The Path of Destiny

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 49 - The Agreement

Snowcrystal tensed as the human holding the poké ball stepped toward her with a fiercely determined look in his eyes. To her relief, the human holding her stepped away from him as he did so. “You can’t just…just catch her,” he said, seeming to fumble for the words.

“What do you mean?” the human with the poké ball yelled back. “It’s a wild pokémon. You’re supposed to catch them!”

“Not…this one. And this is not what I wanted to talk about,” the trainer holding Snowcrystal said more fiercely. “You have to leave. There’s a very bad poacher-”

“No one’s a poacher for catching a wild pokémon, if that’s what you mean,” the smaller human snarled.

“Justin, stop it…” his companion whispered, sounding worried. “Listen to him. If he’s come to warn us, something must be wrong. Let’s just get out of here…” Snowcrystal was surprised to hear the name ‘Justin,’ but now wasn’t the time to speculate; there were much more urgent matters to think about.

“Well what are you doing all the way out here?” Justin shouted, ignoring his friend. “You must be out here to catch pokémon too!”

“No,” the taller trainer replied, clutching Snowcrystal tighter. “My pokémon and I were exploring.”

"What sort of trainer explores places in the middle of nowhere without a pokémon center for no good reason?" Justin growled.

Snowcrystal looked up at the trainer holding her, who seemed confused as to why Justin hadn’t found his answer an acceptable one, and at a loss for what to say. He shrugged. “Me, I guess. I’m not much of a battler. I just like to see new places and see how wild pokémon live-”

“Well you’re a freak if you call this fun!” Justin shouted.

“You should go back to the city,” the taller human told him without answering, once again trying to warn the strange humans about Master. “Do you have a flying pokémon?”

“I’m not going back without that growlithe!” Justin snarled, his gaze still fixed firmly on Snowcrystal.

“I have a flying type,” the female human said slowly, acting like she was trying to ignore Justin. “A pidgeot. But he’s injured…”

“Then come with me,” the tropius’s trainer told them, and mounted his pokémon again, still holding Snowcrystal. “We’ll be safe in the city.”

‘The city?’ Snowcrystal thought frantically. There was no way she could go to the city now. She couldn’t leave her friends in danger. She started to struggle against the human’s grip, but he only gave her a brief worried look before he looked back at Justin and his companion, still holding her firmly. Snowcrystal desperately wished he would let his alakazam out. She couldn’t run away; she needed to remind the alakazam that her friends were still out there…

Justin, miraculously, seemed to be distracted from the subject of Snowcrystal for a moment. “How do you know we can trust him?” he yelled at the female trainer, who had started to walk toward the tropius. “I don’t believe him. He’s using that as an excuse to keep the growlithe himself!”

Snowcrystal cringed. Just like that, Justin was back to focusing on her again. The trainer holding her fidgeted nervously, as if he hadn’t counted on them not trusting him.

“Don’t you think that if he wanted to catch it, he would have done so already?” the female trainer told him. “He wasn’t holding onto it while riding a tropius for the fun of it. And if he wanted to attack us, he would have done that too. And look at the burns on his clothes…it’s obvious he’s encountered trouble. He can’t be lying about it-”

“The growlithe burned him, more like,” Justin muttered.

“It’s not attacking him now,” she pointed out.

“Katie…”

“Come on, he has the growlithe, so let’s go back. There’s no use in staying here and getting lost without a healthy flying type for ourselves. And if he tries anything…” She looked at the trainer on the tropius and Snowcrystal realized with surprise that she suddenly looked a bit suspicious. “I have pokémon too.” Without waiting for a reply from Justin, she climbed on the tropius’s back behind its trainer.

Snowcrystal shuddered as she watched Justin, hoping that if he did agree to go with them, he wasn’t about to try and capture her in the poké ball while they were in the air.

She was thinking of how to get the attention of the trainer holding her in some way, when a loud roar interrupted her thoughts. The trainer’s grip on her loosened; she turned around and peered over his shoulder at the shape of a massive arcanine stalking slowly toward them from a group of rocks. The fur of his mane was standing on end and he looked much more ferocious than usual. His head turned and he spotted Snowcrystal.

With another roar he ran toward the humans, and behind him, a few more shapes emerged from the rocks. Snowcrystal saw the somewhat distant forms of Alex, Wildflame, and Spark.

The tropius they were currently riding on started to back away, moving so suddenly that it almost dislodged Katie and its own trainer. Both of them threw poké balls ahead of them; Katie’s beam of light formed into an azumarill, and Arien the alakazam appeared from the other.

“Katie…what’s going on?” Justin cried in a frightened voice, running behind the tropius and staring at the oncoming pokémon fearfully.

“They’re making a mistake…” Snowcrystal whispered to herself. “Arien!” she yelled, watching Redclaw get closer and closer to the two defending pokémon, the others not far behind. “Tell them to stop! Tell your trainer to stop!”

But the alakazam was too busy focusing on the oncoming pokémon and forming a protective barrier around himself as he stood in front of the humans to reply. Snowcrystal wasn’t sure he had even heard her.

Redclaw was almost upon them now, looking ready to attack the barrier again and again until he got through – Snowcrystal knew that protect only lasted so long – and pokémon, either the trainers’ pokémon or Redclaw and the others, were bound to get hurt. She tried to shout out to the arcanine, but her voice was drowned out by another roar before Redclaw fired a blast of flame at the alakazam’s barrier. Spark was right behind him, electricity flying off his form as his fur sharpened into pointed spines. He looked ready to attack Azumarill…

Then he stopped. The electricity across his body flickered feebly and then died out. A look of pure disbelief spread across his face as he stood staring – at what, Snowcrystal wasn’t sure – then he turned to Redclaw and yelled, “STOP!”

Perhaps it was the surprise of seeing a friend who had come to help him telling him such, but Redclaw did stop. Arien’s protect faded away, but he did not attack; instead he merely watched as Alex and Wildflame caught up. They also held back from attacking, but looked far more nervous than Redclaw.

Snowcrystal wriggled free of the human’s grasp and ran to meet them, making sure to stay out of range of Justin, who still seemed intent on capturing her. Wildflame, Alex, and Redclaw, seeming to realize that she was not in immediate danger, relaxed.

“Snowcrystal, what’s going on?” Wildflame asked. “What are you doing-”

“That’s him,” Spark whispered, to no one in particular. “That’s…my trainer.”

“Your what?” Wildflame asked, whirling around to face the jolteon, but Spark wasn’t listening; he had already started running toward Justin.

Of course Justin was Spark’s trainer. It was Justin, Snowcrystal realized, that Spark had been looking at. She had thought, however, that he had just been some other human named Justin, not actually Spark’s former trainer. Snowcrystal was slightly worried for her friend, but he passed the two trainer pokémon easily; they simply watched him. Justin stepped out from behind the tropius, looking confused for a moment until the jolteon came closer and recognition dawned on him.

Spark reached Justin and jumped up to greet him so enthusiastically that he completely bowled him over. Justin, however, didn’t seem to mind at all; he threw his arms around the jolteon, whose fur had turned back to being silky and smooth, and buried his head in the stiff fur of Spark’s mane. Spark was rapidly licking the top of Justin’s head – for he couldn’t reach his face – and shouted joyfully in between licks. “Justin! Justin! I finally found you!”

Wildflame shot Snowcrystal a surprised look, and Snowcrystal returned it; she had been taken off guard by the sudden turn of events just as much as the houndoom had. The two trainers and the rest of the pokémon looked confused, too.

“Justin?” the trainer called Katie asked. “What…is that…an old pokémon of yours?”

Justin looked up for a moment to nod, and the moment he did so, Spark got up as well and began to run joyous circles around him. “This is Spark…my jolteon.” He was smiling, which struck her as surprising. In the short time Snowcrystal had seen this human, he had looked so unhappy. Snowcrystal certainly hadn't seen Justin so happy, and from the looks of Katie, neither had she.

The trainer who had carried Snowcrystal slowly stepped down from his tropius. “Are you going to listen to me now?” he asked.

As he began to talk to Katie, Snowcrystal remembered the alakazam. Moving close to him, she whispered, “Can you help me? I need your trainer’s help. Me and my friends need to get to Stonedust City. And…” She paused, wondering how on earth she was going to explain her quest to this pokémon so quickly. She took a deep breath. “We need to find out as much as we can about something called the Forbidden Attacks. They’re far too powerful, and some are on the loose, and we’ve heard that the only pokémon who-”

“I have heard of the Forbidden Attacks,” Arien replied. “We know the story. And we believe they exist.”

“You believe it?” Snowcrystal breathed in disbelief. It was surprising, but when she thought about it, Arien’s trainer did seem like the sort of human to believe in and chase after legends. Perhaps he’d already tried to find proof of the Forbidden Attacks. There was no mistaking it now; they needed this human’s help, as they weren’t bound to find another like him. “We need to find out who created the Forbidden Attacks. When I met Articuno…I know that’s hard to believe, but…well, he said he thought that only the ones who created the attacks could destroy or take away…”

She began rapidly explaining to Arien, not sure how much else he was going to believe, when she was interrupted suddenly as Katie cried out and pointed; Blazefang and Rosie were slowly creeping toward the group. Rosie looked terrified, but also seemed determined to see why the others were just standing around near strange humans. As they got closer, Rosie suddenly stopped, letting Blazefang walk on ahead. The houndour didn’t look pleased.

“What’s going on here?” he growled.

“These are my friends,” Snowcrystal said hurriedly to the alakazam, in case he perceived them as a threat.

Justin looked up at the two approaching pokémon, giving Blazefang an uneasy glance. Standing up and putting one hand on Spark’s head, he turned to the trainer who had brought Snowcrystal there. To Snowcrystal’s relief, he didn’t start yelling at the trainer about catching her again. “The poacher…won’t be able to reach us for a while?” he asked. “He’s far away, isn’t he?” When the older trainer nodded and hesitantly replied, “He hasn’t come after us yet, so I guess far enough,” Justin just scowled at him. “What is your name?” he asked suddenly, giving the trainer a cold glare.

“Um…Damian,” the trainer replied, looking a bit worried, as if he wasn’t sure what Justin wanted from him.

“Well, Damian,” Justin replied, a sneer on his face. “Just what did you want with that growlithe? You must not have wanted it very much, seeing as you just let it go like that. You can’t object to me catching it now, can you?” Snowcrystal’s eyes widened at these words; she had thought for a moment that she was out of danger.

Beside him, Spark tensed in alarm as Justin walked toward Snowcrystal with the poké ball in his hand. The jolteon grabbed Justin’s sleeve in his teeth and tried to pull him back, but Justin hardly noticed. Snowcrystal started to back away as a few of her friends made threatening growls and stepped forward.

“Wait,” Damian said, stepping toward Justin. “You can’t…”

“Why can’t I?” Justin snarled.

“She has a quest.”

At this, Snowcrystal looked at the trainer in surprise. Arien must have been conveying him her message after all.

“What do you mean, a quest?” Justin spat back. “It’s a pokémon! And I need it.”

“You can’t take her,” Damian replied, speaking more strongly than before, but as he spoke, he was walking toward Snowcrystal. “But if she wants, I can help her find out what she needs to know.” He stooped down and reached his hand out to the growlithe.

“What?” Justin yelled. “What are you talking about? You’re insane! Do you know how long we’ve been looking for-”

Katie, however, seemed calmer, though equally perplexed. “What do you mean?” she asked Damian. “…Help her find out what she needs to know?”

“She wants to find out about the Forbidden Attacks,” he told her.

Justin paused, seeming like he was wracking his brain for something, as if the words sounded familiar, but Katie knew what Damian meant at once. “I’ve heard about those…” she said. “Well, I don’t think anyone knows if they even exist…sure, a few people have supposedly seen one. I mean, it could be like how people used to not believe in Ho-oh, but…but why would a growlithe care about Forbidden Attacks?” She gave Damian a confused look, suddenly seeming doubtful about the whole thing.

“Snowcrystal?” Wildflame whispered as she edged closer to the growlithe. “How does that human know what we’re searching for?”

“His alakazam,” Snowcrystal answered. “They have some sort of psychic link…” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Blazefang look at Arien with sudden interest.

“If the humans don’t believe us,” Wildflame whispered back to Snowcrystal, “we could always get Blazefang to show them the attack, right?” Blazefang shot her a look of horror, and she hissed, “I was joking!”

Snowcrystal turned to look at Damian, who was still holding his hand out to her, but she didn’t move closer. “The growlithe told my alakazam,” the trainer explained to the other two humans. “And he told me…she said that some of the Forbidden Attacks are on the loose, and she needs to find out what pokémon created them, so that they can stop them and stop more pokémon from getting hurt and killed.” He said this as if it was the simplest thing in the world and that the two younger humans would have no problem understanding.

“Not to mention,” Wildflame muttered, “Blazefang has one of the attacks himself.” Damian’s alakazam looked at her then turned to his trainer. A strange expression crossed Damian’s face; Snowcrystal was sure that Arien had told him about Blazefang. However, he did not say anything aloud.

“You’re making this up!” Justin growled at Damian. “I don’t care what you do, I’m catching that growlithe.” He stepped forward, but a yellow blur darted in front of him and stopped. Spark, blocking his former trainer’s way, looked up at him pleadingly. Snowcrystal could tell that he wished he could speak to Justin in words, to tell him that Damian was right.

“Spark…” Justin said slowly.

Spark refused to budge. He turned his head toward Damian, then back to Justin, giving him the same pleading look.

“He wants you to listen,” Katie pointed out quietly, still seeming unsure of everything she was hearing.

“Look,” Damian told Snowcrystal. “Can you tell Arien…everything? I can try to explain to them. Maybe they could help.” He turned to look at Katie and Justin, who just stared back at him. “But afterwards, we need to head to the city…you can’t wander around here without a pokémon who knows fly.” He looked around nervously, but relaxed a bit when there was still no sign of any poacher.

Justin and Katie were quiet at first, then began having a whispered conversation together as Snowcrystal talked to the alakazam. The other pokémon, even the ones who were still wary, stopped and waited. They knew that this human, if he could be trusted, had much better access to information than they did and could be the help they so desperately needed.

As Snowcrystal spoke, Damian told Justin and Katie everything she said. Every once in a while, one of the growlithe’s friends would add something to tell Arien, until Snowcrystal felt that he and Damian would have pretty much the whole story, except for one thing.

She had been avoiding mentioning it, knowing that Blazefang wouldn’t like it, but she had to tell Arien that Blazefang had used his Forbidden Attack a total of three times. “You see,” she told the psychic pokémon, after she had mentioned that Blazefang had used it in the forest as well as on Articuno’s mountain, “Blazefang first used his Forbidden Attack on Stormblade, a scyther we knew. He…he didn’t know what it was, but…” She looked at Katie. “I think that trainer still has Stormblade. You can ask your trainer to tell her to let him out. You’ll see what Shadowflare did…”

Arien turned to look at Damian, who seemed puzzled as he turned to Katie. “Do you have a scyther?” he asked. “An injured one?”

Justin gave Damian a look of pure loathing, and Spark looked up at his trainer, as if confused as to why. Katie simply looked baffled.

“What?” she replied. “How would you....I mean, how would that pokémon know?”

Damian shrugged. “She wanted me to ask you. She told Arien that she knows a scyther who was injured by the…the fire Forbidden Attack. Shadowflare.” He stole a quick glance at Blazefang before looking at Katie again. “Can I see the scyther?” he asked.

“No,” Katie told him firmly. “I’m not letting him out just to be stared at.”

Justin’s face was a mixture of relief and annoyance. He rolled his eyes at Katie but didn’t try to argue.

Damian didn’t seem to mind Katie’s answer. “Did he have strange wounds?” he asked her. “Burns that won’t heal?”

“Well…” Katie began, sounding distracted, like she was still trying to make sense of everything. “The staff at the pokémon center in Stonedust City said the wounds were unusual…but that doesn’t mean much. It probably just meant they didn’t get pokémon with these sorts of injuries often. And…and well, of course they haven’t healed. It hasn’t been that long!”

“Have the wounds shown any sign of improvement? Even a little bit?”

“Well, no…actually, yes…some of the more minor burns and injuries are starting to heal…”

Snowcrystal looked up at Katie hopefully. If Stormblade’s condition was improving, even just a little, that made her feel much less worried. She longed to see Stormblade again, but it didn’t look like the trainer was going to let him out of the poké ball.

“But not the strange-looking ones?” Damian asked.

To Snowcrystal’s surprise, Katie didn’t argue. She glanced at Justin, who looked away. “Well….” she began. “No. Also, I once…came across a dead shinx. It had burns that looked like Scyther’s. I did think it was kind of odd…”

“And that was in the forest he said that the houndour burned down,” Justin said suddenly, looking up at Katie with wide eyes. “Katie, I think they’re really telling the truth. They couldn’t have just made all this up. It all fits.”

At this, Katie simply stared, but Spark leaped up at Justin again, happily trying to lick his face. “Yes! Yes! We are telling the truth!” Snowcrystal heard him say, and although Justin couldn’t understand the words, he seemed to understand the meaning.

“We can talk about this more once we reach the city,” Damian told them. “If you want, you two can help me search for more information about the Forbidden Attacks. Stonedust City has a huge library. I’m not sure if it will help us, but it’s a start.”

Katie obviously looked as if the thought of spending time in a library searching for something she didn’t even fully believe existed was very unappealing, but Justin looked almost excited.

“Wait a minute,” Blazefang muttered. “How are we supposed to get to the city? It’s not like we can all ride on that tropius.”

Arien must have overheard, because Damian almost immediately replied, “Well, the quickest and easiest way would be for me to catch you, and release you when we get there.”

Each of the wild pokémon exchanged nervous glances, except for Alex, who looked perfectly fine with the idea. Snowcrystal had to admit that she was worried, but as the humans began talking again, she didn’t try to speak, for Damian had addressed the pokémon.

“You can stay in the trees near the city,” he told them. “The area is safe from poachers now.”

“Not many trainers go there,” Justin added. “And if they did, there’s plenty of places to hide. It’s the safest place for a wild pokémon near that city.” Snowcrystal could clearly notice a certain excitement in the human’s eyes. He seemed eager to help, to be a part of this…

“Justin,” Katie began, “I don’t know…”

“Katie, what they’re saying makes sense,” Justin told her, and from the look on Katie’s face, it seemed like she had never heard anything that made less sense. “You saw that shinx! You see that wretched scyther every day! You knew there was something strange about that forest that burned down. These pokémon know why all that happened. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that they’d talk about the burned forest or that horrible scyther. They couldn’t be making it up; they must have really seen what happened. Look,” he added, seeing that she did not seem convinced at all, “I want to help them. I want to help them find out what they need to know. It’s about time I was able to do something other than follow you around watching you be a trainer. I’m going to help them.”

“But…” Katie seemed torn, as if she didn’t know what to believe.

“He believes them!” Justin told her, pointing to Damian.

“Yeah, but he’s…” Katie trailed off. She sounded as though she had been about to say ‘crazy.’

“Okay,” Justin sighed. “Do what you want. Keep training or something. But I’m going to help these pokémon.”

“You mean you’re not going to catch the growlithe?” Katie asked.

“No,” Justin replied bitterly. “Not like they’ll let me, anyway.” He glanced at the group of wild pokémon around them. Spark licked Justin’s hand, as if trying to console him. The human looked down at the jolteon, then took out the poké ball he’d been carrying around for so long, the one he’d been hoping to catch Snowcrystal with, and gently tapped it against Spark’s head. The jolteon stood still for a moment, letting himself be absorbed into the ball. Then, after the red light on the button faded with a ‘ping’, Justin sent the jolteon out again.

“Justin,” Katie began, “you aren’t a registered trainer…you aren’t supposed to-”

Justin ignored her and walked over to Damian’s tropius, putting his hand on the neck of the pokémon, who nuzzled his shoulder affectionately with a soft tropius cry. Then he looked at Snowcrystal and the other watching pokémon.

“Let a human catch me?” Rosie shouted indignantly before any of the other pokémon could say anything. “No! I won’t do it! I don’t trust him! I don’t trust any humans!”

“Be reasonable,” Redclaw growled. “I for one am willing to be caught temporarily if it means helping Snowcrystal and getting further away from Master…” He sighed. “That is, if the poké ball Team Rocket captured me with was destroyed in the collapse, like Stormblade’s must have been.” He looked worriedly at Damian as if suddenly worried that his wasn’t.

“I’m willing to be caught if it means getting closer to being rid of this attack,” Blazefang said, stepping forward. He gave Damian a nod, knowing that the human would understand what he meant, and Snowcrystal watched as a poké ball was thrown and Blazefang was absorbed inside it.

“Is he mad?!” Rosie shrieked.

“The poké ball will be sent to the pokémon lab by the ranch,” Damian explained as he hurriedly picked the poké ball up, but Snowcrystal didn’t know what he meant. She thought, however, she saw the poké ball vanish as Damian made to put it in his pocket, but she couldn’t be sure she hadn’t imagined it. “Don’t worry,” he added. “As soon as we get to the city, I’ll use the computer to switch you for my current team, then I’ll release you outside the city.”

Snowcrystal still had no idea what he was talking about, but Spark caught her eye and gave her a nod. She relaxed; if Spark was okay with it, it must mean that whatever Damian was doing was safe.

Most of the other pokémon didn’t seem so sure.

“I’m NOT letting him catch me!” Rosie yelled. Beside her, Wildflame looked almost as uneasy.

“How can we be sure we can trust him?” Wildflame asked. “He just showed up! We can’t know if he’s trustworthy.”

“He risked his life to save me,” Snowcrystal told her. “No humans like Master would do that. Look, I know we’re taking a risk, but this is our best chance to find out what we need about the Forbidden Attacks. I’m willing to risk it if it means helping Articuno and the other pokémon the Forbidden Attacks could hurt.”

Wildflame sighed. “If you’re sure…then all right. Not like I’ve got anything to lose…” she added bitterly.

“I’ll let him catch me if it means helping you guys!” Alex stated, looking around to make sure the other pokémon had heard. “I want to help too, like that human wants to help.” She looked over at Justin.

Snowcrystal was about to reply to the others in an attempt to convince Rosie when she noticed Redclaw turn around and look back the way he had come. She turned as well, and saw Nightshade peering at them from behind the rocks the others had emerged from, leaning feebly against one of the boulders.

Redclaw turned and ran toward him, and the trainers and their pokémon watched in surprise as the arcanine helped Nightshade limp over toward the rest of the group. Still very weak, he didn’t get very far before he had to climb on Redclaw’s back again.

Rosie looked relieved to see Nightshade arriving. “Oh, good,” she said. “Nightshade’s here. Maybe he can talk some sense into you all.”

Once he reached the group, Redclaw lay down and allowed Nightshade to slowly crawl back on the ground. The heracross looked at the humans who were still staring at him in surprise, and then at Redclaw. “You found help,” he stated simply, his voice still sounding very weak.

“Help!” Rosie hissed. “Nightshade, these are humans. You just got here! You don’t even know what they-”

“I was watching. Redclaw and the others wouldn’t have stayed so close to them for so long if they weren’t offering help,” Nightshade replied quietly.

“Nightshade,” Snowcrystal told him, “these humans…or at least two of them, are going to help us find out about the Forbidden Attacks.” To her relief, Nightshade did not seem worried. She wasn’t sure how long he’d been watching them, but he seemed perfectly relaxed.

“Is…that heracross with them?” Katie asked, still sounding confused. Snowcrystal could understand why; a pokémon that ate sap and other sweet things traveling with meat eaters probably wasn’t a common occurrence, even if the human was somehow used to the idea of members of different species journeying together.

The reactions of the pokémon gathered there gave Katie her answer. Rosie, Spark, Alex and Wildflame moved toward Nightshade in a concerned way. Snowcrystal saw Spark turn around and give Justin a hopeful look, but Justin didn’t seem like he had any idea what to do with injured pokémon.

Damian walked slowly over to the heracross while reaching for something in his backpack. “Here,” he said, holding out a small container of something that looked sort of like tree sap, yet smelled familiar.

It took Snowcrystal a few moments to recognize the scent. It was honey, like the honey they’d found in the combee hive. Nightshade turned toward Damian and began licking the honey gratefully, after pausing to tell him thanks in pokémon language. Rosie glared daggers at Nightshade, muttering something about it probably being poison.

“We have to get this heracross to a pokémon center,” Damian said as he turned to Katie. “Are you going to come with us?”

Katie looked over at Justin and the tropius. “Okay…” she stated hesitantly, still not sounding very convinced about what the other two humans were going to try and do. Snowcrystal wouldn’t have cared much, but remembering that she had Stormblade made her want this human to come with them.

“Let’s go,” Redclaw told everyone, but he addressed the alakazam in particular. “You can tell your human that we are ready.”

“All right, then,” Arien replied, seeming a bit annoyed with the way Redclaw had spoken like it was an order.

“You coming?” Wildflame asked Rosie, who was still staring at them all as if they’d grown extra heads.

“NO!” she shouted fiercely.

“Look,” Wildflame sighed, “these humans aren’t like the stupid poachers or Master. One of them could have died saving Snowcrystal. If you don’t want to get left behind, I’d suggest you come. Besides, if they try to do anything bad to us, we’ll defend you.”

Snowcrystal watched the houndoom speak, wishing that Katie had let Stormblade out so that he could at least speak for the two humans who had been traveling together. Or Katie, at least, because she knew Stormblade would have nothing good to say about Justin, but there was Spark for that.

“Besides,” Wildflame told Rosie with a grin as Damian began rummaging in his backpack for more poké balls, “if Thunder were here, she’d think the humans were bad too, and you wouldn’t want to agree with her, would you?”

Snowcrystal winced at the mention of Thunder, but Rosie, although looking torn and frightened, did not argue. “You…you promise you’ll stop them…if they…” the ninetales began in a frightened voice that sounded very unlike her own.

“Of course. All of us,” Wildflame replied.

Snowcrystal didn’t listen to what Rosie’s response was. The mention of Thunder had brought her back to another important matter. “Arien!” she called, running up to the psychic pokémon. “Before we get captured…I need your trainer’s help.” She paused, wondering if the alakazam would be annoyed that she kept needing him to send messages for her, but he didn’t seem to mind, nor had it seemed to be hard to communicate his thoughts to his trainer. “A friend of ours…” She felt odd saying the word ‘friend’ when referring to Thunder, and she was sure the other pokémon listening felt it was odd too, but she didn’t have time to explain. “…She got captured by that human who was trying to capture me. Do you think…do you think your human can free her? She’s a scyther named Thunder, and…” She broke off, for Damian had looked up from Nightshade and the poké balls he’d found to look at Arien, and she knew that the alakazam was using the psychic link. The look on Damian’s face was horrified, and sad… certainly not a look that was hopeful to her.

“Aren’t we supposed to be leaving?” Justin called from beside the tropius, looking annoyed that Damian and the pokémon were taking their time. Obviously he couldn’t know what important things they had been trying to discuss.

“Yes…” Damian replied, walking over to Snowcrystal. “I think the pokémon are ready.”

“But…” Snowcrystal whispered to herself.

Damian didn’t look at her, but he seemed to know what she was thinking. “I’m sorry…” he said, “but we can’t help Thunder now. There isn’t anything we can do.”

Snowcrystal knew he was right, but she couldn’t help feeling miserable. Humans were supposed to be able to solve problems easily. They were supposed to be able to stop bad humans. She had suspected that Master was more powerful than even most good trainers, but it still managed to surprise her a bit when she really had to think of it as fact.

“Do you really think it’s a good idea to have a white growlithe sent back to the lab?” Justin asked suddenly as Damian picked up a poké ball. “I don’t think this is something…people should know about.” He acted like he was choosing his words carefully, and he was looking at Damian with an expression that looked almost like jealousy.

“It’ll be fine,” Damian replied. “My younger brother used to volunteer at a lab. The workers there will be able to tell what species is inside the poké ball, but they won’t notice an unusual color unless they let her out. I’ll have gone back to the city and released her before they have time to let her out. The machine will probably notify them that the heracross is in bad condition…but when I get to Stonedust City, I can still ask for him back and request to put him in the pokémon center there.”

“Or what’s left of it…” Justin muttered.

“They had to have made some sort of temporary center,” Katie replied, speaking for the first time in a while. “There are probably plenty of buildings they could use…”

“See?” Snowcrystal heard Redclaw whisper to Rosie. “They could heal your leg…make it work properly again.”

Rosie looked down at her paws. “I don’t know…” she whispered. “I’ll come with you, but don’t let those humans put me in a building when I haven’t decided yet.”

“All right,” Redclaw agreed.

Snowcrystal wasn’t sure what he’d be able to do other than talk to Arien about it, but Rosie seemed satisfied.

Seeing that the pokémon had all stopped talking and stepped forward, Damian picked up the poké balls and set them down in front of them. Together, each pokémon stepped forward and touched one with their nose or paw. Snowcrystal felt a strange and familiar yet still foreign sensation as she was swept inside, then everything went dark.

-ooo-

It was hard to tell just how much time had passed when the poké ball opened and Snowcrystal saw light again. It had seemed like a long time, and though being inside the poké ball had seemed strangely peaceful, she hadn’t been used to it. Although she’d been able to convince herself that everything was all right, the fact that she did not know how to release herself from the orb, as Spark had told her some pokémon could do while in certain kinds of poké balls, unnerved her.

She didn’t have much time to think about it though, for around her, she could see most of her friends; to her left, Wildflame’s form materialized from the same red mist that had filled her own vision moments before. Rosie, Redclaw, Blazefang, and Alex had already been released, and Spark was standing proudly beside the human called Justin. Snowcrystal was happy to see Redclaw there; clearly his Team Rocket poké ball had been destroyed, since Damian’s had been able to capture him.

Near Spark and Justin was the other human, Katie, who looked as though she had decided to stay around and help, at least for the time being. Though Snowcrystal didn’t recognize the area, she figured they must be in one of the tree groves near Stonedust City.

“I’m going to go back and get my pokémon,” Damian told the two humans before taking off running through the trees.

“He won’t be gone long, will he?” Snowcrystal heard Spark asking. “We need to get into that library!”

“I don’t think we will be the ones going into the library,” Snowcrystal told him. “The humans will probably go themselves.”

“Then who’s going to protect us from other humans that might come here?” Blazefang asked worriedly.

“Ourselves,” Redclaw growled. It was obvious that he found it odd, and annoying, that Blazefang was acting so paranoid. “But with any luck, we won’t have to. They said this place was safe.”

“Sure…” Rosie muttered, still clearly unhappy about the whole thing.

“He’ll deactivate the poké balls when he gets back to the city,” Spark reassured her. “Don’t worry. He won’t be able to return you to yours. You’ll be officially released.”

“Spark,” Redclaw asked suddenly. “Did your human release you already?”

Spark shook his head. “No,” he told Redclaw. “And he’s not going to. I’ve found my home, and that’s wherever Justin is.” Redclaw didn’t reply, and neither did anyone else, though it was clear that the others had mixed feelings about Spark remaining with a human.

Everyone waited in silence, a few of them casting nervous glances at Katie and Justin, who were giving equally anxious looks back at them. “Where’s Nightshade?” Snowcrystal wondered aloud after a while.

Redclaw looked at her and shrugged. “Damian could only bring six of us. Maybe he’s going to bring Nightshade back now.”

“He’s probably at the pokémon center,” Spark replied.

“The destroyed one?” Redclaw muttered, but before anyone could reply, a shadow passed over them and Damian’s tropius landed in the clearing.

Damian stepped off the grass type’s back, looking around at both pokémon and humans. “Well,” he began, obviously addressing the pokémon, “you’re all free. Before we search, I thought we might get to know each other better.”

Most of the pokémon glanced at each other in confusion. Snowcrystal wasn’t sure how she and the others would get to know a human without really annoying Arien, which seemed pretty pointless when she thought they should be using the pokémon and trainer connection to convey only important information. But she soon realized that that was not what Damian had meant; for a moment later he had taken out four other poké balls, each of a different color, and flung them into the air in front of him.

Four more pokémon appeared; Snowcrystal recognized Arien and the absol who had helped save her in the canyon. Beside the absol stood a smaller, orange and yellow pokémon with pointed ears that resembled Spark’s, and a large ruff of fur around his neck. She knew what this species was; it was a flareon. The pokémon beside him was a smaller yellow pokémon with odd looking structures on his head which Snowcrystal guessed might be his ears, and black stripes as well as a lightning bolt shape on his chest. It took her a moment to think of the name of this species, but it came to her when she remembered hearing about it in a story back on her mountain; it was an elekid.

“Well,” Damian told the waiting pokémon and the two humans, “meet Dusk.” He nodded to the absol. “Arien.” The alakazam stepped forward. “Inferno.” The flareon smiled shyly. “Fernwing.” The tropius nodded. “And Todd.” At the mention of his name, the elekid leaped up excitedly, staring around at the humans and pokémon gathered beneath the trees with a wide grin.

Looking at these pokémon, Snowcrystal didn’t feel like introducing herself. She had much more important things on her mind. And first, she was going to ask the question she had been wondering about since she arrived here. “Where’s Nightshade?” She hoped one of Damian’s pokémon would know, or that Arien would ask his trainer, but she was pretty sure that Damian had Nightshade with him. After all, he had only let out five pokémon.

“Nightshade the heracross is in the temporary pokémon center,” Damian answered, so soon after she asked her question that she wondered if Arien let Damian know everything he heard from other pokémon. “And yes, I released him. He is wild, but the nurses there are still taking care of him.”

Damian’s flareon and elekid gave each other confused looks. Snowcrystal heard the flareon whisper, “What’s this all about?”

“And Stormblade? He’s…the scyther she has.” She angled her head toward Katie.

“In the long-term pokémon hospital at the other side of Stonedust City,” Damian replied after exchanging a look with Arien. “She took him there before we came here. And…Katie,” he added, looking up at the rather confused trainer. “I think your scyther has a name. It’s Stormblade.”

Katie kept giving him the confused look. Justin, however, seemed rather annoyed that he couldn’t tell what was going on between the pokémon except for what Damian told them. “Stormblade’s a horrible name,” he muttered.

“Would you rather I just called him Scyther?” Katie asked him. Justin said nothing.

Snowcrystal wished she could have seen Stormblade before he’d been taken off to that ‘hospital,’ whatever that was, but it looked like she wasn’t going to get to see him after all.

“So, were these pokémon…friends of that scyther?” Katie asked Damian slowly.

“Yes!” all of the wild pokémon in the clearing, except for Blazefang, said at once. Katie didn’t need a translator to understand. Luckily, Justin didn’t seem to have noticed Spark joining in with the others.

“Well…” Katie began, as if she found it odd to be talking to a group of wild pokémon rather than her own, “he’s being taken care of. I know I should have taken him to the long-term hospital first thing when I was at the city before…I mean, the pokémon center was closer…I thought they’d move him there eventually…” She stopped, realizing that the pokémon were just staring at her, understanding that they, or at least the ones that had always been wild, probably didn’t have a clue what she was talking about.

“Who are these pokémon?” Inferno the flareon said quietly.

“Sorry,” Redclaw told him. “We’ll have to explain everything to you soon. I am Redclaw, and these are my friends.” As he began introducing them as quickly as he could, Damian’s pokémon watched silently, some of them still confused. Katie quietly let out a few of her pokémon, her azumarill and the aipom Snowcrystal recognized as Sid, who sat and listened with wide eyes, clearly in awe of all the strange pokémon around him. Damian watched calmly, seeming satisfied that the pokémon were getting to know each other. Justin simply looked annoyed.

“Aren’t we going to the library?” he said loudly, fixing Damian with an accusing stare. “We’re wasting time.”

“I don’t think we should go until tomorrow,” Damian replied. Before Justin could argue, he explained, “It’s already evening. The library will be closing soon. I think we should spend tonight planning how we could most efficiently search the library, and talking to the pokémon too. There could be ways they could help.”

Justin didn’t argue, but he still looked annoyed. “So…are these pokémon going to explain to you and your alakazam exactly what we need to be doing?”

“Yes…” Damian replied, looking over the group. “They can tell us anything else we need to know, and I’ll tell you and Katie everything.” He paused to look at Blazefang, who crouched down and averted his gaze. “But first,” Damian said, just as Justin was looking eager to learn more from the pokémon, “I think my newest pokémon needs to understand this as well.” He took out another poké ball, which looked like the one Katie had caught Stormblade with.

“A luxury ball?” Spark blurted out. “No fair!”

“Shh!” Rosie hissed. “You’re the one who wanted to be caught! Quit complaining!”

“Why didn’t you just let that one out in the first place?” Justin growled, clearly growing more impatient.

“He doesn’t like other pokémon much,” Damian replied. “I wasn’t sure how he’d react. But…” He shrugged carelessly. “I’m sure it’ll be all right.” Katie and Justin exchanged uneasy looks as Damian threw the poké ball in the air.

The pokémon that appeared brought Snowcrystal back to the previous night where she had seen the silhouette of a human and two pokémon near the canyon. She had been, unfortunately, right about two things that night. One, that one of the pokémon had been a scizor, and two, that that scizor was Scytheclaw.

“You!” Redclaw snarled as soon as the scizor finished forming.

When Scytheclaw first appeared, he looked almost calm, certainly not angry like he had always seemed before. She noticed that he had bandages around his waist and on other parts of his body, and she realized that Damian must have helped him. But why? Scytheclaw’s calm expression instantly changed to one of fury as he realized who he was standing in front of. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” he shouted, in a voice that sounded as though he wanted to tear all the wild pokémon to shreds. Justin looked startled, even afraid, and he visibly flinched as the scizor cried out. Katie glanced at him anxiously.

“I could ask you the same question,” Redclaw replied, mimicking Scytheclaw’s exact words from the time they had encountered the scizor after coming down from the mountain. Snowcrystal noticed that all of her friends had assumed a battle stance.

“Tell me,” Wildflame began, grinning slyly. Snowcrystal gave her an odd look, wondering why she sounded like she was taunting. Did Wildflame really feel like it would be wise to start a fight? “How did you feel being kicked out of your home? Didn’t feel as good as kicking other pokémon out yourself, did it?” She opened her mouth, and Snowcrystal could see the red hot glow of a small, but still red hot fire attack about to be launched.

Scytheclaw’s eyes locked on her, and he lunged. As quick as he could, Damian reached for the poké ball and returned him. The flames that had been forming in Wildflame’s mouth flickered and died.

Once Scytheclaw was gone, Justin turned and glared at Damian. “You’re ‘sure it will be all right?’” he cried mockingly, still looking furious. “That thing could have killed us!”

“Actually,” Damian pointed out, though he looked as shocked as everyone else, “he was only going to attack the houndoom, but…I don’t understand why he did that. He’s such a nice pokémon-”

“It’s not nice!” Justin yelled, and Spark shouted his agreement. “You can’t trust any member of that species.” Damian seemed so taken aback by how his scizor had reacted that he did not reply. “Come on, Katie,” Justin muttered, “let’s go into the city and find a trainer’s hotel for the night, since we can’t stay in a pokémon center…”

“But didn’t you want to hear what…” Katie began, looking at the pokémon.

“I can tell you everything they said in the morning…if you want,” Damian told her.

“Fine,” she muttered, not looking at him. She followed Justin and Spark, who had angrily begun to walk away through the trees.

“I knew the new guy had issues,” Inferno the flareon whispered, and Snowcrystal knew he was talking about Scytheclaw. Dusk glared at him. “What?” Inferno asked.

-ooo-

“I can’t believe this!” Justin muttered as he and Katie walked through the grass toward the brightening lights of Stonedust City. The sky above them was growing darker, and Justin was glad they were close; it was getting hard to see where he was going. “He has a scizor. What…why…what sort of trainer keeps a pokémon like that? Granted, it’s not as bad as scyther, but…”

“Justin, you owned a scyther once, and I do now,” Katie pointed out from behind him.

Justin didn’t reply. He looked down at his jolteon, who looked up and gave him a worried glance, clearly uneasy about something. Wishing he had a telepathic pokémon like Damian, Justin trudged on, Spark at his side.

“You know,” Katie began again, “if we try to walk into a trainer’s lodge and they see you have a pokémon, they’re going to ask for your license.”

“I’ll hide the poké ball and say I’m with you,” Justin muttered.

“I want to check on Scythe-...Stormblade, first,” Katie replied.

Justin stopped in his tracks. “Oh, please!” he shouted. “Why do you have to do that? We have much more important things to think about now. Like stopping the Forbidden Attacks!” He felt Spark slowly lick his hand, trying to calm him down.

“Justin…we don’t even know for sure if that whole thing is true,” Katie replied. “Are you sure you want to believe a bunch of…wild pokémon who probably don’t know what they’re talking about?” She paused as Spark growled at her. “And you can go on alone and wait for me at the hotel if you want, but I’m going to visit Stormblade.”

Justin kept walking, feeling like it was useless to argue. He hated the fact that she was still focused on that horrible scyther, the very reason he was going to have to hide Spark while in the trainer’s lodges. He would have tried to ask the people at the pokémon hospital to just give up and put the bug type to sleep if he didn't find the idea of all that suffering to be ironically fitting for the scyther. Trying not to think about that anymore, he gave Katie an annoyed glance out of the corner of his eye. “Well I believe him,” he muttered, setting his hand on Spark’s head. He walked on ahead, no longer caring whether Katie would be coming with him to the hotel right away or not.

-ooo-

Snowcrystal and her friends, along with Damian’s pokémon, minus Scytheclaw, sat together in the clearing. Damian had set up a tent in the middle of it, which Snowcrystal had found strangely fascinating, but hadn’t dared to try to go inside. A couple of fireflies flew lazily around them as they all sat in the dark clearing lit only by a small glowing device Damian had brought. Some of them, mainly Snowcrystal, Rosie, and a surprisingly willing Blazefang, told Damian’s pokémon everything they thought was important. Rosie even launched into a quick description of some of the things they had encountered on their journey.

“I’d give anything to get rid of Shadowflare…” Blazefang sighed after everyone had finished explaining what they had encountered and learned of the Forbidden Attacks.

“Aww, don’t worry!” Alex said, patting Blazefang on the back. “We’ll help you learn how to get rid of it!” Blazefang glared furiously at her.

“Well, first thing in the morning,” Redclaw said, “we have to get into that library.”

“The humans do, anyway,” Dusk told him from where he was lying beneath a tree. “The city’s no place for wild pokémon.”

“We want to help too!” Alex protested.

“I didn’t mean you couldn’t,” Dusk replied. “It’s just that the humans can search the library for relevant books much faster and more efficiently than a pokémon can. I’m assuming none of you read human.” He smirked. “If you really wanted to, I’m sure one of the smaller pokémon could go, but I’d be careful if I were you, growlithe.”

“Snowcrystal,” she stated.

“Right.” Dusk smiled again and then lay down, closing his eyes.

Most of the other pokémon were settling down for the night; even Wildflame and Blazefang were getting ready to sleep. Though nocturnal, the journey had taken so much of a toll on them that they didn’t think much of sleeping at odd times. Snowcrystal stood up and was about to walk over to Redclaw and Alex when she noticed Damian wandering off. Curious, she turned and followed him. She hadn’t followed him far from the clearing when he turned and noticed her.

“Don’t worry,” he told her, “I’m not leaving. I’m just letting Scytheclaw out…away from the others, I mean. He likes sleeping outside. It’s okay, he won’t bother you. Go back and rest with your friends.”

Snowcrystal turned and headed back toward the others. She was almost upon the clearing when she stopped in her tracks. A sudden thought had come to her. She had been too overwhelmed by everything to think about it before…

Running into the clearing, she found a spot to herself beneath a small tree, waiting for Damian to return. Redclaw glanced over at her, concerned, but she didn’t want to explain why she was sleeping alone. She waited for what seemed a long while until she saw Damian stroll back into the clearing and climb into the tent; his shiny device turned off. After that moment, she stood up and began strolling away.

“Snowcrystal, where are you going?” Redclaw whispered.

“Uh…just for a walk,” Snowcrystal replied. He didn’t say anything, and she crossed the clearing and went into the trees. Once in the darkness of night without any pokémon surrounding her, and with nothing but the light of the moon and her crystal to see by, Snowcrystal suddenly became worried, remembering the last time she had tried to do something similar. “I have to do it…” she whispered to herself. “For Stormblade.”

She came to a spot on the ground where she could smell Scytheclaw’s scent; Damian had released him here. She kept walking, noticing the scent growing stronger as she moved through a grove of trees, then she suddenly emerged into a clearing.

“What is it this time?” a nasty voice hissed back to her. Scytheclaw was standing on the other side of the clearing, gazing at the sky.

Snowcrystal hesitated, then walked forward. “I have to ask you something.”

The scizor turned around and fixed the tiny growlithe with a piercing stare. “Didn’t you ask already? I only know as much as you know, or as much as you told Damian,” he growled. “He just told me what you all said.”

“We told him everything we know,” Snowcrystal replied. “But that’s not what I wanted to talk about it. You see, my friend, the scyther that was with us when…when we came to the canyon…he’s hurt bad and he can’t heal. Damian probably told you about him. I was thinking…that…you could…”

Scytheclaw’s face betrayed no emotion, but he lowered himself down to her level and stared into her eyes. She felt even more unnerved now. “And what,” the scizor hissed, “makes you think I’d do that?”

“You’re the only one who can!” Snowcrystal replied, trying to feel brave. “You know he’s been hurt by Blazefang’s Forbidden Attack now, right? Spark says they don’t heal, and it certainly hasn’t been healing. Stormblade has nothing to do with what you have against Redclaw or Nightshade…or me…surely you wouldn’t let an innocent pokémon suffer…” She wasn’t sure how he would react.

“You don’t seem to care that the healing power, or Forbidden Attack, or whatever it is, hurts me,” Scytheclaw growled. “Why should I care about the pain of your friend when you clearly don’t care about mine?”

“But-”

Scytheclaw’s expression turned furious again. “He gets to stay a scyther!” he yelled. “He should be grateful for that! I’m not going anywhere near a scyther,” he spat bitterly, and it was clear to Snowcrystal that he did not want to be reminded of what he once was…what he lost. Scytheclaw had to have some major issue with evolution, or maybe he just really missed his scyther form. She had remembered him saying to Nightshade, during their battle, that he had been forced to evolve. She knew that some pokémon never wanted to; Scytheclaw had been one of them, one that had to have been particularly horrified with the idea, if it had affected him so much. But that was no reason to refuse to help…

“Look,” Snowcrystal told him, “if there’s anything I can do that will convince you to help him, I’ll do it.”

“There isn’t,” Scytheclaw snarled. “Get out of here.”

“But there must be something I can-”

“What would I want from a filthy, fleabitten freak like you?” Scytheclaw yelled. “I don’t want your help, and you certainly won’t be getting any from me. Now leave, or else I’ll have to explain to Damian why there are growlithe entrails all over this clearing in the morning.”

Snowcrystal wasn’t sure he really meant the threat, but she wasn’t going to find out. She turned and left, feeling depressed and hopeless. How could she ever convince Scytheclaw to help Stormblade? Maybe she couldn’t, she thought, but maybe…someone else could. Scytheclaw seemed to have a certain respect for Damian… That was it!

Breaking into a run again, she reached the clearing in no time. Looking around at the pokémon, she spotted Arien still awake. Walking up to him, she prodded his arm with a paw. “Arien,” she whispered. “I need your help.”

“What is it?” the pokémon asked, turning toward her.

“It’s about Scytheclaw,” she told him. “You know how I was talking about what he said…how he had that weird healing power?” She watched as the alakazam nodded. “Well, I think that could be the answer to curing Stormblade’s injuries. If anything can, I’m sure Scytheclaw’s power could.” She waited to see what he would say, and for one frantic moment she felt a rush of panic, wondering if Scytheclaw had been lying and there was no power at all…

“I’ve seen Scytheclaw use this power,” Arien replied, immediately putting her fears to rest. “He used it on Damian after he found the scizor injured and helped him. Damian had a minor injury from a wild pokémon, and although Scytheclaw managed to heal it, I could tell it caused him a considerable amount of pain.”

Snowcrystal stared. She couldn’t imagine Scytheclaw repaying anyone for helping him. She was also growing to doubt that the power was a Forbidden Attack at all, and she could tell that Arien felt the same way.

“Damian saved him, you know,” Arien continued.

“What?” Snowcrystal replied, shocked, but then remembered that Damian had to have no idea about what Scytheclaw had done in the past; he had probably just wanted to help an injured pokémon. “Oh…yes, but…well, Scytheclaw doesn’t seem like the kind of pokémon to be helpful. I mean…he’s ruthless. Cruel, even. He…he tried to kill Nightshade before, in a battle.”

To her surprise, Arien didn’t seem angry that she had said such a thing about his teammate. He remained completely calm. “A horrible leader, I suppose,” he began. “Yes, Scytheclaw told Damian that he was once the leader of a group of pokémon, though not a good one, from what I can tell.” That, Snowcrystal thought, was an understatement. Scytheclaw had been the worst leader she had ever heard of. “But believe me when I say that unless provoked, Scytheclaw will not harm any of you anymore.”

“What do you mean? We can’t really trust him to just…you know, sit there and do nothing, especially when Nightshade comes back…”

“He won’t harm Nightshade either,” the alakazam replied. “Hate him, perhaps, but not harm him. He only tried to attack Wildflame because she threatened him.”

“How do you know he won’t attack Nightshade…or anyone else?” Snowcrystal asked. “How can you be sure?”

“You’re going to have to trust me on this,” Arien said calmly. “I know it’s hard to believe, if you have been harmed by Scytheclaw in the past, but trust me when I say that you will not get any trouble from him if you leave him alone.”

Snowcrystal wasn’t sure why, but somehow, she believed him. After all, Scytheclaw hadn’t wanted to fight them when they had met him in the wild; he had been beaten and alone, far from the group of pokémon he was used to ruling over. “Okay…” she said softly. “But there’s something else…I talked to him tonight, and he said he wouldn’t try to heal Stormblade…”

“You were asking a lot of him,” Arien replied. “Healing injuries like what you said Stormblade has would take a lot of energy, perhaps even be more painful.”

“So what?” Snowcrystal growled, forgetting for a moment to be silent. “Stormblade’s in pain all the time, and he doesn’t even deserve it! Scytheclaw’s his only hope!”

“I’m not saying Scytheclaw made the better choice,” Arien replied calmly, “only explaining why he told you ‘no.’ And seeing how hostile you and you friends seem toward him, that probably influenced his decision too.”

“I wasn’t being hostile…” Snowcrystal said softly. “Being nice sure didn’t make a difference. Do you think…” She paused. “Do you think you can speak to Damian? If Scytheclaw has respect for him, and he’s Damian’s pokémon, Damian can make him do it.”

“Maybe,” the alakazam replied, “but I won’t tell him.”

“Why?” Snowcrystal whispered, but she really wanted to shout it out loud.

“Because I know Damian won’t,” the psychic pokémon told her. “Damian never makes his pokémon do anything they don’t want to do, and I’m not sure any good would come out of him trying to force Scytheclaw anyway. I’m afraid this decision is Scytheclaw’s alone. No one can physically force him to use his power.”

“Then it’s hopeless then,” Snowcrystal muttered, and without waiting for a reply, she walked back to her tree and lay down. She saw the alakazam giving her one last look before she turned and faced the other way. There didn’t seem to be anything she could do, no way to force or trick Scytheclaw into helping her. She started to wonder if there was any real hope for Stormblade to heal at all.

To be continued...