The Path of Destiny

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 66 – Breaking Point

Night was falling on the group of travelers, marking the end of their second day in the desert.

They had rested during the hottest hours and were prepared to keep journeying on through the darkness. The fire types lit the way when needed, but with the skies so clear and the ground remaining flat and unchanging, they didn’t often have to. There was no sign of the cacturne following them this time; the warning fires the pokémon had sent up the previous night had done the job of scaring them away.

Deciding it was too dark to bother with scouting the way ahead, Katie walked with the others. The only pokémon who flew was Fernwing, who was still carrying Blazefang. The houndoom never complained about having to ride on the tropius’s back; it was clear that he was too focused on finding a legendary that could help him rid himself of Shadowflare to care much about how he got there.

As they trudged across the packed earth, Snowcrystal suddenly noticed that Thunder was keeping closer to the main group. The past few days, she had kept her distance, and Snowcrystal wondered what had changed her mind, or if she was simply too tired to care. Then again, Thunder didn’t look tired; she had more stamina than most of the other pokémon. Snowcrystal hoped that there was some part of her that still respected them, still wanted to be with the group that had traveled with her all those days ago, a desire that was not based on need. She knew she would only anger Thunder if she tried to talk to her about it, so she kept quiet and continued walking, moving her shoulders to adjust the position of the first aid kit she carried.

Wildflame moved toward her, keeping her voice low as she whispered, “So, what legendary do you think we’re looking for here?”

“A fire type, maybe?” Snowcrystal guessed. “I know Katie said that what’s at the end of this desert is a portal, but it might just lead somewhere else around here, like a secret chamber or something.”

“If this desert has anything to do with it, it might be a fire type,” Wildflame mused in response. “Think it’s Moltres?”

“Could be…” Snowcrystal replied. “If Articuno is guarding a Forbidden Attack, the other legendary birds could be some of the ones helping too. But how would Moltres have been able to make that weird portal?”

“He wouldn’t have,” Wildflame sighed. “I don’t know, but I’m starting to think we’re dealing with more than one legendary here. Let’s just hope Katie is right and that it…or they…can help us.”

“Yeah…” Snowcrystal said quietly. She looked up at the houndoom and managed a smile. “I think they will,” she stated in a happier tone.

“I hope you’re right,” Wildflame replied, smiling back.

They carried on throughout the night, each with their own thoughts about what lay beyond the desert and the mysterious portal. Then once again the sky started to brighten, signaling the coming of a new day.

-ooo-

There was not a lot of activity in the army camp so early in the morning. Much of it had to do with the fact that there were far less pokémon than usual; a large part of the army was still traveling to reach the spot.

The nocturnal pokémon had finished their hunting and training duties and were finding places to sleep, while the early-rising pokémon were just barely waking up, only a few bird pokémon trilling softly in the pale light.

“I don’t get it, Yenn. We waited so long to use these Attacks, and now Ashend’s being all weird about it?” Itora muttered. The manectric had woken up before sunrise, and had been too excited about her newfound power to go back to sleep. She walked with a brisk pace, her eyes bright and eager in spite of her complaining.

Yenn had only gotten a few hours of sleep, spending most of the night flying around the army’s camp until Itora had woken. “I don’t know,” the yanmega said tiredly as he flew alongside the manectric. “We can ask her about it when she wakes up.”

“She’s not going to wake up for ages,” Itora complained. “She probably just went to sleep now like the rest of the nocturnal pokémon.”

Yenn almost mentioned that he’d seen Ashend talking to the smeargle who drew all the markings that organized the army’s sleeping areas, but he decided against it. He wasn’t sure if Ashend would have wanted him to say anything about it, and he knew that if she felt it was important enough to share with them, she would. There was also the fact that he was simply too tired to want to think about it much.

“She wasn’t in her cave. I looked,” Itora continued. She paused to scratch at one of her bald patches of skin. “Maybe we could go back to the big cave and try our Attacks one more time. Just once.”

“Ashend didn’t want us to,” Yenn responded in an irritated tone. “She said to wait until Cyclone wants us to test it again. Which should be later this evening anyway. Just wait.”

Itora huffed in frustration, her gaze turning in the direction of the entrance to the largest cavern, where they had used their newfound powers for the first time the previous day. It lay at the base of a hill some distance from where she was standing. She and Yenn had just reached one of the highest points of a rocky ridge, and from this vantage point, she could see a few of Cyclone’s commanders milling about in the area by the big cave.

“Well, she was just being paranoid,” the electric type grumbled.

“Yeah, maybe, but we told her we would wait,” Yenn argued, annoyed.

Itora sighed. “I guess you’re right. Wouldn’t want her to fall behind anyway.” She scratched at her scraggly fur. “I still want to look at the caves. You should see the scorch marks my Voltgale attack left. I bet I could burn a hole in the cave wall with it if I tried!”

“Sure, why not?” Yenn replied, not very enthusiastically. He wasn’t exactly in the mood to go back into the cave for something so trivial, but he decided he’d humor Itora. At least, he thought, it would provide a bit of a distraction from his thoughts for a while.

The two of them headed down the rocky slope and to more level ground, where they could follow a fairly clear path toward the main caves. They passed many sleeping pokémon, each of whom had found whatever comfortable place they could in order to settle down for the night. As they neared the caves, the amount of pokémon they passed by lessened until they were standing beyond smeargle marks that clearly indicated that the area was to be kept clear.

“You two!” a voice called.

Yenn immediately noticed that it was coming from a tyranitar who was standing near the cave entrance. The green armored pokémon began making his way toward them, and Yenn felt himself growing angry at the fact that the tyranitar seemed to see them as if they were merely random delinquents.

“Cyclone said this area is to stay cleared until later today,” the rock type said gruffly, coming to a halt in front of Itora and Yenn, who refused to move. “You don’t need to come here unti-”

“Do you really think we’re going to listen to the likes of you?” Itora spat, sparks flying off her sparse fur. “Look, I don’t know if you’ve had your head stuck in the sand the past month, but we were chosen for the most important tasks in this army and we rank far above you and all your stupid friends.” She glanced around at the other high-ranking pokémon in the area, all of whom were looking toward the confrontation with mild interest.

“Look, I’ve been told that no one is to go in the big caves unless they’ve been assigned to it,” the tyranitar argued, standing up straighter. “I’m afraid that includes you.”

“You can stop ordering us around like hatchlings,” Yenn growled, his wings beating more fiercely as he moved closer to confront the tyranitar. “We heard you the first time.”

The tyranitar’s tough expression faltered a bit, and Yenn realized that he hadn’t seen this particular guard often. The tyranitar worked with sections of the army he, Itora, and Ashend rarely had any interaction with, so it struck the yanmega as strange that he would now be guarding the cave.

“Why do you need to keep the area clear anyway?” Yenn demanded. “No one’s using those caves.”

“A meeting is being held down there,” the tyranitar explained, looking over Itora and Yenn, likely for the first time up close. His eyes betrayed a disgusted look as they lingered on Itora’s patchy fur and Yenn’s scars.

Itora bared her teeth in a snarl, obviously noticing. The fur along the back of her neck stiffened, and she narrowed her eyes, looking as if she wanted to tear the tyranitar apart. She was about to let loose an angry stream of words, but the guard, who wasn’t even looking at her, spoke first.

“Cyclone told us to tell you that your training will be-”

“Where is Cyclone?” Yenn interrupted. “Down in the caves?”

“He and Solus are currently busy elsewhere,” the tyranitar explained. “The caves here are being used for a meeting between the pokémon in charge of the army’s training. It’s not something you need to concern yourselves with.”

“All right,” Yenn responded, forcing his voice to stay calm. “Let them have their stupid meeting. But don’t tell us what to do.”

The tyranitar guard paused, his eyes narrowing at the yanmega, who was hovering at his eye level. He then shifted his gaze to Yenn’s scar again, curiosity winning out over any wariness he felt. Unlike the scars wild pokémon received from their injuries, this scar made a perfectly straight line, and the smaller ones intersected it at even intervals, showing where it was once stitched together and making it clear to the dark type that it had to be a human’s work.

“Humans did that to you, didn’t they?” the guard began, clearly aware that he was stating the obvious. “What exactly did they-”

Yenn’s calm demeanor vanished in an instant. The sound of his wings suddenly increased to a roar as he flew up to the tyranitar, stopping only when his fangs were a mere fraction from the bulky rock pokémon’s face. “You better mind your own business or I’ll get Cyclone to demote you to cleaning and food carrying duties permanently!” he shouted.

The tyranitar stumbled backward. This time his eyes were fixed on the glowing stone hanging from Yenn’s neck, a clear reminder that he was one of Cyclone’s chosen, and could very well carry out the threat. “I…I’m sorry,” he stammered.

“Then don’t ever talk to me like that again,” Yenn growled lowly. “And by the way…where is Cyclone?”

“On the other side of the hills,” the tyranitar answered obediently. “In one of the ravines. That’s all I know.”

Without responding, Yenn turned away from him and flew off, wanting nothing more than to get away from the wretched guard.

“Whoa, whoa, what was that?” a voice cried from behind him. Yenn watched, without turning his head, as Itora bounded after him. “You’re just going to walk away from that?”

“Look, I’ve got more important things to think about,” he replied, turning around. He was glad that, by the time the manectric had caught up with him, they were out of earshot of the guards.

“Like why Cyclone is letting idiots like him order us around?” Itora asked.

“No, but maybe you can ask him that,” Yenn growled in response. Without waiting for a reply, he shot up into the air, climbing higher and higher until he could get a good view of the camp down below. He could see several ravines, and almost immediately the sight of two familiar shapes – one blue and one light purple – caught his eye. Cyclone and Solus were sitting at the top of a ravine, a group of pokémon gathered beneath it. “So that is what he’s doing…shouldn’t he be at that ‘very important’ meeting?” Yenn muttered to himself as he flew back down to Itora.

“What are you trying to do?” the manectric asked him, clearly annoyed. “We don’t need to bother Cyclone about this. We can fix it ourselves!” She leaped closer to the agitated yanmega, who had paused in his restless flying to land on a spur of rock. “Actually, we ought to go in there and crash this stupid meeting of theirs. Show them they’re not going to get anywhere if they treat us like this. It can’t be that important of a meeting if Cyclone and Solus aren’t even there, and besides, what are they going to do to us? Nothing!” She laughed to herself at the idea, despite knowing that her yanmega friend was not likely to agree.

But what he said surprised her.

“Actually…” he began, “maybe we should.”

“Wait, really?” Itora cried in surprise, her bad mood already fading.

“Sure, why not?” Yenn replied, lifting himself into the air again. “Let’s see what they’re planning.”

“You mean, sneak in?” Itora asked.

“Yes. Without being seen. That way we’ll know.”

“Uh…that wasn’t what I had in mind,” Itora muttered, some of her excitement fading. “Why would we want to do that? Cyclone and Solus aren’t there, and nor are any of the commanders from the looks of it, so what about it could be so interesting? Cyclone would tell us anything important, anyway.”

“He didn’t exactly mention killing Articuno until he was just about to do it, did he?” Yenn retorted. “I say we check this meeting out. They might be talking about what Cyclone’s planning to do next.”

“Without Cyclone actually being there?” Itora said skeptically.

“Yes,” Yenn replied. “If they’re going to attack any more legendaries or wild pokémon, I want to know about it. And if there’s a chance I could find out, I’m going to take it.”

“All right,” the manectric began, “whatever you want. But if there’s nothing interesting going on, then forget secrecy, I’m giving them a piece of my mind.”

“Fair enough,” Yenn replied.

The two of them made their way around the back of the hill that held the entrance to the main cave. The previous day, Itora had spent a good amount of time exploring the cave passages out of boredom, and Yenn had not missed any detail when he’d flown through them. They both knew that there was a smaller entrance, one that seemed to link all the big rooms of the cave together. It opened out onto a few ledges and ridges high above the cavern floors, so if they were careful and kept quiet, no one would see them looking down on the meeting.

“Here it is,” Yenn said simply as he landed on a boulder that was partially blocking the view of the lesser-known entryway. There were no guards around, nor any army pokémon close by, and Itora guessed that either no one had found the second entrance yet, or they had but simply chose not to bother with it. Yenn had to tear away some strange trailing vines to fully reveal the tunnel.

“After you,” Itora said with a sweep of her paw. “You’ll be the lookout. It’s pretty dark for the first little bit. Almost broke my paw walking through there.”

The manectric followed Yenn inside, glad that the tunnel was wide enough for the yanmega’s wings. Just as she’d remembered from her first exploration, they were plunged into darkness quickly, but that gradually faded as light from one of the big caverns reached them.

With Yenn acting as her eyes, she felt more excited and less wary about exploring the caves. She even had a spring in her step as she followed him. What would have been a boring morning waiting to use her Attack again had turned into something interesting. Maybe Yenn was right; maybe they would learn something useful. She didn’t expect to unearth any sort of vast conspiracy, but if any of the pokémon were saying anything nasty about her or her friends, she couldn’t wait to find out and use it against them.

The tunnel opened up to a ledge above the cavern Ashend had used her Attack in, but the room was empty. Yenn turned into a side tunnel which led to one of the others, and it wasn’t long before they began hearing noises.

Pokémon. Dead ahead.

Yenn grew more cautious, taking care to ensure his wingbeats hardly made a sound. As they dulled to only the faintest hum, Itora slowed her walk, creeping quietly along the passage. From what she could hear, the pokémon ahead weren’t speaking at all, but she could hear some of them shifting or moving about. It struck her as odd, but only fueled her need to remain as quiet as possible.

When the passage opened up onto another ledge looking down on a large cavern, they both realized immediately that there had hardly been a need to keep quiet. Not one of the pokémon gathered in the cave below had even bothered to look upward toward their ledge, as their eyes were all riveted to the center of the room. When Itora and Yenn saw what lay in the center, they both froze.

A ring of pokémon – not commanders or higher-ups, but terrified, low-ranking newcomers – were surrounding a group of four others. Two of the pokémon in the center, a liepard and a rapidash, stood to the side while a third, a staraptor, stood over the motionless form of the fourth.

It was the smeargle that marked the boundaries within the army. The one who painted the murals, and the one who had been talking to Ashend the previous night. From their vantage point up above, Itora and Yenn could see that the smeargle’s body was covered in wounds, blood trailing from his body to the staraptor’s claws. They hadn’t stumbled upon a meeting; what they were witnessing was a torture session.

Neither Yenn nor Itora had ever actually witnessed torture being carried out. They had known that it happened, been told that it was necessary when it came to traitors to the army, but they had always believed it was Solus alone who carried it out, and only with his psychic powers. Whatever was happening in the cavern down below, it was wrong.

Itora quickly realized that what she was seeing did not match up with the image in her head when she thought of torture. She had imagined pokémon crying out, tormented by psychic energy, not lying bleeding on the ground like this pokémon was. The smeargle wasn’t even screaming; he was just gasping for breath, hardly moving. She started to wonder if it really was torture, or an execution.

The two of them felt like they hadn’t moved for several minutes, though in reality it could have only been a few seconds. Neither had time to act as the staraptor lifted his claws again before bringing them down, tearing a slash down the smeargle’s belly.

The injured pokémon convulsed, but he hardly made a sound; either he was too weak or he was fading into shock. His long tail thrashed against the ground, smearing it with blood.

Itora had snapped out of her reverie long enough to see Yenn’s body freeze at the sight. He looked as if someone had struck him, his gaze riveted to the scene in horror as his breath began coming in rapid gasps. He seemed to have completely forgotten about her, lost track of all his other surroundings.

“Uh…Yenn?” she whispered, no longer certain she wanted to risk attracting the attention of the pokémon below. “Can you talk to me? Yenn? What’s wrong? Say something!”

Despite her efforts to get through to him, the yanmega ignored her and launched himself off the ledge, heading directly for the staraptor. Due to his speed, none of the pokémon down below saw him coming until he had slammed into the bird pokémon, sending him tumbling away from the smeargle and across the stony floor.

“What are you DOING?” Yenn screamed at the staraptor as the flying type scrambled to his feet, giving the yanmega a terrified gaze.

The other pokémon who had been forced to watch the spectacle shrank back in fear, expecting to see more blood shed upon the cave floor. The liepard and rapidash stared at Yenn in horror, quickly backing away from him. The staraptor looked too scared to move.

His gaze fixed on the large bird, the yanmega flew closer, every single one of his fangs bared and his breathing coming in short bursts.

The sound of wheezing coming from behind him snapped Yenn out of his fury. He could see the smeargle, lying prone on the ground. He turned his body so he was facing the normal type, whose shallow breaths were weakening. Yenn could tell from the amount of blood pooling on the floor that the injured pokémon was dying. There was nothing that could help him now; he was simply waiting to bleed out.

Without hesitating, Yenn landed on the floor next to the smeargle. He leaned down and bit into the smeargle’s head, crushing his skull instantly. A few of the pokémon forced to watch let out whimpers or small cries of fear, but for the most part, they were silent.

“YOU!” Yenn shouted, turning his head from the smeargle’s limp form. His hate-filled gaze was directed at the staraptor again.

Flapping his wings at a high speed, he took to the air and darted toward the flying type, sending the staraptor scrambling backwards into the wall, smaller pokémon darting out of his way. Yenn pinned the flying type there, hovering over the frightened bird who cowered against the ground as if trying to appear as small as possible.

“No, no, I’m sorry!” the staraptor pleaded, holding out one blood-soaked talon in front of him. “I didn’t mean you any offense. I-”

“SHUT UP!” Yenn roared, specks of blood flying from his mouth and onto the terrified staraptor’s face.

Itora barely recognized her friend. Yenn looked like a terrifying monster, and she could tell from the look in the staraptor’s eyes, as well as the eyes of his two accomplices, that they were both afraid for their lives.

“Please…I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you,” the staraptor begged as the surrounding pokémon backed further away, trying to get as far from the yanmega as possible. “Take it…take it up with Solus. It was his orders.”

“Solus isn’t here!” Yenn shouted, every last word dripping hatred. “You’re the one who mutilated a pokémon! You’re as disgusting as the humans!”

“Please…I’ll do whatever you want!”

“I don’t…want…anything…” Yenn hissed, his gaze boring into the staraptor’s.

“I didn’t mean any offense to you, I swear!” the flying type cried. “Don’t…don’t kill me…”

To the bird pokémon’s surprise, the yanmega backed up. He didn’t break his stare with the staraptor, but some of his anger vanished, as if a trance had been broken. Yenn stared around at the gathered pokémon, each of them looking at him in horror. He suddenly felt shocked, wondering just what he must have looked like for the pokémon to start pleading with him to spare his life. Harming the staraptor hadn’t even crossed his mind, but the pokémon were looking at him as if he were some sort of monster.

However, he wasn’t able to focus on that for long. His gaze soon fixated on the smeargle again, looking at the still form of the pokémon lying on the cave floor with a long gash down his chest and belly.

Yenn froze for a moment, his heart pounding rapidly, before he wrenched himself away from the sight and shot up toward the tunnel he had entered the cavern from. Zooming over Itora’s head, he didn’t even stop to look at the manectric, didn’t hear the shouts of the rapidash down below, telling him to stop, to come back, to listen to him. He flew almost blindly, barely even noticing the jolting pain when his wings struck the walls or boulders as he blundered through the tunnel.

After Yenn’s departure, the shocked gaze of every pokémon in the cavern turned upward to Itora. The manectric stared down at them with wide eyes before ducking down and hurrying back down the passage, following the yanmega’s path.

Bursting out of the tunnel, the manectric found herself in blinding sunlight. Yenn was already out of sight, likely heading back to the cave that served as his resting area. Several confused army pokémon had gathered around the tunnel entrance, looking to Itora for answers to their questions.

She ignored them. She bolted through the crowd, pushing aside a few of the smaller pokémon as she did so. She hadn’t gotten far before she nearly ran straight into Ashend.

“Itora, what’s going on?” the misdreavus asked seriously.

“Solus has got freaks down there torturing pokémon!” Itora cried. “Not with psychic attacks either. I understand that they’re traitors, but still-”

“Who?” Ashend demanded. “Who was being tortured?”

“Why does it matter?” the manectric replied, confused.

“Who?” the misdreavus practically shouted.

“It was that smeargle! He was the one they killed. I don’t know what he did but it must have been bad.”

Ashend paused for a moment, a look of shocked realization coming over her face.

“Why’s that bad?” Itora asked. “He must have had contact with humans if it was bad enough for that to be necessary, and that means we could have-”

“Never mind,” Ashend snapped at her. “I need to find Yenn.”

Before Itora had a chance to reply, the misdreavus had turned and left, heading directly for the resting caves. Alone again, Itora turned to face the army pokémon that were staring at her. She couldn’t tell what they were thinking.

She turned and walked away, deciding to go back to her own sleeping quarters. Though she trusted Cyclone’s judgment on the matter, she wasn’t as sure she trusted Solus’s, and she knew the sight of the smeargle’s last few moments would haunt her for a good while.

-ooo-

When Ashend entered Yenn’s cave, it was almost dead silent. She found the yanmega huddled on the highest ledge in the cavern, the spot where he was sure to feel the most comfortable. The only thing she could hear was the sound of his breathing. Though they were obviously alone, Yenn still looked scared.

Despite being a pokémon that could normally keep track of everything around him, Yenn didn’t even seem to notice the misdreavus until she spoke up.

“Yenn…” the misdreavus said quietly. She didn’t need to speak loudly; the cave was quiet enough for the bug type to hear her. “Itora told me what happened-”

At the sudden sound of her voice, Yenn jerked upright as if he had been electrocuted. He lowered himself back down on the ledge when he realized it was only Ashend. “I don’t want you to talk about it!” he shouted, whirling around to face her as he raised his wings, looking as if he was about to take flight.

“Yenn, listen,” the ghost type continued, trying to speak calmly. She drifted closer to the ledge, but not close enough to make Yenn feel more agitated. “I think this was my fault.”

“How is it your fault?” Yenn shouted back. “Those pokémon…those monsters…” He broke off, unable to form the words. “They…that smeargle…”

“The smeargle doesn’t matter,” Ashend interrupted. “He is dead. The pokémon of the army are not our concern. Right now, we-”

“Leave,” Yenn said. This time it was not a shout, but barely more than a quiet whisper.

“Look,” the misdreavus began, “I understand why-”

“I said, LEAVE!” Yenn cried. He lunged toward her, his two largest fangs still stained with dried blood that he hadn’t bothered to clean off.

Ashend backed away. Though she knew that Yenn would never hurt her, the look on his face as he stared at her wasn’t one she was used to seeing.

After a moment, Yenn seemed to realize this as well. “I’m sorry,” he said before turning away.

Ashend could tell that she wasn’t going to be able to get through to him when he was in such a state. Leaving him alone until he calmed down was the only option. “I will…talk to you later, okay?” she said, making sure he had heard before she headed toward the cave exit.

Yenn didn’t give an answer as the misdreavus vanished around the corner of the tunnel, leaving him shaking and huddling on the ledge.

-ooo-

“I swear, this place is going to drive me crazy,” Justin mumbled under his breath, his words a bit muffled due to the cloth he was wearing around his mouth and nose. “Everything looks exactly the same.”

Not far behind him, Snowcrystal watched as the human stopped, rubbing his eyes to clear them of any dust. Spark stood beside him, waiting, and a few of the pokémon further ahead glanced back in his direction. They had spent the morning walking until it became too hot, and after their rest they had started moving again, grateful that the sun was setting.

“Nobody likes it here, Justin,” Katie muttered. She was walking with the others even though there was still daylight, wanting to give her pidgeot a rest. “And we haven’t even been walking long. Besides, it’s nearly night. Then it’ll cool down.”

Wordlessly they carried on. Despite the fact that they had decided to rest during the heat of the day, the humans and pokémon were growing weary. Alex had become unable to perform any water attacks after spending nearly two days in the dry wasteland, though thanks to their preparations, there was no shortage of drinking water.

“What if we’re doing this all for nothing?” Rosie grumbled quietly. “I mean, do you really think there’s a legendary out here?”

“I trust Katie,” Snowcrystal replied. “If she thinks that weird stone arch could lead to something, I believe her.”

“Well, okay,” the ninetales continued, “but what if this legendary just tells us what Articuno did? That he can’t help?”

“Well, another legendary is bound to know something Articuno doesn’t,” Snowcrystal responded hopefully.

Rosie closed her eyes as another wave of dust wafted over them. “Well, I hope you’re right,” she muttered, not sounding as optimistic as the growlithe felt.

“We’ll figure out something if it doesn’t,” a voice interrupted, and the two turned to see Stormblade, who had hung back from the main group until Snowcrystal and Rosie caught up with him. “Trust me, we can do this. We’re not wandering scared now. If this legendary can’t tell us anything, we’ll hunt down another until we find one who does.”

Something about Stormblade’s words seemed to encourage Rosie, and she smiled at the scyther. “Thanks,” she said, “I guess I’m just a little worried. Nothing’s really been much of a help to us so far. Except for these humans and the new pokémon, I guess. But we haven’t really gotten anywhere.”

Snowcrystal remembered how Rosie had once argued against joining up with Damian and the others. It pleased her to see that the ninetales now fully trusted them. If nothing else, Rosie could have confidence in the humans and pokémon who were all working toward the same goal. The growlithe lifted her head toward the sun, which was slowly beginning to set on the horizon. Whatever their reasons, they were in the journey together, and with any luck, they would soon have more help.

-ooo-

As the same sunset cast an orange glow over the army’s campsite, Yenn emerged from his resting quarters. As soon as he reached the light, his exhausted body froze, realizing that several of the army pokémon, many of them fairly high ranking, were coming toward him. He stayed hovering where he was, waiting for them to approach.

The first, an aerodactyl, came to stop right in front of the yanmega, landing on the ground next to the entrance to his cave. He looked relieved that Yenn was much calmer than before. “Cyclone sends you his sincerest apologies,” the rock type explained. “Solus put those pokémon in charge of the situation and Cyclone never-”

“I don’t want his apology,” Yenn snapped.

“Well, what do you want?” the aerodactyl asked, bowing his head to the yanmega respectfully. “If there’s anything you want us to do, we will do it. Cyclone said that you can have prey of any type brought to you. Whatever species you want, we will have the hunters-”

“I don’t…want…anything you could give me!” Yenn growled, hovering lower until he was face to face with the aerodactyl. “I want to know what was going on down there!”

“Look, no one ever meant for anything to upset you-”

“You didn’t think that seeing a pokémon being torn open would bother me?” Yenn shouted. He moved away from the aerodactyl, giving the small group of pokémon a harsh glare. “Or maybe the question I should be asking is if you thought I’d be fine with it, had the method of execution had been different?”

He paused, watching the reactions of the pokémon gathered before him. They looked at a loss for what to say.

“Because what I want to know,” he continued, rounding on the aerodactyl again, “is why pokémon in this army are being ripped apart and killed in the first place!”

“I’m sorry,” the aerodactyl continued, “when Cyclone accepted you into the army, you requested not to be witness to any traitor’s torture session. You weren’t supposed to see-”

“And why weren’t psychic types in charge?” the yanmega growled. “Cyclone told me that psychic attacks were used to torture the traitors.”

“Solus felt that these pokémon-”

“Solus…” Yenn snarled. He glared at the aerodactyl again. “Bring Solus here. Maybe he can explain just what that smeargle had done to make him think he deserved something like that.”

“I’m afraid you can’t speak to Solus now,” one of the other pokémon, a lilligant, interrupted. “He is busy-”

“Then I’ll take it up with Cyclone,” Yenn replied firmly. He didn’t care to listen to any of the pokémon anymore.

Taking to the sky, Yenn quickly left them behind. If Solus had allowed such horrible torture, Yenn hated to think of what else he had authorized, and what that espeon had done in other torture sessions. He had been lied to. Pokémon…weak, harmless pokémon who couldn’t have done anything horrible enough to deserve torture had been killed. Cyclone had murdered a legendary. He wasn’t going to stay silent about it any longer.

And he was going to take it up with the army leader himself.

-ooo-

The cave Cyclone had chosen for his own resting area ran deep beneath a hill some distance away from the other caves. Yenn had noticed its location when they’d arrived at the camp the previous day, but he had never ventured inside the cave itself. Now that he was flying through its main passage for the first time, he noticed with discomfort that it was darker than the others, too dark for even his eyes to pick up much detail. The only light he had was from the red glow of the crystal around his neck, but that light did not travel far.

Nevertheless, he carried on with determination through the tunnel, pausing only once when one of his wings clipped a wall and off-balanced him for a short moment. It didn’t feel right to fly in a place where he could not get a good view of his surroundings, and the sensation left him feeling strangely vulnerable. He wondered how Cyclone could stand it.

Luckily, it wasn’t long before he turned a few corners and emerged into a medium-sized cavern. Like the other caves, this one had light streaming down from holes in the ceiling.

“Cyclone!” he cried, hearing his voice echo back to him several times, bouncing off the damp stone walls. He now realized why Cyclone had chosen this particular cave; there was a fairly deep pool on the opposite side of the cavern, shrouded in gloomy darkness. Its surface was black and still; it had taken Yenn a moment to even realize it was water. He shivered, wondering just how cold the water would be. He waited for an answer to his call, but for the next few moments, the cavern was silent.

Then the vaporeon leader’s voice reached him, seeming to come from all directions at once. “Yenn,” Cyclone began calmly, “I’m glad to see you.”

The yanmega watched as the vaporeon hauled himself from the pool, stepping onto the slick rock beside it. Yenn was a bit unsettled; he hadn’t even been able to see Cyclone in the water until that moment.

“Don’t worry about today,” the vaporeon told him warmly. He trotted over to the bug type with an air of friendliness that Yenn knew was shown to very few pokémon. “I heard all about what happened. Forget about the training; we can start that again tomorrow.”

As the leader approached him, Yenn lowered himself so he was hovering closer to the ground and could be directly eye to eye with the vaporeon. “Cyclone, I need to talk to you.”

“Of course,” the water type responded. “But first, I don’t believe you received a proper apology for the actions of my subjects.”

“No,” Yenn answered. “I did not.”

“From what I understand,” Cyclone continued, “the method of torture carried out in Solus’s absence…would have brought back quite a few unpleasant memories for you.”

“That’s not why I’m here,” Yenn told the vaporeon firmly.

The look in Cyclone’s eyes shifted ever so slightly, and he looked at the yanmega with what Yenn assumed was confusion. “Well, then,” the leader began, “who else has wronged you?”

“No one ‘wronged me,’” Yenn replied. He drew back a bit, lifting himself a small fraction higher into the air. “I want to know why your followers were allowed to torture a pokémon the way they did. And,” he stated before Cyclone could reply, “I want you to put a stop to it. Starting tonight.”

“Yenn, Solus was unable to oversee the torture ring today,” Cyclone told him. “I promise you right now that no pokémon will ever use such a method as the one you saw today again. I have already told them, nothing that resembles any of the injuries you-”

“We don’t need to torture traitors at all,” Yenn interrupted. “If for whatever reason you feel you have to, at least have them use psychic attacks, like you told me they did!”

Cyclone turned his head, his expression almost sad. He gave a long sigh before replying, “It’s not that simple. But I never wished for this to upset you, Yenn.”

“I joined this army to kill humans,” the yanmega growled. “Not to torment the pokémon we’re supposed to be protecting.”

“I never said you had to have any part in it,” Cyclone continued, his voice still carrying a forlorn tone. “But there are things you simply don’t understand.”

“Well, you’re right. There’s one thing I don’t understand,” Yenn said. “Why was that smeargle killed?”

“He committed crimes against the army,” Cyclone answered.

“Like…what?”

The vaporeon regained his calm composure. “It is a complicated situation,” he replied. “But rest assured I have everything under control. As of now, all threats to the army have been removed, and I will continue to do what’s best for us.”

“And what is best?” Yenn asked. “Are you going to kill more legendaries?”

The vaporeon began to pace around Yenn, though his eyes never left the yanmega’s. “You need to understand that you’re starting to jump to a lot of conclusions. We won’t kill any more legendaries unless it is necessary, and hopefully it won’t be. And right now I don’t appreciate being the target of your overreaction to one traitor’s punishment.”

“Overreaction?” Yenn repeated, stunned.

“I’ve had a lot of patience with you,” the vaporeon continued, still pacing. “I expect you to show more appreciation for it. I would not put up with accusations like this from any other pokémon.”

“I am not overreacting,” Yenn insisted.

“In the grand scheme of things, you are,” Cyclone answered, his gaze taking on a harsh tinge. “My duty is to the army as a whole. If you could see the big picture, you would understand why these things are necessary. I am working toward the well being of all pokémon. And so must you.”

“You think that wanting to stop torture goes against that?” Yenn hissed.

“You’re not seeing things clearly, Yenn,” Cyclone snapped, a tinge of anger to his voice. “Were it not for what happened to you in the human’s laboratory, you wouldn’t have thought twice about it. When you are thinking clearly again, I would hope you would trust what I say and know that sometimes, things like this must be done for the sake of the rest of us.”

Yenn was shocked into silence; he stayed where he was, looking straight into Cyclone’s eyes. The only sound in the cavern, besides the faint hum of the yanmega’s wings, was water dripping somewhere deeper in the cave.

The light of anger left Cyclone’s eyes. “But I’ll forgive you,” he said after a few moments, the gentle tone returning to his voice. “I know you can’t help it. That is why you need to trust me.”

“Okay, look,” Yenn stated, drawing further away from Cyclone. He tried to keep his voice upbeat and confident, but he knew it hardly had such an effect. “I’m not crazy, and you know that! I’m out to help the pokémon just as much as you are. That’s why I’m saying we need to change things. We don’t need to hurt pokémon who had nothing to do with the humans in order to-”

“You and I both know that you don’t always think clearly,” the vaporeon leader calmly replied. “And that can lead to rash behavior…like the way you yelled at Ashend, your closest friend, today.”

“I know, I know,” Yenn sighed. “I still have to apologize to her. But I will. I promise I will.”

“I would not have a pokémon tortured without good reason, Yenn,” Cyclone continued, “and I would expect you to have more trust in me than to believe otherwise.”

Yenn said nothing in reply. He was at a loss for words, seemingly only able to glower at the vaporeon. If Cyclone noticed, he did not say anything. When the leader spoke again, his words were, to Yenn’s surprise, full of hope.

“The future of the pokémon world itself may very well lie in our claws,” Cyclone told him, his head tilted back as he stared up into one of the thin shafts of moonlight reaching down through the cave. “If you had seen more of the way humans live, you would know that they’ve committed far more atrocities than even you could have imagined. Do you know that there were tens of thousands of humans who could have saved you, but did not? If there was any good in them, they would have.”

Once again, the only sound was the faint dripping of water from the deeper tunnels.

The vaporeon turned toward Yenn again. “You want to stop this from happening to more pokémon, don’t you?” Cyclone asked.

“…Yes,” the yanmega answered.

“It may be difficult to understand now,” Cyclone said gently, “but the end…is worth it. Freedom for all pokémon, from the cruel hands of humans, will be worth it.”

Yenn was silent, his head tilted toward the ground.

“You have been one of the bravest and most dependable pokémon I have ever met,” the vaporeon continued. “We are a team…you, I, and the others with powers like ours. The good we will do for the sake of pokémon will far outweigh the bad. And everything will better for it.”

Yenn pondered for a moment, but when he looked at Cyclone, his gaze held confidence. “Look,” he said, “I know the humans do nothing but selfish and horrible things, but…what you’re doing is just as bad.” He watched the leader, who had begun to pace again, not meeting the yanmega’s gaze. “But you can fix this. We don’t have to hurt pokémon who’ve done nothing wrong in order to stop them.”

Cyclone stopped pacing. Yenn could not see his expression, as his back was turned. Cyclone stood still for several moments. When the vaporeon turned around, the expression on his face was one of shock. “How could you say that?” he said, and though his voice was quieter, there was an obvious tinge of anger to it. “Everything I do, everything I’ve worked for, is to fight against human cruelty. And you’re telling me I am just as bad as they are?”

“We don’t need to do this,” Yenn argued. “We don’t need to have pokémon tortured to death! You had one of own killed!”

“If I was told correctly, you were the one who killed that smeargle, Yenn,” Cyclone responded, his previously calm tone returning. When the yanmega did not reply, he continued. “As I have said before, I made the judgment for a reason. It was for the good of the rest of us.”

“And what threat was that smeargle to the rest of us?” Yenn asked, not bothering to hide his rising anger. “If he was some sort of spy for the humans…why hasn’t anyone said anything about that? And no matter what he did, that still doesn’t justify what happened. Not even humans deserve that kind of death!”

“You have no idea what really happened, and right now, it is not your place to know,” Cyclone interrupted, his voice stern. He turned away from the yanmega and faced his pool, but continued speaking, his head held high. “It had to happen for the sake of the army.”

At those words, Yenn felt something inside him snap. He didn’t care what Cyclone thought of his actions; didn’t care if his leader lost respect for him. “Had to happen?” he repeated, disgusted. “So the all-powerful army leader can't think of a better solution?” He flew around in an arc until he was hovering directly in front of the vaporeon again. “Those pokémon were acting with a cruelty I’ve only seen in humans. What you’re doing is wrong. Barbaric, like what the humans did to me."

This time, Cyclone did not break eye contact with him. The look in the vaporeon’s eyes changed, ever so subtly, but Yenn could not entirely guess what he was thinking.

“And you lied to me,” Yenn continued, unable to keep the distress out of his voice. “You never told me you were planning to kill a legendary. You never told me that pokémon were being torn apart in torture sessions. You led me to believe that the wild pokémon were not going to be hurt.”

“I never lied to you,” Cyclone said loudly, and this time there was clear anger in his words. The vaporeon straightened himself up to full height, and though he was smaller than the yanmega, he still looked imposing. The look in his eyes was one that Yenn had never seen in the leader before.

“You told me that you wanted nothing to do with the torture,” the vaporeon growled. “You told me that you didn’t want to be in charge of running the army. This was your decision…and you’re telling me that I lied to you?”

“Y…yes,” Yenn stammered, “but I thought…something like attacking Articuno would have been-”

“I don’t know how many times I’m going to have to tell you this,” Cyclone continued, his voice much lower and steadier than before, but with an underlying tone of fury that made Yenn want to back away from him. “It was necessary for the greater good of all pokémon.”

At that statement, Yenn fell silent. He wasn’t even sure he had the will to feel angry anymore. What Cyclone had said had so deeply disgusted him that he no longer cared if the army leader got truly angry with him, no longer cared if Cyclone decided to punish him.

“The greater good?” Yenn said, his voice sounding far colder than he was used to hearing it. “That’s what you’re calling it now? Why don’t you just call it what it is? Murder, torture…slavery? Did those new recruits watching the execution join willingly? Because from what I can remember, they didn’t seem like they did.”

Cyclone did not say a word as he watched Yenn. He gave no indication that he was about to speak, and his body was still, his eyes narrowing.

“And all this…when our real enemies are still tormenting other pokémon as we speak,” Yenn continued. “With what you authorized today, are you really much different from them?”

Cyclone still did not reply. A small twitch of one of his fins and a glance toward one of the dark tunnels leading deeper into the cave was his only movement.

“Think about it,” Yenn growled. “Are you?”

When Cyclone answered, his gaze was ice-cold. “I never thought I would have heard such a thing coming from you,” the vaporeon said, stepping forward.

This time Yenn held his ground, forcing himself to hover in place without moving back.

“I don’t see how you could say that,” Cyclone continued, anger seeping into every word, “after I’ve done so much for you.”

Yenn watched Cyclone, without turning his head, as the vaporeon began to circle again, the water type’s piercing eyes fixed on him.

The army’s leader never took his gaze off the yanmega. As he spoke, his words grew louder until he was almost shouting. “I took you in, I gave you everything, I promised to keep you safe, made you one of the most powerful pokémon in the world…and you put me on the same level as the monsters who gave you that scar?”

Yenn faltered, finding his wings moving his body backward as the vaporeon, still circling, got closer with every stride.

“When I found you,” Cyclone snarled at the yanmega, “you were lost in unfamiliar lands, with nothing and no one you knew and nowhere to go. You were cowering alone, not even trying to hunt, crying in fear and thinking that the tiniest shadows were the humans coming after you.” The vaporeon watched as Yenn backed toward the wall, curling his tail beneath him in a way that made him look uncharacteristically vulnerable. “But I saw you had potential when anyone else would have left you there, thinking you were nothing but a raving lunatic!”

When Cyclone finished, Yenn turned his head, not wanting to face the vaporeon directly anymore. Quietly, he lowered himself almost to the ground. “All right, I’m sorry…” the yanmega whispered. “I didn’t mean to say…”

The furious look in Cyclone’s eyes vanished instantly, to be replaced with one of sympathy. “I know you didn’t,” the vaporeon said, his rare, kind tone returning. “I know you didn’t mean those things you said. Considering your history, I can’t blame you for being upset by what you saw. Tomorrow you will be able to see things more clearly, I promise.”

Yenn did not reply as Cyclone came to sit beside him, giving him a trusting look.

“You, Itora, Ashend…you all mean a lot to me,” the leader continued. “That is one thing that separates me from the humans. I care about broken pokémon like you…and in a world like this, who else would?”

Yenn backed away from Cyclone slowly. In that moment, all he knew was that he didn’t want to be around the vaporeon any longer. Without another word, he turned and flew back through the tunnel he’d come from, heading out of the cave and to the surface.

Cyclone waited until the faint beating of Yenn’s wings had faded and the yanmega was out of sight.

Then the warm look in his eyes vanished.

From one of the deeper tunnels, a lithe figure appeared, its footsteps making no sound. The creature halted when he was close enough to the main cavern that light outlined his form. The only noise coming from his direction was the soft clinking sound of his collar.

Cyclone did not even look at the espeon; his gaze was still focused on the tunnel that Yenn had left through. He spoke only two words to Solus.

“Watch him.”

To be continued…