Arrival

Thunder rumbled over head as rain mercilessly slashed at Iris,Ash,Pikachu and Cilan. They were just a few miles outside of Opelucid city now, but they knew if they continued all the way through hail would eventually fall and that would mean broken bones. Something they couldn't afford. They all knew they had to find shelter fast, but that seemed highly unlikely. Here they were running in the middle of the woods with no shelter during a thunderstorm that topped the danger scales. Great. Ash looked back to see how the others were holding up. Iris seemed tired from running non-stop but otherwise fine. Cilan was the one he was worried about. When the rain had just started getting heavy, Cilan had rolled his ankle on a rock. His ankle had swollen to the size of a Drifloom. They offered to stop and try to bandage it but he had insisted that they press on. His condition was the same as Iris's, but they were noticeable signs of pain. With every step he took on his left foot he grimaced. Ash knew that they had to found a house, a shack, anything fast before Cilan tore a tissue in his foot. They stopped under an oak tree to take a short break.

"Man!" Iris exclaimed panting. "This rain is so cold it hurts! And not to mention it's COMPLETELY screwing up my hair!"

"Well, we can't stay under this tree for much longer." Ash told them.

"Why not? It's way better under here than out there!" Iris retorted.

"Yeah but haven;t you heard the thing about tall trees and thunderstorms? The taller something is the more susceptible to a lightning strike. If we're under here and the tree gets struck by lightning…"Ash trailed off.

"You're rather quiet Cilan." Iris said.

Cilan looked up, and appeared to be dozing off.

"Oh, it's nothing. It's just starting to hurt more now that I've stopped moving." Ash once again looked ahead then got an idea. He took out the poke ball containing Unfezant ad threw it. Unfezant came out with a high pitched chirp.

"Unfezant, I need you to fly ahead and tell me if you see any type of house or something we could stay in until this storm clears, O.K?"

Unfezant happily chirped and flew off into the storm. The group sat in silence for what seemed like forever. They just listened to the rain hit the leaves atop the tree and watched it fall into the soft mushy ground. Cilan began to rub his swollen ankle and grit his teeth against the pain. He didn't want the others to worry about him, he had to take care of this him self. Iris, played with her hair and began to think about Opelucid City. She missed the high class technology and the easy, carefree life style. Of course she was very happy here and wouldn't change her decision to leave but sometimes she did get a little homesick. And as for Pikachu well he snoozed happily on Ash's shoulder as usual. Ash was beginning to worry about Unfezant and thought about going to look for her but soon heard the flapping of enormous wings and watched as the giant bird pokemon flew into view.

"Did you find anything?" Ash called. Unfezant chirped happily and flapped it's wings a little faster as if signaling for them to follow. They put their bags over their shoulders and once again ran out into the freezing rain.

After a little ways of running they came to a trail that led off the main road. Unfezant flew down the path and the others followed. The trees seemed perfectly aligned down the path and the hedges were fully clipped. Streetlights determined to shine through the rain buzzed loudly overhead. Eventually Unfezant stopped in front of an enormous household with a sign out front that read, "House of Ferek.

"Good job Unfezant." Ash complimented as he called her back into her poke ball. The group stepped up the marble stairs to the front door. The house itself was beautiful. Marble pillars supported a giant awning that stretched over the entire length of the patio. All of the floor was made out of hardwood and the windows were perfectly polished to allow maximum light to shine through. Giant drapes covered the top floors windows. But the onet thing that bothered Ash was the faint candlelight coming from the attic window. They knocked once on the door. Then again. Then again. Ash jiggled the door knob and the massive wood door slowly opened with a creek. Hesitantly, Ash, Iris, Celin and Pikachu all stepped into House of Freek.