The Path of Destiny
Chapter 64 – Going Forward

“I’m telling you, I think this is where we need to go. I don’t know why I’m so sure, I just am.” Katie took a deep breath as she waited for a response from Damian and Justin. The pokémon were listening too, and she knew she would need to have Arien and Damian translate their opinions as well.

“Do you even know what legendary we’re looking for here?” Justin asked, folding his arms and not looking very impressed.

“No,” Katie replied. “I don’t know where that portal – if that’s what it is – leads to.”

“And why are you so convinced?” Justin argued back. “We all watched that video you recorded. And while, sure, it’s weird…it’s probably fake, or isn’t actually anything-”

“Look, I know it sounds crazy, but right now it’s not just our best bet, it’s our only one.” Katie looked around at the watching group of people and pokémon. Justin was standing with Spark and some of the other wild pokémon on one side of the clearing. On the opposite side were Stormblade, Nightshade, and Damian, with the rest gathered somewhere in the middle. Stormblade in particular looked interested in what she was saying, and she chalked it up to pure curiosity; a lot of what the scyther had heard in the past day was completely new to him. He did look far more optimistic than the others, but she supposed anyone would if they had just been completely cured of a debilitating wound.

“What about the pokémon?” Damian asked, echoing Katie’s own thoughts. “We should see what they think.”

“Oh come on, we’re the trainers here!” Justin retorted.

“And some of them aren’t even our pokémon,” Katie snapped. “Damian’s right. Besides, this was their journey before it was ours.” She gestured to the pokémon to start talking together and stepped back, waiting until Damian could translate their overall opinion.

Justin gave Katie an annoyed look, but he sighed and turned his attention away from the group of pokémon, who had already broken up into worried chatter.

“Should we really be wandering off somewhere this soon?” Rosie spoke first, looking over each of the pokémon around her.

“I think we should try to find the place,” Stormblade answered confidently. “There are pokémon with Forbidden Attacks out there. We need to find answers before anything gets worse.”

Blazefang glanced at the scyther, not sure he wanted to make eye contact with Stormblade in spite of the fact that his Shadowflare wounds were gone. He looked away, letting the other pokémon carry on the discussion.

“What about Nightshade?” Redclaw asked, pointing his cream muzzle at the heracross, who was watching the group while resting against a tree.

“I intend to come with you,” Nightshade replied, sitting up a little straighter. “I’ll go in one of the trainers’ poké balls if I need to.”

“Well you kind of have to,” Rosie pointed out. “Katie told us you couldn’t be taken back to the pokémon center. But I still don’t see why we have to leave right now… We should at least let the injured pokémon rest for a few more days.”

“All right, everyone, just calm down,” Redclaw stated, seeing that some of the pokémon were beginning to look agitated. The arcanine took a deep breath. “I agree with Stormblade. I think that if Katie believes we should find this desert place, we should. It’s better than waiting here. But Rosie is also right. We should take a few more days to prepare and give the injured time to rest.”

“I agree with Redclaw,” Wildflame announced, raising her voice so that every pokémon could hear her over the chatter. “If this is a legendary, it doesn’t seem to want to be found by just anyone. If it created some sort of portal, then that must lead to its domain, or at least something that might give us a clue. What if it’s one of the legendaries guarding another Forbidden Attack? What if it knows more than Articuno does?”

“And if it doesn’t…?” Blazefang asked, edging closer to his former pack-mate. “What’ll I do then?”

“Then we look elsewhere,” Wildflame answered him. “But I’d rather start looking as soon as we can than wait for a better opportunity to come up.”

Beside her, Blazefang nodded. The fear of his own Forbidden Attack was surfacing again, leading him to realize that he felt the same way as Wildflame.

In one spot on the clearing, Scytheclaw sighed and lowered his head. When he spoke, he didn’t try to stand up. His body was still too weak, but in spite of that, he acted as confident as he could. “I know I want answers,” he began, giving Rosie a glare. “I want to know why any of this happened to me. And I want to know as soon as possible.”

Stormblade gave Scytheclaw a respectful nod. “And I thank you for-”

“Save it for later, okay?” Scytheclaw snapped at him. “We’ve got more important things to talk about right now.”

Stormblade looked taken aback, but Alex moved toward him, whispering, “Don’t mind him, he’s just grumpy.” The floatzel gave a small chuckle that made Stormblade relax.

“I’m…not sure about this,” Spark muttered.

“Why, because your trainer isn’t?” Scytheclaw growled, turning his disapproving glare on the jolteon.

“No, I just…I think Rosie’s right that maybe it’s a little too soon,” Spark replied. “I mean, Nightshade’s injured, Blazefang’s injured. We-”

“I can travel just fine!” Blazefang suddenly shouted with an anger that surprised Spark, bits of flame spurting out from between his teeth.

“If you get tired, Blazefang,” Snowcrystal cut in before Rosie could reply, “one of the humans can always catch you and release you later, right?”

“Not exactly,” Arien interjected, speaking for the first time since Katie’s announcement. “Blazefang technically still belongs to Mausk. Logically speaking, he isn’t even a wild anymore. Unless his poké ball is destroyed or deactivated, he can’t be caught.”

“I said I don’t need it!” Blazefang argued, a hint of fear showing through his voice this time. “All I want to do is find out how to get rid of Shadowflare. I need you to help me do that, and if we have an idea of where to go, then let’s go there, before I…I…”

“Go insane?” Scytheclaw stated bluntly, looking the houndoom in the eye. “Yeah, I’d be a bit worried about that too if I couldn’t control my Forbidden Attack.”

“Look,” Blazefang said, addressing the group as a whole, “sometimes I get…well, I’m not sure how to describe it. It’s like my ability to rationalize things gets skewed. Things that are really bad seem like good ideas. And in those times…I really want to use Shadowflare. When I’m in danger, it’s like I have to fight myself in order to not use it. Most of the time, I can’t hold it back for long. And it’s only gotten worse. How much longer am I going to have any control at all?”

The rest of the clearing was silent, and Blazefang looked over the pokémon one by one. Each of them looked worried, even a bit frightened, by his statement.

“Look, none of you have to come with us,” Blazefang continued. “This isn’t a vote. Anyone who wants to can leave.”

Several moments of silence passed, and the pokémon glanced at one another worriedly or sat deep in thought. Justin tapped his foot impatiently as Katie replayed the footage on her pokégear to herself and Damian and Arien exchanged psychic words.

“Well, I’m sure not leaving,” Alex announced. “I say we go to that portal.”

A few pokémon murmured their agreement, until Redclaw barked, “Then why don’t we take a count of who doesn’t think we should go. Rosie?” He looked at the ninetales, who faltered a bit under his gaze.

“I never said I didn’t,” Rosie began. “I just said that…maybe we shouldn’t head off so soon. I’m worried about Nightshade.”

“Don’t worry,” the heracross said in reply, and both Rosie and Redclaw quieted to listen to him. “We’ll figure something out. But whatever decision you make, don’t choose one way or the other because of me. If it’s too much trouble to bring me along, I’ll deal with whatever happens at the pokémon center.”

“No,” someone said before anyone else could speak, and all the pokémon in the group turned their heads to see Wildflame making a straight path for Nightshade. “We are not leaving you behind. No way. You’ve looked out for us, and now it’s our turn. And don’t say you want to be left behind because none of us are going to believe that.” The houndoom stamped her paw down into the dirt as she gave Nightshade a stubborn glare. “The humans have got luxury balls. No one’s going to drag you along through a wasteland. We’re sticking together.”

Snowcrystal nodded in agreement as she stood beside Wildflame. “Like family.”

“Oh, please,” Scytheclaw muttered, rolling his eyes.

Nightshade however, looked genuinely surprised and touched at Wildflame’s words, and as he looked around at the group, he could see that the pokémon he’d traveled with felt the same. Even Stormblade, who hadn’t ever been able to really know him because of the Shadowflare wounds, gave him an eager nod of agreement.

“Well,” Rosie sighed, “I guess he’d be okay in a luxury ball, but what about the rest of us?”

“I’m sure you can have one too if you want,” Wildflame said with a shrug, and Rosie gave her an annoyed glare.

“No thanks,” the ninetales muttered.

“Thank you,” Nightshade said, turning the group’s attention back to him. “I would love to come with you. As long as you’re sure-”

“Sure that what?” Spark interrupted. “You think you’re being a burden. Well, why don’t you think of it this way instead? We want your knowledge. Your common…or well, not-so-common sense. We want someone who’s knowledgeable about healing plants and a voice of reason against idiots like them-” He shot glares at Blazefang and Scytheclaw, who either glared back or just made a sigh of exasperation. “-So you can say that we’re actually using you. That better?”

“No,” Nightshade responded, “that sounds completely absurd. Or, well, it would be if you were serious.” He gave the jolteon a smile to let him know that he appreciated the joke all the same. “But I suppose it’s just-”

“What did you tell Thunder, Nightshade?” Snowcrystal interjected. “You told her that she could rely on you – on us – right?”

“Yeah,” Wildflame agreed, happy that others were on her side. “She learned it, now it’s your turn.”

At that statement, Nightshade paused, the truth of what the houndoom had said setting in. His expression went from one of worry for the others to one of more understanding. “I suppose you’re right. Thank you for being there for me.”

“Yeah, it’s like Snowcrystal said,” the houndoom began, nudging Nightshade gently with her shoulder. “We’re a pack now. A family.”

“Okay, no,” Scytheclaw growled, “what we are is a bunch of random pokémon coming together in one big group and attempting to actually do something.”

“Eh, so he’s the grumpy uncle,” Wildflame said with a shrug, which got a weak laugh out of Nightshade.

“Yeah, Uncle Scytheclaw saved Stormblade’s life,” Spark called out with a grin, “so he’s kinda stuck with our admiration whether he likes it or not!”

“I think it’s time we stopped the chatter and started shedding some light for the trainers,” Arien interrupted. “What do you want me to tell them?”

The group briefly exchanged more words, but the general consensus was that trying to find the legendary was the only course of action that made any sense and gave them some glimmer of hope. Arien quickly relayed this final information to Damian, who told Justin and Katie.

“See, the pokémon understand,” Katie told Justin.

“They’re pokémon!” Justin cried. “Of course they think the stuff they’d see on TV is always real. They’d-”

“Well, if they trust humans, they’ll trust other pokémon too, right? What if we find that starly or another pokémon who knows what happened in that desert? That’s something even if this is all a hoax. And the further we get from Stonedust the more likely some isolated pokémon is going to know something. If any of the pokémon around here knew anything, we’d have found out by now.”

“You can always stay behind, Justin,” Damian added.

“And do what?” Justin sighed. He turned to Katie. “You know what, fine, I’ll go, but if there’s nothing there I’m going to be very, very angry with you.”

“Anyway,” Damian interrupted, trying to change the subject before Katie could get angry at Justin again, “the main concern the pokémon have is whether or not it’s too soon to leave…I think the root of the issue is what we’ll do about the injured pokémon.”

“A desert won’t be hard for a fire type to cross,” Katie said. “Blazefang should be okay. If he gets tired, well, I was thinking of getting packs for some of the larger pokémon to carry our supplies. He can ride on Fernwing or something. Scytheclaw and Dusk both have poké balls. Snowcrystal’s only got some scratches and anyone can carry her if she really needs it. And Nightshade…” She paused. “I think Justin should catch Nightshade.”

“Why me?” Justin asked, more perplexed than anything.

“It’ll be easier if he’s not registered with me or Damian,” she explained. “In case anyone from the cities finds out. They’ve already connected him to Damian and the library burning down. It’s better if you do it, since you’re not officially a trainer.”

“Well, okay,” Justin said with a shrug.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about this,” Katie continued. “The desert isn’t very far from here. I’ve got this map.” She reached into her backpack to pull out the book she had bought at the small shop. “It’s actually only about a day’s walk from this forest.”

“Sounds pretty convenient, doesn’t it?” Justin asked, a tinge of uncertainty in his voice.

“We’re up north of Stonedust,” Katie replied. “There are a lot of areas beyond this point that people don’t know much about. There’s got to be plenty of secrets hidden in them, too. The white growlithe are one example. It’s not much of a stretch to think weird stuff could be going on all around these places. Trainers don’t usually come this far. If I were a legendary, this is one of the places I’d think to go.”

“All right, sure,” Justin said with another sigh. “Look, I’m not trying to argue, it just…seems a little weird that there’d be another one so close to where Articuno was.”

“Not really,” Katie replied. “I think what’s in that desert is a portal. It might not even lead anywhere up north at all.”

“Hope it doesn’t take us to some otherworldly dimension,” Justin mumbled uneasily. “And how are we going to get it to work for us?”

“We’ll figure something out,” Katie replied. Somehow, despite Justin’s doubts, she felt confident about them being able to uncover the desert’s secrets. “As for supplies,” she continued, “we’re going to need a lot. Lots of water. I’ll bring a water pokémon with me, and we’ve got Alex. We’ll also need a lot of pokémon food. Redclaw and Fernwing can carry large amounts of this. My scolipede can carry some too.”

As she listened to the humans talking, Snowcrystal felt more confident about their plan. At the very least, they wouldn’t have to worry about finding enough to eat or drink. With the humans on their side, they had all the food they needed and more, and they could take care of the injured pokémon without worrying about pushing them too hard. Also, with a group so large, they could fend off most any dangerous wild pokémon they happened to come across.

“All right, let’s do this then,” Justin said, still somewhat reluctantly. “I might as well help you guys out. I just have one request.”

“And that is?”

“You or Damian are carrying the heracross’s poké ball. I don’t want to be on the receiving end of that other scyther’s violent rage.”

-ooo-

Katie went back to the city for their first round of supplies after the discussion was over, and the clearing became alive with activity as the pokémon talked back and forth, some excited, others still apprehensive. However, there was still an overwhelming sense of relief among them now that they finally had some direction. It was a direction that seemed a bit more solid than just looking up books in a library, even if they were venturing into unknown territory.

While the pokémon gathered into small groups to rest or talk to each other, Blazefang slipped away from the rest. A few of the group members had wandered out into the forest to collect berries or to stretch their legs, and he knew one in particular had wanted to feel what it was like to run free again.

As soon as he was out of the clearing, the houndoom caught Stormblade’s scent easily and raced along the trail as fast as he could, though his wounded shoulder and leg slowed him down, causing more pain than he expected. He grudgingly noted to himself that he would probably have to let Fernwing carry him when they started their journey.

As he walked, he noticed that he was loudly crunching twigs beneath his paws, no matter how much he tried not to. He wasn’t used to forests, and he realized with annoyance that he’d probably be useless hunting here, especially if he was trying to chase something down in places where the woods grew thickest. He could, however, still use his sense of smell excellently, and the scyther scent was easy to pick out from the rest.

He had even crossed Thunder’s scent at one point, but he made a point to stay clear of her. Nightshade may have welcomed her back, but that didn’t mean he had to. He was relieved that her trail had veered off in another direction; she seemed to have gone deeper into the forest this time. No one had seen her all day.

Blazefang picked up the pace as soon as the scent grew stronger. The forest was denser here, and he found himself having to scramble clumsily over rocks or bushes, a feat that was made difficult by the claw wounds the pyroar had given him. He soon wound up finding the scyther he was looking for in a place he hadn’t expected – a shallow stream in one of the darkest areas of the forest.

Blazefang was relieved to see that the stream was only about a foot deep, but it was wider than several houndoom standing end-to-end. The trees here reached far over his head, their branches interlocking as high up as the roof of a three-story human building.

Stormblade had been cleaning his blades in the stream, standing in the center of it as he enjoyed the feeling of the cool water. He lifted his head to look at Blazefang, not seeming at all surprised that the houndoom was there. Blazefang figured that the scyther had easily heard him coming.

Stormblade barely reacted, just stared at the fire type with an unreadable expression. Slowly, Blazefang stepped forward, placing his paws into the slow moving stream and making his way to the scyther until they stood almost face to face.

“Stormblade,” Blazefang began, and as he watched the pokémon he had injured all that time ago, Stormblade didn’t move. There was wariness in the bug type’s eyes – no, something more than that – but Stormblade stood still. “I’m…” Blazefang continued, resisting the urge to look downwards and instead focusing on the scyther’s eyes. “I’m sorry for what happened. For what I did to you. I should’ve…I should’ve tried harder to fix it, but instead I just…”

He trailed off. As he watched Stormblade, who still gave no response, he could see that Stormblade didn’t look angry. The scyther wasn’t running away, wasn’t yelling at him or even asking him to leave. He just faced Blazefang, waiting to see what he would do.

“I regretted using the attack the moment after it happened,” the houndoom said, raising his voice and hoping that he sounded as sure as he really was. “I didn’t know what it would do, but I should have…helped the others figure out something. I don’t know what. I should have at least tried to make up for it. And Stormblade, I promise I’ll try from now on.” He bowed his head a little in a show of respect, the same way he had once addressed his tribe leader.

What Blazefang had just done was something he never thought he’d find himself doing. But he hadn’t been able to relax since using Shadowflare for the first time. It was something that had haunted him for so long, he felt ashamed that he hadn’t tried to at least do something before Katie had taken Stormblade away.

When Stormblade spoke, his voice didn’t sound doubtful or suspicious, merely confused. “You don’t sound like the Blazefang I knew.”

“Believe me, I’ll take that as a compliment,” the houndoom muttered. “But hey, even if I was, everything I was trying to work for is over now. The houndour tribe doesn’t need me anymore; Articuno’s not coming back. And being a leader was something that was never going to happen to me, but-” He paused, realizing how self-centered he was beginning to sound. He hadn’t come to Stormblade just to make the scyther listen to him rant. He had something more important to do. “But that’s not important right now.” He paced back and forth a few times, ignoring the chilly water that splashed his black fur. Then he stopped, looking Stormblade in the eyes again. “I just…I just really want you to know that I’m sorry. That I should never have done it. You can take it or leave it, it’s up to you.”

He wasn’t sure how Stormblade was going to react, all he knew was that he was done running away from things like a coward. As much as he had been reluctant to journey with Snowcrystal, the time he’d spent in the underground had shown him that these pokémon were willing to put their lives on the line for another. There was a part of him, and it was steadily growing stronger, that wanted to be like that.

“I sure hope you’re sincere,” Stormblade said, stepping away from Blazefang and walking toward the shore. “I’m not saying I don’t believe you, I just want to be sure. If you’ve really changed, it would take more than coming here to apologize.”

“I know,” Blazefang said. “If it takes you a while to trust me, then I don’t blame you. But I’ll do my best.”

“Well,” Stormblade began, a hint of a smile forming on his face. “I believe you. Let’s see you start working on it.”

The two pokémon gave a nod of respect to each other and parted ways, Blazefang heading back along his own trail toward the group, and Stormblade running off to enjoy the feeling of racing through the forest once again.

-ooo-

“Are you sure this is far enough?” Thunder growled, glancing suspiciously back in the direction of the camp.

“It’ll be fine, Thunder,” Nightshade answered her. He glanced down at the blankets the trainers had set out for him when he’d made it known that he’d wanted to talk to Thunder. In spite of his insistence that she would not harm him, he knew they were still waiting tensely, ready to come to his aid at the first sign of a struggle. He had made sure they would be far enough away that they wouldn’t hear any of his conversation, but they had insisted on being close enough to hear a shout.

They had trusted him enough to bring him to this much smaller clearing, where he had told Thunder to wait for him. And although his injuries had only barely started to heal, the couple days of rest had brought back a little of his strength.

“All right, fine,” Thunder muttered, still not entirely happy about the others being so close by. “I just wish you didn’t have to stay around them for all those human medicines.”

“Well, Thunder-”

Before he could finish, Thunder had darted to the nearest tree and sliced deeply into its trunk, then moved on to the next one. In no more than several seconds, all of the closest trees surrounding them were oozing sap. “I can help you too,” Thunder stated firmly. “Not just them.”

“You…you don’t need to do that to all the trees,” Nightshade said with a lighthearted chuckle. “And it’s all right; I don’t need any food right now.”

“Right,” the scyther growled. “They brought you plenty.”

“Listen, Thunder,” Nightshade began. “The others are searching for a legendary that might be able to help us. And I’m going with them.”

“Why?” Thunder spat back. “What does that have to do with us?”

“I want to help them,” he replied. “And right now I need their help as well. But you see, if I’m going to travel with them, I’ll need to be in a poké ball. Justin-”

“What?” Thunder cried, looking shocked and appalled. “You’re going to just…to just hand over your freedom to the humans?”

“No, no, of course not,” Nightshade said quickly. “I’ll be released as soon as I’m well enough to travel on my own again. I agreed to this; they are not taking away any of my free will.” He sighed, seeing that Thunder still showed the same suspicion. “Please try to trust my judgment. I wouldn’t have agreed to this if I didn’t know they would keep their word.”

“What if they’re lying to you?” Thunder growled, and Nightshade could tell her anger was still building beneath the surface.

“You’ve seen them help,” Nightshade replied, reaching out with his good arm toward the scyther. “They had no reason to help me other than that they wanted to. They went down to the fighting ring and rescued you and Blazefang. I trust them, and while you don’t have to, I hope you’ll at least trust that I know what I’m doing.”

Thunder was silent, realizing she was not going to change Nightshade’s mind. She knew, as much as she hated to admit it, that Nightshade was likely to get an infection and die without the humans’ help. She also knew, when she thought about it, that staying around three isolated humans was better than being taken into the city of thousands looking for treatment.

“You don’t have to agree with me,” Nightshade continued, “and I wouldn’t want you to trust them just because I do. I just want you to give them a chance.”

“Fine,” she muttered, but not in response to Nightshade’s most recent statement. “Let them carry you around like a slave. But if they ever turn on you, or don’t keep their promise, I’ll-”

“Don’t hurt them, okay?” Nightshade said firmly before Thunder could even finish. “They’re my friends. But I’ll tell you this…” At these words, a bit of the anger faded from Thunder’s expression as she waited to see what he would say. “The poké balls these trainers have aren’t like the ones Master has. Pokémon can learn to come out when they wish. I’m sure one of the trainer’s pokémon can easily teach me how, if that helps.”

“Then I want to see what poké ball they’re using before they use it,” Thunder snapped. “I want to make sure they’re telling the truth and then I want to see you come out of it on your own after they’ve captured you. And if they think of going back on what you made them promise…”

“They won’t,” Nightshade insisted, trying to sit up straighter. “Please…try to trust me. I wouldn’t be doing this if I thought the humans posed a threat.” He paused, considering something else. “And they’ll have to let me out often for food and water. I’d also rather sleep outside the poké ball. You’ll be able to see me at night.”

Thunder locked eyes with Nightshade, her tone serious. “Fine, I’ll trust you. But if the humans don’t let you go when all this is over…I’ll free you myself.”

“That won’t be necessary, Thunder, but thank you,” Nightshade told her. “I promise I’m in good hands.”

“If they do as they say,” Thunder growled, but Nightshade’s confidence seemed to be wearing her suspicion down. “When are we leaving?”

“I think as soon as they’re ready,” Nightshade answered. “I know this was sudden. It was really sudden for everyone. I’m sorry I didn’t have much warning other than that. But Thunder, I believe that once they help Blazefang and Scytheclaw, these humans and pokémon can help us too.”

Thunder almost laughed, but couldn’t muster up enough enthusiasm to. “Well, when you’re healed, you and I won’t need their help.” She turned around, facing the direction of the camp with a wary gaze. “Tell them when you’re ready to be captured, because I’m going to make sure they don’t try anything funny.”

Nightshade nodded to her, but she didn’t turn to face him, so she didn’t see the worried look in his eyes.

-ooo-

Two days later, everything the trainers could think of to prepare for the journey had been done. They had stocked up on food, water, medical supplies for both people and pokémon, as well as anything else they felt they might need while the injured pokémon rested. Katie had organized most of it, and Damian, who was the most experienced at wilderness traveling out of all of them, had added plenty of suggestions of his own, and now the pokémon stood, packs strapped to the backs of the largest ones.

Redclaw glanced to his left at Fernwing, and the tropius grinned at him in response. They were both carrying large amounts of food and water, and to Redclaw’s right was Katie’s scolipede, who was also carrying a bulky pack of supplies. Several of the others carried smaller packs, and even Snowcrystal had insisted she help bring something, so there was a small first aid kit strapped to the growlithe’s back.

Damian had volunteered to carry the luxury ball now containing Nightshade, and he tried to give Thunder a reassuring grin as the scyther watched from the sidelines, her piercing eyes staring into his. Damian, with the help of his pokémon, had already shown Nightshade how to break out of the poké ball of his own free will, but it was clear Thunder still didn’t like the idea.

“So, uh…this is it, I guess?” Justin asked, looking around the group of pokémon and nervously fidgeting when his gaze passed over the two scyther. “We’re just going to walk out in the middle of some desert?”

“Yes,” Katie replied curtly.

“We’ll walk until it gets dark, camp out, and we should get to the desert the next morning,” Damian explained.

As soon as he said it, his confident gaze wavered, and he glanced nervously away for a moment. Katie and Justin exchanged glances, wondering what was wrong.

“Uh…Katie?” Damian began. “You…you don’t have to help us, you know. You can go back to the city. Justin and I can find our way on our own and really…” He paused and took a deep breath. “You don’t exactly have a reason to be wandering around the wilderness with us anyway.”

Katie cast her eyes down and stepped forward. To Damian’s surprise, he felt her placing a hand on his shoulder. “Hey,” she said, “I’m coming with you. I’ve stuck with you guys this far, and I’m going to go the rest of the way. If there’s anything we can do to stop that…psycho vaporeon from killing thousands of innocent people, and anything we can do to help Blazefang and Scytheclaw…well, I want to be a part of it.”

Damian looked up at Katie, both shock and gratitude clear on his expression. Justin looked immensely relieved, and Katie’s scolipede brightened visibly, as if glad she wouldn’t have to turn around and leave after being promised a part in the journey.

“Well, I’m ready if you all are,” Katie said, straightening up. “Let’s go.”

Many of the pokémon gave cheerful cries, eager to leave the wilderness by Stonedust City’s outskirts behind. It had felt like ages since they’d last been traveling, moving toward a solid goal, and there was a part of each of them that longed to keep going…

…And to find the answers they had so long waited to unearth.

-ooo-

The first stretch of the journey passed uneventfully, and they set up camp as soon as the sun began to set. According to Fernwing and Katie’s pidgeot, who had flown on ahead, Damian had been correct. They would reach the desert by late morning.

With the help of the fire types, they soon had a steady campfire going. The trainers and pokémon all sat in a wide ring around the flames, apart from a few who had wandered off on their own. The forest had thinned out, and now there were only a couple large trees here and there. Most of the land was scattered with boulders, reminding them a bit of the old camps they had stayed in back when they were searching the library.

As they conversed among themselves, Thunder waited back with Nightshade. The fact that the humans had kept to their word throughout the day seemed to have calmed her, and she wasn’t even shooting glares in their direction much anymore.

“Why do they care so much?” the scyther growled.

Nightshade glanced at her from his position on the ground, where the humans had set up a comfortable bed for him.

“Why do they want to help that Blazefang houndoom so much? After all the things he did.”

“Pokémon can change, Thunder,” Nightshade replied weakly. “Like you did.”

“Maybe,” Thunder scoffed. “But he’s got a Forbidden Attack. He’s dangerous.”

“He still has a lot of control,” Nightshade replied, “and it only seems to activate when he’s in physical danger. He is not a threat to us now.”

“But he will be.”

“Hopefully it won’t come to that,” Nightshade said, but there was some worry in his voice. “Blazefang doesn’t want to hurt us. He doesn’t want to hurt anyone needlessly. We all made the decision to help him, and we decided to take the risks.”

“Like you did with me?” Thunder said suddenly, causing Nightshade to look at her in surprise. “I guess I can understand that,” the scyther admitted quietly. “But what I don’t understand is why him? Why do you care about him?”

“I care about pokémon in need,” Nightshade said. “And I help when I can. The other pokémon would too. Stormblade didn’t even know you when he set you free on the night they found you chained to a wall.”

“Hah, Stormblade,” Thunder laughed bitterly. “He’s only alive because of a fluke anyway. Honestly, Nightshade, pokémon like me, and I suppose like you, know much more pain than even they ever will. Why should we even bother with them?”

Nightshade sighed. “I thought like that once. But trust me when I say that it never got me anywhere. Nor will it help you. Maybe you still need to understand that Mausk – Master – was wrong.”

“I do,” Thunder hissed. “I would never, never listen to what that monster says again.”

“There’s still things he taught you that you believe,” Nightshade insisted, and the look on Thunder’s face told him that if anyone else had said that to her, she would have started screaming insults at them. “Things that weren’t commands said out loud. Those are harder to unlearn.”

Thunder looked like she was ready to argue, but decided against it and just rolled her eyes. “Whatever,” she muttered in exasperation, making it clear that she was tired of talking to him for the night. “I’m going to get some food.” Without waiting for him to reply, she stood up and walked over to Redclaw, snapping at him to give her some of the pokémon food in the pack lying beside him, and the arcanine hurriedly obliged.

Soon tiredness overcame the group and they let the fire burn low, not needing much heat to help them through a fairly warm night. The humans retired to their tents along with some of the pokémon, and the others curled up together on the ground or found a spot to themselves. Somewhere, off in the distance, a starly sang one last song as the last of the fire’s embers grew cold.

-ooo-

By late next morning, the group stood in front of the sprawling, dusty plain of the desert, the grassy fields and rocks directly behind them. The dry ground ahead of them was brown and featureless, no sign of plant life or pokémon to be found. Katie, who had become more or less their guide for the desert journey, stood at the front.

It struck her as strange that there was a desert this far north. She supposed it was probably much colder in the wintertime, but right now she could feel the early summer heat beating down on her, so different from the nightly chill of the forest she had become used to.

Looking over the scorched brown earth, she noted how much of a huge contrast it was from the places they had left. Even the fields of grass and trees they had just passed by seemed to end abruptly, like part of the earth had been cut out and replaced by this desert. The line between the dry ground and grassy plains stood out so bizarrely against the rest of the landscape that it made her feel odd, like she was standing right on the place where two squares met on some giant patchwork quilt.

She didn’t feel like the desert was bad or dangerous, though, or at least not more so than any other desert. She had no foreboding feelings, no restless unease at the sight of it. It just felt weird. Not in a wrong way, just in a way that left her baffled.

“If a legendary’s out here somewhere, I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised,” she told herself. She turned to face the others. “Let’s get started. We’ll have Alex and my azumarill cool everyone down if it gets too hot later.”

“Drink plenty of water, don’t die, yada, yada, yada,” Justin said mockingly.

“Oh, shut up,” Katie said with a grin, pushing him away from her in a jesting manner.

Snowcrystal pushed her way to the front of the group, pausing to adjust the straps of the pack holding the first aid kit to her back. “How long do you think it’ll take us to reach this portal?” she asked no one in particular.

“If Damian and Katie are right,” Arien answered her, “then five or six days. Maybe more, maybe less, depending on how well we make time.”

“Wouldn’t it be funny if we came across those vibrava the scientists were looking for all that time?” Alex asked jokingly.

“Only if they could tell us where this portal thing is,” Scytheclaw responded. “Then it would be funny. Otherwise, no.”

Stormblade, who now looked more fit and healthy than a lot of them, took a step onto the dusty ground. “Let’s go then,” he said. “Let’s find out how this Forbidden Attack mess can be stopped once and for all.”

The pokémon needed no second bidding. Even the humans, who couldn’t understand his words, could hear his meaning loud and clear. With a new determination, the traveling party made their way over the dividing line between plain and desert, taking their first steps on the sun-scorched earth, toward their glimmer of hope.

To be continued…