more threatening than she actually was. “He was only trying to help you, you murderer! You want to attack me too? Come on, I’ve got one bad leg. I should be easy to take down. Come on and try!” Flames flickered out of her mouth as she spat the last words.

Alex rushed over to Rosie, standing at her side and looking warily at Thunder as she spoke. “Rosie! Don’t start any more fights! Blazefang is right. That scyther is dangerous.”

“Dangerous is right,” Wildflame stated, walking up in front of the others. “Thunder…we can’t trust you anymore. I think you should leave now.”

Thunder looked at Wildflame with the same blank expression she had just given Rosie, but didn’t move.

Snowcrystal, who had been watching Rosie and Alex, turned away and walked toward the cliff edge leading to the canyon, feeling that at least for now, the threat of Thunder attacking anyone else had passed. She wished she didn’t have to hear any of the group’s conversation, at least not right now. Despite everything Thunder had done, she found it hard to believe that Stormblade and Nightshade had been wrong, that Thunder really was hopeless, a threat that couldn’t be controlled, numb to any amount of kindness shown her.

Trying to drown out the sound of the others’ shouts at Thunder, Snowcrystal stared down the rock ledge that led along the wall of the canyon. That was where they were going, but somehow the trees and ferns did not look nearly as inviting as they had before Thunder’s attack. Now, it just seemed like another difficult and exhausting road they would have to travel.

Suddenly, a strange movement caught her eye, and her ears pricked up. Something was moving along the rock ridge leading up to the cliff top. Jumping in surprise, she spun around and looked at the others, who seemed too busy talking or arguing to notice. Looking back toward the rocky path, the thing that had been moving emerged from behind a clump of plants, and Snowcrystal felt her blood run cold.

It was a human. But not just any human. A human she had seen before and hoped never to see again. She recognized the way he looked from the time she and the others had fought that quilava, Volco, in the town they had rescued Thunder from. Only now, she could see as a second figure emerged behind the human, he was a typhlosion. Frantically, she turned back to the others. “Everyone, stop!” she cried. “A human’s coming this way. Thunder’s master!”

Redclaw looked at her, his expression darkening. “Are you sure?” he asked.

Snowcrystal nodded.

Redclaw stood up and walked over to the cliff edge, taking one look. Immediately he backed up, alarm on his face. “She’s right!” he called. “We have to leave now. Come on!”

“What about Nightshade?” Rosie asked. “How will we bring him with us?”

“We…we can’t,” Redclaw sighed. “We can’t risk moving him that far so fast. Alex, see if you can move him – carefully – over behind those bushes. He might be safe and hidden from view there…”

“Might?” Snowcrystal asked.

“Look,” Redclaw told her, his voice edged with an odd tone of panic, “that human will come close enough to the top of the cliff to notice us any second now. We don’t have time. We have to leave. Right now.” He pawed at the ground anxiously, his eyes wide and afraid.

Snowcrystal looked away from him to watch Alex pull Nightshade behind the bushes. The other pokémon had stopped talking, and just looked at Redclaw with stunned expressions. Only Thunder remained emotionless.

“Well, we can’t just leave him here!” Wildflame exclaimed with a glance at Nightshade.

“Can’t we fight the human?” Spark cried out.

“I…I don’t know!” Rosie cried before anyone else could answer. She was staring at the bushes where Nightshade was, but Snowcrystal could tell that she was panicking about the human.

“Come on!” Redclaw cried desperately. “We have to go now-”

An excited cry broke off Redclaw’s statement, and all the pokémon froze as a large typhlosion clambered over the edge of the cliff, obviously having noticed them quicker than his trainer and having taken a shortcut up the side of the rocks.

Snowcrystal backed away as the winded typhlosion surveyed them all with one cunning eye, not seeming afraid. Snowcrystal noticed that his other eye was closed, a long scar running across it. The typhlosion was grinning, his single eye looking from Thunder to Snowcrystal herself.

“Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrgh!” In a split second, Alex had rushed past the others, forming a whirlpool of water around her body as she launched herself at Volco. The aqua jet attack struck the typhlosion in the chest, sending them both flying over the cliff’s edge and into space.

Snowcrystal heard the angry – or in Alex’s case, simply shocked – cries of both pokémon as they vanished over the edge, and the snapping of branches and twigs as they tumbled down. She heard them come to a halt and was waiting for Alex to reappear when the typhlosion’s trainer appeared on the edge of the path a short ways away and stepped onto the cliff top.

For a moment, both the human and the group of pokémon simply stared at each other in surprise; none of them had expected the human to appear so quickly, and Master certainly hadn’t expected to see so many pokémon in such an odd group.

In the split second that followed, several things happened at once. Redclaw took one look at Master and bolted, faster than Snowcrystal expected even he could run, in the opposite direction. Wildflame launched a flamethrower at Master, who ducked down on the rock ledge, using part of the cliff wall for protection and barely avoiding the blast. Volco reappeared at the top of the cliff, looking ready to fight, and Thunder, who up until that point had been standing unmoving, raced toward her two enemies.

Volco readied himself for an attack as Thunder came nearer, yet to his surprise, she rushed right by him, heading straight for Master instead. Alarmed, Volco got ready to shoot a fire attack in her direction, but there was no need. Before Thunder could ever reach Master, the man had stood up so that he could reach over the cliff, pulled out a poké ball and pointed it at her. She dissolved in a beam of red light and vanished inside before her blades ever touched him.

Shocked, Snowcrystal backed even further away from the human. It was then that she realized that Rosie and Wildflame had fled as well. And not only that, but Master was staring right at her.

Someone shoved against her shoulder. “Go on, run!” That was Spark’s voice. Snowcrystal caught the jolteon’s eye and did as she was told, turning and running after the others. She heard Blazefang mutter something under his breath and sprint after her. As her paws pounded the rough earth, she didn’t dare look back, though her fear for the others as well as herself was mounting. It wasn’t long before she saw a flash of bright yellow fur and realized that Spark had caught up with her. “Where’s Alex?” she asked.

“Behind me!” Spark panted as he ran. “That human had other pokémon with them…you should have seen them! There was no way we were going to…” His voice trailed off and he seemed to be trying to focus his attention on running rather than talking.

Snowcrystal could see Alex running on her other side now, limping but still keeping pace with her and Spark. The human and his pokémon didn’t seem to be following them, but the way Master had looked at her was deeply unsettling. Would he follow them now? What would they do? Could Thunder escape again? All of a sudden she remembered that Nightshade was still back there. Alone. Defenseless. And there was nothing any of them could do but hope that Master and his pokémon would leave him alone or not find him at all.

“Wait…” Alex gasped as she began to fall behind. “Stop…”

Snowcrystal slowed down, noticing the otter-like pokémon come to a stop. Spark came to a halt as well, looking almost as tired as she was. Snowcrystal stopped too as Spark glanced back to where they had run from. “He’s not following us,” he stated nervously.

“Not yet,” Snowcrystal muttered worriedly. “He…he looked at me strange. I think he wants to catch me and you of all pokémon would know that humans have a fascination with pokémon that are…different…to them.”

“Who was that guy?” Alex asked in between pants.

“Thunder’s trainer,” Spark answered. “‘Master.’ We don’t know his name. I can’t imagine what he’d be doing out here…unless he was trying to catch the rare species of pokémon in that canyon. Or us, if we’d have stayed there longer.”

“You should have attacked the human while I had the typhlosion distracted,” Alex growled. “My old trainer taught me that attacking humans was wrong…but something makes me feel like that guy would have deserved it. You think your heracross friend will be okay?”

“I don’t know…” Snowcrystal whispered. “We can’t exactly go back there, can we?”

“Not yet.” Spark stood up again, casting a worried glance at the now very small looking figures of Master and his pokémon in the distance. “But we’d better find the others. They must have stopped somewhere ahead.”

Snowcrystal didn’t argue as Spark led them onward.

-ooo-

The others had stopped further away than Snowcrystal had expected; she imagined that in their weakened and tired state, only sheer terror had driven them on. She wasn’t used to seeing the group split up like that out of fear. Even Redclaw had run, when he hadn’t even thought of doing such a thing while they were on Articuno’s mountain. The group was now resting among several large, dry bushes, and when Snowcrystal, Spark and Alex arrived, everyone looked up at them with fearful expressions.

“You’re all right!” Rosie gasped in surprise and relief. “Do you know what to do about Nightshade? What are we going to-”

“We’ll have to wait.” Redclaw’s voice had gained its usual calm, but though there was relief in his eyes at the sight of the three arriving pokémon, he seemed reluctant to bring attention to himself and didn’t seem to want to look at them directly. “There’s nothing we can do about Nightshade right now. We’ll have to wait until the human leaves.”

“What did you just run away for?” Spark growled, causing most of the pokémon to look at him in surprise. “Nightshade’s back there, don’t you remember? And all you did was run without even trying, leaving the rest of us to face all those…”

Redclaw’s furious gaze snapped toward Spark. “Did you see what happened to Thunder?” the arcanine roared, resulting in an even greater look of surprise from everyone around him. “Sure, maybe he doesn’t have my poké ball anymore, but he could have captured me again. I don’t care what any of you think of me for running, but I would rather die than be one of his pokémon again.” He gave Spark a glare that rivaled any evil look Thunder had given any of them. Spark lowered his gaze and slowly backed away, not replying.

No one spoke up again.

Snowcrystal sat by herself for a long time, listening to the howling winds and then watching the sky grow darker as night settled in, half worried about Nightshade and Thunder, and half worried that Thunder’s trainer was coming after them. Though no one taking their duty as lookout saw him anywhere near their resting spot, it wasn’t enough to put her mind at ease. The way he had looked at her, like she was some sort of rare prize to own rather than a living thing still deeply unnerved her.

-ooo-

In the early night, Snowcrystal took her turn as a lookout for the group, hoping that the task would give her something to focus on rather than the events that had taken place that day. She wanted anything else to think about, and she didn’t feel like talking to anyone. As she gazed out over the land they had just passed through, warily looking for any movement, something caught her eye and made her freeze.

Near the canyon edge, but much closer to them than Snowcrystal thought anyone should have gotten without her noticing, was the shape of a human. Her whole body tensed, and she was about to cry out to the others, when she realized that this human, even if she could only see its outline in the fading light, was very different looking than Thunder’s Master. He wasn’t quite as tall, and he was thinner, and he was standing, barely visible against the dark rocks, and looking down into the canyon. And there was someone beside him, a pokémon.

She hadn’t noticed the pokémon at first; it had been standing in the shadows, but when it moved, Snowcrystal recognized the shape instantly. It was a scizor. ‘Scytheclaw?’ She wondered. ‘Is that Scytheclaw?’ She continued to watch the pokémon and human shapes, but they didn’t seem to be moving much. She had no idea what Scytheclaw would be doing around a human, but she wasn’t about to go closer and find out. She wanted to alert the others, but she decided to keep quiet for the moment. After all, she didn’t want them to panic if there was no real danger; this human was obviously a different one and didn’t seem interested in or aware of them at all.

Something moved from behind the human and scizor. It was another pokémon, but Snowcrystal couldn’t quite tell what species it was. The human turned away from the canyon and stepped toward this second pokémon. Suddenly more worried, Snowcrystal looked back at the others in her group. Seeing that they were already tense and anxious enough, Snowcrystal wasn’t sure she wanted to alert them to the presence of the strange human unless it actually did something threatening. She glanced back to where the human was.

It was gone. And so were the pokémon. Blinking in surprise, Snowcrystal studied the canyon edge. There was no way they could have climbed down and out of sight in the second she had taken to glance away; it was as if they had never been there at all. She stared at the spot for quite a while before she finally managed to look away and focus again on watching for Thunder’s trainer. There was no sign of the strange human anywhere else either. Reluctantly, she admitted that she must have been imagining things.

-ooo-

In the middle of the night, Redclaw, Alex, and Spark returned with Nightshade, who, thankfully, had not been injured worse since being left near the human. Spark had not spoken to Redclaw since his outburst, but Alex had convinced him to go along and help. Redclaw had not gone back until Alex and Wildflame, who snuck off back to the area they had left Nightshade at, had confirmed that the human was no longer there, and that his scent had led back into the canyon. Snowcrystal still wasn’t convinced that Thunder’s trainer wasn’t following them, or that he hadn’t just gone back into the canyon for a while to rest and find food for his pokémon. At least Alex and Wildflame had mentioned nothing about any other humans, so the strange human was not around, if it even existed. Seeing Nightshade being carried in carefully on Redclaw’s back, she tried not to dwell on her worries while there were more pressing matters to think about.

Redclaw lay down slowly and Alex and Spark carefully pushed Nightshade off his back and onto the ground. The heracross’s eyes flickered open for a second and then closed again. Though his wounds were no longer bleeding, they looked deep.

Rosie hesitantly approached Nightshade’s still form. “Nightshade? Can you get up?”

“No,” he replied, his eyes opening slowly and his voice sounding much weaker than usual. “Not now. I need to rest.” His eyes closed again.

“Leave him alone,” Wildflame told Rosie, pushing her away. Rosie didn’t protest.

Everyone else watched in silence until Blazefang spoke. “Well, what are we going to do now? We can’t go back in the canyon if that human is lurking about. And now that Nightshade’s the new Stormblade, how are we going to get to the human’s city anytime soon?”

Snowcrystal glared at Blazefang, wanting to retort that Stormblade’s injuries were his own fault, but he just turned away from her.

Surprisingly, it was Nightshade who spoke next. He made no effort to push himself upright, and though Snowcrystal was pretty sure he could if he wanted to, she realized he probably knew that it would make his injuries worse. The heracross’s gaze was fixed on Blazefang as he spoke. “My wounds are not as bad as Stormblade’s were,” he rasped. “I just need a few days…then I’ll be able to travel again.”

“And by ‘travel,’ you mean ride on Redclaw’s back?” said Blazefang.

“If that’s what it takes.”

“But we don’t have a few days!” Blazefang snarled back. “What if that human comes back? How are we ever going to get to that city if-”

“Blazefang,” Redclaw began, “there’s nothing we can do about that now. After what happened, we all need a rest. We can decide what to do tomorrow, but we won’t be leaving in the morning unless we absolutely have to.”

Blazefang exchanged a glance with Wildflame, but neither dark type said anything.

“What about Thunder?” Alex asked, voicing the question that Snowcrystal assumed had been on everyone’s mind.

“What about her?” Rosie muttered back.

“Aren’t we…going to try and get her back?” Alex looked around the group, confused.

No one said anything.

“You mean, you’re just going to leave her with that trainer?”

“Why not?” Blazefang muttered. “It’s what she deserves. Besides, she wouldn’t put her life or freedom on the line for any of us, so why should we do it for her?”

“You really think she deserves to belong to a trainer like that?” Snowcrystal asked, giving Blazefang a seething look. Sure, she was angry at Thunder too…no, more than angry, but certainly that didn’t mean she deserved to have her trainer put her through any number of awful things again? “I know that what Thunder did was horrible, but I don’t think anyone deserves that.”

“Naive and innocent as always, huh?” Blazefang replied.

“Look, Snowcrystal, Alex…” Wildflame began, “we can’t try and bring Thunder back. That human’s pokémon are stronger than us, and if they’re anything like Thunder, they can handle a lot more damage from attacks too. Not to mention that he has poké balls, and if any of us fainted or got badly hurt, we could end up like her.”

Redclaw nodded in agreement. “I’m sorry…but it’s not worth it.”

‘Not worth it?’ Snowcrystal thought. ‘After you showed us all how terrible you felt everything about that trainer was? You know more than anyone else how awful being under that human’s control is!’ Though she wanted to say these things out loud, she didn’t.

“Thunder had no reason to attack Nightshade,” Redclaw continued as if he could tell what she was thinking. “I hate to say it, but I think her time with Master made her almost as bad as he is.”

A sudden memory surfaced in Snowcrystal’s mind. A cave floor covered in sticky mud. Thunder rushing in to help Stormblade and then pulling him to safety… She found it hard to believe that Thunder was as bad a pokémon as some of the others thought she was. She may have done many bad things, but there was good in her somewhere. She glanced over at Rosie; after all, the ninetales had seen Thunder rescue Stormblade as well.

Rosie noticed her looking and glanced back, catching her gaze and turning to the others. “Wildflame’s right,” she said, and Snowcrystal’s hopes dropped. “It’s too risky, and that human’s pokémon are too strong. Thunder may have been part of our group and followed us around, but can any of you really call her your friend? She was mean, rude, vicious, horrible, and as you all just saw today, downright sadistic. Sorry to anyone who wanted her back, but she’s not worth risking anything for.”

Snowcrystal realized that Rosie probably didn’t even remember the incident in the cave at the moment, and if she did, she didn’t care. Deep down she knew that Wildflame was right, and that they couldn’t risk confronting that human and his pokémon. She didn’t want her friends to get hurt. But at the same time, the thought of whatever vague horrors Nightshade and Redclaw had hinted to her about Thunder’s past filled her with dread. Thunder had probably been sentenced to a fate worse than death, and none of them could do anything about it.

In the midst of her thoughts she realized that Rosie was still talking. The ninetales’ eyes were still cold and angry. “…And as far as I’m concerned,” she said calmly, “that trainer can do whatever he wants with her.”

Though Snowcrystal wasn’t sure if everyone agreed, no one spoke up to argue.

To be continued...