The Path of Destiny

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 65 – The Wasteland

“Okay, okay,” a voice rang out, carrying far across the flat and desolate land. “My turn. I spy, with my little eye, something…brown.”

“Spark, everything in this desert is brown!”

The jolteon turned to his ninetales friend with a grin of excitement. “What, you give up?”

“No!” Rosie retorted. “Okay, fine, the dirt. You spy the dirt.”

“Which patch of dirt?” Spark teased. “You gotta guess the right one or you lose!”

Rosie rolled her eyes. “That patch, over there!” She pointed with her paw, and Spark laughed.

“You gotta be more specific than that!”

“Okay, how about these three specific grains of sand that landed on my paw?” Rosie said mockingly, shoving her paw in front of Spark’s nose for inspection.

“Nope!” the jolteon said smugly. “That was three guesses, so you lose!”

“Okay, okay, fine,” Rosie sighed. “I spy…with my little eye…Justin picking his nose!”

“What?”

“Ha!” As Spark turned his head, Rosie tackled him to the ground. “Just kidding!”

A few of the other pokémon halted as Spark and Rosie tumbled over and over before jumping to their feet and chasing each other in a wide circle around the group.

“Hey!” Redclaw called out to them. “Try and save your energy. We’ll be walking for quite a while.”

“Aw, you’re no fun,” Spark muttered as he and Rosie stopped their roughhousing and trotted back to the group.

Rosie sighed and then turned to Spark. “Well, that ‘I spy’ game you showed me wasn’t much fun either. There’s nothing around here to look at. The only thing that stuck out to me among all this brown was some stupid cloud.”

“I gotta agree with you there,” Wildflame mused, walking up beside Redclaw and the two younger pokémon. Like the arcanine, she was carrying a pack of supplies, though one much smaller. “This place is probably the most empty landscape I’ve ever seen. And we’ll be walking through it for days. Let them have a little fun, Redclaw.”

“I just hope we find something, and don’t have to walk all the way back with nothing,” Rosie sighed.

“Oh come on,” said Spark, “lighten up. Who doesn’t want to spend days trekking through a sweltering desert with a bunch of sweaty, stinky pokémon?”

“Speak for yourself. I’m a fire type!” Rosie said proudly. “The heat won’t make me sweaty and gross like you.”

“Hey, are you guys going to catch up?” Stormblade’s voice called from up ahead, and the four pokémon turned to look toward him, seeing that the main group had passed them up while they’d been distracted.

“Coming, Stormblade!” Wildflame shouted back in a mock sing-song voice, aiming a grin at Redclaw. “Race you.”

Without waiting for a response, she shot off, and Redclaw bounded after her, shouting, “That’s no fair; you’re not carrying as much as I am!”

Spark and Rosie watched their antics with amusement, both of them glad that at least everyone was in a considerably lighter mood. It made the walk through the desert seem like much less of a chore.

Most of the other group members were closely clustered together, Damian and Justin taking the lead. Arien walked between them, ready to alert his trainer if any of the pokémon needed something. Scytheclaw, however, was in his poké ball. The heat was simply too much for the scizor, and he had yet to recover his strength. Damian also carried Nightshade’s poké ball, making sure to keep it in plain sight so that Thunder, the only one who wasn’t walking close to the group, could see it.

Thunder was keeping her distance as much as she could, while still staying close enough to see Nightshade’s poké ball and to come to his aid should she need to. She could at least be fairly confident that she could take down the humans and their pokémon if it came to fight, and she also reminded herself that Nightshade could be right and that they were no real threat. And, as much as she hated to admit it, she needed their food and water. If she wanted to keep her only friend safe, she was going to have to put up with them.

“Thunder!” a voice cried from over in the group, and the scyther turned to see Snowcrystal calling to her. “Why don’t you come over here with us?”

Even as Thunder watched her, the angry or worried stares of the other pokémon told her that Snowcrystal’s request wasn’t a popular one. Not even bothering to give an answer, Thunder looked away from the growlithe and carried on, keeping the same amount of distance between herself and the others.

Over at the back of the group, Snowcrystal sighed, watching as Thunder acted as if she hadn’t even heard. “This isn’t working very well,” she said quietly.

“Let Thunder do what she wants,” Rosie muttered. “We don’t want her stabbing anyone else.”

“Rosie! She promised…” Snowcrystal said sadly. “She promised she wouldn’t hurt us, and Nightshade trusts her!”

“Yeah, well, maybe she shouldn’t make promises she can’t keep,” the ninetales muttered. “And anyway, if she’s not over here getting angry at us, she’s not very likely to try anything, is she?”

“I guess not,” Snowcrystal replied unhappily.

“Then she’s better off over there,” Rosie said pointedly.

“Look, Thunder’s not trying to hurt anyone,” a voice interrupted, and they both turned to see that Stormblade had slowed down to match his pace with theirs. “But let’s leave her alone for now. She probably just needs more time to feel comfortable around us.”

As Stormblade left them to walk toward the front of the group again, Rosie leaned in closer to Snowcrystal and whispered, “He’s probably only saying that because she saved him back in that muddy cave. Still doesn’t change what she did to Nightshade though.”

“I don’t know,” Snowcrystal muttered back. “I think more pokémon should give her a chance like he does.”

Rosie gave her an eye roll. “Just don’t get yourself killed trying to befriend her.”

Snowcrystal didn’t feel like replying. Instead, she cast her gaze skyward, watching the bulky shape of Fernwing the tropius gliding far above them. Blazefang, who was still weak from the wounds he’d received in the underground, had been strapped to the tropius’s back so that he could ride most of the way. She briefly wondered how the houndoom felt about being so high above the ground the whole time, but seeing as Fernwing wasn’t heading back down with any bad news, she figured he was fine with it. She could also see Katie’s pidgeot up ahead, scouting out the way for them.

“Try and relax, Snowcrystal,” Redclaw told her, interrupting her train of thought. “We’ll find a way to work things out. But for now we need to focus on just finding this stone arch thing.”

The growlithe nodded and followed the arcanine, feeling a bit better after hearing that he understood, and that the tension surrounding Thunder seemed to have faded a bit.

Up in the air, ahead of the group, Katie clung to her pidgeot’s back as she peered ahead. She could feel the hot desert wind whipping against her skin, and occasionally had to shield her eyes from dust as she scanned the landscape below. It was still as blank and featureless as it had been when they’d first reached it, the only things that could be called landmarks being a few small boulders. Even those were few and far between, and if she didn’t have her pokégear to navigate, Katie would have worried about getting lost.

So far, she could see no change in the land up ahead, and she reluctantly accepted the fact that it would probably look like this the entire time until they reached the cliffs. She had to admit to herself that she did feel a bit silly for dragging the others out into a wasteland based on a news airing and some hunch, but she just couldn’t give up in case something was out there.

Her pidgeot gave a sharp cry, which she knew meant that he was tired, hungry, or both. She glanced over his side at the pokémon and trainers below, spotting her scolipede, who was carrying much of the food.

“Okay, let’s head back for a little break,” she told her pokémon, and the flying type wheeled back down to join the other adventurers.

-ooo-

They had a brief meal, rested, and then, after Alex and Katie’s azumarill had cooled them down, set off again. Damian had convinced the group that they would keep going into the night and rest well into the day, so that they could travel when the worst of the heat was over. The other pokémon agreed willingly, knowing that the only reason they hadn’t started out travelling that way was that they had all been too anxious to find out if Katie’s theory was right, and had begun their journey as soon as they could, starting off in broad daylight. Luckily, with the water pokémon and all their supplies, walking in the desert during the day was simply uncomfortable, not dangerous. It helped that the water pokémon were able to cool them down, and would be able to use their water attacks for at least a while longer.

As they continued to trudge across the cracked earth, Snowcrystal noticed that her fur had turned brown from the dust. Some of it had also gotten in her nose, and she found herself sneezing for what felt like the hundredth time. She shook herself, feeling dirt flying off her coat and into the air. Even after that, she didn’t feel any cleaner.

She squinted as she peered into the sky again, watching the path of Fernwing and Katie’s pidgeot. She envied them a bit, knowing that they were up in the wind, which had to be cooler. Snowcrystal was a fire type, but her native land was the cold of the snowy mountain. Here, it almost felt like her internal fire was overheating her, even though she knew it had died down because of the scorching temperatures around her.

Up ahead, she could see Damian walking with a piece of cloth over his nose and face, and Justin was copying his example. Alex’s usually bouncy demeanor had faded, and she plodded along with her head low. Even the fire types who were used to warmer climates were uncomfortable, and every so often she heard one of them cough from the dust.

She was so focused on putting one paw in front of the other, forcing herself to think of the promising reward of their next break, that she hardly noticed Wildflame approaching her until the houndoom nudged her side.

“Snowcrystal, there’s something I want to tell you,” the houndoom whispered. “Let’s hang back.”

Snowcrystal nodded and the growlithe and houndoom slowed their pace and let the others pass them. Everyone else was too focused on walking to pay them any mind, and they were soon out of earshot.

“Okay, what is it?” Snowcrystal asked, speaking low in case anyone could still hear them.

“Well…” the houndoom began, “I really should have told you this a long time ago.” She took a deep breath. “When I first joined your group…I lied about being kicked out of Blazefang’s pack because I was evolved. You see, Blazefang sent me to you guys, told me to gain your trust and figure out if you knew anything about Articuno. And I…I knew that attack he and the other houndour led on you was going to happen. But I didn’t know he would go as far as he did. I thought it would be a quick battle where I’d pretend to fight them off easily, so you’d trust me more. But I should have told you.”

Snowcrystal stopped walking, staring back at the houndoom. She was at a loss for what to say. For the past few months, she had believed Wildflame’s story. She had even wondered what would become of Blazefang if his old pack back near the mountain saw that he had evolved. She felt betrayed, and yet also confused. Wildflame had always acted so loyal, and now here she was saying it had all been an act from the start.

Yet…Snowcrystal also knew that, whatever had happened in the beginning, Wildflame had changed since then. That had been proven again and again. The houndoom had even risked her life for her. Now, the only thing that made her feel hurt and betrayed was that Wildflame had lied to her about it all for so long.

“But I swear, that didn’t last long,” Wildflame continued. “Things changed really quickly, and I realized there was no point in…I mean, I had nothing against…I just…I realized I was wrong.” She hung her head. “I was stupid. Blazefang and I shouldn’t have even been following you in the first place.”

Snowcrystal didn’t reply, and instead waited for Wildflame to go on.

“But I promise things are different now,” the houndoom said seriously, lifting her head and looking Snowcrystal in the eyes. “They were different for a long time. I’ve only wanted to help you for so long…and I’m so sorry about what I did. I’m completely on your side now. I’d never try to hurt you or drive you off your land or anything like that.”

Snowcrystal knew from the houndoom’s words and the look in her eyes that Wildflame was completely sincere. Even though the news had come as a shock, she could tell that she was already beginning to forgive her friend. “I wish you’d told me sooner, Wildflame,” she said, barely above a whisper. “I would have understood.”

“I know. I was wrong,” the houndoom said regretfully. “But listen, Snowcrystal. When all this is over, if Articuno won’t come back, then I’ll help the growlithe tribe find a new home.” She looked Snowcrystal in the eyes again and smiled. “That is a promise. And I intend to keep my promises.”

“R-really?” Snowcrystal replied, astonished. “Are you sure?”

“Of course. The mess they’re in is partly my tribe’s fault,” Wildflame replied. “And even if it wasn’t, I’d still do it because they’re your family, and I know how much family means to you.” She gave Snowcrystal a grin of amusement. “You consider all of us family. Even Scytheclaw. That shows it must mean an awful lot.”

Snowcrystal gave her a small laugh. “Thank you, Wildflame.”

“I understand if you don’t want to trust me for a while,” the houndoom said. “Or ever, even. What I did was really wrong. I’m sorry for that, and I won’t blame you if you don’t.”

“Wildflame,” Snowcrystal began, “I know you were trying to fool us in the beginning, but you saved my life from a forest fire made of Shadowflare. No amount of deception could be worth doing that! I know you’re on our side now.” She leaned closer and touched noses with Wildflame. “But you need to go tell the others,” she said. “They deserve to know too.”

“That was my next plan,” Wildflame said with a grin. “Thanks for giving me another chance.”

-ooo-

During the next rest, Wildflame’s confession got mixed responses. The pokémon who had been a part of the group when Wildflame had first joined were uncertain of what to think at first, and those who hadn’t been there were more surprised than anything.

Rosie had reacted with anger, not taking the news as well as Snowcrystal had. But when Wildflame didn’t object, and instead agreed that she had the right to be mad, Rosie calmed down a bit, though it was clear she wasn’t sure if she was ready to forgive just yet.

Stormblade had been angry as well, but he quickly gained a certain respect for Wildflame for deciding to be honest and coming clean about everything.

Spark, however, took the whole thing in stride. “Honestly, that happened so long ago...it feels like I can hardly even remember it,” the Jolteon mused. “But hey, Blazefang’s done a lot worse and I know he’s not going to murder us in our sleep. A lot's happened since then, Wildflame, and you've proven yourself many times over, so I trust you. Just, uh, try not to lie to us again, all right?”

“Yeah, I won’t,” Wildflame responded. “If you guys need a while to trust me again, I get it. And I’ll show you that I’ll be honest from now on.”

“Well,” began Redclaw, “I don’t know if I’m entirely sure yet of what happened, but I believe you. If Blazefang and Scytheclaw can learn from their mistakes, I see no reason why you can’t too.”

Near the edge of the group, Blazefang shuffled his paws nervously. He knew he had nothing to confess; all his misdeeds were well known among the others. Yet his past actions still haunted him.

“Hey, Blazefang,” Wildflame called to him, causing him to look up. “Let’s try not to ruin the lives of other pokémon for our own agendas anymore, right?”

She was grinning at him, trying to lighten the mood, but Blazefang still felt as if the subject had brought up a lot of bad memories for the original members of the group, and he didn’t particularly feel welcome.

“Oh come on, Blaze,” Wildflame sighed in irritation. “Stop being ridiculous. It’s true. If you want everyone to respect you, then start acting like a decent pokémon. We both owe that to them.”

“I knew it,” a low voice hissed from somewhere outside the circle of resting pokémon, and they all turned their heads to see Thunder standing there. “You’re a liar. You’re probably all liars,” the scyther hissed. To their surprise, she didn’t look angry at Wildflame in particular. Her distrustful glare was directed to the group as a whole.

Nightshade looked up from the bowl of honey he was lapping at, taking care not to move his damaged arm. “Thunder, Wildflame’s trying to make things right. She’s not a liar anymore.”

“She already lied once,” Thunder growled. “She’s still a liar.”

“Wouldn’t that mean you could still attack Nightshade or the rest of us?” Rosie growled angrily at the scyther. “If Wildflame’s apology doesn’t mean anything, why should we think yours does?”

“Rosie!” Nightshade hissed.

“All right, that’s enough,” Arien said, rising to his feet. He looked at the humans, who had interrupted their meal to stare at the pokémon in confusion. “We can’t have any fighting now. Rosie, apologize.”

“Sorry…” the ninetales muttered, avoiding the alakazam’s gaze.

Thunder looked visibly angry, but to the surprise of the group gathered there, she slowly forced herself to relax. “I don’t need you to believe it,” she snapped at the ninetales. “I know. Nightshade knows. You’re not worth arguing with.” With that, she turned and walked away, leaving the last bits of her food behind.

“Oh great,” Blazefang muttered. “With her around, this is going to be a long walk.”

“Should I…try to talk to her?” Stormblade mused.

Nightshade shook his head. “Not now. I think the best we can do is show her that we trust her. That’s all she’d probably want you to do now.”

Stormblade looked a bit surprised, but he nodded.

-ooo-

The rest of the day passed without any trouble. As they traveled further into the desert, they started to see a few scraggly bushes here and there, as well as a couple of trapinch and one scavenging fennekin. Other than that, there had been no signs of life. There definitely hadn’t been any sign of water.

Now, they walked through darkness, grateful for the chill of night as they made their way across the dusty earth, the sky filled with countless stars above them. Snowcrystal found that, in spite of the fact that the white growlithe of the mountain were used to traveling a lot in one day, she was growing exhausted, and it was hard to stay awake. She figured it must be the exhaustion of the underground fight, or simply the heat of the day, or both.

She soon found herself talking to Wildflame again. As a pokémon with more nocturnal tendencies, Wildflame had little problem staying awake, and decided to talk with Snowcrystal to help keep her focused. Somehow, they got on the subject of where they would go once their journey ended.

“I hope Articuno can come back,” Snowcrystal said tiredly. “But I guess if not, we’ll have to find a new home.”

“Yeah, but remember, I’ll be there to help you guys,” Wildflame replied.

“I wonder about the others too,” Snowcrystal mused. “I mean Spark, and Stormblade…everyone here.”

The houndoom was silent, and for a few minutes they walked, the light of the stars and moon bright enough to show them the way without any need for fire to provide light. Then she spoke again.

“I’m not going to go back to my tribe once this is all over,” Wildflame said softly. “I don’t like how Firedash – that’s our leader – was running things. Blazefang can go back if he wants, but if that’s what he chooses, I’m not going with him. Most of the houndour I got along with are in Cyclone’s army now, but even if they weren’t…” She sighed. “I dunno. I guess I wasn’t a good fit. Never liked all the strict rules. I’ve been thinking about this for a while now…and I guess I realized I never did really want to go back.”

“Do you think you’d like to find other houndoom and houndour?” Snowcrystal asked. “Join a pack or start one of your own, with your own way of doing things?”

“I don’t know.” Wildflame stopped walking, her eyes turned toward the hundreds of stars above them. “To be honest…I’d really rather stick with you guys. You’re more of a pack than my houndour tribe ever was. You, Nightshade, Spark, Rosie…all of you. I think I’m even going to miss Scytheclaw a little.” At this, she gave a small chuckle. “I guess when we’re done journeying together, and I’ve helped the growlithe settle into their new territory, I’ll tag along with whoever wants to find a new home somewhere warmer. Stick with them.”

Snowcrystal felt a sadness creeping over her. “I wish there was a way we could all stay together,” she said.

“Yeah, me too,” Wildflame admitted. “But hey, if we can survive all this, we could probably do anything. Maybe we can figure something out.”

Snowcrystal smiled at her. She started to reply, but stopped when she noticed that Wildflame’s attention had become fixed on something up ahead.

“Oh, they’re stopping,” the houndoom mused. “Guess we’re spending the night here. Come on, let’s go join them.”

The growlithe followed the larger canine as she bounded toward the group, who she could see were unloading supplies from the pokémon. She felt proud that she had carried the first aid kit with her the entire day, and hurried to catch up with them.

A campfire was already burning merrily. The trainers were starting to set up tents and spread blankets on the ground, and a few of the pokémon had already curled up to go to sleep. Rosie was so exhausted that she had fallen asleep leaning against Redclaw’s side, and the arcanine didn’t feel like disturbing her. A few of the others looked as if they were drifting off as well, lying down on the first blanket they reached.

“Wait a minute, everyone,” Stormblade said suddenly. The tired scyther was instantly alert, so the others knew he had noticed something. “There are pokémon coming our way.”

All of the pokémon and trainers looked in the direction they’d been walking from, where Stormblade’s focus was directed. Even Redclaw stirred, which woke Rosie. Quietly, they all stood up and peered out over the dark desert landscape, some of them moving forward for a closer look.

At first, they saw nothing. Then they noticed black shapes moving slowly their way from a distance, only noticeable by how they blocked out small patches of stars.

At once, everyone stopped what they were doing and stood still, watching the strange figures that headed their way. No one spoke for several seconds.

“What are they?” Rosie asked, breaking the silence.

“I’ll fly up ahead and see what those things are,” Katie suggested, obviously guessing what the pokémon’s question had been, but she needn’t have volunteered.

“Wait a minute…I see them,” Justin said. The others looked harder, and as their eyes adjusted to the gloom away from their campfire, the light of the stars and moon illuminated the shape of the pokémon following them. “They’re cacturne.”

“How come we didn’t see any of those guys during the day?” Rosie asked.

“They come out at night,” Arien answered, nodding to Damian as the boy got out his pokégear and began to search for information on the strange pokémon.

“It says they follow travelers lost in the desert, searching for prey that’s been weakened by the desert heat,” Damian explained as he looked at the screen.

“Those things want to eat us?” Snowcrystal whispered.

“They probably don’t even know what we are,” Redclaw replied as he kept his eyes on the distantly moving cacturne. “And just assumed we’d be weak.”

“Well, we’re anything but,” Spark said proudly. “A lot of us are fire types, and we’ve got Thunder. Those things wouldn’t stand a chance.”

At the jolteon’s words, Snowcrystal relaxed, feeling a bit silly for having been scared. With the group as large as it was now, there weren’t many wild pokémon that could easily pose a threat to them when they were all together.

“Let’s send them a warning, then,” Redclaw growled. “Fire types, follow my lead.”

The arcanine lifted his head and shot a blast of flame into the air. The bug types shrank back from the heat as Redclaw’s fire column grew higher and higher, and was soon joined by those of the other fire types. Even Snowcrystal added her own, and though it was weaker than the others, it added to the overall brilliance of the display.

After several seconds, they stopped their attacks. They waited and watched, until they could see that the shapes in the distance had stopped their movement.

“Well, I don’t know how well I’m going to sleep at night knowing those things are out there,” Rosie muttered. “We may have the advantage, but they creep me out.”

“We’ll rest a lot during the day, too,” Arien instructed. “For now, someone should be keeping watch at all times until daylight.”

The pokémon tiredly agreed, and Arien relayed the message to Damian. They settled down to sleep, the humans and a few of the pokémon in the tents, and the rest outside on the blankets that Katie and Damian had laid down. Redclaw agreed to take the first watch and sat facing the direction of the distant cacturne. His form was tall and unmoving, like he was a stone statue guarding a palace.

Snowcrystal curled up in her own spot on one of the blankets, looking once more at the countless bright stars before she closed her eyes. Before she knew it, she had drifted off into sleep.

-ooo-

There was no trouble from the cacturne that night, and when morning came, the eerie pokémon were gone. Damian and Katie had come to the decision that they would change plans; they would fight through their exhaustion and travel through the morning so that they could go straight to resting throughout the hottest part of the day.

Wearily they stumbled to their feet, packing up all the supplies and preparing for another long trek. After months of resting near Stonedust City, none of them were very used to walking so far in one day. Only Damian was lively and energetic, feeling far more in his element out in the dusty desert than he ever had in the city.

Justin, however, was not nearly so thrilled. “Katie, you better be right about this,” he muttered as he toyed around with his phone, sitting beside Redclaw as he took a break from loading the arcanine’s pack with the extra blankets they had used for the pokémon. He gave a grunt of frustration as he realized that there was clearly no signal for his phone so far from the cities, but he knew that Damian and Katie’s pokégear would work for quite a fair distance longer.

“Hey, are you gonna help?” Katie’s annoyed voice called to him from the other side of the arcanine.

“Yeah, I’m helping,” he muttered, standing up and shoving the phone back in his pocket. He grabbed some of the blankets and started shoving them into Redclaw’s pack.

The arcanine, sensing that Justin was upset, leaned his head toward the boy and licked the side of his face several times, much to Justin’s disgust.

“I think that’s all of it, Damian!” Katie called after she had strapped the first aid kit to Snowcrystal’s back again. “We can get moving!”

Justin shoved the last of the blankets into the pack opening and zipped it closed. “And here we go again,” he muttered. “Miserable desert, day two.”

He and the others were soon off, hoping to cover plenty of ground before the worst of the heat set in. Katie set off on the back of her pidgeot to scout the way ahead as usual, and Fernwing lifted Blazefang into the air. Most of the others stuck together in a tight group, hoping that the long trek would turn out to be worth it.

-ooo-

“Cyclone, we’re really close to Stonedust City,” Solus said uneasily, coming to perch on a rock beside his leader. “I don’t like it.”

“If a human comes this way, they will be dealt with,” the vaporeon replied calmly. “Everyone here has orders to stay away from Stonedust.” He turned his gaze toward a group of hills lying some distance away from where they were sitting. “Those hills are riddled with caves, and they’re the perfect spot for our new trainees. We will stay here for a little while.”

“Well, at least the scouts haven’t seen anything strange,” Solus growled. “They’ve seen some rocky plains and forest further west, and beyond that there’s a desert. Didn’t say there were many pokémon that way.”

“Nor humans, I am told,” Cyclone replied. “We don’t need to worry about the city.”

“Cyclone,” Solus began, annoyance showing clearly through his voice. “We’ve been traveling double time for the past few days to get here, and plenty of the pokémon are still with Silverbreeze and the other commanders trying to catch up. Are you sure this was worth rushing for those three…uh…”

“I wanted their training to start as soon as possible,” the vaporeon leader replied. “That is why I put them in the lead group. In fact, they should be using their Forbidden Attacks now.”

Solus knew that Cyclone only ever used the attacks’ true name around him and some of the commanders. If he was using it now, that meant that he knew there was no one near enough to hear them. Solus leaned closer, his eyes narrowing. “About the new Forbidden Attack bearers, I’ve been listening in on some of their thoughts. Couldn’t get much without them noticing, but one of them seems a bit…ah…confused about your motives. I think we ought to set him straight.”

Cyclone didn’t turn to face the espeon. He was looking out over the fields and the hills ahead of him as if admiring the pleasant summer day. When he spoke, he only said one single word. “Noted.”

-ooo-

Beneath the hills where the first wave of the arriving army rested, an array of caverns lay nearly undisturbed. The cave system was not large enough to be confusing to the pokémon who entered it, and most rooms were lit by openings in the ceiling that formed natural skylights.

Three large caverns, linked together by one smaller room, had been set aside for Cyclone’s chosen three pokémon to use their Attacks for the first time. Prey pokémon had been brought in and set loose in the caverns for each of them to hunt, and Ashend, Yenn, and Itora had made short work of them.

“It was amazing! I knew electric attacks were powerful, but I never thought I could do something like that.”

Itora dug into her prey, feeling that it tasted so much sweeter after what she had accomplished. “I barely even had to try. I mean, I don’t even think that attack could miss. Just one huge lightning bolt. Dead. It went right to where the buneary was. I didn’t even see where the prey was hiding before I used the Attack; so I couldn’t have aimed it if I tried!”

Yenn was beside her, eating his own prey, a starly. Ashend had not yet returned from her cavern, so the two of them were currently alone. Yenn, knowing he wasn’t going to get a word in edgewise while Itora was so excited, just nodded and continued eating. But Itora could tell that he was excited too.

“The bolt was bright blue, too!” the manectric continued. “And sort of purplish. Looked much more powerful than my regular old thunderbolt. I wonder what it’ll look like once it gets stronger.” She stared off into space for a moment, a small smile forming, and laughed. “I’m ready to fry some humans, that’s for sure.” She sat bolt upright again, a look of even further excitement on her face. “You gotta tell me what yours did, Yenn. What did it look like?”

Yenn had finished his meal by the time Itora had stopped talking; all that was left on the ground was a pile of bloody feathers. “Well,” the yanmega began, “it all happened really quickly. It started off being a really bright light. Sort of like a pokémon using flash I guess. Made the prey really disoriented. I think it might have even tried to attack me in the split second before it died, but it didn’t even come close. Like it was blind…or like it had just endured the sand attack of a thousand spearow,” he added jokingly.

“So it gave you a sort of protection?” Itora mused. “That’s interesting.”

“Yeah, I guess it makes it so that nothing can attack me, but I could see perfectly fine. Then the prey just…sort of had the life drained out of it, I guess. It was like it was a much more effective version of a leech life attack. One that killed. But I didn’t have to touch the starly or anything. I hadn’t even moved.”

“Well, that’s strange,” Itora replied. “But deadly sounding. Just wait until we go up against the humans and-”

“But that’s not all,” Yenn continued. “When it happened, I didn’t just feel like I was stronger…I felt much better. Any aches and pains I had were gone; I wasn’t even tired at all! I don’t really know what using moves like leech life feels like to other pokémon, but I imagine this was even better than that.” He stared wistfully at nothing in particular, seemingly lost in thought. “It’s starting to wear off now, but I imagine I could have fought off a golem if one had appeared in the cave right then, whether I used the Attack or not. I can’t wait to try this again.”

“I wanna see it next time,” Itora told him curiously.

Yenn paused, then added, “Though…I’m not sure it was fair for Cyclone to have the prey put in caves first. I want be able to hunt outside next time, in their normal territory. I’m sure that would be okay. It’s not like my attack could damage the environment.”

Itora smirked. “It’s funny, I would have thought your Attack would have summoned a swarm of tiny bugs to go kill that starly for you or something.”

“Yeah, because swarming in large numbers and being a nuisance is all bug pokémon are good for, right?” he replied in an irritated voice, but his tone was mocking, not serious.

“Well you’ve got the ‘being a nuisance’ part down,” Itora laughed. Her amusement quickly faded into a sense of wonder. “But wow…you think you could heal yourself with your attack or something? Like if some rock type just pummeled you, all the pain would be gone after you used it?”

“Well, for a little while,” Yenn replied. “Like I said it’s wearing off. Sure felt like anything and everything that had ever hurt me was gone for good. But I’m tired all over again so I guess it’s temporary. Might come in handy when we go up against the humans, though. At least if I get wounded in battle, I’ll be able to keep going as long as I’m using the Attack.”

“Yeah, lucky you,” Itora sighed, but the smile hadn’t left her face and Yenn could tell she was still very impressed with her own Attack’s power. “I hope we get a chance to show the rest of the army though. Sometime soon. I want them to know…to really know…that we stand beside Cyclone now.” She stood up straighter, giving Yenn a proud gaze.

The yanmega was about to reply when he noticed Ashend arriving from a tunnel entrance behind him and to his left. He turned to face her; even though he could see what was behind him, he always felt that looking at the pokémon he was speaking to was the polite thing to do. “You’re back,” he said happily. “Did it go well?”

Ashend didn’t answer, but both Yenn and Itora could see that she was using her ghost type energy to carry a dead bunnelby behind her in midair. “Here you go, Yenn,” she said simply, dropping it at the yanmega’s feet.

Itora noticed that something was off about the misdreavus. She didn’t seem happy or excited, but instead sullen and withdrawn. She hardly even looked at them as she continued to float by, seemingly lost in thought. The fact that she was acting in such a way in the wake of an amazing discovery confused and startled the manectric.

“Ashend?” Itora asked, wondering if the ghost type was just in one of her strange moods. Maybe, Itora thought, she was just doubting herself. “What did your Attack do? You can tell us all about it and we’ll tell you what happened to-”

“Nothing,” the misdreavus said.

Itora looked back at her in shock. “What? You mean…you mean it didn’t work? But…but Cyclone said…he said-”

“It worked,” Ashend replied, correcting her. “But I didn’t see anything happen. One moment the bunnelby was alive, the next moment it was dead.”

Itora relaxed. “Come on, don’t feel bad just because yours didn’t look cool,” she said, trying to cheer Ashend up. “It kills without any indication that you even did anything! That’ll be useful for sure! Just wait and see-”

“It’s not that,” Ashend said, finally turning to face Itora and Yenn. “I don’t know how to explain it, but…I just have this strange feeling. I don’t think we should be using these.”

“What?” Itora responded, looking at Ashend as if she thought she was either joking, or had started to go crazy.

“Something’s not right,” the misdreavus continued. “I’m just not sure what it is. And I can’t help but wonder…what if these Attacks aren’t what Cyclone thinks they are?”

“What do you mean?” Itora cried. “There’s nothing wrong with yours; it’s just different, that’s all!”

“I don’t like the way I felt when I used it,” Ashend stated.

“Really?” Yenn responded, looking up from what was left of his bunnelby meal. “Using my Attack felt great.”

“I don’t mean physically,” Ashend replied, her voice still seeming distant. “It was more of a feeling. Like something’s off.”

Itora shrugged. “I didn’t feel anything like that.”

"You think these Attacks are what's wrong?” Yenn asked, genuinely confused. “After Cyclone killed Articuno? Ashend, this could ensure that doesn't ever happen again. If our Attacks get strong enough, Cyclone might not even need more of the stones. We, with the rest of the army, could stop the humans by ourselves."

"What makes you say that?" Itora interrupted, this time giving the yanmega an odd look. "Cyclone was pretty clear that we needed more pokémon with these powers and I trust that he knows what he’s doing."

“I still want to talk to him about it,” Yenn replied firmly.

“Look, you two,” Ashend continued with a shake of her head, “there’s something about this that I really don’t like. I can’t explain what it is, but please don’t do anything rash. There is something wrong.”

“Just…give it some time, Ashend,” Yenn suggested. The yanmega looked worried for her. “We’re doing stuff other pokémon can’t; I guess it makes sense if you’re nervous or feel weird about it. And…you’re not a meat-eater. It probably feels wrong for you to kill pokémon, even if you were doing it to get food for me.”

“You may be right,” the misdreavus sighed. She gave him a smile, but it was clear to the others that she was not at all at peace. “I’ll be thinking about it. But can you two please be careful not to go running around the cave using it whenever you feel like? Wait for each of Cyclone’s trials at least.”

“Sure,” Itora said with another shrug, and Yenn also voiced his agreement. “Speaking of Cyclone,” the electric type continued, “we’d better go tell him how the first trial went.” The manectric stood up and stretched one back leg, then the other. “I bet he’ll be impressed by all of us.”

“Yes, we’d better go do that,” Ashend said. “But can you two promise me something?”

“Yeah, anything,” Itora responded.

“Go right ahead,” Yenn told her with another nod.

“Please don’t tell anyone what I said about being worried, okay dears?” she asked, the anxious tone in her voice still not quite gone. “Not even Cyclone. I just want to work this out for myself, all right?”

“We won’t, Ashend, I promise,” Yenn assured her.

“Yeah, sure, if you don’t want anyone to know, they won’t know,” Itora said with a shrug.

“But, you can talk to us if you want,” Yenn added.

“Thank you,” the misdreavus answered. “Right now I think we should finish up here and head back. I’ll think about this more. You may be right, there may not be anything wrong. But I’ll need more time to think.”

“Yeah, okay, Ashend,” Itora said, a little bit of the excitement drawn out of her voice. She and Ashend waited until Yenn had finished eating the bunnelby before they headed into the tunnels leading to the surface together.

“What was that all about?” she whispered to Yenn.

The yanmega didn’t have an answer for her.

-ooo-

“Just the three pokémon I wanted to see,” Cyclone said warmly as Ashend, Itora, and Yenn met him at one of the areas of the camp the leader had claimed as his own. It was a small rocky field near a wide stream, and the vaporeon was currently lounging in the shallow water by the shore.

“It went great!” Itora said enthusiastically, lifting her head and proudly showing off the orange stone on her amulet. “Really, I can’t wait to see how it works when it’s gotten stronger and-”

“Cyclone,” Yenn interrupted, flying out over the water so that he was hovering beside the vaporeon. “Each of us had no problem killing our prey. I think that if we keep practicing, both our attacks and yours could be strong enough to take on the humans, without needing the other stones.”

Behind him, Ashend cringed, but she didn’t speak up. Itora shot her a puzzled look, then turned to face Yenn again.

“At their most powerful stage,” the yanmega continued, “we could probably wipe out hundreds at a time with-”

Cyclone silenced Yenn by lifting one paw. “I understand you are eager to set things right,” the leader told him sympathetically, “but I’m afraid you three are not enough on your own.”

"If we practice our Attacks until they're as strong as yours, why couldn’t we take them?” Yenn responded, confused. “And…and look at the army. The food gatherers keep having to forage further and further away to find enough to feed all these pokémon or else they risk damaging the habitats…and that’s exactly what we’re trying to avoid. How long can we keep doing this before-”

“The army is stable as it is now,” Cyclone replied. “There are enough gatherers to do the job and the system I have implemented has worked. Food is constantly being found and brought in. We only take what we need and plenty is left for the native pokémon. No one but the disobedient goes hungry here. And if that ever changes, my commanders should be ready to lead portions of the army separately on their own. For now, though, the army stays together as much as we can. Train together. Out of sight of the humans. Things may be different if we find the location of multiple stones again, but there is no need to change our course now.”

Itora and Ashend listened to their leader quietly. Itora gave an irritated sigh, having already realized what Cyclone was telling Yenn. Ashend’s eyes were narrowed.

“Well…” Yenn hesitated. “I…I just don’t think we should be hurting any more wild pokémon or legendaries. Cyclone, listen to me. What if we could avoid all that? Stop the humans in their tracks before anyone else-”

"You don't know much about what these human cities are really like, do you?" Cyclone interrupted, his voice taking on an even more serious tone.

“Yes, I do know,” Yenn insisted, sounding almost insulted. “This…” He made a quick sweeping motion with one of his legs over the scar that ran from beneath his neck and down almost to his tail. “Should be proof enough that I know what humans are like.”

"Your experience was limited to but one city, one research facility,” Cyclone answered, standing up and walking calmly out of the stream. “The human world extends far beyond that. Humans and their pokémon still far outnumber us." He turned his head to the still hovering yanmega, his face carrying a stern expression.

“Well, I know there are other cities. But why can’t we-”

"Listen, Yenn,” Cyclone continued, the faintest trace of impatience in his voice. “I'm not gathering more stones and pokémon for the army because I like to waste time. I'm doing it so that we can overwhelm the humans, with as little loss of wild pokémon life as possible. That is what you want, isn't it?"

Yenn was silent, though the army’s leader could clearly tell he was still unnerved by the whole thing, still wanting to take action as soon as possible.

"As of now,” Cyclone went on, “we stand little chance against the sheer numbers of the humans and their pokémon in the Inari region. A sad fact of life is that the pokémon trained by humans often turn out stronger than the wild ones struggling to survive. And there are humans with hundreds of pokémon at their command."

“Hundreds…?” Yenn repeated, shock clear in his voice.

“You don’t know much about how the human world works,” Cyclone told him firmly. “Your encounters with them were far too limited.”

“Maybe,” the yanmega said quietly, “but-”

Cyclone’s gaze turned almost harsh as he walked toward Yenn until his snout was a fraction from the hovering bug type’s face. “You have to understand, Yenn. If we act too soon, the human’s retaliation would be our undoing. Let me make this clear. Do you want to end up back in the lab?”

At those words, Yenn fell silent.

Cyclone, seeing that Yenn was upset but agreeable, relaxed. “Good,” he said with a smile, lowering his voice to a softer tone. “I know what’s best for us. Do not worry. The recruits are being trained well. There are plenty of human-trained pokémon among us who are teaching them all they know. And your future is very bright. You will stand beside me, help lead the army to victory. You will reclaim the world that has been stolen from us pokémon.” He looked confidently at the yanmega. “Do you understand now?”

Yenn acted like he hadn’t heard Cyclone’s praise. He still looked uncertain, worried, and conflicted. Yet, in response to the vaporeon’s question, he nodded.

“Then that’s that,” Cyclone said. He turned away from Yenn and to the other two pokémon waiting. “Now, give me your reports.”

-ooo-

Later that night, after most of the army’s pokémon had gone to sleep and the scouts and guards were starting their nightly rounds, Yenn rested, alone but awake. He had been given a small cave near the surface for his sleeping area. It was unconnected to any other caverns, and only had one exit, which was just the way Yenn preferred it.

Even in early summer, the nights could sometimes get chilly, and like any yanmega, he hated the cold. He also hated being around the noise and the crowds of the army pokémon for too long, and Cyclone knew that he required a sleeping place in a more quiet area.

Resting on the highest of the ledges jutting from the wall, he was so lost in thought over what had happened that day – Ashend’s odd behavior and Cyclone’s words – that he didn’t notice a pokémon approaching until she suddenly appeared from behind a boulder that half concealed the entrance tunnel.

Yenn whipped around with a sharp cry, his wings churning so fiercely that some rocks clattered to the cavern floor. When he saw it was only the audino who had often brought him water or food, he started to relax. “You are supposed to tell me when you’re coming in!” he shouted at her.

“I’m…I’m sorry. Do you…need anything?” she nervously asked him.

At the moment, Yenn was in no mood to bother with random army pokémon. However, his last meal had been a few hours ago, and he was quite hungry. “You know what? I’ll get it myself,” he growled at her, before flying over her head and through the tunnel.

He emerged into the open air, not liking the feeling of the chilly night breeze. He was used to being bothered by it, though, as he often found himself wandering during the night whenever he was unable to sleep.

He headed toward where the nocturnal pokémon would be bringing in fresh prey. For the pokémon in the army, food was strictly regulated, but species that consumed a high amount of energy very quickly like yanmega were allotted food more often than most. Yenn, however, didn’t have to worry about what he would or would not be allowed as a normal-ranking member; he had Cyclone’s permission to take what he wanted, when he wanted.

No one in the group of food gathering pokémon said anything when he reached their stash and took his pick of the prey they had laid out. He then headed away from the main army, biting into the staravia he’d chosen as he flew. His wings propelled him higher into the sky, above even where most of the nocturnal bird pokémon of the army were soaring. He planned to find some place beyond the main army camp to fly until he felt tired again.

As he was leaving the majority of the crowd behind, he noticed movement down below, and his excellent vision told him that two pokémon were huddled in a secluded space by a large group of rocks. One of them was Ashend, and the other was the smeargle that painted the murals.

Yenn found the situation odd, considering that there were no drawings around the two pokémon; the smeargle appeared to be talking to the ghost type. He was momentarily surprised; he hadn’t been sure the smeargle was able to talk at all, but he could see their mouths moving, exchanging words. He couldn’t hear them from so far up above, however, and he didn’t think it was any of his business to eavesdrop.

As weird as it seemed, he put it out of his mind, flying past them and out over the open fields, where he could enjoy his meal in solitude. He figured that if Ashend wanted to spend time with the strange smeargle, she had her reasons.

To be continued…