The Path of Destiny

[Scytherwolf]

The Path of Destiny
Chapter 69 – Out of Time

The first thing Yenn noticed was the sound of voices.

He then noticed that he was lying on his side on dry, rough ground, his wings splayed out at odd angles. He could hear the voices murmuring quietly around him, and he strained to hear what they were saying. His vision hadn’t come back yet, so he couldn’t tell who was speaking, but their muffled words started to become clearer.

“...What is it...?”

“Some sort of vibrava?”

“That’s no vibrava...I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“It’s huge!”

“Is it dead yet?”

Yenn’s legs twitched as his vision gradually started to come back into focus, and smears of color turned into a detailed picture. The first thing he realized was that he couldn’t have passed out for long; there was still a hint of light in the sky from the direction of the setting sun. The second thing he realized was that there was a group of pokémon standing around him.

These pokémon were certainly not part of the group sent from Cyclone. They were tall, green grass types with spiny diamond shapes covering their bodies. They stood shorter than Yenn’s body was long, but from his position on the ground, they seemed like towering monsters. As the yanmega watched the strangers, several pairs of piercing yellow eyes stared back at him from black sockets.

Yenn somehow managed to recall the name of the pokémon...cacturne. They stood in a ring around him, some of them still whispering quietly to one another. He lifted his head, prompting a gasp from one of the cacturne who stood closest. Yenn focused on that one as he opened his mouth to speak. However, try as he might, all that came out was a short series of weak, unintelligible noises that didn’t even resemble words.

“It’s...alive,” one of the cacturne muttered in astonishment as she turned to another. “You said it was dead.”

“I thought it was,” the other answered.

“It’s on its way out,” a third cacturne said as he gestured to another, one larger and more burly looking than the rest. “Kill it.”

Yenn watched as the tough-looking cacturne lifted his arm, firing a series of small needles in his direction. The yanmega was powerless to move as he felt them pierce through one of his wings and lodge themselves into the dirt beneath. It came as such a shock in his disoriented state that it took a moment for him to start feeling sharp, stinging pain in the places where the spines had pierced his wing membrane.

At first, he wasn’t sure how such a fairly weak attack was meant to kill him, but then he realized that the cacturne was probably just trying to see if he would fight back. He wanted to get up and show them that he was dangerous, that they would be better off leaving him alone, but he didn’t think he had the strength.

The cacturne fired the spines again, and this time they struck him in the side, a few of them managing to penetrate his carapace. This time he felt the pain instantly, but he couldn’t do more than let out a weak noise that could hardly be called a cry and scrabble his legs in the dirt.

“Not much of a reaction,” the cacturne who’d attacked him stated, this time with a confidence in his voice that Yenn hadn’t heard from the others.

“I told you. It’s dying. Just finish it,” one of the cacturne’s companions urged.

Yenn watched as the burly cacturne strode toward him. The dark green diamond patches on the grass type’s body glowed with a bright light, elongating into massive spines. The cacturne walked toward him purposefully; any wariness he’d previously had was gone.

To Yenn’s surprise, he didn’t feel scared. He knew these pokémon had found him in the desert while they were out looking for prey. It made sense, in a logical way. That was how the wild worked. Yenn found that, if anything, he just felt calm about it. Brief memories flashed through the yanmega’s mind of his own hunts. He had eaten many pokémon, and in doing so, those pokémon had given him life. Now it was simply his turn to complete the cycle.

A part of him wanted to accept it and let that be the end of his journey. He was so tired…and the desert stretched on seemingly forever; there was little chance that he would get out. In comparison to dragging himself through the wasteland endlessly, tormented by thirst, hunger, and exhaustion, maybe death wasn’t so bad. At least he could say he tried.

But another part of him did not want everything to stop there. It wanted to keep going. Yenn wondered if that was just his survival instinct going into overdrive, even when the situation was hopeless, but it felt like something more than that. He wanted to get away, so that Cyclone would never get his claws on his Forbidden Attack. He wanted to try to find a new, better place for himself. He wanted to find a way to help his two friends back in the army, if he ever could. He didn’t want to die. And he figured that if he was going to pass on in such a horrible place, he was not going to do so willingly.

His eyes scanned the waiting pokémon, trying to muster up what little energy he had as the big cacturne stepped closer, walking with slow, calculating movements. For a brief moment, Yenn considered using his Lifedrain attack, remembering the burst of energy it had given him, but he pushed the thought aside. He trusted Ashend’s words, and he knew that if he used the attack, the energy wouldn’t last him long. Maybe, he thought, he’d use the Forbidden Attack as a last resort, but not before then.

As he watched the cacturne, he reminded himself of his species’ legacy. They were apex predators, successful, cunning hunters. Yenn did not usually hunt grass types, but he had eaten pansage before, and he knew his kind were capable of bringing down prey as large as the cacturne. He wasn’t going to die; he was going to turn the tables.

As the cacturne stood near the yanmega’s head and readied himself to use his attack, Yenn unleashed what little energy he had managed to store, launching himself into the air and toward his would-be killer. His jaws opened and he aimed for the pokémon’s head, but due to his weakness, his movements were too slow. The grass type dodged, and Yenn felt his teeth sink into the cacturne’s arm instead, barely missing the large glowing spines.

But what came out of the wound was not blood, but sand.

Yenn jerked himself backwards, releasing the cacturne immediately. He started to cough, barely managing to keep himself airborne as he spat out sand. ‘I can’t eat these things!’ he cried in his own head, feeling dizzy from shock.

The cacturne he’d bitten screamed in agony, the glowing spikes retreating back into the diamond shapes on his body. He stumbled backward as the others all looked to Yenn with newfound horror. For a moment none of them moved; they all just stared at him as he watched.

“That’s no vibrava, that thing’s probably a bug type!” one of them shouted fearfully. “Get back!”

Yenn watched as the circle of cacturne enlarged, each of the grass types trying to put more distance between themselves and him. He flared his wings out in an attempt to look more threatening and made a warning snapping motion with his jaws. Though he was hardly in any condition to fight, the cacturne had no idea what to expect from a creature like him, and it did the trick. The cacturne broke their circle and moved together in a tight group, surrounding the injured one and leaving the way clear for him.

Realizing that he’d won his survival, for at least a little longer, gave Yenn a small bit of hope. He was still somehow ahead of the army pokémon, and he had survived the cacturne’s attack. He felt ready to keep trying.

But as he flew away from the huddled group of cacturne, he heard one of them say, “Calm down, everyone. We’ll just wait until it’s dead...” Before he could make out any replies, he was already out of earshot.

-ooo-

Yenn carried on through the night, not entirely sure how he was willing his body to keep going. He knew that part of it was because fear had set in again, fear of both the cacturne and, more strongly, of Cyclone’s pokémon. He didn’t know if he was thinking clearly, could no longer even be sure he was heading in the right direction. He was operating almost entirely on instinct, an instinct that told him to keep fleeing from those that wished him harm. It was the only thought or feeling he could make any sense of.

As the yanmega pushed his exhausted body to keep flying, he started to catch glimpses of pokémon in the desert, though none of them were close enough to see clearly in the dark. He couldn’t even be sure what species they were.

He stared into the darkness in a panic, wondering why the pokémon were not coming close to him. Were they too scared of his Forbidden Attack?

He forced himself to move faster, realizing that some of the pokémon were already a lot closer. He was sure that, for a moment, he had seen the claws of a staraptor bearing down on him and ready to tear at his wings or eyes.

Somehow, a few of the cacturne had gotten ahead of him and were waiting, staring at him with their piercing yellow eyes. He changed course, trying to fly around them, but found another group in his way. This time, they didn’t look afraid. He turned again, fear lending him a strength he hadn’t thought he’d had as he picked up speed and raced into the darkness.

More flying types were gaining on him from behind, and he could see running pokémon, swift fire types like arcanine and rapidash, closing in on him from either side. They seemed to be working with the cacturne now; he still caught glimpses of the hostile grass types in the darkness, even as he was flying faster. He tried to shout at them, in some vain hope that they would leave him alone, or that they would fear him, or somehow decide to show him mercy. But he found that he still couldn’t speak, could hardly even cry out. None of the pokémon chasing him down seemed to notice his efforts at all.

‘Stop...’ he desperately pleaded at them in his mind. ‘Stop...stop, STOP!’

He was sure he was about to feel the agony of fire, or feel talons ripping apart his wings or gouging at his eyes. He could see the pokémon, still gaining on him, getting closer and closer.

Something stirred inside him, a feeling he had first recognized nearly two months ago. It was a raw power, a power that he knew was coming from his own Forbidden Attack, the power he had first felt when he’d touched his stone and learned the attack’s name. This time however, it was not his excitement, or curiosity, or even his free will that summoned it. It had appeared without his bidding. It seemed to feed his fear, making it grow stronger and fiercer until it was like a raging inferno, forcing aside all rational thought. His mind was screaming at him to use his attack, that it was the only way to save himself. To use it or they would hurt him, tear him to pieces bit by bit until he was begging for death.

He thought he saw a blast of light, coming from some fire pokémon right behind him, but he wasn’t close enough to feel any heat.

Ashend’s words seemed distant. The strange power was coursing through his body in a way he’d never felt it before, willing him to use Lifedrain, to kill all the pokémon around him. He had to...he had to or he would be tormented again. ‘Was this what Ashend meant by losing control?’

Some of Cyclone’s pokémon were right ahead of him now, and he almost stopped. There was no way they could...

He watched a rapidash’s hoof come down toward his head.

‘STOP! ...This...this isn’t real...’

He watched as the flaming horse in front him seemed to disappear almost completely, as if it had simply run straight through him like a ghost. He watched the others, realizing that they took no consistent shapes; what was an arcanine one moment turned to a rapidash a few paces further back the next. The pokémon he saw around him were nothing but illusions, his exhausted mind playing tricks on him.

With that realization, his fear left him. He pushed what remained of the urge to use his Forbidden Attack away.

He forced himself to stop for a moment, hovering in place. There were no other pokémon he could see besides the wavering illusions, which seemed far less vivid than they had before. He was alone.

Yenn waited for a few moments. The overpowering drive to use his Forbidden Attack was gone. He had managed to fight it back. The hallucinations, however, still remained, but he was no longer afraid of them. Deeply unsettled, for sure, but not afraid. As he continued onward, they gradually faded from terrifying monsters to more benign images, things Yenn did not have the energy to pay much attention to. After a short while, they faded almost entirely.

Yenn couldn’t see any of the real cacturne, nor a sign of his determined pursuers. He wasn’t sure how far behind they really were, but his vision seemed clearer now, so he decided to trust it. He fixed his attention on the hundreds of stars covering the night sky, trying to point out patterns in them to keep himself as awake and alert as possible.

It worked for some amount of time, but the yanmega could soon tell that his exhaustion was winning out. Before long, he realized that he couldn’t focus on one single star anymore; they all looked like a blur to him. Instead, he put all his mental energy into willing himself to keep his wings beating.

Up ahead, the line between land and sky was blurring, and he found it hard to even tell where the ground was. He knew his dizziness was returning, but he was afraid that if he stopped, he would never be able to force himself to get up and fly again.

He didn’t know how long he kept flying through the night. At one point, when he was trying to fight through the haze filling his mind, something caught his attention. There was what looked like a strange pale mist to one side of him, one that formed swirls and patterns as it was moved by the wind.

He was too disoriented to see it clearly, and he had moments where his vision would go completely black, but he soon began to realize that the mist was surrounding him. And gradually, the shapes of pokémon began to form from it.

Yenn was having trouble seeing what they were. Even with his all-reaching vision, he felt like he couldn’t look directly at them. Whenever he tried to focus on one, it would be gone. More out of desperation for some sort of distraction than anything, Yenn tried to figure out what species of pokémon they were. Were they ghost types?

However, though he still couldn’t look at them directly, he realized that their shapes were far different from a ghost type pokémon. These weren’t ghost types at all, and as Yenn puzzled over the fact, a strange thought struck him.

Either the strange apparitions didn't exist, he wondered, or they were the spirits of pokémon left to wander the desert where they had died, waiting for him to join them.

Yenn found himself wondering if they had been lost like he was, thinking each day that they would surely reach the desert’s end, or find water, if they just went a little further. And, like him, they had been wrong.

He shook himself. ‘Stop it,’ he thought. ‘There’s nothing really there.’

He could hardly even be surprised at how irrational he had been thinking. He knew his senses were slipping. He decided to let himself think whatever he wanted, as long as he kept flying. He was about to let his thoughts wander back to the illusions, but something else caught his attention instead.

This time, it wasn’t a hallucination brought on by exhaustion. What he saw was real.

The sky was brightening.

The heat was coming, and Yenn could see nothing but dark desert in front of him. He had covered much more distance in the past few days than a walking pokémon could, and yet it still did not seem like he was anywhere near the end.

He thought of Ashend and Itora, the pokémon who had helped him escape Cyclone, and decided that, if nothing else, he would keep trying for them. He would keep going until he made it out or it killed him.

As he looked at the sky, he knew that it was likely the last time he would ever see the stars. However, Yenn vowed that he would do everything he could to try to make it to the next night.

-ooo-

“There it is,” Snowcrystal whispered to herself as she stared ahead. After several tiring days of walking through the desert, the growlithe wasn’t sure how to feel when she could finally see the arch up ahead of her, the morning sun shining down on it.

It looked like the land simply stopped past a certain point, forming a jagged edge that dropped off into seemingly nothingness. She and the others were almost there, but the sight still unnerved her. She suddenly wondered how they were supposed to get through the portal...and where they would end up after they did.

They were currently walking through an area that held the first real landmarks Snowcrystal had seen in the otherwise barren desert. All around them, large boulders, several of which towered over their heads, jutted up from the ground. Snowcrystal wondered if pokémon lived there, but she didn’t see any sign of them as she followed Redclaw.

The boulders surrounding them had been blocking their view of the desert’s edge and the arch for a while, but they had all been so encouraged by the prospect of shade that they had practically raced to the large rocks. They had made their way through the towering structures until the edge of the desert and the arch were in sight. Though even now that they could see their destination, they were almost reluctant to head toward it. The rocks provided much better shade than their tents did.

“I dunno, maybe we should stay here and rest for a while,” Justin suggested. “It’ll start getting really hot soon, and we could set up the tents under the rocks and get to the arch in the evening.”

“But it’s right there,” Katie cried, pointing. “It won’t even take us fifteen minutes to walk.”

“Justin has a good point,” Damian stated. “We can set up camp here and go to the arch, then just head back when it gets too hot.”

“I’m not wasting time setting up the tents,” Katie argued. “I want to make use of the time we have before the sun gets too high, so hopefully we won’t have to worry about staying here another day.”

“I don’t know if it’s going to be that easy,” Justin sighed. “Right now, we don’t even know where to start.”

“We’ll set up camp here later,” Katie said firmly. “Now let’s not waste any more time and go see what we can find.”

“Uh, hey, Arien?” Blazefang asked, still resting on the back of Fernwing, even though the tropius had already landed. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather stay here. I’ve had enough flying for quite a while...I don’t need to be dragged back and forth from that arch before you actually know what you’re doing.”

“I’d rather stay here too,” Wildflame agreed before Arien could reply. “I could use a nap. Tell the humans to go on ahead.”

The alakazam looked to the two houndoom with annoyance, but reluctantly nodded. “Very well, then.” He turned to Damian, sending him the psychic message, before turning back to the pokémon. “Anyone else who would rather wait here?”

“I will,” a voice stated firmly, and the other pokémon turned to see Thunder, who was staring the alakazam down. “I don’t care about this stupid ‘quest’ of yours. And I want Nightshade to stay here too.”

“Thunder, he’s injured,” Snowcrystal protested. “He’ll be much more comfortable in the poké ball-”

“I didn’t ask you,” Thunder growled.

“Wait a minute...” Blazefang stammered worriedly. “Don’t let her stay behind alone with us!”

“She’s not going to hurt you!” Snowcrystal protested, stamping her small paw on the ground.

“Why are we splitting up?” Rosie asked nervously, glancing around at the others. “We shouldn’t split up!”

“We won’t be far,” Wildflame told her. “We’ll just be behind some of these rocks.”

“But still-”

“Did you not hear me?” Thunder growled at Arien. “Tell them to let Nightshade out.”

“I will tell them to ask Nightshade if he wants to stay,” Arien replied.

While Wildflame tried to reassure Rosie, Damian sent out Nightshade and began to explain the situation to him. Snowcrystal felt that Rosie was right, in a way, and that splitting up was a bad idea. What if something happened, or what if Nightshade’s condition got worse while they were away?

Finally Damian stood up, motioning to the group. “Nightshade and a few of the others are going to stay behind,” he announced. “The rest of you, come with us.” He held up a poké ball. “Fernwing, return!”

The tropius looked grateful for a rest, and she gave Damian a thankful nod before the beam of red light struck her and drew her back into the poké ball.

As Damian quickly set up a comfortable bed of blankets for Nightshade in a cool spot in the shade of one of the rocks, Snowcrystal turned to the heracross. “Nightshade, you don’t have to-”

“Snowcrystal, it’s okay,” Nightshade reassured her. “Truthfully, I was really wanting some fresh air. I’m still not used to being in a poké ball. It’s much cooler by these rocks too; it’ll be nice to take a nap here.”

“Okay,” Snowcrystal replied, walking beside Nightshade as Wildflame helped him limp to the bed that had been set up. “But if you need anything, one of us can go get the humans.”

“Of course. Thank you,” Nightshade replied.

“Hey, all you pokémon!” Justin called from a short distance ahead. “We’re going!”

The pokémon who weren’t choosing to stay behind stood up and followed the humans. Stormblade turned his head to look at Snowcrystal, seeing that the growlithe had not moved from the rock Wildflame and Nightshade had vanished around. “You coming?” he asked.

“No, I think I’ll stay here with them,” Snowcrystal replied.

“Want me to stay?” Stormblade asked.

“No, we’re okay,” Snowcrystal said. “The others might need a lot of help figuring out what to do about that portal.”

“All right,” Stormblade responded with a smile. “We’ll be back soon.”

As the main group left, Snowcrystal realized that Rosie had stopped. The ninetales nervously glanced over her shoulder, then slowly trotted back to the five pokémon who had stayed behind.

“Actually...I’m going to stay with you guys,” Rosie said quietly as she caught up with Snowcrystal and the two of them walked into the cluster of boulders.

“Well, the more the merrier, right?” Wildflame laughed as they came into view. “Let the others go stand out in the heat for a while. We deserve a rest.” Once Nightshade was settled, Wildflame lay down in the shade herself, stretching out all four of her legs. “I’m getting some sleep. Wake me if they find anything.”

Blazefang gave Thunder a nervous glance, then lay beside Wildflame and curled up. Thunder watched Nightshade until she was sure he was comfortable, then turned away from him, walking along the edge of a line of boulders.

The rocks blocked the hot wind, and Snowcrystal was glad to finally have some proper shade. Wildflame was right; it seemed like the perfect place for a nap before the heat of the day really set in.

Only Rosie was unsure what to do, and she fiddled with her paws nervously, swirling dirt around with her claws.

“Rosie, what’s wrong?” Snowcrystal asked.

“I just...hate this place,” the ninetales said softly. “I’ve had a really bad feeling the past few days. I hope we can get out of here soon. I didn’t even want to stay behind, I just-”

“Hey, where are you going?” Wildflame cried, and Snowcrystal and Rosie realized that she was shouting at Thunder, who had started to wander off.

“Away from you,” the scyther spat back, clearly annoyed.

“What did you want Nightshade here for if you didn’t even want to be around him?” Wildflame growled in annoyance.

“I wanted him away from the humans,” Thunder replied simply, not bothering to elaborate. “And now I need to think.”

“Fine, whatever,” Wildflame muttered with a roll of her eyes.

Thunder turned around to glare at Wildflame with what looked like hatred. “If you do anything to harm Nightshade-”

“What on earth would I want to hurt Nightshade for?” Wildflame shouted back, shocked.

“Thunder, relax,” Nightshade called to her from his bed of blankets. “I know that Wildflame wouldn’t hurt me. And it’s all right, I’m fine. You’ve done a lot for me and I don’t need any help right now. Go and walk around and think for as long as you need.”

Thunder seemed satisfied with the answer, and gave Nightshade a small smile. Then she turned and headed off, vanishing around a cluster of boulders.

“She’ll be fine,” Nightshade told Wildflame. “There’s not really anywhere to get lost around here.”

“Yeah,” Snowcrystal agreed. “The only place any pokémon could hide is in this cluster of boulders. And it’s not exactly very big.” She looked around at the place, remembering that it had only taken them a few minutes to pass from the first boulder to the last. “Plus she’s got wings.”

The pokémon settled down to rest, too tired to discuss Thunder – or anything else – any further. Snowcrystal wriggled out of the straps of the first aid kit she carried, then settled down by Rosie, giving the ninetales a few reassuring licks on the side of her face. Rosie smiled and muttered a small thanks before closing her eyes.

-ooo-

Solus, riding on the back of a tropius, was ahead of the main group, along with some of his fastest fliers and runners. They were serving as the scouts for the time being, always keeping an eye on the distant form of the yanmega they were chasing. Why Yenn hadn’t dropped dead yet, Solus had no idea, but it was beginning to wear on his patience.

He had pushed his group of army pokémon much harder than usual, even with the rests they had taken during the night when Yenn was too exhausted to move fast anymore. They had covered so much distance, and yet Solus still managed to be surprised when he found that he was close enough to see the edge of the desert itself, and the sheer drop down into what looked like grassy plains.

“You!” the espeon shouted over to a swellow flying near his tropius mount. “I need you to be a messenger. There’s going to be a change of plans. Tell the other scouts to stop.”

The swellow nodded obediently, and soon Solus had the leading group of pokémon, around nineteen in total, on the ground and waiting for his words.

“All right,” Solus called to him. “As I’m sure you can see by now, the desert ends in a sheer drop and it looks like there are rivers in the plains beyond. If Yenn gets down there and finds water, he’ll be harder to fight and more of you are going to get killed by his attack. Now listen,” he continued, his gaze scanning the faces of each of the pokémon grouped around him. “The runners won’t be able to make it down those cliffs. That means that you-” He looked at around at all the pokémon with wings. “-Will be first in line to take his Forbidden Attack if you’re the only ones that can follow him. I want everyone here to remember that the more pokémon we have to fight him, the smaller chance it’ll be you in particular that’s killed.”

The pokémon watched him in sullen silence, only the ones with high rank looking calm.

“And if the runners don’t give it their best,” Solus added, peering at the arcanine, rapidash, and zebstrika in front of him, “their death will be much less quick. So if I were you, I’d take your chances with the yanmega.”

One of the zebstrika, for a split moment, looked as if he were going to try to bolt. But he stayed still, knowing that the higher ranking pokémon were the only ones that carried food and water. Solus shot him a glare, hoping to remind him that he and the others of lower rank were outnumbered. The zebstrika averted his eyes.

Solus ignored the worried mutterings of the other pokémon as he ordered the tropius to take him up into the air. The swellow followed him, looking to Solus in case the espeon had any more orders.

“Head back and tell the main group the new plan,” Solus began, angling his head toward the larger group of army pokémon. They were still some distance behind, having been allowed to take a much more leisurely pace after realizing that their target would soon be dead. “We don’t let Yenn reach the cliff. We kill him now.”

With a harsh cry, the tropius launched himself higher into the air, and the pokémon in Solus’s scouting group raced forward at full speed. The swellow swerved around and headed back, ready to give the news to the main part of Solus’s small army.

-ooo-

Yenn had been focusing on the cluster of boulders ever since the early morning. He did not know what lay beyond it, if anything other than endless desert did, but the thought of shade had given him a new determination he never thought he’d have again. He made it his sole focus; just get to the rocks. He would worry about what he found once he got there later.

‘Maybe water has collected there...’ he told himself, and kept going.

By some sort of miracle, Yenn was lucid enough to notice when the pokémon following him in the distance began to speed up. He knew in that instant that he had little time and little chance. The pokémon following him were clearly determined to not rest until they spilled his blood. They weren’t going to slow down again. This was it.

The thought of what Solus and the others could do to him, what his death would be like, gave him the willpower to fly faster on blind fear alone. He knew he wouldn’t be able to search out a hiding place and conceal himself without the flying types seeing, nor was there anywhere for him to fly to. There was no rhyme or reason to his panicked fleeing anymore, just terror lending his body the strength to give it one last try.

-ooo-

Off by herself, Thunder darted around the rocks, glad to have something other than flat ground to run across.

She had a lot of thinking to do. This time, it wasn’t about Nightshade, but about the other pokémon. She had tried to deny it, to force them away, ever since the start of the desert journey. With the ones that openly opposed her, such as Blazefang and Rosie, it was easy. But some of the others...Redclaw, Stormblade and Snowcrystal especially, had been nothing but kind. She hated to admit it, but a strong part of her wanted to let them share that kindness.

It was stupid, she knew it was. What were the chances they would really turn out to be like Nightshade? And Stormblade...well, she wasn’t so sure she wanted to risk getting close to another scyther. He may have been healed, but she still remembered the burn wounds he had borne for so long. It was only pure chance that he had survived; without Scytheclaw, he would have died. And he reminded her a bit too much of the scyther she had seen killed when she was young. Any scyther tended to do that.

Thunder knew what a bad idea it was to befriend the weak. The thought of putting her trust in more pokémon, even Snowcrystal or Redclaw, was frightening. It felt too vulnerable. Thunder did whatever she could to avoid being vulnerable.

Gradually, Thunder grew tired of racing around the rocks. She paused, leaning against one of the tall stones. The other rocks blocked her view of both the direction they had come from and the direction the trainers had left in, but she faced the way they had come, anger growing stronger in her mind. Somewhere out there was the forest they had left...left for the miserable, dusty, disgusting desert. It made her furious. She wished she had never agreed to come. She wished they hadn’t taken Nightshade.

She stepped away from the rock and began walking back in the direction they had come. She paused for a moment to rake the dry earth with her claws. In a burst of anger, she drove the tip of her scythe into the ground and cut a long furrow in its surface. “Useless,” she muttered. “They’re all useless!”

With a growl, she turned away, walking around the last of the boulders separating her from the flat, featureless desert plain. As soon as she passed them and stood out in the open, she paused.

She could see something out there, something that was moving closer. No, a group of something. She couldn’t quite make out what they were; all she could tell was that they were flying pokémon. Were they...birds? She squinted her eyes, realizing that she could see some of them ahead of the rest, getting dangerously closer to the rocks. One of them was particularly close.

Something told Thunder that whatever the group of pokémon were there for, it was bad news. If for whatever reason they attacked, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to fight them all, let alone while defending Nightshade, and she didn’t want to gamble on the fact that they might be harmless. She tensed, unsure what to do, when a thought came to her mind.

Nightshade’s poké ball.

The scyther turned around and raced back into the cluster of rocks, dodging around the boulders. She passed through them effortlessly, the edge of the desert and the rock arch appearing as she did so. Under normal circumstances, she would never trust a human device, but in the claws of a pokémon, she figured that this time it could be used for good. If Nightshade returned to his poké ball, an enemy could not get to him easily, and she could carry him to safety if need be. All she had to do was take the device from the human and make it back before the strange pokémon arrived.

But Thunder had underestimated just how fast Solus and the pokémon at the front of the pack were moving.

-ooo-

Snowcrystal found that although the heat was making her drowsy, she couldn’t sleep. She supposed it had something to do with the anticipation that was building up inside her when she thought of the portal and what the others were trying to do. Though it hadn’t been long since the trainers and the other pokémon had left, she was starting to worry that they wouldn’t be able to figure out the mystery, or that there wasn’t even a legendary involved at all. She had believed Katie, but now that they were actually here, she was having stronger doubts.

Lying nearby were Blazefang, Wildflame, and Nightshade. They had already fallen asleep, but Rosie, who was sitting right next to Snowcrystal, had not. Thunder hadn't returned, but they had heard her running around the rocks until just a few minutes ago, so Snowcrystal wasn’t worried.

“I really wish they would hurry it up,” Rosie muttered under her breath. The ninetales still looked worried and on edge, and she looked around the rocky area as if she expected a monster to jump out at them from behind one of the boulders.

“They’re trying,” Snowcrystal whispered back. “Why don’t you try to get some sleep before-”

“Wait,” Rosie interrupted. “Do you hear that?”

Snowcrystal pricked her ears and listened, but all she could hear was the howling of the wind. “No, I-” She paused. Suddenly she did hear something. It was faint, but it sounded close. Like some sort of creature with wings, though it didn’t sound like a scyther. The growlithe stood up, starting to feel afraid as well. “That’s not...Thunder...”

Before she or Rosie could say anything more, some sort of massive bug type appeared from around a group of rocks a short distance away from them. Snowcrystal and the ninetales both jumped back in alarm, watching as the pokémon, in its unsteady flight, made a turn too late and was sent crashing to the ground when its wings and the side of its body struck a boulder. It seemed stunned at first, then it thrashed about, trying to right itself as it clawed at the ground frantically, looking completely disoriented. When it did manage to get to its feet, it suddenly went still...and turned its head toward them.

“Snowcrystal!” a voice shouted, and Wildflame was suddenly at the growlithe’s side, standing beside her protectively. They could both hear scrabbling from behind them as Blazefang and Nightshade woke as well.

The strange bug type hadn’t moved, and it looked just as surprised to see them as they were to see it. Snowcrystal stared at the creature in shock. She had never seen such a pokémon before. It resembled a yanma, only it was much bigger. It was longer than Damian was tall, and its head, back and tail were adorned with large black spikes. It had six wings, two pairs on its back and another on its tail, and two long fangs stuck down from its jaw even when the mouth was closed.

Snowcrystal was already backing away from the thing before she realized that it still wasn’t making any move to attack them. It didn’t take her long to figure out why.

The dragonfly-like pokémon was emaciated; it looked half dead from heat and exhaustion. Snowcrystal had no idea how it had even managed to get itself airborne in such a state. It was clearly no desert pokémon, and Snowcrystal could only start to wonder what it was doing there.

“That’s a yanmega,” Wildflame told Snowcrystal before she lowered her head and growled, hoping to scare the creature off as flames began flickering between her teeth. “Learned about them in the library one day when I went with the trainers. They’re dangerous.”

Blazefang and Nightshade both watched the newcomer with startled confusion. Rosie was staring at the yanmega in terror, her feet seeming frozen in place. “Where is Thunder?” the ninetales whispered fearfully.

The yanmega didn’t even seem to notice Wildflame’s threatening stance. Snowcrystal watched as the pokémon weakly lifted itself into the air again, then moved toward them.

“Find some prey elsewhere!” Wildflame shouted, placing herself protectively in front of Snowcrystal and Rosie. “You come any closer and I’ll kill you!”

“Wildflame, stop!” Nightshade cried out, making Snowcrystal jump in surprise. “He can’t hurt us in that state!”

Snowcrystal realized he was talking about the yanmega. In spite of its fearsome appearance, she knew Nightshade was right. It...he...didn't look like he would even have the energy to eat them if they were lying dead right in front of him. But at the same time, she didn't want to underestimate any strange pokémon. As she watched, the winged bug type flew closer, in spite of Wildflame’s warning, until he was almost right in front of them. It was then that she realized his mouth was moving, but not in an aggressive way. He was trying to speak.

But whatever he was trying to say, Snowcrystal could not understand. His voice was weak, just barely audible, and his throat seemed too dry for him to form words properly. His breathing, which sounded harsh and painful, was constantly interrupting him as he gasped for breath.

“Please...go away!” Rosie shouted at the yanmega, backing up further behind Wildflame.

The stranger turned to her, only more desperately trying to repeat his message. Snowcrystal then noticed that the yanmega had a hideous scar running down his underbelly, something that made her pause in confusion. It didn’t look like anything that could have happened in the wild; it was too precise, and the marks crossing it reminded her of the way a pokémon center treated bad cuts.

The yanmega suddenly turned, obscuring the scar from view, but he hadn’t noticed Snowcrystal’s staring at all. His head was turned in the direction he had appeared from, back toward the vast expanse of desert. He suddenly took on a look of desperate panic that made Snowcrystal want to reach out to him, regardless of the fact that he was a stranger.

“Wait, you need help,” she said gently, noticing that the others were still too shocked to say anything. “It’s okay, we’re-”

She wasn’t even sure the yanmega had heard her. He suddenly whirled around, darting away from them as he continued his frantic flight. The small group of resting pokémon watched until he passed the rocks in front of them and vanished in the direction of the desert’s edge. For a few moments, they all sat in silence.

“What was that?” Rosie gasped, snapping the others out of their reverie.

“I don’t know,” Snowcrystal replied. “What was a pokémon like that doing here?”

“Did anyone hear what he was saying?” Wildflame asked.

“He couldn’t even talk! How was I supposed to understand?” Rosie cried.

“We should go find the others,” Nightshade said worriedly.

As the pokémon voiced their confusion, Snowcrystal noticed that Blazefang wasn’t participating in the conversation. He was muttering under his breath, his eyes narrowed in concentration.

“Blazefang?” the growlithe questioned.

“Army,” said Blazefang, earning him a look of confusion from the others. “He was trying to say ‘army.’ That was one of the words he said, I’m sure of it. It was a warning!” The houndoom looked at Snowcrystal with panicked eyes.

“Army?” Wildflame repeated, confused. “What do you mean ‘army?’”

“There’s only one I know of,” Blazefang replied, and before the others could stop him, he leaped up and vanished around one of the rocks.

“Hey, wait up!” Wildflame cried, bolting after him. “He can’t mean... Look, you probably heard him wrong. No one could understand a word that yanmega was saying!”

Snowcrystal didn’t want to see her friends split up further. “Wait, come back!” she cried, and to her relief, both houndoom listened to her, and trotted back to the small group together. “Wildflame, give me a boost,” she said as soon as the two dark types had reached her. “If there’s something out there, we’d better know what it is before we leave the rocks.”

Wildflame nodded and allowed Snowcrystal to scramble on her shoulders, standing next to one of the rocks. From that position, Snowcrystal was able to find a claw hold in its smooth surface and scramble upward. She stopped before she reached the top, peering over the rock carefully instead. As soon as she did, her eyes widened, and she felt like her blood had been turned to ice.

“What is it?” Wildflame called from below. “What do you see?”

For a moment, the growlithe found herself unable to answer. Out in the desert, still in the distance but gaining ground fast, a long line of pokémon was heading toward them. Most were flying types, but there were several running pokémon as well.

And far ahead of them was a smaller group, this one close enough that Snowcrystal could distinguish each of its members by species, close enough that she could see the fiercely determined looks in the eyes of the runners.

A group of nearly twenty bloodthirsty pokémon was almost right on top of them.

To be continued...